Archive Results For: Tudors
The Experience of the Sixteenth-Century English Voyages to Guinea
English voyages were later than Spanish, French and Portuguese. Trade was initially in gold, ivory, spices and hides, but Hawkins’ voyages in the 1560s carried slaves to the Caribbean. Outbound voyages ‘coasted’ down the western side of Europe and Africa; return voyages struck out into the Atlantic to find helpful winds and currents. Merchants’ Agents […] Read More
Filed under: Atlantic | Tudors | Health at Sea | Caribbean
Subjects include: Merchant Marines | Ship Handling & Seamanship
Henry Seckford: Sixteenth Century Merchant, Courtier and Privateer
Henry Seckford was a vigorous, thrusting and quite ruthless merchant and businessman, always seeking the best route to personal profit whilst at the same time serving others. Henry Seckford was hedging his bets too. From the evidence it seems he turned from the Spanish wine trade to more speculative ventures in less sure markets – […] Read More
Filed under: Atlantic | Tudors | English Channel | The Armada | Pacific | East India Company | Other (location)
Subjects include: Merchant Marines | Navies | Pirates, Corsairs & Privateers | Science & Exploration | Strategy & Diplomacy
The Development of Broadside Gunnery 1450-1650
The article criticises several assumptions by later British historians such as Sir Julian Corbett about the origins of the heavy-gunned ‘broadside’ vessel and associated English battle tactics especially during the Spanish Armada campaign. Many guns were considered ‘fixed’, the ship was aimed. English carriages allowed for transverse positioning though the number of actual gunners remained […] Read More
Filed under: Atlantic | Tudors | English Channel | The Armada
Subjects include: Battles & Tactics | Navies | Weapons
The Dreadnought Revolution of Tudor England
The author asks how the Royal Navy developed different types of capital warships and tactics which defeated the Spanish Armada. Utilising detailed charts, graphs and appendices, four main reasons are cited: ‘race-built’ designs, concentration of heavy guns aboard ship, superior rate-of-fire and handling of ordnance, and reliable long-term funding from the English crown. Dreadnought, launched […] Read More
Filed under: Atlantic | Tudors | English Channel | The Armada
Subjects include: Battles & Tactics | Navies | Weapons
William Towerson’s Rutter for the Margate – Emden Navigation, 1564
The author sheds some light on the little known life of 16th century merchant mariner William Towerson and his important role in England’s commercial expansion. Towerson’s Rutter for the Margate to Emden sea route provides navigational information at a critical time of England’s cloth trade. The usual route for English woollen merchants was from London […] Read More
Filed under: Tudors | North Sea
Subjects include: Harbours & Dockyards | Merchant Marines | Ship Handling & Seamanship
English Operations around Brest, 1594
Although the war between England and Spain from 1585 to 1603 was the widest conflict to date, the limited resources of the English meant that they were unable to hold New World ports for long or to ensure a strong enough presence at sea to intercept Spanish treasure ships by the blocking of their sea […] Read More
Filed under: Atlantic | Tudors | Francis Drake | English Channel
Subjects include: Battles & Tactics | Logistics | Manpower & Life at Sea | Navies | Strategy & Diplomacy
Royal Ships and Their Flags in the Late Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries
Flags and heraldic symbols helped distinguish ships when literacy was uncommon. Royal inventories give details of the materials used in this period. Contemporary illustrations and descriptions indicate the designs used and accounts for some years give more details of the costs and work involved in their manufacture. Read More
Filed under: Tudors | Other (location)
Subjects include: Miscellaneous
Cavendish’s Last Voyage Part I: the Charges Against Davis
Thomas Cavendish’s round the world voyage of 1586-88 richly rewarded everyone who was involved. The fleet in Cavendish’s 1591-93 expedition consisted of five vessels, including the Desire part owned and captained by John Davis. Davis in his dedication of the Seaman’s Secrets to Lord Howard of Heffingham, denies with a good deal of conviction the […] Read More
Filed under: Atlantic | Tudors | Health at Sea | Pacific | Other (location)
Subjects include: Manpower & Life at Sea | Science & Exploration | Ship Handling & Seamanship
Some Early Tidal Diagrams
The earliest surviving tidal diagram is in the Catalan World Atlas, dating from 1375 and was circular in form. The Hague Atlas of c1541-1547 contained a tidal calculator which enabled tides to be calculated for as many as 81 different locations. The pocket-sized Brouscon Almanac of 1546 used chartlets rather than lists or circular diagrams. […] Read More
Filed under: Tudors | Other (location)
Subjects include: Miscellaneous | Science & Exploration
Sea Surgeons, Health and England’s Maritime Expansion: the West African Trade 1553 – 1660
Alsop’s short study concentrates on the seriously life-threatening commerce with equatorial West Africa. Ships surgeons in the Royal Navy feature regularly in the historiography but those in the merchant marine rarely appear. With the expansion of long distance trade during the Tudor and early Stuart era the problems of mortality, ill health and incapacitation of […] Read More
Filed under: Atlantic | Tudors | Health at Sea
Subjects include: Manpower & Life at Sea | Merchant Marines