CHAPTER IV
Mariners of Other Days
"A shipman was ther . . .
All in a gown of faulding[8] to the knee,
A dagger hanging by a lace had he
About his neck under his arm adown;
The hot summer had made his hue all brown:
And certainly he was a good fellow;
Full many a draught of wine had he drawn
From Bordeaux-ward, while that the chapmen[9] sleep;
Of nice conscience took he no keep.
If that he fought and had the higher hand,
By water he sent them home to every land.[10]
. . . . . . . . . .
He knew well all the havens as they were
From Gothland to the Cape of Finisterre,
And every creek in Bretagne and in Spain:
His barge ycleped[11] was the Magdelaine."
Chaucer, Canterbury Tales.
We have yet to give some descriptions of one or two actual battles, but I think we will commence by trying to picture the seamen themselves.
What were these old "matlows"[12] like, and how were they raised? The second question is easily answered. As Lord Haldane has stated, compulsory service was never foreign to the English laws and constitution. But we may observe that it has never been carried out in the fair and impartial manner which is now universal on the Continent of Europe, where "duke's son, cook's son", and everybody else has to serve his country alike. No; ours has always been a kind of bullying system or want of system.
In the old days of the Cinque Ports, if more ships were required than they had to provide, their ships were just sent out to "commandeer" any suitable craft they could lay hands on. So with men. Certain places and counties had to provide a regulated quota of soldiers or sailors, or both. If they were voluntarily forthcoming, well and good; if not, the magistrates, the port-reeves, or bayliffs had authority to take as many as they required to make up the number by force, and made no bones about doing so. So while Jones got off free, Brown and Robinson were pressed. But it was all a matter of luck—at any rate ostensibly. That was the hardship of it, not only then, but in the later "press-gang days".
But, once caught, the mediæval seaman had little to complain of in the way of pay. That, no doubt, made up for a good deal of severe discomfort. A mariner or seaman in 1277 got 3d. a day—a penny more than an ordinary soldier[13]—and in 1370 it was raised to 4d. Now, if we bear in mind that it has been estimated that money at that time was worth something like fourteen times what it is to-day, we must admit that the seaman did not do so badly. The master of the ship at this time was called the "rector", and received 6d. a day, while his second in command got the same amount. There were no admirals then, but the senior sea officer of the fleet was termed "captain" and paid 12d. per diem. The knight who was in actual military command of a warship would draw 2s. a day if he was paid the same rate afloat as ashore.
Whether there was a regular scale of provisioning before John Redynge was appointed "Clerk of the Spicery" in 1496, to look after the victualling of both army and navy, I am unable to say, but it appears that the usual "sea-stock" laid in for a voyage in mediæval times consisted of bacon, salt meat, "Poor John" or salted herrings, flour, eggs, and poultry.