A HISTORY OF DORSET 



previous century. No doubt a contingent of Dorset ships and seamen was 

 present in the fleet, made up from the ports generally, which won the great 

 victory at Damme in 12 13. 



In the reigns of John and Henry III we find notices of the Bridport 

 cordage manufacture. In 121 3 John ordered cables for his ships to be made 

 there in such haste that the work was to be carried on night and day.* In 

 1225 Henry directed the sheriff to buy two cables in the town and send them 

 to Fowey for the use of the royal ships.' In 1224 there was a general arrest 

 of shipping in view of war with France ; in Dorset the bailiffs of Poole were 

 called upon to prepare all its ships for service and to detain any foreign vessels 

 coming there. ^^ This is the first notice of the town in relation to shipping. 

 Weymouth occurs in 1226, as well as Poole, when an order issued to stop 

 any merchantmen sailing for French ports. Lyme is added to a similar writ 

 in 1234.'^ Arrests of shipping were frequent during the reign of Henry, but 

 they were seldom followed by any events requiring notice. In 1254 there 

 was a levy of ships large enough to carry sixteen horses, and writs were 

 directed to Poole, Weymouth, and Lyme.'- The last was becoming strong 

 enough to carry on a war of its own ; in 1265 the king ordered inquiry into 

 the mutual injuries inflicted upon each other at sea by the men of Lyme and 

 Dartmouth, which had led to ' enormous transgressions and homicides ' by 

 both parties. '^ As this was the period of the Barons' Wars, the anarchy 

 existing in the state was reproduced on a smaller scale round the coast. But 

 Dartmouth had long been a great and wealthy port ; if Lyme could now 

 fight it on terms of equality at sea it signifies a remarkable growth of pros- 

 perity in the Dorset town. 



A distinctive feature of the maritime history of the thirteenth century 

 is the appointment of one or more persons, sometimes for one county and 

 sometimes for a group of counties, as keepers of the coast, a step towards the 

 organization of systematic defence. John Marshal was keeper of the ports 

 of Somerset and Dorset in 121 5, although this appointment was probably 

 not altogether one of the later type.'* In 1224 Ralph Germun was keeper 

 of the Dorset coast ; in 1235 Hamo de Crevecoeur and Walerand Teutonicus 

 had charge from Hastings to Poole.'' The office was not continuous, and 

 most often comes under notice in time of war when the enemy happened to 

 have the upper hand and be in command of the Channel. Thus in the reign 

 of Edward III we find many nominations in the years immediately preceding 

 the battle of Sluys in 1340. The functions of the keeper were chiefly 

 military, but were also judicial in matters relating to the sea and coast ; he was 

 in military command both at sea and on land, and was given somewhat large 

 powers. Practically, he was expected to crush piracy, to beat off raiders, to 

 enable coasters and fishermen to sail in peace, and to summon the county to 

 arms upon invasion. The office did not endure for long because, during the 

 second half of the fourteenth century, the growth of the Admiralty Court, 

 the increased power of the admirals, and, finally, the creation of the post of 

 High Admiral lessened its importance. Historically, however, the keeper may 



* Close, 1 5 John, m. 6. 



' Ibid. 9 Hen. Ill, m. 13. Fishing nets were also made there (ibid. 7 Hen. Ill, m. 22). 



'" Pat. 8 Hen. Ill, m. 8 J. " Close, 10 Hen. Ill, m. 27./. ; ibid. 18 Hen. Ill, m. 25^ 



" Ibid. 38 Hen. Ill, m. 5. " Pat 49 Hen. Ill, m. 17. 



" Pat. 17 John, m. 17. '^ Ibid. 19 Hen. Ill, m. 14. 



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