Chapter X: The Sovereignty of the Seas

THE FIGHT FOR THE FLAG.

At the close of the first historic period of the St. George Jack we saw it reigning supreme upon the seas around the shores of England. The great Armada had, in 1588, been met and shattered, and its squadrons so relentlessly pursued around the British Isles that but a remnant remained to struggle back to Spain and tell the story of their defeat.

After such a victory as this the red cross flag of the "Navie Royall" sailed the Narrow Seas with more assurance than ever, claiming and receiving the obeisance of all vessels that were passing by. The ancient policy of Alfred and of John had been as much esteemed during this Elizabethan period, and its principles adhered to as earnestly and for the same reason as in the earliest days; but the increase of merchant shipping and the rise of the business fleets of England now gave a new reason for its being maintained beyond the old one of self-defence. With the advent of long-distance voyages riches were now to be found beyond the confines of the Narrow Seas. Sir Walter Raleigh stated the new reason with a terseness which four centuries of phrase-making has not since excelled. Said he: "_Whosoever commands the sea commands the trade; whosoever commands the trade of the world commands the riches of the world, and consequently the world itself_."

The sovereignty of the seas had in this way developed a trade value; yet, whatever may have been the real and underlying causes, the contests for the supremacy which for the next hundred years kept simmering between the nations, bursting out at times into blasts of open war, arose ostensibly from disputes between the guardians of the rival fleets regarding the honourable precedence to be accorded to their respective flags.

The sea-rovers of Elizabeth had developed into something very like "gentleman-buccaneers." They ranged the oceans, preying upon the Spanish and Portuguese ships wherever they were to be found, and returned in joyousness, bringing home their booty. The maritime eagerness of the people was whetted by these prizes, and it is said that even the Queen herself was not averse to accepting from her good subjects, Drake and Hawkins, a share of the proceeds of their prowess. The reign of the Jack of James I. had scarce begun when a neighbouring maritime rival arose to assume formidable proportions. Nurtured in the hardy school of their fishing fleets, and practised in distant voyages by traffic with their possessions in the East Indies, the Dutch merchantmen not only copied the English methods of preying abroad on the ships of other nations, but also began to employ themselves actively in carrying the water-borne business of their own merchants, and next, which was an intrusion much more objectionable, to enter into competition with the English ships in carrying the merchandise for the other nations of Europe. Thus the passage of the Dutch fleets along the coasts of Europe greatly increased. As soon as the Spanish war was over, Sir William Monson, the Admiral of the Narrow Seas, demanded that the ships of all other nations should, as of old, lower their flags in the presence of his own, "a courtesy which could not," he announced, "be challenged by right, but now that the war was ended, His Majesty James I. demanded the full recognition of such rights and duties as belonged to his predecessors."[48]

[48] Monson's "Naval Tracts."

These old rights the Admiral and his officers accordingly proceeded to enforce.

The spirit of the British sailors under the King's new two-crossed Jack was still the same as under the English Jack, and one is reminded of the old pride in the flag by an instance which is narrated as having occurred under James I. One of the ministers of Henry IV. of France had embarked at Calais to cross to England in a French ship wearing the French flag at the main. The commander of the English despatch boat, which had been sent to escort him, on meeting him in the channel, ordered the French ship to lower her flag. "The Duke of Sully, considering that his quality freed him from such an affront, boldly refused, but this refusal was followed by his receiving three cannon shots which pierced his ships. Might forced him to yield what right forbade, and for all the complaints he made he could get no better reply from the English captain than this: '_That just as his duty obliged him to honour the ambassador's rank, so it also obliged him to exact the honour due to the flag of his master as Sovereign of the Seas_.'"[49]

[49] Richelieu.

The "rufflings" increased in frequency, and the contest went merrily on, as the Dutch, increasing in enterprise and volume of shipping, chafed still more under the domination of the English admirals. In this restlessness they were encouraged by the differences which were raging between King Charles I. and his Parliament. The latter thwarted the King's efforts at sea and refused to contribute to the levy of "ship-money," declaring it to be an "insufferable tax"; while he, without their concurrence, was attempting to strengthen the navy, which he had created to assert the King of England's right to the sovereignty of the seas and for the protection of his shores, by the maintenance of the old Alfred policy. The King's sailors felt keenly the increasing insolence of the passing Dutch ships, as wrote one old salt:

"What affront can be greater, or what can make a man valianter, than a dishonour done to prince and country, especially by a people that was wont to know no more than how to catch, pickle, and feed fish."[50]

[50] Monson.

Notwithstanding the Parliament's objections, an English navy was at one time collected of sufficient strength that, when the Dutch and French fleets joined together in 1635 with the avowed intention of contesting the command of the sea, its simply sailing out to meet them overawed their forces, as reports Monson:

"It is to be observed that the greatest threateners are the least fighters; and so it fared with them; for they no sooner heard of our readiness to find them, but they plucked in their horns and quitted our coast, never more repairing to it."

The King's opponents averred that the quarrels with the Dutch over the honour due to the flag were fomented only for the purpose of forming an excuse for extorting more money by the objectionable ship-money, whose proceeds, they alleged, were expended for very different purposes than the maintenance of the navy. So the people resisted, while the King persisted. Later on, during the Civil War, English ships, manned by Royalist supporters of the King, were engaged in fighting against English ships manned by supporters of the Parliament, and each party was preying upon the merchant adherents of the other. Meantime, the Dutch maritime power continued to grow. The struggle between the Parliament and the King resulted in the defeat and execution of Charles, and the weakening of the fleet by these dissensions brought on the humiliation of the English flag during the first Dutch war.

Under Cromwell, in 1648, the St. George cross had been restored.

The Council of State took heart, and showed by their actions that once more the homage due the national flag was held by them in as great esteem as it had been by the King and his party in the royal days. The orders to their naval commanders were explicit:

"And, whereas, the dominion of these seas has, time out of mind, undoubtedly belonged to this nation, and the ships of all other nations, in acknowledgment of that dominion, have used to take down their flags upon sight of the Admiral of England, and not to bear it in his presence, you are, as much as in you lies, to endeavour to preserve the dominion of the sea, and to cause the ships of all other nations to strike their flags and not to bear them up in your presence, and to compel such as are refractory therein by seizing their ships and sending them to be punished, according to the Laws of the Sea, unless they yield obedience and make such repair as you approve."[51]

[51] Bloomfield: "The National Flag."

The Commonwealth of England, in self-defence of their shipping, and as a direct blow against the Dutch, enacted the celebrated Navigation Act of 1651, directing that all goods imported into the Kingdom of Britain, or into her colonies, must be carried either in English ships or in those of the country whence the cargo was obtained.

The Dutch and English navies sailed the seas watching the movements of each other's flags, and minding the welfare of their merchant marine. Bickerings were frequent, but in May, 1652, off Dover, Tromp brought the right to salute to a crisis. The nations were then at peace, when the Dutch fleet bore down in strength upon the English without lowering their colours. As soon as Tromp was within musket-shot the English Admiral gave orders to fire at his flag. At the third shot Tromp answered by a broadside. In such way, through an episode regarding a flag, the first Dutch War began.[52] Although the Parliament had become alive to the value of a navy, yet the unpreparedness of the previous years now told its tale, for when the season of 1652 had closed, the Dutch had swept the English flag from the Narrow Seas, and Tromp is traditionally reported to have triumphantly carried a broom at his masthead as a sign of his complete success.

[52] Hannay: "Short History of the Royal Navy."

Tromp's glory was of but short duration, for the Roundhead dragoon, Blake, nicknamed "The cavalryman at sea," soon clipped his wings. In return for the compliment of the previous year, Blake, after his victory, ran up a pennant on his mast, long and narrow like a whiplash, to show that he had in his turn driven the Dutchman off the seas; and the whiplash masthead pennants, with the St. George cross in the white ground at the head (22), borne on all His Majesty's ships in commission, serve as reminders of the story of this exploit to the present day.[53]

[53] These masthead pennants, with the St. George cross at the head, are worn on all His Majesty's ships in commission. They vary in length from 9 to 60 feet, and in width 2-1/2 inches to 4 inches, and are worn as a sign of command both night and day.

Peace followed in 1654. In this treaty of peace the Dutch agreed that:

"The ships of the Dutch--as well in ships of war as others--meeting any of the ships of war of the English Commonwealth in the British Seas, shall strike their flags and lower their topsail in such manner as hath ever been at any time heretofore practised under any form of government."

Thus had the old sea supremacy of the nation of England, claimed by King John, been again acknowledged; but on this occasion it was for the first time accorded to England by the terms of a formal treaty.

It was the red cross Jack of St. George, introduced by Richard I., and raised as his "Royal Flag" by King John, which had in previous times received the honour of the "Sovereign Lordship of the seas." We have seen how for a while its place had been shared by the additional two-crossed Jack of James: but now, by the incident of the temporary dissolution with Scotland under the Commonwealth, the English Jack was once more reigning in sole possession of the flag-staff, to receive by the terms of this treaty the renewal of that proud homage which its single red cross had received four centuries before. It was a happy coincidence which the flag of the seafaring Englishman most fully deserved.

Afterwards when the Jack of Queen Anne had taken its place in the Union Ensign, the same claim of supremacy was upheld. Under George III. the instructions issued to the British navy for salutes to be given and received stated:

"When any of His Majesty's ships shall meet with any ship belonging to any Foreign Prince or State within His Majesty's seas (which extend to Cape Finisterre), it is expected that the said Foreign ships do strike their topsail, and take in their flag in acknowledgment of His Majesty's Sovereignty in those seas."[54]

[54] Regulations and instructions relating to His Majesty's Service at sea, 1790.

This sovereignty so valiantly for so many centuries maintained was again gloriously achieved when Nelson at Trafalgar swept the combined forces of the French and Spanish navies from the seas, and made his nation the dominant power on the oceans--a dominance since maintained, not by conflict in attack, but by power and preparation for defence, in which the parent kingdom is now being joined by the daughter dominions in the outer Empire for maintaining inviolate the supremacy of the seas.