CHAP.IV. llAIUinrns AND LIGHTHOUSES. I'M 



Mi 1 . Roberts shows from the entries in church and cor- 

 poration records of the time. The weakness of the Roval 

 navy is sufficiently oh viol is from the fact that Turks and 

 Algerines sailed along the Channel, up the Severn, and 

 into the Irish Sea, capturing ships; whilst the Dunkirk 

 pirates assailed with impunity the east coast towns from 

 Dover to Berwick-upon-Tweed. The Emperor of Morocco 

 was even bribed to cease from his piratical expeditions, 

 and protect British trade ; and the bribe continued to be 

 paid until the year 1690. When piracy was at length 

 put a stop to along the English coasts (and Mr. Roberts 

 avers that sea-robbers were masters of the Channel at 

 times as late as the reigns of James I. and Charles I. 1 ), 

 the more desperate pirates took service under the Turks, 

 while many sailed away to the West India Islands and 

 turned buccaneers. Hugh Miller, in his autobiography, 

 speaks of his great grandfather, John Feddes, as "one 

 of the last of the buccaneers," and states that the house 

 in which lie himself was born "had been built, he had 

 every reason to believe, with Spanish gold." 2 



Such being the early state of British shipping, there 

 was very little need of harbours. The natural inlets 

 all round the coast, and more particularly the navi- 

 gable tidal rivers, were found amply sufficient for the 

 accommodation of the ships of comparatively small burden 

 by means of which our trade was then carried on. London 

 possessed a great advantage in her fine river, the Thames, 

 up which the natural power of the tide lifted vessels of 

 the largest burden into the heart of the land, and lowered 

 others down again to the sea, twice in every twenty-four 

 1 1 01 ITS. The river served as harbour, dock, and depot in 

 one, and provided ample waterway, with abundant quay 

 accommodation, which served all the purposes of trade 

 down almost to our own day. 



' Social History/ |>. <>8. 

 -' Hu^li Miller's 'Schools ami S 



