A HISTORY OF CORNWALL Council that he had been blockading the harbour for a month 'as that none can go forth or come in.' When asked for details it appeared that the pirate flagship was of only some 35 tons, with a consort of 1 8 tons; the maritime strength of Rye was quite equal to dealing with them, but 'those that are willing to venture would gladly be entertained with some consideration ' before taking over the duty of the government. 1 A month later he was taken ' by chance ' in Studland Bay, but escaped from Dorchester Gaol ' by the corruption of the keeper ; ' he was killed in 1591. In 1582 the Killigrews are to the fore again, but this time it was a lady who played the leading part Mary, the wife of Sir John, still one of the commissioners of piracy, who was, or pretended to be, ignorant of the crime. A Spanish ship put into Falmouth, and was boarded by a gang of men who, after removing the booty to Arwenack, took the ship to Ireland after throwing most of the crew overboard. A Cornish jury found that there was no evidence to show by whom the deed was done upon which the owners appealed to the Privy Council, who soon found out that the plot originated with Lady Killigrew. 2 In this instance both the jury and Sir John seem to have escaped penalty, but in 1588 neither the jury nor his son was so fortunate. Just when it was of vital importance to Elizabeth to keep on good terms with the northern powers, and with Denmark especially, another case similar to that of Hicks occurred. Twice the juries acquitted the prisoner, and in consequence were sent for to appear before the Star Chamber to be ' proceeded against with that extremity the grave censure of that High Court may lay upon them,' while secretaries of State were effusive in apologies and promises to the Danish Court. John Killigrew his share in the matter is obscure was called upon to pay 440, and eventually warrants issued to arrest him and Josias Calmady, the owner of the offending ship. 3 In 1595 Killigrew was charged with warning Elliott, a pirate lying in the Helford River, of the approach of H.M.S. Crane, supplying him with provisions and taking valuable property in payment. 4 Elliott was something worse than a pirate. Unlike most of his kind, who were usually loyal enough to England, he was a traitor, and shortly afterwards entered the Spanish service. It was, perhaps, a consequence of Killigrew's intimacy with him that cautions about his loyalty were sent by the English spies in Spain, it being stated that he had promised to deliver Pendennis into Spanish hands when Philip's fleets appeared. 5 The Scillies maintained their reputation as a haven for pirates to the end of the reign. In 1603 a Marseilles ship was plundered off Cape de Gatte by one William Harvy, who took the cargo to St. Mary's Island and sold it to Robert Penwarden, the deputy governor, and others. The owner, Anthony Morier, obtained an order from Sir Francis Godolphin to his son John, the lieutenant of Scilly, but John Godolphin expelled Morier, and a further appeal to Sir Francis only brought an assurance that he would answer for the islanders, but no assistance. When they caught Morier at Plymouth the vice-admiral of Devon committed him to prison presumably as an objection- able person. 6 It is an historical commonplace that the reign of Elizabeth was a period of maritime expansion, but, like most historical commonplaces, it is to be received with caution. It is true that it was a period of maritime expansion, but that was not because of any sudden discovery by Englishmen that they were seamen and fighters, but because it followed the removal of external pressure in the helplessness of France, and because of the fact that the new enemy was at sea as a child to an armed man. For centuries English sailors had been combating Normans and Bretons, as good fighters, and the latter especially nearly as good seamen as themselves. They had held their own as pirates or privateersmen whichever term be preferred against northern Europe. The Spaniards, as a nation not seamen at all, and but mediocre fighters on shipboard, were officered by soldiers who held manuals of drill and questions of precedence to be more important at sea than the advice of the few expert sailors they possessed. Thus Spanish military fleets were usually scattered or destroyed by weather or their own unseaworthiness before they came into contact with their enemy ; and while Spanish sea-borne commerce offered a profitable field to the English shipowner, his success not only increased the carrying trade, but brought fresh speculators in privateering into the business, with a concomitant demand for seamen, until the Spanish flag was 1 Hist. AfSS. Com. Rep. xiii, App. iv, 78, 79. 1 Acts of P.O. 13 March, 1581-2 ; S. P. Dom. Eliz. 15 Jan. 1581-2 ; Journ. of Roy. Inst. of Cornw. vii, 284. Sir John's proceedings were so inconsistent with innocence that the Council ordered him to be arrested. 3 Acts of P.C. I April, 5 Sept. 1588. It was after this that Killigrew was parading with an armed guard, and the Council requested Lord Howard to remove him from the office of vice-admiral (ante, p. 487). He was the tMrd John Killigrew in succession; the second succeeded to the estates in 1567, and died in 1584. 4 Hist. MSS. Com. (Cecil MSS.) v, 519. s In 1689 another Killigrew Sir Peter went with an armed force to Penryn and seized .201 in the custom house there, saying that he required the money to repair Pendennis. He brought away the collector of customs and imprisoned him in the castle (Treas. Papers, 21 March, 1688-9). 6 Add. MS. 5,664, fol. 401. See also the 'Maritime Hist, of Devon.' 490
