A HISTORY OF DORSET 



when Axminster and Chard were again refractory in bearing their share of 

 the expense. ''" The Dorset ports were not singular in their reluctance ; the 

 same unwillingness was being displayed nearly everywhere round the coast 

 and was, in a great measure, due to the decadence of towns which had been 

 relatively wealthy in mediaeval times. 



From Lyme came the 'Jacobs 90 tons, and the Revef?ge, 60 tons, Captain 

 Richard Bedford ; from Weymouth the Galleon, 100 tons, Captain Richard 

 Millard, and the Katherine, 66 tons ; Poole was unrepresented. When the 

 Spaniards were off Portland four more Weymouth ships, with 300 men on 

 board, put off to share the danger and the honour ; three of these were the 

 Golden Rial, 120 tons, the Heath Hen, 60 tons, and the Bark Sutton, 70 

 tons ; "' the fourth was probably the Bark Bond. They perhaps helped by 

 their presence to comfort the men-of-war who were really fighting the action 

 off Portland on 23 July. A Spanish flagship was brought into Torbay on 

 26 July, and Carew Ralegh, elder brother of Sir Walter, at once asked that 

 six of her guns might be sent to Portland Castle. *'" It was late in the day 

 to think of coast defences, but the Weymouth people, taking advantage of 

 the arrival of another captured Spanish flagship, the San Salvador, in Portland 

 Roads, petitioned for some guns out of her for their platform which was 

 built but not armed."* The Council acceded to this request and ordered 

 eight brass and six iron guns to be given to them."* The San Salvador 

 remained at Portland for some months ; she was lost in Studland Bay, on 

 her way to Portsmouth, in November."^ Her crew stayed, as prisoners, in 

 Weymouth, and in December were behaving in a very disorderly manner 

 perhaps because, as in Devon, they were left to starve or to depend on the 

 charity of the country-side ; the Council ordered them to prison and a diet 

 of bread and water."* 



The armed merchantmen were of little or no use during the Armada 

 campaign, and the government must have regretted the vast expense entailed. 

 In many cases the ships had been equipped by means of advances obtained 

 from private individuals, and sent to sea long before the money necessary was 

 collected. After the crisis it became still more difficult to collect the assess- 

 ments, many of the corporations squabbling about their shares or attempting 

 to evade payment altogether. In September, 1588, Axminster and Chard 

 were still arguing with Lyme about their responsibilities ; at Weymouth 

 Captain Richard Millard had expended ^(^45 i about his ship, the Galleon, and 

 was still unpaid.'" In the latter case the Council, believing that Weymouth 

 was really poor, directed that Blandford, Cerne Abbas, Shaftesbury, and 

 Wareham should be rated in aid. There must have been reasons, satisfac- 

 tory to the Council, for the absence of any assistance from Poole, but there 

 are indications that no great desire was felt in the town to render service to 

 the state. In 1591 troops for France were under orders to embark there ; 

 the mayor did his best to get ships but the owners unrigged them, where- 

 upon the mayor committed the contumacious proprietors to prison, leading 



"" S.P. Dom. Eliz. ccxii, No. 43. 



'" Ibid, ccxiv. No. 11. They are called volunteers, but the bill sent in to the government for the 

 Golden Rial exists (ibid, ccxv, No. 20 (i)). 



"■ Ibid, ccxiii. No. 43. "^ Ibid, ccxiv, No. 1 1. 



"' Ibid. No. 55. "^ Ibid, ccxviii. No. 24. 



"" Jat o/P.C. 31 Dec. 1588. '" Ibid, xvi, 301 ; S.P. Dom. Eliz. ccxvi. No. 27. 



208 



