Islandmagee in 1558.
| Sir Moses Hill found a hidingplace in a cave in Island Magee | |
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| There were at least two shipwrecks
near Dunluce in 1558. One occurred at the place since called Spanish Port,
very near the Castle. The name of this vessel is unknown, but it was from
this wreck that the MacDonnells recovered three pieces of cannon, which
were subsequently claimed by Sir John Chichester for the Government. These
cannon could not have been recovered from the Gerona, as she had thrown
overboard all her cannon at Killybegs to lighten her. Sir James MacDonnell
(son of the renowned Sorley Boye) had mounted these three cannon on his
Castle of Dunluce, and sturdily refused to hand them over to Chichester.
This disagreement was one of the reasons for the subsequent meeting
between MacDonnell and Chichester at Altfracken, near Carrickfergus, when
Chichester treacherously tried to capture MacDonnell, but the wily Scot
foiled him, inflicting a disastrous defeat upon the English forces, who
fled in all directions. Chichester was killed, and his head cut off and
sent to the camp of O'Neill and O'Donnell in Tyrone. Sir Moses Hill, then
an unknown lieutenant, found a hidingplace in a cave in Island Magee still
known by his name. Lieutenant Dobbs, the first of his name in the
district, hid under a bridge till the danger was over, whilst Lieut. John
Dalway hid himself in the dry ooze between Island Magee and the mainland.
MacDonnell had rescued eleven Spaniards from this wreck, and these also he
humanely refused to hand over to the Government, but sent them and the
five from the Gerona, with Cuellar, 18 in all-in a boat to Scotland. Ulster Journal of Archaeology Vol 1 Part 3 April 1895 |
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