MARITIME HISTORY 



the recent yearly average from the western ports at 26,700 tons of shipping 

 and 10,680 men, which was the highest point of prosperity the trade reached 

 for the time. In 1640 Weymouth had 1,000 tons of shipping engaged in 

 the fishery, but in 1670 the amount had fallen to 350 tons ; "' probably the 

 deterioration of the harbour had much to do with this decline. 



In the spring of 1585 Philip II, breaking a promise of safe conduct, 

 ordered the seizure of all English ships then in the Spanish ports. This 

 act was answered here by the issue of letters of reprisal, which were only to 

 be given to persons who could prove that they had suffered by the seizure ; 

 this event, with Drake's expedition of the same year, marks the commence- 

 ment of the Spanish War. Merchants of Lyme had suffered loss to the 

 amount of _^2,ooo, and those of Melcombe to )ri,ooo ; Poole is in the list 

 but the amount is destroyed.^^' One of the vessels thus set out was the 

 Susan of Lyme of 100 tons. 



The strained relations that had long existed between England and Spain 

 had led to the exercise of precautions, in the years preceding 1585, in the 

 way of training the county levies and the repair of the coast fortifications. 

 From the accession of Edward VI the latter had been neglected everywhere ; 

 a report of 1574 described Sandsfoot Castle as going to ruin, the walls 

 cracked by frost and in some places nearly falling into the sea.^'' There were 

 five dismounted guns, but the wooden platforms were too rotten to bear them 

 if mounted, and there was no ammunition. Portland Castle was found to be in 

 as bad a condition, and Brownsea, it was said, had never been really completed. 

 A silence of nine years follows; then there was another survey in 1583 

 from which it appears that both castles were in a much worse state, and 

 that the sea was undermining Portland.'™ In this paper the batteries at 

 Handfast Point and Peverel Point are again referred to,'" but they of course 

 were in a very dilapidated condition. In 1582 the corporation of Poole had 

 lamented the weakness of Brownsea Castle, and the report of 1583 empha- 

 sized this ; it seems never quite to have been decided whether the town or 

 the government was responsible for its upkeep."^ What was certain was 

 that in none of these fortifications had there been any repairs done, or any 

 necessaries and ammunition provided, for many years except at the expense 

 of their commandants. In October, 1583, the question was at last dealt 

 with, >Ci93 lO-f- being issued for works at Portland, £1^'^ ^^- ^^- ^^^ Sands- 

 foot, jC202 lis. Sd. for Brownsea, j^20 for Peverel Point, and ^^1° ^o^" 

 Handfast Point."' In 1586 the deputy lieutenants of the county informed 

 the Council that Portland Roads were quite unprotected by either of the 

 castles, and that an enemy's fleet could ride there altogether out of range."* 

 This, taken literally, is untrue, but they probably included Weymouth Roads 

 in the anchorage. They recommended the erection at Weymouth, which 

 was defenceless, of two forts; the town, they said, was too poor to build 

 them, but would maintain them if the queen bore the first expense. The 

 Weymouth people had made a previous attempt to obtain ' a small bulwark ' 

 in 1583 when the pirate, Purser, had threatened to burn the town ; the 



'" S.P. Dom. Chas. II, ccxcv. No. 76. "^ Admlr. Ct. Exemp. xiii, Nos. 211-13. Imperfect. 



"' S.P. Dom. Eliz. xcvii, No. 8. "" Ibid, clxili, No. 41. '" ^«''', p- i99- 



'" S.ixton's map of Dorset of 1575 (Harl. MSS. 3324) shows .1 block-house at North Haven Point ; 

 it is not mentioned in any document iinown to the writer. 



'" S.P. Dom. Eliz. clxx, No. 91. "* Ibid, cxciii, No. 43. 



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