ligence of that board, he said, had already enabled
one band of rebels to invade Britain. For a second error of the same
kind there could be no excuse. He peremptorily demanded that a large
vessel, named the Helderenbergh, might be detained. It was pretended
that this vessel was bound for the Canaries. But in truth, she had been
freighted by Monmouth, carried twenty-six guns, and was loaded with arms
and ammunition. The Admiralty of Amsterdam replied that the liberty of
trade and navigation was not to be restrained for light reasons, and
that the Helderenbergh could not be stopped without an order from the
States General. Skelton, whose uniform practice seems to have been to
begin at the wrong end, now had recourse to the States General.
The States General gave the necessary orders. Then the Admiralty of
Amsterdam pretended that there was not a sufficient naval force in
the Texel to seize so large a ship as the Helderenbergh, and suffered
Monmouth to sail unmolested. [357]

The weather was bad: the voyage was long; and several English men-of-war
were cruising in the channel. But Monmouth escaped both the sea and
the enemy. As he passed by the cliffs of Dorsetshire, it was thought
desirable to send a boat to the beach with one of the refugees named
Thomas Dare. This man, though of low mind and manners, had great
influence at Taunton. He was directed to hasten thither across the
country, and to apprise his friends that Monmouth would soon be on
English ground. [358]

On the morning of the eleventh of June the Helderenbergh, accompanied by
two smaller vessels, appeared off the port of Lyme. That town is a
small knot of steep and narrow alleys, lying on a coast wild, rocky, and
beaten by a stormy sea. The place was then chiefly remarkable for a pier
which, in the days of the Plantagenets, had been constructed of stones,
unhewn and uncemented. This ancient work, known by the name of the Cob,
enclosed the only haven where, in a space of many miles, the fishermen
could take refuge from the tempests of the Channel.

The appearance of the three ships, foreign built and without colours,
perplexed the inhabitants of Lyme; and the uneasiness increased when it
was found that the Customhouse officers, who had gone on board according
to usage, did not return. The town's people repaired to the cliffs, and
gazed long and anxiously, but could find no solution of the mystery. At
length seven boats put off from the largest of the strange