A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK 



affected adhesion to the king, but much more out of hatred of Yarmouth, which was parliamentarian, 

 than from love of Charles. The county as a whole had no naval history during the Civil War ; 

 although privateers, sailing with or without a royal commission, kept apprehension alive on the 

 coast, the attachment of the county to the Parliament rendered it useless to attempt to land supplies 

 which could not be pushed through to the royal armies. Yarmouth and Lowestoft carried on a 

 privateer war of their own, in which Captain Thomas Allin, afterwards Admiral Sir Thomas Allin 

 in the time of Charles II, took a leading part. 1 Suffolk did not really feel the effect of naval 

 operations until the occurrence of the first Dutch war in 1652. Before that event the necessity 

 for strengthening the Navy, not only in view of the threatened quarrel with the Dutch, but also for 

 other reasons, gave occasion to the employment of the private yards in the county for government 

 work in building men-of-war. In 1650 Peter Pett junior, then a Navy Commissioner, contracted to 

 build two vessels, the Advice, 42, and Reserve, 42, at Woodbridge, the first two war-ships of the 

 modern Navy constructed in Suffolk. The Pett family were still connected with Harwich and 

 Ipswich, and the Woodbridge yard may have belonged to some member of the family, or more 

 probably to Pett himself. The Basing, 28, was launched at Walberswick, and the Maidstone, 40, 

 and Preston, 40, at Woodbridge, in 1654, the first by a government shipwright, the last two by 

 private builders. 2 After the return of peace the national dockyards were equal to the requirements 

 of the Navy, and no men-of-war were built in Suffolk for some years. 



The war of 1652-4 was extremely popular with the seamen, and at first volunteers flocked in 

 to man the state's ships. But after the volunteers there was always a residuum who could only be 

 reached by the press system, and in May, 1652, a circular letter to all the counties directed the 

 impressment of all seamen between fifteen and fifty years of age. There was more difficulty as the 

 novelty of fighting the Dutch wore off, and the higher pay of private owners and greater chances 

 of prize-money in privateers exercised counter-attractions, so that in December, 1652, wages were 

 raised in the state's ships and other advantages offered. The immediate result was that men were 

 coming in • cheerfully and in great numbers,' but the truth was that there were not enough seamen 

 in Great Britain to man both the merchant navy and the large fleets then in commission. 



In February, 1653, the agent at Aldeburgh wrote that the sailors of that town had set off to 

 offer themselves as volunteers. 3 At Ipswich men were so scarce that able seamen in merchantmen 

 were obtaining masters' wages, 4 and some, who perhaps conscientiously objected to war, were taking 

 to the plough to avoid the press. 6 The first North Sea battle of the war was fought in September, 

 1652, off the Kentish Knock. When the North Sea became an area of active hostilities, Orwell 

 Haven, with Ipswich and Harwich, at once sprang into consequence as a base of the first importance, 

 and the Suffolk coast towns also had their value for subsidiary purposes. Notwithstanding the 

 constant going and coming of English men-of-war, Dutch privateers were always on the coast, and 

 in August it was feared that the fishery would be stopped for the year. In May, 1653, Monk and 

 Deane were lying off Yarmouth with the fleet, whence they dropped down to Southwold Bay, and 

 on 2 June was fought the battle of the Gabbards, thirty miles out at sea. Deane was killed, but 

 Monk, who had been joined by Blake, returned to Southwold Bay, and the sick, wounded, and 

 prisoners were landed among the Suffolk ports. The financial difficulties which finally ruined the 

 Commonwealth were already acute, and the money still owing for former quartering of the sick 

 and wounded rendered the inhabitants unwilling to admit others. There were, of course, very few 

 hospitals in England, and the sick men were received in private houses where they were supposed to 

 be nursed and obtain the attention of the surgeons. On 10 July Monk wrote to the Admiralty 

 Commissioners that great complaints were made by the bailiffs of Ipswich, Dunwich, Aldeburgh, 

 and Southwold that they received no money with which to pay for the care and housing of the 

 sick, 'whereby the inhabitants begin to be weary of them.' 6 Monk added that he had been 

 compelled to pledge his personal credit at Southwold for assistance. Four days later the bailiffs of 

 Southwold wrote to the Navy Commissioners that they had provided for 600 sick and wounded in 

 the town at a cost of £30 to £40 a day. 7 One distinguished invalid — Robert Blake — was landed 

 at Walberswick on 5 July 'in a very weak condition, full of pain both in his head and left side, 

 which had put him into a fever, besides the anguish he endures by the gravel, insomuch that he has 

 no rest night or day, but continues groaning very sadly.' 8 For him there was no suitable accommo- 

 dation to be found at Walberswick. After the war there was at least one bill of £1,883 5 s - 4^- 

 for the maintenance of prisoners and the sick owed at Aldeburgh, and £3,838 at Ipswich. 9 



In spite of the hindrance of war, the Iceland and other fisheries maintained themselves fairly 

 well during the troubled years following 1642. In 1649 four hired merchantmen were detailed to 

 convoy the Iceland ships, and in the same year Lowestoft and other ports petitioned for a guard for 



1 Gillingwater, op. cit. 1 10. * See Appendix of Ships. ' S. P. Dom. Interreg. xlvii, 82. 



' Ibid. 52. 5 Ibid, xxxv, 97. 6 Ibid, xxxviii, 34. 



7 Ibid. 55. S Ibid. 22. 



9 Ibid, xlii, 27 Feb. 1653-4 » kcii, 133. 



228 



