 Coal exports from the Wear increased by an enormous amount, causing a similar increase in the number of keelmen employed on the river.By time of the Restoration in 1660, trade on the Tyne had recovered, but the river was now only exporting a third more coal than the Wear.In 1699 the keelmen of Newcastle decided to build the Keelmen's Hospital, a charitable foundation for sick and aged keelmen and their families.