Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 1).djvu/407

 1007, and forty-eight thousand pounds in 1012. After which the greatest part of the country sunk under the power of the Danes." Nor was this all. London itself was burnt; extraordinary inundations prevailed in different parts of the country, followed by contagious disorders destructive of both man and beast.

Yet amid all the desolations of this unhappy reign, some attention was paid to maritime and internal commerce, and a law was passed commanding every proprietor of 310 hides of land to furnish a ship for the protection of the State; the result being a larger naval force than had ever been collected before. Fresh regulations were also made with reference to the coasting trade. Boats arriving at Billingsgate were required to pay a toll of a halfpenny, a penny, or four pennies, according to their size and build. Each vessel with wood left one piece as toll or tribute; boats with fish coming to London bridge (first mentioned, according to Spelman, in the reign of Ethelred) paid either one halfpenny, or one penny, according to their size. Foreign merchants from Rouen, Flanders, and Liege, frequenting the Port of