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The Armada Galleon of Tobermory Bay: MacLeans

THE ARMADA GALLEON 189 This message caused the Red Knight to sound the retreat soon after the fray began, and his example spread panic among the force which broke and ran for their boats, and the best MacDonald was he who first reached the beach. The claymores of the MacLeans hewed them down without mercy and their heads were chopped off and thrown into a well which has since borne a Gaelic name descriptive of the event. It would seem that these clans must have ex-terminated each other by this time, but the bleak moors and rocky slopes of these western islands bore a wonderful crop of fighting men, and soon the MacLeans were invading the coast of Lorn and spreading havoc among the MacDonalds with great slaughter. Lachlan found time also to seek vengeance on the MacIans for daring to meddle in his affairs. John Maclan, chief of that smaller clan which owed fealty to the MacDonalds, had been a suitor for the hand of Lachlan Mo'r MacLean's mother, who was a sister of the Earl of Carlyle, and had a fortune in her own right. Now the Maclan renewed his attentions, , and Lachlan looked on grimly, aware that the motive was greed of gold and lands. His mother gave her consent but her two-fisted son made no objection until the Maclan came to Mull to claim his bride. The marriage was performed in the presence of Lachlan and his most distinguished retainers, and there was a feast and much roaring conviviality. In the evening, the company being hot with wine, a rash Maclan brought up the matter of the recent feud and a pretty quarrel was brewed in a twinkling. -Several of the MacIans boasted that their chief had wed "the old lady" for the sake of her wealth. "Drunkards ever tell the truth," flung back a Mac- 190 THE BOOK OF BURIED TREASURE Lean with which he plunged a dirk into the heart of the tactless guest. Instantly the swords were flashing, and hardly a Maclan came alive out of the banqueting hall. Lachlan missed this melee, for some reason or other, but coming on the scene a little later he quoted in the Gaelic a proverb which means, "If the fox rushes upon the hounds he must expect to be torn." His followers took it that he felt no sorrow at the fate of the MacIans, and forth-with they rushed into the chamber of the bridegroom, dragged him forth, and would have dispatched him, but the lamentations of Lachlan's mother for once moved her rugged son to pity, and he contented him-self with throwing the chief of the MacIans into the dungeon of Duart Castle. This happened in the summer of 1588, and affairs were in this wise when the galleon Florencia came sailing into Tobermory Bay. Her captain, Don Pareira, was a fiery sea-fighter whom misfortune had not tamed. These savage Highlanders were barbarians in his eyes, and he would waste no courtesy on them. There were several hundred Spanish soldiers in the galleon, of the great army of troops which had been sent in the Armada to invade England, and Captain Pareira thought himself in a position to demand what he wanted. He sent a boat ashore with a message to Lachlan Mo'r MacLean at his castle at Duart, asking that provisions be furnished him, and adding that in case of refusal or delay he should take them by force. To this Lachlan sent back the haughty reply that "the wants of the distressed strangers should be attended to after the captain of the Spanish ship had been taught a lesson in courteous behavior. In order that the lesson might be taught him as speedily as possible, he was THE ARMADA GALLEON 191 invited to land and supply his wants by the forcible means of which he boasted. It was not the custom of the Chief of the MacLeans to pay attention to the demands of a threatening and insolent beggar." At this it may be presumed that Captain Pareira swore a few rounds of crackling oaths in his beard as he strode his high-pooped quarter-deck. His men who had gone ashore reported that the MacLean was an ill man to trifle with and that he had best be let alone. Already the clan was gathering to repel a landing force from the galleon. The captain of the battered Florencia took wiser counsel with him-self and perceived that he had threatened over hastily. Pocketing his pride, he assured the ruffled Lachlan of Castle Duart that he would pay with gold for whatever supplies might be granted him. Lachlan had other fish to fry, for the MacDonalds, exceedingly wroth at the scurvy treatment dealt that luckless bridegroom and ally, the chief of the Mac-Ians, were up in arms and making ready to avenge the black insult. In need of men to defend himself, Lachlan MacLean struck a bargain with the captain of the galleon. If Pareira should lend him a hundred soldiers from the Florencia he would consider this service as part payment for the supplies and assistance desired. Away marched the contingent from the galleon in company with the MacLean clansmen, and laid siege to the Maclan castle of Mingarry after ravaging the small islands of Rum and Eigg. Lachlan Mo'r was carrying all before him, burning, killing, plundering both MacDonalds and MacIans, when Captain Pareira sent him word that the Florencia was ready to sail, and he should like to have his soldiers returned. To this MacLean replied that the 192 THE BOOK OF BURIED TREASURE account between them had not been wholly squared. There was the matter of payment promised in addition to the loan of the soldiers. The people of Tobermory and thereabouts had sent grain and cattle aboard the galleon, and they must have their money before sailing day. Captain Pareira promised that every satisfaction should be given before he left the country, and again requested that his hundred soldadoes be marched back to their ship. This Lachlan was willing to do, but still suspecting the commander of the galleon as a wily bird, he detained three of the officers of the troops as hostages to assure final settlement. Then he sent on board the Florencia young Donald Glas, son of the Mac-Lean of Morvern, to collect what was due and adjust the affair. No sooner had he set foot on deck, than he was disarmed and bundled below by order of Pareira who considered that two could play at holding that form of collateral known as hostages. Now ensued a dead-lock. Lachlan MacLean re-fused to yield up his brace of Spanish officers unless the demands of his people were paid in full, while Captain Pareira kept Donald Glas locked in a cabin and swore to carry him to sea. The tragedy which followed is told in the traditions of Mull to this day. When Donald Glas learned that he was kidnapped in the galleon, he resolved to wreak dreadful revenge for the treachery dealt his kinsmen. On the morning when the Florencia weighed anchor, an attendant who had been confined with him was sent on shore and Donald sent word of his fell intention to the chief of the clan. Overnight Donald Glas had discovered that only a bulkhead separated his cabin from the powder magazine of the galleon, and by some means, which tradition omits to explain, he cut a hole through the planking and laid a train ready for the match. Just before the Florencia weighed anchor he was fetched on deck for a moment to take his last sight of the heathery hills of Mull and Morvern. Then the captive was thrust back into his cabin, and with her great, gay banners trailing from aloft, the galleon made sail and began slowly to move away from the shore of Tobermory Bay. It was then that Donald Glas, true MacLean was he, fired his train of powder, and bang ! the magazine exploded. The galleon was torn asunder with terrific violence, and the bodies of her soldiers and mariners were flung far over the bay and even upon the shore. So complete was the destruction that only three of the several hundred Spaniards escaped alive. The Florencia had vanished in a manner truly epic, and proud were the MacLeans of the deed of young Donald Glas who gave his life for the honor of his clan. One of the surviving traditions is that a dog be-longing to Captain Pareira was hurled ashore alive. The faithful creature, when it had recovered from its hurts, refused to leave that part of the strand nearest the wreck, and continued to howl most piteously by day and night as long as it existed, which was more than a year. The Spanish officers, who had remained as hostages in the hands of Lachlan Mo'r MacLean were set at liberty by that sometimes courteous chief, and were permitted to proceed to Edinburgh where they lodged complaint with the king touching the destruction of their galleon. The matter of Captain Pareira having been disposed of in this explosive fashion, Lachlan MacLean returned 194 THE BOOK OF BURIED TREASURE to his main business of harrying the MacDonalds, and so fiercely and destructively was the feud con-ducted thereafter, that King James thought it time to interfere, lest he should have no subjects left in the Western Highlands. The warring chiefs were summoned to Edinburgh and imprisoned and fined, after which they made their peace with the king and returned to their island realms. The affair of the Florencia was named in the charges brought against MacLean. In the official records of Holyrood Pal-ace, seat of the Scottish kings, is this information, laid before the Privy Council on January 3rd, 1591: That in the preceding October, Lachlan MacLean "accompanied with a great number of thieves, broken men and . . . of clans, besides the number of one hundred Spaniards, came to the properties of His Majesty, Canna, Rum, Eigg and the Isle of Elenole, and after they had wracked and spoiled the said islands, they treasonably raised fire, and in maist barbarous, shameful and cruel manner, burnt the same island, with the men, women and children there, not sparing the youths and infants; and at the same time past came to the Castle of Ardnamurchan, besieged the same, and lay about the said castle three days, using in the meantime all kinds of hostilities and force, both by fire and sword. . . . The like barbarous and shameful cruelty has seldom been heard of among Christians in any kingdom or age." On the 20th of March, 1588, King James "granted a remission to Lachlan MacLean of Duart for the cruel murder of certain inhabitants of the islands of Rum, Canna, and Eigg," but from the remission was excepted the "plotting or felonious burning and flaming up, by sulphurous powder, of a Spanish ship and of the men and provisions in her, near the island of Mull." Swift and tragic as was the fate of Captain Pareira and his ship's company, it was perhaps more merciful than that which befell the great squadron of galleons of the Armada that were cast on the coast of Ireland, on the rocks of Clare and Kerry, in Galway Bay, and along the shores of Sligo and Donegal. More than thirty ships perished in this way, and of the eight thousand half-drowned wretches who struggled ashore no more than a handful escaped slaughter at the hands of the wild Irish who knocked them on the head with battle-axes or stripped them naked and left them to die of the cold. Many were Spanish gentlemen, richly clad, with gold chains and rings, and the common sailors and soldiers had each a bag of ducats lashed to his wrist when he landed through the surf. They were slain for their treasure, and on one sand strip of Sligo an English officer counted eleven hundred bodies. In a letter to Queen Elizabeth, Sir R. Bingham, Governor of Ulster, wrote of the wreckage of twelve Armada ships which he knew of, "the men of which ships did all perish in the sea save the number of eleven hundred or upwards which we put to the sword; amongst whom there were divers gentlemen of quality and service, as captains, masters of ships, lieutenants, ensign bearers, other inferior officers and young gentlemen to the number of some fifty. . . which being spared from the sword till orders must be had from the Lord Deputy how to proceed against them, I had special directions sent me to see them executed as the rest were, only re-serving alive one Don Luis de Cordova, and a young 196 THE BOOK OF BURIED TREASURE gentleman, his nephew, till your Highness's pleasure be known." Alas, Elizabeth could not find it in her heart to spare even these two luckless gentlemen of Spain, and one judges those rude Highlanders less harshly for their bloodthirsty feuds at learning that the great Queen herself "ordered their immediate execution when she received the letter, and it was duly carried out." Froude, in his essay "The Defeat of the Armada," comes to the defense of Elizabeth, or at least he pleads extenuating circumstances. "Most pitiful of all was the fate of those who fell into the hands of the English garrisons of Galway and Mayo. Galleons had found their way into Gal-way Bay,one of them had reached Galway itself, the crews half dead with famine and offering a cask of wine for a cask of water. The Galway townsmen were humane, and tried to feed and care for them. Most were too far gone to be revived, and died of exhaustion. Some might have re-covered, but recovered they would be a danger to the State. The English in the West of Ireland were but a handful in the midst of a sullen, half-conquered population. The ashes of the Desmond rebellion were still smoking, and Dr. Sanders and his Legatine Commission were fresh in immediate memory. The defeat of the Armada in the Channel could only have been vaguely heard of. "All that the English officers could have accurately known must have been that an enormous expedition had been sent to England by Philip to restore the Pope; and Spaniards, they found, were landing in thousands in the midst of them with arms and money; distressed for the moment, but sure, if allowed time to get their strength again, to set Con-naught in a blaze. They had no fortresses to hold so many prisoners, no means of feeding them, no more to spare to escort them to Dublin. They were responsible to the Queen's Government for the safety to the country. The Spaniards had not come on any errand of mercy to her or hers. The stern order went out to kill them all wherever they might be found, and two thousand or more were shot, hanged, or put to the sword. Dreadful ! Yes, but war itself is dreadful, and has its own necessities." A quaint recital of the fate of these fleeing galleons is to be found in a history published by order of Oliver Cromwell, with the title of "Old England Forever, or Spanish Cruelty Displayed." One chapter runs as follows : "Here followeth a particular Account of the Miserable Condition of the Spanish Fleet, fled to the North of Scotland, and scattered, for many Weeks, on the Sea-Coasts of Ireland. Written October 19, 1588. "About the Beginning of August, the Fleet was, by Tempest, driven beyond the Isles of Orkney, the Place being above 60 Leagues North Latitude (as al-ready mentioned) a very unaccustomed climate for the Young Gallants of Spain, who did never before feel Storms on the Sea nor cold weather in August. Aid about those Northern Islands their Mariners and Soldiers died daily by Multitudes, as by their Bodies cast on land did appear. And after twenty Days or more, having passed their Time in great Miseries, they being desirous to return Home to Spain, sailed very far Southward into the Ocean to recover Spain. "But the Almighty, who always avenges the Cause 198 THE BOOK OF BURIED TREASURE of his afflicted People who put their Confidence in Him, and brings down his Enemies who exalt them-selves to the Heavens, order'd the Winds to be violently contrarious to this proud Navy, that it was with Force dissevered on the High Seas to the West of Ireland; and so a great number of them were driven into divers dangerous Bays, and upon Rocks, all along the West and North Parts of Ireland, in sundry Places distant above an hundred Miles asunder, and there cast away, some sunk, some broken, some run on sands, and some were burned by the Spaniards themselves. "As in the North Part of Ireland, towards Scot-land, between the two Rivers of Lough-foile and Lough-sivelly, nine were driven on Shore, and many of them broke, and the Spaniards forced to come to Land for Succor among the Wild Irish. "In another Place, twenty miles South West from thence, in a Bay called Borreys, twenty Miles North-ward from Galloway, belonging to the Earl of Or= mond, one special great Ship of 1000 Tons, with 50 Brass Pieces, and four Cannons was sunk, and all the People drowned, saving 16, who by their Apparel, as it is advertized out of Ireland, seemed to be Persons of Great Distinction. "Then to come more to the Southward, thirty Miles upon the coast of Thomond, North from the River of Shannon, two or three more perished, whereof one was burned by the Spaniards them-selves, and so driven to the Shore. Another was of San Sebastian, wherein were 300 men, who were also all drowned, saving 60; a third Ship, with all her Lading was cast away at a Place called Breckan. "In another Place, opposite Sir Tirlogh O'Brien's House, there was another great Ship lost, supposed to be a Galleass. The Losses above mentioned were betwixt the 5th, and 10th 'of September; as was advertized from sundry Places out of Ireland. So as by accompt. from the 21st of July, when this Navy was first beaten by the Navy of England, until the 10th of September, being the space of Seven Weeks, and more, it is very probable that the said Navy had never had one good Day or Night."