“Keep then the sea that is the wall of England;

And then is England kept by Goddes hande.”

– Bishop Adam de Moleyns, The Libel of English Policie, c. 1436

In the Bishop’s day, the launching of a vessel from port or quay promised momentous anticipation. Crossing an ocean the likes of the Atlantic was the ambition of the arrogant or the insane, and lesser voyages could prove hazardous even in cooperative weather. Even there, however, a crew’s fate could only be waited for by those left behind. Once a topmast slipped beneath the sea’s horizon on the leg out, the shore-bound entered a pitiable state of not-knowing the where and when of vessel and crew. Indeed, weeks could stretch into months before word or post arrived.