“In King Henry VIII time, and in his presence at Portsmouth, the Mary Rose, by a little sway of the ship in tacking about, her ports being within sixteen inches of the water, was overset and lost. “We have also raised our second decks, and given more vent thereby to our ordnance lying on our nether-loop. We have added cross pillars[14] in our royal ships to strengthen them, which be fastened from the keels on to the beam of the second deck to keep them from setting or from giving way in all distresses. “We have given longer floors to our ships than in elder times, and better bearing under water, whereby they never fall into the sea after the head and shake the whole body, nor sink astern, nor stoop upon a wind, by which the breaking loose of our ordnance, or of the not use of them, with many other discommodities are avoided. “And, to say the truth, a miserable shame and dishonour it were for our shipwrights if they did not exceed all others in the setting up of our Royal ships, _the errors of other nations being far more excusable than ours_. For the Kings of England have for many years _being at the charge to build and furnish a navy of powerful ships for their own defence, and for the wars only. Whereas the_ French, the Spaniards, the Portuguese, and the Hollanders (till of late) _have had no proper fleet belonging to their Princes or States._ Only the Venetians for a long time have maintained their arsenal of gallies. And the Kings of Denmark and Sweden have had good ships for these last fifty years. “I say that the aforenamed Kings, especially the Spaniards and Portugals, have ships of great bulk, but fitter for the merchant than for the man-of-war, for burthen than for _battle_. But as Popelimire well observeth, ‘the forces of Princes by sea are marques de grandeur d’estate--marks of the greatness of an estate--for _whosoever commands the sea, commands the trade; whosoever commands the trade of the world commands the riches of the world, and consequently the world itself_.’ “Yet, can I not deny but that the Spaniards, being afraid of their Indian fleets, have built some few very good ships; _but he hath no ships in garrison_, as His Majesty hath; and to say the truth, no sure place to keep them in, but in all invasions he is driven to take up of all nations which come into his ports for trade.... * * * * *