MARITIME HISTORY 



existing copies, which offer internal evidence that the original MS. was in some places nearly or quite 

 illegible when it was transcribed, are of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. 1 There 

 are discrepancies in these MSS. concerning the details relating to several of the ports, but in Suffolk 

 it is only Goseford about which any material question arises. One MS. 2 omits it altogether j the 

 four others allot it thirteen ships, and three of them 303 men, but the fourth 8 says 404 men. 

 Ipswich sent twelve ships and 239 men, 4 Orford three ships and sixty-two men, and Dunwich six 

 ships and 102 men. It appears that from the time of the capture of Calais the men of the port of 

 Goseford, which here included Bawdsey, Falkenham, and Alderton, had held the privilege of supplying 

 the town with beer and other provisions. 5 In 1347, and perhaps partly inconsequence of the Calais 

 service, Ipswich petitioned that it was ' piteously impoverished ' by excessive taxation and the loss of 

 ships by wreck and in the king's fleet, 6 but as the object of the petition was to obtain a reduction in 

 the assessment for the tenths and fifteenths it need not be taken too literally. In 1402 Ipswich again 

 petitioned about its unreasonable farm, and was described by its burgesses as ' a frontier towards the 

 sea and a defence against the enemy for all the district around.' 7 A few new ports are mentioned 

 in the writs of this reign, but it cannot be said that any of them were rising into importance. An 

 order of 1360 for the arrest of all ships is directed to the bailiffs of Ipswich, Orford, Bawdsey, 

 Kirkley, Little Yarmouth, and Dunwich ; 8 another of 1364, forbidding the export of gold, silver, 

 and jewels, is directed to Walberswick, Covehithe, and Kessingland, as well as to the places named 

 in the first writ except Little Yarmouth. 9 



The naval history of Edward III is an illustration of the fact that the almost invariable result 

 of the destruction of an enemy's military fleets is an increase of raids and privateering. Although 

 naval victories were won, and no resistance was or could be made to the transport of Edward's 

 armies, the coasts were continually harassed by French incursions or the fear of them while the sense 

 of helplessness was increased in consequence of the spoils made by privateers and the exhaustion of 

 the shipowning class. An unstable peace existed between 1360 and 1369 ; the outbreak of war in 

 the latter year was followed by the meeting of another council of provincial experts at Westminster 

 in November to which, of the Suffolk ports, only Ipswich sent representatives. 10 The renewal of the 

 war was attended by the complete loss of English supremacy in the Channel. Levy followed levy 

 without result ; the Commons laid the causes to which they attributed the decay of shipping before 

 the king, and in June, 1372, after the defeat of the earl of Pembroke before Rochelle, the crown was 

 reduced to issuing commissions of array for the maritime counties instead of defending them at sea. 

 The ordinary rate of hire of ships was 3;. \d. a ton for three months, and now both that and wages 

 were left unpaid, in contrast to the liberality Edward had shewn thirty years earlier when he could 

 afford to make extra and unusual payments to help the equipment of the fleets. The year 1375 was 

 marked by another maritime disaster in the shape of the capture or destruction, in Bourneuf Bay, of 

 thirty-nine merchantmen, ranging from 300 tons downwards. Ipswich lost three vessels, two being 

 of 100 and one of 150 tons; n they were no doubt wine ships, as there must have been a large 

 local trade to Gascony. 12 



Edward III died in June, 1377, and in July the French were raiding the southern counties at 

 their will. The English fleet was practically non-existent, therefore in November Parliament 

 decided that the country generally should be required to build ships by the following March. 

 Ipswich, Sudbury, Bawdsey, and Hadleigh, were requested to prepare a balinger between them and 

 as an inducement, were promised that after its service in the king's fleets was completed it should 

 be returned for the use of the towns. 13 In 1379 Ipswich alone was called upon for a barge and 

 balinger, the squadron of which they were to form part being ordered to meet in Kirkley Road. 14 

 For years the coast was more or less in a state of blockade, and little more was done than to 

 attempt to protect it, as it were, in patches by local levies where the danger seemed greatest. In 

 1382 certain persons were commissioned 'to take sufficient mariners of the better sort,' in Suffolk 

 and elsewhere, to man ten or twelve ships for the safeguard of the coast. 15 Notwithstanding the 

 bitter and repeated complaints of Parliament concerning the ruin of English shipping, there are 

 indications that it was organization and generalship that was lacking rather than men or ships. ' 

 In 1385 there was a powerful fleet at sea, to which Ipswich sent the George, 170 tons, and two 

 smaller vessels. 16 In 1386 invasion was regarded as imminent; a great army was collected at 



1 Cotton MSS. Titus F. iii, fol. 262 ; Stowe MSS. 570, fol. 23 ; ibid. 574, fol. 28 ; Harl. MSS. 3968, 

 fol. 130 ; ibid. 246. ' Harl. 246. * Titus F. iii. 



4 Harl. MS. 246 says sixty-two men obviously a mistake. * Rot. Par/, iii, 271. 



* Ibid, ii, 189. 7 Ibid, iii, 514. ' Close, 34 Edw. Ill, m. 37^. 



' Ibid. 38 Edw. Ill, m. 27 d. I0 Rymer, Foedera (ed. 1816), iii, 880. 



11 Chanc. Dipl. Doc. P. 324 ; there was a Katherint of Ipswich of 160 tons in 1337 (Close, II Edw. Ill, 

 pt. i, m. 21). " Rymer, Toedera, vii, 563. 



13 Close i Rich. II, m. 22. M Ibid. 2 Rich. II, m. 14. 



14 Pat. 6 Rich. II, pt. i, m. 33. li Exch. Accts. Q. R. bdle. 40, No. 9. 



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