Page:Royalnavyhistory01clow.djvu/191

The hote sommer hadde made his hewe al broun;
And certainly he was a good felaw;
Ful many a draught of win he hadde draw
From Burdeux ward while that the chapmen slepe;
Of nice conscience toke he no kepe.
If that he faught and hadde the higher hand,
By water he sent hem home to every land.
But of his craft, to reken wel his tides,
His stremes, and his strandes, him besides,
His herberwe, his mone, and his lodemanage,
Ther was non swiche from Hull unto Cartage.
Hardy he was, and wise, I undertake;
With many a tempest hedde his herd be shake:
He knew wel alle the havens as they were
From Gotland to the Cape de Finistere,
And every creke in Bretagne and in Saine:
His barge yeleped was the Magdelaine."^[1]

At various times during the earlier half of the present century there were recovered from the sand on the western side of the Isle of Walney, at the mouth of Morcambe Bay, a number of old and other naval relics. These have been attributed to the time of Richard II. It may be doubted whether they date back to so remote a period as the end of the fourteenth century; but they are certainly among the most ancient naval relics in existence; and a brief account of them, together with a print of some of them, reproduced from the Nautical Magazine of November, 1844, may fitly find a place here.

No. 1, when first found, was nearly perfect, and about ten feet in length. The breech was in the middle, at which part the piece was strengthened by means of additional hoops of iron. It was a gun with two touch-holes, one on either side of the central breech; and it could be fired from both ends simultaneously. Near to each muzzle, on the upper side, was a ring. The gun was a built-up one. The tube, or inner lining, consisted of three curved plates of iron, each ⅓ inch thick, disposed like the staves of a cask, but, apparently, not forged or welded together. These were held in place by hammered bands or hoops, driven on one after another, and overbound at their points of junction by strong iron rings. The gun was damaged by the original finders, who sought to work it up at a forge.

No. 2 is a small piece, 2 feet in length, and 2 inches in calibre. It is of wrought iron, formed of bars welded together and hooped, and has two strong rings whereby it may be handled, but neither trunnions nor cascable. Found with it was a cast-iron ball suited to its calibre.

Nos. 3 and 4 are pieces of wrought iron without hoops. They are supposed to be "chambers," or movable breech-pieces; which, however, were probably capable, upon occasion, of being fired independently.

One of three other "chambers" discovered, contained a charge

1. 'Canterbury Tales,' Prologue.