G THE GUNS ON THE MAIN DECK, 1782.

THE BLOWING UP OF _L'ORIENT_ DURING THE BATTLE OF THE NILE.

THE BATTLE OF COPENHAGEN, APRIL 2nd, 1801. (Note the British line
ahead.)

The _VICTORY_. Nelson's Flagship at Trafalgar, launched in 1765, and
still used as the flagship in Portsmouth Harbour.

TRAFALGAR. 21st October, 1805.

MODEL OF THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR. (Reproduced by permission from the
model at the Royal United Service Institution.)

THE _SHANNON_ AND THE _CHESAPEAKE_.

THE _ROYAL WILLIAM_. Canadian built; the first boat to cross any ocean
steaming the whole way (1833), the first steamer in the world to fire a
shot in action (May 5, 1836).

BATTLESHIP.

Seaplane Returning after flight.

DESTROYER.

A PARTING SHOT FROM THE TURKS AT GALLIPOLI.

JELLICOE.

BEATTY.

LIGHT CRUISER.

H.M.S. _Monmouth_, Armoured Cruiser. Sunk at Coronel, November 1st,
1914.

BATTLESHIP FIRING A BROADSIDE.

Jellicoe's Battle Fleet in Columns of Divisions. 6.14 P.M.

THE BATTLE OF JUTLAND--PLAN II. Jellicoe's battle line formed and
fighting. 6:38 P.M.

British Submarine.

Minesweeper at work.

H.M. KING GEORGE V.

FLAG AND FLEET

BOOK I

THE ROWING AGE

CHAPTER I

THE VERY BEGINNING OP SEA-POWER

(10,000 years and more B.C.)

Thousands and thousands of years ago a naked savage in southern Asia
found that he could climb about quite safely on a floating log. One
day another savage found that floating down stream on a log was very
much easier than working his way through the woods. This taught him
the first advantage of sea-power, which is, that you can often go
better by water than land. Then a third savage with a turn for trying
new things found out what every lumberjack and punter knows, that you
need a pole if you want to shove your log along or steer it to the
proper place.

By and by some still more clever savage tied two logs together and made
the first raft. This soon taught him the second advantage of
sea-power, which is, that, as a rule, you can carry goods very much
better by water than land. Even now, if you want to move many big and
heavy things a thousand miles you can nearly always do it ten times
better in a ship than in a train, and ten times better in a train than
by carts and horses on the very best of roads. Of course a raft is a
poor, slow, clumsy sort of ship; no ship at all, in fact. But when
rafts were the only "ships" in the world there certainly were