A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



Sussex, the absence of the county from the lists is not surprising. Also in 1626 there were 

 28 Hastings vessels and boats, of which 25 were in the North Sea, and one, the largest, of 40 tons, 

 in the coasting trade ; Rye had 10 boats in the North Sea and six coasters. 1 A return of 1628 

 shows that there were then 699 seamen and 193 fishermen in the Cinque Ports, and a proportion 

 of these must have belonged to Sussex ; 2 in 1623 there were 158 seafaring men at Hastings. 3 A 

 list of ships for which letters of marque were granted between 1625-8 shows one loo-ton ship of Rye, 

 two of Shoreham, one being 120 tons, and two small Brighton vessels ;* probably this only means 

 that the Rye and Shoreham vessels were hired from elsewhere by speculative townsmen. 



In 1626 Charles, on the brink of war with France, resolved to follow the precedents of 

 Elizabeth's reign, and called upon the maritime shires for 56 ships to join the royal fleet. The 

 Cinque Ports were charged with four ships, each to be of 20O tons and stored and provisioned for 

 three months, but this was reduced by two being subsequently assessed on the non-chartered 

 portions of Kent and Sussex. 8 The Ports sent their two at a cost of jTi,50O, 6 but there is no 

 reference to the other two ; in both cases the ships must have been hired in London or other ports 

 for there was none of 200 tons owned in Kent and Sussex. The seamen had long since come to 

 the conclusion that hanging was preferable to the long drawn-out torture of the royal service, 7 so 

 that it was much more difficult to find crews than ships ; of 60 men pressed in 1627 for H.M.S. 

 Bonaventure only ten could be secured, and the Rye records relate other similar failures. The 

 fishing industry was suffering from ' the force and fury ' of privateers, but that of Rye must still 

 have been of some importance, for in May, 1627, a general restraint placed on shipping, in order 

 to prevent the transmission of intelligence abroad, was suspended for the Rye boats as otherwise the 

 royal household would have lacked supplies. 8 Hastings was alarmed by the appearance of some 

 French privateers off the town, and the jurats petitioned in September that the North Sea boats 

 were leaving in a few days and the town would then be defenceless. 9 They got more protection 

 than they desired, for 40 soldiers were sent as garrison, and three months later 100 more were 

 billeted in the town under pretence of precedent. 10 But they were no doubt pleased when the Privy 

 Council sent them six guns to enable them to defend themselves ; only two were sent to Rye. 11 In 

 November, 1627, some Dunkirkers chasing a Dutch ship fired into Hastings, and said afterwards 

 that if the tide had served they would have battered down the town ; 12 in reporting this the mayor 

 and jurats begged for six guns, and it was probably in response that they were sent. Charles's 

 expensive but ill-found and useless fleets were equipped for dynastic purposes and to act over-sea 

 while the English coast was left unprotected. We read that in 1628 fishermen were chased and 

 taken daily, and one day in August four French privateers took a ship lying in Shoreham haven, 

 driving off the would-be rescuers. 13 



Charles had intended an issue of ship-money writs in 1628, but alarmed at the feeling aroused 

 he withdrew from the first trial. Forced, at last, to choose between facing a parliament and raising 

 money by this method the writs of 20 October, 1634, were sent out addressed to the ports and 

 maritime places. 14 The Cinque Ports, together with Rochester and Maidstone, were called upon for a 

 ship of 800 tons, victualled, manned, armed, and stored for 26 weeks' service, but the non-corporate 

 portion of Sussex was not assessed. As the ships required were larger than those possessed by any port 

 except London it was provided that an equivalent in money might be paid to the Treasury in 

 this case 6,735. Probably few even of the sea-going natives of Sussex had ever seen an 8oo-ton 

 ship. The second writ of 4 August, 1635, was general to the inland counties as well as the coast, 

 and a 5<DO-ton ship, or 5,000, was required from Sussex ; as the Cinque Ports were coupled with 

 Kent for one of 800 tons, the demand from the county must have been exclusive of the Ports, 

 with their members, within its borders. 15 Hastings was comparatively wealthy in its historical de- 

 cadence, for it was proposed to tax it at 410, while Chichester was rated at 200, Arundel 30, 

 and Shoreham 20. 16 The third writ, of 9 October, 1636, was directed in the same way to Sussex, 

 and to the Cinque Ports with Kent, and again for ships of 500 and 800 tons ; 17 this year the assess- 

 ment for Chichester fell to 77 ~/s. 8d., while that of Arundel was 20, Shoreham 10, Brighton 

 16, and Hastings 230. 18 The fourth writ, of 1639, was originally similar to its predecessors, 



1 Egerton MSS. 2584, fol. 354, 382. ' S.P. Dom. Chas. I, cclxx, 64 ; cclxxxii, 135. 



' Ibid. Jas. I, cxlii, 24. 



4 Ibid. Chas. I, cxv ; cxxxvi, 79. The largest of the Shoreham privateers turned pirate (ibid, clviii, 35). 

 'Ibid, xxx, 81. 'Ibid, xlviii, 40. ' Coke MSS. 27 Feb. 1626. 



8 S.P. Dom. Chas. I, Ixx, 8 ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. iii, App. iv, 1 86. 



*S.P. Dom. Chas. I, Ixxviii, 28, i. In 1641 there were 33 Hastings boats at the Yarmouth fishery 

 (Suss. Arch. Call, xiv, 95). 



"S.P. Dom. Chas. I, Ixxxvi, 62. " Ibid, ccxlv, 49 ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. iv, 361. 



"S.P. Dom. Chas. I, Ixxxvii, 81. u Ibid, cxii, 49. See also Harl. MS. 6843, fol. 1 1. 



14 Ibid, cclxxvi, 64. 15 Ibid, ccxcvi, 69. " Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. iv, 197. 



17 S.P. Dom. Chas. I, cccxxxiii, 61. I8 Ibid. cccli, 89 ; cccxcviii, 34. 



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