The standards flown by the ships of this period were of white linen cloth, with red crosses of “say” (_i.e._, woollen cloth). The streamers with which they were wont to decorate their vessels in a somewhat profuse manner were also of linen cloth or “say.” The _Regent_ had no gilding or carving, except a gilt crown. Nor was any great expense made on the score of paint, for we find a record of the painting of the _Regent_ and another ship called the _Mary Fortune_. The whole job was done by contract for the sum of £2 19_s._ 10_d._ The davits, both of this period and for many years after, were used not for hoisting the ship’s boats aboard—which was done by means of tackles with poles and sheaves of brass—but for getting up the anchors. There were both fixed davits and movable ones that could be used in different parts of the ship. Most of the timber came from the New Forest and Bere Forest, not far from Portsmouth. Iron was bought by the ton and worked up at the royal forge into nails and spikes, &c. In 1497 two smaller men-of-war, named respectively the _Sweepstake_ and the _Mary Fortune_, were built. But these were much smaller than the other two, and carried three lower masts, a main topmast, as well as a spritsail on the bowsprit. The _Grace à Dieu_, which Henry had inherited on his accession to the throne, was renamed the _Harry Grace à Dieu_. She is said to have cost £14,000, to have had four pole masts, each with a circular top, a bowsprit, a built-up poop and forecastle, as well as two complete and two partial tiers of guns mounted in ports.[63] The late Sir W. Laird Clowes inclined to the belief that the drawing of the _Harry Grace à Dieu_ in the Pepysian Library, Cambridge, represents not the ship of the same name built in the reign of Henry VIII., but that of which we are now speaking. By the beginning of Henry VIII.’s reign she had either disappeared or was known under a new name. It was for a long time the custom of English monarchs in times of peace to let out on hire the royal ships to merchants. Nor did Henry VII. break away from this practice. Apart altogether from the importance which big ships possessed from a naval point of view, it was a profitable speculation to build large vessels. Merchants were glad to hire them, since it saved the necessity of having to build for themselves or of keeping them in commission when their voyages were ended. The larger the tonnage of the ship the more popular were they to the hirers, for the reason that they not only held more cargo and were less likely to succumb to pirates, but that they could voyage to virgin fields where trade could be established. Henry, in addition to the ships he had inherited and built, also hired some himself, both from his subjects and the Spanish. He even went so far as to purchase some vessels from the latter, but Spain eventually legislated to prevent Spanish-owned ships from being sold to foreign Powers.