or only partially decked vessel, of not more than fifty tons burden steered by two paddles over the quarter—violently on to a ledge of rocks, now called Ras de Catteville. The sea rushed in, and all on board, except two men, were lost. As soon as his ship struck, the prince and a few others got into a small boat and pushed off, but, returning to the aid of his sister, many persons jumped in the boat and all were drowned. The prince's body was carried away by the current and never recovered. Fitzstephen, the captain, whose father had carried William the Conqueror to England, and who held his office by virtue of providing a passage for his sovereign, rose once to the surface and asked, "What has become of the king's son?" Being answered, "We have not seen him, nor his brother, nor his sister, nor any of their companions," he exclaimed, "Woe is me!" and sank back into the sea. For three days no one ventured to break the news to Henry who, the old chroniclers say, was so stricken with the tidings that he fainted away and was never seen to smile again.

Not until the time of the Crusades, however, did maritime commerce undergo any marked development, and England take her place among sea-faring peoples. Whatever the Crusades may have done for the Cross, they gave the first impetus to English maritime enterprise, and European industry progressed with the conquests of the Crusaders. On ascending the throne Richard Cœur de Lion made vast levies to equip an expedition to the Holy Land. The fleet numbered one hundred vessels, the most of which had been collected from the south and west of England, and from the continental ports of the House of Anjou, Richard's own ship being named "Trenche-le-mer," presumably because it was a swift sailer. It was from Messina, on March 27th, 1190, that Richard dated his charter to the Cinque Ports.

The reign of Richard marked another epoch in the naval history of Britain, for he issued the first articles for the government of an English fleet. If any man slew another on board a ship, he was to be fastened to the dead body and thrown with it into the sea; if the murder was committed on shore, he was to be bound to the corpse, and buried with it. If any one was convicted by legal testimony of drawing his knife upon another, or of drawing blood in any manner, he was to lose his hand. For giving a blow with the hand without producing blood, the offender was to be plunged three times into the sea. If any one reviled or insulted another, he was on every occasion to pay to the offended party an ounce of silver. A thief was to have his head shaven, boiling pitch poured upon it, and feathers shaken over him, as a mark by which he might be known; and he was to be put ashore at the first land at which the ship might touch.

In the reign of John a close approach was made to a regular naval establishment, and a kind of dockyard appears to have existed at Portsmouth, for the Sheriff of Southampton was commanded to cause the docks at Portsmouth to be enclosed with a strong wall to preserve the king's ships and galleys, and to cause pent-houses to be erected for their stores and tackle. The king had galleys, long ships, and great ships; all allusions to which, however, make it clear that the largest vessels had only one mast and sail. But no admiral or commander of the fleets appears to have been created, and the chief management of the navy was for many years entrusted to William de Wrotham, Archdeacon of Taunton, who was designated "Keeper of the King's Ships," and also "Keeper of the Seaports."

The expulsion of John from his dominions in Normandy in 1203 opened a new chapter in English history and brought the Cinque Ports prominently into notice, as frequently repeated orders were issued to the barons of the ports to "guard the seas." By their vigilant guard, it is alleged, the excommunication which followed the Pope's Interdict in 1208 was so long prevented from making its way across the Channel, and they were certainly the moving spirits in the great maritime exploit which help to redeem the gloom of John's reign.

Philip of France, obeying the exhortation of the Pope to assist in dethroning John, had made extensive preparations for the invasion of England, and when in 1213 John became the Pope's vassal Philip did not like the idea of giving up the project. John, therefore, found it necessary to adopt retaliatory measures. All men capable of bearing arms were ordered to assemble at Dover "for the defence of the king's and their own heads, and the land of England," and the bailiffs of all the ports were forbidden to suffer any ship to sail without the king's express authority. The French king entered Flanders to punish the count, who had refused to join the expedition against John, and despatched all the ships which he had collected to the port of Damme, the harbour of which, though of "wonderful size," could not contain all the French ships, which are said to have numbered one thousand seven hundred sail. Thither the English fleet, of five hundred sail the greater portion consisting of ships from the Cinque Ports, under William Longsword, proceeded at the urgent summons of the count. On the arrival of the English they found that the French had landed and were ravaging the surrounding country, whereupon they attacked the fleet in the harbour, and three hundred vessels laden with corn, wine, and arms, fell into English hands. The cables of the captured vessels were cut, and the wind being off the land, they were soon on the passage to England. About a hundred others were burnt, and the first great naval victory recorded in English annals was complete.

The attitude of the Cinque Ports during the period immediately preceding the granting of the Great Charter of English Liberties is obscure. They are mentioned as guaranteed in their franchises when the Charter took its final shape under Henry III., and it is clear that, when the baronage invited Louis of France to depose the faithless King of England, the ports resolved to stand by the House of Plantagenet. John's unexpected death in 1216, at a time when London and a great part of Kent were in the power of Louis, found the Cinque Ports—though Sandwich had been burnt by the French—staunch to the loyal Earl of Pembroke—marshal of the kingdom, and supporters of the boy-king, Henry III.

The following year, however, was destined to become memorable in the history of naval warfare, for in August, 1217, the French fleet of one hundred vessels put to sea with a view to a descent upon the Thames. Hubert de Burgh, with the seamen of the Cinque Port ships, assembled in Dover Harbour, and as the hostile fleet was descried from Dover Cliffs, on the 24th forty ships dashed out of the harbour to challenge French supremacy in England by engaging in the first regular sea-fight of modern history. "It appears," says Sir W. H. Nicholas, "that the wind was southerly, blowing fresh; and the French were going large steering round the North Foreland, little expecting any opposition. The English squadron, instead of directly approaching the enemy, kept their wind as if going to Calais, which made Eustace, the French commander, exclaim, 'I know that those wretches think to invade Calais like thieves; but that is useless, for it is well defended!' As soon as the English had gained the wind of the French fleet, they bore down in the most gallant manner upon the enemy's rear; and the moment they came close to the sterns of the French ships they threw grapnels into them, and, thus fastening the vessels together, prevented the enemy from escaping—an early instance of that love of close fighting for which English sailors have ever since been distinguished. The action commenced by the English cross-bowmen and archers pouring volleys