The original
Ark Royal was built for Sir Walter Raleigh in 1587 as the
Ark Raleigh. She was built by Peter Pett at Deptford Dockyard. She was a galleon with dimensions of 100ft on the keel, a 37ft beam, and a depth of hold of 15ft. Her burden was 555 tons. Her "tons and tonnage" was 692 tons. She had a crew of nominally 400 men. During the Armada campaign, she served as Lord Howard's flagship. She was rebuilt in 1608 as the
Anne Royal. Certain people were scandalized by renaming a proud ship after James I's French wife. James was not popular, at least partly due to his "lifestyle choices". We know her armament at several dates:
1599 1603
demi-cannon (32pdr) 4 4
cannon perrier (24pdr) 4 -
culverin (18pdr) 12 14
demi-culverin (9pdr) 12 16
saker (5-1/4pdr) 6 6
port piece (9pdr, stone) 4 2
fowler ? 4 2
Port Pieces and Fowlers were breach loaders. Originally, they were built up iron. They fired stone shot. Peter Kirsch writes that port pieces fired a 9 pound shot. Fowlers often were used to fire small pieces of metal, in scatter shot fashion, as they were used to fire against borders. Fowlers originally fired a solid stone shot, perhaps as big as 5 pounds. The bore was smaller than a port piece, which was about 5.5 inches in diameter.
Sources:
- E. H. H. Archibald, The Fighting Ship in the Royal Navy AD897-1984, 1987
- J. J. Colledge, Ships of the Royal Navy, 2nd Ed., 1987.
- Peter Kirsch, The Galleon: Great Ships of the Armada Era, 1990
- John Knox Laughton, State Papers Relating to the Defeat of the Spanish Armada Anno 1588, Vol.I, 1894
- Michael Oppenheim, History of the Administration of the Royal Navy, 1896
