Of Lindsey's orders only Article 18 is given here out of the thirty-four which Monson prints in full. It is the only one relating to tactics. The rest, which follow the old pattern, are the usual medley of articles of war, sailing instructions, and general directions for the conduct of the fleet at sea. We cannot therefore safely assume that Article 18 fairly represents the tactical thought of the time. It may be that Lindsey's orders were merely in the nature of 'General Instructions,' to be supplemented by more particular 'Fighting Instructions,' as was the practice later.
[2] The obsolete meaning of 'communicate' is to 'share' or 'participate,' to 'enjoy in common.'
_Such instructions as were given in the Voyage in 1635 by the Right Honourable Robert, Earl of Lindsey_.[1]
[+Monson's Naval Tracts, Book III. Extract+.]
Art. 18. If we happen to descry any fleet at sea which we may probably know or conjecture designs to oppose, encounter or affront us, I will first strive to get the wind (if I be to leeward), and so shall the whole fleet in due order do the like. And when we shall join battle no ship shall presume to assault the admiral, vice-admiral or rear-admiral, but only myself, my vice-admiral or rear-admiral, if we be able to reach them; and the other ships are to match themselves accordingly as they can, and to secure one another as cause shall require, not wasting their powder at small vessels or victuallers, nor firing till they come side to side.
[1] This was a fleet of forty sail, designed, under colour of securing the sovereignty of the Seas and protecting commerce against pirates, to assist Spain as far as possible against the French and Dutch. It never fought.
I. ENGLISH AND DUTCH ORDERS ON THE EVE OF THE WAR, 1648-52
II. ORDERS ISSUED DURING THE WAR, 1653-54
ENGLISH AND DUTCH ORDERS ON THE EVE OF THE WAR, 1648-53
From the foregoing examples it will be seen that at the advent of the Commonwealth, which was to set on foot so sweeping a revolution in the naval art, all attempts to formulate a tactical system had been abandoned. This is confirmed by the following extract from the orders issued by the Long Parliament in 1648. It was the time when the revolt of a part of the fleet and a rising in the South Eastern counties led the government to apprehend a naval coalition of certain foreign powers in favour of Charles. It is printed by Granville Penn in his _Memorials of Sir William Penn_ as having been issued in 1647, but the original copy of the orders amongst the Penn Tracts (_Sloane MSS._ 1709, f. 55) is marked as having been delivered on May 2, 1648, to 'Captain William Penn, captain of the Assurance frigate and rear-admiral of the Irish Squadron.' They are clearly based on the later precedents of Charles I, but it must be noted that Penn is told 'to expect more particular instructions' in regard to the fighting article. We may assume therefore that the admiralty authorities already recognised the inadequacy of the established fighting instructions, and so soon as the pressure of that critical time permitted intended to amplify them.