A HISTORY OF DORSET 



relating to another fleet prepared for this expedition, gives a total of 119 

 vessels, of which Poole sent three barges and Weymouth four.*" "When Edward 

 returned from Brittany in March, 1343, he landed at Weymouth,'^ but there 

 were reasons why his visit was not likely to be very welcome. After his 

 arrival at Brest in the previous October, many of the transports had deserted, 

 ' leaving him and his army in very great peril.' There could have been no 

 secret about the fact that he intended to make an example of the transgressors, 

 although the first writs relating to the matter did not issue until May. Two 

 Weymouth vessels had left him, and if the owners or others concerned were 

 present at his arrival in the town they probably lived through some un- 

 pleasant minutes ; the men of three Poole ships and one of Lyme had also 

 committed the same offence.*- Altogether, from all the counties, 293 ships 

 and their masters were scheduled, and it is certain that, at least in some cases, 

 the owners were severely punished by fine or confiscation. The sum of 

 upwards of ^(^3,000 was levied in fines varying in amount from 6s. Sd. to 

 j^i8o ; the owners of a Poole ship paid ^^35, and those of another of Wey- 

 mouth £4.0.^^ Usually, although threats were frequent and the possible 

 penalties heavy, owners escaped lightly, the shipping interest being too 

 powerful and important to be offended without serious consideration. 



There was a truce with France from January, 1343, which lasted, except 

 for small violations on either side, until the campaign of Crecy opened. For 

 Edward's passage, a great fleet — from 1,000 to 1,600 sail, say the chroniclers 

 — was collected, and another attended the siege of Calais. The original 

 record, said to be a Wardrobe Account, containing a list of the fleet at Calais, 

 appears to have perished ; the 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. There 

 are discrepancies in these MSS. in the details relating to many of the ports, 

 but in Dorset the figures are in agreement except in the case of Weymouth. 

 Lyme sent 4 ships and 62 men ; Poole, 4 ships and 94 men ; Wareham, 

 3 ships and 59 men ; of the six MS. copies available, five assign Wey- 

 mouth 15 ships and 264 men," but the sixth gives it 20 ships with the same 

 number of men." Melcombe, and the whole district around, must be in- 

 cluded in Weymouth ; with Melcombe it was evidently growing a big place. 

 Its great neighbour to the east, Southampton, sent 21 ships to Calais ; Ply- 

 mouth, to the west, rapidly growing into a powerful naval port, sent 26 ; with 

 both it compares favourably, in view of a late start and some obvious dis- 

 advantages, but both without doubt possessed bigger ships than Weymouth 

 and Melcombe although they do not appear in these lists. The mercantile 

 and maritime importance of the towns is indicated by an order of 1 347 directing 

 the bailiffs to treat Venetian ships in a friendly manner;''^ this associates them 



" Chan. Misc. ^'j. The great ports sent ships as well as barges, e.g. Southampton five ships and one barge. 



*' Close, 17 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 23 J. " Ibid. m. 4.2'. ; P.it. 17 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. i 7 «'. 



" Pipe R. 21 Edw. Ill, m. 29. 



''' Stowe MSS. 570, fol. 23 ; ibid. 574, fol. 28 ; Harl. MSS. 3968, fol. 130 ; ibid. 246 ; Ravvlinson 

 MSS. (Bodleian) C. 846, fol. 17. 



" Cott. MSS. Titus, F. iii, fol. 262. The ships belonging to the eighty-three ports enumerated are nearly 

 all small ones. Large vessels would only have gone aground oft' Calais at that time ; small coasters of light 

 draught were required. The Calais Roll is often quoted as a measure of the maritime strength of England 

 in 1346, but, even if it were reliable, it is plainly nothing of the sort. It may, however, be a guide to the 

 .imount of shipping engaged in the coasting trade. ^ Close, 21 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 8. 



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