, when all ships were more or less armed and
the war vessel was not entirely differentiated from the trader. Thus the
ships of the great German confederation of cities known as the Hanseatic
League were required to sail in convoy. So were the six trading
squadrons which sailed yearly from Venice. The masters of all the
vessels were required to obey the authority of an officer who had the
general command. In the 16th century the Spanish trade with America was
compelled by law to sail in convoys (_flotas_), in order to avoid the
danger of capture by pirates to which single ships were exposed. In the
17th and 18th centuries the use of convoy was universal. Dutch, French
or British ships were collected at a rendezvous, and were accompanied by
warships till they reached the point at which they were compelled to
separate in order to go to their various destinations. The main danger
was near the enemy's ports. An example of the way the duty was
discharged may be found in the Newfoundland convoy. They sailed from
England under the direction of a naval officer and the protection of his
ships, commonly a forty- or fifty-gun ship with a smaller vessel in
attendance. The convoy sailed to the banks of Newfoundland. When they
had filled up with stock fish, they were escorted across the Atlantic by
the same officer. He accompanied those of them bound to the
Mediterranean to the port of Leghorn, and, when they had unloaded and
reloaded, saw them home. All cases were not so simple. The ships engaged
in the East and West India trade, for instance, sailed together. In the
Channel they were protected by the main strength of the fleet. When
beyond the Scilly Islands they were left to the care of a smaller force,
and continued together till in the neighbourhood of Madeira, when they
separated. Convoys were subject to attack in two forms, by strong
squadrons which overpowered the guard, and by privateers, corsairs and
isolated cruisers. This latter peril was much increased in the case of
British commerce by the reluctance of the merchant captains to obey the
naval officers. They were very much inclined to separate from the convoy
as they approached their destination in the hope of forestalling rivals.
As a natural consequence they were frequently captured by hostile
privateers. French naval officers had authority and large powers of
punishment over merchant skippers. The British naval officers had not.
In 1803-34, on the renewal of the war with