284 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



Admiralty. The Earl of Lindsey took a sharper course in a 

 similar case. On returning to the Downs, no doubt irritated 

 from his failure and smarting under Coke's gibes, he pounced 

 upon two English merchantmen who had presumed to wear 

 their flags within full view of the fleet, "almost within com- 

 mand of shot," and in the presence of nearly 200 sail of 

 British and foreign ships. The masters were at once seized, 

 brought on board and put in custody, and a day or two later, 

 a council of war having been called and Sir H. Marten con- 

 sulted, one of them, William Bushell of Limehouse, captain of 

 the Neptune, was fined 500, and the other, Thomas Scott of 

 Ratcliffe, was fined 100, for so gross a misdemeanour. 1 



From the foregoing it is evident that in those days peaceful 

 merchant vessels traversing the narrow seas had not a very 

 happy time. It must often have been irksome in the extreme 

 to the masters, probably not always understanding the minutiae 

 of the rules, which, indeed, the naval captains themselves 

 sometimes failed fully to comprehend, to render due and 

 proper homage to the English flag. To compel foreign men- 

 of-war to salute the king's ships was a different matter. It 

 flattered the national vanity and kept alive the national aspira- 

 tion for power on the sea, and it did not interfere with the 

 duties of the men-of-war which gave the salute. But to the 

 merchantman anxious for his voyage, often undermanned and 

 contending with turbulent seas, it must have been vexatious 

 to be called upon every now and again to lower his top-sails 

 to a king's ship, or take the risk of a shot through his sides 

 or a heavy fine. The inconvenience led later to a modification 

 in the practice, so far as concerned English vessels, it being 

 insisted on only "when it could be done without loss of the 



1 Ketelby and Viscount Conway explained that it was necessary to punish them 

 in a public manner, since imprisonment in the bilboes and such corporal punish- 

 ments were not effective. Conway recommended Scott's fine to be remitted, owing 

 to his worth and poverty, as well as from the fact that he had recently been taken 

 captive by the "Turkish" pirates, and his ransom was not all paid. Bushell, as 

 we learn from a petition ' ' of divers poor men, women, and children, whose kindred 

 are now in slavery at Argier and Sallee," had redeemed and brought home thirty 

 of the captives ; and it is probable that neither of the fines was exacted. It is 

 doubtful if Lindsey's action was regular, for the vessels, according to his statement, 

 had not come within gunshot. The Neptune was one of the three ships fitted out 

 by London for Northumberland's fleet. State Papers, Dom., ccxv. 28, 65, 67 ; 

 cclxv. 50 ; cclxiii. 75 ; ccxcvi. 30, 34, 37 ; ccci. 31. 



