A note on Cornelius Drebbel

Abstract

On 23 August 1627 £50 was paid by Sir Sackville Crowe, the Duke of Buckingham's controller ofaccounts, to ‘Mr Cornelius Dribble’.¹ The payment occurs in a list ofexpenses entailed during preparations for the La Rochelle expedition. The expedition was chronically short ofcompetent engineers and Buckingham, the commander, had written to Secretary Coke in July asking him to send out ‘Cornelis, the Dutch engineer ... who will come ifHis Majesty encourage him’.² These references must be to Cornelius Drebbel who is stated to have been in charge ofthe fireships at La Rochelle at a salary of £150 per monrh.³ but whose ‘several machines and engines for the aid of La Rochelle ... had no effectiveness’.⁴