The case for a navy By John Rushton - Scarboroughs maritime history
Dr John Dee, one of the cleverest men of his day and
a confidante of Queen Elizabeth I, put the case for
a Royal Navy, of three score tall ships or more, in
1577. They would stop France, Denmark, Scotland and
Spain annoying " the blessed state of our
tranquillity" and would be a safeguard against sudden
threats , by rebels or foreigners in England and
Ireland. A fleet would be more use than keeping the
forts at Calais and Boulogne.Soldiers would learn the
rage of the sea, the hardness of ship's lodging and
victuals and be trained to fight there. Foreign
princes would no longer suffer our merchants to have
wrong in their courts.
Many men would be made skilful in coasts, channels,
soundings, danger marks, harbours, landings, observing
ebbs and floods, the arts of navigation. Fewer
merchant ships would be spoiled or taken by pirates,
and much assurance money would be saved. "Hundreds of
lusty and handsome men " would be well occupied and
have needful maintenance, who were then idle and
wanting sustenance. Our own countrymen, no small
number of them, acting as pirates would be called to
come home.
The Navy could deal with those abominable thieves
that steal our corn and victual along the coast, and
the foreign fishermen "injuriously and over boldy
abusing our rich fishings about England ,Wales and
Ireland, who deprived us yearly of several 100.000 £.
John Rushton
OTHER ARTICLES
• Scarborough ships in the baltic - an article by John Rushton
• The 200 year history of scarboroughs RNLI
• Seabathing in scarborough - an article by John Rushton
• The press gang and the Royal Navy at Scarborough
• Havens on the North Yorkshire coast. An article on scarboroughs maritime history by John Rushton
• A scarborough Merchant - An article on scarboroughs maritime history by John Rushton
• Article on the coal trade by John Rushton
• The port of Scarborough in the late 15th Century
• Strange customs amongst the Scarborough shipbuilders
• The history of the Scarborough Spa pump rooms
• The need for canals in the scarborough area - discussions in the late 1700's
• The Borough of Scarborough formed in the 12th Century
• The national RNLI and the Scarborough lifeboat of 1861.
• The kings rents. scarborough maritime heritage by John Rushton.
• The history of the herring fishing in the North Sea
• Harwood Brierleys description of Scarborough harbour at the opening of the 20th century
• The early years of the Scarborough Lifeboat
• Thomas Hinderwell - history of Scarboroughs fisheries
• John Parkin. The Scarborough sailmaker turned bailiff. - John Rushton
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