Note 17 — IV. THE PERIOD OF THE DUTCH WARS.

Charles II always had an eye for and interest in improvements in detail, and himself invented new forms of hull, which, however, did not come up to his expectations. Both he and James wore devoted to yachting and steered their own boats.

A singular defect of all the Stuarts in naval matters was their inability to appreciate the importance of the human as well as the material element. In the Cromwell régime, all the old abuses in connection with food, clothing and delayed pay, wore done away with; to re-appear, however, almost as bad as ever soon after the Restoration.