Tour through the Eastern Counties of England, 1722

course, there is, as I said, the Spurn Head indeed between; but as

it lies too far in towards the Humber, they keep out to the north

to avoid coming near it.

In like manner the ships which come from the north, leave the shore

at Flamborough Head, and stretch away SSE. for Yarmouth Roads; and

they first land they make is Wintertonness (as above). Now, the

danger of the place is this: if the ships coming from the north are

taken with a hard gale of wind from the SE., or from any point

between NE. and SE., so that they cannot, as the seamen call it,

weather Wintertonness, they are thereby kept within that deep bay;

and if the wind blows hard, are often in danger of running on shore

upon the rocks about Cromer, on the north coast of Norfolk, or

stranding upon the flat shore between Cromer and Wells; all the

relief they have, is good ground tackle to ride it out, which is

very hard to do there, the sea coming very high upon them; or if

they cannot ride it out then, to run into the bottom of the great

bay I mentioned, to Lynn or Boston, which is a very difficult and

desperate push: so that sometimes in this distress whole fleets

have been lost here altogether.

The like is the danger to ships going northward, if after passing

by Winterton they are taken short with a north-east wind, and

cannot put back into the Roads, which very often happens, then they

are driven upon the same coast, and embayed just as the latter.

The danger on the north part of this bay is not the same, because

if ships going or coming should be taken short on this side

Flamborough, there is the river Humber open to them, and several

good roads to have recourse to, as Burlington Bay, Grimsby Road,

and the Spurn Head, and others, where they ride under shelter.

The dangers of this place being thus considered, it is no wonder,

that upon the shore beyond Yarmouth there are no less than four

lighthouses kept flaming every night, besides the lights at Castor,

north of the town, and at Goulston S., all of which are to direct

the sailors to keep a good offing in case of bad weather, and to

prevent their running into Cromer Bay, which the seamen call the

devil’s throat.

As I went by land from Yarmouth northward, along the shore towards

Cromer aforesaid, and was not then fully master of the reason of

these things, I was surprised to see, in all the way from

Winterton, that the farmers and country people had scarce a barn,

or a shed, or a stable, nay, not the pales of their yards and

gardens, not a hogstye, not a necessary house, but what was built

of old planks, beams, wales, and timbers, etc., the wrecks of

ships, and ruins of mariners’ and merchants’ fortunes; and in some

places were whole yards filled and piled up very high with the same

stuff laid up, as I supposed to sell for the like building

purposes, as there should he occasion.

About the year 1692 (I think it was that year) there was a

melancholy example of what I have said of this place: a fleet of

200 sail of light colliers (so they call the ships bound northward

empty to fetch coals from Newcastle to London) went out of Yarmouth

Roads with a fair wind, to pursue their voyage, and were taken

short with a storm of wind at NE. after they were past

Wintertonness, a few leagues; some of them, whose masters were a

little more wary than the rest, or perhaps, who made a better

judgment of things, or who were not so far out as the rest, tacked,

and put back in time, and got safe into the roads; but the rest

pushing on in hopes to keep out to sea, and weather it, were by the

violence of the storm driven back, when they were too far embayed

to weather Wintertonness as above, and so were forced to run west,

everyone shifting for themselves as well as they could; some run

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