Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 1).djvu/16

ship to her destination—Rules as to sailors—Demurrage—Bottomry—A
bad pilot forfeited his head—Punishments—Shares in fishing
vessels—Wreckers—Jetsam and flotsam—Royal fish—Timber of
wrecks—Remarks on these laws—Code of Wisby—Magna Charta,
A.D. 1215—Henry III., A.D. 1216—Naval actions—Cinque Ports—Increase
of piracy—Measures for its suppression—Treaty of commerce
with Norway, A.D. 1217, and facilities afforded to foreign merchants—English
merchants first open trading establishments abroad—Origin
of the Hanseatic League, A.D. 1241—Corporate seals—Sandwich—Poole—Dover—Faversham—Stanhope,
vice-admiral of Suffolk—Duties
of the Cinque Ports—Increased privileges to foreign
merchants—Letters of marque first issued—Law for the recovery of
debts, and adjustment of average—Shipping of Scotland, A.D. 1249—Extremely
liberal Navigation Act—Chief ports of England and
extent of its shipping and commerce—Edward II., A.D. 1307-1327—Edward
III., A.D. 1326-7-1377—Extension of English commerce—The
discovery of coal—First complete roll of the English fleet, A.D.
1347—Quota of different ports—Pay of soldiers, sailors, &c.—War
renewed, A.D. 1354—Death of Edward III., A.D. 1377—State of the
merchant navy during his reign—Loss sustained by war, and encouragement
afforded thereby to foreign nations—Rapid increase of
the trade of Flanders—Trade between Italy and Flanders—Commercial
importance of Bruges and Antwerp—Wealth of Flanders,
and extent of its manufactures and commerce—Special privileges to
her merchants—Progress of the Hanseatic League, and its system of
business: its power too frequently abused Pages 373-422


CHAPTER XIII.

Treaties with Spain and the merchants of Portugal—Early claim of the
right of search—Restrictive laws against the English, and in favour
of foreign traders—Accession of Richard II., A.D. 1377—Character of
the imports from Italy—Sudden change of policy—First Navigation
Act, A.D. 1381—A rage for legislation—Relaxation of the Navigation
Act, A.D. 1382-8—Free issue of letters of marque; and of
commissions for privateering—Special tax for the support of the
Navy, A.D. 1377—Superiority of English seamen—Their intrepidity
and skill—Chaucer's description of the seamen of his time—Henry
IV., A.D. 1399-1413—Disputes between the Hanse and the
English merchants—Agreement for guarding the English coasts—Henry
V., A.D. 1413: his liberal policy, and ambition—The extent
of his fleet—Size and splendour of the royal ships—Prologue of the
"Dominion of the Sea"—England first formally claims dominion
of the sea, about A.D. 1416—Prerogatives conferred thereby—First
accounts of revenue and expenditure, A.D. 1421—Law for the admeasurement
of ships and coal barges—Henry VI. crowded, A.D.