understood that they are not answerable for any opinions or
observations that may appear in the Society's publications; For these
the responsibility rests entirely with the Editors of the several
works.




PREFACE


The inaccessibility of the official Fighting Instructions from time to
time issued to the fleet has long been a recognised stumbling-block to
students of naval history. Only a few copies of them were generally
known to exist; fewer still could readily be consulted by the public,
and of these the best known had been wrongly dated. The discovery
therefore of a number of seventeenth century Instructions amongst the
Earl of Dartmouth's papers, which he had generously placed at the
disposal of the Society, seemed to encourage an attempt to make
something like a complete collection. The result, such as it is, is
now offered to the Society. It is by no means exhaustive. Some sets of
Instructions seem to be lost beyond recall; but, on the other hand, a
good deal of hitherto barren ground has been filled, and it is hoped
that the collection may be of some assistance for a fresh study of the
principles which underlie the development of naval tactics.

It is of course as documents in the history of tactics that the
Fighting Instructions have the greatest practical value, and with this
aspect of them in view I have done my best to illustrate their
genesis, intention, and significance by extracts from contemporary