MARITIME HISTORY 



seven times in vain to the county authorities. 1 Together with three burgesses of Ipswich Jermyn 

 and Bacon were summoned before the Council. It may be that the revolt of the county magnates 

 was a consequence of the new plan of assessing the whole county, and that they represented a 

 considerable body of opinion. In April, 1597, ^74° remained unpaid; in May four Lowestoft 

 men, who apparently represented the town, were before the Council, and they boldly maintained 

 that not only was the rating too high, but that Lowestoft was not a port nor a member of any port, 

 and had always been assessed hitherto with inland towns to the county for military contributions. 

 On the first point their arguments seem to have impressed the Council, for it was agreed to refer the 

 question to commissioners and accept their decision. 2 In November we find the officers and men of 

 the James and. Costly petitioning that they were yet unpaid, at which the Council 'marvelled.' 3 In 

 February, 1600, the Suffolk assessments were still uncollected ; the Lord Chief Justice had been 

 directed to confer with the local justices when he went on circuit, and he reported that they found 

 ' the country so unwilling that there is small hope the said money could be gotten in unless there be 

 some strict order taken.' The Council could only apply the usual stimulant of ordering the 

 stubborn ones to appear in London.* 



In 1596 some of the refractory inhabitants of the West Riding of Yorkshire had demanded to 

 know by what authority these assessments were made. The temper shown there and elsewhere 

 may have caused the government to be chary of making such claims without very real necessity. 

 There were nearly 200 transports with the earl of Essex to the Azores in 1597, but tne Y were a " 

 hired in the usual way, and there were no more forced levies from the counties during the reign of 

 Elizabeth. 



As piracy died down the scourge of Dunkirk privateering, which was little different, became 

 more and more virulent, and it especially affected the east coast as the nearest cruising-ground to the 

 Low Countries ports, and as offering a harvest of helpless coasters, colliers, and fishing boats. The 

 Spanish government had always hesitated about issuing letters of marque, not for humanitarian 

 reasons, but because there were so few seamen in Spain, and permission, several times given to its 

 subjects, had been in each case speedily withdrawn. The governors of the Low Countries had no 

 grounds for wavering, and as Dunkirk, Sluyf, Nieuport, and Ostend fell into their hands they 

 became privateer bases which inflicted terrible injury upon English commerce. As early as 1586 the 

 Council recommended the people of Norfolk and Suffolk to subscribe among themselves to equip two 

 vessels to protect the fishermen from the Dunkirkers who were then marauding among them ; * the 

 plague grew worse towards the end of Elizabeth's reign because the queen refused to go to the 

 expense of cruising ships while there was any likelihood that a passive non possumus would compel her 

 subjects to act for themselves. In 1596 six or seven Dunkirkers were blockading Harwich harbour, 

 and nearly thirty traders had been taken. 6 The losses suffered, not only by Suffolk but also 

 by other counties, caused debates in Parliament in 1601, when one member declared that, within 

 his knowledge, Dunkirk alone began with two and now had twenty privateers at work. No assistance, 

 however, was to be obtained from the government, therefore in 1602 the masters and men of 

 Orford, Aldeburgh, Ipswich, Yarmouth, and the Essex ports expressed their willingness to subscribe 

 five per cent, of their wages towards the expense of convoying. 7 



The accession of James I brought peace with Spain but piracy still continued on a smaller 

 scale, and the contempt shown by the Dunkirkers in taking Dutch merchantmen in territorial waters 

 caused them to be defined in 1605 as the portion contained within a straight line drawn from headland 

 to headland. 8 But international definitions are of little value unless emphasized by battleship?, and 

 the outrages of the Flemings continued irrespective of proclamations when the Thirty Years' War 

 commenced. Pure piracy was less prevalent but there was sufficient existing to make it necessary to 

 issue a fresh commission of piracy, for all the counties, in 1608. When, in 1619, a national 

 subscription was called for to restore the haven of Dunwich, Southwold, and Walberswick, one cause 

 of the poverty of the towns was said to be losses by pirates. 



When the war with Spain, of 1624, legalized the action of the Dunkirkers they fell with 

 renewed activity on the east coast, which was quite defenceless. Orwell Haven was so open that in 

 August, 1625, Secretary Coke thought that even a few of them would constitute a sufficiently 

 strong force to destroy Harwich and then Ipswich ; 9 in 1626 they were expected to attack the 

 unfinished fort at Landguard. 10 In January, 1626, there were four cruisers on the station between 

 Harwich and Yarmouth, but notwithstanding this protection the Aldeburgh men petitioned for 

 ordnance because they were in daily fear of the Dunkirkers who had fired on the town." A month 

 later a privateer took a ship out of Southwold Roads, in sight of the place, driving the townsmen from 



1 ActsofP.C. 20, 30 March, 1597. ' Ibid. 17 April, 18 May, 28 Dec. 159-. 



5 Ibid. 6 Nov. 1597 ; S. P. Dom. Eliz. eclx, ill. * Ibid. 9 March, 1 599-1600. 



5 Ibid. 10 July, 1586. 6 S.P. Dom. Eliz. cclix, 73. 



' Ibid. Add. xxiv, 47. ' S.P. Dom. Jas. I, xiii, 1 1. 



' S.P. Dom. Chas. I, iv, 77. u Ibid, xviii, 96. " Ibid, xix, 75, 120. 



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