Increase of the English fleet, A.D. 1066—Its participation in the Crusades to the Holy Land—Departure of the English expedition—Arrival at Messina—Number of ships—Their order of sailing—Arrival at, and capture of, Acre, 10th June, 1191—Richard returns to England—Maritime laws founded on the "Rôles d'Oleron"—Power to pledge ship and tackle—The sailors consulted—Laws relating to hiring—Drunkenness—Sickness—Damage to ship and cargo—Quarrels—Mooring of ships—Partnership in freight—Food—Obligation to carry the 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.
