this forraine fishing which I hope will proue but petty when it commeth to be balanced with our home fishing The last Consistance of Shipping propounded was that of the East Indies which though yongest was found in shew and state to haue ouer-topped all the rest as a bird that maketh herselfe gay with the feathers of all other fowles hauing borrowed nay hauing bought the best Shippes out of other Trades to honour their voyage and plumed euen Constantinople her selfe of her shipping therefore that men are entertained extraordinarily in this voyage it is apparant out of the greatnesse of the Shipping the entertainment of them increasing it should be a consequent that Sea-men increase this way But that wee may not by ambages tryumph in their losse or our calamities wee see this way that our Shippes perish and therefore our men they shrinke Nay though shippes come home yet they leaue the men behinde so in this voyage there is a two-fold way towards our want of Mariners In that Shippes nay great Shippes are extraordinarily subiect to bee cast away and then there must bee losse likewise of men In that though they come they come home emptied of their men By the losse of foure Shippes wee haue lost at the least foure hundred and fifty men and in the adventure of some three thousand that haue beene imployed since that voyage beganne wee haue lost many aboue two thousand Dauid refused to drinke of the Well of Betheleme which the strong men had fetched when he thirsted and longed because it was the price of blood This Trade their commodities are at a far deerer rate being bought with so many mens liues But happily some will say thâ—â— the greatest losse of these men was at the beginning when as all things are difficult but since our men framed to a better composition of themselues to the variety of this Clymate and heartned to the tediousnesse of this voyage haue better endured and ouercome those difficulties and returned more comfortably Herein the latest voyages will informe vs best and we will instance it in the three last that haue made returnes The first was vnder Sir Henry Middleton whose former gouernment in that kind of voyage had approued his wisdome and moderation His ship was that famous and infortunate vessell of eleuen hundred Tun The Trades Increase his company in that ship some two hundred and twenty men After foure yeares errours vp and downe the sea wherein he vnderwent many constructions at home and ouercame strange difficulties abroad hauing to his eternall reputation of policy and courage out gone the perfidious Turke and revenged their barbarous wrongs to the Marchants gaine and the Kingdomes repute After He and his had I say been accompanied with many sorrowes with labour hunger heate sicknesse and perill That worthy Commander with many a sufficient Mariner with the whole number ten excepted of his liue Cargazon perished in that Acheldama in that bloudy field of Bantam Nicholas Dounton the Vice-admirall of that Fleet returned and of seuenty he carried forth brought home some twenty the rest their labours and liues were â—â—crificed to that implacable East Indian Neptune Captaine Pemerton that escaping imprisonment at Moha iournying in that vnknown Countrey 15 miles by night got to the sea side and finding a small Canow made a saile of his shirt and a mast of a stick and so recouered the ships the Darling of that voyage is yet there nor neuer will the Maister an approued Sea-men returne with diuers others The second was that of Captaine Saris and Captaine Towerson men formerly exercised in those iourneys and therefore thought meet to command Whether they were short of the opinion conceiued of them or no I know not if they were I should attribute part of the losse of their men to their insufficiency but that the destiny of that country chalengeth it all to it selfe Captaine Towerson who first returned hauing left behinde him of some hundred and twenty carried forth fourescore and fiue and Captaine Saris of some 90 odde not having brought home aboue two or three and twenty the Thomas of that voyage which went forth with some 60 men was brought home by way of a wrecke By staying an Armenian ship wherin at least were some 400 men bound to the Indies and commaunding the Port hee drew from theÌ„ plain dealing and made honourable conditions for the Marchants He encountered foure Gallions wherein might be some two thousand men you know the destruction of men that name importeth The third that of Captaine Tho. Best Admirall of the Fleete a man whose former behauiour in Sea-affaires drew into that iourny with great expectation and which is very seldome and hard his carriage in this employment went beyond the great expectation of a reposed demeanour indulgent to his men vigilant in his charge his courage like to his cariage and his fortune aboue all he checked the Indians he mated the Portugals those honour our King these feare his forces he setled a trade in Cambaya reduced things in order in Bantam brought riches home for the Merchants and kept reputation for himselfe yet for all this he had Nemesin in dorso the Indian vengeance hanted his ship euen to our coasts of some hundred and eighty men vnder him when he went forth depriuing him of one hundred and odde men for euer Some foure or fiue and twenty of the remainder are left on the desperate account of men for the Countries facteridge onely thirty are returned In two great Sea-fights with the Portugals and their Gallions which continued foure whole dayes hee lost not foure men It was not then the fortune of the warre neither out of want of ought that victuals and good gouernment could affoord imputations to some other voyages Nor had the length of time any fault part of others bane he hauing made the voyage in shorter space then any other ordinarily the dogged Starre of those Clymates the stench of those Countries were his Fatality As one Swallow maketh no Summer so it is not much to bee maruailed that in all these voyages some one Ship hath not beene scarred and not else much hurt in this iourney She indeed but euen seeing those Coasts and presently on so great a glut of our men and ships with the which it seemeth the Sea and Land was then busied and full when as Captaine Newport returned with little losse and in short time Now then as we haue said before that the Indian shippes die not the ordinary death of Shippes and that we haue shewen likewise before that men doe die extraordinarily in this voyage which is almost incredible they are distressed likewise after their death and that is very apparant by the meane account made to their heires of what they had in possession in their life time by what should otherwise be due to them in their purchase by the calamities of their wiues children and friends after their death Fabulous and phantasticall Legends
bottomes bringing all the Coales to the Staple Towne shall not onely be set on worke but increase will follow in Shipping The Venetians sometime passed being out-gone by those of Zant in their custome drew the Trade from the Grecians and planted as it were a Colonie of Curranes at Venice If for a little custome and to pull downe their suspected subiects swelling mindes they did so why should not his Maiesty for the increase of his Shipping and the releiuing of the prostrate estate of his faithfull and humble subiects take this warrantable course Island Island voiage entertaineth 120 ships and barkes New found land New found Land employeth some 150 saile from all parts of small ships but with great hazard and therefore that voyage feared to be spoiled by heathen and sauage as also by Pirates East Indies Now followeth the consideration of the East Indie Trade into whose seas not onely the Riuer of Volga as before you heard disemboqueth it self but euen the bottome of the Straights is emptied to fill vp those gulfes and not so onely but besides that many of our best Marchants haue transported their Staples thither it hath also begot out of all Callings Professions and Trades many more new Merchants Then where there is increase of Merchants there is increase of Trade where Trade increaseth there is increase of Shipping where increase of Shipping there increase of Mariners likewise so then rich and large East Indies The report that went of the pleasing notes of the Swannes in Meander floud farre surpassing the records of any other birds in any other places whatsoeuer drew thither all sorts of people in great confluence and with great expectation to heare and enioy their sweete singing When they came thither they found in stead of faire white Swans greedy Rauens and deuouring Crowes and heard in stead of melodious harmony vntuneable and loathsome croaking In indignation that they were so receiued and deceiued in stead of applauding they hissed and of staying fled away You are now braue East Indies Meander floud your Trade is the singing of Swannes which so many iourney so farre to enioy God forbid you should be found so discoloured and we so ill satisfied And howsoeuer that I may be sure to auoide any detraction whereby my nature might haue any imputation or by calling vp more spirits into the circle then I can put downe againe I might incurre some danger and be taxed likewise of indiscretion for that we onely hitherto haue complained of the want of Shipping we desire now but herein to suruey the store and see how you helpe the increase You haue built more Ships in your time and greater farre then any other Merchants Ships besides what you haue bought out of other Trades and all those wholly belonging to you there hath beene entertained by you since you first aduentured one and twentie Ships besides the now intended voiage of one new Ship of seuen hundred Tunne and happily some two more of increase The least of all your Shipping is of foure score Tunne all the rest are goodly Shippes of such burthen as neuer were formerly vsed in Merchandize the least and meanest of these last is of some hundred and twentie Tunne and so go vpward euen to eleuen hundred Tunne You haue set forth some thirteen voyages in which time you haue built of these eight new Shippes and almost as good as built the most of the residue as the Dragon the Hector c. so that at the first appearance you haue added both strength and glory to the King dome by this your accession to the Nauy But where I pray you are all these Ships foure of these are cast away of the which one was of three hundred Tunne another of foure hundred the third of three hundred and the fourth of eleuen hundred two more are docked vp there as Pinaces to Trade vp and down the rest are either employed in the Trade in the Indies or at home out of reparations which if true if the Kingdome should haue need of them on any occasion it shall surely want their seruice and so then there is not onely no supply to the Nauy this way but hurt euen to the whole kingdome the woods being cut downe and the Shippes either lost or not seruiceable Surely stories can shew vs which we may reade in the courses of Common-weales how tolerable nay how laudable it is in all States to enlarge Commerce Merchants whom wee should respect can tell vs of the casualties which not onely the Ships but their estates are subiect to by aduentures Mariners whom we must pitty can teach vs of the ordinary dangers not onely that Shippes and goods but their liues are subiect to by sea I must not then exprobrate that to them which is to be imputed to the Sea nor are they to be blamed out of reason for that which deserueth in humanity commiseration nor is England bounded by our Horizon to go no further then we see We haue learned long since that Mercatura si tenuis sordida si magna splendida the stranger the Country the greater the aduenture the more famous our Nation the more worthy the Merchant Before wee were euen Herace writ Currit Mercator ad Indos Loath then am I to borrow that saying of Demosthenes on his courting of Lais to pay it to the Indian Trade by alleaging that Non tanti Emam poenitentiam only hauing now in common that Roman prouiso Ne quid detrimentiresp capiat Let vs examine that which may moue patience that our woods are cut downe and the Ships either lost or not seruiceable Our woods I say cut downe in extraordinary manner neither do the Shippes die the ordinary death of Shippes Our woods extraordinarily cut downe in regard of the greatnesse of the Shipping which doth as it were deuoure our timber I am able out of sufficient testimony to affirme that since the Indian Trade and meerely through their building of their ships of so great burthen and their repairing the building notwithstanding beganne but fiue yeares since that timber is raised in the Land fiue shillings and more in the loade nay almost not to be had for money which the Company no question being sensible of very wisely seeke to helpe themselues in by building of ships in Ireland for their seruice yet it seemeth their incouragement that was is but necessitous in regard by their owne saying besides the hazard the charges are little lesse and which is worse that kinde of timber is but vntoward for that vse being so extreame heauy that a ship of small burden draweth much water If in fiue yeares space their building together with their repairing of shippes almost equall to building beget such a scarcitie what will a little continuance bring forth Bring forth I cannot say ought but a priuation will follow euen of all our timber-wood The Kings Nauy must be maintained other Marchants of lower ranke must haue shipping and the sea-trade may increase and then either
wee must trade without shipping or make ships without timber When the Norman Conquerour hauing subdued the most part of the kingdome passed from Essex into Kent which then made head against him the Kents hauing by the aduice of their politique Bishop and their stout Abbot cut downe great boughes and with them in their armes marched towards the Conquerour whereby besides the nouelty of the sight the Army appeared double as big William himselfe so conceiuing it as also amazed to see woods walke more feared and discontented with that sight then otherwise assured with his former successe condescended to what demands soeuer were made by those people to haue such weapons laid downe and to gaine such ingenious subiects whereby to their eternall benefite and credite their persons were neuer in bondage nor their Lawes altered In this their Land-stratageme I see our sea-Arts in that and these woods being the fatal instrument of our fortunes boughes of Trees kept the Kentish-men out of seruitude when they held them in their hands and but for shew their bodies will keepe vs in liberty when they containe vs and are for seruice and by their mouing on the water they will amaze both French and Spanish and whomsoeuer and keepe them and all others from comming neere vs 34. Hen. 8.17.13 Eliz. 25. Out of which prouident fore-sight our most worthy Princes formerly raigning haue made diuers Lawes in fauour of timber trees Forbidding by Proclamation the building with Timber and our most noble King hath prouided therto with new accessions for the preseruing and increasing of them but that a parricide of woods should thus be committed by building of ships it was neuer thought on by any of our royall Solons and therefore there was no prouiso for it Nay this inconuenience was so little suspected that our sayd famous Princes haue prouided cleane contrary with great bounty and indulgence haning encoraged by reward out of their owne purses the builders of great ships as bestowing on the builders fiue shillings on the Tun for euery Tunne that is builded aboue one hundred Tun in a ship so necessary did the Prince thinke his maintenance of shipping the accession thereof consisting much in their greatnesse to the honour and safety of the Kingdome such vse he made account he should haue of them Whereas now this way he contributeth to the spoile of his woods to the losse of the ships and to the hurt of the Kingdome I heard a Ship-wright say on the losse of the Trades Increase that if you ride forty miles from about London you could not finde sufficient Timber to build such an other It was a ship of eleuen hundred Tunne for beauty burthen strength and sufficiency surpassing all Marchants ships whatsoeuer But alas shee was but shewne out of a cruell destiny shee was ouertaken with an vntimely death in her youth and strength being deuoured by those Iron wormes of that Country that pierced her heart and brake many a mans withall memorable in her misfortune onely redounding to the Common-wealthes losse For as for the Marchants though I pitie their aduentures with all my heart yet in this their part of losse was least for all their goods were on shore and she had brought aboundance out of the Mecha Fleete which she did both tith and toll And thankes be to God they are more then sauers by what is returned from her and more then that often by the grace of God will come from her to the Marchants gaine The like vntimely fall had the other three of great burthen galla nt ships neuer hauing had the fortune to see their natiue soile againe or the honour to do their Country any seruice in respect of all other ships that wander ordinarily to other Countries therefore I may iustly say that they die not the ordinary death of ships who commonly haue somer est and after long seruice die full of yeares and at home much of their timber seruing againe to the same vse besides their Iron-worke and the rest otherwise seruiceable and not in this bloudy and vnseasonable fashion rather indeed as coffins full of liue bodies then otherwise as comfortable shippes For the rest that liue they come home so crazed and broken so maimed and vnmanned that whereas they went out strong they returne most feeble Our ships are faine to take in the natiues of the Indian Countries to supply the wants of our dead Sea-men to bring home their shippes and whereas they were carried forth with Christians they are brought home with Heathen What the profits are to the Marchants for so great an aduēture I know not I am sure amends cannot easly be made for so great a losse euen in this point which is our special subiect now for wast of woods spoile of shipping And thus we haue surueyed all the fountaines whence our shipping especially doth flow which before I shut vp I remember me of a new Spring in Greeneland that batheth some ships and burdeneth them likewise with her owne natural fraight with the which the Whale is so richly loaden withall This place is but of late frequented so especially and hath employed this last yeare some foureteene ships and more would do but that the poore Fishermen who though they knew the place before yet being belike afraid of the Whale The Moscouy Merchants haue procured an inhibition for all others from fishing there are now swallowed vp in the Whales ships I cannot finde any other worthy place of forren anchorage For the Bermudas we know not yet what they will doe and for Virginia we know not well what to do with it the present profit of those not employing any store of shipping and for this other it is yet but Embrion no question a worthy enterprise and of great consequence much aboue the Marchants Ieuell reach And sure in regard of the great expences they haue beene at and the poore returne that is made they are much to bee regarded commended for holding out so long I could wish that as many of the Nobility and Gentry of the land haue willingly embarqued themselues in the labour so the rest of the Subiects might be vrged to help to forme and bring forth this birth not of an infant but of a man nay of a people of a kingdom wherein are many kingdomes When Alcmena was in trauell with Hercules the Poets say Iupiter was faine to be Midwife and sure as we haue the countenance of our earthly Iupiter so we are humbly to emplore the propitious presence of our heauenly God toward the perfection of this so great a worke And so leauing to medle further with what we haue nothing to do let vs returne to our ships out of whose entertainements we may either reioyce at their increase or by other obseruations preuent their decay because we propounded to our selues the necessity of our home-fishing out of the want of our shipping we will affirme that by this our superficiall