Note 16 — Chapter XXIII
Reading edition
Heaps of stones form not only ballast but ammunition for these formidable canoes. Indeed, among all savage nations, a stone held in the hand, or thrown, perhaps from a sling, is a common, and by no means despicable weapon. These easily collected missiles, and the manner of using them, recal to mind the victory gained by the English fleet over that of France, off Sluys, on the 22d of June 1340; in which “though the battle was fought on the sea, it could scarcely be called maritime; for little depended on the accidents of winds and waves, or on the skill of a commander in availing himself of them. Piles of stones on the deck formed a part of the magazines. The archers of both nations used their crossbows as if they had been on land. They employed grappling irons for boarding, and came to such close quarters as to exhibit a succession of single combats.”—Mackintosh, vol. i. p. 294.