A SHORT HISTORY
OF THE
ROYAL NAVY

First Published in 1909

PREFACE

I submit this second part of the Short History of theRoyal Navy to the kindness of the reader and theanimadversions of reviewers with a profound sense of itsdeficiencies. That some were inevitable where so much hadto be told in so narrow a space is no excuse for such errorsas I have committed. It is my sincere hope that they arenot very frequent nor very gross, and that my book does atleast indicate the main outlines of the polity and theachievements of the navy. It is my pleasant duty to thankthe Reverend William Hunt for his kindness in revising myproofs, and for the many excellent suggestions he made. Ihave also to present my thanks to Messrs. Blackwood forgiving me their permission to make use in Chapter III. ofmatter published in Blackwood’s Magazine; and to the proprietorsof the Saturday Review for allowing me to makeuse of articles on the mutinies of 1797, formerly published inthat periodical.

DAVID HANNAY

[vii]

CONTENTS