England, they declared that no arrangements had been made for paying the wages of the crews of their ships, and that, had not most of the lords paid, or undertaken to pay, the men for fifteen days, the vessels could not have quitted port. They were then at Plymouth, and would sail again as soon as the wind permitted; but if the queen should not be ready to embark upon their arrival, or if bad weather should protract the voyage, the lack of money might imperil the issue of the expedition. Joan embarked at Camaret on January 13th, 1403, intending to make Southampton, but after a rough passage of five days, she was glad to land at Falmouth.[1]
In the interval the piratical warfare went on. In the course of the winter, several persons of Plymouth or Cornwall, including the celebrated freebooter Harry Pay,[2] were summoned before the Council for having captured a ship of Castille, and a few weeks later some men of Dover, Portsmouth, Fowey, Hull, and Rye had to explain their conduct to certain aggrieved Flamands.[3]
In July, 1403, similar proceedings brought about a regular sea fight, ending in an English defeat. An English force was cruising off the coast of Brittany, and committing varions enormities, when, by the advice of Olivier de Clisson, the Bretons determined to intercept the passage home of the marauders. With the Sire de Penhert, Admiral of Brittany,[4] and Guilleaume du Châtel as their commanders, they embarked twelve hundred men-at-arms and a large body of light troops in thirty vessels at St. Pol de Léon, near Morlaix, and put to sea, having previously sent scouts ahead of them. Next day the scouts returned and reported the English off St. Mathieu, on the coast near Finistère, and the Bretons, proceeding, sighted their enemy at about sunset. In the night, the English got under way, as if steering for home, and at dawn each fleet was formed into two divisions, and the Bretons attacked. After six hours of hot fighting, the English, finding their formation dis-
- ↑ Pro. and Ord. of Privy Council, i. 190.
- ↑ Or Henry Pay: the same who assisted in the taking of twenty-nine French vessels in 1405. He is said to have lived at Poole, but is believed to have been a Sussex man. He is sometimes called a knight. In 1414 he was paid £5 6s. 8d. for going to Calais to ascertain the position of affairs there. Beyond the account given here and elsewhere in the text, little is known of him.
- ↑ Close Rolls, 4 Hen. IV.
- ↑ There was then an admiral of each maritime duchy in France. In 1625 the Duke de Guise called himself Admiral of Provence, and only in 1695 was the office of Admiral of Brittany abolished.
