Britain's Sea Story, B.C. 55-A.D. 1805: Being the Story of British Heroism ...

blaze of glory. He has left us, not indeed his mantle of inspiration, but a name and an example which are at this hour inspiring thousands of the youth of England—a name which is our pride, and an example which will continue to be our shield and our strength.

ROBERT SOUTHEY

THE OLD HAVEN

OFTEN I think of the beautiful town
That is seated by the sea;
Often in thought go up and down
The pleasant streets of that dear old town,
And my youth comes back to me.
And a verse of a Lapland song
Is haunting my memory still:
"A boy's will is the wind's will,

And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."

I can see the shadowy lines of its trees,
And catch, in sudden gleams,
The sheen of the far-surrounding seas,
And islands that were the Hesperides
Of all my boyish dreams.

I remember the black wharves and the slips,
And the sea-tides tossing free;
And Spanish sailors with bearded lips,
And the beauty and mystery of the ships,
And the magic of the sea.

I remember the bulwarks by the shore,
And the fort upon the hill;
The sunrise gun with its hollow roar,
The drum-beat repeated o'er and o'er,
And the bugle wild and shrill.

I remember the sea-fight far away,
How it thundered o'er the tide !
And the dead sea-captains, as they lay
In their graves o'erlooking the tranquil bay
Where they in battle died.

And the music of that old song
Throbs in my memory still:
"A boy's will is the wind's will,

And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts.

H. W. LONGFELLOW

B.C.

CHRONOLOGICAL OUTLINE

55 Julius Caesar lands in Britain.

A.D.

78-84 Agricola governs Britain and sends his ships round Scotland.

477-480 Landing of Saxons and Angles.

787 First attack on England by the Northmen.

795 First appearance

A.D.

1014 Death of Sweyn. The Northmen defeated at Clontarf, near Dublin. Thorfinn the Northman made Earl of Caithness and Sutherland. Ethelred drives out Canute. Olaf the Saint helps Ethelred and attacks the Danes at London Bridge. 1017-35 Canute King of England. Olaf the Saint driven from Norway by Canute, King of England and Denmark.

of the

1028

1030 Olaf the Saint defeated at the great seafight at Stiklestad.

1046 Sweyn, son of Godwin, ravaged South Wales. 1066 Landing of William the Norman.

1098 King Magnus of Norway overruns the Hebrides, Kintyre and Man.

1103 King Magnus killed in Ireland.

1107 A Fleet of English, Danish and Flemish ships sails to Jaffa.

An English and French fleet besieges Tunis.

1405

America by Madoc the son of Owain Gwynedd. 1190 Crusade of Richard Cœur de Lion.

1213 Philip II of France defeated

at sea by the English. 1217 De Burgh defeats the French off Sandwich.

1230 Henry III invades France. 1240 An English Crusade reaches Jaffa.

1263

King Hakon Hakonsson's fight at Largs.

1290 Death of Margaret of Norway on the way to Scotland.

1295 The French collect a large fleet and attempt an invasion of England. They burn Dover, but are beaten off and their fleet disperses.

1338 Edward III lands in Flanders.

1340 Battle of Sluys. 1346 Edward III invades France. 1347 Edward blockades Calais. 1350 Battle of Les Espagnols sur Mer, off Winchelsea. 1355 The English invade France.

Agreement between Henry
IV and the Hansa towns.
Niño in Cornwall.

1415 English merchants assist the Portuguese in Morocco. Henry V takes Harfleur. 1416 Henry V lays the foundation of a national Navy.

1437 The Libel of English Policy written, exhorting all England to keep the sea, and namely the Narrow Sea.

1475 Edward IV's expedition to France.

1496 The Magnus Intercursus, a commercial treaty, made with Flanders.

1497 The Cabots discover Nova Scotia.

1512 The Regent and the Cordelier burnt in a fight off St. Mahé.

1520 Henry VIII and Francis of France meet at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. 1527 Robert Thorne's Declaration.

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