Outlaw
Harry Paye, Arripay
Terror of the Channel, and Poole's favourite son.
Stand where it happened
- What's there
- Museum and quay in Poole Old Town
- Legend from
- Spanish chronicle / Poole tradition
- Tone
- Curious
Pirate to the Spanish, admiral to the King, hero to Poole.
Harry Paye of Poole was a seafarer around 1400, called Arripay by the Spanish and remembered locally as the Robin Hood of the seas. Wikipedia says he burned Gijón and Finisterre and took a crucifix from a church there. In 1405 a Franco-Spanish fleet raided Poole in revenge. The Dorset History Centre shows that the archives also make him a royal servant: in 1404 he was licensed to fit out privateers against the French. Poole tells him as a pirate hero; the records make him a privateer.