The old regulations remained in force up to the end of the eighteenth century, but were omitted from those that were published about the Trafalgar period. The orders given by William III for guidance of officers when _outside_ English seas were made universal, so that for some unknown reason we finally abandoned our claims at the very time we were in a better position to enforce them than we had ever been before. The old system rather partook of the way the proverbial Irishman in search of "divarsion" asks "if any gintleman will be good enough to thread on the tail of his coat", but it had its advantages. Had it been now in force it is practically certain that some German commander would have challenged it long before the German fleet had reached its present proportions, after which there would have been no German fleet. Again, there could have been no difficulties with neutral nations about contraband or conditional contraband. As the whole sea from Norway to Finisterre would have been recognized as British, no one could have disputed our right to close it to anybody or anything that suited our book. When it comes to fighting, other nations do not thank us for having played "Uriah Heep" beforehand. It has possibly induced them to fight instead of settling the dispute in some other way. "Striking the sail" is now a thing of the past, but it is customary for merchant-vessels to "dip" their flags to kings' ships. As for men-of-war, they no longer exchange salutes of this kind when they meet at sea. FOOTNOTES: [31] "Bonnet", an extra piece of canvas laced to a sail to enlarge it. "Vail", to lower. [32] Or _Convertine_, originally the _Destiny_. [33] Guizot, _Cromwell, and the English Commonwealth_. [34] Louis XIV of France. CHAPTER X The Evolution of Naval Gunnery "It was great pity, so it was, That villanous salt-petre should be digg'd Out of the bowels of the harmless earth, Which many a good tall fellow had destroy'd So cowardly; and, but for those vile guns, He would himself have been a soldier." Hotspur describing his meeting with a "popinjay" after a battle. SHAKESPEARE. _King Henry IV._ Act I, Scene iii. "Earth and air were badly shaken By thy humane discovery, Friar Bacon." BYRON. _Don Juan._ VIII, 33. "The hand-spikes, sponges, rammers, crows, Were well arranged about; And to annoy Old England's foes, The Great Guns were run out." --_Old Verses._ "WHO invented gunpowder?" There is only one definite and reliable answer to this question, and that is that nobody knows. It has been stated, but I think that it may be dismissed as a "galley yarn", that the first mention of artillery is to be found in an account of a naval engagement between the Phoenicians and Iberians in the year 1100 B.C.--just eighty-seven years after the siege of Troy.