Fighting Instructions, 1530-1816 | Page 8

board your enemy enter not till you see the smoke gone and
then shoot off[3] all your pieces, your port-pieces, the pieces of
hail-shot, [and] cross-bow shot to beat his cage deck, and if you see his

deck well ridden[4] then enter with your best men, but first win his tops
in any wise if it be possible. In case you see there come rescue bulge[5]
the enemy ship [but] first take heed your own men be retired, [and] take
the captain with certain of the best with him, the rest [to be] committed
to the sea, for else they will turn upon you to your confusion.
The admiral ought to have this order before he joins battle with the
enemy, that all his ships shall bear a flag in their mizen-tops, and
himself one in the foremast beside the mainmast, that everyone may
know his own fleet by that token. If he see a hard match with the
enemy and be to leeward, then to gather his fleet together and seem to
flee, and flee indeed for this purpose till the enemy draw within
gunshot. And when the enemy doth shoot then [he shall] shoot again,
and make all the smoke he can to the intent the enemy shall not see the
ships, and [then] suddenly hale up his tackle aboard,[6] and have the
wind of the enemy. And by this policy it is possible to win the
weather-gage of the enemy, and then he hath a great advantage, and
this may well be done if it be well foreseen beforehand, and every
captain and master made privy to it beforehand at whatsoever time such
disadvantage shall happen.
The admiral shall not take in hand any exploit to land or enter into any
harbour enemy with the king's ships, but[7] he call a council and make
the captains privy to his device and the best masters in the fleet or
pilots, known to be skilful men on that coast or place where he
intendeth to do his exploit, and by good advice. Otherwise the fault
ought to be laid on the admiral if anything should happen but well.[8]
And if he did an exploit without assent of the captains and [it] proved
well, the king ought to put him out of his room for purposing a matter
of such charge of his own brain, whereby the whole fleet might fall into
the hands of the enemy to the destruction of the king's people.[29]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] _A Book of Orders for the War both by Land and Sea, written by
Thomas Audley at the command of King Henry VIII.

[2] _I.e._ hinder.
[3] MS. 'the shot of.' The whole MS. has evidently been very carelessly
copied and is full of small blunders, which have been corrected in the
text above. 'Board' till comparatively recent times meant to close with a
ship. 'Enter' was our modern 'board.'
[4] 'Ridden' = 'cleared.'
[5] 'Bulge' = 'scuttle.' A ship was said to bulge herself when she ran
aground and filled.
[6] The passage should probably read 'hale or haul his tacks aboard.'
[7] _I.e._ 'without,' 'unless.'
[8] It was under this old rule that Boroughs lodged his protest against
Drake's entering Cadiz in 1587.
[9] The rest of the articles relate to discipline, internal order of ships,
and securing prize cargoes.

THE ADOPTION OF SPANISH TACTICS BY HENRY VIII
INTRODUCTORY
These two sets of orders were drawn up by the lord high admiral in
rapid succession in August 1545, during the second stage of Henry
VIII's last war with France. In the previous month D'Annibault, the
French admiral, had been compelled to abandon his attempt on
Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight, and retire to recruit upon his own
coast; and Lord Lisle was about to go out and endeavour to bring him
to action.
The orders, it will be seen, are a distinct advance on those of 1530, and
betray strongly the influence of Spanish ideas as formulated, by De
Chaves. So striking indeed is the resemblance in many points; that we

perhaps may trace it to Henry's recent alliance with Charles V. The
main difference was that Henry's 'wings' were composed of oared craft,
and to form them of sufficient strength he had had some of the newest
and smartest 'galliasses,' or 'galleys'--that is, his vessels specially built
for men-of-war--fitted with oars. The reason for this was that the
French fleet was a mixed one, the sailing division having been
reinforced by a squadron of galleys from the Mediterranean. The
elaborate attempts to combine the two types tactically--a problem
which the Italian admirals had hitherto found insoluble--points to an
advanced study of the naval art that is entirely characteristic of Henry
VIII.
The main idea of the first order is of a vanguard