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 



