MARITIME HISTORY 



with only six other ports in England, and we may therefore infer the 

 occasional arrival of a Venetian galley either for trade or for shelter. In 

 1352 Weymouth and Melcombe were the only ports in Dorset to which a 

 writ was sent, repeating the inhibition on the sale of English vessels to 

 foreigners, which is further evidence of their strength in shipping/^ Mel- 

 combe is frequently mentioned during this reign in relation to the export of 

 wheat and as a passage port to France ; in 1371 the town authorities were 

 directed to allow Portuguese merchants to trade there peaceably.*** 



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

 uniform result of the destruction of an enemy's military fleets, formerly, was 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 weakness was increased by the loss due to privateers and 

 the exhaustion of the shipowning classes. In 1348 Bindon Abbey was 

 practically in the hands of receivers, and the misfortune was attributed, among 

 other causes, to the losses caused by the enemy's raids."" The reference may 

 be to the events of 1339, but if, on the other hand, they were recent — and 

 Budleigh, in Devonshire, had suffered considerably in i 347 — it shows that while 

 the English fleets were in absolute command of the Channel, they were still 

 unable to prevent those injuries which even the victor suffers in all wars. 

 An unstable peace endured between 1360 and 1369 ; the recommencement 

 of hostilities in the latter year was followed by a meeting of another council 

 of maritime experts at Westminster, to which Weymouth, Poole, and Lyme 

 sent representatives.™ The renewal of the war was attended by the complete 

 loss of English supremacy in the Channel. Levy followed levy without 

 result or with calamity, for while France was displaying an unexpected 

 strength at sea England was suffering from the weariness of a long war and a 

 weakening government. The Commons laid before the king the causes to 

 which they attributed the decay of shipping, and in June, 1372, after the 

 defeat of the earl of Pembroke before Rochelle, the crown was reduced to 

 collecting troops along the coasts of the maritime counties to repel invasion 

 instead of defending them by fleets at sea. The ordinary rate of hire for ships 

 taken up by the crown was 3J. 4^. a ton for every three months, but now 

 both that and wages were left unpaid in contrast to the liberality Edward had 

 shown 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 39 merchantmen, ranging from 300 tons downwards. Three 

 Weymouth ships, of which one was of 100 tons, were lost there.'' 



Edward III died 21 June, 1377, and within a week of his death the 

 French were raiding the south coast from Kent to Cornwall. Several towns 

 were more or less wasted, and Melcombe is ranged among them by one 

 chronicler; it must have suffered severely, for in December, 1378, the 

 burgesses petitioned to be allowed delay in paying the tenths and fifteenths, 

 because lately ' burnt and destroyed.' '^ In another petition of 1379 they asked 



"' Close, 25 Edw. Ill, m. 4 a'. 

 '■' Pat. 22 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 9. 

 " Chan. Dipl. Doc. P. 324. 



Rymer, Foei^. (ed. 18 16), iii, 929. 

 ' Rymer, Foc</. (ed. 1816), iii, 880. 

 Close, 2 Ric. II, m. 22<2'. 



187 



