swiftness;'[1] and the fortune of the day was changed. The enemy were afraid to turn, lest they should be run over; if they attempted to escape into the wind, they would be cut off from their own fleet. The main line advanced barely in time to save them; and the English, whose object was to draw the enemy into action under the guns of their own fortresses and among the shoals at the Spit, retired to their old ground. The loss on both sides had been insignificant; but the occasion was rendered memorable by a misfortune. The 'Mary Rose,' a ship of six hundred tons, and one of the finest in the navy, was among the vessels engaged with the galleys. She was commanded by Sir Greorge Carew, and manned with a crew who were said, all of them, to be fitter, in their own conceit, to order than obey, and to be incompetent for ordinary work. The ports were open for action, the guns were run out, and, in consequence of the calm, had been imperfectly secured. The breeze rising suddenly, and the vessel heeling slightly over, the windward tier slipped across the deck, and, as she yielded further to the weight, the lee ports were depressed below the water-line, the ship instantly filled, and carried down with her every soul who was on board.[2]
- ↑ The action is related with great minuteness in Du Bellay's Memoirs.
- ↑ The French believed, not unnaturally, that the 'Mary Rose' sank from the effect of their shot. But the cause of the accident was ascertained beyond all doubt.—See State Papers, vol. i. p. 794. There are also several letters, by eye-witnesses, in MS. in the State Paper Office on the subject. The hull has been recently broken up, and some of the guns have been recovered. A good account of the loss may be bought at Portsmouth,
