Campbell, the English contemporary naval historian, says that in 1727 the English navy had eighty-four ships-of-the-line, from sixty guns up; forty 50-gun ships, and fifty-four frigates and smaller vessels.

In 1734 this number had fallen to seventy ships-of-the-line and nineteen 50-gun ships.

In 1744, after four years of war with Spain alone, the number was ninety ships-of-the-line and eighty-four frigates.

The French navy at the same time he estimates at forty-five ships-of-the-line and sixty-seven frigates.

In 1747, near the end of the first war, he says that the royal navy of Spain was reduced to twenty-two ships-of-the-line, that of France to thirty-one, while the English had risen to one hundred and twenty-six.