n the reign of Edward the Second no important maritime event occurred,
though squadrons were occasionally sent away on various services.

It is only by examining carefully into the details given by historians
of the naval combats which took place in those ages, that we can hope to
form a correct guess as to the size and construction of a ship, and the
method of manoeuvring her. We are now coming to a very important epoch
in naval matters, the reign of Edward the Third. 1327, when the
mariner's compass was discovered, or rather became known in Europe, and
cannon were first introduced on board ships.

Edward gained the title of "The King of the Sea," and raised the naval
glory of England to a higher pitch than it had ever before attained by
his many victorious combats on the ocean. The greatest naval engagement
which occurred during the middle ages was that known as the battle of
Sluys, when Philip the Sixth sat on the throne of France. The English
fleet consisted of only 260 ships fit for warfare. The French, whose
fleet amounted to no less than 400 sail, lay securely, as they thought,
in the harbour of Sluys. Edward embarked on board the cog _Thomas_,
commanded by Richard Fyall, and attended by several noblemen. A cog was
a craft larger than those usually designated ships--the cog _John_,
which is spoken of, had a crew of eighty-two men, and probably she
carried besides a considerable number of knights and soldiers. Many
ships of the English fleet must have been of small size. Froissart says
that the French fleet consisted of 140 large ships, besides hanquebos
with 35,000 men on board, Normans, Picards, and Genoese. The masts of
so numerous an assemblage of vessels, as they were seen in the harbour
of Sluys, resembled rather a forest than a fleet. Of these ships,
nineteen were remarkable for their enormous size. Besides other
implements of warfare, quantities of large stones were stored in the
tops and also in small boats hoisted to the mast-heads, to be hurled on
the assailants. The French had secured their ships together by chains,
to prevent the English from breaking through them. Among the ships in
the leading rank was the _Christopher_, full of Genoese archers, with
the _Edward, Katherine, Rose_, and other large cogs which had formerly
been captured from the English.

Edward had perfect confidence in the valour and prowess of his seamen
and men-at-arms, and, notwithstanding the superiority of the enem