shortest mizen. She had a high forecastle and poop, from which
the crew could shoot down upon the deck or waist of another
vessel. The object was to have a sort of castle at each end of
the ship. This style of shipbuilding was doubtless borrowed from
the Venetians, then the greatest naval power in Europe. The
length of the masts, the height of the ship above the water's
edge, and the ornaments and decorations, were better adapted for
the stillness of the Adriatic and Mediterranean Seas, than for
the boisterous ocean of the northern parts of Europe.[7] The
story long prevailed that "the Great Harry swept a dozen flocks
of sheep off the Isle of Man with her bob-stay." An American
gentleman (N.B. Anderson, LL.D., Boston) informed the present
author that this saying is still proverbial amongst the United
States sailors.

The same features were reproduced in merchant ships. Most of
them were suited for defence, to prevent the attacks of pirates,
which swarmed the seas round the coast at that time.
Shipbuilding by the natives in private shipyards was in a
miserable condition. Mr. Willet, in his memoir relative to the
navy, observes: "It is said, and I believe with truth, that at
this time (the middle of the sixteenth century) there was not a
private builder between London Bridge and Gravesend, who could
lay down a ship in the mould left from a Navy Board's draught,
without applying to a tinker who lived in Knave's Acre."[8]

Another ship of some note built at the instance of Henry VIII.
was the Mary Rose, of the portage of 500 tons. We find her in
the "pond at Deptford" in 1515. Seven years later, in the
thirtieth year of Henry VIII.'s reign, she was sent to sea, with