The maritime history of England involves events including shipping, ports, navigation, and seamen, as well as marine sciences, exploration, trade, and maritime themes in the arts of England. Until the advent of air transport and the creation of the Channel Tunnel, marine transport was the only way of reaching the rest of Europe from England and for this reason, maritime trade and naval power have always had great importance. Prior to the Acts of Union in 1707, the maritime history of the British Isles was largely dominated by England.
Chronology
Ancient times Paleolithic and mesolithic hunter-gatherers may well have reached Great Britain by sea, at least partly. Separation of the island from Ireland was about 9000 BC while separation from the continent of Europe occurred around 6500 BC. English maritime history really starts with the Massaliote Periplus used by Phoenician traders in Iron Age Europe. This includes a description of the trade route to England around 600 BC. It is believed that this trade was in tin and other raw materials. A later periplus was that of Pytheas of Marsallia in "On the Ocean", written about 325 BC. It is clear that in the Iron Age trade between Gaul and Britain was routine and that fishermen travelled to Orkney, Shetland and Norway.
The first vessels used by Britons are presumed to have been rafts and dugout canoes, though the coracle, a small single passenger boat is known to have been used at least since the Roman invasion. Coracles are round or oval in shape, made of a wooden basket-like frame with a hide stretched over it then tarred to provide waterproofing. Being light, it can be carried over a shoulder. Coracles are capable of operating in mere inches of water due to the keel-less hull. The early peoples are believed to have used these boats for fishing and travel.
Early Britons used hollowed tree trunks as canoes. Examples of these canoes have been found buried in marshes and mud banks of river, at lengths upwards of two metres. One of these was found at Shapwick, Somerset in 1906. It was formed from an oak log and was six metres long. It was probably used to transport people, animals and goods across the Somerset Levels in the Iron Age.
In 1992 a notable archaeological find, named the "Dover Bronze Age Boat", was unearthed from beneath what is modern day Dover, England. It is about 9.5 metres long by 2.3 metres wide and was determined to have been a seagoing vessel. Radiocarbon dating revealed that the craft dates from approximately 1600 BC and is the oldest known ocean-going boat. The hull was of half oak logs and side panels also of oak that were stitched on with yew withies. Both the straight grained oak and yew bindings are now extinct in England. A reconstruction in 1996 proved that a crew of between four and sixteen paddlers could have easily propelled the boat during Force 4 winds at upwards of four knots to a maximum of . The boat could have easily carried a significant amount of cargo and with a strong crew may have been able to traverse up to thirty nautical miles in a day.
Remains from a Bronze Age trading vessel have been found off Salcombe, Devon. The finds include palstave axe heads, an adze, a cauldron handle and a gold bracelet. There are also blades of swords and rapiers which are amongst the earliest in the country. Some of the objects originated in north France and are types that are rare in Britain. Evidence of tin trading has been found at Mount Batten and Bantham in Devon.
The Roman Period Although Julius Caesar made brief exploratory sea-borne expeditions to Britain in 55 and 54 BC, these were nearly a disaster because many of the boats were wrecked. The invasion fleet under the emperor Claudius in AD 43 was a large one, with 40000 men, and landed at Richborough, Kent.
Later, part of the Classis Britannica was based in Britain, the job of which was to control the English Channel and North Sea. At this time Britannia suffered raids by Scoti (from Ireland) and Saxons, as well as attacks by Picts from what is now northern Scotland. There was a Roman officer in charge of the "Saxon Shore" and a series of forts (or perhaps trading posts) was set up along the south and east coast. There also seems to have been a Roman fleet in the Bristol Channel, based on archaeological evidence.
Roman trade with Britain was in grain and olive oil from North Africa, with slaves and lead being exported, while men for the army and administration also came. Later, grain was exported to the continent for the army. There was also trade with Ireland.
Early Middle Ages After the end of Roman control of Britain in the early 5th century, "Saxon" mercenaries were recruited by British kings. The first are described by Gildas as arriving in "three keels" and were soon followed by more. After a dispute over pay, the Saxons revolted and were able to establish Saxon controlled areas in the east and south of England. This apparently involved both Angles and Jutes as well as Saxons. This led to much trade across the North Sea from the east coast of Britain. When an important person died their body would be placed inside a ship burial, as at Sutton Hoo where the traces of a boat 27 m long by 4.5 m wide and 1.5 m deep were found, dating to about 625 AD.
In the western areas of Britain trade with the Mediterranean world continued, many pots and other goods from Byzantium having been found at sites such as Tintagel. There was migration from southern England to Brittany and northern Spain.
By the 730s a toll was placed on ships using the port of London, which was re-founded by King Alfred after its recapture from the Vikings in 886 AD. Wine, timber and food was imported while salt, cloth, hide, lead and slaves were exported.
From the 9th century, Vikings raided Britain but were also traders. King Alfred raised a navy to counter this and the first sea battle against them is thought to have been fought in 875 AD. The Viking longship was clinker built, utilising overlapping wooden strakes and curved stemposts. It was propelled by both oars and sail. There was a steering oar at the back on the right-hand side. The knarr was a cargo vessel that differed from the longship in that it was larger and relied solely on its square rigged sail for propulsion.
Later Middle Ages In the spring of 1066 northern Britain was attacked by King Harald of Norway and Tostig Godwinson in 300-500 ships. The Norman conquest of England, in the autumn of 1066, which occurred after a seaborne invasion at Hastings, was unopposed as the English fleet had returned to base. After this the kings of England were also rulers of much of France so presumably there was much trade across the English Channel. Various wars were fought against the French requiring transport of armies and their support. In 1120 the "White Ship" was wrecked and the sons of Henry I drowned, while in 1147 a fleet of 167 ships sailed from Dartmouth on a crusade to capture Lisbon from the Moors. Henry II invaded Ireland in 1171 and another crusade fleet sailed in 1190.
The Cinque Ports were a group of harbours, originally five, that were given privileges in exchange for providing ships to the kings of England when required.
The cog was a boat design which is believed to have evolved from (or at least have been influenced by) the longship and was in wide use by the 12th century. It too used the clinker method of construction. Ships began to be built with straight stem posts and the rudder was fixed to the stern post which made a boat easier to steer. To make ships faster, more masts and sails were fitted.
The Hanseatic League was an alliance of trading guilds that established and maintained a trade monopoly over the Baltic Sea and to a certain extent the North Sea in the Late Middle Ages, starting in the 13th century. Protection for the league was given in England in 1157. Warehouses belonging to the league were set up in eight English ports and one Scottish port. By the 16th century the league imploded and there was a rise of Dutch and English merchants.
In the 14th and 15th centuries, seamen's guilds were formed in Bristol, King's Lynn, Grimsby, Hull, York and Newcastle.
Age of Exploration From the early 15th century, continuing into the 17th century, English ships travelled around the world searching for new trading partners and establishing new trading routes. In the process new peoples were encountered and lands were mapped that were previously unknown to the English. Bristol ships were venturing into the Atlantic Ocean in 1480/1 and may have reached Newfoundland.
Before Christopher Columbus reached mainland America, John Cabot was employed by the English government to discover new lands. He first sailed from Bristol in the "Matthew" in 1497. It is not clear where the small fleet went but two likely locations are Nova Scotia or Newfoundland. They did not find the passage to China for which they were looking. A second voyage was made in 1498 but 4 of the 5 ships vanished. Some scholars maintain that the name "America" comes from Richard Amerike, a Bristol merchant and customs officer, who is claimed (on very slender evidence) to have helped finance the Cabots' voyages.
An attempt was made to find a north-east passage to China in 1553 which was unsuccessful but led to the formation of the Muscovy Company. The Baltic was explored in the 1570s and led to the setting up of English bases in Hanse ports.
In 1578, Sir Francis Drake, in the course of his circumnavigation of the world, discovered Cape Horn at the tip of South America. The sea between this and Antarctica is now known as Drake Passage.
Richard Hakluyt was an English writer who is remembered for his efforts in promoting and supporting the settlement of North America by the English through his works, notably Divers Voyages Touching the Discoverie of America (1582) and The Principal Navigations, Voiages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation (1598–1600). The latter also included accounts of voyages to Russia.
Sir Humphrey Gilbert established a colony in Newfoundland in 1583. The first (unsuccessful) British colony in America was set up by Sir Walter Raleigh at Roanoke, "Virginia" (now North Carolina) in 1585. Only one of the 22 ships sailing to Roanoke was lost. An exploratory voyage had been made the year before. When a re-supply voyage was made the colonists had vanished.
As a result of this exploration joint stock companies were set up, such as the Muscovy (Russia) Company, the Honourable East India Company (1599), the Levant Company and the Hudson's Bay Company. Trading "factories" were set up in India by the British in several ports. Similar companies were set up by the Dutch and Portuguese, which led to rivalries.
The first modern underwater boat proposal was made by the Englishman William Bourne who designed a prototype submarine in 1578. Unfortunately for him these ideas never got past the planning stage.
Seventeenth century
The first successful British colony in America was set up in 1607 at Jamestown. It languished until a new wave of colonists arrived in the late 17th century and set up commercial agriculture based on tobacco. The Mayflower sailed from Plymouth in 1620. The connection between the American colonies and Britain, with shipping as its cornerstone, would continue to grow unhindered for almost two hundred years.
Several major internal political events hinged on the participation (or lack of participation) of the Navy. First, at the end of the years of the Protectorate, the English Royal Navy brought Charles II back from his exile in Holland in May 1660, aboard the hastily renamed . Again in 1688, the monarchy changed leadership as Roman Catholic James II fled the country; the English fleet made no effort oppose the landing of the Protestant William of Orange.