[3] Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, regarded her as "the fairest [vessel] that ever man saw," while the Florentine Captain of the Galleys, Luca di Masa degli Albizzi, remarked that despite his lifetime at sea he had never seen "so large and beautiful a construction".

[4] Grace Dieu was designed for use in battle against Genoa's formidable fleet of carracks, that city being at the time the ally of France and enemy of England.

To this end she was built with high sides and a prow that rose more than 50 ft (15.24 m), so that her archers could shoot from above into the much lower carracks that she would run alongside.

[2] Grace Dieu and her escorts appear to have only set sail once, in 1420, under the command of the Earl of Devon and with orders to make a cruise down the English Channel.

The expedition suffered a mutiny even before leaving port, when the crew objected to the presence of a contingent of soldiers and archers brought aboard to guard the vessel.

When the ship finally left port, nine of the crew incited a further mutiny against the captain by refusing to take their stations and insisting that the cruise be abandoned.

[2] In 1430 William Soper, by now in charge of the administration of the entire navy, dined with the commander of the Florentine merchant fleet on board Grace Dieu.