at sea or in process of assembly. In February. the Earl of Salisbury was given command of an English squadron, and, with the Admirals Courtenay and Neviile, he appears to have made some effort to blockade the mouth of the Seine, but to have been obliged by the allies to retire. He proceeded to St. Malo, where he destroyed eight Spanish merchantmen, and thence to Brest, where, while assisting in the defence of the place, he was himself virtually blockaded by the enemy. who also kept such good command of the Channel that an expedition under the Duke of Lancaster, destined for Guienue, could not go thither directly, and had to land at Calais and make a terribly disastrous march through France.[1] Yet, in the Chancellor's speech to Parliament, Salisbury's proceedings were highly eulogised.[2] His almost sole service, with the eighty ships under his command, appears to have been the influence which he exerted towards inducing the French to raise the siege of Brest.
The year 1374 produced no very notable naval actions. although both sides cruised continually in the Channel. In January and February there were impressments of men for eight ships which were ordered to keep a look-out on the western coasts;[3] in May a number of ship-masters were summoned to attend the council at Westminster to give information and advice;[4] and between July and September a convoy was collected at Dartmouth and Plymouth to carry over the Earl of Cambridge and an army to Brittany.[5] But it was, nevertheless. a very important year. for it saw the commencement of the construction, for the first time, of a regular royal navy of France. Jean de Vienne, who has been already mentioned, had been appointed Admiral of France on December 27th, 1373; and, convinced of the advantage of vessels Built especially and exclusively for war over craft hired from the merchants and adapted, he at once began the building of war vessels at Rouen in 1374.[6]
A year's truce between England and France and Spain was concluded in June, 1375, but it was not strictly observed: for when, in August, a fleet, which had conveyed Sir Thomas Felton to Bordeaux, and Sir William Elman to Bayonne, had taken in cargo in the Bay of Borgneuf, with a view to returning to England, a Spanish squadron under Reyner Grimaldi[7] and Evan, the Welsh
