MARITIME HISTORY 



At Woodbridge there were no dry docks, and the men-of-war launched from there 

 were built, as was usual, on slips; 1 in 1804 there was only one builder — Dryden — working 

 there. Other Suffolk shipbuilders in the same year were William Critton of Aldeburgh and 

 Southwold, Johnson of Lowestoft, Abbot of Orford, and Williams of Walberswick. This is a 

 very short list compared with Essex, and in view of the number of merchantmen built at Ipswich, 

 it is at first sight surprising that so few men-of-war came from there. The probable explanation 

 is that Ipswich builders were so fully occupied with private work that they did not care to tender 

 often for small men-of-war, and that the Orwell was too shallow to permit the launch of third 

 and fourth rates, upon which the most profit could be made. The other places in Suffolk where 

 building was possible suffered under every difficulty militating against the convenient construction, 

 launch, and fitting of men-of-war, whether such places were situated on rivers or on the coast. 



During the long and almost unbroken peace which followed the treaty of Utrecht the only 

 interesting circumstance relating to Suffolk is the presence of a Lowestoft man, Thomas Arnold, as 

 first lieutenant of the Superbe, 60, in the battle of Cape Pasaro in 17 18. The Spanish flagship, 

 the Royal Philip, struck to the Superbe and Kent. Arnold brought home her flags, which for long 

 afterwards, were used at weddings to decorate the streets of Lowestoft. Another Suffolk hero 

 during the Seven Years' war was Captain William Death of the Terrible, a London privateer. 

 The Terrible, of twenty-six guns, took a prize on 23 December, 1756, after a severe action. 

 On the 28th, when much damaged, and with a crew of about only 150 effectives, she fell in 

 with the Vengeance, 32, and 360 men, just out from St. Malo. The Terrible was taken, but only 

 after the captain and nearly half his men had been killed, and when there was hardly an 

 unwounded man left standing ; the Vengeance is said to have lost two-thirds of her crew. 2 A 

 Lloyds subscription was raised for the widows and orphans. 



The state of war which, except for one interval of peace, existed between 1739 and 1763, 

 rekindled the fears of the coast ports, and they all applied for means of defence. A return of 

 1 774 3 shows that there were six guns at Southwold, probably sent in response to a petition of I 745/ 

 and mounted at Gunhill. There is a tradition that, taken at Culloden, they were sent by order of 

 the duke of Cumberland in gratitude for the warm reception he received when he landed at 

 Southwold in 1746. The objection to this story is that the official answer of 16 January, 1745-6, 

 acceding to the request, is in the ordinary form in which such replies were couched when guns 

 were sent from the Ordnance Office ; that there is no reference to the duke of Cumberland ; that 

 the ordnance was probably sent towards the end of March or beginning of April, when guns were 

 also sent to Aldeburgh and other places, while Culloden was not fought until 16 April ; and that 

 the duke did not return from Scotland by sea but came by road. In 18 19, however, when the 

 coast batteries were being dismantled, the Ordnance Office is said to have admitted that the guns 

 were the gift of the duke and belonged to the town. 5 It is possible, therefore, that in one of his 

 many journeys from the Continent, later than 1746, stress of weather may have driven his ship 

 into Southwold instead of Harwich, and that such a gift was made, confused by lapse of time with 

 the Ordnance Office guns. Aldeburgh obtained eight guns in April, 1 746, the townsmen complaining 

 that French privateers took prizes in sight of land. In 1744 one ran into the roads under English 

 colours and signalled for a pilot ; when a boat went out the privateer fired into it, killing and 

 wounding three men. 6 She was afterwards captured by H.M.S. Hound, and it would have been in 

 accordance with international law to have hanged her crew as pirates. Pakefield was supplied 

 with two and Lowestoft with six guns ; in every case it was made a condition that the towns should 

 build the batteries and provide ammunition. At Lowestoft the battery at the south end of the 

 town was thrown up in 1744, and, according to Gillingwater, 7 two of the guns were removed in 

 1756 to a new battery at the north end on the beach. During the American war the south 

 battery was rebuilt by the government in 1782 on a larger scale, so that it mounted nine guns ; 

 there were fourteen in the noith battery, but some of them were considered useless. 9 About 17S1 

 a 4-gun battery had been placed at Pakefield, and a 6-gun battery was also built on Gorleston 

 heights. 



The year 1745 brought a keen apprehension of a descent from Dunkirk. Admiral Vernon 

 was in command in the Downs with a subsidiary squadron, under Commodore Thomas Smith, at 

 the Nore, whose especial duty it was to guard the Thames, Essex, and Suffolk. In December 

 Vernon called the attention of the Admiralty to the defenceless state of the Suffolk coast, and, in 

 consequence, Smith was directed to visit the harbours and immediately take what steps he could to 

 remedy the deficiencies. 9 As we know, there was no descent on the east coast, but the same fear 



1 Suffolk Traveller (1764), 106. 



' See the Suffolk Garland (1818), p. lz7,fora song on the subject. The Vengeance was taken in 1-58 by 

 H.M.S. Hussar, 28. ■ Ho. Off. Ord. v. 29. 



4 Wake, Southwold and its Vicinity, 260. * Ibid. 266. 



6 Ipswich Journal, 2 1 July, 1 1 August, I 744. 7 Hist, of Lowestoft, 422. 



' W.O. Misc. Var. fs. » AJmir. Sec. Min. lii, 3 December, 1745. 



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