Leith] CAPTAIN PALLISER?S CONTUMACY. 277
to-morrow ; the sailors belonging to the said ships
are to repair on board, under penalty of loss of
wages and imprisonment as deserters. Thir presents
to be published by tuck of drumme through
Leith, that none may pretend ignorance. (? WALTER SCOTTE, B.?
In 1752 the vessels of Leith amounted to sixtyeight,
with a tonnage of 6,935; and two years subsequently
we find an attempt upon the part of a
captain in the royal navy there to defy the Scottish
Court of Admiralty in the roads and harbour.
Captain (aflerwards Sir Hugh) Palliser, when
captain of H.M.S. Seahorse, in consequence of a
petition presented to the Judge of the High Court
of Admiralty, 20th March, 1754, by Thomas ROSS,
master, and Murdoch Campbell, owner of the
Scottish ship CumberZand, of Thurso, was served
with a notice to deliver up James Cormick, apprentice
to the former, whom he had taken on board
as a seaman.
Accordingly, by order of the judge, the macers
of court, messengers-at-arms, and other officials,
repaired on board the Seahorse, at the anchorage in
Leith, to bring off James Cormick; ?and the said
Captain Hugh Palliser, and the other officers and
sailors on board the said shipof-war Seahorre,? ran
the warrant, ?are hereby ordered to be assisting?
in putting it into execution, at their highest peril.
(? All others, shipmasters, sailors, and others his
Majesty?s .subjects,? were ordered to assist also, at
their utmost peril.
James Lindsay, Admiralty macer, served this
notice upon Captain Palliser, who foolishly and
haughtily replied that he was subject to the laws
of England only, and would not send Cormick
ashore. (? Upon which,? as the execution given
into court bears, ?( I (James Lindsay) declared he
had contemned the law, was guilty of a deforcement,
and that he should be liable accordingly, having
my blazon on my breast, and broke my wand of
peace.??
On this, a warrant was issued to apprehend the
commander of the Seahorse, and commit him to
the next sure prison (i.e. the Tolbooth of Leith), but
the captain having gone to Edinburgh, on the 26th
of March he was seized and placed in the Heart of
Midlothian, and brought before the High Court of
Admiralt), next day.
? There he denied that its jurisdiction extended
over a king?s ship, or over himself personally, or any
man in the Seahorse, especially an enlisted sailor ;
and maintained that the court, by attempting to do
so, assumed a right competent to the Lords of the
Admiralty alone ; ?( and by your imprisoning me,?
he added, (( for not delivering up one of the king?s
sailors, you have suspended my commission from
the Lord High Admiral, and disabled me from
executing the orders with which I am charged as
commander of one of the king?s ships.?
This only led to the re-commitment of the contumacious
captain, till he (?found caution to obtemper
(sic) the Judge Admiral?s warrant, in case it should
be found by the Lords that he ought to do so.?
He was imprisoned for six weeks, until the apprentice
was put on shore. On this matter, Lord
Hardwicke, who was then Lord Chancellor, remarked
that the Scottiah Admiralty judge was a
bold one, ?but that what he had done was
right.?
Captain Palliser, on his return to England,
threatened to make the frauds on the revenue a
matter for Parliamentary investigation, if not attended
to, And the ministry then enftrced the duties
upon claret, which, before this time, had been
drunk commonly even by Scottish artisans.
This officer afterwards behaved with great bravery
at Newfoundland, in 1764 ; and on attaining the
rank of Admiral of the White, was created a
baronet, and died governor of Greenwich Hospital
in 1796.
In 1763 the shore dues at Leith had increased to
A580. The Scots? Magazine for December, 1769,
states that, ?take one year with another, about
1,700 vessels are cleared out and in yearly at Leith.
Some days ago an acute merchant took a serious
view of the shipping in the harbour of Leith, and
reckoned upon a calculation that there would be
between 30,000 and 35,000 tonnage at one and the
same time mooring there.? This seems barely
probable.
In 17 7 I we meet with an indication of free trade,
when the Court of Session, upon the application
of the merchants of Edinburgh, ordered the port
of Leith, and all other Scottish ports, to be open
for the free importation of grain of all kinds.
Arnot states that in the year ending January
sth, 1778, there were, in Leith, 52 foreign ships,
6,800 tons, and 428 men ; 44 coasting and fishing
ships, 3,346 tons, and 281 men. Five years sub.
sequently, the shore dues were f;4,ooo; but in
that year there was only one vessel trading with
St. Petersburg. She made but one voyage yearly,
and never carried tallow if any other freight could
be obtained Now the sailing vessels make three
voyages to the same port annually.
In 1791 there was a proposal to form a jointstock
company, to cut a canal from Leith to the
middle ward of Lanarkshire.
The tonnage in 1792 had increased to 18,468.
In the same year, when those Radicals who
278 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Leith
named themselves the ? Friends of the People,?
were alarming the authorities by threatening to
hold a national cqnvention in Edinburgh, and to
seize the Castle, the seamen in Leith seemed disposed
to complicate affairs by absolutely refusing
to go to sea unless they received a considerable
advance of wages. A meeting was held for the
purpose, if possible, of accommodating matters, and
it was attended by the Provost, the Sheriff, the two
Bailies of Leith, and a number of ship-masters and
merchants belonging to that place; and, after a
lengthened discussion, the following terms were
offered to the banded seamen of Leith, who were
then ? on strike : ?-
I. The voyage to London, instead of three
guineas as hitherto, to beA4 15s. in full of wages,
loading or unloading.
11. The voyage to Hull &3 in full.
111. To Newcastle 10s. in full.
IV. All other runs to be in proportion to the
above.
V, The monthly wages to beAz, instead of 30s. ;
the seamen to pay Greenwich money,.and be at
liberty to pay poor?s money to the Trinity Hospital
at option; but if omitting to pay, to derive no
benefit from the funds of that establishment.
. VI. The wives at home to get 10s. monthly out
of their husband?s wages.
VII. The latter to continue until the vessels are
discharged by the crews, and to be in full of all
demands.
These arrangements, having met with the warm
approbation of the merchants and shipmasters of
Leith, were presented to the seamen for acceptance,
and they were required and enjoined ? immediately
to return to their duty, and behave in the most
peaceable manner, with certification that ;f, after
this date, they should be found assembling in any
tumultuous manner, or stop or impede any person
whatever in the execution of his duty, they would
be prosecuted and punished in terms of law.?
The proffered terms proved agreeable to the seamen,
who at once returned to their duties, leaving
the magistrates free to deal with the ? Friends of
the People,? many of whom were arrested, and tried
before the Court of Justiciary.
In 1805 five vessels sailed for the whale fishery,
the largest number that had ever sailed from Leith
in one year.
In 1816 there arrived in the port two vessels,
each having a rather remarkable freight. They
were entirely laden with broken musket-barrels,
locks, sword-blades, and other warlike relics of
the memorable retreat from Moscow, all of which
were sent to the iron-works at Cramond, there to
be turned into ploughshares, harrows, spades, and
other implements for the tillage of the earth.
In the same year the Scots Magazim records
the pursuit of six smuggling luggers by one of the
king?s ships in the Roads, adding, ?? one of these
luggers is armed with sixteen guns, and is com.
manded by an authorised British subject, who has
expressed his determination not to be taken, and to
a revenue cutter he would be found a dangerous
enemy, though he would not stand long against a
king?s ship.?
In the year 1820 the Edinburgh or Leith Seaman?s
Friendly Society was instituted. The Ship
masters? Widows? Fund had been established fifteen
years before.
In 1849 the tonnage of the growing port of
Leith increased to 22,499.
The tonnage dues on vessels, and. shore dues,
outwards and inwards,amounted toA24,566 6s. I Id.
The aggregate revenue accruing to the docks was
Lzg,209 10s. IIBd, while the Custom House
returns for duties levied in the port was A566,312.
In 1881 we find the number and tonnage of vessels
arriving and sailing from Leith to stand thus :-
Sailing vessels arriving, 1,705, tonnage 262,871 ;
departing, 1,702, tonnage 259,143. Steam vessels
arriving, 2,695, tonnage 711,282 ; departing, 2,695,
tonnage 712,056.
The chief articles of export are coal and iron,
and the appliances for placing these on board ship
are of the most approved kind. In 1881 there were
127,207 tons of pig-iron shipped. The chief imports
are grain and flour; thus, 1,135,127 quarters of
grain and 238,313 bags of flour were landed at
Leith, and the importation of guano, wood, flax,
and hemp was very considerable, according to the
Scotsman for that year. Therevenue of the port
in 1881 was &37,491.
In 1880 the company owning the Arrow Line
put on a number of steamers direct between Leith .
and New York ; and the venture has been so successful
that now there is regular communication
between the former place and America every fortnight.
By the prosperity that has come with the new
docks, which we shall presently describe, Leith can
now boast of a population of 58,000 souls, being an
increase on the last decade of 13,000.
We have shown how, from small beginnings and
under many depressing influences, the shipping and
the tonnage of Leith has steadily increased, till the
traffic has become great indeed.
Now steam vessels, either from Leith or Granton,
ply to Hamburg, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Amsterdam,
Bremerhaven, Copenhagen, Dantzig, Dunkirk,
Ghent, regularly ; to London, four times weekly ;
