March 13th 1471: At sea Again
Holderness and Ravenser Odd
After the news of a hostile welcome at Cromer, Edward decided that the risk of landing, with no local supporters and the presence of sworn enemies like the Earl of Oxford on patrol he had no option but to change his plans. He decided to sail north towards Yorkshire or beyond and try his luck there. The decision must have been doubly difficult because of the weather. They had had a very stormy crossing from Flanders and the storm hadn’t abated. The ‘Arrivall’ describes great stormes, wynds and tempests upon the sea. Edward was not a good sailor and the small ships were tossed around like corks on the waves. They’d already lost a ship on the journey to Cromer. The atmosphere, and morale, must have been low. His little fleet was split up and blown to landfall on the coast of Holderness, north of the Humber. The ‘Arrivall’ describes their situation:
In great torment, he came to Humbrehede, where the othar shipps were dissevered from hym, and every from other, so that, of necessitye, they were dryven to land, every fere from other. The Kynge, with his shippe aloone, wherein was the Lord Hastings, his Chambarlayne, and other to the nombar of vc well chosen men, landed within Humber, on Holdernes syde, at a place callyd Ravenersporne, even in the same place where somtime the Usurpowr Henry of Derby, aftar called Kynge Henry the lV. Landed, after his exile, contrary and to the dissobeysance of his sovereigne lord, Kynge Richard the II ….. The Kyng's brothar Richard, Duke of Glowcestar, and, in his company, iijc men, landyd at an othar place iiij myle from thens. The Earle Rivers, and the felowshipe beinge in his companye, to the nombar of ijc, landyd at a place called Powle, xiiij myle from there the Kynge landyd, and the reminaunt of the felowshipe wher they myght best get land. That night the Kynge was lodgyd at a power village, ij myle from his landynge, with a few with hym; but that nyght, and in the morninge, the resydewe that were comen in his shipe, the rage of the temp est somewhate appeasyd, landyd and alwaye drewe towards the Kynge.
The size of the forces seems much reduced; 1,000 men in the three groups plus the ‘remnant of the fellowship’. They had the task of rounding them all up and surviving a cold, stormy night on a barren spit. The irony of landing in the same place as the Henry of Derby would have been apparent, and Edward used it to his advantage a few days later.
The coast hereabouts is subject to considerable erosion and change. Edward’s disembarkation, the port of Ravenspurn, has now completely disappeared. All that remains today is a peaceful peninsula and a sand spit.