ots and Columbus were discovering America the
Venetians had evolved the merchant-galleasse for their trade with
London: they called it, indeed, the _galleazza di Londra_. Then, by
the time Henry VIII was building his new modern navy, the real
galleon had been evolved (out of the Italian new war- and older
merchant-galleasses) by England, France, and Scotland; but by England
best of all. In original ideas of naval architecture England was
generally behind, as she continued to be till well within living memory.
Nelson's captains competed eagerly for the command of French prizes,
which were better built and from superior designs. The American frigates
of 1812 were incomparably better than the corresponding classes in the
British service were; and so on in many other instances. But, in spite
of being rather slow, conservative, and rule-of-thumb, the English were
already beginning to develop a national sea-sense far beyond that of any
other people. They could not, indeed, do otherwise and live. Henry's
policy, England's position, the dawn of oceanic strategy, and the
discovery of America, all combined to make her navy by far the most
important single factor in England's problems with the world at large.
As with the British Empire now, so with England then: the choice lay
between her being either first or nowhere.

Henry's reasoning and his people's instinct having led to the same
resolve, everyone with any sea-sense, especially shipwrights like
Fletcher of Rye, began working towards the best types then obtainable.
There were mistakes in plenty. The theory of naval architecture in
England was never both sound and strong enough to get its own way
against all opposition. But with the issue of life and death always
dependent on sea power, and with so many men of every class following
the sea, there was at all events the biggest rough-and-tumble school of
practical seamanship that any leading country ever had. The two
essential steps were quickly taken: first, from oared galleys with very
little sail power to the hybrid galleasse with much more sail and much
less in the way of oars; secondly, from this to the purely sailing
galleon.

With the galleon we enter the age of sailing tactics which decided the
fate of the oversea world. This momentous age began with Drake and the
English galleon. It ended with Nelson and the first-rate, three-decker,
ship-of-the-line. But it was one throughout; for its beginning differed
from its end