Welsh Journals

BY TEMPEST AND PIRACY: THE LOSS OF MERSEY SALT VESSELS OFF PEMBROKSHIRE, 1695-1715 By Alan G. Crosby Local historians are always aware that sources for the history of a place can turn up in quite unexpected locations. As a historian of north-west England but a regular visitor to and enthusiast for Pembrokeshire I was pleased, while doing research in the Lancashire quarter sessions records, to find some material which had a bearing upon the coastal trade of south-west Wales in the reigns of William III and Anne. The documents in question are few in number only half a dozen items but they throw interesting light upon this vital aspect of the county's economy. They relate to attempts to recover money previously paid as a tax on salt pro- duced in Cheshire. This might appear to have little to do with Pembroke- shire, but the vessels carrying the salt had been wrecked off the Welsh coast and in recounting the circumstances of the losses the men claiming back the money gave details very relevant to Pembrokeshire history. In 1694 war with France was raging. The government of William III was desperately trying to find money for a military campaign which would eventually last not only for the rest of his reign but also for all that of his successor, Anne, whose rule benefited vicariously from the lustre of Marlborough's victories. The war was hugely expensive and a series of emergency financial measures had to be imposed at short notice in the mid-1690s to try to increase revenues to pay for it. One was a salt tax. The main traditional source of English salt had been the famous and profit- able brine springs at the three 'wiches' in Cheshire (Northwich, Middlewich and Nantwich), supplemented by those at Droitwich in Worcestershire. The production of English sea-salt, so important in the Middle Ages, was fast-diminishing but large quantities were instead brought from the Biscay coast. This had become a major element in the import trade of southern Irish Sea ports in the later sixteenth century.' In 1670, though, rock salt was discovered at Marbury, between Runcorn and Northwich, during abortive exploratory borings for coal. The dis- covery transformed the Cheshire industry. Until that time nobody under- stood why there were salt springs in the county the very existence of rock salt was unknown but after 1670 the main production method