248 THE ENGLISH FISHERMEN 



he found himself in command of a fleet, manned 

 by these promising fellows, he hovered about 

 the English coasts, pillaging every vessel that 

 came in his way. Part of the gang attacked 

 the Isle of Wight, and others seized upon Lundy 

 Island, a small island in the British Channel, 

 and waylaid the Bristol trading vessels as they 

 passed. And now I am going to tell you of a 

 brave feat performed by English fishermen, 

 and, indeed, it was for this purpose that I intro- 

 duced the above account, as I know that what 

 I am going to say will please you. 



No sooner were these pirates established on 

 Lundy Island, and began to pillage the Bristol 

 traders as they passed, than the fishermen of 

 Clovelly, a town on the coast of Devonshire, 

 manned their boats, after they had ascertained 

 the character of the party on Lundy Island, 

 attacked and drove them off, burnt one of their 

 ships, and made an end of the crew belonging 

 to her. I do not think that our fishermen are 

 degenerated from what they were in those 

 times. At all events, the courage of the Clo- 

 velly fishermen deserves to be recorded. The 

 French excused the acts of piracy committed by 

 De Valse, by stating that an English ship was 



