528 



A. D. I 



340- 



the taxes, brought upon the commerce and confumption of the country 

 by it, remained a lafling memorial of King Edward's fatal claim upon 

 the crown of France *. 



Odober 11"" — The operations of war being fufpended by a truce, 

 King Edward, in letters addrefled to the fhirrefs of the maritime (hires, 

 obferved that the navy of the kingdom (that is, the whole veffels belonging 

 to the merchants of England) was much reduced by the war f ; and, as 

 the Jecurity of the kingdom depended upon the veffels being kept in the hands of 

 his ozvn fubjecls, he ordered them to make proclamation, that no perfon 

 fhould fell, or give away, any vefTel to a foreigner upon any account : 

 and he alfo defired them to return to him exad: accounts of all the vef- 

 fels, whether great or fmall, in each port within their jurifdi6tions, with 

 the names of their owners. [Fadera, V. v, p. 21 c] Thefe returns, if 

 colleded together, would conftitute, apparently, the firfl; Kegifler of the 

 Jhipping of England %. 



1 341, February 12'" — The king wrote to the magiftrates of the prin- 

 cipal ports of England, ordering that all fliips of fixty tuns or upwards, 

 and all barges and fluves, Ihould be equipped for war. He alfo ordered 

 them to fend deputies, chofen from among their moft fubftantial and 

 prudent inhabitants, who fhould aflemble at Weftminfler, in order to 

 inform him of the ftate of the fhipping in their ports, and the progrefs 

 of the outfit. The following is the lift of the ports with the number of 

 their deputies to this firft naval parliament. 



Sandwich to fend 



Great Yarmouth 2 



Gosford 2 



Lynne 2 



Ipfwich I 



Winchelfea 2 



Dover i 



Rye 1 



Haftings i 



Southampton 2 



Plymouth 2 



Dartmouth 2 



Weymouth i 



Briftol 2 



Bofton I 



Kingfton upon Hull 2 



Newcaftle uponTine 2 



Falmouth i 



Pevenfey i 



Seaford i 



Shorehani i 



Hooke 1 



Poole I 



Exmouth I 



Teignmouth i 



Fowey i 



Ravenfere i 

 Little Yarmouth i 



\f(^dera, V. v,p. 231.] 



April 1 2''' — Six Genoefe gallies, loaded with merchandize for Flan- 

 ders, having been taken at Breft by a fleet of Engli(h veffels in Septem- 



* Though Edward, in an evil Iwur, afTunied the 

 title of king of France, and quartered the lilies of 

 that kingdom with his own leopards in his armori- 

 al bearings, he fccms to have been rather (hy, or 

 dilBdent, in^ufing his new ftile, the moll of his writs 

 about this time being begun with < Rex omn'dus' i^c. 

 without faying what country or countries he claim- 

 ed the fovccignty of. 



f It is not to be fnppoftd, that many merchants 

 would build veffels to replace thofe which were loll, 



as they vrere fure to have very little ufe of thetn 

 during the war. 



\ TIic account of vefTtls furniflied by the fevcral 

 ports of England for the fiegc of Calais (to be 

 found under the year 1346) is nearly equivalent to 

 fuch a regillcr, as all the vclfels of the kingdom (or 

 nearly all) were aflembled on tliat fervice. We 

 there fuid the number of merchant vefFeh to be 685, 

 but for their tunnage vvc liave no other ftandard 

 than the number of mrn they carried. 



