This left the port of Brill almost undefended. Sea Beggars expelled from England captured the city on 1 April 1572. The news of the capture of Brill led the cities of Flushing and Veere to go over to the Rebels on 3 May. Orange quickly responded to this new development, by sending a number of emissaries to Holland and Zeeland with commissions to take over local government on his behalf as "stadtholder".