4. Is the seal of about the same period of the town of Faversham. It is remarkable for the amount of detail preserved on it. On this, as on the seal of Sandwich, two sailors may be noticed seated aloft on the yard in the act of furling the sail. On the deck is an officer giving the word of command, and in the castle over the poop a man holding a standard. On the fore deck are five soldiers variously armed with spears and axes, and, near the top of the mast, is the castellated object often observed on similar seals, indicating the crow’s nest.
FAVERSHAM.
Stanhope, vice-admiral of Suffolk.
5. A seal of Michael Stanhope, vice-admiral of Suffolk, of a somewhat later date, is remarkable in that it represents a ship with four masts and a bowsprit. Each mast has a single yard, with the lug sail furled on the three smaller ones, and set on the fourth and largest. The bow is ornamented with a crocodile’s head, his back appearing to form the roof of the forecastle. Over the bow is the anchor triced up to the side of the vessel.[559]
MICHAEL STANHOPE, VICE-ADMIRAL OF SUFFOLK.
Duties of the Cinque Ports.
By the charter granted in the twenty-second year of the reign of Edward I., the Cinque Ports[560] were bound to provide, at any time the king passed over the sea, not less than fifty-seven ships fully equipped, each to have twenty armed soldiers maintained at the cost of the ship-owner for fifteen days. Soon afterwards, the constable of Dover Castle set forth, in a proclamation, the proportion of ships which these and other ports, admitted to certain privileges, were bound to furnish. The total number thus collected amounted to seventy-eight vessels, of which Hastings had to supply eighteen; Bekesbourne, in Kent, seven; Rye, five; Winchelsea, ten; Dover, nineteen; Folkestone, seven; Faversham, a similar number; and Sandwich with Deal and other minor places, five: the whole to be ready and properly “armed and arrayed,” each to carry twenty men besides the master and mariners, who were to serve five days at the expense of the ports and afterwards at that of the king’s.
The nucleus of a national navy was thus established. In cases of emergency, other vessels were obtainable from London or built for the occasion by the government; and to make certain of a still further supply, the whole merchant service were required to be ready within forty days from the time of the summons. The “Cinque Ports,” for their five days’ service, paid the masters sixpence, and the sailors threepence per day.[561]