CHARLES I. I THE NAVY 247 



be chiefly directed against Spain, it was nevertheless a danger 

 to England unless she was strong enough to defend her rights 

 on the sea. 



Other reasons were the insecurity of the seas from the prev- 

 alence of piracy, and the violation of the " King's Chambers," 

 and even of English ports, by the Dunkirkers and the Dutch. 

 Moorish pirates swarmed in the Channel and made havoc 

 amongst English shipping. So bold and successful were they, 

 that in 1631 they seized and sacked Baltimore, on the coast of 

 Munster, and carried off over 200 English subjects into slavery. 

 Within a space of ten days they captured twenty-seven ships 

 and 200 men. 1 The Dunkirkers played a corresponding r6le in 

 the North Sea. In a petition to the king in 1627, the ship- 

 owners of Ipswich complained that within a year the Dun- 

 kirkers had captured five of their ships, valued with their 

 cargoes at 5000, and carried the crews to Dunkirk. No ship, 

 they said, could go to sea, and the livelihood of seafaring men 

 was taken from them, and the king's service would thus suffer. 

 The Mayor and burgesses of King's Lynn put the losses of the 

 town at twenty-five ships, worth 9000, and complained that 

 they were unable to cany on the Iceland fishery. The Cinque 

 Ports also complained that the Dunkirkers had taken their 

 goods, imprisoned their mariners, and rifled and sunk their 

 ships on the English shore ; and they asked for a guard to 

 enable them to go to the fishing in the north and at Scar- 

 borough and Yarmouth. The alarm was general all along the 

 coast. In February 1629 the bailiffs of Yarmouth reported 

 that the sea was overrun with Dunkirkers, who had even rifled 

 and fired one of their ships close under the cliffs at Mundesley, 

 notwithstanding the efforts of the sheriff and posse of the 

 county ; they said 250 fishing vessels were ready to go to the 

 northern fishing and awaited convoy. In the next year they 

 and other towns of Norfolk and Suffolk stated their intention 

 of sending out two fishing fleets of " ships, barks, and crayers," 

 one of 160 sail to Iceland and Westmony, and the other of 

 230 sail for the north seas, and they begged for ships of war to 

 guard them, as the livelihood or " utter ruin " of 10,000 people 

 and their families depended on these fleets. Two years later 

 they repeated their request to the Admiralty, saying they 

 1 Oppenheim, op. ci/., 275. 



