On 2 July 1644, the Parliamentarians and Covenanters won a great victory at the Battle of Marston Moor. The next day, the Marquess of Newcastle, the King's captain-general in the north, and several of his senior officers, took ships from Scarborough and went into exile on the continent, abandoning the fight. Two weeks later, the city of York surrendered. Scarborough was left the most important Royalist garrison in Yorkshire, but many of Cholmley's garrison deserted and the castle fell into disrepair. In August, Lord Fairfax's Parliamentarian force reached the edge of the town. Cholmley bought time to upgrade the castle defences by opening surrender negotiations, an act that would allow him to hold out for a year. Siege On 18 February 1645, Sir John Meldrum took the town at the head of 1700 men. They suffered almost no casualties. They also took the South Steel Battery and the port, cutting off all escape by land and sea for the Royalists. Cholmley retreated into the castle and refused to give in, so the Parliamentarians prepared for what would be a five-month siege, one of the most bloody of the civil war, with almost continuous fighting. Parliament was less interested in the castle once the port was theirs, and Meldrum was forced to appeal for extra funds from other ports by raising the spectre of Royalist pirates such as Bushell making devastating raids on Parliamentarian supply lines. Over several weeks, as the funds began to trickle through to Scarborough, allowing Meldrum the forces he needed to attempt an all-out siege, Parliament came around to the idea that besieging the castle should be made a priority. The siege was delayed for six weeks, however, while Meldrum recovered from an astonishing fall over the cliff edge on 24 March. According to Cholmley, he had been trying to retrieve his hat from the wind, though the more likely explanation is that a sudden gust blew him off the cliff. Meanwhile, the garrison initially had access to drinking water from local springs and the "Well of Our Lady" near the cliff edge which with stockpiled food allowed them to defend the castle for months. Bombardment of the castle Once Meldrum resumed command in May, the Parliamentarian forces set up what was then the largest cannon in the country, the "Cannon Royal", in the twelfth-century St. Mary's Church below the castle, and proceeded to fire cannonballs that