Julian S. Corbett - Fighting Instructions, 1530 1816

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The captain-general having now arrayed his whole fleet in one of the
aforesaid orders according as it seems best to him for giving battle,
and everything being ready for battle, all shall bear in mind the
signals he shall have appointed with flag or shot or topsail, that all
may know at what time to attack or board or come to rescue or retreat,
or give chase. The which signals all must understand and remember what
they are to do when such signals are made, and likewise the armed
boats shall take the same care and remember what they ought to do, and
perform their duty.[10]

_Chapter IV.--Battle_

Then the flagship shall bid a trumpet sound, and at that signal all
shall move in their aforesaid order; and as they come into range they
shall commence to play their most powerful artillery, taking care that
the first shots do not miss, for, as I have said, when the first shots
hit, inasmuch as they are the largest, they strike great dread and
terror into the enemy; for seeing how great hurt they suffer, they
think how much greater it will be at close range and so mayhap they
will not want to fight, but strike and surrender or fly, so as not to
come to close quarters.

Having so begun firing, they shall always first play the largest guns,
which are on the side or board towards the enemy, and likewise they
shall move over from the other side those guns which have wheeled
carriages to run on the upper part of the deck and poop.[11] And then
when nearer they should use the smaller ones, and by no means should
they fire them at first, for afar off they will do no hurt, and
besides the enemy will know there is dearth of good artillery and will
take better heart to make or abide an attack. And after having come to
closer quarters then they ought to play the lighter artillery. And so
soon as they come to board or grapple all the other kinds of arms
shall be used, of which I have spoken more particularly: first,
missiles, such as harpoons [_dardos_] and stones, hand-guns
[_escopetas_] and cross-bows, and then the fire-balls aforesaid,
as well from the tops as from the castles, and at the same time the
calthrops, linstocks, stink-balls [_pildoras_], grenades, and the
scorpions for the sails and rigging. At this moment they should sound
all the trumpets, and with a lusty cheer from every ship at once they
should grapple and fight with every kind of weapon, those with staffed
scythes or shear-hooks cutting the enemy's rigging, and the others
with the fire instruments [_trompas y bocas de fuego_] raining
fire down on the enemy's rigging and crew.

The captain-general should encourage all in the battle, and because he
cannot be heard with his voice he should bid the signal for action to
be made with his trumpet or flag or with his topsail.

And he should keep a look-out in every direction in readiness, when he
sees any of his ships in danger, to order the ships of reserve to give
succour, if by chance they have not seen it, or else himself to bear
in with his own ship.

The flagship should take great care not to grapple another, for then
he could not see what is passing in the battle nor control it. And
besides his own side in coming to help and support him might find
themselves out of action; or peradventure if any accident befell him,
the rest of the fleet would be left without guidance and would not
have care to succour one another, but so far as they were able would
fly or take their own course. Accordingly the captain-general should
never be of the first who are to grapple nor should he enter into the
press, so that he may watch the fighting and bring succour where it is
most needed.

The ships of support in like manner should have care to keep somewhat
apart and not to grapple till they see where they should first bring
succour. The more they keep clear the more will they have opportunity
of either standing off and using their guns, or of coming to close
range with their other firearms. Moreover, if any ship of the enemy
takes to flight, they will be able to give chase or get athwart her
hawse, and will be able to watch and give succour wherever the
captain-general signals.

The boats in like manner should not close in till they see the ships
grappled, and then they should come up on the opposite side in the
manner stated above, and carry out their special duties as occasion
arises either with their bases,[12] of which each shall carry its own,
and with their harquebuses, or else by getting close in and wedging up
the rudders, or cutting them and their gear away, or by leaping in
upon the enemy, if they can climb in without being seen, or from
outside by setting fire to them, or scuttling them with augers.[13]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Fernandez Duro, _De algunas obras desconocidas de Cosmografia y de
Namgaaon, &c._ Reprinted from the _Revista de Navegacion y Comercio_.
Madrid, 1894-5.

[2] _Armada Espanola desde la union de los Reines de Castilla y de
Aragon_.

[3] _Entrar y salir_--lit. 'to go in and come out,' a technical military
expression used of light cavalry. It seems generally to signify short
sudden attacks on weak points.

[4] Here follow directions for telling off a fourth of the largest boats
in the fleet for certain duties which are sufficiently explained in the
section on 'Battle' below.

[5] _Unos en pos de otros a la hila_--lit. one behind the other in file.

[6] _En escuadrones o en ala_. In military diction these words meant
'deep formation' and 'single line.' Here probably _ala_ means line
abreast. See next note.

[7] _Cado uno de los escuadrones debe ir en ala_. Here _escuadrone_ must
mean 'squadron' in the modern sense of a division, and from the context
_ala_ can mean nothing but 'line abreast,' 'line ahead' being strictly
forbidden.

[8] This, of course, refers to fire tactics ashore. The meaning is that
a ship, when she has delivered her fire, cannot retire by countermarch
and leave her next in file to deliver its fire in turn. The whole
system, it will be seen, is based on end-on fire, as a preparation for
boarding and small-arm fighting.

[9] _Viniere toda junta puesta in ala_.

[10] This sentence in the original is incomplete, running on into the
next chapter. For clearness the construction has been altered in the
translation.

[11] This remarkable evolution is a little obscure. The Spanish has '_y
moviendo asimismo los otros del otro bordo, aquellos que tienen sus
carretones que andan per cima de cubierta y toldo_.'

[12] _Versos_, breech-loading pieces of the secondary armament of ships,
and for aiming boats. Bases were of the high penetration or 'culverin'
type.

[13] _Dando barrenos_. This curious duty of the armed boats he has more
fully explained in the section on single ship actions, as follows: 'The
ships being grappled, the boat ready equipped should put off to the
enemy's ship under her poop, and get fast hold of her, and first cut
away her rudder, or at least jam it with half a dozen wedges in such
wise that it cannot steer or move, and if there is a chance for more,
without being seen, bore half a dozen auger holes below the water-line,
so that the ship founders.'

The rest of the chapter is concerned with the treatment of the dead and
wounded, pursuit of the enemy when victory is won, and the refitting of
the fleet.

AUDLEY'S FLEET ORDERS,
_circa_ 1530

INTRODUCTORY

The instructions drawn up by Thomas Audley by order of Henry VIII may
be taken as the last word in England of the purely mediaeval time,
before the development of gunnery, and particularly of broadside fire,
had sown the seeds of more modern tactics. They were almost certainly
drafted from long-established precedents, for Audley was a lawyer.
The document is undated, but since Audley is mentioned without any
rank or title, it was probably before November 1531, when he became
serjeant-at-law and king's serjeant, and certainly before May 1632
when he was knighted. It was at this time that Henry VIII was plunging
into his Reformation policy, and had every reason to be prepared for
complications abroad, and particularly with Spain, which was then the
leading naval Power.

The last two articles, increasing the authority of the council of war,
were probably insisted on, as Mr. Oppenheim has pointed out in view
of Sir Edward Howard's attempts on French ports in 1512 and 1513, the
last of which ended in disaster.[1]

FOOTNOTE:

[1] _Administration of the Royal Navy_, p. 63.

_ORDERS TO BE USED BY THE KING'S MAJESTY'S NAVY BY THE SEA_.

[+Brit. Mus. Harleian MSS. 309, fol. 42, et seq.+[1]]

[_Extract_.]

If they meet with the enemy the admiral must apply to get the wind of
the enemy by all the means he can, for that is the advantage. No
private captain should board the admiral enemy but the admiral of the
English, except he cannot come to the enemy's, as the matter may so
fall out without they both the one seek the other. And if they chase
the enemy let them that chase shoot no ordnance till he be ready to
board him, for that will let[2] his ship's way.

Let every ship match equally as near as they can, and leave some
pinnaces at liberty to help the overmatched. And one small ship when
they shall join battle [is] to be attending on the admiral to relieve
him, for the overcoming of the admiral is a great discouragement of
the rest of the other side.

In case you board your enemy enter not till you see the smoke gone and
then shoot off[3] all your pieces, your port-pieces, the pieces of
hail-shot, [and] cross-bow shot to beat his cage deck, and if you see
his deck well ridden[4] then enter with your best men, but first win
his tops in any wise if it be possible. In case you see there come
rescue bulge[5] the enemy ship [but] first take heed your own men be
retired, [and] take the captain with certain of the best with him, the
rest [to be] committed to the sea, for else they will turn upon you to
your confusion.

The admiral ought to have this order before he joins battle with the
enemy, that all his ships shall bear a flag in their mizen-tops, and
himself one in the foremast beside the mainmast, that everyone may
know his own fleet by that token. If he see a hard match with the
enemy and be to leeward, then to gather his fleet together and seem to
flee, and flee indeed for this purpose till the enemy draw within
gunshot. And when the enemy doth shoot then [he shall] shoot again,
and make all the smoke he can to the intent the enemy shall not see
the ships, and [then] suddenly hale up his tackle aboard,[6] and have
the wind of the enemy. And by this policy it is possible to win the
weather-gage of the enemy, and then he hath a great advantage, and
this may well be done if it be well foreseen beforehand, and every
captain and master made privy to it beforehand at whatsoever time such
disadvantage shall happen.

The admiral shall not take in hand any exploit to land or enter into
any harbour enemy with the king's ships, but[7] he call a council and
make the captains privy to his device and the best masters in the
fleet or pilots, known to be skilful men on that coast or place where
he intendeth to do his exploit, and by good advice. Otherwise the
fault ought to be laid on the admiral if anything should happen but
well.[8]

And if he did an exploit without assent of the captains and [it]
proved well, the king ought to put him out of his room for purposing a
matter of such charge of his own brain, whereby the whole fleet might
fall into the hands of the enemy to the destruction of the king's
people.[29]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] _A Book of Orders for the War both by Land and Sea, written by
Thomas Audley at the command of King Henry VIII.

[2] _I.e._ hinder.

[3] MS. 'the shot of.' The whole MS. has evidently been very carelessly
copied and is full of small blunders, which have been corrected in the
text above. 'Board' till comparatively recent times meant to close with
a ship. 'Enter' was our modern 'board.'

[4] 'Ridden' = 'cleared.'

[5] 'Bulge' = 'scuttle.' A ship was said to bulge herself when she ran
aground and filled.

[6] The passage should probably read 'hale or haul his tacks aboard.'

[7] _I.e._ 'without,' 'unless.'

[8] It was under this old rule that Boroughs lodged his protest against
Drake's entering Cadiz in 1587.

[9] The rest of the articles relate to discipline, internal order of
ships, and securing prize cargoes.

THE ADOPTION OF SPANISH TACTICS BY HENRY VIII

INTRODUCTORY

These two sets of orders were drawn up by the lord high admiral in
rapid succession in August 1545, during the second stage of Henry
VIII's last war with France. In the previous month D'Annibault, the
French admiral, had been compelled to abandon his attempt on
Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight, and retire to recruit upon his own
coast; and Lord Lisle was about to go out and endeavour to bring him
to action.

The orders, it will be seen, are a distinct advance on those of 1530,
and betray strongly the influence of Spanish ideas as formulated, by
De Chaves. So striking indeed is the resemblance in many points; that
we perhaps may trace it to Henry's recent alliance with Charles V. The
main difference was that Henry's 'wings' were composed of oared craft,
and to form them of sufficient strength he had had some of the newest
and smartest 'galliasses,' or 'galleys'--that is, his vessels
specially built for men-of-war--fitted with oars. The reason for this
was that the French fleet was a mixed one, the sailing division having
been reinforced by a squadron of galleys from the Mediterranean. The
elaborate attempts to combine the two types tactically--a problem
which the Italian admirals had hitherto found insoluble--points to an
advanced study of the naval art that is entirely characteristic of
Henry VIII.

The main idea of the first order is of a vanguard in three ranks,
formed of the most powerful hired merchant ships and the king's own
galleons and great ships, and supported by a strong rearguard of
smaller armed merchantmen, and by two oared wings on either flank
composed of royal and private vessels combined. The vanguard was to be
marshalled with its three ranks so adjusted that its general form was
that of a blunt wedge. In the first rank come eight of the large
merchantmen, mainly Hanseatic vessels; in the second, ten of the royal
navy and one private vessel; in the third, nineteen second-rate
merchantmen. The tactical aim is clearly that the heavy Hanseatic
ships should, as De Chaves says, receive the first shock and break up
the enemy's formation for the royal ships, while the third rank are in
position to support. The wings, which were specially told off to keep
the galleys in check, correspond to the reserve of De Chaves, and the
importance attached to them is seen in the fact that they contained
all the king's galleons of the latest type.

In the second set of instructions, issued on August 10, this order was
considerably modified. The fleet had been increased by the arrival of
some of the west-country ships, and a new order of battle was drawn up
which is printed in the _State Papers, Henry VIII_ (Old Series),
i. 810. The formation, though still retaining the blunt wedge design,
was simplified. We have now a vanguard of 24 ships, a 'battaill' or
main body of 40 ships, and one 'wing' of 40 oared 'galliasses,
shallops and boats of war.' The 'wing' however, was still capable of
acting in two divisions, for, unlike the vanguard and 'battaill,' it
had a vice-admiral as well as an admiral.

_LORD LISLE, No._ 1, 1545.

[+Le Fleming MSS. No. 2+.][1]

_The Order of Battle_.[2]

THE VANGUARD.

These be the ships appointed for the first rank of the vanguard:

In primis:

The Great Argosy.
The Samson Lubeck.
The Johannes Lubeck.
The Trinity of Dantzig.
The Mary of Hamburg.
The Pellican.
The Morion [of Dantzig].
The 'Sepiar' of Dantzig.
= 8.

The second rank of the vanguard:

The Harry Grace a Dieu.
The Venetian.
The Peter Pomegranate.
The Mathew Gonson.
The Pansy.
The Great Galley.
The Sweepstake.
The Minion.
The Swallow.
The New Bark.
The Saul 'Argaly.'
= 12 (_sic_).

The third rank of the vanguard:

The 'Berste Denar.'
The Falcon Lively.
The Harry Bristol.
The Trinity Smith.
The Margaret of Bristol.
The Trinity Reniger.
The Mary James.
The Pilgrim of Dartmouth.
The Mary Gorge of Rye.
The Thomas Tipkins.
The Gorges Brigges.
The Anne Lively.
= 12.

The John Evangelist.
The Thomas Modell.
The Lartycke [or 'Lartigoe'].
The Christopher Bennet.
The Mary Fortune.
The Mary Marten.
The Trinity Bristol.
= 7.

THE OARED WINGS.

Galleys and ships of the right wing:

The Great Mistress of England.
The Salamander.
The Jennet.
The Lion.
The Greyhound.
The Thomas Greenwich.
The Lesser Pinnace.
The Hind.
The Harry.
The Galley Subtle.
Two boats of Rye.
= 12.

Galleys and ships of the left wing:

The Anne Gallant.
The Unicorn.
The Falcon.
The Dragon.
The Sacre.
The Merlin.
The Rae.
The Reniger pinnace.
The Foyst.
Two boats of Rye.
= 11.

_The Fighting Instructions_.

_Item_. It is to be considered that the ranks must keep such
order in sailing that none impeach another. Wherefore it is requisite
that every of the said ranks keep right way with another, and take
such regard to the observing of the same that no ship pass his fellows
forward nor backward nor slack anything, but [keep] as they were in
one line, and that there may be half a cable length between every of
the ships.

_Item_. The first rank shall make sail straight to the front of
the battle and shall pass through them, and so shall make a short
return to the midwards as they may, and they [are] to have a special
regard to the course of the second rank; which two ranks is appointed
to lay aboard the principal ships of the enemy, every man choosing[3]
his mate as they may, reserving the admiral for my lord admiral.

_Item_. That every ship of the first rank shall bear a flag of
St. George's cross upon the fore topmast for the space of the fight,
which upon the king's determination shall be on Monday, the 10th of
August, _anno_ 1545.[4]

And every ship appointed to the middle rank shall for the space of the
fight bear a flag of St. George's cross upon her mainmast.

And every ship of the third rank shall bear a like flag upon his
mizen[5] mast top, and every of the said wings shall have in their
tops a flag of St. George.

_Item_. The victuallers shall follow the third rank and shall
bear in their tops their flags. Also that neither of the said wings
shall further enter into fight; but, having advantage as near
anigh[6] as they can of the wind, shall give succour as they shall
see occasion, and shall not give care to any of the small vessels to
weaken our force. There be, besides the said ships mentioned, to be
joined to the foresaid battle fifty sail of western ships, and whereof
be seven great hulks of 888 ton apiece, and there is also the number
of 1,200 of soldiers beside mariners in all the said ships.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] A similar list of ships is in a MS. in the Cambridge University
Library.

[2] This paper gives the order of the wings and vanguard only. The fifty
west-country ships that were presumably to form the rearguard had not
yet joined.

[3] MS. 'closing.'

[4] The fleets did not get contact till August 15.

[5] MS. 'messel.'

[6] MS. 'a snare a nye.' The passage is clearly corrupt. Perhaps it
should read 'neither of the said wings shall further enter into the
fight but as nigh as they can keeping advantage of the wind [_i.e._
without losing the weather-gage of any part of the enemy's fleet] but
shall give succour,' &c.

_LORD LISLE, No. 2._

[+Record Office, State Papers, Henry VIII.+]

_The Order for the said Fleet taken by the Lord Admiral the 10th day
of August, 1545_.[1]

1. First, it is to be considered that every of the captains with the
said ships appointed by this order to the vanward, battle and wing
shall ride at anchor according as they be appointed to sail by the
said order; and no ship of any of the said wards or wing shall presume
to come to an anchor before the admiral of the said ward.

2. _Item_, that every captain of the said wards or wing shall be
in everything ordered by the admiral of the same.

3. _Item_, when we shall see a convenient time to fight with the
enemies our vanward shall make with their vanward if they have any;
and if they be in one company, our vanward, taking the advantage of
the wind, shall set upon their foremost rank, bringing them out of
order; and our vice-admiral shall seek to board their vice-admiral,
and every captain shall choose his equal as near as he may.

4. _Item_, the admiral of the wing shall be always in the wind
with his whole company; and when we shall join with the enemies he
shall keep still the advantage of the wind, to the intent he with his
company may the better beat off the galleys from the great ships.[2]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The articles are preceded, like the first ones, by a list of ships
or 'battle order,' showing an organisation into a vanward, main body
(battle), and one wing of oared craft. See Introductory Note, p. 19.

[2] Of the remaining seven articles, five relate to distinguishing
squadronal flags and lights as in the earlier instructions, and the last
one to the Watchword of the night. It is to be 'God save King Henry,'
and the answer, 'And long to reign over us.'

PART II

ELIZABETHAN AND JACOBEAN

SIR WALTER RALEGH, 1617

THE ELIZABETHAN ORIGIN OF RALEGH'S INSTRUCTIONS

INTRODUCTORY

No fighting instructions known to have been issued in the reign of
Elizabeth have been found, nor is there any indication that a regular
order of battle was ever laid down by the seamen-admirals of her
time.[1] Even Howard's great fleet of 1588 had twice been in action
with the Armada before it was so much as organised into squadrons. If
anything of the kind was introduced later in her reign Captain
Nathaniel Boteler, who had served in the Jacobean navy and wrote on
the subject early in the reign of Charles I, was ignorant of it. In
his _Dialogues about Sea Services_, he devotes the sixth to
'Ordering of Fleets in Sailing, Chases, Boardings and Battles,' but
although he suggests a battle order which we know was never put in
practice, he is unable to give one that had been used by an English
fleet.[2] It is not surprising. In the despatches of the Elizabethan
admirals, though they have much to say on strategy, there is not a
word of fleet-tactics, as we understand the thing. The domination of
the seamen's idea of naval warfare, the increasing handiness of ships,
the improved design of their batteries, the special progress made by
Englishmen in guns and gunnery led rapidly to the preference of
broadside gunfire over boarding, and to an exaggeration of the value
of individual mobility; and the old semi-military formations based on
small-arm fighting were abandoned.

At the same time, although the seamen-admirals did not trouble or were
not sufficiently advanced to devise a battle order to suit their new
weapon, there are many indications that, consciously or unconsciously,
they developed a tendency inherent in the broadside idea to fall in
action into a rough line ahead; that is to say, the practice was
usually to break up into groups as occasion dictated, and for each
group to deliver its broadsides in succession on an exposed point of
the enemy's formation. That the armed merchantmen conformed regularly
to this idea is very improbable. The faint pictures we have of their
well-meant efforts present them to us attacking in a loose throng and
masking each other's fire. But that the queen's ships did not attempt
to observe any order is not so clear. When the combined fleet of
Howard and Drake was first sighted by the Armada, it is said by two
Spanish eye-witnesses to have been _in ala_, and 'in very fine
order.' And the second of Adams's charts, upon which the famous House
of Lords' tapestries were designed, actually represents the queen's
ships standing out of Plymouth in line ahead, and coming to the attack
in a similar but already disordered formation. Still there can be no
doubt that, however far a rudimentary form of line ahead was carried
by the Elizabethans, it was a matter of minor tactics and not of a
battle order, and was rather instinctive than the perfected result of
a serious attempt to work out a tactical system. The only actual
account of a fleet formation which we have is still on the old lines,
and it was for review purposes only. Ubaldino, in his second
narrative, which he says was inspired by Drake,[3] relates that when
Drake put out of Plymouth to receive Howard 'he sallied from port to
meet him with his thirty ships in equal ranks, three ships deep,
making honourable display of his masterly and diligent handling, with
the pinnaces and small craft thrown forward as though to reconnoitre
the ships that were approaching, which is their office.' Nothing,
however, is more certain in the unhappily vague accounts of the 1588
campaign than that no such battle order as this was used in action
against the Armada.

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