380 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



realm, as was shown at the opening of the Dutch war. The 

 general instructions given by the Parliament to its naval 

 officers respecting the honour of the flag and the sovereignty 

 of the sea were almost identical with those which had been 

 issued to the Earls of Lindsey and Northumberland, but 

 the phraseology was sometimes a little varied. On 5th April 

 1643 the Parliament, in view of the attempt organised by 

 Queen Henrietta Maria to smuggle into England military 

 supplies from the Netherlands for the use of the royalists, 

 ordered the Earl of Warwick, if he met with "any foreign 

 forces, ships, or vessels, as Spaniards, French, Danes, Dun- 

 kirkers, or any other whatsoever, making towards the coasts 

 of England, Ireland, or any other of his Majesty's dominions," 

 to command them, "according to the usual manner, to strike 

 their flags or top-sails," and cause them to be examined and 

 searched for soldiers or munitions of war. If they refused 

 to strike, he was "to compel them thereunto by force of 

 arms and surprise, and to take all such ships and vessels, 

 or otherwise to burn, sink, or destroy them." l In the follow- 

 ing year the Committee for the Admiralty instructed Vice- 

 Admiral Batten, who was in command of the fleet, "upon 

 all occasions, as you shall be able, to maintain the Kingdoms 

 sovereignty and regality in the seas." 2 



In the spring of 1647, the Committee of the Admiralty, 

 for some reason or other, appears to have devoted special 

 attention to the question of the flag and the sovereignty 

 of the sea. Collections were made from the Admiralty archives 

 of precedents showing that all ships refusing to strike in 

 English waters were to be reputed enemies, and were liable 

 to forfeiture, the examples beginning with the Ordinance 

 , of King John and ending with the instructions issued by 

 Charles. 3 These collections were probably made in connection 

 with the instructions which the Committee drew up at 

 this time for the guidance of the captains and officers of 

 the navy, and which were essentially similar to those given 



1 Rush worth, Collections, v. 312. 



2 Perm, Memorials of the Professional Life and Times of Sir William Penn, Knt. , 

 from 1640 to 1670, i. 224. 



3 State Papers, Dom., dxv. i. 37, 38, 39. There is also in one of the collections 

 a quotation from Selden's Mare Clausum, that it was treason not to acknowledge 

 the King of England's dominion in his own seas by striking sails. 



