MARITIME HISTORY 



The closing years of the reign of Henry IV were somewhat more 

 peaceful at sea than had been the earlier ones. Henry V had perhaps formed 

 his own opinion of the anarchy that had existed, for in 141 4 he instituted 

 officials, called conservators of truces, in every port who, assisted by two 

 legal assessors, and holding their authority from the High Admiral, were to 

 have powers of inquiry and punishment in relation to all illegal proceedings 

 at sea/* They were to keep a register of the ships and seamen belonging 

 to each port and acted as adjudicators in such cases as did not go before the 

 Admiralty Court. They seem, so far as related to judicial functions, to have 

 been a link on the civil side between the earlier keepers of the coast and the 

 vice-admirals of the coast created in the sixteenth century. That the statute 

 was strictly enforced and helped to produce quieter conditions at sea is shown 

 by the fact that two years later the king consented to some modification of 

 its stringency by promising to issue letters of reprisal when equitable. In 

 1435 it was entirely suspended, being found ' so rigorous and grievous,' said 

 the Commons ; in that year Burgundy broke away from the English alliance, 

 and the shipowners foresaw hostilities and profits. In 145 1 it was brought 

 into force again for a short time, and once more renewed by Edward IV. 



Henry V began his reign with the intention of having a great fleet of 

 his own. The custom of general impressment was now expensive, both to 

 the shipowner and to the crown ; moreover, it was slow in operation, while 

 in the mind of a great soldier like Henry speed in concentration and in 

 striking was a necessary element of his combinations. There were also 

 political reasons for not disturbing trade, now beginning to take a wider 

 flight. The system could not be, and was not, at once abolished, but it 

 became much less frequent during the fifteenth century ; a definite note of 

 change is sounded in the establishment of cruisers round the coast in 141 5, 

 five vessels being stationed between Plymouth and the Isle of Wight.*^ The 

 great fleet of upwards of 1,400 vessels required for the campaign of Agin- 

 court included a contingent from Dorset, but very many were hired in 

 Holland and Zealand, either because the resources of the kingdom were 

 insufficient or Henry resolved not to tax them unduly. In 141 6 the French 

 had a fleet at sea which contained some hired Spanish and Genoese vessels of 

 large size ; they were off Portland in May, and did some damage in the 

 island, but as a whole their cruise was not very successful, and in August 

 many of the ships of their fleet joined the Royal Navy by right of capture. 

 For Henry's passage to France in 1417 another large fleet was collected, but 

 out of one list of 238 vessels 117 belonged to Holland and Zealand. Many 

 of the English ports were unrepresented, and it seems clear that Henry had 

 determined from the first to make war with as little economic disturbance as 

 possible — to do with his own ships the fighting which cleared the road and to 

 use foreign ones to transport his troops. There were, however, six Dorset 

 ships in the fleet of 1417, three from Poole, two from Wareham, and one 

 from Weymouth."' It has been noticed that the oversea transport of pilgrims 

 to the shrine of St. James was springing up during the reign of Richard II. 

 The business grew rapidly during the first half of the fifteenth century, and 

 merchants and nobles seem to have been equally eager to obtain a share in 

 what must have been a lucrative traffic. Most of the ships so employed 



" 2 Hen. V, cap. 6. " Proc. ofP.C. (ist sen), ii, 145. ^ Rot. Norman, (ed. Hardy, 1835), 320-9. 



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