PREFACE.

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chests, or other cumbersome things, upon occasion of fighting, whereby thegunn deck is soe imbarrassed, that they cannot possibly make soe good anopposition to an enemy as otherwise they might, and att their returne,comeing home freighted with merchants goods, have greater opportunityesto defraud the customs than any merchants have. There is another branchof the navy which, tho’ it cannot properly be called his Majesty’s. Yettthough it hath been the use of his royall predicessors, it would be a parradoxto affirm the contrary, and nevertheless if it be true, that those only arerich that have more than they have need of, and those only poor that haveneed of more than they have, I doubt it will appear, that his Majesty’s royallnavy affairs are not soe considerable, in case any great forreigne warr shouldhappen, as his royall fathers were in the year l6’40, when his Majestymight, upon all occasions, have an hundred merchants ships suddenly fittedfor his service, of such burthen and strength as were little inferior to his own,without any charge of maintaining them longer than they were in the ser-vice, as long before appeared during the warrs with France and Spaine,Avhen few in those great fleets were of the king’s own ships; yet the mer-chants continued their trade Avithout expecting or desiring convoys, ifthere could but two or three consort together, not careing who they mett;unless it were the colliers, or small vessells trading upon the coasts.

Rut since these late distractions began at home, forraigne trade decayed,and merchants soe discouraged from building, that there hath been scarceone good merchant ship built these 20 years past, and of what were thenin being, either by decays or accidents, there arc very few or none left re-maining. The merchants have found their private conveniences in being-convoyed att the publick charge, they take noe care of making defencefor themselves if a warr should happen, computing what would be thenecessary convoys to the traders to the severall parts of the world, whichmust be of the king’s own ships, (since there are noe other) it were verydoubtful whether (upon a great expedition) the residue of his Majesty’swhole navy might be sufficient to performe that, and leave any consider-able