Number of vessels engaged,
and their form.
The stories as to the number of vessels under
the orders of the Conqueror on this memorable
expedition are very conflicting. Some writers have
asserted that the total number amounted to no less
than three thousand, of which six or seven hundred
were of a superior order, the remainder consisting
chiefly of boats temporarily built, and of the most
fragile description. Others place the whole fleet at
not more than eight hundred vessels of every sort,
and this number is likely to be the nearest to the
truth. There are now no means of ascertaining
their size; but their form may be conjectured from
the representations of these vessels on the famous
roll of tapestry still preserved at Bayeux, from which
the following has been copied.[1]
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It is related that when William meditated his
descent upon England, he ordered for that purpose
- ↑ It will be observed that in this, as in other boats, in the tapestry, the steersman holds the sheet in his left hand. The man at the masthead may indicate the sailor whom Wace (who heard the story from his father) says William sent aloft to look out.—Will. Poict., p. 199.
