A HISTORY OF DORSET 



belonged to the southern ports, but any taken up for the purpose must 

 necessarily have been of considerable size judged by the standard of that age. 

 Ships of Weymouth and Poole were running frequently, and occasionally one 

 from Wareham." 



After the death of Henry V one of the first proceedings of the Regency 

 was to sell off the Royal Navy by auction, but the loss was not felt at once, 

 because there was no French force capable of contesting the dominion of the 

 sea. There were arrests of shipping during the early years of the new reign, 

 but there was now a general feeling that in this method ' the long coming 

 together of the ships is the destruction of the country.'** Vessels were still 

 impressed for the transport of troops, but the cruising service was handed 

 over to contractors who undertook to keep the sea with a certain number of 

 ships and men for a specified time. Or course, the contractors desired to 

 obtain as much money and go to as little expense as possible ; their guardian- 

 ship was quite ineffective, and as early as 1429 the Commons petitioned 

 about the pirates who were again becoming numerous in the Channel.*' 

 Perhaps among the rovers referred to were the crews of the 'James of 

 Studland and Welfare of Swanage, who drove ashore a foreign ship and 

 then plundered her.'" Parliament, in 1442, expressed the general dissatis- 

 faction with the contract system, and prepared a scheme by which a 

 squadron was to be made up of selected ships from various ports. None 

 of the large ships came from Dorset, but a barge and a pinnace, belonging 

 to Harvey Russell of Weymouth, were chosen.'' All the vessels of this 

 squadron seem to have been picked ships with a reputation. Poole replaced 

 Melcombe as a customs port in 1433, and in view of its promotion obtained 

 a licence to fortify, but it seems to have been little, if at all, in advance of 

 Weymouth in maritime importance ; in 1454 the two places were joined for 

 a contribution of _^50 when certain nobles undertook to keep a fleet at sea.'* 

 The Bridport Harbour of 1385-95 can never have been a great success ; by 

 1447 it was in a ruinous condition, and the burgesses were too poor to restore 

 it. From the two archbishops and from thirteen bishops they procured 

 indulgences by the sale of which they hoped to gain sufficient money to pay 

 for the repairs. At the time politics were exciting more urgent interest 

 and there was no great demand for indulgences ; one of the collectors wrote 

 that to his ' great shame and anger ' he was not making enough to pay 

 his expenses ; another disappeared with all that he had received.'^ There 

 may also have been French raids checking coastal traffic and growth 

 generally. According to one writer Bexington, near Abbotsbury, was 

 burnt in such a descent in 1439 or 1440, after which it was deserted.'* 

 If this is true Bexington could hardly have been the only place in the 

 county which suffered, and it is certain that in other counties there were 

 similar attacks not recorded by the chroniclers. 



There are extant several hsts of ships taken up for the transport of troops 

 in 1439, 1440, 1443, 1447, and 1452 ; '' of these expeditions those of 1439 



" Rot. Franc. /<?//. *' Prcc. of P.C. (ist scr.), v. 102. ^ Rot. Pari. (Re-. Com.), iv, 350. 



" Pat. 7 Hen. VI, pt. i, m. \6 d. ' S.indwich ' in the writ, but .is late as the eighteenth century 

 Svvan.igc was often called Sandwich. " Rot. Pari. (Rec. Com.), v, 59. 



'"' Ibid. 244. Only sixteen towns were assessed, including London, Bristol, Southampton, &:c. 

 " Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vi, App. +95. " Coker, Surz\ of Dorset (cd. 1732), 29. 



" Exch. Accts. K. R. bdle. 53, Nos. 23, 24, 25, 39 ; bdle. 54, Nos. 10, 14. 



192 



