The plantation eventually degenerated, as atrocities were committed against the local civilian population before it was abandoned. Brian MacPhelim O'Neill of Clandeboye, his wife and 200 clansmen were murdered at a feast organised by the Earl of Essex in 1574. In 1575, Francis Drake (later victor over the Spanish Armada, then in the pay of the Earl of Essex) participated in a naval expedition that culminated in the massacre of 500 MacDonnell clans-people in a surprise raid on Rathlin Island. But, according to Harry Kelsey, Drake's role in the massacre is unclear.