that of
Actium, and it is a remarkable circumstance that twice in history a
decisive naval battle between the West and East should have been decided
at the same spot. The allies possessed a fleet consisting of 208 galleys
and 6 galleasses. The Venetians introduced the latter type of vessel in
order to meet the Turks on even terms. It was an improved form of galley
with three masts, carrying several guns on the broadside, most of them
mounted on the upper deck. Fig. 46 represents one of the Venetian
galleasses as used at the battle of Lepanto, to the winning of which
engagement they are said to have contributed materially. The galleass
was essentially a Mediterranean warship. It was never generally adopted
by the Western powers, but four Neapolitan vessels of this category,
carrying each 50 guns, formed a part of the great Armada sent by Spain
to effect the conquest of England. The galleass represented in Fig. 46
had a circular forecastle in which were mounted several guns, to be used
in end-on attack.

It is impossible to read the accounts of the battle of Lepanto and of
the defeat of the Spanish Armada without noticing the great contrast
between the ships used in the two wars at about the same period. In the
Mediterranean the single-banked galley was still the prevailing type,
while in the Western and Northern seas the bulk of the Spanish and the
whole of the British fleets were sailing-ships.

It does not appear that any further novelties, or improvements, worth
alluding to were introduced into the practice of shipbuilding till the
accession of the House of Stuart in 1603. All the monarchs of this
family paid particular attention to the development of the Royal Navy.
King James I. had in his service an educated naval architect of the name
of Phineas Pett, who was a Master of Arts of Emmanuel College,
Cambridge, and a member of a famous family of shipbuilders who had been
employed for two centuries previously, from father to son, as officers
and architects in the Royal Navy. Some time after the accession of
James, a Royal Commission inquired into the general state and management
of the navy, and issued a report in 1618, which was in effect "a project
for contracting the charge of His Majesty's Navy, keeping the coast of
England and Ireland safely guarded, and his Majesty's ships in harbour
as sufficiently guarded as now they are, provided that the old debts be
paid, ... and certain assignments settled for the further