England first made use of artillery at sea in 1372; the Mediterranean saw it used by the Genoese in 1377. Shipbuilding was only developed much later in France. Nevertheless, there is proof that ships were already built there in the XIVth century and it appears that they had cannons on board even in 1339. Still, it was only on the shores of the Mediterranean that shipbuilding was regularly carried on, under the impulse, it appears, of Jean de Vienne, who was made admiral in 1373. (_Le Musée de Marine du Louvre._) It was under the rule of Henri the Navigator (1417) that shipbuilding reached its height in Portugal, a country which was entirely under the influence of the Mediterranean. Meanwhile, the relations of the Netherlands with the southern countries had developed rapidly. The closing of the old route to the Indies, which led through the Mediterranean and Asia Minor, brought about a complete upsetting of the commerce of the world. New explorations must needs be undertaken and it is thus that we read in history that after having pushed as far as Guinea with six caravels, in 1446, the Cape Verde Islands were reached soon afterwards. In 1449, it was the turn of the Azore Islands and, in 1486, Bartholomeo Diaz reached the Cape of Good Hope. Eleven years later, this navigator turned the Cape and landed at the Indies with three vessels, the _San Gabriel_, the _San Raphael_ and the _Bonio_. According to existing data, the first of these ships must have had a capacity of 400 tons or 250 to 300 registered tons. (~Holmes~, p. 86.) [Sidenote: II 61] It is useless to dwell longer on these episodes of which the history is sufficiently well known and of which the last act was the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus in 1492. This latter had at his disposal but three small ships, although Spain was already using, at this time, larger vessels. The best known and the largest of the three was the “Santa-Maria”. This ship had a length of keel of 60.68 feet and a length over all of 128.25 feet with a total breadth of 25.71 feet. The Chicago Exposition of 1893 exhibited a model of this vessel of which ~Holmes~’s work gives a reproduction on p. 85. The discovery of America gave rise to the thirst for gold, drove the nations of North-Western Europe to venture on the high seas and obliged them to go actively into shipbuilding. The rise of the Netherlands then was important; the size of their ships grew greatly, and as far back as the XVIth century, vessels of 300, 400, 500 and 600 tons were found. However, smaller vessels continued to be used, in preference, for war because they were more easily handled. (See, among others, ~de Jonge~, Vol. I, p. 81.)