Great Britain -- History; Great Britain -- History, Naval
[17] She was first called the _Gret Carrick_, then _Imperyall Carrick_,
next _Henry Imperiall_. The name _Henri Grace à Dieu_ was written with
all kinds of variations; sometimes she was merely called the _Harry_,
and finally, after King Harry's death, the _Edward_.
[18] Each of the Carews adopted the badge of a ship's "fighting-top",
which still appears as the crest of the family.
CHAPTER VII
From Elizabeth to Victoria
"Hearts of oak are our ships,
Gallant tars are our men,
We always are ready,
Steady, boys, steady!
We'll fight and we'll conquer again and again."
GARRICK.
WE have now followed the story of our navy, its ships, and its men up to
the time when the three-masted, many-gunned man-of-war with two or three
decks, and relying entirely on sail-power for propulsion, made its
appearance. This class of vessel, with, of course, gradual improvements,
remained the principal fighting-unit, not only in our own, but in all
other navies right up to the time of the introduction of steam power,
and indeed we may almost say later; as, though provided with engines of
no very great horse power, the sails, rigging, and hulls of our
line-of-battle ships at the time of the introduction of the ironclad
were practically the same as those of the ships which fought at
Trafalgar. We are, in fact, entering on the period beginning with the
time--
"When that great fleet Invincible, against us bore in vain
The richest spoils of Mexico, the stoutest hearts of Spain",
and ending with the imposing but indecisive operations of the combined
British and French fleets in the Crimean War.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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