rapid succession in August 1545, during the second stage of Henry
VIII's last war with France. In the previous month D'Annibault, the
French admiral, had been compelled to abandon his attempt on
Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight, and retire to recruit upon his own
coast; and Lord Lisle was about to go out and endeavour to bring him
to action.

The orders, it will be seen, are a distinct advance on those of 1530,
and betray strongly the influence of Spanish ideas as formulated, by
De Chaves. So striking indeed is the resemblance in many points; that
we perhaps may trace it to Henry's recent alliance with Charles V. The
main difference was that Henry's 'wings' were composed of oared craft,
and to form them of sufficient strength he had had some of the newest
and smartest 'galliasses,' or 'galleys'--that is, his vessels
specially built for men-of-war--fitted with oars. The reason for this
was that the French fleet was a mixed one, the sailing division having
been reinforced by a squadron of galleys from the Mediterranean. The
elaborate attempts to combine the two types tactically--a problem
which the Italian admirals had hitherto found insoluble--points to an
advanced study of the naval art that is entirely characteristic of
Henry VIII.

The main idea of the first order is of a vanguard in three ranks,
formed of the most powerful hired merchant ships and the king's own
galleons and great ships, and supported by a strong rearguard of
smaller armed merchantmen, and by two oared wings on either flank
composed of royal and private vessels combined. The vanguard was to be
marshalled with its three ranks so adjusted that its general form was
that of a blunt wedge. In the first rank come eight of the large
merchantmen, mainly Hanseatic vessels; in the second, ten of the royal