328 



THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



insolence and contempt of his Majesty's regality in these seas, 

 and he remained a prisoner there for a fortnight before he was 

 released by order of the Admiralty. 1 But in 1638 there were 

 few incidents of this kind, probably because of the fleet lying 

 at anchor so long, though it may be supposed that the general 

 condition of public affairs did not whet the zeal of the naval 

 officers. 



It was not long before advantage was taken abroad of 

 Charles's troubles in Scotland. In the early part of 1638 

 Pennington reported that there were many Hollander, French, 

 and Dunkirk ships at sea, and that they were pillaging English 

 vessels ; 2 but the king was unable to protect even the herring- 

 busses of the Fishery Society that he had taken under his 

 peculiar care. The Dunkirkers, emboldened by immunity, 

 took four of them in 1639, and then daringly anchored in 

 the Downs. The Dutch men-of-war became bold, and then 

 insolent. They began by protecting a Calais vessel that had 

 rifled an English ship, their Admiral refusing to surrender 

 her. Soon their fleets visited the English coasts in menacing 

 strength, and although they "performed their duty" in the 

 matter of the flag, they insisted on their right to stop and 

 search English vessels, even in the King's Chambers. "The 

 Hollanders' ships," wrote Northumberland's secretary to Pen- 

 nington in June 1639, "begin to be very bold in our seas, 

 and lie about Portland with fifty sail, examining and search- 

 ing all English ships and others which pass by them, so that 

 in effect they command where the King challenges sovereignty." 

 The English merchants, he said, made great complaint tha 

 their trade was likely to be destroyed ; they were " much per 

 plexed, and called to mind tonnage and poundage, for whi 

 his Majesty was pleased to promise thirty sail of his ships 

 secure trade in the Narrow Sea." 3 



The truth was that English ships had been engaged i 

 transporting Spanish troops and bullion to Dunkirk, and that 

 the Dutch were merely exercising their rights as belligerents. 

 Their action was nevertheless a plain flouting of the high 



1 State Papers, Dom., cccxxv. 21 ; cccxxxviii. 15 ; cccxli. 6 ; ccclxi. 41 ; cccliii 

 fol. 34. Brit. Mus. Add. MSS., 17,677, 0, fol. 364. 



2 State Papers, Dom. , ccclxxxii. 44 ; ccclxxxiii. 29. 



* Smith to Pennington, 8th June 1639. Ibid., ccccxxiii. fi6. 



