ST. Michael's mount. 235 



Great as were the inducements thus held out, they do not 

 seem to have answered their purpose, and more businesslike 

 methods had to he adopted. The Patent Eoll, 6 Henry VI, 

 1427 (pt. 1., m. 22) recites that "William Morton, Chaplain of St. 

 Michael's, had stated, in a petition to the King, that in the 

 Mount's Bay was no safe port for ships of eighty tons burden ; 

 that very many vessels came into the bay, either through stress 

 of weather or the negligence of the mariners, and, fi'om want of 

 a safe port, suffered both in ships, men, and cargo. The said 

 William, moved by a sense of religion and compassion for those 

 whose goods were thus endangered, had commenced a quay or 

 jetty which, if completed, would, by God's favour, afford security 

 to 200 ships of whatever burden, but the said William, and the 

 people of the adjacent parts, had not the means to complete the 

 work and, therefore, prayed the King's aid in that behalf. 

 Whereupon, the King, sincerely affecting the welfare of his 

 people, and wishing to further the pious desires of the said 

 William, did, with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual 

 and temporal then in ParKament assembled, grant to the said 

 William and the governors of the work of the said quay, during 

 the next seven years, the right to levy on every vessel of 120 tons 

 burden and upwards, anchoring neai- the mount, 12d. ; and on 

 every vessel between 120 tons and 60 tons, 8d. ; and on every 

 vessel under 60 tons burden, 4d. ; and from every boat of any 

 foreign fishermen, fishing for hake in the season within the said 

 bay, 12d., or fish to that value: provided that the money so 

 levied were expended on the completion of the said cj^uay, to the 

 satisfaction of four of the most substantial persons, merchants of 

 Marghasieu and fishermen belonging to that port, to be chosen 

 by the other merchants and fishermen of the town. In 1726 and 

 1727, Sir John St. Aubyn almost entirely rebuilt the pier, which 

 was again further enlarged and improved in 1824. 



In the will of Sir John ArundeU, Knight, dated 1 8th April, 

 1433, and proved before Bishop Lacy, at Chudleigh, on the 7th 

 of June, 1433, "Lego lumini Sancti Michaelis in Monte 

 xiij^et iv"'. Item lego operi cancellarie ibidem faciende xiij'et 

 iv*^," Oliver suggests that this lumen was the pentagonal lantern 



