Page:VCH Cornwall 1.djvu/592

 A HISTORY OF CORNWALL The early Cornish vice-admirals were less trustworthy than those of any other county, and so far as the suppression of piracy depended upon them, it is not strange to find that it flourished exceedingly within their jurisdiction. But their action or inaction was only a minor factor ; the western Channel was the natural field for licensed or unlicensed cruisers, the Cornish havens a natural refuge sheltered from an unwelcome publicity, and the conception of policing the seas was only in its embryonic stage. However, as in former centuries, it is difficult sometimes to distinguish between the proceedings of privateers and of pirates proper, for the documents occasionally show plainly that what the officials called piracy was really a case of prize or reprisal. The war of 1543 was opportunity for an outburst of privateering so successful that it alarmed the king, who was compelled finally to order that all privateering from Cornwall, Devon, and Dorset should be stopped, and all privateers at sea should be recalled, in consequence of the plundering of the emperor's subjects. 1 This may have been advisable for political reasons, but if the privateersmen were taking French goods out of imperial ships, it does not follow that they were doing anything illegal. It was no doubt a man of this class who had invested his savings in a maritime speculation who is described as the owner of an inn at Falmouth, and further as a pirate. 2 Another respectable delinquent was a burgess of Penzance, and in many of these cases of ' notable piracy and disorder,' the culprits were given the option of paying the claimants the value of the property seized, which shows that the offences were more civil than criminal. That real piracy existed and increased after the death of Henry VIII is not surprising in view of the European turmoil that lasted half a century, the weakness of the government, and, frequently, the secret encouragement of underhand practices. Thus in 1548 relations with France were very strained, and the authorities in Devon and Cornwall were directed by the Privy Council to encourage shipowners to equip privateers to seize French ships on the plea of retaliation, ' pretending ' that they had formerly lost goods themselves and could obtain no redress in the French courts. 3 In the event of peace continuing the captors were to return the cargoes and have their expenses paid by the government. Both parties must have understood this promise as the homage that vice pays to virtue. In the following year the Lord Admiral, Lord Seymour, was beheaded for reasons of state, and amongst the articles of accusation were several charging him with dealings with pirates, ' as though you were authorized to be the chief pirate and to have all the advantage they could bring unto you.' 4 Whatever may be the truth about the ambitious schemes that cost Seymour his life, there is collateral evidence that these charges were well founded, and for the furtherance of the former he was said to have endeavoured to get into his own possession ' the strong and dangerous Isles of Scilly.' Seymour's supposed plot drew fresh attention to the Scillies, and in November, William Tyrrell, a naval officer, was sent with instructions to survey them and report on the harbours, fortifications, and other matters, 8 and when war commenced again in 1557 the garrison was strengthened by forty men during the summer. 6 The reign of Mary sent many of the outlawed and the discontented to the refuge of the sea, and the more or less continuous warfare existing in western Europe during that of Elizabeth tempted many of such men to continue their vocation. The Killigrews constantly appear in disreputable circumstances during the second half of the sixteenth century ; in 1555 Peter Killigrew was arrested, and a year later had the distinction of being in the Tower. He seems to have been liberated and to have immediately resumed his occupation. In 1557 we ^ nc ^> from the pleadings of a case in the Admiralty Court, that this Peter, with his brothers John and Thomas and others, sank a Spanish ship off the Land's End, and took the cargo, worth ^10,000, to the Scillies. The plaintiff", who had found that ' there was no justice to be had in Cornwall,' had sued twenty-five men in the county, but John Killigrew, the father, captain of Pendennis Castle, hid them or caused them to abscond. Thomas and Peter Killigrew had both been in the French service, and, when peace was made between France and the Empire, took to piracy, ' and for pyratts and rovers they have byn commonly knowen.' The Scillies were becoming a favourite haunt of these outlaws, and in 1556 Jacob Tompson was cruising off" the islands with three ships so persistently, that the earl of Bath was told to persuade Devon and Cornwall owners to fit out ships to take him, the captors being promised the queen's and Lord Admiral's share of what was taken. 7 In 1564 a great seaman, although no Cornishman Martin Frobisher was in Launceston gaol. He and others, under cover of letters of reprisal against French Catholics, had captured a ship with tapestries on board for Philip II. They took their prize to Ireland, and there purposely wrecked her, sending over the cargo in small craft to St. Ives, where it was received by Peter Killigrew and Richard Erizo. St. Ives must have been a suitable mart for stolen goods, for in 1564 the inhabitants, led by the constables, boarded and plundered a Dutch ship in the harbour on their own account. 8 1 ActiofP.C. 13 April, 1546. 'Ibid. * S. P. Dom. Edw. VI, iv, 39. 'JctsofP. C. 23 Feb. 1548-9. > S. P. Dom. Edw. VI, ix, 54. 6 Acts of P. C. 6 July, 1557. ' Ibid. 25 Aug. 1556. 8 Admir. Ct. Libels, 36. If there were any prospect of profit Peter Killigrew had no prejudice against the law ; in 1568 he laid an information concerning uncustomed rubies and ambergris brought ashore at the Land's End, no doubt with an eye to the informer's share (Exch. K. R. Mem. Roll, 356 R. 281 Hil.).