deemed it of importance to build some vessels specially for war, instead of relying entirely upon ships hired from the merchants, and more or less hastily and imperfectly adapted for it, and he strengthened the Navy Royal by adding to it at least two finer men-of-war than had been previously seen in England.
With the crown he acquired the Grace à Dieu,[1] the Governor,[2] the Martin Garcia,[3] the Mary of the Tower,[4] the Trinity, the Falcon, and possibly the Bonaventure. He purchased the Carvel of Ewe[5] (Caravel of Eu, in Normandy), and perhaps also a small craft called the King's Bark; he captured the Margaret in 1490; and he built the Regent, the Sovereign, the Sweepstake, and the Mary Fortune.
The tonnage and dimensions of the Regent[6] and the Sovereign are unknown; but it is tolerably certain that both ships were larger and more powerful than any of their predecessors in the English navy.
The Regent was constructed in Reding Creek, on the Rother, under the supervision of Sir Richard Guildford,[7] and seems to have been launched in 1489 or 1490. She carried 225 serpentines, all apparently on the upper deck, forecastle, and poop. She had a foremast and foretop-mast,[8] a main-mast, main top-mast, and main top-gallant-mast, a main mizen-mast, a bonaventure mizen-mast, and a sprit-sail on the bowsprit. Each mast seems to have carried a yard. The Regent was burnt in 1512.
The Sovereign was constructed, partly out of the remains of the broken-up Grace à Dieu, under the superintendence of Sir Reginald Bray,[9] and, in all likelihood, was launched in 1488. She was smaller than the Regent, carrying only 141 serpentines. Her masts were like those of the Regent, except that she had no main top-gallant-mast.[10]
- ↑ Probably bought or built, 1473.
- ↑ Bought, 1485. Excheq. Warr. for Issues, January 31st, 1485.
- ↑ Probably bought, 1470. Excheq. Warr. for Issues, July 18th, 1470.
- ↑ Bought, 1478.
- ↑ Re-named Mary and John.
- ↑ It is known, however, that the Regent was copied from a French ship, the Columbe, of 600 tons.
- ↑ Son of Sir John Guildford, of Hempsted. He was made Master of the Ordnance in 1486, then Controller of the Household, and, in 1500, a K.G.
- ↑ These top-masts were separate spars, but fixed, and not strikable.
- ↑ Later, a Privy Councillor and K.G. He was the architect of St. George's Chapel, Windsor, and of Henry VII.'s Chapel, Westminster.
- ↑ Nav. Accts. and Inventories of Henry VII. (Oppenheim), pref. xix-xxiv.
