Archive Results For: Tudors
Spinola’s Galleys in the Narrow Seas, 1599–1603
Randal Gray focuses on Frederico Spinola, scion of an influential and wealthy Genoese family who persuaded King Philip III to give him command of an amphibious raiding force of six galleys based on Flanders as a precursor to an invasion of Elizabeth’s realm. Spinola’s innovative use of galleys – a weapon falling out of favour, […] Read More
Filed under: Tudors | English Channel
Subjects include: Navies
Vice-Admiral Woodhouse and Shipkeeping in the Tudor Navy
Shipkeepers were professional navy men, maintaining royal ships in peace and forming cadres for wartime crews. Not until Elizabeth 1’s reign was a regular pattern of perpetual shipkeeping established. Vice Admiral Sir William Woodhouse’s ‘book’ on the keeping of the Queen’s ships in Gillingham provided a valuable template to follow, used shortly after his death […] Read More
Filed under: Tudors
Subjects include: Administration | Harbours & Dockyards | Manpower & Life at Sea
The Rock of Sintra: Colombus’s Landfall
The paper argues that the subject matter of a painting in the National Maritime Museum has been wrongly described. The author maintains that it depicts Colombus’s landfall on return to Europe in 1493 after his first voyage of discovery and not the Infanta Donna Beatriz arriving in Villefranche in 1522. A following Note from the […] Read More
Filed under: Atlantic | Tudors | High Middle Ages | Mediterranean
Subjects include: Art & Music | Historic Vessels, Museums & Restoration
The Old Poor Law and Maritime Apprenticeship
Tudor legislation, as amended from time to time until the dissolution of the Old Poor Law in 1834, made provision for the apprenticing of pauper children at the expense of the parish. Indentures and other documents show boys apprenticed to maritime trades, and bound to the masters of fishing vessels and of coastal ships. After […] Read More
Filed under: Tudors | English Channel | North Sea
Subjects include: Administration | Manpower & Life at Sea
Spanish Armada Guns
In this article, the author goes into great detail researching the guns of the Spanish Armada of 1588, and reappraised the conclusions reached in The Spanish Armada, by Michael Lewis. In some ways, Lewis is confirmed, but generally it is proven that the Spanish were sufficiently under gunned, when compared to the English, that they […] Read More
Filed under: Tudors | English Channel | The Armada
Subjects include: Weapons
Comments on ‘List of Ships in the Royal Navy from 1539 to 1588’
This article is a sequel to this author’s work given in the title, in which he provides additional information on L’Artigo, Mary Willoughby, Bark Ager, The Galley Mermaid, The Galley Elleanor and the Row Barges of Henry VIII in the light of recent comments from readers. Read More
Filed under: Tudors | English Channel | North Sea
Subjects include: Archaeology
English Oared Vessels of the Sixteenth Century Part II
Ten types of smaller oared vessels are considered in detail, with descriptions of each type, with dimensions, complement and capability. The galleasse and rowbarge are the subject of a greater discussion, as ships built for naval purposes. The other types are mercantile or fishing craft hired as required for naval purposes. Read More
Filed under: Tudors | The Armada | Other (location)
Subjects include: Historic Vessels, Museums & Restoration
English Oared Vessels of the Sixteenth Century Part I
Large fleets of fast manoeuvrable oar-powered naval galleys were maintained in the 16th century in the Mediterranean by the Turks, Venetians, French and Spanish. Being oar-powered they needed to be of light construction necessitating docking afloat. Despite being most unsuited to northern waters and no match for vessels with a broadside, there is record of […] Read More
Filed under: Tudors | The Armada | Other (location)
Subjects include: Shipbuilding & Design
Bristol Carpenters’ Nails 1492–1586
There were seventeen types of handmade nails named in the Bristol Mayors’ accounts. Unfortunately, the length is not given but can be inferred from the price. The most common nail was the cawfote, cawfott, calfatte or calfot nail. Calfatting means caulking but the name may refer to the large nails used to batten the hatches, […] Read More
Filed under: Tudors | English Channel
Subjects include: Leisure & Small Craft | Shipbuilding & Design
Ships of Private Origin in the Mid-Tudor Navy: the Lartigue, the Salamander, the Mary Willoughby, the Bark Aucher and the Galley Blanchard
These five ships, not Royal-built nor always in Royal service, illustrate the readiness of the Tudor navy to embrace diversity. Lartigue was engaged in Franco-Scottish diplomacy and English espionage. Salamander transported royalty and took part in the Channel battles. Mary Willoughby, when captured by the Scots, became a successful merchant raider, before being recaptured. Bark […] Read More
Filed under: Atlantic | Tudors | English Channel | High Middle Ages | North Sea | Mediterranean
Subjects include: Administration | Merchant Marines | Navies | Pirates, Corsairs & Privateers