But the land is an enemy to be feared, while the Frenchman is not--hey! Atwood ?" It was, indeed, a goodly sight to view the fine fleet that now lay anchored beneath the cliffs of Wychecombe.

Sir Gervaise Oakes was, in that period, considered a successful naval commander, and was a favourite, both at the admiralty and with the nation.

His popularity extended to the most distant colonies of England, in nearly all of which he had served with zeal and credit.

But we are not writing of an age of nautical wonders, like that which succeeded at the close of the century.
The French and Dutch, and even the Spaniards, were then all formidable as naval powers; for revolutions and changes had not destroyed their maritime corps, nor had the consequent naval ascendency of England annihilated their navigation; the two great causes of the subsequent apparent invincibility of the latter power.

Battles at sea, in that day, were warmly contested, and were frequently fruitless; more especially when fleets were brought in opposition.