Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
kingdom_n	france_n	time_n	year_n	1,932	5	4.5978	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59941	England's safety, or, A bridle to the French King proposing a sure method for encouraging navigation, and raising qualified seamen for the well manning Their Majesties fleet on any occasion, in a months time, without impressing, and a competent provision for all such as shall be wounded in service against the enemy, either in Their in Their Majesties ships of war, privatiers, or merchant men, to encourage the better defending them : also an in-flight into the advantages may be made by the herring and other fisheries, in respect to the breeding of seamen, and otherwise : together with a proposal for the maintenance and education of the male children ... : also encouragement for commanders of men of war, privatiers and seamen, in taking any ship, or effects of the enemies, and all to be done, without any sensible charge or burthern to the kingdom / by Captain George St. Lo...	St. Lo, George, d. 1718.	1693 (1693)	Wing S341; ESTC R21733	30,938	54

Usage and Hardships sustain'd in my Imprisonment in France my Memory is prejudic'd but sure I am there is a good Foundation for wiser Heads to work upon and when the Parliament have it under their Consideration it will be at their Election to Enact this for a Year or what time they please and under what Regulations shall be thought fit and according as it shall be found in that time it may either be made use of or not ENGLAND's GLORY c OR A PROPOSAL MADE BY Capt. George St. Lo. FOR THE Raising Twenty Thousand SEAMEN QUALIFIED As here under-mentioned for the Service of Their Majesties and the Kingdom in Manning the Royal Navy on any Occasion without Impressing in a Month's time after setling the Office Hereby humbly proposed for that purpose THE Qualification of each Seaman is That he shall understand the Mechanick part of a Sailer which is to Reef and Furl and take his Trick at Helm and be a Man at all Calls properly called a Haulboling so that half a Ships Complement of such Men before the Mast will be sufficient to well Man any Ship for Masters-Mates Midship-Men Quarter-Masters Quarter-Gunners and other small Officers will go voluntarily with their respective Commanders and several others may be supposed for Preferment which will not be of this number And therefore the said Twenty Thousand able Seamen with the help of the Warrant-Officers Voluntiers Officers Servants small Officers and Water-mens Apprentices who are sent by their Hall together with the Sail-Makers Armorers Carpenters-Crew and Chirurgions Crew will be sufficient to Man Their Majesties whole Fleet. This Method of bringing in Seamen without Impressing will be of vast Advantage to the King and Kingdom 1. In saving the great Charge of Conduct-Mony and Bounty-Mony 2. In saving the Charge of hiring Smacks Ketches and other Vessels for Impressing of Seamen which stand the King in 30 l. a Month each Vessel one with another or thereabouts and of these each first and second Rate Ship hath three or four and a third and fourth Rate Ship hath one or two besides the Captains of each Ship according to the Rate and Bigness have Imprest Mony some 100 l. some 50 l. some 20 l. Besides bringing in their Bills of Charges and Disbursements which have sometimes amounted to two or three Hundred Pounds a Ship to my knowledge all which by the Method hereafter mentioned may be saved to the Crown and Kingdom which in Conduct Bounty and Imprest-Mony with the hiring of Vessels as aforesaid cannot be reckoned to amount to less than 60000 l. per Annum By this Method the King being assured of having Men ready to Man his Fleet on any occasion in a Month's time will save the vast Charges of keeping the great Ships in Pay all the Winter and besides prevent the Danger of ever being Invaded by any Foreign Enemy as was like to have been this Year for after the Summers Expedition is over and the Fleet come in it would be a great Encouragement to the Seamen to be paid off and their Tickets paid at the same time which would give them Credit at any time prevent the great Abuse of Ticket-buying and enable Seamen to reap the Benefit of their Labour themselves as now they do not and though the King should give 20 l. per Cent for Mony so to Pay them his Majesty would save vastly by it And upon issuing out his Royal Proclamation at any time have Men sufficient for his Service again And here it may be Objected perhaps from a Book lately set out by one Henry Maydman a Purser That Seamen are discouraged from Their Majesties Service by the Abuses of their Commanders To which it is Answered It is a sign that that Purser hath Sailed with honest Captains that would not let him pinch the Men for the Men never fare better than when a Captain and Purser disagree I observe he carefully conceals his Employ of Purser well knowing that of all Officers such a one in this Case is the least to be Credited for let Commanders see that the Pursers do not wrong the Men and let them be paid their Majesties Allowance and the Tickets at Payment of the Ship or upon tender afterwards they are very well encouraged and care not for hard words from a Captain which break no Bones ☞ But that which discourages Seamen is the want of their due Pay and the lying of their Tickets several Years without Payment unless sold to a Ticket-buyer which occasions the Proverb among them Of going to Sea for a Knife and Sheath This would likewise prevent the Impressing of Land-men altogether unqualified which often breeds Sickness in the Fleet as also Water-men that were never at Sea upon whom it is now very hard For Instance a Water-man is Imprest out of his Boat that has a Wife and four or five Children to maintain in his absence his Boat is unimployed and receives damage his Wife and Children must become burthensom to the Parish or if she has Credit perhaps runs her Husband in debt more than he can get up in a Year or two Likewise when a Ship comes home after a long Voyage the Men are Imprest who perhaps have some of them Ventures on Board which they are snatch'd from without having the liberty of going to their Families and disposing of what they have or even to refresh themselves in which Case their Ventures are lost the Men Dissatisfied and their Families half Ruined Also many Persons have been lost on the Thames and other Places in endeavouring to Escape as particularly Ten or Twelve Persons lately in Boats were Drowned Shot and Died of their Wounds in making off from from a Ship that had Prest them and the Sand-Barges at Plymouth when a Press is thereabouts lye wholly Unemployed by the Absconding of the Men which hinders the Working of Husband-men for want of that Sand to Manure the Ground so that many Teams of Horses and Yokes of Oxen lye still on that account to the great Damage of the Country This would also prevent the great Abuses by Persons pretending to be Press-Masters who to get Money often do very ill things sometimes occasion Murder and generally such Disorders as bring an Odium upon Their Majesties Fleet undeserved Besides it is very hard upon Lieutenants who in Pressing cannot but spend more than their Pay and sometimes are Turned out for Impressing those that have Protections which by this will be taken off So that no Man as the Case now stands would be a Lieutenant were it not for the Prospect of being advanced to Captain In the next Place it is hoped no Man's Private Interest will be thought equivalent to Ballance against so great a Publick Good and Ease as this will be to the King and Kingdom The Reasons that have induced me to undertake this great Work are drawn from my Dear-bought Experience when Prisoner in France where I lay two Years and two Months under great Hardships and

condescended to for that several Ships have been Retaken which have paid his Majesty 2 or 3000 l. each for Custom 4. That whereas many Ships that have lain in Ports Harbors and Roads of this Kingdom without any Seizure or Molestation of the Vice-Admirals or Governors have been found out to be the Enemies Goods and seized by private Men of War and Condemn'd as Prize the said Vice-Admirals or Governors have very much obstructed them in the Condemnation thereof and sometimes after Condemnation have claimed the same to their Use or the Use of their Majesties to the great discouragement of private Men of War without whose Diligence and Intelligence they had never been discover'd or seiz'd Therefore it is proposed that in such Cases they may have no Molestation or Impediment but have their Prizes according to their Commissions which grant them all they shall take as well in Ports or Harbors as upon the Sea 5. That the Tenths of all other Prizes may be remitted to them concern'd in private Men of War for their Encouragement for the Reasons following viz. I. The French King doth at this time do the same which hath so Encouraged their Privatiers that they have fitted out many Ships of good force and much annoy'd and disturb'd our Trade the French Privatiers having taken about 600 of our Ships whereas their Men of War have not taken Sixty II. This Encouragement will enable the Concern'd to fit out better Ships than now they have and get Men to Man them by contracting to take Care of all such Men as shall be Wounded and the Wives and Families of them that shall be Kill'd or Drown'd which at present they cannot afford to do III. There is more Reason to make this Remission of Tenths to the English private Men of War than the French in regard of the Prohibition and the small Trade of France 6. Whereas it may be objected that unless some Officers be put on Board each Prize the private Men of War will be at liberty to do what they please and such Officers cannot be maintain'd without Duties to bear the Charge It is answered That each private Man of War at the taking out of his Commission doth not only oblige his Ship self and Owners but also gives two other sufficient Securities in 3000 or 1500 l. Bond not to abuse their Majesties Subjects or Allies but to make Satisfaction for all Injuries done by them and to pay Customs c. And besides the Custom-House Officers presently put Waiters on Board to look after the Customs which the private Men of War pay themselves without Charge to their Majesties And by this propos'd Encouragement the Customs will be Encreas'd by the Prize-Ships so that it will pay twenty times more than their Majesties have or will receive for Tenths And Besides the Encouragement of English Private Men of War will be very beneficial to this Kingdom not only in the Encreasing of Customs and weakning the Enemy as aforesaid but in breeding of Seamen they being oblig'd by their Bonds to carry two thirds Landmen and but one third of their Complement Seamen 7. And if it be objected that by thus Remitting the Tenths the Advocate Receiver c. employ'd therein will lose their Salaries the Proposer humbly hopes it will not be thought Reasonable that the private Interest of two or three Persons without advantage to the King or Government should be preferr'd before so great a Publick Good as this Encouragement would be both to the King and Kingdom Lastly It is demonstrable that this Encouragement to Privatiers will prove of no small advantage to his Majesties Customs for Example they frequently Retake rich Ships prevent Ships being taken and one Ship retaken oftentimes brings in more Customs to his Majesty than the Tenths will amount to in a whole Year so that both his Majesty and Subjects will be much the Gainers by this Means Therefore 't is to be hoped these Proposals will meet with their Majesties Compliance for that their Majesties may at first give it only for a Year or what time they shall think fit to see the advantage of it and afterwards to do therein as they please FINIS

Nineteen Months of that time all alone in an uneasie and Disconsolate Condition ☞ When I was first brought Prisoner thither I lay four Months in an Hospital at Brest for Cure of my Wounds and was sent to Nants before half Cured While I was at Brest I was Astonished at the Expedition used in Manning and Fitting out their Ships which till then I thought could be done no where sooner than in England where we have ten times the Shipping and consequently ten times more Seamen than they have in France but there I saw Twenty Sail of Ships of about 60 Guns a piece got ready in Twenty days time they were brought in and the Men Discharged and upon an Order from Paris they were Careen'd Keel'd up Rigg'd Victualled Man'd and out again in the said time with the greatest Ease imaginable I likewise saw a Ship of 100 Guns there had all her Guns taken out in four or five Hours time which I never saw done in England in twenty four Hours and this with greater Ease and less Hazard than here which I saw under the Hospital Window and this I am sure I could do as easie in England I likewise saw on the other side of the River an imitation of a Ship with a Tire of Guns where the Men were often Exercised and instructed in the Practice and Use of the Great Gun as if they were at Sea which very much contributed to their Skill and if the same were done and practised near our Sea-Ports it would be of great use in fitting Men for the Sea-Service in which we need not be ashamed to learn of them for they are ready enough to imitate us in any thing for their Advantage The aforesaid Ships being so soon out again put me upon Enquiry how the Men were got so quickly and I found that the Seamen were all Registred by the Intendant Marine or Commissary of each Province near the Sea which puts that King to vast Charge in paying great Salaries to them their Provosts Marine Arches and other Officers for taking Account of all Maritime Affairs for a Merchant Ship cannot go to Sea without leave from such Intendant who appoints what Seamen they shall have and so many Land-men to be trained up in the French King's Pay as is thought necessary which Method he hath used for these Fourteen Years past in all probability in hopes of an Advantage over England These Officers Register not only Seamen but Watermen Fishermen and all other Persons belonging to the Sea or Trading in any River of France as the Loire Seyne c. who upon Proclamation are always to be ready to serve on Board the Fleet as they have been all this War and upon Failure by his Arbitrary Power Hangs them up at their own Door without Tryal or Mercy So that to the wonder of the World tho he has not above the Tenth part of Merchant Shipping as aforesaid which is the Nursery of Seamen he gets out his Fleet ready to Fight the English and Dutch who are so much Superior to him in Naval Strength that it is very much Admired at Abroad and look'd upon as ill Conduct in us Thus the French King when his Fleet is out at Sea is at much greater Charge than we in regard of the Encouragement he then gives to his Officers both in Pay and Provisions which brings his best Nobility to his Service who when they are sufficiently Qualified are Preferred to Command and never makes Masters of Merchant-men Captains of Men of War well knowing that there is as great an improbability in most of them to well understand the Nature and Command of a Man of War as 't is for a Gentleman of 500 l. a Year that perhaps knows well enough how to manage his own Estate understands Martial Discipline to Command in a Castle in a time of Action or for a Captain in the Militia to be as fit to make a General-Officer as one that has been in several Campains Sieges and other Actions and will sooner prefer one of his Warrant-Officers that has been trained up in his Service than one of them tho that is also very rare for he will sooner Reward them with Money for any brave Action and give his Commands to his People of Quality ☞ And tho the French King by the Means aforesaid is at more Charge than we when his Fleet is out yet when they come in he is at much less for then he pays off and lays up his great Ships as we may now do by the following Method which saves him vast Charge in the Winter when his Men go out a Privateering and make a Harvest upon our Merchant-Men which he Encourages by giving them his Tenths of what they take Which I could wish was done in England And here I cannot forbear mentioning one generous Action of that King who as he Punishes well takes care likewise to Reward well For when I was taken in the Portsmouth by the Chevalier Demany Knight of Malta in the Marquess a Ship of 60 odd Guns all Brass but twelve tho' he could not bring my Ship in she was so much disabled he dying in forty eight Hours of his Wounds told the Second Captain upon his Death-bed That nothing troubled him but that he should die in debt to his Relations and Friends which being represented to Monsieur Saignelay who then was on Board the Fleet and by him to the French King the King thereupon did much regret the loss of such a Man saying He had rather have lost the Ship than the Captain and ordered the Payment of his debts out of his own Bounty which came to 22000 Livres which is near 1800 l. Sterling Thus it being the Method of the French King to furnish himself with Seamen on any occasion 1. By Registring them 2. By his Arbitrary Power Hanging them in case of Desertion thereby like Death sparing none to the Sea or Gallows In England it would be found both difficult chargeable and needless 1. It would be very difficult as well as chargeable to Register Seamen here because not one in ten is a House-keeper and therefore not with any certainty to be found 2. It would be needless in regard we have not occasion as the French have to take all our Seamen but a moderate Proportion only which may be done by Registring all sorts of Shipping and small Craft using the Sea or any River Port or Harbour in England Wales and Berwick upon Tweed as Merchant-Ships of all sorts Fishing-Boats Oyster-Cocks Row-Barges Western-Barges Lighters of all sorts Tricker-Boats Hiber-Boats Stow-Boats and the Trows at Bristoll Smacks Hoys Ketches Coasters c. by what Names soever Differenced and giving them a certain Number or Mark of Distinction as is done to the Hackney-Coaches That each of them according to their several Burthens Trade and Profit shall find one Man or more for Their Majesties Service or be obliged to pay Five Pounds into an Office to be Erected for that purpose