Drake in
reply promised good treatment and all the lives of the crew, a thing by
no means usual, as can be guessed by the remark of the disgusted
Sheriff, when so many prisoners were handed over at Torbay; he wished
"the Spaniards had been made into water-spaniels." Drake sent the
_Roebuck_ to see the ship safely into Torbay, where she was left in
charge of the Brixham fishermen, her powder being secured at once and
sent by the quickest of the fishing-boats to our own ships, at that
moment badly in need of it. The prisoners were taken round to Torbay,
where they were lodged in a building ever afterwards known as the
"Spanish barn."
[Illustration: STATUE OF WILLIAM, PRINCE OF ORANGE, BRIXHAM, ERECTED ON
THE SPOT WHERE HE LANDED.]
In 1601 the first squadron organised by the East India Company sailed
from Torbay, and in 1667 the Dutch fleet, commanded by De Ruyter, paid
the Bay a brief but not a friendly visit, doing some damage. In 1688
another fleet appeared--this time a friendly one, for it brought
William, Prince of Orange, who had been invited to occupy the English
throne abdicated by James II. We were informed that when his ship
approached the shore he spoke to the people assembled there in broken
English--very broken--saying, "Mine goot people, mine goot people, I
mean you goot; I am come here for your goot, for your goots," and
suggested that if they were willing to welcome him they should come and
fetch him ashore; whereupon one Peter Varwell ran into the sea, and
carried the new King to the shore, gaining much renown for doing so.
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