Caunton[1] was appointed "captain and governor" of the fleet destined for Perth, and letters were dispatched to the ports to the effect that, Robert Bruce having broken truce and renewed the war, Edward intended to go in person to Berwick-on-Tweed, and required the aid of the navy. Every port was therefore to provide one or more ships, armed, manned, and stored, and to send them by August 15th to Dublin, whence they would be conducted to Scotland by Sir Richard de Burgh, Earl of Ulster, to serve with the rest of the English navy which was being dispatched thither. The force thus raised consisted of fifty ships, of which Yarmouth supplied six, Lynn four, other large ports two, and the smaller ports one apiece.[2] Ultimately the arrangements were altered by an order of August 2nd. The ships originally ordered to make rendezvous at Dublin were assembled at the Isle of Man, and the others went direct to Scotland, under the orders of Sir Simon de Montacute, "Admiral of Our Navy."[3] Some of these ships, on their way north, were attacked by pirates from Holland and Hainault, whereupon the Count of Flanders was, on November 9th, earnestly requested to repress the marauders, who professed to be under his protection.[4]
The campaign of 1310 was of so feeble a nature that Robert Bruce was encouraged to carry the war into his enemy's territory. As early as the autumn of the year, intelligence seems to have been received in England of Robert's intention to seize Man, to winter there, and to use the island as a base from which to make attacks upon the English coast, and the sheriffs of the counties nearest to the threatened point were directed to assist the steward of the Bishop of Durham in equipping vessels to repel the descent.[5]
More ships were called out in 1311, and ordered to make rendezvous at Wolreckford, near Knockfergus, to proceed to Scotland under Sir John of Argyle,[6] "Admiral and Captain of the king's
- ↑ Sir John de Caunton seems to have been a Leicestershire gentleman. In 1313 he obtained a pardon for having been concerned in the death of Piers Gaveston. His only high command at sea was that of 1310.—Scots Rolls, i. 82.
- ↑ 'Fœdera,' ii. 109. Similar orders were sent to the Cinque Ports.
- ↑ Scots Rolls, i. 92; 'Fœdera,' ii. 114.
- ↑ 'Fœdera,' ii. 118.
- ↑ Ib., ii. 122; Scots Rolls, i. 96.
- ↑ Sir John of Argyle, a Scotsman who sided against his country during its struggle for independence, served abroad under Edward I. in 1297. He held high naval commands in 1311, 1314, and 1315, and died in 1316 whilst on a pilgrimage to Canterbury, leaving one son, Sir Alan, and probably another, Sir Alexander.—Scots Rolls, i. 99, 121; 'Fœdera,' ii. 139.
