Siege of Derry
The siege of Derry finally came to an end when, under the orders of the Dutch Marshall Frederic Schomberg, three armed merchant ships called the Mountjoy, the Phoenix and the Jerusalem sailed up the Foyle. This was protected by the frigate HMS Dartmouth under Captain (and future Admiral) John Leake. The Mountjoy, rammed and broke the barricading boom across the Foyle at Culmore Fort and relieved the siege on 28 July 1689 (Old Style). The boom had been stretched across the River Foyle and had blocked supplies to the city. It was said that some 4000 people (which was about half the population of the city) had died of starvation or injury. Many had been forced to eat dogs, horses and rats. The siege has sunk deep into the Ulster Protestant psyche and apparently began when 13 apprentice boys shut the gates of the city against the oncoming army. King James demanded they "Surrender or die" which resulted in the famous retort of "No Surrender!"
The History of the Siege of Londonderry 1689, written in 1951 by Cecil Milligan, lists the 13 as: Henry Campsie, William Crookshanks, Robert Sherrard, Daniel Sherrard, Alexander Irwin, James Steward, Roberet Morison, Alexander Cunningham, Samuel Hunt, James Spike, John Coningham, William Cairnes and Samuel Harvy.
Read more about this topic: Apprentice Boys Of Derry
Famous quotes containing the words siege of and/or siege:
“One likes people much better when they’re battered down by a prodigious siege of misfortune than when they triumph.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)
“One likes people much better when they’re battered down by a prodigious siege of misfortune than when they triumph.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)