Traditional Tax of Ship Money

It was however the circumstances to a lower place which the Crown collected ship gold that led to groundless opposition. Ship m championy was a prerogative tax, and though restrict by old statutes to wartime, the Crown argued that the continuing defense necessitate of the realm justified collecting it. Most to the menstruum, however, was that ship money was collected without any grant of Parliament, and was in fact one of the chief visible symbols of Charles II's assertion of personal rule (Davies 576).

wherefore had Parliament been unwilling to support the naval forces? Critics of the Crown could point to the its inefficiency, and in fact it made a poor showing compared to its Elizabethan predecessor. Its few major operations were fiascoes, while pirates raided face shipping with impunity.

Vast sums were lavished on prestige ships

In turn, defenders of the Crown could argue that prestige ships were a worthwhile deterrent, and it could point to repeated if ineffectual efforts to reduce corruption. If the navy was unable to patrol the seas effectively, that was precisely why more tax income was needed.

Howarth, David. Sovereign of the Seas. New York: Atheneum, 1974.

like the Sovereign of the Seas, or bewildered to outright corruption, while the regular patrol work of the go past was carried out by ill-trained crews in unsuitable ships (Howarth 181-2, 186).

Davies, Norman. The Isles. New York: Oxford, 1999.

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