which were
but eighteen-pounders. The _Grace de Dieu_ was a four-masted vessel,
and was built in 1515.

An epoch in England's maritime history, which was in some respects the
most brilliant and momentous, now falls to be mentioned; a period when
England's name became a synonym on the seas for everything that was most
intrepid and successful in maritime enterprise; an era of daring
adventure and splendid achievement, which at length established England
as the first naval power among the nations of Europe.

Not without long and fierce struggle, however, was this supremacy won.
The French, Spanish, and Dutch each and all in turn disputed England's
claim to the sovereignty of the seas. It is unnecessary to repeat here
the oft-told tale of the defeat of the Spanish Armada, nor yet the
almost as familiar story of our frequent naval encounters with the Dutch
in the days of Admiral Blake and the great Dutch Admiral Van Tromp.
Long and desperate those conflicts were, and nothing but indomitable
courage and stubborn perseverance could have secured the victory for the
English ships, for in almost every instance our foes were numerically
the stronger.

In the thrice famous days of Nelson, it was still our "wooden walls"
which carried the flag of England on from triumph to triumph. At the
battle of Trafalgar the _Victory_ and the French ship the _Redoubtable_
were brought up close alongside of each other, and in this position
poured volley after volley upon each other's bulwarks, until water had
to be thrown over the ships' sides to prevent them igniting. The
_Victory_ was a grand ship in her time, yet she was not more than two
thousand tons burden, and her guns were but one hundred and two in
number.

But at last the day arrived when it became manifest that the glory of
our "wooden walls" had set. In the prime of his intellectual and
physical strength, the Emperor Louis Napoleon was a man of active and
subtle brain, and it was to his ingenious invention that the first
ironclad ship of war owed its birth. Floating batteries protected with
iron plates were first employed during the Crimean War. It was becoming
manifest that the great strides which were being made in the manufacture
of cannon must necessitate an improved system of defensive armour for
ships of war. No wooden vessel that could be constructed could be proof
against the new guns that were now coming rapidly into use.

The French, as has been just indicated,