five other English ships of war, to protect such commerce as then
existed from the depredations of the French and Scotch pirates.
The Mary Rose was sent many years later (in 1544) with the
English fleet to the coast of France, but returned with the rest
of the fleet to Portsmouth without entering into any engagement.
While laid at anchor, not far from the place where the Royal
George afterwards went down, and the ship was under repair, her
gun-ports being very low when she was laid over, "the shipp
turned, the water entered, and sodainly she sanke."

What was to be done? There were no English engineers or workmen
who could raise the ship. Accordingly, Henry VIII. sent to
Venice for assistance, and when the men arrived, Pietro de
Andreas was dispatched with the Venetian marines and carpenters
to raise the Mary Rose. Sixty English mariners were appointed to
attend upon them. The Venetians were then the skilled "heads,"
the English were only the "hands." Nevertheless they failed with
all their efforts; and it was not until the year 1836 that Mr.
Dean, the engineer, succeeded in raising not only the Royal
George, but the Mary Rose, and cleared the roadstead at
Portsmouth of the remains of the sunken ships.

When Elizabeth ascended the throne in 1558, the commerce and
navigation of England were still of very small amount. The
population of the kingdom amounted to only about five
millions--not much more than the population of London is now.
The country had little commerce, and what it had was still mostly
in the hands of foreigners. The Hanse towns had their large
entrepot for merchandise in Cannon Street, on the site of the
present Cannon Street Station. The wool was still sent abroad to