Such were the words of the king to the former town governor Sir Thomas Glenham. He was told however that with the town being so low-lying that "every man can dig water at his door". As for starving out the population, that was a false hope too as the people could be supplied by sea, Parliamentary war ships having the command of the Humber and its approaches. As stated the royalist forces were based around the village of Anlaby 5 miles to the west of Hull, most of the intervening land had been flooded by the opening of the sluices leaving the raised causeway of the road as the singular access between the two communities. Any attempt to excavate closer artillery positions simply resulted in a pond which had to be abandoned. Whilst the manor house at Anlaby was commandeered for the headquarters it seems likely that the ancient moated site of the medieval manor being easily defendable was probably utilised as the munitions store. The besiegers established several strong-points around the western approaches to the town and before the 27^th of July the newly arrived Sir John Meldrum together with 500 men successfully attacked one of them taking 30 prisoners. It was on the 27^th that a major sally by the troops in the town commanded by Captain Loweringer took place. A report of the action written by Thomas Gower is quoted by Ernest Broxap in his work "The Sieges of Hull During the Great Civil War", it reads : "Half the troops marched by land and the others floated the water on rafts. They fell upon Lieutenant Colonel Duncomb's troops and put them to flight, burnt the royal magazine and took many prisoners. Captains Loweringer (of the Navy) and Legard (of the army) sallied by night and avoiding the highways by passing the dykes on portable bridges, they came three miles from Hull and making a stand with 40 horse and some 200 foot, they fell into the town of Anlaby ....... letting alone the corps du guarde, took all the rest between sleeping and waking, beat up the quarter, surprised the sentinal (whom they slew), hurt some others, and carried 12 or 13 prisoners away ...... and frighted the regiment so abominably that the next day at noon the highways were filled with runaways and in the three companies they could only muster 15 men." It is obvious that such an ambush was mounted with the local knowledge provided by Captain Legard whose actual house the attack had been mounted against.

Soon after or even meant to be timed with the Anlaby attack, Sir John Meldrum led an attack with 500 men upon royalist positions probably near the road to Beverley. This attack however was met and held by a force of royalist horse. The supporting infantry were driven back by the men of Hull until they gave way and were chased as far as Beverley. Another 30 prisoners were taken in the exchange and the combined setbacks led to the raising of the siege as the royalist forces retreated back to York. Thus ended the first siege of Hull.