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, 1215—Henry III., 1216—Naval actions—Cinque Ports—Increase of piracy—Measures for its suppression—Treaty of commerce with Norway, 1217, and facilities afforded to foreign merchants—English merchants first open trading establishments abroad—Origin of the Hanseatic League, 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, 1249—Extremely liberal Navigation Act—Chief ports of England and extent of its shipping and commerce—Edward II., 1307-1327—Edward III., 1326-7-1377—Extension of English commerce—The discovery of coal—First complete roll of the English fleet, 1347—Quota of different ports—Pay of soldiers, sailors, &c.—War renewed, 1354—Death of Edward III.,  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., 1377—Character of the imports from Italy—Sudden change of policy—First Navigation Act, 1381—A rage for legislation—Relaxation of the Navigation Act, 1382-8—Free issue of letters of marque; and of commissions for privateering—Special tax for the support of the Navy, 1377—Superiority of English seamen—Their intrepidity and skill—Chaucer's description of the seamen of his time—Henry IV., 1399-1413—Disputes between the Hanse and the English merchants—Agreement for guarding the English coasts—Henry V., 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 1416—Prerogatives conferred thereby—First accounts of revenue and expenditure, 1421—Law for the admeasurement of ships and coal barges—Henry VI. crowded,