Trinity House

This society was incorporated by Henry VIII., in 1515, for the promotion of commerce and navigation, by licensing and regulating pilots, and ordering and erecting beacons, light^houses, buoys, &c. A similar society, for the like purposes, was afterwards established at Hull, and also another at Newcastle-upon- Tyne, in 1537; which three establishments, says Hakluyt, were in imitation of that founded by the Emperor Charles V. at Seville, in Spain, who, observing the numerous sliipwrecks in the voyages to and from the West Indies, occasioned by the ignorance of seamen, established, at the Casa de Contratacion, lectures on navigation, and a pilot major for the examination of other pilots and mariners, having also directed books to be published on that subject for the use of navigators. Henry VIII., by his charter, confirmed to the Deptf ord Trinity House society all the ancient rights, privileges, &c., of the shipmen and mariners of England, and their several possessions at Deptford; from which it is plain that the society had existed long previously. The corporation was confirmed, in 1685, in the enjoyment of its privileges and possessions, by letters-patent of the 1st of James II., by the name of the master, wardens, and assistants of the guild or fraternity of the most glorious and undivided Trinity, and of St. Clements, in the parish of Deptford Strand, in the county of Kent. At first, the corporation seems to have consisted of seamen only; but many gentlemen and some noblemen are now amongst its members or elder brethren. It is governed by a master, four wardens, eight assistants, and thirty-one elder brothers. But the inferior members of the fraternity, named younger brethren, are of an unlimited number; for every master or mate, expert in navigation, may be admitted as such. Besides the power of erecting light-houses and other sea-marks on the several coasts of the kingdom, for the security of navigation, the master, wardens, assistants, and elder brethren are invested by cliarter with the following powers; viz., the examination of the mathematical scholars pilots to conduct ships into and out of the Thames; the amercement of such unlicensed persons as presume to act as masters of sliips-of-war or pilots, in a pecuniary fine; settling the several rates of pilotage; granting licenses to poor seamen, not free of the city, or past going to sea, to row on the river Thames for their support; preventing aliens from serving on board English ships without license; hearing and determining the complaints of officers and seamen of British ships, subject to an appeal to the lords of the admiralty.

Tomlins.