278 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



then given. 1 Two or three years later Pennington put the 

 same and other queries to the king. He had been appointed 

 in April 1633 Admiral of the Narrow Seas, with general 

 instructions already quoted (see p. 262), to preserve the king's 

 honour, coasts, and jurisdiction, and to compel homage to the 

 flag. Pennington asked whether, when a stranger refused to 

 take in his flag till forced, he should not be " brought in as a 

 delinquent " ; whether, if he met a foreign fleet of far greater 

 strength than his own, and they refused to take in their flags, 

 he, should fight with them about it "upon so great disadvan- 

 tage," or make " a fair retreat " ; whether on going into Calais, 

 Dunkirk, or the Briel that is to say, ports in France, Flanders, 

 and Holland and finding strangers riding there with their 

 flags aloft, he should force them to take them in ? 2 He also 

 wrote to the Admiralty in 1634 substantially repeating these 

 inquiries, and asking for a positive or negative expression in 

 regard to them in his instructions. The Admiralty remitted 

 Pennington's letter to Nicholas and Sir Henry Marten to frame 

 answers. The final opinion on the first point was that by the 

 law of the Admiralty both in England and France, the ships 

 were forfeited that is to say, the same penalty applied as was 

 prescribed in King John's ordinance. It was, however, rarely, 

 if ever, carried into effect. The instructions on this matter 

 usually ran that punishment was to be inflicted at the place, or 

 the commander brought in to answer his contempt. When the 

 Earl of Northumberland asked a similar question in 1636, he 

 was told the offender should be " punished on the place." 3 In 

 Nicholas' opinion much more than the forfeiture of the ship 

 was required ; the offender, he thought, should be brought in as 

 a delinquent, and if he resisted he should be tried as a pirate ; 

 but this absurd interpretation was overruled. 



On the other points it is not quite clear what the final 

 official answers were. Nicholas thought that when a superior 

 fleet was encountered, the English Admiral ought not to engage 

 rashly about the flag ; but if he once commanded the foreigners 

 to strike, then " the ships were better to be lost than his (the 

 king's) honour and sovereignty yielded." The opinion he gave 

 with regard to forcing foreign vessels to strike in foreign ports 



. 1 14th October, 12th November 1631. State Papers, Dom., cci. 54 ; cciii. 32. 

 2 Ibid., cclxiii. 75. 3 Ibid., cccxvii. 102. 



