65. TRAVELLING BY SEA IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.
(From the MS. Harl. 1319.)
It must not be thought that these ships, carrying as much as a hundred passengers besides their crew on this rather long journey, were great, well-appointed vessels. They very much resembled the pilgrim-ships of the present day, which carry every year to Jeddah, on the Red Sea, crowds of Arabs on their way to Mecca. The travellers were huddled together in most uncomfortable fashion, and had ample opportunities to do penance and offer their sufferings to the saint. This is no surmise, for one of those English pilgrims duly allowed to go to Galicia, provided they did not reveal the secrets of the realm, has rimed an account of his experiences, so we know what they were. Do not think of laughing, says he, when you go by sea to St. James’s; there is sea-sickness; the sailors push you about under pretext that you hinder the working of the ship; the smell is not pleasant: {379}
“Men may leve alle gamys
That saylen to Seynt Jamys!
Ffor many a man hit gramys (vexes)
When they begin to sayle.
Ffor when they have take the see,
At Sandwych or at Wynchylsee,
At Bristow, or where that hit bee,