ABSTRACT
The vigour with which Glasgow men began to exploit the transatlantic market aroused determined efforts by the English to enforce the Navigation Acts. Glasgow-owned or hired ships also pursued an active trade with France, taking out woollen cloth, coal and herrings and returning with salt, grapes, resin and prunes. A well-established trade with Norway for timber was extended into the Baltic, bringing home iron and flax in exchange for herrings. Glasgow also developed a trading link with Holland, bringing in light commodities such as dyestuffs and linseed through the port of Bo'ness on the Firth of Forth and along the cart road via Kirkintilloch. The group of “sea adventurers” was far from homogeneous, and not all of the sea traders were necessarily among the more affluent of Glasgow’s merchants. While the economic fortunes of Glasgow prospered during the seventeenth century the period was a turbulent one for the political and religious life of the city.
