His battered fleet, a ragbag of caravels, carracks and pinnaces, as well as a few old-fashioned cogs, had regrouped on the open seas south of Southampton. Warwick’s attack on the docks, to try and capture his flagship, Trinity, and a number of other vessels, had been beaten off with heavy loss by the royal fleet. About forty of his men were captured during the failed assault. The life of their leader, Sir Geoffrey Gate, was spared, but the common soldiers made an example of. Stripped naked, they were marched onto the wharf by their captors and beheaded. The axe-men then set about hacking the bodies into quarters. Silence reigned aboard the Swan as this butcher’s work was carried out. Worse was to come. Soldiers carrying long stakes sharpened at both ends marched onto the wharf. Under the direction of a richly-dressed nobleman on a white destrier, they picked up the severed heads and impaled them on the stakes.
