![]() ![]() 3 There were ships of every size and shape: cogs and carracks, galleys and balingers. Unlike the huge Spanish galleons of the sixteenth century, these were not purpose-built warships but a motley collection of privately owned merchant vessels: great ships that braved the Atlantic to bring wine from Aquitaine and carry the highly prized heavy woollen broadcloth to the continent smaller coastal traders importing salt from Bourgneuf Bay in Brittany and exporting salted herring from Yarmouth to the Low Countries and the Baltic even river boats, the freight carriers of the inland waterways, supplying everything from stone and marble for building cathedrals to hides for making leather boots, gloves and saddles. ![]() Fifteen hundred ships-a fleet twelve times the size of the Spanish Armada 2-now weighed anchor, hoisted sail and made their way into the Channel from the shelter of Southampton Water and the Solent. On Sunday, 11 August 1415, at about three o’clock in the afternoon, Henry V gave the signal that launched the invasion of France. CHAPTER NINE “FAIR STOOD THE WIND FOR FRANCE” 1 ![]()
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