MARITIME HISTORY 



Dunwich and Southwold each possessing ten and Ipswich twelve. The number of men available 

 was 98 masters and 1,184 sailors. A paper of uncertain date, but of about 1590, 1 gives Aldeburgh 

 twenty-four fishing boats of 20 tons each, of which sixteen were new within eight years ; Walbers- 

 wick and Dunwich seven each, whereof four and five respectively were new ; Southwold three and 

 Lowestoft, two. All these were of 20 and 25 tons, and there were many smaller ones as well. 

 The system of registration must have rendered it difficult for the men to escape the Navy net when 

 they were required to serve. Thus on 7 March, 1589-90 the deputy-lieutenants, vice-admirals, 

 and justices in all the counties were ordered to register the ages, names, and dwelling places of all 

 seamen, fishermen, and gunners between sixteen and sixty years of age before 25 March ensuing, 

 while the officers of the ports were to send similar returns of those absent at sea. On 28 April 

 the deputy-lieutenants and the vice-admirals of Suffolk were thanked for their diligence in carrying 

 out the order ; 800 men remained impressed, 400 from Gorleston to Dunwich, and 400 from 

 Dunwich to Ipswich, and of these 310 were to be allowed to go fishing and to Iceland. It is to 

 be presumed that for the rest the original order remained in force ; that is that they were not, on 

 pain of death, to leave their districts. 



The shipping in these lists owned at Ipswich is not remarkable for extent, but the real 

 prosperity of the town was based on the considerable build ng trade, which is noticeable during this 

 and the succeeding reigns. It was probably no new thing, 2 but it certainly increased greatly under 

 the favourable economic conditions which followed 1588. We obtain some guide to the number of 

 ships on which the five-shilling bounty was paid, by the orders for payment, or allowance on the 

 customs, among the 'Exchequer Warrants for Issues' ; but there is no doubt that many, if not most, of 

 these warrants are lost. During the earlier part of Elizabeth's reign Wood bridge ran Ipswich 

 closely ; in 1566 the bounty was paid on two Woodbridge-built ships, and on another in 1568, while 

 Ipswich also launched three between 1560 and 1570. It is, however, possible that those constructed 

 at Woodbridge were really the work of Ipswich builders. In 157 1 we meet with the first 

 indication in these papers of shipbuilding to the order of London owners, when the 'Julian of 

 120 tons and the Minion of 250 tons were constructed for Olyff Burre, a Southwark coppersmith, 

 who was a large owner of merchantmen and privateers. In 1572 Burre built another 150-ton 

 vessel in the Orwell, and in 1575 two more were launched, but the owners' names are not given. 

 The Ipswich reputation must have steadily improved, and the town reaped the full benefit of the 

 demand for ships towards the end of the reign. In 1595 three were launched for London owners, 

 and in 1596 five more. 3 In 1598 the Matthew of 320, in 1599 the Elbing Bonaventure of 300, 

 and in 1603 the Providence of 300 tons were paid for by the warrants. Other Suffolk ports had 

 some share of the building trade. In 1595 the Cherubim of 240 tons came from Orford ; 

 Aldeburgh, too, built some vessels, five, belonging to Alexander and William Bence, earning the 

 bounty in 1596. Several generations of the Bence family produced shipowners and shipmasters. 



John Wylkinson is the only Ipswich builder named in the warrants ; another, mentioned in 

 1572, is Robert Cole, who had liberty to build at the Old Quay on payment of twopence a ton to 

 the town. 4 A third, William Wright, asked compensation in or about 1590 for a ship sunk by 

 order of Drake in 1589, and in his petition deposed that since 1563 he had built twenty-six ships, 

 all of 100 tons or more, besides many smaller vessels. 5 The town must have maintained a thriving 

 business during the reign of James I, although there are only occasional allusions to its chief 

 industry. In 1 61 4 an author, writing about the fishery, pointed out that Ipswich was the best 

 place in which to build fishing ' busses ' to compete with the Dutch, because there were more ship- 

 wrights there than in any other six towns in England ; 6 it was already famous for its cordage, and 

 was supplying canvas for the Navy in 1587. 7 In 1618 the committee of the East India Company 

 conferred with Browning of Ipswich about a ship of 500 or 600 tons for the eastern trade, and in 

 February completed the contract. 8 In 1 619 the company again employed Browning, 9 who seems 

 to have had a yard also at Woodbridge, where probably his larger ships were built. The strength 

 and influence of the Ipswich shipbuilding interest is shown by the fact that, in 162 1, the report that 

 the Ipswich men intended to promote a Bill for the dissolution of the London Shipwrights' Company 

 caused the representatives of that company to implore the protection of a secretary of state. 10 At 

 Walberswick a series of shipbuilders, extending for over a century, are referred to : — Thomas Pryme 

 in 1587, William Crispe in 1634, Robert Boulton, senior, in 1641, and John Cowling in 1687. n 



1 S.P. Dom. Eliz. ccxxxv, 37. * Ante, pp. 203, 21 1. 



' It should be understood that these dates are those of the payments of the bounty ; the ships may 

 have been built long before, but there is no way of ascertaining the exact year. 



* Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. ix, App. i, 254. s Admir. Ct. Misc. Bks. 986, Xo. 70. 



• T. Gentleman, England's Was to Win Wealth, 1614. Gentleman himself was a shipowner, and received 

 the bounty on a 200-ton ship in 1600 (S. P. Dom. Eliz. cclxxiv). 



7 S.P. Dom. Eliz. ccxviii, 25. 8 S. P. Col. 16 Jan. 161 7-18. 



9 Ibid. 25 May, 1619 ; 26 Nov. 1621. 



10 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xii, App. i, 1 1 1. " Gardner, Hist. Acct. of Dunuich, 164. 



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