Part 2 (1/2)

And yet I have two Notions, one real, one imaginary, of the Reasons which gave the Ancients such terrible Apprehensions of this Part of the World; which of late we find as Habitable and Navigable as any of the rest.

The real Occasion I suppose thus: That before the Mult.i.tude and Industry of Inhabitants prevail'd to the managing, enclosing, and improving the Country, the vast Tract of Land in this Island which continually lay open to the Flux of the Sea, and to the Inundations of Land-Waters, were as so many standing Lakes; from whence the Sun continually exhaling vast quant.i.ties of moist Vapours, the Air could not but be continually crowded with all those Parts of necessary Matter to which we ascribe the Original of Winds, Rains, Storms, and the like.

He that is acquainted with the situation of _England_, and can reflect on the vast Quant.i.ties of flat Grounds, on the Banks of all our navigable Rivers, and the Sh.o.r.es of the Sea, which Lands at Least lying under Water every Spring-Tide, and being thereby continually full of moisture, were like a stagnated standing body of Water brooding Vapours in the Interval of the Tide, must own that at least a fifteenth part of the whole Island may come into this Denomination.

Let him that doubts the Truth of this, examine a little the Particulars; let him stand upon _Shooters-Hill_ in _Kent_, and view the Mouth of the River _Thames_, and consider what a River it must be when none of the Marshes on either side were wall'd in from the Sea, and when the Sea without all question flow'd up to the Foot of the Hills on either Sh.o.r.e, and up every Creek, where he must allow is now dry Land on either side the River for two Miles in breadth at least, sometimes three or four, for above forty Miles on both sides the River.

Let him farther reflect, how all these Parts lay when, as our ancient Histories relate, the _Danish_ Fleet came up almost to _Hartford_, so that all that Range of fresh Marshes which reach for twenty five Miles in length, from _Ware_ to the River _Thames_, must be a Sea.

In short, Let any such considering Person imagine the vast Tract of Marsh-Lands on both sides the River _Thames_, to _Harwich_ on the _Ess.e.x_ side, and to _Whitstable_ on the _Kentish_ side, the Levels of Marshes up the _Stour_ from _Sandwich_ to _Canterbury_, the whole Extent of Lowgrounds commonly call'd _Rumney-Marsh_, from _Hythe_ to _Winchelsea_, and up the Banks of the _Rother_; all which put together, and being allow'd to be in one place cover'd with Water, what a Lake wou'd it be suppos'd to make? According to the nicest Calculations I can make, it cou'd not amount to less than 500000 Acres of Land.

The Isle of _Ely_, with the _Flats_ up the several Rivers from _Yarmouth_ to _Norwich_, _Beccles_, &c. the continu'd Levels in the several Counties of _Norfolk_, _Cambridge_, _Suffolk_, _Huntingdon_, _Northampton_, and _Lincoln_, I believe do really contain as much Land as the whole County of _Norfolk_; and 'tis not many Ages since these Counties were universally one vast Moras or Lough, and the few solid parts wholly unapproachable: insomuch that the Town of _Ely_ it self was a Receptacle for the Malecontents of the Nation, where no reasonable Force cou'd come near to dislodge them.

'Tis needless to reckon up twelve or fourteen like Places in _England_, as the Moores in _Somersets.h.i.+re_, the Flat-sh.o.r.es in _Lancas.h.i.+re_, _Yorks.h.i.+re_, and _Durham_, the like in _Hamps.h.i.+re_ and _Suss.e.x_; and in short, on the Banks of every Navigable River.

The sum of the matter is this; That while this Nation was thus full of standing Lakes, stagnated Waters, and moist Places, the mult.i.tude of Exhalations must furnish the Air with a quant.i.ty of Matter for Showers and Storms infinitely more than it can be now supply'd withal, those vast Tracts of Land being now fenc'd off, laid dry, and turn'd into wholsome and profitable Provinces.

This seems demonstrated from _Ireland_, where the mult.i.tude of Loughs, Lakes, Bogs, and moist Places, serve the Air with Exhalations, which give themselves back again in Showers, and make it be call'd, _The p.i.s.s-pot of the World_.

The imaginary Notion I have to advance on this Head, amounts only to a Reflection upon the Skill of those Ages in the Art of Navigation; which being far short of what it is since arrived to, made these vast Northern Seas too terrible for them to venture in: and accordingly, they rais'd those Apprehensions up to Fable, which began only in their want of Judgment.

The _Phoenicians_, who were our first Navigators, the _Genoese_, and after them the _Portuguese_, who arriv'd to extraordinary Proficiency in Sea Affairs, were yet all of them, _as we say_, Fair-weather Sea-men: The chief of their Navigation was Coasting; and if they were driven out of their Knowledge, had work enough to find their way home, and sometimes never found it at all; but one Sea convey'd them directly into the last Ocean, from whence no Navigation cou'd return them.

When these, by Adventures, or Misadventures rather, had at any time extended their Voyaging as far as this Island, which, by the way, they always perform'd round the Coast of _Spain_, _Portugal_, and _France_; if ever such a Vessel return'd, if ever the bold Navigator arriv'd at home, he had done enough to talk on all his Days, and needed no other Diversion among his Neighbours, than to give an Account of the vast Seas, mighty Rocks, deep Gulfs, and prodigious Storms he met with in these remote Parts of the known World: and this, magnified by the Poetical Arts of the Learned Men of those times, grew into a receiv'd Maxim of Navigation, That these Parts were so full of constant Tempests, Storms, and dangerous Seas, that 'twas present Death to come near them, and none but Madmen and Desperadoes could have any Business there, since they were Places where s.h.i.+ps never came, and Navigation was not proper in the Place.

And _Thule_, where no Pa.s.sage was For s.h.i.+ps their Sails to bear.

_Horace_ has reference to this horrid Part of the World, as a Place full of terrible Monsters, and fit only for their Habitation, in the Words before quoted.

_Belluosus qui remotis Obstrepit Ocea.n.u.s Britannis._

_Juvenal_ follows his Steps;

_Quanto Delphino Balaena Britannica major._

Juv.

Such horrid Apprehensions those Ages had of these Parts, which by our Experience, and the Prodigy to which Navigation in particular, and Sciential Knowledge in general, is since grown, appear very ridiculous.

For we find no Danger in our Sh.o.r.es, no uncertain wavering in our Tides, no frightful Gulfs, no horrid Monsters, but what the bold Mariner has made familiar to him. The Gulfs which frighted those early Sons of _Neptune_ are search'd out by our Seamen, and made useful Bays, Roads, and Harbours of Safety. The Promontories which running out into the Sea gave them terrible Apprehensions of Danger, are our Safety, and make the Sailors Hearts glad, as they are the first Lands they make when they are coming Home from a long Voyage, or as they are a good shelter when in a Storm our s.h.i.+ps get _under their Lee_.

Our Sh.o.r.es are sounded, the Sands and Flats are discovered, which they knew little or nothing of, and in which more real Danger lies, than in all the frightful Stories they told us; useful Sea-marks and Land-figures are plac'd on the Sh.o.r.e, Buoys on the Water, Light-houses on the highest Rocks; and all these dreadful Parts of the World are become the Seat of Trade, and the Centre of Navigation: Art has reconcil'd all the Difficulties, and Use made all the _Horribles_ and _Terribles_ of those Ages become as natural and familiar as Day-light.

The Hidden Sands, almost the only real Dread of a Sailor, and by which till the Channels between them were found out, our Eastern Coast must be really unpa.s.sable, now serve to make Harbours: and _Yarmouth_ Road was made a safe Place for s.h.i.+pping by them. Nay, when _Portsmouth_, _Plymouth_, and other good Harbours would not defend our s.h.i.+ps in the Violent Tempest we are treating of, here was the least Damage done of any Place in _England_, considering the Number of s.h.i.+ps which lay at Anchor, and the Openness of the Place.

So that upon the whole it seems plain to me, that all the dismal things the Ancients told us of _Britain_, and her terrible Sh.o.r.es, arose from the Infancy of Marine Knowledge, and the Weakness of the Sailor's Courage.

Not but that I readily allow we are more subject to bad Weather and hard Gales of Wind than the Coasts of _Spain_, _Italy_, and _Barbary_. But if this be allow'd, our Improvement in the Art of Building s.h.i.+ps is so considerable, our Vessels are so prepar'd to ride out the most violent Storms, that the Fury of the Sea is the least thing our Sailors fear: Keep them but from _a Lee Sh.o.r.e_, or touching upon a Sand, they'll venture all the rest: and nothing is a greater satisfaction to them, if they have a Storm in view, than a sound Bottom and good _Sea-room_.

From hence it comes to pa.s.s, that such Winds as in those Days wou'd have pa.s.s'd for Storms, are called only a _Fresh-gale_, or _Blowing hard_. If it blows enough to fright a South Country Sailor, we laugh at it: and if our Sailors bald Terms were set down in a Table of Degrees, it will explain what we mean.

_Stark Calm._

_A Top-sail Gale._ _Calm Weather._