"large ships" to be constructed at his seaports, collecting, wherever they could be found, smaller vessels or boats to accompany them. But even the largest must have been of little value, as the whole fleet were by his orders burned and destroyed as soon as he landed with his army, so as to cut off all retreat and to save the expense of their maintenance.[1]
Those of our readers who have visited the north of Scotland, during the herring-fishery season, will readily notice the resemblance to the traditional form of the war vessels of the Saxons in the eleventh century exhibited by the larger boats owned by the present Wick or Lerwick fishermen. But as we have more than once had occasion to observe, though we are greatly indebted to antiquaries for their researches, the few drawings of ancient vessels preserved are scarcely objects of instruction. Even the vessels on the Bayeux tapestry give us little that is definite, and we can hardly infer from them more than that we see in them an ideal but imperfect representation of the boats which were hastily constructed for William the Norman; while we may at the same time feel sure that the Saxon and Danish ships in ordinary use must have been stronger and
- ↑ Mr. Freeman, who has recently and most fully examined every record relating to the Norman invasion, states that he finds the largest number of ships recorded to have amounted to 3000, the smallest to 693. Most of the ships were gifts from the great barons or prelates. Thus, W. Fitz-Osborn gave 60; the Count de Mortain, 120; the Bishop of Bayeux, 100; while the finest of all, that in which William himself came over, was presented to him by his Duchess Matilda, and was called the "Mora." (E. A. Freeman, "Norman Conquest," vol. iii. c. 15, pp 376-1381. 1869.) Sir H. Nicolas has examined at considerable length the evidence of the Bayeux Tapestry, pp. 63-66.
