charge for an 18-pounder was fifteen potrods, and the sea-service charge was hut nine poundsJ

The ships of Henry VII. appear to have been the first English ones to be fitted with regular port-h,les. The Rcgc.t and Soccrcig. certainly had them in their po.ps and kreca-stles. The invention o[ the device has been ascribed t. I)escharges, a ship- builder of Brest. about the .- - year 151. hut there is no ?- : ] doulL that it was of a rather ' u- earlier date. The numerous 4 :' : 5'- small guns of the H,'.ry and of the ther large ships of her time, were mounted on the upper deck. in the tops, in the poo l, and forecastle, a,nd under the break of the poop and fore- castle, 8o as t,,, command the

EI, IZAItET.AN rA,CONZT, AT TIlE waist a, nd sweep it, should sz,;x,:umr. sa.. boarding be attellq, ted there. Among these aliiall guns were :--Fowlers, short, light weal,OhS. with r without a separate breech which could be unshipped and reloaded while another was being discharged; port-pieces, small fowlers with the same peculiarities; cm'talds. short heavy guns, apparently emph,yed for high-angle fire; slings, demi-slings, bassils or small basilisks, and top-pieces. all of dilninutive calibre and relatively large powder-charge, working on swivels or pivots; hail-shot pieces, can'ying a charge of cubical dice; and hand-guns or calivers, which, though fired froIn the shoulder. required to be SUl,l.,rted on a pivot or staff.

Among the st, as of the Hc.r// (;race i Dic. at her commis- sioning were two lasts, or 4s00 pounds ,,f "scrpentyn" powder in barrels, and six lasts, or 14,400 pounds of "corn" powder, also iu hareels? This, and the provision of shot, must have l,een more than aml,lc , for the larger guns couhl ],e fired only very seldom, there heing no mechanical contrivances for w,,rking them; and it is recorded as a marvellous thing l,y Du Bellay that in the action

M,,ntaine's 'Practical Sea Gunner's Compani,,n,' London, 1747, p. 71. a

From a MS. in the Pepysian Library, 1,tinted in Charn,,ck,lii. 44.