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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A35994	A discourse of sea-ports principally the port and haven of Dover / written by Sir Walter Rawleigh and address'd to Queen Elizabeth ; with useful remarks &c, on that subject by command of His late Majesty K. Charles the second.	Raleigh, Walter, Sir, 1552?-1618.; Digges, Dudley, Sir, 1583-1639.	1700 (1700)	Wing D1458; ESTC R20710	12,200	22

for Shipping They have also Built Fortresses rais'd Batteries and Planted Cannon Innumerable all along their Coast and perform'd every wise and needful Work towards the attaining their Ends of becoming Formidable by Sea and all this against the Grain and as it were in Despight of Nature which yeilds them little or no Encouragement While we on our Coast where Providence is so bountiful have been so very little on our Guard that tho' Navigation be the Prime Jewel of the Crown and is the Fountain and Foundation of both our Wealth and Safety and without which we shou'd be a Contemptible Nation have not only omitted to Improve the Tenders which Nature makes us for the Increase and Cultivating of our Naval Power But have in this last Age consented to see many of our useful Ports Run to Decay and at length to Ruine and to become totally lost to the Nation which a very little Foresight and as little charge might have prevented while the Evil was Growing which at a long Run becomes incurable Among which Ports I instanc'd Sandwich Dover Rye Winchelsea c. which were reckon'd heretofore as so many Bullworks against our Ambitious Neighbour The King hereupon Reply'd that he Confess'd he laid a little to heart the loss of the Haven of Dover because it has fallen to decay mostly in his Reign had yeilded him good Service in the First Dutch War and in that which was made by the Parliament with that Nation he was well assur'd that we had a Squadron of Cruizers which sail'd out of that Place where they Fitted Clean'd and Victuall'd which did the Enemy more Dammage than any in the whole Channel beside That therefore if he thought that Haven cou'd be recover'd by any Tolerable Charge he was then more than ever dispos'd to ingage in such a Work inasmuch as that he was well assur'd that not only all that I had said was true but that the French King to whom tho' he had signify'd already by his Ambassador That the great Bustle he had made upon the Coast had given Jealously and Distaste to the Nation and was not very pleasing to him had nevertheless Engag'd very lately in a New Expensive Work of the same Nature with those I had mention'd in the Neighbourhood of Calais where great Numbers of Men were then actually Employ'd in Fortifying the Coast and making an Harbour and Basin for Reception of Shipping c. Which being just under his Nose he said he had so much the more Reason to Resent it and which he cou'd not do in a better manner than by attempting the Recovery of Dover Haven wherein if he Succeeded as it wou'd give an occasion of Ease to the Peoples Jealousy so it wou'd obviate in some Measure the Danger that Threatened us from so Restless and Projecting a Neighbour I Reply'd to his Majesty with great Joy that I thought ir wou'd be a most acceptable Instance to the Nation of his Care for their safety and a useful Proof to the Murmuring People of his Just Dislike and Suspicion of the French King 's Proceedings and that I was in no doubt whenever his Majesty shou'd appear to go in earnest about so Laudable and Needful a Work that the Parliament wou'd Frankly Assist him towards the Expence His Majesty hereupon Commanded me to make a Journey to Dover to Survey the Port and Enable my self by the best means I cou'd to give him a true State thereof in order to a Project for the Recovery of that Harbour which order I carefully executed and on my Return waited on his Majesty with my Report together with a Plan and State of the present Peer an History of the Services that Place had yeilded the Crown how it has fallen to Decay and how with least Charge it might be Repair'd and Render'd useful again I told his Majesty that the bare Customes and Duties he had lost by the decay of that Port which for want of Entrance in that Port as had been Customary there being no other in many Leagues together on the Coast and which were therefore now Smugled and totally lost wou'd be by many Degrees more than enough when recover'd and which wou'd most certainly accrue upon Restoring the Harbour to Repay the utmost Charge he cou'd be at for it's Repair and Improvement which single Encouragement I thought was Incitement enough to go about so Noble Useful and Reputable a Work I told his Majesty that the Port was at that time become intirely useless the Peer within being Fill'd and Choak'd up with Sand and Mud and the Depth of Water lost That there was a Bank of Beach at the mouth of the Harbour of many Thousand Tuns which Bar'd up the Entrance That the Town which was wont to abound in Shipping Seamen Commerce People and Plenty of all things was become Poor desolate and Dispeopl'd which was Visible every where by their Decay'd Buildings and Habitations where half the Houses at least throughout the whole Town had Bills on the Doors All which cou'd be ascrib'd to no other Reason than the Decay of their Harbour touching the true Cause whereof or the cure the Inhabitants with whom I had frequent Conference cou'd give me little or no Light In this Audience I gave his Majesty an Extensive Account of all things Relating to the Subject about which he had sent me I presented him with a Draught of the then State of the Port of Dover wherein was express'd the manner of it's Decay and the present Ruinous Condition in which it was I Endeavour'd also to explain to him how this Damage had come to pass and by what means it had grown to that Head as to have Render'd the Haven now almost lost to the Publick From the Causes of the Disease I proceeded to my Proposals for the Remedy wherein I had the good Fortune to explain every Point of my Project with Evidence enough to oblige his Majesty at that time to say that he was so well satisfy'd that he was Resolv'd he wou'd not Defer the Work a Day That as I had made every thing plain and intelligible to him So above all he was pleas'd with two most useful and Encourageing Propositions therein contain'd Namely That whereas in most great Works of that kind Princes were Generally Oblig'd to Prosecute and go through the whole Expence which for the most part was very great before they cou'd Reap the least Profit of their Design or be assur'd of the Success While this Work on the contrary was so order'd and contriv'd by me That he was sure to Receive a present Profit from every Sum be it more or less which he shou'd at any time think sit to lay out and that the Benefit wou'd be presently seen and Gather'd in Proportion to the Charge he shou'd be at which he might Limit of Respite as he pleas'd without Danger of Damage to the Work that should be done or of losing the Advantage that should be once gain'd in case of

discontinuing the same The Second Point that pleas'd his Majesty was That whereas all Artificial Ports that ever he had heard of which is most true were Subject to Cheak and fill up with Sand or Sullage and to lose by degrees their Depth of Water without great Care and a continual Charge to prevent it and which was the Cause for the most part of the decay and loss of such Ports to the Publick That he perceiv'd I had plainly obviated that Evil and by a New and very Demonstrable Invention had evidently Secur'd the Depth of Water for ever which no Neglect cou'd hinder or towards which any Expence or Annual Charge was Necessary I concluded with this General Incitement to his Majesty That Multiplicity of Ports in a Maritim Kingdom such as his was above all things to be wish'd which in times of Peace was a great Means of Encouragement to our Naval Intercourse and Coasting Trade whereby our Capital City became better supply'd and at Cheaper Rates with all things needful that Seamen were Proportionably Propagated Shipping and all the Incident Professions of Shipwrightry and Navigation increas'd and improv'd c. That in time of War Shelter and Defence against an Enemy was by that means more at Hand whereby our Commerce was better Preserv'd our Frontier so much the stronger and Cruizers had more dispatch and were better Spread and Dispos'd at Sea because wheresoever there are Ports Commodiously Situate and in the Road of our Commerce there of course will be Men of War appointed and Entertain'd in times of Hostility where they can Clean Victual and Refit whereby great Expedition which is the Life of Action wou'd be obtain'd and half the time gain'd that was spent in going to Remote Ports as the Thames Chatham Portsmouth c. Where if the Wind hangs out of the way Ships lye long on Demorage become Fowl by Staying for a Wind and lose many Occasions of Service which in Ports lying upon the Edge of our Channel as Dover does can never happen where you need no Pylotage and are no sooner out of the Haven but you are at Sea In a Word I Ended my Discourse to his Majesty with assuring him that Dover promis'd every thing he cou'd hope from such a Port was Situate the nearest of all others to a Great Dangerous and Aspiring Neighbour who had given so many Instances of Wisdom and Foresight in the charge he had been at on that Line of his Coast which confronts ours and which whenever his Majesty shou'd Chance to have a War with that People wou'd be found to turn every way both Offensively and Defensively to Marvellous Account That Dover stands on a Promontory which Survey's and might be made to Command the greatest Thorough-Fare of Navigation in the World where no ship can pass unobserv'd or escape the danger of being attack'd when there shou'd be cause and was of the same use by Sea as a Passe is by Land And that there was no Design his Majesty cou'd Entertain for it's Strength and Improvement that was not Compassable by Art and that did not promise a Plentiful Return of Profit and Honour of any the Greatest Sum he could spare to lay out upon it I departed at that time from his Majesty full of hopes that what I had done and said on this Subject wou'd have produc'd the good Effect of some speedy Resolution but taking the Liberty some days after to remind him therein I found him to my great Disappointment much calmer than I had left him and receiv'd this short Answer That it was a Noble Project indeed but that it was too big for his present Purse and wou'd Keep Cold. Shortly after I was Dispatch'd to my Business in a remote Country and from that time to this have neither said nor heard any thing of Dover Now the Remark I wou'd make on this Sudden and Surprizing Coldness of the King 's is namely this That the long Audience I then had of his Majesty chanc'd to be in a certain great Ladies Appartment in White-Hall where I had no sooner began my Discourse and produc'd my Papers when Mons. Barrillon the French Ambassador came in who I observ'd to Listen with great Attention to what was debated asking the said Lady very earnestly many Questions about the Subject Matter of our Conference who I perceiv'd to Interpret to him every thing that was said on that occasion as did the King afterwards in my hearing Explaining the whole Project and the Contents of the several Designs Expressing his great Approbation of the Report I had made him whereupon making Reflection on this Occurrence I was no longer in doubt touching the cause or my Disappointment but that it was not the French Kings Interest and therefore not his Pleasure that we shou'd proceed on this Work and that so Noble a Project shou'd thus Die in the Birth who wou'd have been contented I make no Question to have given ten times the amount of the Cost to defeat so National an undertaking which look'd with so threatning an aspect on those great Scheams of Naval Power which he has since put in Execution and is Prosecuting to this day And I think it therefore becomes every hearty English Man to Conclude that such an Incident as I have here produc'd ought to superadd one new and Solid Argument of Incitement to those that have been urg'd towards some solemn deliberation on so promising and Important a Subject and if our Forefathers in those darker times of Queen Eliz. saw a Reason for their Speculations on this Article then when their views were narrow their motives less and the means to attain their purpose hardly to be compass'd through the Limitted Fonds of Treasure in those days and the insufficiency of Undertakers to conceive design and Prosecute Works of that sort so Magnificent So new and out of the way of the Worlds Practice It may therefore be hop'd that now when our motives of Danger c. are so visible and so much Stronger the means of obtaining so Noble an end every way more within our reach while we behold by what Arts and Means and with what Profusion of Treasure a Neighbouring Prince pursues his Maritim Projects and since we have seen and felt with what Effect he has succeeded in his Aims to Rival us by Sea and in a word while we knew he must naturally ever be more than our Match by Land and that nothing at this day can insure our safety but a Demonstruble Superiority of Naval Strength What greater Wisdom and Precaution can we Manifest or how can we more laudably publish our Attention to the Publick Welfare than by Seasonably obviating the Evils that seem to Threaten us by the growing Naval Power of France towards which no one step we can make promises better Fruit than this proposal of Recovering and Improving the Haven of Dover which is by Nature Situate to our wish and in my Humble Opinion is capable of being made by Art so useful to our selves and Friends and so effectual to bridle prevent and Annoy our Enemies that were the Argument duly weigh'd I am perswaded we shou'd think no Sum too great to be so Employ'd FINIS