The south-west coast was the chief but by no means the only resort of the pirates. Three were captured in Ulster in 1613, and three in the following year, and executed 'upon the strand at low-water mark, by Dublin.' In the latter case the pirates had stolen a Chester ship lying off Dalkey and taken her to Lough Swilly, where they were apprehended by the help of one called 'bishop O'Coffie,' but probably a Roman Catholic vicar-general of Derry or Raphoe. In 1610 they waylaid but failed to intercept the ship which brought the Londoners' money to the new settlement at Coleraine. Blacksod Bay and other remote harbours in Mayo were used by Jennings and his contemporaries, and long afterwards the inhabitants were reported to be 'so much given to idleness that their only dependence is upon the depredation and spoils of pirates, brought in amongst them by reason of the convenience and goodness of their harbours; for there is their common rendezvous.' Even Carrickfergus sometimes served as an anchorage for rovers, who robbed small vessels between Holyhead and Dublin. Dutch and French merchants suffered more than the English, and the States Government, with the King of England's sanction, sent a special squadron to Ireland, whom the pirates seem to have dreaded much more than their own sovereign's cruisers. The French sometimes acted against the pirates, and there were negotiations with Spain, but the Government admitted towards the close of 1612 that the evil could only be checked in the West of Ireland 'by laying the island and sea coast waste and void of inhabitants, or by placing a garrison in every port and creek, which is impracticable.' In the autumn of 1611 nineteen sail of pirates were sighted on the west coasts, most of whom drew towards Morocco at the approach of winter, when the Spanish galleys were not much to be feared. This was their constant practice, and in the then state of European politics they were as sure to find employment on the sea, as their congeners the 'bravi' were to find it on land. The pirates continued to give trouble until Strafford's time.[97] FOOTNOTES: [82] Davies's _Discovery_, 1613. It appears, however, from his letter to Salisbury, December 1, 1603, that Chief Baron Pelham held the first assize in Donegal without his help, and before his arrival in Ireland. The contemporary letter must prevail against the treatise written ten years later. [83] Davies to Cecil, April 19, 1604. [84] Davies to Salisbury, December 8, 1604 and May 4, 1606. [85] Davies to Salisbury, May 4, 1606; Brouncker's letter of September 12, 1606. [86] Davies to Salisbury, May 4, 1606; Brouncker's letter of September 12, 1606. [87] Davies to Salisbury, written at Waterford in September 1606, and printed in Davies's _Tracts_. [88] Davies to Salisbury, November 12, 1606. [89] Davies to Salisbury, August 7 and December 11, 1607.