"Holmes' Wharf." It is the oldest established wharf in Sunderland for general merchandise, as appears by the return in 1676; the others being of comparatively modern origin.

Richard Barnes, Bishop of Durham (1577-87), by his letters patent, constituted William Whitehead his viceadmiral and bailiff of Sunderland for life, rendering annually to the bishop's auditor, twenty pounds. He died in 1604.

On the 18th October 1590, Bishop Hutton (1589-94)

HUTTON.

granted the borough of Sunderland, the ferry boat or passage across the river Wear, together with the fisheries of Sunderland, to Ralph Bowes, Esq., of Barnes, Bishopwearmouth, and his sequels in right, according to the custom of the Halmote Court, in as ample a manner and form as his grandfather Sir Ralph Bowes, Knight, occupied the same : rent-four pounds.†

On the 18th January, 1606, King James I.-"On the humble petition of the companie, misterie, brotherhood, and society of Ship Masters, Pilots, and Seamen within the towne and porte of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in the countie of the said towne of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, extended their jurisdiction to Blyth, Sunderland, Hartlepool, Whitby, and Staithes [commonly Steays in Yorkshire], and granted them the duties called primage, that is to say, twopence of everie tunn of wine, oile, and

Spearman's Enquiry, p. 30.

+ Spearman's Enquiry, p. 25.

other goodes, wares, merchandizes, and comodities, rated and accompted by the tunn, (fish killed and brought in by Englishmen onelie excepted), and threepence for everie laste of flaxe, hemp, pitch, tarr, or any other goodes, or raffe wares merchandizes and comodities whatsoever rated and accompted by the last."*

We are not going to question the king's right (however questionable that it might be) to grant these dues at Whitby and Staithes, to the Trinity House of Newcastleupon-Tyne; but he clearly had no right to make such a grant at Sunderland, Hartlepool, and Blyth, within the palatinate of Durham, where his kingly authority was a dead letter, except by his act of usurpation whereby he gave away that which was not his own to give.

In the same year, Tobias Matthew, Bishop of Durham

Brand's History of Newcastle, Vol. II, pp. 325, 696. The net income from these dues levied within the port of Sunderland, in 1851 and 1852, did not pay for the cost of collection, as the title was then disputed at law: it has since been established upon very doubtful evidence. The gross amount in 1849 was £502 18s. 1d.; in 1850, £279 2s. 9d.; in 1852, £9 10s. 5.

+ Spearman's Enquiry, p. 25.

JAMES.

"William, by God's Providence, Bishop of Durham, to all to whom these our letters shall come greeting. Know ye that I for divers reasons and considerations me hereunto moving, of my certain knowledge and mere motion, having full confidence and trust in the faithful and circumspect care and providence of my well-beloved in Christ, John Rand, of Bishop Wearmouth, in the county palatine of Durham, yeoman, have made, ordained, constituted, and appointed, and by these presents do make, ordain, constitute, and appoint the said John Rand, my Water Bailiff of the Port, Haven, and River of Sunderland-by-the-Sea, in the Bishoprick of Durham. Giving and granting by these presents to the said John Rand the office of the Water Bailiff aforesaid. To have and to hold the said office of Water Bailiff to the said John Rand, and his lawful and sufficient deputy, whom I shall allow of from time to time during my pleasure only. And for the execution of the said office, I the said Bishop for me and my successors, and as in me is, have granted and by these presents do grant, to the said John Rand, the ancient fee of twenty-six shillings and eightpence yearly, to be had and received at the hands of my Receiver General in the Exchequer at Durham, at the Feast of Pentecost, and Saint Martin the Bishop in winter, yearly, by even portions, and all other fees and duties to the said office belonging, in as large and ample manner as any Water Bailiff using the office of a Water Bailiff in any port or river in the north parts of this realm the

same lawfully hath, taketh, or receiveth. And further do I by these presents give and grant to the said John Rand, full power and authority during my pleasure as aforesaid, for me and in my name to do and execute all and every thing and things which to the said office of the Water Bailiff in the said port and river there doth appertain. And to collect, gather, take, demand, and receive for me and to my use all such free customs or usages, fines, and tolls for casting of ballast, anchorage, beaconage, riverage, and other customs and usages, as to me in the said port is ordinarily due, and as in other ports for the like, and conveyance away of the ballast and preservation of the said river is, ought, or may be due and appertaining. And also to take to my use all royal fishes,* wreck of the sea, customs, usages, and

Royal fish are whale and sturgeon, which belong to the king and queen in certain proportions, when either thrown ashore or caught near the coast. Of sturgeon, the king is entitled to the whole himself; but of the whale, he can only claim the head, and the queen the tail. The reason of this whimsical division, as assigned by the ancient records, is to furnish the queen's wardrobe with whalebone. But, as Mr. Christian remarked, the reason is more whimsical than the division, for the whalebone is entirely in the head.—Cabinet Lawyer.

† October 5th, 1614. By an inquisition then taken before Sir George Selby, Knight, Sheriff of Durham, by virtue of his office, it is found that a ship or vessel called a hoy, bound from Whitby to Sunderland, was by tempest overset, and that the master and one of the sailors were drowned, and that two other of the seamen escaped to land, in the boat, and the vessel became abandoned; and being so, was cast upon Ryhope sands, within the Royal liberty of the Bishop of Durham, as a wreck. And that John Rand, water bailiff, had seized the said vessel and materials to the use of the bishop, by reason of his prerogative, and that the owners had supplicated the bishop to restore the same.-Hutchinson's History of Durham, vol. II, p. 531.

Same date as above. By an inquisition then taken, we find an instance of the bishop claiming wreck of the sea cast on shore on Fulwell sands, within the dean and chapter's liberty, seized by Rand, the bishop's water bailiff, to the use of the bishop and dean and chapter, in moieties according to ancient agreement.— Hutchinson's Durham, vol. II, p. 507.

forfeitures which to me shall or may happen to become due hereafter within the said port or river or limits thereof, upon any occasion or accident whatsoever. Provided that the said John Rand, his executors and administrators, and every of them, of all the said fishes royal, wrecks of the sea, sums of money, fines, usages, customs, forfeitures, which he shall receive in the said office due to me and my successors before my Auditor in the said Exchequer at Durham, at the said Feasts of Martinmas and Whit-Sunday yearly, shall give and make a perfect, true, and faithful account, and the money so to me due shall from time to time at the said feasts into my receipt in the said Exchequer shall pay, strictly charging and commanding all and every my officers,

October 14th, 1774. 14th of George the Third. Indenture of Lease between the Right Reverend Father in God, John [Egerton], by the grace of God, Lord Bishop of Durham, of the one part, and Matthew Carr, of Ryhope, in the County of Durham, Esquire, of the other part. The said Reverend Father, for the considerations therein mentioned, did demise, grant and to farm let, the said Matthew Carr, his executors, administrators, and assigns, all that his shipwreck and wreck of the sea, happening upon the rocks, sands, or shores, betwixt Sunderland pier and Ryhope Dene, or within the several parishes, townships, and territories of Bishopwearmouth and Sunderland, in the said County of Durham, or either of them, with free way leave and passage, liberty, egress and regress, at all times, to gather up and remove the same with all manner of carriages and horses or otherwise, for the term of 21 years, at the yearly rent of five shillings. From the Bishop of Durham's Auditor's Office, Exchequer, Durham.

Several renewals of the above lease were made by the Bishops of Durham to Matthew Carr, Esq, and John Carr, Esq., of Ryhope, his son. After the death of the last named gentleman, the lease was sold, about 1830, by his executors, for the sum of £10, to Mr Brian Garthwaite, of Ryhope, Innkeeper, who suffered it to expire; when it reverted to the bishop, and is now held by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who possess the royal right of "wreckage," by themselves or lessees, upon the sea coast, within the limits of the ancient palatinate of Durham.

In the year 1856, James O'Dowd, Esq., Barrister at Law, held courts at Berwick upon Tweed and other places, at the instance of the Board of Trade, to enquire into the rights of parties claiming "wreckage." Mr. O'Dowd rejected all claims, except such as were derived by direct grants from the Crown, and treated the claims of lords of manors (only) as worthless.