{"product_id":"2940013787759","title":"HOW BRITANNIA CAME TO RULE THE WAVES, UPDATED TO 1900","description":"CHAPTER ONE.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eINTRODUCTORY REMARKS.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRome was not built in a day, nor has the glorious British Navy attained\u003cbr\u003eits present condition except by slow degrees, by numerous trials and\u003cbr\u003eexperiments, by improvements gradually and cautiously introduced, and by\u003cbr\u003ethe employment of a vast amount of thought, energy, and toil.  We are\u003cbr\u003eapt to forget when we see an elaborate machine, the immense quantity of\u003cbr\u003emental and physical exertion it represents, the efforts of the united\u003cbr\u003eminds perhaps of many successive generations, and the labour of\u003cbr\u003ethousands of workmen.  I propose briefly to trace the progress which the\u003cbr\u003eBritish Navy has made from age to age, as well as its customs, and the\u003cbr\u003ehabits of its seamen, with their more notable exploits since the days\u003cbr\u003ewhen this tight little island of ours first became known to the rest of\u003cbr\u003ethe world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSome writers, indulging in the Darwinian theory of development, would\u003cbr\u003emake us believe that the ironclad of the present day is the legitimate\u003cbr\u003eoffspring of the ancient coracle or wicker-work boat which is still to\u003cbr\u003ebe found afloat on the waters of the Wye, and on some of the rivers of\u003cbr\u003ethe east coast; but if such is the case, the descent must be one of many\u003cbr\u003eages, for it is probable that the Britons had stout ships long before\u003cbr\u003ethe legions of Cassar set their feet upon our shores.  I am inclined to\u003cbr\u003eagree with an ancient writer who gives it as his opinion that the\u003cbr\u003eBritish were always a naval people.  \"For,\" says he, in somewhat quaint\u003cbr\u003ephraseology, \"as Britain was an island, the inhabitants could only have\u003cbr\u003ecome to it across the ocean in ships, and they could scarcely have had\u003cbr\u003eships unless they were nautically inclined.\"  The same writer asserts\u003cbr\u003ethat the Britons had vessels of large size long before the invasion of\u003cbr\u003ethe Romans, but that they either burnt them to prevent their falling\u003cbr\u003einto the hands of the invaders, or that they were destroyed by the\u003cbr\u003eRomans themselves, who then, adding insult to injury, stigmatised the\u003cbr\u003epeople as mere painted barbarians, whose sole mode of moving over the\u003cbr\u003ewaters of their coasts and rivers was in wicker baskets covered with\u003cbr\u003ehides--the truth being, that these wicker-ribbed boats were simply the\u003cbr\u003ecraft used by the British fishermen on their coasts or streams.  How\u003cbr\u003ecould the hordes that in successive ages crossed the German Ocean have\u003cbr\u003eperformed the voyage unless they had possessed more efficient means of\u003cbr\u003econveyance than these afforded?  I must, therefore, agree with the\u003cbr\u003eaforesaid ancient writer that they had stout ships, impelled by sails\u003cbr\u003eand oars, which were afterwards employed either in commercial or\u003cbr\u003epiratical enterprises.  The Britons of the southern shores of the island\u003cbr\u003epossessed, he says, wooden-built ships of a size considerably greater\u003cbr\u003ethan any hide-covered barks could have been.  It is very certain that\u003cbr\u003emany hundred years before the Christian era the Phoenicians visited the\u003cbr\u003ecoasts of Cornwall and Devonshire, and planted colonies there, which\u003cbr\u003eretain to the present day their ancient peculiarities and customs, and\u003cbr\u003eeven many names of common things.  It is probable that these colonists,\u003cbr\u003ewell acquainted as they were with nautical affairs, kept up their\u003cbr\u003epractical knowledge of shipbuilding, and formed a mercantile navy to\u003cbr\u003ecarry on their commerce with other countries, as well as ships fitted\u003cbr\u003efor warfare to protect their ports from foreign invasion, or from the\u003cbr\u003eattacks of pirates.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47152694198512,"sku":"2940013787759","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013787759_p0.jpg?v=1763590230","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013787759","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}