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 for it was the complaint of the barons of the Cinque Ports in the same year that the pirates who guarded the high sea would not allow even the pilgrims to return home, and that all the navy of England could not resist them. Henry, in his hour of need, may have thought it more than justifiable, by the offer of protection and countenance, to secure some of these rovers as his friends and as France's enemies. "While," as Nicolas says, "these hordes of daring robbers are justly execrated for their deeds of cruelty and violence, it should not be forgotten that their skill, hardihood, and adventurous spirit have descended to the British seamen of modern times; and much of the heroism and contempt of danger for which our navy has been so long distinguished may have been derived from the piratical and buccaneering proceedings of former ages."

The modification made in the law of wreck by Henry II. has been already made mention of. A further alteration was effected by a charter dated at Merewell, on May 26th, 1236. By this the king granted that, if any ship were in danger in his dominions, and any man escaped from it and reached the land alive, all the goods and chattels in such ship should continue to be the property of the original owners, instead of passing as wreck to the king. And if from a ship so endangered no man escaped alive, but any other beast (bastia alia) chanced to escape alive, or to be found alive on board, then the goods and chattels in such ship should be delivered by the king's bailiff to four men, in whose custody they should remain for three months, during which time, if owners proved their right, they should be restored to them; but if no one claimed the goods within that term, they should be forfeited as wreck. If, however, neither man nor other beast escaped from the ship, the cargo was then to be considered as wreck, and to become the property of the king, or of the lord having the right to it.

Connected with this subject, there are three episodes of the reign which deserve note. In 1225, some masts from a wreck belonging to the Crown were washed ashore in Cornwall; and the sheriff of the county was instructed to proceed to the spot, and, if any of the masts had been sold, to arrest both buyer and seller. In 1227 a ship of Toulouse was wrecked at Shoreham, and her cargo plundered, whereupon the Sheriff of Sussex was ordered to the spot, with directions to impanel a jury, discover who were present at the robbery, and who carried away the cargo and stores, and arrest the