the cables, and made sail to the
southward, without leave of the captain or owners. He met with due
punishment, for, having made the then unknown island of Madeira, and he
and Arabella having landed, the ship was driven to sea by a gale,
leaving the two alone. She soon died of starvation, and when his
companions ultimately returned, they found him in a sinking state, and
buried him by the hapless damsel's side. A Portuguese captain hearing
from the English pirates of the discovery of the island, sailed thither,
and took possession of it in the name of his sovereign, Don John, and
the infant Don Henry.

This account of Machin's adventures is doubted by many, but at all
events it must be said that it is very much in accordance with the style
of doing things in those days. Richard the Second began to reign A.D.
1377. Although probably no improvement took place in shipbuilding
during his reign, it is not altogether destitute of nautical exploits.
The maladministration of Government at the latter period of his
grandfather's life, left the people in a discontented state, and this
induced the French to make a descent on the English coast with a fleet
of fifty ships, commanded by the Admiral de Vienne. They plundered and
burnt Rye in Sussex, levied a contribution of a thousand marks on the
inhabitants of the Isle of Wight, and finished off by burning Plymouth,
Dartmouth, Portsmouth, and Hastings.

They were sufficiently long about these proceedings to enable the Abbot
of Battle to fit out a fleet, with which he met them off Winchelsea, and
completely defeated them. Their example was, however, followed by a
body of Scotch pirates, who, with a number of ships under a Captain
Mercer, ravaged the east coast of England. The Government, occupied
with the coronation of the king, paid no attention to these insults.

Indignant at this state of things, a wealthy and truly patriotic citizen
and merchant of London, John Philpot, at his own expense, fitted out a
fleet manned by a thousand men, and set sail in person in quest of the
pirate. He succeeded in coming up with him, and in bringing him to
action, when he not only completely defeated him, but made him prisoner,
capturing his entire fleet, as well as retaking all his English prizes,
and fifteen richly-laden French and Spanish vessels. On his return,
instead of being thanked, the gallant Philpot was tried for a
misdemeanour, but so entirely did he succeed in vindicating hi