were missiles called "serpents," which appear to have been a species of rocket charged with, and impelled by the slow explosion of, the mixture.
Few notices have been handed down to us concerning the individual ships, or the officers and seamen of Richard's day. In or about 1197 a sum of £12 15s. 2½d. was paid by the king for the repair of the Bishop of Durham's "great ship"; £10 was the expense of sending her to London from the north (apparently from Stockton-on-Tees), and 13s. 4d. was the recompense of her master, Robert de Stockton. We know also that Richard's favourite galley was named Trench-the-Mer,[1] or "Cleave the Sea," and that her captain, who brought Richard back to England in 1194 after his crusade and captivity, was Alan Trenchemer. Whether Alan took his name from the galley or the galley took her name from her captain cannot be determined; but other Trenchemers are mentioned as having lived and sailed then and thereafter. Nicolas[2] suggests that the people of the ship may have been known as Trenchemer's, just as in later times the crew of the Victory were known as Victory's, and the crew of the Duke of Wellington as Duke's; but there is little direct evidence that the fashion of calling people after their ships, though usual in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, is of very ancient date.
There is small doubt that the flag of St. George was first introduced by Richard as the regular national ensign; and there is no doubt at all that Richard first adopted the national coat-of-arms: Gules, three lions passant gardant Or.
The leaders of the fleet organised by Richard in 1189 for his expedition to Palestine are called indifferently ductores et gubernatores totius navigii regis; justiciarii navigii regis; and ductores et constabularii navigii regis.[3] Under the king, they were the admirals[4] of the armada; and their names were Gerard, Archbishop of Aix, Bernard, Bishop of Bayonne, Robert de Sabloil, Richard de Camville, and William de Fortz, of Oleron. Camville was the founder of Combe Abbey in Warwickshire. Another distinguished yet subsidiary leader was Sir Stephen de Turnham,[5] who in the previous reign had been Seneschal of Anjou, and who commanded
