Ark Royal (1587)

In 1586 an English galleon was ordered by Sir Walter Raleigh from the shipbuilder R. Chapman located in Depford England. As was the custom she was named for the owner and was known as the Ark Raleigh. However she was purchased by Queen Elizabeth I from Raleigh in 1587, for the sum of 5,000 English pounds. This was a not a true sale being that Sir Walter owed the queen a considerable sum the ships cost just reduced that tally. Ark Raleigh was transferred to the Royal Navy and renamed Ark Royal.

She was a galleon a great war ship of the day having two gun decks, a double forecastle, quarter deck and an aft poop deck. The two gun decks were the top deck and the main gun deck located one deck down above the water line. She supported a double forecastle allowing smaller caliber carronades that could be used by Royal Marines as high ground in case she was boarded by enemies. The quarter deck was primarily used by officers and visitors; the crew would request entry or be called by the officer on deck. The poop deck was at the aft of the ship located above the quarter deck and on top of the most aft cabin. It was an elevated position where the helmsman steered the ship, the term arose if you were pooped if a wave came over the stern and splashed the crew. Galleons were constructed from English oak for the keel, pine for the masts and various hardwoods for the decking. The expenses involved in construction were enormous, hundreds of expert tradesmen worked for months to complete the ship. The only negative in the official record was a crew dislike of the Ark Royal’s heavy roll in seas.

HMS Navy at launching according to the ships history had 38 demi-culverin cannons a medium barrel type that was typically about 11 feet (3.4 m) long. The cannon had various calibers or pound sizes that equated to the weight of the iron cannon balls. The primary sizes of the cannons used initially were 9 and 6 pounders and larger calibers were added at later dates. The demi-culverin had an effective range of 1,800 feet.

During battle stations a normal gun crew was six men, each man’s job was, “ by the numbers”. One was the gun captain who primed, aimed, and fired the gun. Two turned and raised the gun barrel, three loaded the gun. Four damped down sparks before reloading. Five moved the gun barrel and passed ammunition. Six was the powder monkey who normally was the youngest member of the crew boys 10 to 12 years old. They would run to the powder hole and back to the gun with black powder when needed.

The modern Royal Navy has food as one of her selling points, on the Ark Royal and ships of the day the crew could look forward to rotting meat, biscuits riddled with maggots and cheese so tough that sailors carved buttons out of it for their uniforms. A trick was to put a large dead fish on top of the biscuit barrel and the maggots would leave the biscuits for the fish. The drinks also were hard to handle with the fresh water turning green and the beer not much better. Many ships carried live animals for fresh meat, milk and eggs mostly for the officers. The mess was 8 to 12 men eating together; they would put a table between two cannon and sit around it.

Her first action came during the battle with the Spanish Armada in 1588 and Ark Royal was the largest vessel in the English fleet and the flagship of Charles Howard the Lord High Admiral of England. The English fleet consisted of 34 galleons and 163 armed merchant ships and engaged the Spanish Fleet of 22 galleons and 108 armed vessels. After the defeat of the Spanish Armada, Ark Royal led the chase of the fleeing Spanish ships into the North Sea. The English lost 8 ships with 100 dead and up to 8,000 more died from disease after the battle. The Spanish lost 600 dead 5 ships sunk and 397 ships captured, after the battle up to 20,000 Spanish sailors died from wounds and disease.

She was also used as Howard's flagship during the 1596 raid on Cadiz resulting in the destruction of the Spanish fleet at harbor. Ark Royal was again the flagship during 1599 when a Spanish invasion fleet again threatened England.

On the accession of James VI to the English throne, Ark Royal was renamed Anne Royal, after his consort, Anne of Denmark. Anne Royal was rebuilt in 1608 as a 42-gun ship. Under her new name, she was the flagship in the English 1625 raid on Cadiz which ended with the Spanish fleet sinking many British ships due to a poor war plan.

Being moved in the river Medway in 1636 her anchor hit a ground and split the hull sinking her. She was raised at a great cost, but was found to be damaged beyond repair, and broken up in 1638used in other ships having a long career spanning over 50 years.

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Last Updated: 4/26/2009