l fortresses. England,
Spain, Holland, and France were struggling for the control of the deep,
and cared little for considerations of humanity, honor, or honesty in the
contest. The tall, straight pines of Maine and New Hampshire were a
precious possession for England in the work of building that fleet whose
sails were yet to whiten the ocean, and whose guns, under Drake and
Rodney, were to destroy successfully the maritime prestige of the Dutch
and the Spaniards. Sometimes a colony, seeking royal favor, would send to
the king a present of these pine timbers, 33 to 35 inches in diameter, and
worth L95 to L115 each. Later the royal mark, the "broad arrow," was put
on all white pines 24 inches in diameter 3 feet from the ground, that they
might be saved for masts. It is, by the way, only about fifteen years
since our own United States Government has disposed of its groves of live
oaks, that for nearly a century were preserved to furnish oaken knees for
navy vessels.

[Illustration: "THE BROAD ARROW WAS PUT ON ALL WHITE PINES 24 INCHES IN
DIAMETER"]

The great number of navigable streams soon led to shipbuilding in the
interior. It was obviously cheaper to build the vessel at the edge of the
forest, where all the material grew ready to hand, and sail the completed
craft to the seaboard, than to first transport the material thither in the
rough. But American resourcefulness before long went even further. As the
forests receded from the banks of the streams before the woodman's axe,
the shipwrights followed. In the depths of the woods, miles perhaps from
water, snows, pinnaces, ketches, and sloops were built. When the heavy
snows of winter had fallen, and the roads were hard and smooth, runners
were laid under the little ships, great teams of oxen--sometimes more than
one hundred yoke--were attached, and the craft dragged down to the river,
to lie there on the ice until the spring thaw came to gently let it down
into its proper element. Many a farmer, too, whose lands sloped down to a
small harbor, or stream, set up by the water side the frame of a vessel,
and worked patiently at it during the winter days when the flinty soil
repelled the plough and farm work was stopped. Stout little craft were
thus put together, and sometimes when the vessel was completed the
farmer-builder took his place at the helm and steered her to the fishing
banks, or took her through Hell Gate to the great and thriving city of New
York. The world h