208 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



ceremony appears to have been first confined to the Channel, 

 and was held to be peculiarly a privilege of the admiral of the 

 narrow seas. Thus, when Captain Plumleigh was appointed 

 admiral of a squadron for service in Ireland in 1632, he was 

 ordered by the Admiralty if he met " in any part of the narrow 

 seas with the Convertive, in which Captain Pennington com- 

 mands as admiral of those seas," to take in his flag, and to 

 "continue it furled whilst in sight of that ship, it being an 

 ancient honour and privilege belonging only to that admiral to 

 carry the flag in the maintop in those seas." l Monson also 

 tells us, in referring to the decision of the Lord High Admiral 

 in Gondomar's case, above alluded to, that every ship of the 

 king's serving under an admiral could not demand the strik- 

 ing of the flag when out of sight of the admiral ; but the 

 foreign ship, " be he admiral or no, is to strike his top-sail and 

 hoist it again, to any one ship of the king's that shall meet 

 him." He further states that any foreign ship or fleet arriving 

 in an English port, or passing by a fort or castle, had to take 

 in their flag three times, and advance it again, unless the 

 English admiral's ship was in the same harbour, in which case 

 they were to keep it in so long as the admiral was present ; 

 "but if any other ship of his Majesty's be there but the 

 admiral's, they are not bound to keep in their flag, but only 

 to strike it thrice as aforesaid." Monson added that he wished, 

 in these later times (the reign of Charles I.), " that his Majesty's 

 ships would take more authority upon them than is due," in 

 order to curb the insolence of the French and the Hollander 

 a wish which, as we shall see, must have been fully gratified. 

 It was against the Dutch that the striking of the flag was most 

 thoroughly enforced, and one cannot but admire the patience 

 and restraint they exhibited under great provocation. The 

 French and Swedes avoided giving the salute as much as they 

 could. As the century wore on, the English exaction on this 

 point grew more outrageous. Foreign ships of war were forced 

 to strike on their own coast even to our royal yachts, and the 

 Hollanders were asked to strike not merely in the British 

 seas, but wherever they were encountered. To the old 

 sea - dogs all seas were " British " where their fleets were 

 strongest. 



1 The Lords of the Admiralty to Plumleigh. State Papers, Dom., clvii. fol. 121. 



