Archive Results For: Tudors
Cavendish’s Last Voyage Part II: Purposes Revealed and Concealed
The objectives of Thomas Cavendish’s disastrous second voyage (1591-93) were ostensibly to capture Spanish merchant ships and trade with China, repeating the success of his earlier round-the-world expedition. Analysis of the personnel carried aboard his vessels and surviving accounts, however, suggest that he may have also intended to found a colony at São Vincente, Brazil, […] Read More
Filed under: Atlantic | Tudors | Mutiny & Discipline | Health at Sea | Pacific
Subjects include: Pirates, Corsairs & Privateers | Science & Exploration
Chester, Liverpool and the Basque Region in the Sixteenth Century
The reign of Elizabeth I saw increased commercial hostilities between England and Spain. The Basque region offered trading opportunities remote from the control of Spanish and French monarchs. Chester and Liverpool were similarly distant from the Tudor court. These North Western ports developed trade with the Basque region. Liverpool and Chester merchants struggled to maintain […] Read More
Filed under: Tudors | Irish Sea | Antarctic
Subjects include: Merchant Marines
Training and Education in the Elizabethan Maritime Community, 1585-1603
Apprenticeship at sea served the usual Elizabethan goals of technical education and social discipline. There was no formal seamen’s guild to regulate marine apprenticeship, but examinations were proposed to mirror those used in Spain. Instead inertia maintained the individual decisions made by mariners to train the young. There was a legal basis for apprentices, where […] Read More
Filed under: Tudors | Other (location)
Subjects include: Administration | Manpower & Life at Sea
The Rise of the English Sailcloth Industry 1565-1643: Coastal Trade Records as an Indicator of Import Substitution
During the period of the Tudors, when England was developing into a major maritime power, much of the naval stores required for shipbuilding were imported from across the North Sea. At this time Ipswich became a significant centre for the production of numerous types of sailcloth. Using the Ipswich port books Morris demonstrates how, in […] Read More
Filed under: Tudors | North Sea
Subjects include: Shipbuilding & Design
Note: Sir Francis Drake Discovered Cape Horn
A close examination of the geography and historical evidence shows that Drake did discover Cape Horn, and not merely the cape on Henderson Island. Read More
Filed under: Atlantic | Tudors | Francis Drake
Subjects include: Miscellaneous
Note: John Malyn and the Projected Assault on ‘New Haven’ in Queen Mary’s War.
This account continues the articles already published in MM 1967, and establishes which New Haven was attacked, and the role played by the vice-admiral. Read More
Filed under: Tudors | English Channel
Subjects include: Battles & Tactics
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