ds of timber would be required
for her construction, whereas 1,627 loads were actually used. The timber
also was so unseasoned that the ship only lasted fifteen years, and had
then to be rebuilt.

Many complaints were made about this time of the incapacity and
ignorance of English shipbuilders. Sir Walter Raleigh laid down the
following as the principal requirements of warships: strong build,
speed, stout scantling, ability to fight the guns in all weathers,
ability to lie to easily in a gale, and ability to stay well. He stated
that in all these qualities the royal ships were deficient. He also
called attention to the inferiority of our merchant-ships, and pointed
out that, whereas an English ship of 100 tons required a crew of thirty
hands, a Dutch vessel of the same size would sail with one-third of that
number.

Another authority of the time complained that--

"he could never see two ships builded of the like proportion by the
best and most skilful shipwrights ... because they trust rather to
their judgment than their art, and to their eye than their scale and
compass."

The merchant navy of England languished during the early years of the
reign of James I. Owing, however, to the patronage and assistance
extended by the king to the East India Company, and also in no small
measure to the stimulus caused by the arrival of some large Dutch
merchantmen in the Thames, the merchants of London abandond the practice
of hiring ships from foreigners and took to building for themselves. In
the year 1615 there were not more than ten ships belonging to the Port
of London with a burthen in excess of 200 tons, but, owing to the sudden
development of shipbuilding, the Port of Newcastle in the year 1622
owned more than 100 ships exceeding the above-mentioned tonnage.

In the year 1609 the king granted a new charter to the East India
Company, and in the following year a vessel, called the _Trade's
Increase_, was sent out. This ship was the largest merchantman built up
to that time in England. Her career, however, was not fortunate. She was
careened at Bantam, in order that some repairs to her hull might be
effected, but she fell over on her side and was burnt by the Javanese.

Before the year 1613 British merchants had made altogether twelve
voyages to the East Indies, for the most part in ships of less than 500
tons. In that year, however, all the merchants interested in the
Oriental trade joined together to form the