Genoese carracks* hired for this service. Meantime a "great and mighty" army was raised, with the intention of encamping before Boulogne, while the fleet was executing its part of the campaign, and there erecting a fort, in which 4000 or 5000 men might be left, to curb the garrison and command the entrance of the harbour. This work was to be ready by the middle of August, at which time it was calculated the fleet would have performed its object and have returned. His plan then was to march in person against Guisnes, take it, fortify it, hold Calais and the Terre d'Oye in subjection from thence, and thus cutting Boulogne off from all supplies either by sea or land reduce that place by famine. The command by sea was intrusted to admiral d'Annebault, by land to mareschal de Biez. As Francis was on his way from Romorentin to Havre de Grace, that he might in person superintend the embarkation of the troops who were to plant the French flag in the Isle of Wight and at Portsmouth, a fleet hove in sight, which he supposed to be the English, about to make a descent on Normandy, They proved, however, to be his own ships from the Mediterranean ; but in a few days the English appeared. The lord admiral Dudley, hearing that the French king's shipsroyal were riding in the fosse between Havre and Harfleur, thought it not impossible to make a present of some of them to his own king, or else to burn them where they were. He had embargoed some hulks in the Downs; and his plan was to hire eight of these for the king's service, like other stranger ships, but to man them with some of his own sailors, "which be the men," said he, "that must do the feat." Thus manned, he intended that some of his small vessels should chase them into the mouth of the Seine, and then turn about and give over the pursuit, when he would bring the whole * Seymour's intelligence was, that the galleys were to bring with them from the Mediterranean "all manner of great ships that they could meet withal, as Venetians, Arragonese, Italians, or whatsoever they might be, either by fair means or foul"-State Papers, 776. Du Bellay, 208–211. HENRY AT PORTSMOUTH. 217 fleet in sight before the mouth of that river, the better to deceive the enemy. While the French were engaged in watching his movements, these hulks were simultaneously, by two and two, to lay on board the great carrack, and two or three other of the greatest ships which lay next her, and, if the wind and tide did not serve for bringing them out, they were to set them on fire, and escape in their boats. The great boats and small rowers of the fleet were to be in readiness, well appointed, to succour them within the river, so that even though the galleys should be there, he trusted few or no lives would be lost: the chief adventure, he said, was in the hulks, which were better to be adventured than any of the king's own ships. The fleet with which Dudley sailed upon this enterprise consisted of 160 sail; and it appears not to have been feasible when he reached the spot. The French force there was estimated at 200, besides the galleys: he thought it imprudent to set upon them where they lay, both by reason of his inferiority in number, and because none of his vessels would have been serviceable in shoal water. As he approached near enough to fire at them, this brought the galleys out to exchange shot, and at first to their great advantage, it being perfectly calm. "Twice either party assaulted each other with shot of their great artillery; but suddenly the wind rose so high that the galleys could not endure the rage of the seas," and the English, for fear of the shoals, stood out to sea. They seem also to have thought the enemy so formidable as to determine upon returning immediately to defend their own shores.* Henry had, at this time, repaired to Portsmouth, "to see his realm defended." A new fortress had been erected there, which excited the admiration of all be * State Papers, 787. Holinshed, 847. Du Bellay, 219. The French author says, that thirty-five English ships appeared before the chef de Caux, and that "tirèrent à coup perdu en terre;" but when the galleys made towards them, they retreated to Portsmouth. The difference between this brief statement and Holinshed's account shows that Dudley approached the coast with the intention of acting upon his preconcerted holders *; but the force appointed to garrison it consisted only of a captain, twelve gunners, eight soldiers, and a porter. The town, however, was now adequately supplied: the Isle of Wight, also, was prepared to give the enemy an English welcome; and preparations were not neglected upon the coasts of Kent and Essex, and along the east coast, though the points which the French intended to attack were known by sure intelligence. The enemy met with some disasters at their outset: the Genoese carracks arrived too late; and most of them, by the fault of the pilots, it is said, were lost in the mouth of the Seine. The admiral's ship, le Philippe, was accounted not only the most beautiful ship but the best sailer then upon the seas. The admiral, Philippe Chabot, had it built at Havre, as a present for the king. It was of 1200 tons burden, and carried 100 large brass guns. Just before the expedition sailed, the king meant to give an entertainment on board to the ladies of the court; and in preparing for this, owing to the carelessness of the cooks, the ship took fire. It was impossible to stop the progress of the flames; and when the guns began to go off, the galleys no longer dared approach to pick up the poor wretches who leaped into the water. The money for the payment of the fleet was on board, and this was saved. Montluc was in the expedition; and when he saw this fine ship thus miserably destroyed at setting forth, he had little hope that any good fortune could attend it.† The French fleet consisted of 150 great ships, sixty smaller ones, and twenty-five galleys. They sailed on * Sir Antony Knyvet, in a letter to the king, says it "may be called a castle, both for the compass, strength, and beauty; and the device and fashion thereof is strange, and marvellously praised of all men that have seen it, with the commodious and profitable situation thereof, as well for the defence of this your majesty's town and haven, as of the country thereabouts. The like is not within the realm. I dare say your majesty had never so great a piece of work done, and so substantial, in so little time, as all skilful men that have seen it do report."-State Papers, 771. + Du Bellay, 213. Bleaury Hist. du Havre de Grace (quoted in the Coll. Gen. des. Mém. t. xxii. p. 445. Montluc, 322. 66 The Flovins they are called by Du Bellay; espèce de petits vaisseaux, says the editor, rassemblants à ce que nous appellons flûtes." editor complains that the abbé Lambert, in his edition of Du Bellay, has curtailed the narrative of this expedition. "Ces retranchemens," he FRENCH FLEET AT ST. HELENS. 219 the 16th of July, and arriving off Brighthelmston on the 18th, landed troops there to burn and spoil the country; but the beacons were fired, and the people collected in such strength, and exerted themselves with such good speed, that the invaders re-embarked with some loss.* They then proceeded to the Isle of Wight, with the intention of provoking the English fleet to come out from Portsmouth, and giving it battle. They cast anchor at St. Helens, and sent sixteen of their galleys to insult the English in the harbour: baron de la Garde commanded this part of the fleet; a person infamous in history for the atrocities which he had recently perpetrated against the Vaudois at Cabrières and Merindol. The English were neither unprepared for this defiance nor unwilling to accept it: they set forth to meet the bold invaders," and still the one shot hotly at the other; but the wind was so calm that the king's ships could bear no sail, which greatly grieved the minds of the Englishmen, and made the enemy more bold to approach with their galleys, and to assail the ships with their shot, even in the haven." On the admiral's return to St. Helens, after this day's ineffectual action, he was informed that La Maîtresse, which was the best ship in his fleet, and the one in which he meant to have fought himself, had sprung so dangerous a leak, in consequence of some injury which she had received in leaving Havre, that it was necessary to take every thing out of her, and send her back to be repaired. A more fatal mishap occurred on the morrow in the English fleet, when they came out meaning to give battle; for "in setting forward, the goodly ship called the Mary Rose was, through too much folly, drowned in the midst of the haven; by reason that she was overladen with ordnance, and the ports, which were very low †, had been left open, and observes, "nous semblent d'autant plus déplacés que la relation de cette campagne de mer est la première dont il soit question dans l'Histoire de la Marine Françoise. Quoique cette marine fût dans son enfance, les efforts qu'elle tenta contre l'Angleterre méritent l'attention du lecteur." *Holinshed, 848. p. 214. +"The under sill of the lower tier was not more than sixteen inches from the water's edge." the great artillery unbreeched, so that when the ship should turn, the water entered, and suddenly she sunk." Her captain, sir George Carew, was on board, with 400 soldiers, and not more than forty persons were saved.* M. d'Annebault thought at this time, by means of his galleys, to draw the English out, and he arranged his fleet to receive them, taking the van himself with thirty ships, and having thirty-six in each flank. The loss of the Mary Rose was not the only unfortunate circumstance with which the action commenced: the wind fell, and the galleys, which were ably commanded, had for about an hour greatly the advantage; but then the wind rose, and they escaped destruction only by the skill of the sailors, and the great exertions of the rowers. The English row-bargest distressed them in their retreat; for the galleys, having no guns at the poop, were unable to defend themselves, and did not dare turn upon their pursuers lest the ships should be upon them. A Du Bellay * Grafton. Hall, 863. Holinshed, 848. Charnock, ii. 52. (218.) says, this ship was sunk by the enemy's fire, "à coupe de canon fût mis au fonds." This is proved to be false by the State Papers recently published, in which Russell, writing to Paget, says, “ I am very sorry of the unhappy and the unfortunate chance of the Mary Rose, which through such rechenes and great negligence should be in such wise cast away, with those that were within her." P. 794. These papers contain (796.) "a remembrance of things necessary for the recovery, with the help of God, of the Mary Rose." In the list are thirty Venetian mariners and one Venetian carpenter, "and sixty English mariners to attend upon them." It seems, therefore, that it was upon the skill of the Venetians that they depended for raising her. "We have much-a-do to frame every thing for the Mary Rose; but all that may possibly be done is done for the same. The worst is, we must forbear three of the greatest hulks of the fleet till the thing be done, which must be emptied of all their victuals, ordnance, and ballast during the business, which will be a great weakening to the navy, if any thing in the mean time shall happen." (Lisle to Paget, Aug. 2.) "As touching the Mary Rose, her sails and sail-yards be laid on land; and to her masts there are tied three cables, with other engines, to weigh her up; and on every side of her a hulk to set her upright, which is thought by the doers thereof, God willing, to be done to-morrow, some time in the day. And that done, they purpose to discharge her of water, ordnance, and all other things, with as much diligence as is possible, and, by little and little, to bring her nearer to the shore; and as we shall from time to time work with her to save her, his majesty shall be advertised accordingly." (Suffolk to Paget, Aug. 5.) "The Mary Rose (which I trust, with the leave of God, shall be brought up right once to-morrow,) hath so charged all the king's majesty's shipwrights with making engines for the same, that they have had no leisure to attend any other thing, sithence his majesty's departure hence." (Lisle to Paget, Aug. 5.) + Ramberges Du Bellay calls them. |