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 five years' truce. He returned to England on October 2nd, and was at Dartmouth on the 15th. This was the last of his continental undertakings; and withal it was the most disastrous.

When the barons rebelled against his tyrannical exercise of authority, John lost the services of Eustace the Monk, who joined Prince Louis of France, the ally, and later the champion and head, of the insurrection. Philip Augustus did not observe the truce, and seems to have countenanced the fitting out of an expedition which, under James, brother of Eustace, together with an uncle of that same hero, seized the Island of Sark, and held it until the place was recaptured, towards the end of 1214, by the forces of Sir Philip d'Albini. The prisoners were lodged in Porchester Castle; but some of them were released in January, and the rest were either released or sent to be incarcerated elsewhere in April, 1215.

John's fortunes were by that time at a low ebb. The king fought with his back to the wall, and still attempted to parry the blows, not only of the barons and of their French allies, but of the turbulent Welsh. In April, 1215, he laid an embargo on all English shipping, in order to supply his naval needs. In May he sent two good galleys, well equipped and manned, to the Earl Marshal at Pembroke. But on June 15th, 1215, Magna Charta was wrung from him. If he had observed its provisions, he might have ended his reign in peace. It is certain, however, that he never intended to observe them. One of the stipulations was, that the royal mercenaries should be banished. We hear little or nothing of the carrying out of that undertaking, but we do hear that, on October 26th, within five months of the acceptance of the Charter, Sir Hugh de Boves, a Norman knight, who had been previously employed by the king, embarked at Calais, with 40,000 followers, including their women and children, in order to assist John against his subjects, the inducement being a promise of immense grants of land in Norfolk and Suffolk. The force of the expedition may be exaggerated by the chroniclers, but it was, no doubt, very great. One of the most complete disasters on record overtook it during the short passage to Dover. A sudden storm caused every ship to founder, and almost all the people on board