English fleets were composed almost exclusively of merchant ships, contributed by the chief ports in the kingdom or in the dependent provinces.
Quota of different ports. That Yarmouth, in Norfolk, should have supplied the largest number of vessels, is probably due to its herring fisheries, and to the great quantities of wool which were then shipped from that port to Brabant and the ports of Flanders and Holland.[1] Again, Fowey, in Cornwall, furnished more seamen than London, in all likelihood on account of the tin trade; while the now extinct port of Winchelsea, in Sussex, occupied the first position amongst the Cinque Ports, perhaps from its neighbourhood to the then chief ironworks in the country. Those places directly interested in foreign trade contributed rateably, in accordance with its extent, and not with reference to the number of their inhabitants. For instance, the city of York furnished only one small vessel with nine men on board; whilst the town of Newcastle, now becoming important as the port of shipment of sea-borne coals, furnished no fewer than seventeen ships.
Pay of soldiers, sailors, &c. We also learn from this record that the Prince of Wales, who distinguished himself greatly in the expedition, had as his wage 20s. per diem; the Bishop of Durham, 6s. 8d.; thirteen earls 6s. 8d. each; forty-four barons and bannerets, 4s.; one thousand knights, 2s. Esquires, constables, captains and leaders, of whom there were four thousand and twenty-two, received 1s. each. Masons, carpenters, smiths, en-*
- ↑ It appears also from the warrants contained in a MS. of the Harleian Collection, No. 433, that besides the trade with Iceland from Bristol, many vessels went thither from the ports of Norfolk and Suffolk. See Appendix No. 12, p. 654.
