I. List of the Royal Navy in 1578, with the Burthen of the Ships, and their Number of Men, 2. Growth of the Navy from 1641 to 1658, 3. Abstract of the Royal Navy in 1685, . 4. Abstract of the Royal Navy in 1702, 5. Abstract of the Royal Navy in 1714, . ENGLAND ON THE SEA; OR, THE STORY OF THE BRITISH NAVY. CHAPTER I. REIGN OF GEORGE I. OSTILITIES between England and Spain broke out in 1718, the fourth year of the reign of George I., hostilities forced upon the British Government by the ambitious designs of Cardinal Alberoni, the Spanish prime minister. This remarkable Italian, a man of great capacity but consummate vanity, designed the restoration of his adopted country to her former commanding position among the European powers. Having rapidly and quietly collected a large armament at Barcelona, he despatched it against Sardinia, in August 1717, and the island, after a gallant resistance, was occupied by the Spanish troops. But the prize he really aimed at was Sicily, which the Treaty of Utrecht had ceded to the Duchy of Savoy. England here interposed, and, together with France, Holland, and the Empire, entered into negotiations for the purpose of preserving the peace of Europe. Alberoni used them, however, simply to gain time; and while energetically pushing forward preparations for war on a vast scale, set in motion the most complicated political intrigues, in A VOL. II. order to embarrass and engage the attention of the various parties to the Quadruple Alliance. He encouraged the Sultan to persevere in his war with the Empire. He fomented insurrections and conspiracies in France. He offered to aid the Pretender in a new invasion of England. At length it became evident that the diplomatist could do no more, and that recourse must be had to the arbitrament of the sword. On the 4th of June 1718, Admiral Sir George Byng, with a fleet of twenty ships of the line, sailed for the Mediterranean, for it was known that a Spanish armada of twenty-nine ships of war, with transports for thirty-five thousand soldiers, had left Barcelona. To preserve peace, the British Government made another effort; and Lord Stanhope, its head, proceeded to Madrid-prepared even to give up Gibraltar, which to his dull mind appeared of no consequence.' But while Stanhope was amused with pacific professions, the Spanish fleet sailed into the Bay of Solento, and landed a large army, under the Marquis de Lede, who in a few days made himself master of Palermo. Messina proved a more difficult nut to crack. The citadel was invested on the 31st of July, and on the 1st of August Sir George Byng's fleet dropped anchor in the Bay of Naples. Taking on board two thousand German troops to reinforce the garrison of Messina, Sir George Byng sailed on the 6th, and on the 9th arrived in sight of the Faro. He at once despatched a message to the Spanish commander, proposing a truce for two months, in order to give time to 'the several Courts to conclude on such resolutions as might restore a lasting peace;' courteously adding, 'that, if he was not so happy to succeed in this offer of service, nor to be instrumental in bringing about so desirable a work, he then hoped to merit his Excellency's esteem in the execution of the other part of his orders, which were to use all his force to prevent farther attempts to disturb the dominions his master stood engaged to defend.' The Marquis, in reply, refused to agree to a suspension of arms, and intimated his resolution of meeting force by force. Sir George Byng immediately sent the German troops to Reggio under convoy of two men-of-war, and proceeded in search of the Spanish fleet, which, consisting of twenty-seven sail of men-of-war, great and small, besides fire-ships, storeships, bomb-vessels, and galleys, under the command-in-chief of Admiral Don Antonio de Casteneta, lay in the Messina roads. |