A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



aids on the hulls and gear of their ships. 1 In December they were warned that the full service 

 would be required in Scotch waters in June, 1299,' but in the result only 32 ships were needed, 

 which served in 1300.* Of these one came from Pevensey, two from Hastings, three from Rye, 

 and six from Winchelsea ; Gervase Alard, the ' admiral of the said fleet,' which included vessels 

 from various English and Irish ports, was paid 2s. a day. In the meantime what may be supposed 

 to be a squadron of picked ships, consisting of four from Winchelsea and three from Rye, was 

 commissioned in the summer of 1299 to watch Damme for two months to prevent assistance 

 crossing to Scotland. 4 



In 1301 orders were given to the ports in March, all round the coast, to send ships to meet 

 at Berwick and Dublin by midsummer ; Seaford was assessed at one vessel, Aldrington one, and 

 Shoreham, Brighton, and Portsmouth, together, for one. 5 Possibly experience proved that Aldring- 

 ton by itself was not equal to the cost of equipping a ship, for in 1302 it was grouped with 

 Shoreham, Hove, and Brighton for one, while the abbot of Battle was also required to send another. 6 

 Several towns on the south coast, among them Seaford and Shoreham, incurred the royal displeasure 

 by neglecting the orders of 1301, and in the following year two of the king's servants were sent 

 down with instructions to inflict punishment at their discretion. 7 In 1303 there was another 

 commission to inquire into the desertion of Sussex sailors, who were to give security to answer for 

 their contempt. 8 Probably both shipowners and seamen found piracy or privateering more 

 attractive than the royal service, but notwithstanding these incidents there was no general 

 disinclination to respond to the demands of the crown. The constant levies of ships and men 

 would seem to be destructive of commerce, but in reality were not nearly so injurious to it as they 

 appear. A trading voyage involved great risk of loss from wreck, piracy, and privateering, or in the 

 sale of the cargo ; the king's service meant certain pay for the fitting and hire of the ship, 6d. a 

 day for the officers and 3^. a day for the men very liberal wages allowing for the greater value 

 of money. The incessant embargoes that harassed trade then much increased under Edward III 

 were not yet common, and the alacrity with which most of the ports answered to the demands 

 made upon them shows that the assistance required was neither oppressive nor unwelcome, especially 

 as those who contributed to the sea service were freed from any aid towards that by land. There 

 was no permanent naval organization at this time. The king possessed some ships of his own, and 

 the commanders were usually charged with their maintenance. When a fleet was to be raised 

 from the merchant navy a certain extent of coast was allotted to one of the king's clerks, or to a 

 sergeant-at-arms, who acted with the bailiffs of the port towns in selecting ships and men and seeing 

 them dispatched to the place of meeting. If a ship did not appear, or the men deserted, they or 

 the owner might be required to find security to come before the king and, although there was as 

 yet no statute dealing with the offence, 9 they might, as we see, be disciplined at the pleasure of the 

 king or his representatives. 



What were blandly called the ' discords ' between the Cinque Ports and Yarmouth still 

 continued, and in 1302 and 1303 there were commissions of inquiry; in the latter year Sussex 

 men were parties to the search after truth. 10 It must, however, be remembered that there was a 

 commercial, as well as a military and piratical, side to the maritime history of the Ports, for of 

 course the Winchelsea wine trade, to confine ourselves to Sussex, is well known. Another sign 

 of merchant traffic is a complaint from the Ports in 1293 tnat freighters took their goods out of 

 chartered ships, but did not afterwards pay for the use of the vessel, and it was ordered that 

 merchants should give security for such debts before removing the cargo. 11 The actual, if not 

 nominal, supremacy of Winchelsea was maintained during this reign as well by its naval strength 

 as by the personality of Gervase Alard, the most famous member of his family, who, after 

 commanding the Cinque Ports squadrons, became 'captain and admiral' in 1303 of the fleet 

 composed of all the ships taken up from Dover to Cornwall." He held the same rank again in 

 1 306." In that year the full service of 57 ships ordered from the Ports was commuted to 

 27 provided they carried as many men as the 57 would have done ; 14 it may be presumed that the 

 need was felt for men more than for ships, and that the steady increase in the size of vessels WES 

 diminishing the fighting value of the small ships due under the service by charter. 



1 Pat. 26 Edw. I, m. 17. Yarmouth was given the same favour. * Close, 27 Edw. I, m. 



3 Wardrobe Accts. of 28 Edw. I, Lond. 1787, p. 271 et seq. 4 Pat. 27 Edw. I, m. 22, m. 20. 



6 Ibid. 29 Edw. I, m. 20. * Ibid. 30 Edw. I, m. 2. 



I Ibid. m. 14. ' Ibid. 32 Edw. I, m. 28. 



9 The first statute was 2 Rich. II, st. I. cap. 4, by which deserters were fined double their wages and 

 imprisoned for a year. 



10 Pat. 31 Edw. I, m. 35^. 



II Ibid. 21 Edw. I, m. 14, m. 13. In 1314 La Lukol Rj-e was a wine ship of 120 tons (ibid. 8 Edw. II, 

 pt. i, m. 9 d.). 



" Ibid. 31 Edw. I, m. 38. " Ibid. 34 Edw. I, m. 21. " Ibid. 34 Edw. I, m. 25 



