During the retreat to Spain a second Armada vessel, the hospital-ship _St Peter the Great_, was driven ashore in Hope Cove; and the pulpit of St James's church, Exeter, and the timber roof of Tiverton School were, it is believed, made of wood either from this ship or from the _Capitana_. It was not until this period that Plymouth came into prominence as a naval station. A special tax was levied on the pilchard fishery to provide money for the fortifications, and a leat or water-course was constructed with the primary object, it is said, of supplying fresh water for the royal ships. A memorable event in James I's reign was the sailing of the _Mayflower_. Preceded by another ship called the _Speedwell_ she set sail from Leyden in the autumn of 1620, having on board a number of Puritan refugees bent on finding in North America the religious freedom denied to them in England. The two vessels having met at Southampton and put into Dartmouth, were finally driven back by stress of weather into Plymouth, whence--her consort having proved unseaworthy--the _Mayflower_ alone continued the voyage, ultimately landing her 101 exiles at Plymouth, Massachusetts, which, however, had received its name five years before. In the Civil War between Charles I and the Parliament, few counties saw more fighting than Devonshire. The fighting consisted, however, not of pitched battles, but of sieges and attacks on fortified positions; which, indeed, was characteristic of the whole war, in whatever part of the country it was waged. Every Devonshire town of importance, a great number of villages, many castles, manor-houses, and even churches played a part in the struggle. As a whole, the towns, with the exception of Exeter, sympathised with the Parliament, while the rural districts, encouraged by the great landowners, were mainly for the king. The royal forces were, however, numerous in Devonshire; Goring's army, in 1642, was 6000 strong; and although fortune wavered, and although towns were taken and retaken, there came a time, before the arrival of Fairfax and the New Model Army, when the royal standard flew from nearly every important town in Devon, Somerset, and Cornwall. There was one conspicuous exception. The party of the people never lost its hold on Plymouth, which, at a cost of 8000 lives, or more than the entire population of the town, withstood a blockade lasting from 1642 to 1646, together with many desperate attacks by Hopton, Prince Maurice, and the King himself, enduring altogether a longer siege than any other town in England.