EARLY HISTORY 31 



according to the old maritime laws, for the maintenance of 

 " peace and justice amongst the people of every nation passing 

 through the said sea." 1 It was the production of the old rolls 

 concerning these claims by Sir John Boroughs, the Keeper 

 of the Records in the reign of Charles L, which furnished 

 that king with the material on which to base his pretension 

 to the sovereignty of the sea. 



The English writers of the seventeenth century who strove 

 to prove that the kings of England anciently exercised an 

 exclusive sovereign jurisdiction over the so-called Sea of 

 England, as if it were a " territory or province of the realm," 

 quoted largely from the old Admiralty records. Selden sought 

 to show that they had perpetually enjoyed the dominion of 

 the surrounding sea from the coining of the Normans from 

 the fact that they had maintained a guard upon it. 2 The 

 evidence adduced, however, merely proves that measures were 

 taken for guarding the seas, defending the coasts, and sup- 

 pressing piracy, duties which were discharged, even in the 

 same seas, by the Admiralty of other countries, as that of 

 France. Such phrases as " to guard the seas," " to guard the 

 sea and sea-coasts," are common enough in the early records 

 of the Admiralty, 3 but they do not imply exclusive dominion. 

 It was a duty common to neighbouring nations. In England, 

 from the time of Henry I., at the beginning of the twelfth 

 century, orders were given for the seas to be guarded as 

 occasion required ; and officers were appointed by Henry III. 

 and other kings as Wardens, Keepers, and Guardians of the 

 sea and sea-coasts, and also as Governors and Captains of the 

 Navy, whose title was subsequently changed to Admiral in 

 the latter part of the thirteenth century, following the practice 

 of the merchant associations, as above mentioned. Much was 

 made by the English writers of the appointment of admirals 

 by the kings of England for safeguarding the sea. The first 

 appears to have been appointed in 1297 with the title of 

 Admiral of the Sea of the King of England, 4 but before this 



1 See p. 51. 2 Mare Clautum, lib. ii. c. xiv. 



3 " Pour garden la mere," " la garde du meer," " la sauve garde du meer,'' " pro 

 custodia maris," " de custodia inarithnie," &c. See Proceedings and Ordinance* 

 of the Privy Council of England ; Nicolas, Hittory of the Royal Nary; Pryune, 

 A nimadvertiom. 



4 Fadera, i. 861 ; Nicolas, op. cit., i. 279, 437. 



