drawn to the water by means of ropes running through a block attached to a post; or have their single mast struck by being lowered forward; or are laden with from three to eight horses, as well as with men. The hulls of all are painted in horizontal stripes, blue, yellow, and red being the predominating colours. The horses are represented as reaching the shore by the simple process of jumping over the gunwales into the water, and then wading or swimming. The captain of the Mora was Stephen Fitz Erard, father or grandfather of the Thomas Fitz Stephen, who, in 1120, commanded the Blanche Nef, and perished with her, Prince William, and about one hundred and forty of the nobility, besides servants, on the rocks of the Ras de Carteville. Mathilda, wife of the Conqueror, for her services in providing the Mora, was given the county of Kent.[1] Fitz Erard was exempted from taxation in respect of his house at Southampton.[2]
According to some authorities, among whom Wace is to be included, William destroyed or burnt his fleet after he had effected his landing in England; but the fact is doubtful. The probability is, that if he destroyed any craft at all, he destroyed only the small temporary vessels which had been knocked together for the invasion, and which promised to be useless for other purposes; for there is no evidence that he ever underrated the value of a navy; and all that we know of him tends to prove the contrary. It is true, however, that at the beginning of his reign, he seems to have had but a small one. The greater part of the old navy of Harold had been carried off to Ireland, after that prince's death, by his sons Godwin, Magnus, and Edmund; and the comparative impunity of the various sea rovers and others who attacked the kingdom soon after the Conquest, shows that William's fleet was insignificant for the moment. It may, nevertheless, have still included all the regular warships which had taken part in the descent of 1066. But at the earliest opportunity the Conqueror largely increased it; and five years after his success, if not before, he had a respectable fighting force at sea.
It was partially supported, at least towards the conclusion of the reign, by means of a revived Danegeld, or Heregeld. In 1084 the rate was six shillings the hide of land. Under William Rufus,
