INDUSTRIES 



wich, Southwold, and Walberswick, formerly 



producing 20,000 of fish per annum, but now 



< greatly decayed by the violence of the water and 



losses of the inhabitants through fire, pirates, and 



shipwreck^, etc., 6,000 being required for the 



' repair of the havens, a general collection was 



authorized to be made from seat to seat in 



church or at the houses of the absentees. 1 



In 1622 we find Lowestoft demurring at 

 contributing its share to the 200 required for 

 the suppression of pirates, whose depredations 

 were then seriously interfering with the English 

 fishing. John Arnold, acting as spokesman for 

 the port, says that ' some of the people are will- 

 ing to join if it be made a rate on the whole 

 town.' Others ' think the town is not charged, 

 as being no member of Yarmouth, and owning 

 only fishing-boats.' Aldeburgh and Southwold 

 follow the lead of Lowestoft, ' as trading only to 

 the north.' 3 Southwold, moreover, pleads 

 poverty as a further excuse. 



More excuses in other directions have to be 

 recorded in this same year, the sums subscribed 

 by the county towards the king's contribution 

 amounting only to 363 gs. 6d., ' which is less 

 than they hoped, but the times are so exceed- 

 ingly hard. Dunwich, Southwold, and Walbers- 

 wick have petitioned to be excused.' 3 



In 1625 we are reminded that the commonly 

 peaceful avocation of fishing was attended, no- 

 where more than on the Suffolk coasts, at this 

 time with a certain degree of excitement if not 

 of danger. ' Small ships,' we are told, in this 

 year, ' dared not stir out to sea without convoy." * 



In 1630, the bailiffs of Southwold petitioned 

 the council, who had granted in the previous 

 season two ships as convoy to the fishers, the 

 latter supplying the crew with victuals. Certain 

 of the inhabitants, it would appear, having 

 refused to pay their contribution to the charge, 

 the council are prayed to send warrants for the 

 arrest of such refractory persons. 5 



In 1635 the fishermen of Suffolk, together 

 with those of Norfolk, prayed for liberty to con- 

 tinue buying, selling, and importing salt without 

 impediment of any new incorporation. 8 



Convoy duty continued to be part of the 

 office of His Majesty's ships in 1644, when 

 F. Greene, captain of the ship Green Dragon, 

 had orders to waft and convoy the North Sea 

 fishermen to Aldeburgh Haven. 7 



In 1653 the search for men to press was 

 being actively pursued along the Suffolk coast. 

 Lieutenant John Scott, writing to the Admiralty 

 Commissioners, ' could find never a man to press 

 at Lowestoft and Pakefield, as they were all 

 employed in the fishing-boats.' 8 



1 Cal.S.P. Dom. 1619-23, p. 17. ' Ibid. 23. 

 3 Ibid. 4 Hitt. MSS. Com. Rep. xii, 253. 



6 Cal. S.P. Dom. 1629-31, p. 224. 



6 Ibid. 1635, P- 5 01 - 



7 Hlit. MSS. Com. Rep. ix, App. i, 3 1 3*. 

 6 Cal. S.P. Dom. 1652-3, pp. 406-7. 



In the following year Captain Robert Wilkin- 

 son of the Weymouth reports himself to the 

 Navy Commissioners as guarding the fishermen, 

 numbering fifty sail, belonging to Lowestoft and 

 Yarmouth. 9 



On 25 April, 1659, a disastrous fire took 

 place at Southwold, dealing the port a blow 

 from which it was never wholly to recover, in 

 spite of temporary but quickly-passing periods of 

 apparent rally. Within a few hours the town 

 was almost entirely destroyed, the fishermen 

 being the greatest sufferers by the loss of their 

 nets, tackling, and fish-houses. 10 



In 1662, the bailiffs of the Cinque Ports 

 having ceased to attend Yarmouth Fair, as they 

 had done yearly for centuries, their place was to 

 some extent taken, as far as the connexion 

 between Suffolk and Kent was concerned, by 

 the west country (Kentish) fishermen, who, 

 from this date, used to repair to the east coast 

 for the herring fishery, selling their catches to 

 the merchants of Lowestoft as well as those of 

 Yarmouth. 11 



Suffolk fishermen were accustomed to go far 

 afield at this date. In 1666 several herring 

 vessels sailed from Aldeburgh to Spain, * and 

 more were preparing. Eight hundred able young 

 seamen were in that fleet.' 1: This fact may 

 sufficiently account for the redoubled vigour with 

 which the authorities applied themselves to the 

 quest for men in the county to serve in His 

 Majesty's Navy, the ' poor town ' of Southwold 

 being ordered to be searched from house to 

 house. 13 



The autumn fishery of 1666 is recorded to 

 have been exceptionally prosperous. On 4 Oc- 

 tober in that year the prospects were declared 

 to be excellent ; ' the herring fishery proves 

 good, and will do well, if the weather continue 

 good, and the fishermen be not taken by the 

 men of war.' One ketch had 'just brought into 

 Southwold seven or eight lasts of herrings.' 14 The 

 sea at this phenomenal season is said to have 

 been ' fuller of herrings than was ever known,' 

 the fishermen being frequently forced to throw 

 three or four lasts overboard during a voyage. 15 

 The ketches were employed, during their inter- 

 vals of fishing, in carrying water and ballast to 

 the fleet, a task for which it would seem they 

 were occasionally but leisurely paid. 18 



Under the protection of their own convoys 

 the Dutch continued to fish in Suffolk waters 

 during the state of war, their fleet, together with 



' Cal. S.P. Dom. 1654, p. 514. 



10 Gardner, Hist. Dunwich, 226. 



11 North country cobles in turn took the place of 

 the western fishers in 1756, being engaged ('hosted') 

 by local owners. The crews received a retaining fee, 

 or ' steerage money,' to defray the cost of the voyage 

 home, exclusive of the sum paid per last of fish. 



11 Cal. S.P. Dom. 1666-7, p. 341. 



13 Ibid. 1665-6, p. 462. " Ibid. 1666-7, p. 181. 



"Ibid. 187. "Ibid. 1 88. 



295 



