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ATROCITIES AT SEA AND THE TREATMENT OF PRISONERS OF WAR BY THE PARLIAMENTARY NAVY IN IRELAND, 1641–1649*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2010

ELAINE MURPHY
ELAINE MURPHY*
Affiliation:
Trinity College, Dublin
*
Department of History, Arts Building, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland[email protected]
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Abstract

In 1643, Robert Rich, the second earl of Warwick, the parliamentary lord high admiral, issued directions for naval officers in the Irish squadron to execute any soldiers seized whilst crossing from Ireland to join royalist armies in England and Wales. An ordinance was duly promulgated by parliament in October 1644 which authorized the killing of Irishmen captured at sea or in England. Thereafter, although a number of captains implemented this policy and put to death mariners, soldiers, and passengers detained on vessels going to and from confederate and royalist ports in Ireland, the killing of maritime captives never became the norm in the war at sea. This article provides a detailed analysis of the atrocities that occurred and the treatment of prisoners taken in the seas around Ireland during the war of the three kingdoms. In particular, this article examines the effect exerted by the threat of retaliatory executions of English seamen held in towns such as Wexford and Waterford on forcing parliament and its naval commanders to moderate their actions.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 53 , Issue 1 , March 2010 , pp. 21 - 37
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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Footnotes

*

I would like to acknowledge funding I received for this research as an Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholar. I am grateful to Juliana Adelman, David Finnegan, Annaleigh Margey, Jane Ohlmeyer, Micheál Ó Siochrú, and Patrick Walsh for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article.

References

1 Mercurius Aulicus, communicating the intelligence and affaires of the court, to the rest of the kingdome. The eighteenth weeke, ending May 4 1644 (Oxford, 1644), p. 965.

2 The Spie, communicating intelligence from Oxford. From Thursday the 4 of April to Thursday the 11 (London, 1644), p. 84; The Spie … From Wednesday the 8 of May to Wednesday the 15 (London, 1644), p. 224.

3 Mercurius Britanicus, communicating the affaires of great Britaine: for the better information of the people. From Monday 13 May to Monday 20 May 1644 (London, 1644), p. 282; Mercurius Britanicus … From Monday 10 June to Monday 17 June 1644 (London, 1644), p. 308.

4 Commons Journals, iii, pp. 516–18.

5 Two ordinances of the Lords and Commons assembled in parliament one commanding that no officer or souldier either by sea or land, shall give any quarter to any Irishman, or to any papist borne in Ireland which shall be taken in armes against the parliament in England (London, 1644), pp. 1–2.

6 For a detailed discussion of the treatment of prisoners of war see Arnold Krammer, Prisoners of war: a reference handbook (Westport, CT, 2008), pp. 1–81; Given-Wilson, Chris and Françoise, Bériac, ‘Edward III's prisoners of war: the battle of Poitiers and its context’, English Historical Review, 116 (2001), pp. 802–33CrossRefGoogle Scholar; John Horne and Alan Kramer, German atrocities, 1914: a history of denial (New Haven, CT, 2001), pp. 1–431; Alan Kramer, Dynamic of destruction: culture and mass killing in the First World War (Oxford, 2007), pp. 63–5.

7 Geoffrey Parker, ‘Early modern Europe’, in Michael Howard, George Andrepoulos, and Mark Shulman, eds., The laws of war, constraints on warfare in the western world (New Haven, CT, 1994), pp. 55–7.

8 Inga Volmer, ‘A comparative study of massacres during the wars of the Three Kingdoms, 1641–1653’ (Ph.D. thesis, Cambridge, 2007), pp. 1–291; Donagan, Barbara, ‘Codes and conduct in the English Civil War’, Past and Present, 118 (1998), pp. 65–95CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Donagan, Barbara, ‘Atrocity, war crime and treason in the English Civil War’, American Historical Review, 99 (1994), pp. 1137–66CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Robin Clifton, ‘An indiscriminate blackness? Massacre, counter massacre and ethnic cleansing in Ireland, 1640–1660’, in Mark Levine and Penny Roberts, eds., The massacre in history (New York, NY, 1999), pp. 107–24; Will Coster, ‘Massacres and codes of conduct in the English Civil War’, in ibid., pp. 89–106; Pádraig Lenihan, Confederate Catholics at war, 1641–1649 (Cork, 2001), pp. 209–14; Nicholas Canny, ‘What really happened in Ireland in 1641?’, in Jane Ohlmeyer, ed., Ireland from independence to occupation (Cambridge, 1995), pp. 24–42.

9 Barbara Donagan, ‘Prisoners in the English Civil War’, History Today, 41 (1991), pp. 28–35, at p. 28.

10 Deposition of Ann Sherring, 10 Feb. 1643/4, Trinity College, Dublin (TCD), MS 821, fo. 181v. For other atrocities in Ireland see Brian Mac Cuarta, ‘Religious violence against settlers in south Ulster, 1641–1642’, in David Edwards, Pádraig Lenihan, and Clodagh Tait, eds., Age of atrocity, violence and political conflict in early modern Ireland (Dublin, 2007), pp. 154–75; Kenneth Nicholls, ‘The other massacre: English killings of Irish, 1641–1643’, in ibid., pp. 176–91; Volmer, ‘Comparative study of massacres’, pp. 83–90, 112–34, 167–78, 183–206.

11 Micheál Ó Siochrú, ‘Atrocity, codes of conduct and the Irish in the British Civil Wars, 1641–1652’, Past and Present, 195 (2007), pp. 55–86.

12 Ibid., pp. 71–9; Micheál Ó Siochrú, ‘ Propaganda, rumour and myth: Oliver Cromwell and the massacre at Drogheda’, in Edwards, Lenihan, and Tait, eds., Age of atrocity, pp. 266–82; John Morrill, ‘The Drogheda massacre in Cromwellian context’, in ibid., pp. 242–65.

13 N. A. M. Rodger, The safeguard of the sea, a naval history of Great Britain, i:660–1649 (London, 1997), p. 418; Bernard Capp, ‘Naval operations’, in John Kenyon and Jane Ohlmeyer, eds., The Civil Wars: a military history of England, Scotland and Ireland, 1638–1660 (Oxford, 1998), pp. 156–94; J. R. Powell, The navy in the English Civil War (London, 1962), pp. 58–70; Michael Baumber, ‘The navy and the Civil War in Ireland, 1643–1646’, Mariner's Mirror, 75 (1989), pp. 255–68; Paul Kerrigan, ‘Ireland in the naval strategy, 1641–1691’, in Pádraig Lenihan, ed., Conquest and resistance in seventeenth-century Ireland (Leiden, 2003), pp. 152–64.

14 Donagan, Barbara, ‘Halcyon days and the literature of war: England's military education before 1642’, Past and Present, 147 (1995), pp. 65–100CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Barbara Donagan, War in England, 1642–1649 (Oxford, 2008), pp. 33–61.

15 Robert Monro, The Scotch military discipline learned from the valiant Swede (London, 1644), pp. 207–8.

16 Sir James Turner, Pallas armata, military essayes of the ancient Grecian, Roman, and modern art of war written in the years 1670 and 1671 (London, 1683), pp. 335–47.

17 Garret Barry, A discourse of military discipline devided into three boockes … (Brussels, 1634), pp. 1–211.

18 John Smith, A sea grammar, with the plaine exposition of Smiths accidence for young seamen enlarged (London, 1627), pp. 59–63.

19 Robert Stradling, The Armada of Flanders, Spanish maritime policy and European war, 1568–1668 (Cambridge, 1992), pp. 39–46.

20 Calendar of state papers, domestic (CSPD), 1581–1590, p. 588; Paula Martin, Spanish Armada prisoners, the story of the Neustra Señora del Rosario and her crew, and of other prisoners in England, 1587–1597 (Exeter, 1998), pp. 6–18, 43–4, 55–6; Colin Martin and Geoffrey Parker, The Spanish Armada (2nd edn, Manchester, 1999), pp. 213–25.

21 Geoffrey Parker, The Dutch Revolt (rev. edn, London, 1995), pp. 121–6, 131; Dingman Versteeg, The sea beggars, liberators of Holland from the yoke of Spain (New York, NY, 1901), pp. 109–12, 121–3; A. P. van Vliet, ‘Foundation, organisation and effects of the Dutch navy (1568–1648)’, in Marco van der Hoeven, ed., Exercise of arms, warfare in the Netherlands, 1568–1648 (Leiden, 1997), pp. 153–72.

22 Francscisco de Cuéllar, ‘Letter from one who sailed with the Spanish Armada …’, in Patrick Gallagher and D. W. Cruickshank, eds., Gods obvious design, papers for the Spanish Armada symposium, Sligo 1988 (London, 1990), pp. 223–47.

23 Stradling, Armada of Flanders, pp. 39–46.

24 Donagan, War in England, pp. 33–61; Donagan, ‘Codes and conduct’, pp. 83–7.

25 The ordinances were revised and reprinted in later years. Lawes and ordinances of warre, established for the better conduct of the army by his excellency the earle of Essex (London, 1642), p. 20.

26 Lawes and orders of warre (Dublin, 1641), p. 7; Lawes and orders of warre (Waterford, 1643), pp. 6–7; Lawes and ordinances of warre, established for the good conduct of the army by Colonell Michael Jones (Dublin, 1647), p. 10.

27 For a detailed discussion of contemporary norms and codes of war see Donagan, War in England, pp. 135–211; Parker, ‘Early modern Europe’, pp. 40–58; Volmer, ‘Comparative study of massacres’, pp. 267–74.

28 Ó Siochrú, ‘Atrocity, codes of conduct and the Irish in the British Civil Wars’, pp. 64–7; E. D. Hogan, ed., The history of the war in Ireland from 1641 to 1653, by a British officer of the regiment of Sir John Clotworthy (Dublin, 1873), p. 73.

29 [James Tuchet], earl of Castlehaven, The earl of Castlehaven's review: or his memoirs of his engagement and carriage in the Irish wars (London, 1684), pp. 108–9.

30 Commission for the Mary of Antrim, 22 Nov. 1648, The National Achives (TNA), High Court of Admiralty (HCA) 13/248; commission for the St John of Waterford, 22 Nov. 1648, and commission for the Cornelius of Wexford, 9 July 1649, TNA, HCA 13/250, part i.

31 Instructions to be observed by captains in the service of the confederate Catholics, 24 Dec. 1648, TNA, HCA 30/854, fos. 408–10; Perfect occurrences of every daies journall in parliament: proceedings of the council of state: and other moderate intelligence. From Fryday July the 6 to Fryday July the 13 1649 (London, 1649), pp. 1105–7.

32 Instructions for Captain William Penn, 16 July 1645, National Maritime Museum, WYN 2/3, fos. 1–14; instructions for Captain Richard Swanley, 10 Apr. 1643 British Library (BL), Add. MS 4106, fos. 199–203v.

33 Additional instructions for Captain Swanley, 10 Apr. 1643 BL, Add. MS 4106, fos. 203–4.

34 Private instructions to Captain Swanley, 6 May 1643, ibid., fo. 205r–v.

35 Additional instructions for Captain Swanley, 10 Apr. 1643, ibid., fo. 204.

36 Elaine Murphy, ‘“No affair before us of greater concern”: the war at sea in Ireland, 1641–1649’ (Ph.D. thesis, TCD, 2007), pp. 415–16.

37 Examination of Gabriel Hughes, 23 Jan. 1644/5, TNA, HCA 13/59, fo. 616.

38 Lindley, Keith, ‘The impact of the 1641 rebellion upon England and Wales, 1641–1645’, Irish Historical Studies, 18 (1972), pp. 143–76CrossRefGoogle Scholar; David O'Hara, English newsbooks and the Irish rebellion, 1641–1649 (Dublin, 2006), pp. 33–7.

39 A remonstrance of divers remarkeable passages concerning the church and kingdome of Ireland (London, 1642), pp. 1–80.

40 Lindley, ‘Impact of the 1641 rebellion’, pp. 151–60; Shagan, Ethan, ‘Constructing discord: ideology, propaganda and English responses to the Irish rebellion of 1641’, Journal of British Studies, 36 (1997), pp. 4–34CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

41 Mark Stoyle, Soldiers and strangers: an ethnic history of the English Civil War (London, 2005), pp. 53–62, 209–10.

42 An exact relation of foure notable victories obtained by the parliaments forces (London, 1644), pp. 3–4.

43 An exact relation of that famous and notable victorie obtained at Milford-Haven against the earle of Carbery his forces (London, 1644), pp. 1–9; Powell, The navy in the English Civil War, pp. 58–61.

44 The kingdomes weekly intelligencer sent abroad again to prevent mis-information. From Tuesday the 7 of November, to Tuesday the 14 of Novemb. 1643 (London, 1643), p. 241; The true informer … From Saturday January 27 to Saturday February 3 1643 (London, 1644), p. 151.

45 Some of the soldiers may have formed part of the garrison at St Augustine's fort in Galway that held out against the confederates until June 1643. Ormond to the archbishop of York, 27 May 1644, J. R. Powell and E. K. Timings, eds., Documents relating to the Civil War, 1642–1648 (Navy Records Society, London, 1963), p. 141; Ormond to Sir John Mennes, 29 May 1644, Thomas Carte, The life of James, duke of Ormond: containing an account of the most remarkable affairs of his time, and particularly of Ireland under his government (2nd edn, 6 vols., Oxford, 1851), vi, p. 136.

46 The Solemn League and Covenant was the alliance made in August 1643 between parliament in England and the Scots.

47 Ormond to the archbishop of York, 27 May 1644, Powell and Timings, eds., Documents, p. 141.

48 Stoyle, Soldiers and strangers, pp. 68–9.

49 Two ordinances of the Lords and Commons assembled in parliament, pp. 1–2.

50 Committee of the Lords and Commons of the admiralty and cinque ports, 17 Dec. 1646, House of Lords Record Office (HLRO), PO JO 10 1 220, fo. 120.

51 Match was a piece of wick or cord, which burns at a uniform rate, used to light a canon or musket. Interrogatory for the Nostra Dama, n.d., TNA, HCA 23/14; examinations of Owen Dalie and Connor O'Connor, 31 Dec. 1644, TNA, HCA 13/246; examinations of Richard Poole and William Smart, 23 June 1645, TNA, HCA 13/60.

52 It is not clear if the Wexford men were combatants or non-combatants or passengers or mariners. Committee of the Lords and Commons of the admiralty and cinque ports, 17 Dec. 1646, HLRO, PO JO 10 1 220, fo. 120; Robert Vennard to his wife, 9 Nov. 1646, ibid., fo. 123.

53 A true and wonderfull relation of a whale, pursued in the sea, and incounterd by multitudes of other fishes, as it was certified by divers mariners of Weymouth (London, 1645), pp. 1–8; O'Hara, English newsbooks, pp. 47–8, Joad Raymond, The invention of the newspaper, English newsbooks, 1641–1649 (Oxford, 1996), pp. 276–80; Shagan, ‘Constructing discord’, pp. 7–34; Donagan, War in England, p. 343.

54 Perfect occurrences of parliament, and chief collections of letters. From Friday the 19 July till Friday the 26 of July 1644 (London, 1644), p. 5.

55 The Scottish dove sent out and returning, from Wednesday the 12 of August till Wednesday the 19 of August 1646 (London, 1646), p. 7.

56 Severall letters of great importance and good successe (London, 1643), pp. 1–4.

57 Deposition of Elizabeth Price, 26 June 1643, TCD, MS 836, fos. 101r–105v.

58 Depositions of John Archer and Mathew Mudford, 12 Mar. 1641/2, TCD, MS 818, fo. 19r–v; deposition of Thomas Lucas, 7 Feb. 1641/2, ibid., fo. 18.

59 The kingdomes weekly intelligencer … From Tuesday the 3 of December to Tuesday the 10 December 1644 (London, 1644), pp. 671–2.

60 Deposition of John Sellor, 29 May 1643, TCD, MS 820, fo. 298r–v.

61 Robert Vennard to his wife, 9 Nov. 1646, HLRO, PO JO 10 1 220, fo. 123.

62 CSPD, 1644, p. 557.

63 Order by Inchiquin, 9 Jan. 1645/6, TNA, HCA 13/248.

64 A letter from the earl of Essex to his highnesse Prince Rupert … with his highnesse answer thereunto (Bristol, 1645), pp. 1–10.

65 Stradling, Armada of Flanders, p. 45.

66 Mathew Woods to Ormond, 22 June 1646, Bodleian Library, Oxford (Bodl.) Carte MS 17, fo. 559; Ormond to mayor of Wexford, 23 June 1646, ibid., fo. 582.

67 Mayor of Wexford to Ormond, 30 June 1646, ibid., fo. 617.

68 Jaspar Bolan to the Commons, 22 Nov. 1646, HLRO, PO JO 10 1 220, fo. 122; Committee of the Lords and Commons of the admiralty and cinque ports, 17 Dec. 1646, ibid., fo. 120.

69 CSPD, 1649–1650, p. 138.

70 Parker, ‘Early modern Europe’, pp. 55–7.

71 Murphy, ‘War at sea in Ireland’, p. 188.

72 Ibid., p. 257.

73 CSPD, 1649–1650, p. 202.

74 Jane Ohlmeyer, ‘The Dunkirk of Ireland; Wexford privateers during the 1640s’, Journal of the Wexford Historical Society, 12 (1988–9), pp. 23–49, at p. 34.

75 Examinations of Robert Plunkett and William Bamber, 2 Sept. and 22 Oct. 1647, TNA, HCA 13/62.

76 Examination of Jacob Frasor, 3 Oct. 1643, TNA, HCA 13/58, fos. 631v–632v; examinations of Richard Waters and William Martell, 30 Aug. 1647 and 8 Mar. 1647/8, TNA, HCA 13/62; examination of Thomas Drew, 29 Jan. 1645/6 TNA, HCA 13/60.

77 Murphy, ‘War at sea in Ireland’, pp. 99–169, 378–473.

78 Order by the Lords and Commons, 31 Dec. 1646, HLRO Main papers, PO JO 10 1 220, fo. 119; Commons Journals, v, pp. 33–5.

79 Commons Journals, v, pp. 33–5; Mercurius Diutinus, collector of the affaires of great Britaine and martiall proceedings in Europe. Number 11 (London, 1646/7), p. 83.

80 Committee of the Lords and Commons for the admiralty and cinque ports, 16 Mar. 1647/8, BL, Add. MS 9305, fo. 14v.

81 CSPD, 1649–1650, pp. 118–19, 162.

82 Timothy Alsop to the council of state, 12 July 1649, Charles McNeill, ed., The Tanner letters: original documents and notices of Irish affairs in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (Irish Manuscripts Commission, Dublin, 1943), p. 314.

83 CSPD, 1649–1650, p. 138.

84 Ibid., pp. 252, 255.

85 A perfect diurnall of some passages in parliament. From Munday July 9 to Munday July 16 1649 (London, 1649), p. 2558; examination of Captain Wynd, 23 Mar. 1649/50, TNA, HCA 13/251, part i.

86 Examination of Peter Dolard, 3 Nov. 1649, HCA 13/250, part i.

87 Michael Bolan to Ormond, 6 Aug. 1649, Bodl., Carte MS 25, fo. 165r–v.

88 Examination of Christopher Turner, 27 Mar. 1643, TNA, HCA 13/246; examination of Christopher Turner, 30 July 1650, TNA HCA 13/251.

89 Examination of Thomas Webb, 13 Nov. 1643, TNA, HCA 30/863.

90 Inventory of the goods on the St Nicholas, 5 Nov. 1649, TNA, HCA 13/251, part i; The petition of the rebells in New-Gate (London, 1642), pp. 1–6.

91 Payment for James Lindsey, keeper of Marshalseas, 23 Nov. 1644, TNA, E351/2513; payment for John Attawell, 29 Nov. 1647, ibid.; Commons Journals, ii, pp. 909–10; C. H. Carlton, Going to the wars: experience of the British Civil Wars, 1638–1651 (London and New York, NY, 1992), p. 246; CSPD, 1649–1650, p. 113.

92 Granville Penn, ed., Memorials of the professional life and times of Sir William Penn … (2 vols., London, 1883), i, pp. 230–1.

93 Penn, ed., Memorials, i, pp. 231–3.

94 Examination of Adrian Block by the aldermen and council of Flushing, Feb. 1648/9, TNA, HCA 13/249.

95 Examination of Richard Shone and Richard Webster, 12 and 15 Oct. 1647, TNA, HCA 13/62; answers of Thomas Plunkett and Daniel Kendall, 12 and 15 Sept. 1645, TNA, HCA 13/120; 3 bills of lading, 1 and 10 Aug. 1646, TNA, HCA 23/15; sentence for the John of London, n.d., TNA, HCA 34/1, fo. 622.

96 Examination of Thomas Winter, 9 Sept. 1647, TNA, HCA 13/62.

97 Examination of James Cordier, 15 July 1649, TNA, HCA 13/250, part i.