Elizabethan Sea Dogs | Page 6

lodgment in

America, though both sent out a number of expeditions, both fished on
the cod banks of Newfoundland, and each had already marked out her
own 'sphere of influence.' The Portuguese were in Brazil; the Spaniards,
in South and Central America. England, by right of the Bristol voyages,
claimed the eastern coasts of the United States and Canada; France, in
virtue of Cartier's discovery, the region of the St. Lawrence. But, while
New Spain and New Portugal flourished in the sixteenth century, New
France and New England were yet to rise.
In the sixteenth century both France and England were occupied with
momentous things at home. France was torn with religious wars. Tudor
England had much work to do before any effective English colonies
could be planted. Oversea dominions are nothing without sufficient sea
power, naval and mercantile, to win, to hold, and foster them. But
Tudor England was gradually forming those naval and merchant
services without which there could have been neither British Empire
nor United States.
Henry VIII had faults which have been trumpeted about the world from
his own day to ours. But of all English sovereigns he stands foremost as
the monarch of the sea. Young, handsome, learned, exceedingly
accomplished, gloriously strong in body and in mind, Henry mounted
the throne in 1509 with the hearty good will of nearly all his subjects.
Before England could become the mother country of an empire
overseas, she had to shake off her medieval weaknesses, become a
strongly unified modern state, and arm herself against any probable
combination of hostile foreign states. Happily for herself and for her
future colonists, Henry was richly endowed with strength and skill for
his task. With one hand he welded England into political unity,
crushing disruptive forces by the way. With the other he gradually built
up a fleet the like of which the world had never seen. He had the
advantage of being more independent of parliamentary supplies than
any other sovereign. From his thrifty father he had inherited what was
then an almost fabulous sum--nine million dollars in cash. From what
his friends call the conversion, and his enemies the spoliation, of
Church property in England he obtained many millions more.
Moreover, the people as a whole always rallied to his call whenever he

wanted other national resources for the national defence.
Henry's unique distinction is that he effected the momentous change
from an ancient to a modern fleet. This supreme achievement
constitutes his real title to the lasting gratitude of English-speaking
peoples. His first care when he came to the throne in 1509 was for the
safety of the 'Broade Ditch,' as he called the English Channel. His last
great act was to establish in 1546 'The Office of the Admiralty and
Marine Affairs.' During the thirty-seven years between his accession
and the creation of this Navy Board the pregnant change was made.
'King Henry loved a man.' He had an unerring eye for choosing the
right leaders. He delighted in everything to do with ships and shipping.
He mixed freely with naval men and merchant skippers, visited the
dockyards, promoted several improved types of vessels, and always
befriended Fletcher of Rye, the shipwright who discovered the art of
tacking and thereby revolutionized navigation. Nor was the King only a
patron. He invented a new type of vessel himself and thoroughly
mastered scientific gunnery. He was the first of national leaders to
grasp the full significance of what could be done by broadsides fired
from sailing ships against the mediaeval type of vessel that still
depended more on oars than on sails.
Henry's maritime rivals were the two greatest monarchs of continental
Europe, Francis I of France and Charles V of Spain. Henry, Francis,
and Charles were all young, all ambitious, and all exceedingly capable
men. Henry had the fewest subjects, Charles by far the most. Francis
had a compact kingdom well situated for a great European land power.
Henry had one equally well situated for a great European sea power.
Charles ruled vast dominions scattered over both the New World and
the Old. The destinies of mankind turned mostly on the rivalry between
these three protagonists and their successors.
Charles V was heir to several crowns. He ruled Spain, the Netherlands,
the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and important principalities in
northern Italy. He was elected Emperor of Germany. He owned
enormous oversea dominions in Africa; and the two Americas soon
became New Spain. He governed each part of his European dominions

by a different title and under a different constitution. He had no fixed
imperial capital, but moved about from place to place, a legitimate
sovereign everywhere and, for the most part, a popular one as well. It
was his son Philip II who, failing of election as Emperor, lived