A HISTORY OF CORNWALL 



As the early inhabitants of Cornwall and Devon are described as having intercourse with Gaul and 

 as having been more civilized than the other tribes of the south coast, we may suppose that in maritime 

 matters they had advanced beyond the simple coast fishery which is the first step towards navigation. 

 This inference is supported by Caesar's statement that the Veneti were assisted by British ships, and 

 these must have crossed the Channel to the Bay of Biscay to join their allies. On the other hand, in 

 that stage of social development there was no room for two maritime nations of equal strength to live 

 in peace within striking distance of each other, and we may be certain that the ships belonging to the 

 south-western coasts were not in number or size of a kind to cause the Veneti jealousy or fear, nor 

 is there any statement that local shipping was employed in the transport of tin. The Romans are said 

 to have adopted a long, low, fast-sailing boat in use among the Britons, and this, no doubt, belonged 

 to the south coast. Some antiquaries believe that there is evidence indicating the existence of 

 Roman naval stations at Polruan, on the Fal, and at Condurra, but it is not sufficient to outweigh 

 the antecedent improbability. The long struggle of the Saxon conquest and settlement did not 

 affect Cornwall in any way that has procured notice in maritime annals before the subjection of the 

 West Welsh in the campaigns undertaken by Ecgberht. The Danes settled in Ireland soon found 

 their way across the sea, and their alliance with the natives and the battle of Hengston in 837 

 imply many previous leagues on a smaller scale between the Cornish and the raiders, who could 

 have found little to tempt them in Cornwall compared with the richer country farther east. 1 It is 

 possible that the West Welsh not only supplied recruits to the Viking armies, but themselves harried 

 the neighbouring coasts in their own vessels ; and this may have been one factor impelling 

 ^Ethelstan to his march to the Land's End in 925, since which Cornwall has been an integral 

 part of the kingdom. 



No doubt for nearly a thousand years the men of the coast had carried on an unambitious 

 maritime business, principally in the fishery, perhaps trafficking with their kindred in Brittany, who 

 probably then visited Cornish waters for fishing purposes, as they did in later centuries. Perhaps, 

 too, Cornish ships ventured as far as the ports of Guienne, and such vessels may have formed a 

 portion of the fleets levied by the later English and Danish kings before the Conquest. For some 

 years after 1066 William I had no fleet, but when the necessity arose he found no difficulty in 

 raising one from his English and Norman territories, and between the last threat of a Danish 

 invasion in 1083 and the loss of Normandy in 1204 there were few occasions for great maritime 

 levies, seeing that the Channel then was not a disputed tract, but only the sea road between 

 dominions under the same sovereign. In 1171, at Milford Haven, there were collected 400 vessels 

 to carry Henry II and his army to Ireland, and from geographical situation it is certain that Cornwall 

 must have furnished its quota to the expedition. But for upwards of a century only small fleets for 

 transport purposes were required in the desultory dynastic wars occurring, and for these it was 

 sufficient to call upon the Cinque Ports, London, and the adjacent districts ; the king's writ ran 

 in the west, but it was cheaper and quicker to levy in the centre of maritime traffic, where ships 

 were larger, men more numerous, and there would be less delay. A fleet conveying the main 

 body of the Crusaders left Dartmouth in April, 1190, but most of the vessels were obtained from 

 the Continental possessions of the crown. 



With the reign of John we have the first official reference to the maritime life of Cornwall ; 

 in 1205 orders were sent to the bailiffs of that and other western counties to procure expert 

 workmen and seamen to build and navigate the king's ships, 2 and their existence in 1205 imports 

 previous generations of craftsmen who furnished unrecorded services. The Patent and Close Rolls 

 show that the right of impressing ships and men was strictly enforced during this reign, and the 

 1 common form ' character of the orders proves that it was no new proceeding. The names of ships 

 and their owners in the various ports were registered by William of Wrotham, the administrative 

 head of the navy, and Cornwall is always included in the writs sent to the counties generally. 

 There is a list of fifty-one galleys belonging to the Crown in 1205, with the ports at which they 

 were stationed, but there is none between Exeter and Bristol. John's wars in Ireland and Wales in 

 1210 and 1 212 necessitated general arrests of ships in those years, but we have no details of the 

 part taken by the several ports nor of the proportions in which they furnished the great fleet of 

 500 vessels in 1213 which won the victory of the Swin. The naval history of Cornwall during 

 the reign of Henry III is not important, the principal reliance being placed in the Cinque Ports 

 service, which formed the backbone of the royal fleets. In 1224, war with France being expected, 

 there was a general arrest of shipping round the east and south coasts, but it ended at Dartmouth. 

 In 1226 there was an order forbidding ships to sail to French ports, and writs were directed to 

 the bailiffs of Fowey and Falmouth amongst others ; 3 in 1230 there was another general arrest of 

 all ships capable of carrying sixteen or more horses, for an invasion of Brittany, and this time the 



1 Grimsby and St. Agnes in the Scillies and Helford and Gweek on the mainland are Norse names 

 (Taylor, Words and Places), and suggestively well-chosen stations. 



1 Pat. 6 John, m. z. 3 Close, 10 Hen. Ill, m. 



476 



