The seaborne trade of Southampton in the seventeenth century

Abstract

Southampton functioned as a port of regional importance. The overseas trade consisted mainly of business with Europe and of the Newfoundland fishing industry. Commerce with the transatlantic colonies remained small. Imports were greater than exports, often considerably so. Breton linen and canvas, and French, Spanish, and Canary wines, were the chief imports. The wines and probably also the cloth were distributed throughout an extensive hinterlands Other imports comprised mainly raw materials for the cloth, shipping, and other industries, foodstuffs, and manufactured goods. Exports were composed principally of, 'new drapery' cloth, especially Southampton serge. 'Old draperies' were much less important. France was the main overseas trading partner followed by Spain* The dominance of St. Malo and to a lesser extent Morlaix in the non-wines trade was remarkable. Southampton was one of the ports sending duty-free provisions to the Channel Islands. The Newfoundland fishing industry was most flourishing in the fourth decade. Like all other trades it was vitiated by the Civil War. Privateering from 1625-30 was not extensive enough to compensate for the wartime losses of the Spanish and French markets.

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