Sinking of John Arundel's Fleet

Thomas Walsingham [-1422]. [16th December 1379]. After a few hours had passed, the wind had risen a bit stronger. Lord John ordered that all the ships embark, and he commanded the sailors to set the sails and let the ships be driven by the wind. However, the captain of the ship that Lord John had boarded, Robert Rust of Blakeney, foreseeing the coming storm, advised him not to venture out into the sea at that time, saying that a storm would soon come, bringing certain danger and possibly leading to shipwreck. But Lord John, ‘drawn by his fate,' would not heed his words and insisted on sailing. The captain, seeing that he could not persuade Lord John to wait, handed the ships over to Neptune and shortly after, they entered the deep sea. And as it is said, ‘after they had reached the open sea, the winds, like a formation, struck the sea,' and ‘a blue storm cloud stood above their heads, bringing both night and winter, and the waves shuddered in darkness.' Immediately the winds turned the sea, and great waves arose; and the ships were tossed about in the vast whirlpool. The storm clouds covered the day, and soon the damp sky was blotted out: so that they wandered blindly on the waves, and all things before them threatened death. And what was even more terrifying than death, as it is said, a demonic vision or apparition appeared among them, which was visibly threatening the destruction of those who had boarded Lord John Arundel's ship. What a cry, what a lamentation, what groans, how many tears, then there were among the women who, by force or willingly, had boarded the ships. It is hard to describe how, with the wind and waves driving them, the ships rose to the sky and sank to the abyss; when they no longer saw the image of death, but death itself, present before them, and they did not doubt they would be given over to death. What great agitation and trembling of the mind, what great remorse of the body, and anxiety of conscience, overtook the men who, to satisfy their lust, had dragged the women into the dangers of the sea. They, who were well aware, as participants in such evil, when, by God's mercy, they sometimes managed to reach the haven of salvation.

Post hæc evolutis non multis horarum spatiis, eum ventus flavisset paulo turgidius, imperat Dominus Johannes ut omnes naves ingrediantur, et mandat naucleris ut, velis expansis et in altum deductis, committant navigia ventis. Nauta vero in cujus navem ipse Dominus Johannes concesserat, videlicet Robertus Rust de Blakeney, præsagus intemperiei futuræ, dissuadet ei se pro tunc mari committere, dicens tempestatem post modicum tempus affuturam, quæ et indubitatum ferret periculum, et forsitan naufragii causa foret. Ipse autem, quem "sua fata trahebant," aurem accommodare noluit verbis ejus, sed magis urgebat ad velificandum. Igitur nauta, cernens non posse persuaderi dicto Johanni ut remorari deberet, dat Neptuno naves, et in brevi ingreditur alta maris; et ut ita dicam; — "Postquam altum tenuere rates," mox "venti, velut agmine facto," "incubuere mari," ‘"cæruleusque supra capita eorum imber astitit, noctem hyememque ferens, et inhorruit unda tenebris. Continuoque venti volvunt mare, magnaque surgunt mquora; et dispersi jactantur gurgite vasto. Involvere diem nimbi, et mox humida cœlum abstulit:" itaque cæcis "errant in undis, præsentemque eis intentant omnia mortem." Et, quod ipsa morte terribilius est, ut ferunt, diabolica visio, sive species, apparuit inter eos, quæ visibiliter videbatur eornm perditioni, qui in navem dicti Johannis Arundelle concesserant, imminere. Quis clamor, quantus luctus, quales gemitus, quot lacrymæ, tunc inter mulieres, quæ vi vel sponte in naves ascenderant, [fuerint, est narrare difficile, cum impnlsu ventorum et fluctuum ascenderent] usque ad cœlos, et descenderent usque ad abyssos; cum jam non mortis imaginem, sed ipsam mortem, præsentem cernerent, et continuo morti dari minime dubitarent. Quanta perturbatio mentisque trepidatio, corporisque magnus remorsus, et anxietas conscientiæ viros invasit, qui pro explenda libidine mulieres ad pericula maris traxerant, ipsi optime referre noverint, qui, participes existentes tanti mali, quandoque Domino miserante, salutis portum contingere meruerunt.