occurred at all. probably occurred during this year. There is, however, little or no corroborative testimony, and several of the statements made appear to be inconsistent with known facts. His story is to the effect that an English squadron under Sir Guy Bryan, having on board the Earl of Hereford, met a Flamand squadron off "the Bay," meaning Bourgneuf Bay,[1] in the modern department of Loire Inferieure; that the enemy was commanded by Sir John Peterson; that the battle lasted three hours; and that Peterson was defeated and taken, and all his ships were captured.[2] Froissart may have confused the affair with the capture in or near the Bay of Bourgneuf of twenty-five ships laden with salt, as related by some of the chroniclers.[3] If so, he greatly magnified the importance the business. In any case, it was almost the last naval success of a reign which closed with disaster and disgrace.
At the end of 1371 an Act was passed prohibiting the selling of any English vessel to a foreigner;[4] and early in the next year, a treaty of friendship and commerce was concluded with Genoa.[5]
The year 1372 witnessed the arrest of more ships,[6] and the supersession on March 7th of Sir Ralph Ferrers by Sir William Neville in command of the Northern, and of Sir Robert Ashton by Sir Philip Courtenay in command of the Western fleet.[7] On March 28th, peace was proclaimed with Flanders;[8] but fears of an invasion by France continued, and the country was still in a state of panic, which was accentuated by a naval disaster which happened in June.
La Rochelle was besieged by the French; and in April the young Earl of Pembroke,[9] who had been appointed Lieutenant of Aquitaine, was directed, in company with Sir Guichard d'Angle, and other knights, to proceed to the relief of the beleaguered town. He sailed from Southampton on June 10th. France, cognisant of the project, dispatched the Castillian fleet of forty large ships and thirteen barges to intercept the expedition. This fleet was commanded by Ambrosio Bocanegra, Admiral of Castille, Cabeza de
- ↑ From this bay, where there were salt-pans, "bay salt" seems to have taken its name.
- ↑ Froissart, i. 631, 632.
- ↑ Walsingham, 182; Murimuth, 127; Otterboune, 128.
- ↑ 'Fœdera,' iii. 930.
- ↑ Ib., iii 931.
- ↑ Ib., iii 933.
- ↑ Ib., iii 937.
- ↑ Ib., iii 938.
- ↑ John, Lord Hastings, second Earl of Pembroke, who was captured off La Rochelle in 1372, was son of Lawrence, first Earl of Pembroke, and had, as his second wife, a daughter of Admiral Sir Walter Manny. He died in 1375.
