The Autobiography of Phineas Pett Phineas Pett 2137 downloads.pdf

Th e P ro j ect G u t en b erg eBoo k o f Th e
Au t o b i og rap h y o f P h i n eas P et t

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
will have to check the laws of the country where you are located
before using this eBook.

Title: The Autobiography of Phineas Pett

Author: Phineas Pett

Editor: William Gordon Perrin

Release date: March 4, 2016 [eBook #51357]
Most recently updated: October 23, 2024

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/51357

Credits: E-text prepared by MWS, John Campbell, and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from
page images generously made available by Internet
Archive/Canadian Libraries
(https://archive.org/details/toronto)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF PHINEAS PETT ***

The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Autobiography of Phineas Pett, by
Phineas Pett, Edited by William Gordon Perrin

Note: Images of the original pages are available through Internet
Archive/Canadian Libraries. See
https://archive.org/details/autobiographyofp00pettuoft

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE
As noted in the Preface, some [missing words] in the text have been added inside
brackets [ ] in this edition. Many archaic and nautical terms are explained in the
Footnotes.
More detail can be found at the end of the book.

PUBLICATIONS
OF THE

NAVY RECORDS SOCIETY
Vol. LI.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF PHINEAS PETT

T HE AUTOB I OGRA P HY O F

PHINEAS PETT

EDITED BY

W. G. PERRIN

PRINTED FOR THE NAVY RECORDS SOCIETY
MDCCCCXVIII

THE COUNCIL
OF THE

NAVY RECORDS SOCIETY
1917-1918

PATRON
THE KING
PRESIDENT
THE RIGHT HON. LORD GEORGE HAMILTON, G.C.S.I.
VICE-PRESIDENTS
Corbett, Sir Julian S., F.S.A. Firth, Professor C. H., LL.D.,
Custance, Admiral Sir F.B.A.
Reginald N., G.C.B., Gray, Albert, K.C., C.B.
K.C.M.G., C.V.O., D.C.L.
COUNCILLORS

Atkinson, C. T. Milford Haven, Admiral The
Bethell, Admiral Hon. Sir Marquess of, P.C., G.C.B.,
A.E., K.C.B., K.C.M.G. G.C.V.O., K.C.M.G., LL.D.,
Brindley, Harold H. Ad. C.
Callender, Geoffrey A. R. Murray, John, C.V.O.
Dartmouth, The Earl of, Newbolt, Sir Henry
K.C.B. Ottley, Rear-Admiral Sir
Desart, The Earl of, K.C.B. Charles L., K.C.M.G., C.B.,
Dewar, Commander Alfred C., M.V.O.
R.N. Parry, Sir C. Hubert, Bt.,
Gough-Calthorpe, Vice- C.V.O.
Admiral The Hon. Sir Pollen, Arthur H.
Somerset A., K.C.B., C.V.O. Richmond, Captain Herbert W.,
Guinness, Captain Hon. Rupert R.N.
E. C., C.B., C.M.G., M.P., Robinson, Commander Charles
R.N.V.R., Ad. C. N., R.N.
Kenyon, Sir Frederic G., Sanderson, Lord, G.C.B.,
K.C.B., D.Litt., F.B.A. K.C.M.G., I.S.O.
Leyland, John Slade, Admiral Sir Edmond J.
Marsden, R. G. W., K.C.I.E., K.C.V.O.
Smith, Commodore Aubrey C.
H., M.V.O., R.N.
Tanner, J. R., Litt.D.
SECRETARY
Lieut.-Colonel W. G. Perrin, O.B.E., R.A.F., Admiralty, S.W.
HON. TREASURER
Sir W. Graham Greene, K.C.B., Ministry of Munitions, S.W.

The Council of the Navy Records Society wish it to be distinctly understood
that they are not answerable for any opinions or observations that may appear in
the Society's publications. For these the responsibility rests entirely with the
Editors of the several works.

PREFACE

The manuscript in which Phineas Pett has recorded the story of his life from
his birth in 1570 to the end of September 1638, consisted originally of
sixty-nine uniform quarto sheets, of which the 52nd is now lost, together
with the bottom of the 14th. The handwriting is that of Phineas throughout,
but marginal references on the first few pages and a note at the end—'The
life of Commissioner Pett's father whose place he did enjoy'—have been
added subsequently by Samuel Pepys, no doubt when he was making the
transcript referred to below.
The first paragraph is written on a separate sheet, which, unlike the rest,
has no writing on the back, and is followed by a series of subtraction sums
1612
of the form 1570 giving the age of Phineas for each year from 1612 to
42
1640. From the differences apparent in the figures and ink it is clear that
these calculations were made year by year from the time that Phineas was
forty-two until he reached the age of seventy.
A close inspection of the internal construction, the handwriting, and of
the ink used, leads to the conclusion that the body of the manuscript, in the
form in which it has descended to us, was written up, not at short intervals,
but in sections at comparatively long intervals of time. The first and largest
of these, written apparently in 1612, narrates the events down to September
1610, and stops at the word 'ordered' on line 15 of page 80 below. The
remainder[1] of that paragraph continues on a fresh sheet in a smaller
handwriting and different ink, and from that point the ample margin of the
earlier pages is abandoned and a small one ruled off with lead pencil. The
top line of this page is also ruled, and from this page to the end of the
writing the use of these pencil lines persists. The next break is in July 1611
(page 92), where Pett reiterates the statement that he was sent for by Prince

Henry. Another break in the writing seems to occur in September 1613; and
a very perceptible one, with change of ink, occurs in 1625 at 'All April'
(page 134). The final section, as indicated by a further change of ink, begins
in February 1631: 'The 23rd of February' (page 146). The various
anachronisms observable in the text show that these sections were written
up some considerable time after the events occurred. Thus, the references to
'Sir' John Pennington in 1627 and 1628 make it clear that the events of
those years were not written up before 1634.
From the great accuracy of the dates given (which have been frequently
tested from contemporary sources), it is clear that Phineas kept a diary in
which events were recorded as they occurred, and from which the narrative
was compiled. He appears to have commenced this diary on going to
Chatham in June 1600, when precise dates begin to replace the vague
'about,' 'toward the end,' &c., of the earlier paragraphs.
The narrative stops abruptly in 1638, apparently with the sentence
unfinished, for there is no mark of punctuation after the last word. In 1640,
when the final section seems to have been written, Pett was an old man, and
it is probable that, having been interrupted at this point, the fast-gathering
troubles of the State diverted his mind from the subject, or left him without
sufficient energy or leisure to pursue it.
It will be noticed that towards the end the composition becomes more
slovenly and the omission of words more frequent, as though the task had
become burdensome and the author anxious to have done with it.
Pepys copied the whole of the manuscript into the first volume of his
Miscellany with the following preface:
'A Journal of Phineas Pett, Esquire, Commissioner of the Navy and
father to Peter Pett, late Commissioner of the same at Chatham, viz:
from his birth Ao 1570 to the arrival of the Royal Sovereign, by him
then newly built, at her moorings at Chatham; transcribed from the
original written all with his own hand and lent me to that purpose by
his grandson Mr. Phineas, son to Captain Phineas Pett.'
The manuscript afterwards came into the possession of George Jackson,
who was Secretary of the Navy Board in 1758 and Second Secretary of the
Admiralty from 1766 to 1782. Sir George Duckett (he had changed his

surname in 1797) died in 1822, and ten years later his library, including a
very valuable collection of naval manuscripts, was sold by auction.
Fortunately the manuscripts were purchased by the British Museum after
being bought in at the sale; the volume (No. IV) in which this manuscript
was contained becoming Additional MS. 9298. A commonplace book
(Additional MS. 9295) containing, among copies of various naval
documents, an abbreviated version was purchased at the same time.
The copy of the autobiography most generally known is the early
eighteenth-century transcript in the Harleian Collection (Harl. 6279). It is to
this copy that writers usually refer, possibly because it is mentioned in the
paper[2] published in Archæologia in 1796, although the garbled extracts
there given are stated to have been taken 'from another copy' and seem, in
fact, to have been taken from the original.[3] A further reason for the
preference generally shown for the Harleian copy may be its more modern
and more clerkly handwriting.
The Harleian transcript is not a good one. It contains few omissions, none
of great importance, but mistranscriptions of individual words are very
numerous and have reduced the text to nonsense in several places.[4] It may
seem strange that writers should be content to quote passages that were
evidently incorrect, without looking at another copy, which was easily to be
found; but whatever the reason may be, the fact is that hitherto the original
has remained unidentified as such.
The best transcript is that made by Pepys; but even he had difficulty in
deciphering some of the words, although the handwriting of Pett is, on the
whole, very clear and consistent.
In preparing this edition, the Pepysian and Harleian copies have been
collated and the missing parts of the original made good by this means; but
as the numerous inversions of form and mistakes of reading in these copies
have no general interest—and are of no authority in presence of the original
—there is no need to specify them in detail.
Considerable licence has been taken with the punctuation of the
sentences, which is entirely without system in the original, and the spelling
has been modernised in accordance with the rule of the Society, but the
composition has been left otherwise untouched. Where some word is
necessary to complete the sense it has been added in square brackets [ ], and

the parts now missing from the original, which have been supplied from the
transcripts, have been printed in italics. The legal year in England, prior to
1752, did not commence until the 25th March, and Pett usually gives his
dates by this reckoning, but in one or two instances he writes as though the
year had begun on 1st January and ended on 31st December. To avoid
misunderstanding, it may be stated that the dates in the Introduction,
headings, and notes are given according to the Julian year, commencing on
1st January.
Pett invariably wrote and signed 'Phinees' but it has been thought better
to adhere to the spelling 'Phineas,' which appears from time to time in
documents from 1605 onwards and has been universally adopted by modern
writers.
In the Introduction an attempt has been made: first, to trace the rise of the
Master Shipwright as an official of the Crown and to consider his relation to
the profession of shipwrights generally; secondly, to trace the origin of the
Pett family and its ramifications down to the date of Phineas' death; thirdly,
to throw additional light on the events narrated in the manuscript from such
original sources as are accessible. In asking the indulgence of the reader
towards the evident shortcomings of this attempt, the Editor would plead
that most of the work has had to be carried out under great difficulties in
scanty moments of leisure. Despite the generous assistance of Mr. Vincent
Redstone of Woodbridge, whose extensive knowledge of Suffolk genealogy
has been brought to bear on the problem, it has not been found possible to
trace the Pett family to its original location, but it is hoped that sufficient
has been done to render this task more easy to some future investigator.
In conclusion the Editor has to thank many friends for the help readily
given, more especially Dr. Tanner, who has read the proofs and given the
Introduction the benefit of his criticism, and Mr. G. E. Manwaring, of the
London Library, who has rendered invaluable help in clearing up many
obscure points, and he is indebted to Mrs Scott for the loan of the MS.
treatise on shipbuilding referred to in the Introduction. The Editor has also
had the great advantage of discussing with Mr. L. G. Carr Laughton the
technical questions raised in connexion with the Prince Royal and the
Sovereign of the Seas.
December 1918. W. G. P.

FOOTNOTES:
[1] Probably rewritten when the narrative was taken up again.
[2] By the Rev. S. Denne, Archæologia xii. p. 217.
[3] The words 'and ourselves to sit with the Officers' (page 144), not in the
Harleian copy, are in the printed version.
[4] E.g. 'Articles' for 'Arches,' p. 14; 'enemy' for 'injury,' p. 26; 'tarried' for
'arrived,' p. 25; 'Frank Moore' for 'Tranckmore,' p. 33; 'perceived' for 'protested,'
p. 61; 'care' for 'ease,' p. 104; 'Warwick,' for 'Woolwich' p. 142, &c., &c.

CONTENTS

PAGE
Introduction
The Shipwrights xv
The Family of Pett xlii
Phineas Pett lii
The Autobiography 1
Appendices
I. Grant to Phineas Pett 173
II. Petition of Shipwrights 175
III. Charter to Shipwrights' Company (1605) 176
IV. Charter to Shipwrights' Company (1612) 179
V. New Building the Prince Royal 207
VI. Petition to the Admiralty (1631) 210
VII. Letter to Buckingham (1623) 212
VIII. Protest against Building the Sovereign 214
IX. Ships Built or Rebuilt by Phineas Pett 217
X. The Arms of Pett 218
Index 219

INTRODUCTION

1.—The Shipwrights.

It might be supposed that so ancient a craft as that of shipbuilding would
have left some trace in contemporary records of its activities, the methods
of its technique, and the personalities of those engaged in it. Yet although
references to ships and shipping are frequent in the records of this country
from the earliest times, and although the shipwright was a distinct class of
workman at least as early as the tenth century—probably much earlier—no
record of the methods in which he set about the design and construction of
ships earlier than the end of the sixteenth century appears to have survived.
It may be presumed that those of our earlier kings who possessed a navy
royal, and did not rely entirely on the support of the Cinque Ports and of the
merchant shipping, would include among their servants some skilled man to
perform the functions of a master shipwright, and if not to design, at any
rate to look to the upkeep of the king's ships and to watch the construction
in private yards of those intended for the royal service. But if the Clerk of
the Ships, who first comes into notice in the reign of John, had any such
subordinate, his existence before the end of the reign of Henry V is not
known to us. It is, however, possible that, on occasion, this duty was
performed by the king's carpenters, whose principal function seems to have
been to keep the woodwork of the royal castles in repair. In 1337 forty oaks
required in the construction of a galley, then being built at Hull for Edward
III under the superintendence of William de la Pole, a prominent merchant
of that town, were supplied by the Prior of Blyth, who was directed to hand
them over to William de Kelm (Kelham), the king's carpenter (carpentario
nostro).[5] The accounts for this galley have not survived, and there is no
means of ascertaining whether William de Kelm had anything to do with

the actual construction. Another galley and a barge were at the same time
being built at Lynn under Thomas and William de Melcheburn. The
accounts[6] show that the master carpenter (magister carpentariorum) of the
galley was John Kech, who was paid at the rate of sixpence[7] a day and had
under him six carpenters at fivepence a day, six 'clynckers' at fourpence, six
holders at threepence, and four labourers (servientes) at twopence
halfpenny. The master carpenter of the barge was Ralph atte Grene, who
received the same rate of pay as Kech. Neither Kech nor Grene appear as
the King's servants.
In 1421 the 'King's servant' John Hoggekyns, 'master carpenter of the
king's ships,' was granted by letters patent a pension of fourpence a day,
'because in labouring long about them he is much shaken and deteriorated
in body,' and this grant was confirmed in December of the following year
on the accession of Henry VI. In 1416-18 Hoggekyns had built the Grace
Dieu, 'if not the largest, probably the best equipped ship yet built in
England.'[8]
With the sale of most of the royal navy on the death of Henry V, the need
for a 'master carpenter of the King's Ships' must have passed away, and no
trace of any further appointment of this character has been found for over a
century. The construction of the Regent in 1486 was entrusted by Henry VII
to the Master of the Ordnance, and it seems probable that the design of the
Henri Grace à Dieu, built in 1514, was the work of the Clerk of the Ships,
Robert Brygandin,[9] although the superintendence of her building was
entrusted to William Bond (or Bound), who is described in 1519 as 'late
clerk of the poultry, surveyor, and payer of expenses for the construction of
the Henri Grace à Dieu and the three other galleys.'[10]
It is not until the later years of Henry VIII's reign that steps appear to
have been taken to establish in the royal service a permanent body of men
skilled in the art of shipbuilding. From the earliest times of which records
exist it had been the practice to send out agents to the various ports to
impress the shipwrights, caulkers, sawyers, and other workmen required for
the construction and repair of ships of the Royal Navy. This system was no
doubt satisfactory while the merchant ship and the royal ship presented no
essential points of difference; the latter were, indeed, often let out to hire for
mercantile purposes. But when the ship-of-war began to carry a larger
number of guns than the trading ship found necessary for her protection—a

change that may be roughly dated from the end of the fifteenth century—
the methods of construction began to diverge, and the old system of casual
impressment must have tended to become less and less satisfactory; so that
when Henry, after remodelling the material of the Navy, turned, at the end
of his reign, to the improvement of the Administration he no doubt saw the
necessity of attracting permanently to his service men capable of directing
the art of shipbuilding, as applied to ships of war, in the new channels in
which it was henceforth destined to run.
Up to this point, the position of the shipwright—even of the Master
Shipwright—was not an exalted one. He was classed among 'servants' and
'artificers,' and his pay was made the subject of legislation expressly
designed to keep the wages of those classes as low as possible. In 'Naval
Accounts and Inventories of the Reign of Henry VII, 1485-8 and 1495-7,'
Mr. Oppenheim has edited material which illustrates the various rates paid
to shipwrights, and has pointed out that these rates of pay 'had remained
practically unaltered since the days of Henry V.' An Act of Parliament of
1495[11] laid down the following scale of payments:—

From Candlemas to Michaelmas.
With meat Without
and drink, a meat and
day drink, a day
Master Ship Carpenter with charge of work and men
5d. 7d.
under him
Other Ship Carpenter called a Hewer 4d. 6d.
An able Clincher 3d. 5d.
Holder 2d. 4d.
Master Caulker 4d. 6d.
A mean Caulker 3d. 5d.
Caulker labouring by the tide, for as long as he may
labour above water and beneath water, shall not 4d. —
exceed for every tide

From Michaelmas to Candlemas.
Master Shipwright 4d. 6d.
Hewer 3d. 5d.

Able Clincher 2½d. 4½d.
Holder 1½d. 3d.
Master Caulker 3d. 5d.
A mean Caulker 2½d. 4½d.
This Act was repealed in 1496, but the same scale was fixed in 1514 by
an Act[12] that was not repealed until 1562.
It will be observed that the highest rate under these Acts is sevenpence a
day, although in several instances in the accounts[13] referred to above a
Master Shipwright was paid eightpence a day.
When Henry VIII instituted[14] the practice of granting by letters patent an
annuity for life to certain shipwrights performing the duties of the office
known later as 'the Master Shipwright,' he fixed the daily rate upon the
basis set forth above, but it must be borne in mind that (as will be shown
later) this did not represent the total emoluments of that official, who was in
effect raised, both as to emoluments and status, above the class in which he
had formerly been placed.
The first of the succession of officials thus established by Henry appears
to have been James Baker, who by letters patent[15] dated the 20th May 1538
was granted, as from Michaelmas 1537, an annuity for life of fourpence a
day, the lowest rate of a Master Shipwright, or Master Ship Carpenter as he
was alternatively called by the Acts referred to. The entry in the Roll is of
some interest; unlike the later grants, this grant is not based upon past
services, but solely upon services which are to be rendered in the future,[16]
and the authority for the letters patent is not the usual writ of privy seal, but
the direct motion of the King: 'per ipsum Regem.' In December 1544 new
letters patent were issued,[17] in which Baker is described as a 'Shipwright'
and the annuity (annuitatem sive annualem redditum) fixed at eightpence a
day. In January of the same year, Peter Pett, 'Shipwright,' had by letters
patent been granted a wage and fee (vadium et feodum) of sixpence a day
for life, as from Michaelmas 1543, 'in consideration of his good and faithful
service done and to be done'; from which it appears that Peter Pett was
already in the royal service. It is probable that the increase in Baker's
annuity was intended to mark his superior position in relation to Pett.

The official title of 'master shipwright' does not appear as yet in use, for
when Baker and other shipwrights were, in the next year, sent by the
Council, at the request of the Lord Admiral, to Portsmouth to examine into
the decay of one of the ships there, they were simply described as 'Masters
James Baker and others skilful in ships.'[18] In addition to Baker and Pett,
these included John Smyth, Robert Holborn, and Richard Bull. On the 23rd
April 1548 these three latter, under the designation of 'Shipwrights,'
together with Richard Osborn, anchor-smith, 'had by bill signed by the
King's Majesty each of them 4d. per diem in consideration of their long and
good service and that they should instruct others in their feats.'[19] Smyth
and Holborn were hardly in the same category as Baker and Peter Pett.
They seem to have been skilled mechanics rather than constructors or
designers, and are not mentioned as having 'built' a ship, though this is
perhaps due to the scantiness of the surviving records; but the fact that the
formality of letters patent was dispensed with in connexion with this grant
is significant. Bull was, however, in May 1550 granted 12d. a day from
Midsummer 1549 by letters patent in the usual terms,[20] and since Peter Pett
was not granted this higher rate until April 1558,[21] in the last year of
Mary's reign, it would seem as though Bull's services were rated by Edward
VI more highly than Pett's. James Baker does not seem to have long
survived Henry VIII. Probably he died in 1549, and Bull received Baker's
annuity, since it is not likely that an additional annuity would be created for
Bull at that time, and there is no mention of any reversion in Bull's patent.
Little is known of Bull[22] or of another master shipwright 'William
Stephins'[23] who is mentioned in 1553 and 1558. The latter may have been
the ancestor of the Stevens[24] who built the Warspite in 1596, and contested
the place of Master Shipwright with Phineas.
In 1572 Mathew Baker, son of James, succeeded to Bull's annuity. The
letters patent[25] by which the grant was made are different in form from
those above referred to, for Baker is first granted the office of Master
Shipwright[26] with all profits and emoluments pertaining to it, which he is
to hold in as ample a mode and form as 'a certain Richard Bull, deceased,'
or any other, had held such office, and then, for the exercise of this office,
he is granted the usual annuity of 12d. a day for life, as from Lady Day
1572.

In January 1584 Baker attended personally at the Exchequer and of his
free will surrendered this grant in exchange for one in similar form[27] made
out to himself and John Addey[28] with reversion to the longer liver. The
reasons why Baker thus formally adopted Addey as his successor do not
appear. However, Baker outlived him, dying in 1613, whereas Addey died
in 1606 at Deptford, where he was then the Master Shipwright.
In July 1582 Peter Pett had appeared at the Exchequer and surrendered
his patent of 1558, receiving in exchange a joint patent,[29] in similar terms,
for himself and his eldest son, William, who was already in the royal
service as a shipwright,[30] with reversion to the longer liver. William,
however, died in 1587, two years before his father, so that the annuity never
reverted to him. In his will he describes himself as one of her Majesty's
Master Shipwrights, and from the reference to him in the patent above
referred to it seems probable that he held the office in 1584.
In 1587 Richard Chapman received a grant[31] of the office of
'Naupegiarius,' which was to be held on similar terms (modo et forma) to
those in which Peter Pett and Mathew Baker or any other held like office,
but the annuity granted with it was 20d. a day, and not the usual 12d.
Apparently this was an additional post created especially for Chapman, and
the 20d. indicates the rise that had by that time taken place in the
shipwrights' rates of pay.
In July 1590 Joseph Pett was granted 12d. a day as from Midsummer.[32]
Presumably this was the annuity that had reverted to the Exchequer on the
death of his father in 1589, his brother William, who had held the reversion
of it, being already dead; but the patent contains no reference to this, the
grant being based upon 'his good and faithful service done and to be done in
building our ships.' Unlike those issued to Mathew Baker and Chapman,
this patent contains no reference to office and is in the earlier form. Phineas
(see p. 4) dates Joseph's succession to his father's place as Master
Shipwright in 1592, but this is evidently incorrect.
In April 1592 Chapman died[33] at Deptford, and William Bright, one of
the Assistant Master Shipwrights, succeeded to his post and annuity of 20d.
[34]
In July 1603 Edward Stevens, who was a private shipbuilder of some
importance,[35] obtained a grant by letters patent[36] in terms that differ from
those hitherto noticed. In consideration of service to be rendered in the

future (post-hac), he is granted an office of Master Shipwright for life—
which office he is to have and exercise directly one becomes vacant, in as
ample a manner as Mathew Baker, William Bright and Joseph Pett or any
other had held it—together with an annuity of 20d. a day for his services.
Finally the patent concludes by declaring that no one else shall be admitted
to such an office until after Stevens has been duly appointed and installed.
This was the patent that gave Phineas such 'great discouragement' (p. 20). It
is drawn up in due form, and it is difficult to understand on what grounds it
can legally have been set aside. The patent[37] granted to Phineas in 1604 did
not revoke it, it was not recalled, and it would appear that it was in virtue of
this same patent that Stevens was finally admitted as Master Shipwright in
1613. However, Phineas, by the all-powerful influence of the Lord High
Admiral, managed to get it set aside in his favour on the death of his brother
Joseph in 1605, 'by reason the fee was mistaken wherein his Majesty was
abused and charged with an innovation.'[38] The 'innovation' was evidently
the grant of a 'general reversion.' It would have been interesting to see the
arguments laid before the Council by Stevens when, as Phineas tells us, he
contested the decision, but unfortunately all the Council Registers from
1603 to 1613 perished in the fire at Whitehall in 1618. There is little
wonder that Stevens (who was an older man and had, one would imagine,
superior claims) bore a grudge against Pett. Stevens appears to have been
appointed as Master Shipwright in the vacancy caused by the death of
Baker in 1613. In 1614 he was Master Shipwright at Portsmouth, and was
in 1621 serving with Phineas as his 'fellow' Master Shipwright at Chatham,
where he died, being succeeded by Henry Goddard in 1626.
On 26th April 1604 Phineas, by the assistance of the Lord High Admiral,
obtained the grant by letters patent of two chances of the reversion of an
annuity of 12d. a day, either that of Baker-Addey or that of his brother
Joseph. His brother was the first to die, and at the end of the following year
Phineas succeeded to the annuity that had been in the hands of the Petts
since 1544.
It is of interest to note that the patent was not of itself sufficient to enable
the patentee to enter into the office of Master Shipwright; the Lord High
Admiral's warrant was also necessary. A specimen of such a warrant has
been preserved in the State Papers[39] in the case of Goddard, who

succeeded Stevens in 1626, having held a reversion by patent since 1620,
and runs as follows:—
Whereas we have received certain knowledge of the death of Edward Stevens late one of his
Majesty's Master Shipwrights and the necessity and importance of his Majesty's Service requireth
another man to be presently entered in his place. And forasmuch as the bearer hereof Henry
Goddard is authorised by his Majesty's letters patents to execute the next place of a Master
Shipwright that should become void by death or otherwise. And in regard we have had good
experience of the sufficiency and honesty of the said Henry Goddard and that the said place of
one of his Majesty's Master Shipwrights is granted to him by his Majesty's letters patents under
the great seal of England. These are therefore to will and require you to cause the said Henry
Goddard to be entered one of his Majesty's Master Shipwrights with such allowances as is usual.
Hereof we require you not to fail. And for your so doing this shall be your warrant.
Dated the 16 of September 1626.
J. Coke.
To our very loving friend Peter Buck, Esq., Clerk of his Majesty's Check at Chatham or his
deputy.

The Lord High Admiral's records have long since disappeared, and in the
State Papers for the period with which we are concerned very few
documents remain of the bulk of naval records that must once have existed.
This one is therefore of considerable interest on account of the light which
it throws upon the very independent position of the Lord High Admiral in
relation to the Crown: it may be doubted whether any other great officer of
State was in a position of such authority that he could presume to ratify a
grant that had already passed the Great Seal.
At the time when Phineas became a Master Shipwright, the ordinary
wages of the post, paid by the Treasurer of the Navy, were 2s. a day; to this
was added the Exchequer fee or annuity of 12d. (or in the case of Bright
20d.) a day. Besides these Mathew Baker received a pension from the
Exchequer of £40 a year granted by writ of Privy Seal, said to be 'in
recompense of his service after the building of the Merhonour'; a
concession that at a later period[40] was extended to Phineas. Thus, at that
period, the total yearly emoluments of Mathew Baker were £94, 15s.; of
Bright £66, 18s. 4d.; and of Phineas Pett £54, 15s.; while the East India
Company paid Burrell, their Master Shipwright, £200. After making
allowance for the difference in the value of money at the beginning of the
seventeenth century and its present (or rather pre-war) value,[41] it is clear
that these were inadequate emoluments for so important a post, and it is not
surprising that many of the Master Shipwrights kept private shipbuilding

yards,[42] while all added to their income at the expense of the Crown in
ways that were very irregular and constantly gave rise to scandal. Probably
none was more adept in this art than Phineas himself.
In addition to the Master Shipwrights receiving an additional allowance
from the Exchequer under letters patent, who seem to have been known as
the 'principal' Master Shipwrights, there were others who, although they
were never fortunate enough to succeed to an Exchequer annuity, performed
the duties of the post, to which, apparently, they were admitted by warrant
from the Lord High Admiral before their reversions under letters patent fell
due. In this category were William Pett and Addey.
The relationship between the royal shipwrights and the commercial
shipbuilders was at all times very close. Not only did the former engage
freely in commercial business, but they joined the latter in attempting to
regulate the shipbuilding industry of the country. An undated petition of
both classes of shipwrights for incorporation occurs among the State Papers
of 1578.[43] No answer seems to have been given to it, but as there is a 'brief'
of a patent for shipwrights dated 1592 mentioned in the calendar of
Salisbury MSS.,[44] it is clear that the proposal subsequently received
consideration, although the matter did not come to fruition until thirteen
years later.
All record of the steps that preceded the grant of the Charter of 1605[45]
appears to be lost. It is not probable that the aged Nottingham would have
moved in the matter without strong pressure from below, and we can only
surmise that the officers of the company thereby incorporated were the
prime movers in the agitation which led to its being granted.
It will be observed that the petition of 1578 is based upon the alleged
need for regulating the pay, discipline, and training of the ordinary
shipwrights, now increasing rapidly in number with the increase of the
mercantile marine. The arguments for granting the Charter of 1605, as set
forth in the preamble, are two: first, that all ships, both royal and merchant,
were built neither strongly nor well; secondly, that many of the shipwrights
were not sufficiently skilful. The remedy proposed for this state of affairs
was the formation of a corporation or trade union, of which all persons
engaged in shipbuilding in England and Wales were to be compelled to
become members. The government of the corporation—and therefore of the

whole shipbuilding industry of the country—was placed in the hands of a
Master, four Wardens, and twelve Assistants. Baker, as the most noted
shipbuilder of the period, was rightly made the Master; the wardenships
were divided between the remaining two master-shipwrights and two of the
most prominent private shipbuilders; the twelve assistantships were divided
as follows: Phineas Pett, Addey, and Apslyn, from the royal dockyards; four
shipbuilders of the neighbourhood of London; and one each from
Woodbridge, Ipswich, Bristol, Southampton, and Yarmouth. The omission
of any representative from Hull or Newcastle is noteworthy.
No record remains to show what effect this charter had; probably very
little, if one may judge from the absence of any record of complaints
against it, although the documentary remains of the first ten years of James
I's reign are so very scanty that no great reliance can be placed upon this
argument.
In 1612 another charter[46] was sealed. The necessity for this was based on
the ground of the insufficiency of the powers granted by the former charter,
and no pains were spared to remedy this, so far as words could do so. The
Charter of 1605 extends over five and a half membranes of the Patent Roll,
each membrane about 30 inches long and containing 90 lines of writing.
The Charter of 1612 was a portentous document; its enrolment extends
from membrane 16(2) to membrane 37 and contains about 15,600 words.
No possible loophole was left for any verbal quibble or evasion on the part
of those who might desire to escape from its jurisdiction; the 'all and every
person and persons being shipwrights or carpenters using the art or mystery
of shipbuilding and making ships' of the earlier charter—sufficiently
explicit, one would have thought—becomes 'all and every person and
persons being shipwrights, caulkers or ship-carpenters, or in any sort using,
exercising, practising, or professing the art, trade, skill or mystery of
building, making, trimming, dressing, graving, launching, winding,
drawing, stocking, or repairing of ships, carvels, hoys, pinnaces, crayers,
ketches, lighters, boats, barges, wherries, or any other vessel or vessels
whatsoever used for navigation, fishing, or transportation,' and to this is
added another long clause covering accessories made of wood, from masts
downward. The other clauses of the earlier charter are also expanded with
the like object, and there are several new ones. Deputies were to be
appointed in 'every convenient and needful place' to see that the ordinances

of the Corporation were properly carried out, and to collect dues; members
might be admitted who were not shipwrights; the admission of apprentices
was regulated; dues were to be received on account of all ships built; the
secrets of the art were to be kept from foreigners; power was given to
punish those who forsook their work or became mutinous; the Corporation
was granted the reversion of the post of Surveyor of Tonnage of new-built
ships, and was to examine each new ship to see that it was properly built
'with two orlops at convenient distances, strong to carry ordnance aloft and
alow, with her forcastle and half deck close for fight'; provision was to be
made for the poor; and finally, no doubt on account of the extended powers
granted, the ancient liberties of the Cinque Ports were expressly reserved to
them.
The provision for the armament of the merchant ships is of especial
interest when it is remembered that in this year the Royal Navy reached the
low water mark of neglect and inefficiency, while piracy in British waters
reached a high water mark of efficiency that promised the speedy extinction
of the peaceful trader.
But if the general trend of the new charter was the enlargement and
consolidation of the powers of the Corporation, there is one significant
change that led in the opposite direction: the 'Shipwrights of England'
became the 'Shipwrights of Redrith[47] in the County of Surrey,' a step so
retrograde that it is difficult to imagine what possible argument could have
been adduced to justify such a change: some reason, no doubt, there was,
but owing to the loss of the records it has not been possible to discover it.[48]
It will be observed that, although the master under the new charter was a
government official, the wardens, reduced to three in number, were all
private shipbuilders, and only three of the sixteen assistants were in the
service of the State.
In the year following the grant of the enlarged charter, the legal position
of the Corporation was further strengthened by the issue of an Order in
Council authorising the Master and Wardens to apprehend all persons using
the art of shipbuilding contrary to the Charter, and all apprentices or
journeymen departing unlawfully from their masters;[49] and by an order of
the Lord High Admiral directing the apprehension of all persons who
refused to conform to the regulations, and their imprisonment until they
complied—'they being chiefly poor men and unable to pay a fine.'[50]

The fact that it was necessary to recapitulate two of the penal clauses of
the charter throws light on the uncertain scope—possibly the illegality—of
the powers intended to be conferred by it. The active life of the Corporation
was one long struggle to enforce its powers and secure its rights, not only
against private individuals or rival bodies, but even against the Officers of
the Crown, who might well have been expected to respect the provisions of
its charter. For the resistance to the Corporation did not come from 'poor
men' alone. The other associated bodies of shipwrights that were in being
resented interference in their own localities. The most important of these
was the London Civic Company, known as the Company or Brotherhood of
Free Shipwrights of London, which had been in existence as a 'trade craft'
or 'guild' from an early date. It is mentioned among the Civic Companies in
1428,[51] and was in 1456 erected into a 'fraternity in the worship of St.
Simon and St. Jude,' and in 1483 regulations were made by it relating to
apprenticeship and use of good material and workmanship.
This company held a very obscure position among the minor
companies[52] of the City, and during the period in which its activities
concern us it seems to have been in a very low financial condition. This,
however, did not deter it from contesting the jurisdiction of the Corporation
(or 'foreign' shipwrights, as it termed them, despite the fact that, owing to
the growth of London, it had itself long left the boundaries of the City's
Liberties, and now had its headquarters near Ratcliff Cross), and the City,
not unnaturally jealous of its own special privileges, supported the
opposition.
At first the efforts of the free shipwrights of the City to dispute the
authority of the Corporation were unsuccessful. An attempt made in 1632
ended in the submission of the two citizens who had been put up to contest
the matter, and their 'promise to be obedient to the Shipwrights of
Rotherhithe, saving the freedom of the City of London';[53] a submission
brought about by the fact that they were members of both companies,
although they had endeavoured to deny that they were members of the
Incorporated Company of Rotherhithe.[54]
A further attempt in 1637, however, by two other free shipwrights,
backed again by the City Corporation, was more successful. The case was
referred to Sir Henry Marten, the Judge of the Admiralty, who reported to
the Admiralty that 'these London Shipwrights, being supported by the

countenance of the City, will by no means agree to come under the King's
Charter and government, and to that purpose are resolved to oppose
themselves by further proceedings at law.'[55] The case was referred back to
him by the Admiralty with the remark that 'You have long been acquainted
with the said business and know of what importance it is to have the
shipwrights kept under government, which was the ground of the grant
made to the Company at Rotherhithe.'[56] Marten finally advised the
Admiralty not to grant their request, 'it being a business so much importing
the general good of the kingdom that all shipwrights should live under a
uniform government, as now regulated by the King's charter,'[57] and the two
recalcitrants were committed to the Marshalsea, where they made their
submission. Nevertheless, in Oct. 1638 the matter was again brought up,
coming before the newly appointed Lord High Admiral upon a petition
from the City Company, and by an Order in Council of March 1639 that
Company was exempted from the jurisdiction of the 'New Corporation of
the Suburbs,' although, in view of the fact that 'the said Corporation of
shipwrights is of so great importance for the defence of the Kingdom and is
dispersed not in the suburbs only but over the whole Kingdom of England,'
it was declared 'that this exception ... ought to be no encouragement to any
other Society or Trade or particular persons to withdraw their obedience to
the said new Corporation or to make suit for the like exemption, which in
no sort will be granted.'[58]
The City had won; fine words, whether in a Royal Charter or an Order in
Council, were of little use without the consistent support of the authorities,
and this the unfortunate Corporation never received. The attempt of the
Ipswich Shipwrights in 1621 to secure its dissolution failed, but upon the
motion of their member against the 'Patent of the Ship-carpenters who
impose exceedingly upon builders of ships,' the House of Commons
ordered that the Corporation should not demand or receive any more money
by virtue of their patent until it had been brought to the Committee of
Grievances and further order been taken therein by the House.[59]
Less drastic attacks on the privileges of the Company frequently
succeeded. The exemption from 'land service' was ignored by the Earl
Marshal and the Lord Admiral in 1628. In 1631 the King's Bench indirectly
curtailed its powers by prohibiting the Lord High Admiral from proceeding
in matters relating to freight, wages, and the building of ships; and two

years later prohibited the Company from using its powers of arresting ships,
thereby preventing the Company from getting 'their suits decided in a
speedy way in the Court of Admiralty' and compelling them to 'contend
with the master, who, proving poor and litigious, all that the (Company) can
get, after long suit, is but the imprisonment of his body.'[60] The East
Country merchants also opposed its trading privileges, and in 1634 the
Company found it necessary to appeal to the Admiralty for assistance in
carrying out its powers in regard to the search and survey of ships, and the
regulation of apprentices. In 1635, when Peter Pett was Master, the
difficulties of collecting the dues of the shipwrights and the 'tonnage and
poundage' granted for the support of the Corporation and its poor, became
more acute than ever. After much argument and reference to Sir Henry
Marten, the Master, Wardens and Assistants were told, in 1638, 'to cause
their charters to be published and put in execution,' while the 'Vice-
Admirals, Mayors and other Officers' were charged to assist them. In 1641
the right of freedom from impressment and from attendance on juries was
again in question, and although the decision of the Lord Admiral was then
favourable the troubles of the Company still continued, for in January 1642
they were petitioning the Commons for relief.
In March 1645 an Ordinance to protect the Shipwrights from
impressment for land service 'on account of the importance of their trade
and the decrease of qualified workmen,' was presented to the Lords by
Warwick, the Lord High Admiral, and was approved by them and passed on
to the Commons for concurrence, but it does not appear to have been read.
[61]

In August of the following year, Warwick again reported from the
Committee of the Admiralty to the Lords a 'Report and Ordinance
concerning the better building of ships and granting privileges to the
Shipwrights and Caulkers to be freed from Land Service,' elsewhere
described as an 'Ordinance for the better regulation of the Mystery and
Corporation of Shipwrights.' This was agreed to and sent to the Commons,
who read it a first time and ordered it to be read a second time 'on Thursday
next come Sevennight,' and then dropped it.
In the meantime the Clerk and other officials of the Company, whose pay
was much in arrear, were petitioning the House to take such action with the
Company as would force it to meet their claims, while the Master and

Wardens were complaining of individual refusals to pay assessments due to
the Company.[62] This state of affairs was still in evidence in 1648, when
Edward Keling, the Clerk, and the existing and late Beadles of the
Company, petitioned the Lords for relief, and asked 'that the public
instruments entrusted to Keling may be disposed of and he be indemnified
for them.' The statement of the Wardens annexed thereto[63] explains the
situation as follows: The Wardens had
consented to pay the established duties of the Corporation as directed by Order of the House, but
Peter Pett and other principal members, and great dealers in that mystery, withhold and refuse to
pay the duties for support of the Corporation, and so the Wardens have not the means to pay the
salaries of their officers, or their house rent, to relieve the poor, to make their due surveys upon
ships, or to pursue an ordinance for settlement of their government which passed the House of
Peers eighteen months ago, and now remains in the House of Commons.

In June 1650 the difficulties of the Company were evidently still
unrelieved, for a petition from them, together with their Charter, was
referred by the Council of State to the Committee of the Admiralty, who
were to advise with the Admiralty Judges on the matter. The result of this
does not appear, but it seems probable that the Corporation shortly after
ceased to exercise its functions, for a petition to the Navy Commissioners in
1672 (which shows the same old difficulties still unremedied) refers to 'the
discontinuance of the exercise of this Charter in the late troublesome
times.'[64]
During the earlier years of its activity the Corporation played a part of
some importance in the administration of the Navy. It surveyed and
reported upon the workmanship and tonnage of ships built in the royal
yards, and gave advice concerning their defects—thus acting to some extent
as a check upon the master shipwrights—and notices of the sale of
unserviceable ships were given out at Shipwrights' Hall as well as on the
Exchange. In one instance[65] it was called upon to submit a scheme 'for the
mould of a ship like to prove swiftest of sail and every way best fashioned
for a ship of war,' but this attempt to erect it into a board of design seems to
have failed completely.
In 1683 the Corporation attempted to set its affairs on a more satisfactory
basis by obtaining a new charter, surrendering the charter of 1612 in
October 1684[66] and obtaining in January 1686 a warrant from James II. to
renew it with additions. This was opposed by its old enemies, and nothing

seems to have come of it, although the matter was under discussion until
1688, and the Masters of Trinity House in 1687, in a report to Pepys, had
recommended that there should be but one Company of Shipwrights, and
that all of that trade in England should be under their rule and government.
The Corporation appears then to have become practically extinct, for in a
report by the Navy Office, in 1690, on the method of measuring ships
reference is made to the 'measurement and calculations ... formerly taken
and made by the Corporation of shipwrights (when there was such a
company).'[67]
In 1691[68] and 1704 the remnants of the Corporation made a final attempt
at reconstruction, backed by the Admiralty, Navy Board, and Trinity House.
A petition to this end came before the House of Commons in January 1705,
and is recorded in the Journal[69] of the House in the following terms:
A Petition of the Master Shipwrights (who signed the same) in behalf of themselves and
others, Master Shipwrights of England, was presented to the House and read: setting forth that
the petitioners' predecessors were incorporated by charter in 1605, and were thereby empowered
to rectify the disorders and abuses of the Shipwrights' Trade, and to furnish the Crown and
Merchants with able workmen, and to bind and enrol their apprentices; but the breed of able
workmen is almost lost, and for want of sufficient power to execute the good intent of their
charter, the petitioners have not been in a regular method many years past to rectify the disorders
amongst the shipwrights and to improve their trade; yet a Proposal of some additional heads to
effect the same has been approved, and reported by the Commissioners of the Admiralty,
Commissioners of the Navy, Corporation of Trinity House; and also his Royal Highness,[70] the
7th Nov. 1704, declares his opinion that it will be much for the public service to have the
shipwrights incorporated by Charter, as desired by them; but in the said proposal there are some
necessary clauses which cannot be made practicable and effectual without an Act of Parliament:
and praying that leave be given to bring in a Bill, of regulating clauses, to be inserted in a new
charter for the better breeding of Shipwrights and for the more firm and well building of ships
and other vessels.

The motion to refer it to a Committee was lost, and thus went out the last
spark of life of a Corporation that had struggled in vain for a hundred years
to carry out the intentions of its founders.

FOOTNOTES:
[5] Cal. Close Rolls, 27 Jan. 1337. Rymer, Foedera, iv. 703.
[6] Exchequer Accts. 19/31.

[7] This rate was being paid in 1303.
[8] Oppenheim, The Administration of the Royal Navy, 1509-1660, p. 14.
[9] Thos. Allen, writing to the Earl of Shrewsbury in 1516, refers to 'one
Brygandin son unto him that made the King's great ship.' Lodge, Illustrations of
British History, vol. i. p. 14.
[10] Cal. S.P. Dom., May 12, 1519.
[11] 'An Act for Servants' Wages,' 11 Henry VII, c. 22.
[12] An Act concerning Artificers and Labourers, 6 Henry VIII c. 3.
[13] Op. cit., pp. 22, 153, 179, 232-3.
[14] Henry V had merely given a pension for past service to a shipwright
incapable of further labours.
[15] Patent Roll 680.
[16] 'Ac in consideratione veri et fidelis servicii quod dilectus serviens noster
Jacobus Baker durante vita sua impendere intendit.'
[17] Pat. Roll 704.
[18] Acts of the P.C., New Series, i. 233.
[19] Ibid., ii. p. 186.
[20] Pat. Roll 833. I cannot trace in the rolls any similar grant to Holborn or
Smyth.
[21] Pat. Roll, 921.
[22] He may be the Richard Bull who was called before the Council in 1555.
Acts of the P.C., v. 189.
[23] Stephins was engaged on the repair of the Lion barge in 1553, and was paid
20l. as 'the Queen's Majesty's Shipwright' for making the Leader barge in 1558.
Acts of the P.C., iv. 362, and vi. 426.
[24] The difference in the spelling is no argument against this, as 'ph' and 'v' are
used indifferently in the documents in this surname, Stevens' name being spelt
'Stevyns' and 'Stevins' and 'Stephens' in the rolls.
[25] Pat. Roll 1091.
[26] Officium Naupegiarii sive unius magistrorum factorum Navium et
Cimbarum nostrarum.
[27] Pat. Roll 1249. The entry in Pat. Roll 1091 is vacated with an endorsement
in the margin, signed by Mathew Baker and William Borough to the effect that
the surrender was voluntary and in consideration of the grant to Baker and
Addey.
[28] Sometimes spelt Adye, Adie, or Ady.
[29] Pat. Roll 1210. No office is mentioned; all that is conveyed is the 'annuity
or annual fee of 12d. sterling a day.'
[30] Nec non in consideratione boni et fidelis servicii per præfatum Willelmum
Pett Shipwright antehac impensi ac imposterum impendendi in fabricatione

navium nostrarum heredum et successorum nostrorum ac in assistencia sua in
causis nostris marinis.
[31] Pat. Roll 1300. In a MS. account of the 'ordinary wages and exchequer fees
of his Majesty's Master Shipwrights' (Add. MS. 9299 f. 48) it is stated that this
had been given in recompense for building the Ark Royal, but as this ship
appears to have been originally built for Ralegh this can hardly have been the
reason. The patent only speaks of 'good and faithful service done and to be
done.'
[32] Pat. Roll 1342.
[33] Drake's edition of Hasted, History of Kent, p. 41.
[34] Add. MS. 9299. I have not been able to find his patent.
[35] He built the Warspite in 1596 and the Malice Scourge for the Earl of
Cumberland, and in 1598 and 1600 received, in conjunction with others, the
usual 'rewards' for building merchant ships (Cal. S.P. Dom., 30 July 1596, 24
Sept. 1598, 15 Jan. 1600).
[36] Pat. Roll. 1620.
[37] Appendix I, p. 173.
[38] Infra, p. 27.
[39] S.P. Dom. Chas. I, xxxv. 104. Although countersigned by Coke, this warrant
is not signed by the Lord High Admiral, so presumably it is a duplicate.
[40] 11 July 1614. He does not mention this in the manuscript.
[41] Probably these amounts should be multiplied by 6.
[42] Thus in November 1591, whilst holding office as Master Shipwright,
Chapman, who owned a private yard at Deptford, was paid the bounty of 5s. a
ton for building the Dainty of London of 200 tons, 'as an encouragement to him
and others to build like ships,' and Phineas was paid the like bounty for building
the Resistance. (Cal. S.P. Dom.)
[43] Appendix II, p. 175.
[44] Salisbury MSS. (Hist. MSS.), i. 276.
[45] Appendix III, p. 176.
[46] Appendix IV, p. 179.
[47] Rotherhithe, where their Hall was situated.
[48] Probably it was due to the growing resistance of the City Company of Free
Shipwrights.
[49] Cal. S.P. Dom., 12 July 1613.
[50] Ibid., 30 Oct. 1613.
[51] See Sharpe, Short Account of the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights. This
author has made the mistake of assuming that the Charter of 1605 was granted to
the City Company.
[52] It is not even mentioned in Stowe's list of sixty companies attending the
Lord Mayor's Banquet in 1531.

[53] Cal. S.P. Dom., 4 Feb. 1632.
[54] Ibid., 17 June 1631. I am indebted to Mr. E. A. Ebblewhite for drawing my
attention to the significance of this fact.
[55] Cal. S.P. Dom., 30 June 1637.
[56] Ibid., 10 July 1637.
[57] Ibid., 26 July 1637.
[58] Council Register, No. 50.
[59] Commons Journal, i. 563.
[60] Cal. S. P. Dom. January 21, 1633.
[61] Lords' Journal, vii. 286. Hist. MSS., Sixth Report, p. 51.
[62] Lords' Journals, viii. 232, 286; x. 403.
[63] Hist. MSS., Seventh Report, p. 40.
[64] Cal. S.P. Dom., 25 July 1672.
[65] By the Commissioners for inquiring into the State of the Navy. Cal. S.P.
Dom., 22 Feb. 1627.
[66] Bodleian, Rawlinson MSS. A 177.
[67] Cal. S.P. Dom., 21 Aug. 1690.
[68] See Sutherland, Britain's Glory, or Shipbuilding Unvail'd, p. 70.
[69] Vol. xiv. p. 482.
[70] Prince George of Denmark, then Lord High Admiral.

2.—The Family of Pett.

When Thomas Heywood, in his description of the Sovereign of the Seas written in 1637,
referred to the author of this manuscript as 'Captain Phineas Pett, overseer of the work, and
one of the principal officers of his Majesty's navy, whose ancestors, as father, grandfather,
and great-grandfather, for the space of two hundred years and upwards, have continued in the
same name officers and architects in the Royal Navy,' he was, it may be presumed; recording
the local tradition of the Pett family. That this tradition was strong and persistent is clear from
the fact that Mansell, writing to Thomas Aylesbury[71] in 1620 to propose Peter Pett as builder
of the new pinnaces; recommended him on the ground that 'his family have had the
employment since Henry the Seventh's time,' while forty years later, Fuller, in his 'Worthies
of England,' also referred to it in these words: 'I am credibly informed that that Mystery of
Shipwrights for some descents hath been preserved successfully in Families, of whom the
Petts about Chatham are of singular regard.'
This tradition, so far as it relates to the descent of the 'mystery' from generation to
generation, was no doubt well founded, but there is no evidence that office under the Crown
was held by any of Phineas Pett's ancestors earlier than his father, Peter.
The name 'Pett' is said by a modern writer on the history of English surnames to be a
Kentish variant of the name 'Pitt.' This would imply a Kentish origin of the family, and this
supposition might seem to be strengthened by the fact that the name, as a place-name, only
occurs in Kent and on the eastern border of Sussex.[72]
The fact is, however, that 'pet' is simply a Middle-English variant of the familiar word 'pit,'
kin to the old Frisian 'pet,' and is found in use throughout the east coast counties from Sussex
to Yorkshire, but more frequently in the South than in the North. In the 13th and 14th
centuries this surname occurs in the form 'atte Pet' or 'del Pet'; i.e. 'at the pit' or 'of the pit,'[73]
which indicates clearly that the bearers had, on the introduction of the hereditary surname
from the 12th century onward, taken the name 'Pet'—or had it thrust upon them—because
they were known as living near to a pit, and were thereby distinguished from other Walters or
Adams dwelling on the heath or by the wood etc. etc. A study of the local distribution of this
name in the 14th century shows that the pit in question, though it may occasionally have been
a well, a sawpit, or a pitfall for wild beasts, was more usually a place where, owing to the
absence of stone from the district, clay or loam had been dug in forming the walls of the rude
cottages in which all but the upper strata of society then dwelt. Thus one great centre of the
Petts in Suffolk in the 13th and 14th centuries, the district between Thetford and Eye, is a
heavy clayland from which stone is absent.[74] By the end of the 16th century this name, in the
form 'Pet,' 'Pett,' and 'Pette' was common in Kent, Essex, Suffolk, and South Norfolk.
In 1583, Peter Pett, then Master Shipwright at Deptford, obtained a grant of arms from
Herald's College. The original has unfortunately disappeared, but from the reference to it in
Le Neve's 'Pedigree of the Knights'[75] it appears that he claimed descent from 'Thomas Pett of
Skipton in Cumberland' through John Pett his grandfather and Peter Pett his father, who had
been a shipbuilder at Harwich. The fact that there is no Skipton in Cumberland shows that
this record is hardly reliable as regards the place of origin of the family. Neither of the

existing Skiptons,[76] which are both in Yorkshire, remote from the sea, is likely to have given
birth to a family of shipbuilders; and there is no indication that any relations of the Petts were
at any time resident in Yorkshire or Cumberland. Moreover, the name was practically
unknown at this period in the North.[77] In an attempt to elucidate this matter, Major Bertram
Raves put forward in the 'Mariner's Mirror'[78] the suggestion 'that Thomas Pett was of
Hopton,[79] in Suffolk, and that Hopton was fudged into Skipton by the Tudor Heralds in the
grant of arms to Peter Pett.... Petts about or near to Hopton at the time were yeomen or
husbandmen.... The pedigree may, therefore, have seemed to need treatment.' He then goes on
to show that Petts were established in the neighbouring villages of Hepworth, Wattisfield,
Harling, and Walsham-le-Willows; the Petts at Wattisfield having been in the neighbourhood
since the 14th century.[80] One significant fact is the letter which Peter Pett, the half-brother of
Phineas, wrote to Sir Bassingbourn Gawdy[81] of Harling, in 1598, in which he apologises for
his delay in visiting him and sends his remembrances to Lady Gawdy and others: it is clear
from this letter that Peter was well known in the neighbourhood, and was, it may be
presumed, related to the Thomas Pett living there at that time.
But it seems very doubtful whether Skipton really was a wilful substitution for, or a mis-
transcription of, an original 'Hopton,' for there is no evidence that anyone of the name ever
lived at Hopton, and it seems possible that some earlier Pett may have migrated to Yorkshire
and his descendant John have returned to East Anglia.[82]
Of Thomas Pett nothing is known; and of John his son nothing can be stated with certainty.
In 1497 William Pette of Dunwich left by will[83] 'to my brother John Pette, my new boat
and all my working tools'; a legacy that implies that the brothers were shipwrights. It is not
improbable that this was the John Pett who was engaged in caulking the Regent in 1499.
From the entry in the Roll[84] it is clear that John was a master workman or shipbuilder; for the
sum paid him, 38l. 1s. 4d., is a fairly large amount for that period, and covered miscellaneous
stores besides the caulking of the 'overlop' or deck, and the sides of the ship 'against wind and
water.' Unfortunately his account, 'billam suam inde factam,' is no longer in existence. This
work was possibly carried out at Portsmouth, where the Regent had been fitted for the
Expedition to Scotland in 1497,[85] and where she was again undergoing repair in 1501,[86] but
there would have been nothing unusual at that period, when the resources of the Portsmouth
district were hardly sufficient, in entrusting such work to a shipbuilder from the eastern
counties. In 1485 a master shipwright had been sent from London to Bursledon to superintend
the removal of the mast of the Grace Dieu and her entry into dock,[87] and shipwrights were
frequently impressed from East Anglia for work in Portsmouth and Southampton. The work
may, however, have been carried out at Harwich, where the King's ships sometimes rode.[88]
With Peter, the son of John, we come at length upon sure ground. The will he made in
March 1554 is upon record, and shows that he was possessed of a dwelling-house and
shipbuilding yard at Harwich, which he bequeathed to his son Peter, the father of Phineas.
Possibly he was the Peter Pett noted by Mr. Oppenheim[89] as among the shipwrights pressed
from Essex and Suffolk working at Portsmouth in 1523: there can be no doubt that he was the
Peter Pett of Harwich who, with other shipwrights, signed a decree of appraisement of a ship
in 1540.[90]

His son Peter Pett, who died in 1589 when Master Shipwright at Deptford, entered the
royal service some time before 1544, as already noted.
There is no record of the names of the earlier ships built by him, but it is known that in
1573 he built the Swiftsure and Achates, and in 1586 the Moon and Rainbow; all at Deptford.
At the time of his death in 1589 he was engaged upon the Defiance and Advantage, which
were completed by Joseph Pett, his second and eldest surviving son, who, as already
remarked, succeeded to his place as Master Shipwright, his eldest son William Pett of
Limehouse, also a Master Shipwright, who built the Greyhound in 1586, having died in 1587.
Peter Pett was twice married, and had four sons and one daughter by his first wife, whose
name is not known; and six daughters and three sons (of whom Phineas was the eldest) by his
second wife, Elizabeth Thornton. These will be found set forth in the subjoined tables, which
will serve to illustrate the relationship between them and the other members of the family
referred to in the manuscript.
Peter Pett, towards the end of his life, had achieved a great reputation as a shipbuilder and
was, as is evident from his will, a man of considerable means. He died possessed of a house
at Harwich, where he had also built almshouses; a house at Deptford; land at Frating, near
Colchester; the lease of a house at Chatham; and 'ground'—presumably a shipbuilding yard—
at Wapping. In addition to this property, he left 20l. to the children of his son Richard;[91] 6l.
13s. 4d. to the child of his daughter Lydia; 100l. each to Phineas and his brothers Noah and
Peter; and 100 marks to each of his four daughters by his second wife and to an unborn child
that probably did not live. The payments to the children of his second wife were to be made
on their attaining the age of twenty-four, but from the statements of Phineas on pages 12 and
13 it would appear that part of the money was embezzled by the Rev. Mr. Nunn and part
retained by Phineas' brother Joseph.
Peter Pett, of Wapping, the third son of the above, carried on business as a shipbuilder in
the private yard at Wapping which had been left to him by his father. He does not appear to
have held any office under the Crown, but seems to have been well known to the Lord High
Admiral, for in his letter above referred to be puts off his visit to Gawdy on the ground that
he has to be 'next Sunday with the Earl of Nottingham at the Court at Richmond.' In 1599 he
published a poem entitled 'Time's Journey to seeke his Daughter Truth; and Truth's Letter to
Fame of England's Excellencie,' which he dedicated to Nottingham. He was also the author of
a sonnet in three stanzas of seven lines entitled 'All Creatures praise God.'[92]
It is not necessary for our present purpose to pursue the fortunes of this family further, but
the reader who is desirous of obtaining information as to the later descendants of Peter Pett of
Harwich will find it in an excellent paper in vol. x. of the 'Ancestor,' by Mr. Farnham Burke
and Mr. Oswald Barron, entitled 'The Builders of the Navy: a Genealogy of the Family of
Pett.'[93]

RELATIONS OF PHINEAS PETT.
[[Click here for table image.]]

Thomas Pett

John

Peter, of Harwich, = Elizabeth Paynter.
Shipbuilder,
d. (?) 1554.

(1) ? = Peter, of Deptford, = (2) Elizabeth Ann = John Chapman.
Master Shipwright, Thornton,
d. 1589. d. 1597.

William, = Elizabeth (1) Margaret = Joseph, = (2) Margaret (1) Ann = Peter, = (2) Eliza- Richard, Lydia,
of Lime- March. Curtis, of Lime- Humfrey, Tusam. of beth. of London. d. 1610.
house, d. 1594. house, d. 1612. Wapping,
Master Master Ship-
Shipwright Shipwright builder
d. 1587. d. 1605. d. 1631?

Elizabeth. Lucy. Margaret. William. Joseph.

Peter, of = Elizabeth William, Elizabeth = Thomas Ann Mary
Deptford, Johnson. Clerk in Barwick.
Master Holy
Shipwright Orders,
b. 1592, d. 1651.
d. 1652.

Jane, Phineas Noah, Peter the Rachel, = Rev. W. Abigail, Elizabeth, Mary, = (?) Cooper.
Susannah, (see next d. 1595. Younger, d. 1591? Newman. d. 1599. d. 1599. d. 1626.
d. 1567. Table). d. 1600.

FAMILY OF PHINEAS PETT.
[[Click here for table image.]]

Phineas Pett,
= b. 1570, d. 1647. =
(1) Ann Nicholls, m. 1598, (2) Susan Yardley, m. 1627, (3) Mildred Byland, m. 1638,
d. 1627. née Eaglefield, d. 1637. née Etherington, d. 1638.

John, = Katherine Henry, Richard, Joseph, Peter, Ann, Phineas, Phineas, = Frances Christo-
Captain Yardley b. 1603, b. 1606, b. 1608, Commis- b. 1612. b. 1615, Captain Carre. pher,
R.N. d. 1613. d. 1629. d. 1627. sioner at d. 1617. R.N. Master
(lost in Chatham, (killed in Shipwright
VI b. 1610, Tiger), at
Whelp), d. 1672. b. 1619, Woolwich
b. 1602, d. 1666. and
d. 1628. Deptford,
Phineas b. 1620,
Phineas, (owner of d. 1668.
Master the MS.,
Shipwright Mary, Martha, = John c. 1670),
at b. 1617, b. 1617, Hodierne. b. 1646,
Chatham, d. 1617. m. 1637. d. 1694.
b. 1628,
d. 1678.

FOOTNOTES:
[71] Bodleian. Clarendon State Papers, No. 166.
[72] E.g. Pett Place near Charing; Pett near Stockbury; Pett Street near Wye and Pett village near
Winchelsea.
[73] E.g. Geoffrey del Pet, 1270, see Rye, Cal. of Feet of Fines for Suffolk. 'Walter de le Pet' (of
Wattisfield), see Powell, A Suffolk Hundred in the year 1283; 'Adam atte Pet' (of Stonham Aspul),
'William del Pet' (of Wattisfield), see Hervey, Suffolk in 1327; 'Peter atte Pette of Shorn' (Kent) in
Close Roll 1344.
[74] Mr. Redstone informs me that to this day large blocks of loam and clay are squared off in the
pits of Rickinghall to form house walls.
[75] Printed by the Harleian Society.
[76] Skipton in Craven in the W. Riding and Skipton upon Swale in the N. Riding.
[77] I have only discovered one early instance of the name in Yorkshire, 'Ralph Pet' who lived in
the 'Honor and Forest of Pickering' in 1314, and this, it may be observed, was on the sea coast.
[78] April 1912, p. 124.
[79] S.E. of Thetford: not the Hopton in East Suffolk.
[80] They were already there in the 13th; see note on p. xliii.

[81] Gawdy MSS. (Hist. MSS.) 405; what appears to be Pett's draft of this letter is to be found in
Egerton MS. 2713.
[82] It is also possible that Thomas of Skipton did not bear the surname 'Pett.' According to
Bardsley, Curiosities of Puritan Nomenclature, p. 3, 'Among the middle and lower classes these
(descriptive surnames) did not become hereditary till so late as 1450 or 1500.'
[83] Ipswich Probate Court Bk. III. f. 202.
[84] Ac xxxviijli. xvjd. tam super novas iact' (? jacturas) et le calkynge de le Overlope navis regis
vocatae le Regent quam pro le calkynge anti ventum et aquam ejusdem navis ac aliis necessariis
pro eadem nave fiendis et providendis per manus Johannis Pett ut prius per billam suam inde
factam plenius apparet datam xiij die Novembris Ao xvo Regis Henrici vijmo.. P.R.O. E. 405 (80).
[85] Naval Accounts and Inventories of Henry VII., N.R.S., Vol. viii.
[86] P.R.O. Augmentation Office Misc. Bk., 317, f. 236.
[87] N.R.S., vol. viii. pp. liv, 222.
[88] In 1487, Thomas Rogers, clerk of the King's ships, was paid xxvis. viijd. for his expenses in
going to Harwich, and victualling the King's ships there. See Material Illustrative of the Reign of
Henry VII, vol. ii. p. 143.
[89] Administration, p. 74.
[90] P.R.O., H.C.A. 7 (1), 'probos viros Petrum Pette et Johannem Moptye villae Harewici (and two
others) fabros lignarios, anglice shipwrights.'
[91] Richard Pett of London, gent. (elsewhere described as 'unus valettorum regis') in 1593 sold his
share of the property at Deptford to his brother Peter Pett, of Wapping. This property had been
bought by his father in 1566.
[92] Printed by the Parker Society in Select Poetry, vol. ii. p. 386.
[93] The following errors may be noted: p. 149, the name 'Marcy' should be 'March'; p. 151, the
William Pett who petitioned the Admiralty in 1631, was not the son of Joseph but a much older
man, apparently belonging to another branch of the family; p. 157, the dates of the death of Phineas'
second wife and of his third marriage are antedated by a year; p. 158, the date 'July' was an error of
the Harl. transcriber; the dates of birth and death of Phineas, junior, are incorrect; p. 172, Joseph
Pett of Chatham was not the son of Phineas, but of Joseph of Limehouse, and he was born in 1592
not 1608.

3.—Phineas Pett.

From the care that had been taken to provide for his
education, and from the fact that it was only at the Education.
'instant persuasion' of his mother that he was 'contented'
to be apprenticed as a shipwright, it may be inferred that Phineas had been
destined for the Church or the Law, and that Peter Pett did not propose that
his son should follow in his own footsteps. The peculiarity[94] of the name
chosen for him (which no doubt refers, not to the disobedient son of Eli, but
to 'Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest,' who received
'the covenant of an everlasting priesthood')[95] gives rise to the surmise that
his parents had intended him for the Church, but whatever the intention may
have been, it was certainly abandoned on the death of his father.
Phineas does not seem to have profited greatly from his studies at
Cambridge. He was hardly a master of English; possibly he had a good
knowledge of Latin, for the influence of the Latin idiom is to be seen in
almost all his periods; but the fact that he had subsequently to practise
'cyphering' in the evenings does not imply any great acquirements in
mathematics, even of the very elementary forms which at that period were
sufficient for the solution of the few problems arising in connection with the
design of ships. Nevertheless, he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts in
1592 and that of Master in 1595.
If the statement that he spent the two years of his apprenticeship to
Chapman 'to very little purpose' is to be accepted literally, it would seem
that the misfortunes that subsequently befell him must have aroused latent
energies and filled him with determination to master the details of his future
profession when he returned to England in 1594. His voyage to the Levant
and subsequent employment as an ordinary workman under his brother
Joseph no doubt gave him a practical acquaintance with ships that enabled
him to profit greatly by the instruction of Mathew Baker, although
apparently this only extended over the winter of 1595-6. Pett's confession
that it was from Baker that he received his 'greatest lights,' written, as it
must have been, after he had found Baker an 'envious enemy' and an 'old
adversary to my name and family,' indicates how great that assistance was.

This is borne out by a letter[96] which he wrote to Baker in April 1603, in
order to deprecate the old man's wrath, which had been aroused when
Phineas, then Assistant Master Shipwright at Chatham, commenced work
on the Answer. The letter was partially destroyed by the fire which damaged
the Cottonian Library in 1731, but fortunately Pepys had copied it in his
Miscellanea.[97]
Sir,—My duty remembered unto you. It is so that I received a message from you by Richard
Meritt, the purveyor, concerning the Answer, who gave me to understand from you that you were
informed I meant to break up the ship and to lengthen, and that I should no further proceed till I
received further order from you. Indeed the ship was heaved up by general consent, both of my
Lord, some of the Principal Officers, and two of the Master Shipwrights which were here present
at the time she was begun to be hauled up, no determination being resolved upon what should be
done unto her; for which cause (other haste of businesses also being some hindrance) she hath
lain still ever since, till now that it pleased Sir Henry Palmer to command she should be blocked
and searched within board only, and so let alone, partly because our men wanting stuff to perfect
other businesses had little else to do, as also to the intent she might be made ready to be the better
viewed and surveyed lying upright, being somewhat also easier for the ship. This is now done,
but I ensure you there was no intent or other purpose to proceed in anything upon her any further
till the Master Shipwrights, especially yourself who built her, had first surveyed her, and under
your hands set down what should be done unto her; and therefore, good Mr. Baker, do not give so
much credit to those that out of their malice do advertise you untruth concerning either this or
any other matter, for it is supposed by whom this hath been done, and he is generally thought to
be no other than an Ambodexter[98] or rather a flat sheet,[99] being so far off from either
procuring credit to himself by due execution of his place and discharge of his duty, that like
Aesop's Dog he doth malice any other that is willing to give him precedent of better course than
all men can sufficiently in this place report himself to follow. And for myself it is so sure[100]
from me to understand anything that you should think any ways prejudicial unto you, or to any of
your works, that you shall always rather find me dutiful as a servant to follow your directions and
instructions in any of these businesses, than arrogant as a prescriber or corrector of anything done
by you, whose ever memorable works I set before me as a notable precedent and pattern to direct
me in any work that I do at any time undertake, and you yourself can say, setting private jars
aside, which I hope are all now at a final end, but that I ever both reverenced you for your years
and admired you for your Art, in the which I know (to speak without flattery) no Artist in
Christendom of our profession able in any respect to come near you. Therefore, good Mr. Baker,
carry but that loving mind towards me as you shall find my loving duty to you to deserve, who
you shall find always as ready to do you any service, either in this place or any other, as any
servant of yours whatsoever, among whose rank I account myself one of the unworthiest, for
although I served no years in your service, yet I must ever acknowledge whatever I have of any
art (if I have any) it came only from you. Thus hoping this shall suffice to give you satisfaction in
this behalf, I humbly take my leave, ever resting ready to do you service.
Chatham this 10 April, 1603.
Your Servant,
Phineas Pett.
To the worshipful and my loving friend Mr. Mathew Baker, one of his Majesty's Master
Shipwrights, give this at Woolwich or elsewhere.

This expression of opinion upon Baker's capacity was evidently quite
genuine, for many years after, when the old man was dead and there was
nothing to be feared from his enmity, Phineas wrote of him as 'the most
famous artist of his time.'[101]
Phineas did not rely on his professional skill alone to
gain him preferment. When in his brother Joseph's Preferment.
employment, he laid out his earnings in clothing himself 'in very good
fashion, always endeavouring to keep company with men of good rank, far
better than myself.' By means of a friend thus gained, he obtained an
introduction to the Lord Admiral, which was 'the very first beginning' of his
rising. No doubt Nottingham had known his father, and it is certain that he
was well acquainted with his brother Peter; it is probably to this that the
'extraordinary respect' and the later favours of the Admiral were due. These
favours brought upon him the 'malicious envy' of the Master Shipwrights,
who were no doubt aggrieved at seeing employment that might have
provided them or their friends with 'pickings,' handed to a newcomer.
The post of a purveyor of timber was not without its perquisites, and
Pett's thankfulness that 'nothing could be proved against him' when the
accounts of his doings in Suffolk and Norfolk were scrutinised, indicates
that his labours had not been without some profit to himself; indeed his
association with Trevor, who became an able disciple of the arch-thief
Mansell, leads one to suspect that Fulke Greville's action in 'wrongfully'
cutting off twenty pounds was not the high-handed injustice that Phineas
would have one believe. It is true that Mr. Oppenheim[102] dates the
'administrative degeneracy' of the Navy Office from Greville's
treasurership, but it is probable that this arose from Greville's incapacity to
exercise the strict control which had characterised his predecessor
Hawkyns, and not from want of integrity. Three years later Phineas affirms
that Greville continued his 'heavy enemy' because the Treasurer could not
win him 'to such conditions as he laboured me in' against the Surveyor, a
state of affairs that seems to indicate a half-hearted attempt at reform on
Greville's part, rather than any underhand conspiracy.
In an anonymous account of the quarrel at Chatham in 1602 preserved in
Pepys' Miscellanea,[103] written evidently by George Collins, 'the principal
informer and stirrer in this business,'[104] it is stated that the writer told Sir
Henry Palmer that Pett

had sold away the Repulse's foretopmast, and that through his negligence the Crane was bilged in
the Dock, which cost the Queen 100l.

whereupon Palmer called him a rogue, and asked him if he never stole
anything, and then struck him with a cudgel;
and no wonder! though Sir Henry took his part so much, for in six weeks after he had great masts
sawed out into boards at the Queen's charge, a long boat full, and towed down to Whitechapel by
Boatswain Vale, or his man, at a ketch's stern.
At the term after, I served Phineas Pett upon a battery, and Sir John and Sir Henry procured my
Lord Admiral's warrant to send me to the Marshalsea. But that I paid well for it in Mr. Pope's
house I had gone thither; and so was forced to agree with Phineas and to enter into bond never to
follow suit against him, neither for the King nor yet for myself.'

The writer then goes on to give instances of Pett's misappropriations of
materials and labour; four tons of elm timber sawn into boards; fifty deals
from the storehouse; fifty small spars; two four-inch planks to make a
bridge into his meadow; labour for two or three days; a sluice made in the
meadow at a cost of 3l. or 4l.; two or three tons of oak timber sawn into
posts to hang clothes on and painted at the Queen's cost. Although the
writer has an obvious grievance against Pett, there seems no reason to doubt
the substantial accuracy of the charges made.
One of the gravest indictments subsequently brought
by the Commission of Inquiry of 1608-1609 against The Resistance, and
the Voyage to
Phineas was that relating to the ship which he had laid Spain.
down in David Duck's private yard at Gillingham in
1604, when both he and Duck were shipwrights at Chatham. From the
account of it presented by Phineas[105] it might be supposed that the charge
related merely to the sale of ordnance and ammunition to the Spaniards, but
the malpractices alleged went much further than that; and, although Pett
was cleared by the King, an examination of the evidence produced before
the Commission leads to the conclusion that 'those scandalous and false
informations' might have led to very unpleasant results if the King had not
been biased in his favour. The story, as made out from the existing
documents,[106] is briefly as follows:
The ship—a small one of about 160 tons—had been built largely of
timber delivered 'for the King's use at Chatham' and with articles 'borrowed
out of the store,' under warrant of the Principal Officers, two of whom,
Mansell and Trevor, subsequently had shares in her. She was rigged 'with

the rigging of the Foresight, which for bare 12l. only he bought out of her'
at much less than the value, by the favour of the Surveyor (Trevor) and the
Treasurer (Mansell), so that 'she was sailed with the King's sails and rigged
with the King's tackling.' When she set sail for Spain in 1605 'under colour
of a transporter of my Lord Admiral's provisions,' she was furnished out of
the King's store with cables, anchors, flags, pitch, and other stores and
provisions, including 600 cwt. of biscuit. She also drew 120 bolts of canvas
for the use of the fleet, part of which was sold by Pett's brother, and for the
whole of which Phineas acknowledged himself responsible. Although taken
up as a transport and paid wages and tonnage (on a false rating of 300 tons,
about twice her capacity) she was entered in the Customs as a merchantman
bound for San Lucar, and carried 60 tons of lead for a merchant of London
named Alabaster, for which 60l. was received as freight. At Lisbon Pett sold
a demi-culverin of brass, captured at Cadiz in 1596, with ammunition and a
quantity of bread, biscuit, and peas belonging to the fleet, for which he
received 300l., which he sent, 'by the way of exchange,' to Trevor and
Mansell, then at Valladolid[107] with Nottingham, who had gone there to
ratify the peace recently concluded between the two countries. Altogether,
the voyage of this ship cost the King '800l. or 1000l., as appeareth by the
accounts, for little or no service done at all.'
As regards the money sent to Valladolid, it is probable that this was used
in paying some of the expenses of the embassy, and that this proceeding had
the sanction of Nottingham; but Pett's answers before the Commission to
some of the other charges, as given in his signed deposition of 12th May
1608, seem rather weak. He stated that the 'riggings' of the Foresight were
'found to be so ill that they stood him in little or no stead,' that the accounts
for the provisions were delivered to Sir John Trevor and no copies had been
kept, and, by a convenient lapse of memory, he could not say what persons
or stuff were landed at the Groyne 'nor what burden the ship was accounted
for to the King.' When asked by Captain Morgan to set him down on the
east side of the Groyne, he was alleged to have said that 'he could not
adventure the ship by his directions for that she was no part of the fleet,' in
reply to which allegation he swore that to the best of his recollection no
such words were ever used. It appears from the evidence that Sir Richard
Leveson had refused to allow the ship as one of the fleet, but he had died
shortly after the return to England, and after his death Mansell and Trevor,
'assuming full power into their own hands,' had reversed the decision. One

reason given by Pett for visiting ports other than that to which the fleet had
gone is of interest; he told the Commission that he had been informed by
Trevor and Mansell that the biscuit would not be needed for the fleet 'by
reason of the short voyage my Lord Admiral had into Spain,' and he was to
go to Lisbon or San Lucar to sell it, 'and that they reported as from my Lord
Admiral that because this deponent was a shipwright he might in the
harbours where he should put in take view of the Spanish ships and galleys
and of the manner of their building.'
With a ship so cheaply built and rigged, and employed on such
favourable terms, it could not have been difficult to make a handsome
profit, and it is little wonder that Pett calls her a 'lucky ship' when he tells of
her sale in 1612.
The corruption in the administration of the Navy,
which had begun to appear in the last years of Commission Inquiry.
of

Elizabeth's reign, had by 1608 reached such a height that
James was at length forced to take some steps in regard to it. The
knowledge that Spain was actively engaged in setting her navy in order no
doubt quickened the King into action and provided a motive powerful
enough to sweep aside for the time the obstruction of the senile Nottingham
and his jackal Mansell. At first it had been intended that Nottingham should
head the Commission, and letters patent[108] were passed on 1st April 1608,
in which his name appears first, Northampton coming second, but for some
reason this was altered, and on the 30th April a commission under the great
seal was issued to Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton, then Lord Privy
Seal and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, Charles Howard, Earl of
Nottingham, the Lord High Admiral, and thirteen others,[109] of whom Sir
Robert Cotton, the famous antiquary, was the most active. Northampton,
who was Nottingham's cousin, seems to have been the leader of the reform
party, and although he is persistently vilified by Pett, there is little doubt
that he was actuated by a more or less sincere desire (sharpened, possibly,
by mutual antagonism between the offices of Lord Warden and Lord High
Admiral) to reform the many existing abuses. What all these abuses were
would take too long in telling, but they were sufficient to justify, and more
than justify, the vigorous language of the patent, which speaks of the
'very great and intolerable abuses, deceits, frauds, corruptions, negligences, misdemeanours and
offences' that 'have been and daily are perpetrated, committed, and done against the continual

admonitions and direction of you our High Admiral by other the officers of and concerning our
Navy Royal, and by the Clerks of the Prick and Check, and divers other inferior officers,
ministers, soldiers, mariners, and others serving, working, or labouring in and about our said
Navy.'

The patent then proceeds to give instructions for the examination of all
officials who have been connected with the Navy since 1598 and the
investigation of their accounts,
minding that the said intolerable abuses, frauds, misdemeanours, and offences shall forthwith be
enquired of, the offenders therein condignly punished and also to provide a speedy reform of the
same for the time to come.

Possibly, at the time, James really intended to reform the administration.
Nottingham kept out of the way, and his subordinates had an unpleasant
time while they were examined upon their misdeeds; but in the end, James'
fear of Spain having passed away, he, with his usual weakness, let the
offenders off with a lecture.
The Commission commenced to sit in May 1608 and sat for a little over a
year, ending with the proceedings before the King recorded on pp. 68-69
below. During this period 161 witnesses were examined, and their signed
depositions taken. These are preserved among the manuscripts of Sir Robert
Cotton,[110] who acted as the secretary. They were analysed by Cotton, who
drew up a lengthy report[111] in which various abuses are set forth and
proposals made for their remedy; the latter, as might be expected, were duly
ignored by the King. Among the offenders cited by name, Pett appears as
one of the chief, and although the present occasion is not convenient for a
general examination of the report and evidence, some mention must be
made of the matters in which Pett is directly charged with wrong-doing.
The first point made against him is that while he was keeper of the timber
store at Chatham he had failed to reject bad timber and plank brought in by
one of the purveyors. His answer to this was 'that Sir Henry Palmer had
been so quick with him for some of these exceptions as he would complain
no more though the purveyors brought in faggot sticks.' He is next charged
with certain malpractices in connexion with the Resistance, and other
charges on this account are brought against him further on; these have
already been referred to. In a general charge against the Master Shipwrights
that, for reasons of private gain, ships were repaired 'when they were not

worth the labour nor the charges bestowed on them,' the case of the Victory
is cited as an example:
Thus did the Victory for transportation, docking and breaking up stand the king in four or five
hundred pounds, and yet no one part of her at this day serviceable to any use about the building
of a new as was pretended for a colour. To conclude, though we set her at a rate of 200l., yet it
had been better absolutely for the King to have given her away to the poor than to have been put
to the charge of bringing her from Chatham to Woolwich, no other use having been made of her
than to furnish Phineas Pett (that was the only author of her preservation) with fuel for the diet of
those Carpenters which he victualled.

In complaining that estimates for repair were made blindfold, with the
result that money was spent upon old ships more than sufficient to have
built new ones, the illustration is again drawn from Pett's proceedings:
An instance of this art may be drawn from the King's ship now called the Anne Royal, whose
estimate being first set down by the Master Shipwrights at 3576l., which sum would have built
another (by the judgment of those that made the estimate) newly from the stocks of equal
burthen, doth upon her finishing by Phineas Pett (a favourite of the chief officers) amount to full
7600l. upon that false ground which before hath been spoken of.

A little further on, in dealing with frauds connected with the receipt of
stores, Pett is again made the principal example:
When timber and other materials come to be received into the stores, of the Clerk of the Check
combining closely with the deliverers to increase the quantity of that which is delivered some
time to a third part above true measure, which increase is shared between both, and lots are cast
upon the robe of the Redeemer.
Sir Foulke Greville, espying plainly this collusion between parties to the wrong of our great
Master, sought to prevent this play of fast and loose by adding Phineas Pett to the Clerk of the
Check at Chatham as an assistance to take care that there might be no increase of quantities, but
all things accounted for in their true proportion in weight and number as they were indeed,
without conspiracy. But such was the falsehood of the party, as having found the thief, he ran
with him, thrusting himself into [the] pack with the Clerk and the deliverer; and thus adding
himself as an assistant indeed, not to plain dealers as Sir Foulke Greville meant, but to filchers
and abusers, as Pett himself meant, which appears upon examination.

In a further charge relating to the issue of material for ships building or
under repair, it is pointed out that the Surveyor had taken away the keys of
the storehouses from the Clerk of the Check, their proper custodian, 'and
put them into the hand of Pett his chief favourite, who could not only take
just what he liked, but likewise hath power to expend upon the ships (or
under that pretence) whatsoever he thinketh good without contradiction,
and full scope withal to embezzle what he list.' He is also mentioned in
connexion with the construction and decay of the 'pale' which should

defend the storeyard from pilferers 'on the outside towards the Thames,' and
with the employment of youths and boys 'that fill up numbers but work
little.' Finally he is charged with 'wasteful and lavish expense' in repairing
the ironwork of the Anne Royal at a cost of 800l., or more than double the
amount necessary for the purpose. In the only charge to which Pett himself
refers, namely, that of altering his lodgings, he is not mentioned by name,
but it is clear that all the resident officials had added rooms to their houses
at the expense and to the detriment of the storehouses which adjoined.
There seems little doubt that these charges were well founded, and that
Pett was acting in collusion with his 'very good friends' Mansell and Trevor
to defraud the State. It is, however, probable that the other officers were
little better, and were only restrained by the lack of those opportunities the
possession of which they envied Pett.
It is clear from the remarks in the Report of the
Commission of Inquiry already quoted and from Pett's The Prince Royal.
narrative[112] that the original intention was to rebuild the Victory, which had
been removed from Chatham to Woolwich in the autumn of 1606 for this
purpose. The official records do not throw any light upon the circumstances
in which this intention came to be abandoned, and indeed the Treasurer's
official accounts for 1609 and 1610 preserve the fiction that the Victory was
rebuilt.[113] From the story related by Phineas, it appears that the Victory had
been given by James to Prince Henry, and that Pett was entrusted with the
task of rebuilding her because he was one of the Prince's retainers. He then
conceived the idea of constructing a ship larger than any that his
predecessors had built, and made a model embodying his design, which so
pleased the Lord High Admiral that the King was brought to see it, with the
result that it was decided to build a new great ship on the lines suggested by
Pett. This procedure of constructing a model to scale from the design, for
the approval of the authorities, before starting to build the ship, is probably
the first instance of the adoption of a course that later became customary in
all cases where a new ship represented an advance in size, or method of
construction, or embodied features not to be found in her predecessors. Her
keel was not laid until the 20th October 1608, nearly a year after the model
had been submitted to the King's inspection. In the meantime the
Commission of Inquiry had been appointed, and the construction had not
proceeded far before questions were raised as to the correctness of the

design, the suitability of the material, and the competence of Pett as
designer and builder.
On the 15th December, Baker was examined on the subject before the
Commission. The questions put to him related to the estimated cost of the
Prince Royal and the material used; the cost of the rebuilding of the Ark
Royal; and the experience of Pett as a builder. Baker estimated the probable
cost of the Prince at £7000, nearly twice what he had been paid for the
Merhonour.[114] This estimate, although apparently in excess of one given by
Pett, proved very far short of the mark, since the total cost finally came to
nearly £20,000, no less than £1309 being spent on decoration and carving
alone. As regards the material, Baker stated that the timber was very badly
chosen. It appears that old and unsuitable trees were selected on account of
the profit to be made by their larger 'tops,' which seem to have been one of
the many perquisites of the officers. In preparing the timber there was, so
Baker said,
so much waste as the charge will be well near half so much more as it needed to be to the King;
besides the ship will be of many years less continuance serviceable than otherwise she would
have been if the timber and plank had been well chosen, and framed in the wood.

In regard to Pett's competence:
Being asked, also by virtue of his oath, whether Phineas Pett be a workman sufficient to be put
alone in trust upon a ship of so great charge and burthen, he answereth that he never saw any
work of his doing whereby he should so think him sufficient for that work, but rather thinketh the
contrary. Further, being demanded what ship he knoweth or have heard the said Pett hath built or
repaired, he saith he never knew any new ship of his building, but one of 120 tons or thereabouts
which he built by Chatham for himself,[115] as far as he knoweth, and another ship of the burthen
of 223 tons he repaired,[116] and a pinnace[117] for his Majesty, which he saith was so done that
after he had repaired them they were worse in condition than they were when he took them in
hand, for that they were so unserviceable that they would bear no sail, by which default of his
they were returned from the seas into Chatham to be new furred[118] to make them bear sail, so
that with his first repairing and furring of them he doubts not but it will appear by the accompts
that his workmanship with stuff was more chargeable than a new ship of their burthen might have
been new built for, which are enough to persuade any man that he cannot be sufficient to perform
the building of so great a ship when he hath performed the reparation of a small ship so ill, as of
a good ship he made a bad.
Further, being asked what his opinion was concerning the choice of the stuff, he saith it was
not chosen for the good of the King but for their own turns, and that very little of it fit to be put
into any ship, and much less into a great ship, because it will be of no continuance, and that he
never knew Pett to make any frame in the wood either for ship or boat, who cannot do it, being
never brought up to it; and as for his brother Peter Pett, who was appointed purveyor, he holdeth
him a man most simple for such a purpose, and also saith that, though they be both unsufficient

for the making of such a frame, yet the badness of the stuff is not altogether to be imputed to
them, but to those who dispose of the business according to their own humour.

Five days later, Bright came up for examination and was required to give
answers to seventeen questions, apparently the same as those put to Baker.
Six of them he did not answer, but referred the Commissioners to the
answers given to them by Baker. His replies to the others were generally in
corroboration of what Baker had said, but as regards Pett's capability he
expressed no direct opinion, contenting himself with pointing out that
the old Officers, in former times, in such great works did place two Master Shipwrights in the
building of one great ship, as my father Mr. Bright was joined with Mr. Pett in the building of the
Elizabeth Jonas, as also in the building of the Bear with Mr. Baker. Their reason was that two
Master Shipwrights' opinions was little enough for the charge so great in scope as she at
Woolwich will be, but now it is carried by the favour of some of the Officers to whom it pleaseth
them; but howsoever it is, the charge is great for a young man to do which never made great ship
before of that burthen.

After this the matter remained in abeyance until the
end of March, when Northampton enlisted the services Captain George
Waymouth.
of George Waymouth, who appears to have possessed a
great reputation among his contemporaries for his theoretical knowledge of
shipbuilding. In 1602 Waymouth had set out, under the auspices of the East
India Company, to attempt the North-West Passage in the Discovery, with
another small vessel, the Godspeed, but had been compelled, through the
mutiny of his crew, to abandon the attempt, after entering the strait
subsequently known as Hudson's Strait. In 1605 he made a short voyage of
discovery in the Archangel along the American coast. Of actual experience
in shipbuilding he seems at that time to have had none whatever, and a
perusal of his chapter on that subject in the manuscript volume 'The Jewell
of Artes,'[119] which he presented to James in 1604, would not inspire any
great confidence in his theoretical knowledge, but fortunately other means
of judging the extent to which this knowledge was subsequently increased
have lately presented themselves.
The chapter in 'The Jewell of Artes' consists entirely of criticism, together
with a few crude drawings not explained in the text. These criticisms are not
without point, as may be seen from the following extracts. He says:
Although the form and fashion of these our English ships have always been, and yet are
accompted to be made by the best proportion, and fittest both for service and burden, yet if art
and diligence were to the full performed in their buildings as they might, there should not remain

in them so many dangerous impediments as there do at this day, which maketh me verily suppose
that the one of them, if not both, is not in such measure in our shipwrights as with all my heart I
do wish.

A little further on, in speaking of the discrepancies to be found in ships
supposed to be built from the same design, he says:
Yet could I never see two ships builded of like proportion by the best and most skilful
shipwrights in this realm ... the chiefest cause of their error is because they trust rather to their
judgment than to their art, and to their eye than to their scale and compass.

He then, feeling, no doubt, that his want of technical experience in
shipbuilding gave him small right to pose as a critic of the professional
builders, deprecates their censure in the following words:
All which defects in building and many other I have with no less careful endeavour than with
the often peril and hazard of mine own life diligently applied myself to search and find out, even
to the uttermost of my skill and understanding; and although by mine own experience I can in
this point speak as much as most seamen (I might say as any), having been employed in this
service ever since I was able to do any, and served therein well near four prenticeships, and
having in this time borne all the offices belonging to this trade, even from the lowest unto the
highest, yet had I rather that any other should have taken upon them the searching and finding
out of these impediments and the laying of them open, than myself; but seeing that no man that
ever I heard of hath hitherto, as yet, undertaken the same, the thing being of much importance, as
it is, and the dangers so great, though perhaps I shall be hardly censured for the same of the
shipwrights, whose want of art or diligence I therein accuse, yet do I think it the part of every
good subject rather to seek to do good to the whole state than to fear the displeasure of any one
occupation.

In an undated paper, a copy of which is preserved in the Harleian MSS.,
[120]
he further criticises the shipwrights to the following effect:
The Shipwrights of England and of Christendom build ships only by uncertain traditional
precepts and observations and chiefly by the deceiving aim of their eye, where for want of skill
to work by such proportions as in Art is required and is ever certain, I have found these defects.
(1) No shipwright is able to make two ships alike in proportion nor qualities; to build a ship to
any desired burden certain; nor to propose to himself how much water his ship shall draw until
there be trial made thereof.
(2) Ships yet built go not upright in the sea, whereby they often lose the use of their lower tier
of ordnance.
(3) They are often forced to be furred; which is a great charge and weakening to the ships; this
is for want of skill to work their desired proportions.
(4) They labour and beat in the sea more than they may be made to do; which causeth often
leaks to spring and weakeneth them that they cannot last so long as they might.
(5) They go not so near the wind as they might be made to do, the wind being the greatest
advantage in fight.

(6) They draw more water in proportion to their burdens than they might be made to do.
(7) They be made of less burdens than they may be made of in proportion to the length,
breadth and depth. This defect the Hollanders have in part mended and are able to carry freight
for one third part less than our Merchants.
(8) They cannot bear sail nor steer readily to make the best advantage of the wind, for want
whereof, and of art in proportioning the Moulds, they sail not so fast as they may be made to do.
My study these twenty years in the Mathematics hath been chiefly directed to the mending of
these defects. I have during this time applied myself to know the several ways of building and the
secrets of the best shipwrights in England and Christendom, and have likewise observed the
several workings of ships in the sea in all the voyages I have been. By these helps I have
demonstratively gained the science of making of ships perfect in Art, which of necessity must be
made wrought by a differing way from all the Shipwrights in the world.

He goes on to say that ships built after his plan would cost less and be of
more burden, and gives reasons why the ships of the Low Countries carried
freight at cheaper rates than English ships. This, he says, was because they
were longer in proportion to their breadth, broader and longer in the bottom,
and therefore of less draught, and not built so high above water, with the
result that they required less sail and tackling and could manage with a
smaller crew.
These criticisms of the English shipwrights are no doubt well founded,
but the step from critic to artist is a long one, and Waymouth never took it.
Nevertheless he was a more competent critic than Pett would have us
believe. An anonymous seventeenth-century MS., entitled, 'A most
excellent briefe and easie Treatize,' containing, among other matters, 'A
most excellent mannor for the Buildinge of Shippes,' exists in the Scott
collection, and this, by the kindness of the owner, has been placed at the
disposal of the editor, who, after a careful examination, has no doubt that it
is the work of Waymouth, written after he had built the ship which Pett calls
a 'bable and drowne divell,' and of which a midship section is given.
Unfortunately, except in this one instance, the treatise is purely theoretical
and throws no light on the problems of the Prince Royal, or the methods of
the royal shipwrights, but as a theoretical treatise it is far in advance of the
'Jewell of Artes,' and indeed of anything that the English shipwrights of that
century produced, and is sufficient to explain why Waymouth's opinions
were accorded so much respect.
After Waymouth's futile visit to Woolwich, the King
Inquiry by
seems to have been much perplexed, and since there was Nottingham,
no independent expert, for they had all taken sides, he

handed the matter over to a committee composed of the Worcester, and
Suffolk.
Lord High Admiral and two of the great officers of
State. In theory, no doubt, the selection of the Admiral to superintend such
an inquiry was the natural course to be followed, but in this case he was
sitting in judgment on one of his own protégés, and could hardly condemn
him without indirectly condemning himself and justifying Northampton.
The result in such circumstances—and with such a man—was a foregone
conclusion, for the other two members, having no professional experience
of the matter, would naturally follow his direction. The technical arguments
of Baker and Stevens would be lost on Worcester and Suffolk, even if
Nottingham could appreciate them, which may be doubted; and—judging
by his writings, and allowing for their ignorance of the mathematical side of
the questions at issue—it is not surprising that Waymouth bored them
beyond endurance, with the result that in the end 'they found the business in
every part and point so excellent.'
Northampton's anger at the result was not unnatural, and the King found
that there was no other course open to him but to hold an inquiry in person.
This was fixed for the 8th May, and during the first week of that month
Baker, Waymouth, and their associates took the dimensions of the ship at
Woolwich and set out their objections in the following document:[121]
Imperfections found upon view of the new work begun at Woolwich.
First her mould is altogether unperfect, furred[122] in divers places; she hath too much floor;
[123]
the lower sweep[124] and the upper are too long, and the middle sweep too short.
Her depth is too great and her side too upright, so that of necessity she must be tender sided
and not able to bear sail.
Her breadth lieth too high, and so she will draw too much water, and thereby dangerous and
unfit for our shoal seas.
Her harpings[125] are too round and lie too low, which maketh a cling at the after end of it, and
makes the bow flare off[126] so much that the work is not only misshapen but the ship dangerous
to beat in the sea either at an anchor or under sail.
Her workmanship is very ill done, and thereby the ship made weak, as first the limber[127]
holes are cut so deep in the midship floor timbers that they are less thickness upon the keel than
toward the rung head; whereas they ought to be thicker and stronger in the midst, to bear the
weight on ground.
The futtocks[128] have not scarph[129] enough with the floor timbers, but at the lower end of
them are divers short clogs of timber put in which serve to no purpose for strength but to fill up
the room. Every mean owner in the Thames will assuredly tie the carpenter to allow a great
scarph and to have his timber come whole within a foot of his kelson.

Some of the timbers abaft and afore are left so deep by the kelson that the footwales[130] and
outside not being well trenailed together will be a great weakness to the ship, and the rather for
that the rung,[131] being cut out of right and old grown timber, cannot be brought to a lesser
scantling, they will break in sunder at the cross grain.
The provision of timber was not fitting such a chargeable work for that much of the same is
overgrown and many pieces of them cross grained, as cut to a roundness out of straight timber,
which cannot be strong enough to bear a ship on ground of so great weight as this is; as may be
seen both in the ship and yard.
To shew his weakness in art and the imperfection of the mould, Pett himself, after workmen
had seen her, hauled down his futtocks[132] 2 foot as soon as the lords were gone, and cut off
some of the heads of them, whereby they have made her more imperfect than she was and put all
things out of order that she can hardly be ever amended.
Mathew Baker. W. Bright.
Nycholas Clay. Edward Stevenes.
John Greaves. Richard Meryett.
George Waymouth.
All these being Shipwrights (saving Capt. Waymouth) have taken their oath, and answered before
us, both upon their conscience to God, their duty to the King and their love to their country that
this declaration is true. And Capn. Waymouth also affirmeth that all which the said Shipwrights
have declared to be imperfections are so to be accounted. But the error of the limber holes he did
not look into, supposing that no man affecting the name of a workman would err in so gross an
absurdity.
H. Northampton. Ch. Parkins.
E. Zouch. Ro. Cotton.
John Corbett.

Capn. Waymouth further saith, touching the imperfection of the mould, that the Hollowing
Moulds[133] are not good neither before nor abaft, for in the Hollowing Moulds afterward he hath
taken away too much timber from the hooks, whereby it hath much weakened the ship, that when
she cometh to lie on ground she will complain in that place, which will be a great impediment to
the ship. And concludeth that she being so deep and her moulds so unperfect, with these gross
errors and absurdities she can never be made strong and fit for service, and least of all for our
seas.
Edward Stevenes. George Waymouth.
Mathew Baker.
W. Bright.
Nycholas Clay.
John Greaves.
Richard Meryett.
H. Northampton.
E. Zouch.
Ch. Parkins.
Ro. Cotton. John Corbett.

This indictment cannot be lightly set aside. Baker was the most
prominent shipbuilder of that day, and Bright and Meryett (or, as the name
is more usually written, Meritt) were Government shipbuilders of long
experience, while Clay, Greaves, and Stevens were private builders of
considerable standing in their profession. Unfortunately we have hardly any
authentic details of the ship; certainly not sufficient to enable us to form any
independent opinion upon the question of her design. We have, from the
careful survey[134] taken in 1632, the following dimensions:
Feet. Ins.
Length of keel 115 0
Breadth 43 0
Mean breadth 36 0
Depth (presumably from the breadth to top of keel) 18 0
Depth from the seeling 16 3
Tonnage (old measurement) 1186·80
Tonnage (new measurement) 1330

and from the arguments during the inquiry it appears that the breadth of the
floor was 11 feet 8 inches. This is all we know of the shape of the hull
below water, and the pictures of the ship that can be considered authentic
representations[135] do not add to this knowledge.
It would seem that Pett had made one or two slight alterations in the
accepted rules, as followed by his predecessors, in the design of the hull.
For example, his floor was slightly wider than the amount allowed by Baker
in his scheme for plotting the midship section, given in the 'Fragments of
Ancient English Shipwrightry,'[136] according to which it should have
worked out at 10 feet 3 inches; but as Waymouth had, as we have already
seen, been advocating a broader floor, a change that subsequently took
effect, it is difficult to understand why he, at any rate, should have objected
to this. To a later age, which has seen much greater ships of deeper draught
navigate 'our shoal seas' in safety, the objection to the deep draught of water
may seem somewhat uncalled for, but it must be remembered that at that
date the King's ships, when not on service, lay in the Medway above Upnor,
and an undated MS.[137] written about 1640 shows that difficulty was
experienced in finding safe moorings for the Sovereign and the Prince in
this position. On the whole, it seems probable that the objections on the
score of design were not well founded. We never hear of the ship having
been crank or unseaworthy on this account, and there is no such disgraceful

episode as that connected with the Unicorn, built by Edward Boate in 1633,
to be brought up against her.
On the charge of insufficiency of material, however, the evidence is
against Pett. There can be little doubt but that much of the timber was
unsuitable; some was green and unseasoned; some too old and in incipient
decay; while the curved timbers, which should have been cut from trees
crooked by natural growth, had been cut from straight trees, with the result
that the grain did not run round, but across, the curves, to the detriment of
their strength. In December 1621 the Navy Commissioners expressed their
feelings on the subject to Buckingham in a letter, of which the following
draft is preserved in the Coke MSS.:[138]
Her weakness is so great that all we can do unto her at this time with above 500l. charge will
but make her ride afloat and be able to go to sea upon our own coast rather for show than for
service, and that to make her a strong and perfect ship will require at least 6,000l. charge and
time till monies and fit provisions may be had. This we write to your Honour with grief and some
just indignation, seeing a ship which so lately cost His Majesty near 20,000l. and was boasted to
be of force to fight for a kingdom, so suddenly perish, and that no other reasons are given thereof
but her first building of old red and decaying timber and that fallen in the sap, and her double
planking with green and unseasoned stuff, wherein the improvidence of the officers and
unfaithfulness of the workmen cannot be excused, such faults tending to the dishonouring and
disarming of the state cannot with duty be either coloured or concealed.

Perhaps this was stated a little too strongly, for in 1623, after a refit
costing under 1000l., she made the voyage to Spain and back in safety.
Nevertheless, as pointed out by Mr. Oppenheim, she 'was never subjected to
any serious work,' and in 1641 she was entirely rebuilt at Woolwich by
Peter Pett at an estimated cost of 16,019l., to which must be added 2160l.
for launching and transporting her to Chatham.[139]
Having been forced by the circumstances to take the
matter into his own hand, James seems to have The Inquiry before
James at Woolwich.
conducted the inquiry with moderation and skill, and if
he had remained content with weighing the evidence, and had not attempted
to decide some of the technical points in dispute himself, his decision might
have received universal acceptance.
An inspection of the list of witnesses on either side shows that the weight
of authority was against Pett: the seamen appearing against him were of
much greater importance than those for him, and, with the exception of
Burrell, who subsequently[140] reported against the ship, the same may be

said of the shipwrights. In considering the result of the inquiry we cannot
do better than follow James' division into the three points of art, sufficiency
of materials, and charge. As regards art, it is obvious that Pett was treading
the path of progress experimentally with his new design; the criticisms
indicate that he had introduced modifications into the methods followed by
Baker and the older shipwrights (e.g. in the width of the floor and the shape
of the bows), while the subsequent furring of the mould and the alterations
to the futtocks show that he was uncertain where he was going, and
modified his plans during the building. For the settlement of the much
disputed point of the flat of the floor, which seems to have been the
determination of the actual point at which the lower sweep commenced
(obtained, presumably, by finding the geometrical centre of that sweep and
dropping a perpendicular from it on to the floor), James chose Briggs, who
was an eminent mathematician, and Chaloner, who, notwithstanding that he
was a court official, was of some eminence as a scientist. Their verdict in
favour of Pett must therefore be accepted as final.
On the whole, it seems that as regards 'art' Pett was in the right; but as
regards the second point, 'material,' sufficient has been already said to show
that his opponents were justified in their criticism. As regards the third
point, 'charge,' i.e. costs, facts showed subsequently that the claim that 'the
charge of the building of this ship should not exceed other ships that had
been built in her Majesty's times ... allowing proportion for proportion, the
garnishing not exceeding theirs,' was entirely unfounded; for even allowing
for the lavish decoration, the cost of building was much greater
proportionately than that of any of those ships. The exuberance of the
decoration may be seen from the entries in the Declared Accounts, printed
in the Appendix,[141] which are of additional interest from the information
they give as to constructive details. It will be observed that these agree with
such details as can be made out in the Hampton Court and Hinchinbrook
pictures.[142]
The Commission of Inquiry of 1618 found the
management of the Navy in much the same state as it The Commission of
was in 1608, with the same abuses still unremedied. But 1618.
although in its Report it did not pillory Pett as the earlier Commission had
done, it seems, by the reforms which it instituted, to have made him very
uncomfortable. The actual shipbuilding was concentrated at Deptford, and

Phineas was employed at Chatham in the work of improving and enlarging
that yard. Wm. Burrell, who had been one of Pett's chief supporters in the
Prince Royal Inquiry, was made one of the Commissioners, and although he
remained the chief shipbuilder of the East India Company,[143] the whole of
the new construction, which amounted to two ships yearly for the next five
years, was placed in his hands, all the ships being built under contracts
made between Burrell and the Commissioners. Naturally this arrangement,
however efficient it might be from the national point of view, did not
coincide with Pett's interests, and in his usual hyperbolical style he
describes Burrell and Norreys (the Surveyor) as his 'greatest enemies,' and
attributes the necessary reforms of the Commissioners to a plot to 'ruin'
himself.
The story of the Expedition to Algiers, which was as
much a diplomatic move in support of the Elector The Algiers
Expedition.
Palatine as an attempt to suppress the Algerine pirates,
has been amply dealt with by historians,[144] but there remains something to
be said about Pett's connection with it, and his financial troubles that arose
from it. It will be noted that he does not utter a word as to what happened
between the time of his joining Mansell's fleet at Malaga in the Mercury on
the 8th February and his return to the Downs on the 19th September. This
silence was, no doubt, intentional, and arose from his unwillingness to put
on record anything that might give offence to his friend Mansell or to
higher authorities.
Part of the fleet was fitted out at the expense of the London merchants,
who entered into a contract with Phineas for the construction of two
pinnaces, of 120 and 80 tons respectively, subsequently named the Mercury
and the Spy. It was the habit of the Master Shipwrights to exceed their
instructions in building ships for the Navy; partly, perhaps, from a desire to
do greater things than they were asked to do, and to outrival their
colleagues, but largely because the greater the ship the greater the profit to
themselves. When Pett attempted to play this trick upon the merchants
(increasing one pinnace from 120 tons to 300, and the other from 80 tons to
200), 'upon some hopes of thanks and reward,' he got bitten badly, for the
merchants, disdaining the precedents of the royal dockyards, insisted upon
holding to their contract, and left Pett to make the best of a bad bargain. His
appeal to the Council for redress was referred to the Committee of

Merchants, who in their reply[145] of 2nd December 1622 pointed out that
their 'chief desires and endeavours have been and ever shall be to do right
unto all and (as fast as money can be gotten in) to give satisfaction where
any just demands can be made unto us.' They added that 'at our last meeting
Captain Pett sent his brother and son unto us, with whom we have conferred
and have agreed that Captain Pett shall bring in his accompt, and if it appear
that he hath not received as much or more than any way can be due unto
him, either for making the two pinnaces or his entertainment, we will make
present payment of the remainder, as we have formerly offered before your
Lordships.'
The matter drifted on until 1624, and two further remonstrances, from the
Admiralty, brought forth a reply from the merchants that they were
sorry to observe your Lordships' displeasure contained against us upon the suggestions of those
whom nothing but their own demands can satisfy.... Your Lordships may please to be advertised
that we contracted with him to build two pinnaces for twelve hundred and seventy pounds, and
have paid to his workmen and lent to himself divers great sums of money over and above our
contract and his wages,[146] by reason whereof we conceive he is more indebted to us than his
wages demanded amounts unto, in a great sum of money, and also we lent him two hundred
pounds upon his own bond yet unsatisfied. Notwithstanding, as formerly we have certified your
Lordships, and sundry times offered to Capt. Pett, that we were ready to accompt with him that
satisfaction might be given if ought were due to either party, and we are still ready to perform the
same, yet because he rejects this motion and that we are desirous your Lordships may be fully
satisfied of our honest intentions and proceedings and may be no further troubled herein, we are
therefore emboldened to become suitors to your Lordships that the Commissioners of the Navy,
or whom else your Lordships shall please to appoint, may have the examination of the account
depending, and if upon their report anything be found due we will take present order for payment
thereof.

Apparently Pett never received the balance of the
money, but his troubles did not end there. He was Elizabeth Pett.
indebted to his brother Peter for materials for these ships
to the value of 325l. While his brother lived Phineas does not seem to have
troubled about repayment, although, according to Elizabeth Pett, his sister-
in-law, Peter had been 'often arrested on this account,' and Phineas himself
had, as he tells us, been arrested and imprisoned in 1628 at the suit of 'one
Freeman,' by whom the timber seems to have been originally supplied.[147]
After Peter's death,[148] his widow endeavoured to recover the debt from
Phineas, but could not enforce judgment on account of the latter's position
as the King's servant. She therefore petitioned the Admiralty in January
1633 for 'leave to have the benefit of law against him.' Pett was ordered to

satisfy her or show cause why the law should not take its course. Pett
explained his loss on the transaction, and asserted that, 'notwithstanding this
great loss and main other[149] befallen me, yet according to my poor abilities
I have endeavoured to make satisfaction for the debt due to my brother,' and
he promised to pay it off in instalments. Elizabeth, who had herself been
'taken in execution' for the debt, pressed for a larger amount down, because
she was 'almost utterly undone through want of the said sum so long time,
being the greater part of her maintenance.'
In May Phineas wrote to Nicholas protesting that he could not help
defaulting in his payments because his son fell dangerously sick, and he
could not get his arrears due from the Exchequer, and asserting his intention
to settle the matter 'before the end of this term.' In June Nicholas told him
that the course of justice could not be stayed any longer, and Pett again
promised that the instalment due should be paid. In October, Pett was still
in default, and he was ordered by the Admiralty to give immediate
satisfaction or show cause within a week why proceedings should not be
taken. He managed still to hold out, and on Sunday the 8th of December he
was arrested as he was going to St. Dunstan's Church 'to hear a brother of
his preach.' The officers let him go when they heard that he was the King's
servant, and subsequently excused their action on the ground that Mrs.
Pett's daughter had assured them that Phineas 'lay skulking in obscure
places and then ... lay at a chandler's shop in Tower Street, being ... an old
sea captain and ready to go to sea presently.' Upon this Pett petitioned the
Admiralty, complaining that he had offered part of the debt, which was
'utterly rejected, and her implacable spirit will receive no other satisfaction
but present payment of the whole debt,' and he asked the Lords to summon
Mrs. Pett and her abettors before them for daring to arrest him without
leave, 'so that he can go about his business without fear of arrest and that
she may be enforced to accept her debt at such reasonable times as he is
able to pay.' The remainder of the story is not to be found in the State
Papers, but Pett tells us[150] that the matter was fought out at law, to his 'great
charge,' so that presumably he was ultimately compelled to pay the money.
A little before the time when Elizabeth first began to
press him for the payment of the debt due to her late The Destiny
husband, Phineas was being pursued by an anchor-smith named Tayte, who
asked the Admiralty for permission to proceed against him for a debt of

250l. due on account of ironwork supplied for the construction of the
Destiny, which Pett built for Sir Walter Ralegh in 1617. Phineas does not
mention this in the manuscript, but as it gave rise to the interesting letter to
Nicholas and petition to the Admiralty printed in the Appendix[151] it seems
worthy of passing reference. On the return of Ralegh from his disastrous
expedition, the Destiny was confiscated by the Crown, her name being
changed to Convertive. Pett was therefore unable to recover against the ship
the 700l. which was due to him, and presumably had no power to recover it
from Ralegh's estate; possibly, however, this was another case in which he
had exceeded the contract and had no legal remedy against the owner for
the difference.
In relating the voyage to Spain with the squadron sent
to bring home Prince Charles after his foolish adventure The Voyage to
Spain.
with Buckingham at the Spanish Court, Pett has not
been so reticent as he was in the case of the voyage to Algiers, and he has
given a fuller account of the incidents of the return voyage than will be
found elsewhere. The circumstances in which he went mark the peculiarly
favoured position which he held in relation to the King and the Lord High
Admiral. The letter written to Buckingham printed in the Appendix[152]
further illustrates this special relationship. His complaint therein that the
cook-room of the Prince had been moved against his consent is evidently
directed against the Commissioners, who, in their report of 1618, had urged
that cook-rooms should be placed in the forecastle because, when placed
amidships, the smoke made 'the okam spew out,' and they took up valuable
space required for storage, and by bad distribution of weights made the ship
'apt to sway in the back.' It does not seem unreasonable that the Navy
Commissioners should have objected[153] to the absence of one of the
principal master shipwrights from his duties for such a purpose as the
voyage in question, although Phineas, with his usual animus against those
who differed from him, accuses them of plots and malicious practices.
The scandal in regard to the sale of old cordage as
'brown paper stuff' was judicially investigated before the Brown Paper Stuff.
Judge of the Admiralty, and the report of the proceedings is preserved
among the State Papers.[154] From this report it appears that Palmer, Pett, and
others had sold this material (much of which, so it was alleged, might have
been used for oakum, gun wads, or twice-laid rope) without the consent of

the other Principal Officers. Some of the money received for it had been
applied to legitimate purposes, but it is clear that part had been kept back in
the hope that no questions would be asked, and that after a time the holders
might appropriate it for themselves. The assertion of Pett[155] that it was
'claimed as a perquisite to our places' is not borne out by his own evidence.
According to his deposition, made on 7th August 1633, the Keeper of the
Storehouse at Chatham had reported to him that the storehouse was so
cumbered with 'unnecessary and unserviceable cordage and old ends and
decayed junks' that there was no room for serviceable material. For this
reason, he and Terne, Clerk of the Survey, then acting as deputy to
Aylesbury, sold 'a quantity of old ends and decayed junk for brown paper
stuff,' but Pett alleged that he told the 'Master then attendant' and other
officers that nothing that was fit for use or service was to be handed over to
the purchasers. Pett could not remember the total amount received for this
stuff,[156] but stated that he had 'received of the said Sir Henry Palmer (upon
promise made by this deponent to deliver up bills to the Treasurer of his
Majesty's Navy for so much money due to him, this deponent, from his
Majesty) four score and six pounds sterling and hath since made an
assignment to the said Treasurer to defalk so much out of this deponent's
entertainment payable to him.' He further stated that the sales were 'by their
own authority, being principal officers of his Majesty's Navy,' and claimed
that 'any two of the said principal officers personally attending at Chatham
have sufficient power and authority for themselves, without acquainting the
rest, there being divers precedents of the like done by others heretofore.'
On 22nd February 1634, Pett, Palmer, Fleming, Terne, and Lawrence
were sequestered from their places for having sold the material without
sufficient authority, but on 1st March Charles entirely pardoned Pett, while
only allowing the others the favour of continuing in their places until they
had answered in writing.[157]
The idea of building a royal ship that should be larger
and more ornate than any of her predecessors seems to The Sovereign of
the Seas.
have originated in the mind of the King, who acquainted
Pett with his intention towards the end of June 1634. Phineas thereupon
prepared a model, which was ready by the middle of October and was
carried to Court on the 19th of that month. In the meantime the Masters of
Trinity House heard of the project and lodged the amusing protest printed in

the Appendix.[158] Apparently this model was not approved, for on 7th
March of the following year Pett received instructions from the Admiralty
to build a 'new great ship' of 1500 tons, and was told to prepare a 'model' for
it.[159] This second model does not appear to have been constructed, but as
Pennington's draft, giving the dimensions proposed by him for the ship, is
endorsed by the King as a 'model,' perhaps a tabular statement of that nature
was all that was intended. In April a committee, consisting of Pennington,
Mansell, Pett, and John Wells,[160] examined Pett's plans and drew up the
following schedule of proposed dimensions,[161] which was approved by the
King but afterwards modified:
According to your Mats command we have examined the particulars of the plot and the
dimensions presented to your Maty by Capt. Pett, and by comparing the rules of Art and
experience together we have agreed to the Proportion underwritten, which we most humbly
submit to your Mats further pleasure.
Ft. Ins.
Length of the keel 127 0
Breadth within the plank 46 2
Depth in the hold from the breadth to the upper edge of the keel 18 9
Keel and dead rising 2 6
Draught of water from the breadth to the lower edge of the keel 21 3
The swimming line from the bottom of the keel 18 9
The flat of the floor 13 0
Rake of the stem 38 0
Rake of the post 8 0
Height of the Tuck at the fashion piece 16 0
Breadth of the Transome 28 0
Height of the way forward 14 0
Distance of the ports 10 0
Ports upon the lower tier, square 2 8
Ports upon the second tier, square 2 6
Ports upon the third tier, round or square 2 4
Distance of the ports from the swimming line with four months victuals at 5 0
With six months victuals at 4 6
The first deck from plank to plank 7 0
The second deck 7 3
The third deck 7 3
All the decks flush fore and aft, and the half deck, quarter deck and forecastle according to the
plot.
Ton and
Tonnage

1. This ship by the depth in hold will be 1466
2. By the draught in water 1661
3. By the mean breadth, which is the truest of all 1836

Your Maty will be pleased to be informed that after mature debate we have likewise agreed
upon the rules to be proportioned to each sweep of the midship bend, and where the bend is to be
placed, and likewise of the rules to be held in her narrowing and rising lines, which we all pray
may be only imparted to your Maty.
Robert Mansell. J. Pennington. J. Wells.
Phineas Pett.

This is endorsed in the King's handwriting: 'Dimensions resolved on for
the Great Ship, 7 of April 1635.' It is of interest to note, as evidencing the
jealous way in which the fundamentals of the design were kept secret, that
the Committee proposed to impart the details of the midship bend[162] and of
the narrowing and rising lines,[163] which together formed the key to the
actual form of the hull, to the King alone.
Ten days later Pennington appears to have put in a proposal that slightly
modified this design, increasing the draught of water by nine inches, the
beam by four inches, the flat of the floor by one foot, and the tonnage by 56
or 48 tons, but decreasing the keel length by one foot. His scheme of
dimensions, which is endorsed in the King's handwriting as 'Dimensions of
Pennington's Model for the Great Ship, 17 April 1635,'[164] seems, from the
fact that the tonnage is quoted in the contemporary lists[165] as 1522 tons, to
have been the one finally adopted, though with slight modification. It runs
as follows:
Ft. Ins.
Length by the keel 126 0
Breadth at the beam 46 6
Breadth at the Transome 28 0
Breadth of the Floor 14 0
Breadth from the water 2 0
Draught of water 19 6
Ports from the water 5 0
Ports asunder 9ft., some more 9 0
Ports from the deck 2 0
Distance between the decks from plank to plank 7 6
Rake of the Stem 37 6
Rake of the Post 9 0
Height of the Tuck 17 0

Depth in hold from the seeling to the lower edge of the beam 17 0
Sweep at the runghead 11 0
Sweep at the right of the mould 31 0
Sweep between the water line and the breadth 10 0
Sweep above the breadth 14 0
Burden in tons and tonnage by the old rule 1522
New rule 1884

The outstanding interest of this 'model' lies in the fact that it is the only
instance in which the sweeps of the mould are given. Before we can
proceed to construct from it the midship section, we are met with the
difficulty that the depth from greatest breadth to keel is not given, but in the
first model this was equal to the draught, viz. 18 feet 9 inches, and since
this was increased by 9 inches, we may fairly assume that the 'depth' in
Pennington's model would be about 19 feet 6 inches, and in fact we have
this dimension given in a contemporary list as 19 feet 4 inches. If, taking
this figure, we now attempt to plot the section, it will be found that the
sweeps will not reconcile, the radius of the futtock sweep, 31 feet, being too
great by about 6 feet. The mistake appears to lie in the height of the 'breadth
from the water' (i.e. the height of the greatest breadth above the 'swimming
line'), given as 2 feet. In the first model this was 2 feet 6 inches, and, as it is
not probable that it would be less in the deeper ship, we may take this to
have been 3 feet, and not 2 feet. On this assumption we can proceed to
construct the curve of the midship section as in the drawing annexed. In this
drawing we have:
Ft. Ins.
AB = the half breadth 23 3
AC = the depth from greatest breadth to top of keel 19 4
AD = the half flat of the floor 7 0
DE = the radius of the runghead sweep 11 0
the radius of the sweep between greatest breadth and
FG = 10 0
the waterline
FH = the radius of the 'sweep above the breadth' 14 0
We can now plot the curve of the section; Drawing the arc FI with radius
GF to a depth of 3 feet perpendicularly below CF, we obtain the point I, and
producing IG backwards to K, a point 31 feet distant from I, we have the
centre of the futtock sweep, or 'sweep at the right of the mould,' which is

given as 31 feet in radius. With this radius from K we draw the arc IL
cutting a line drawn from K through E at L. On drawing the runghead
sweep from D with radius of 11 feet from centre E, it is found that this arc
meets the other precisely at L, and these two arcs 'reconcile,' i.e. are tangent
to each other at L, for the centres of both arcs lie in the same straight line
KEL.

The curve of the 'topsides' presents more difficulty, because we are only
given the radius of the 'sweep above the breadth,' but if we assume that the
distance CM, or total height of the midship section above the greatest
breadth, is equal to AC (and this seems to have been the customary
proportion), and that the reverse curve NO was struck with the same radius
as FN, namely 14 feet, we get a curve for the half midship section
ADLIFNO which cannot be far from the original design, and in the lower
portion must approximate to it very closely indeed.
There are no data from which the plan or elevation can be constructed,
but it may be noted that the list in the State Papers already quoted gives the
length of keel as 127 feet, although the tonnage remains as fixed by
Pennington, so that, presumably, the rakes of the stem- and stern-posts were
also modified so as not to increase the displacement, or rather the empirical
measurement of it. Some time during this year Peter Pett was petitioning the
King for license to print and publish 'the plot or draught of the great ship,' a
concession which he had apparently been promised,[166] but there is no
record of the answer returned to his petition, nor is there any trace of the
drawing, which may have been the original of the well-known engraving by
Payne. In 1663 Christopher Pett gave Pepys a copy of the 'plate of the
Soverayne with the table to it,'[167] but whether this was Peter Pett's 'plot' or
Payne's engraving with additional details cannot now be ascertained.
Pett estimated the cost of building the ship at 13,860l., and was to be
required to 'put in assurance' to finish her for 16,000l.; but, before she was
complete, wages alone had amounted to more than this sum, while the total
cost, exclusive of ordnance, reached the extraordinary amount of 40,833l.
In May Pett set out for the north to fell and prepare the 2500 trees required
for her in Chopwell and Brancepeth Woods. The cost of carriage of the
timber to the water, estimated at 1190l. at least, fell upon the counties of
Durham and Northumberland, and Bishop Morton of Durham, who had
been made responsible for the provision of this service, had to apply to the
Council for assistance in proportioning out the assessment. The county of
Northumberland objected to the burden to be placed upon it, and it was
suggested that Cumberland, Westmoreland, and the North Riding of
Yorkshire should bear part. By the beginning of September the timber had
begun to arrive at Woolwich, and Pett expected to have the ship finished in
eighteen months.

On the 19th September Phineas found it necessary to protest to the King
against the interference of the other officers, who had 'from the beginning
opposed the King's purpose in building this ship,'[168] and especially against
being made to take material of which he did not approve, and against the
attempt to charge the ship with the cost of houses then being built at
Woolwich. He pointed out that he could not keep the cost within the
estimate if such practices, which seem to have been customary, were
permitted. The Navy Officers complained to the Admiralty of Pett's action,
and he was called before the Admiralty, when he denied that he had
complained to the King about any of them.[169] Possibly the great
disproportion between the estimated and the ultimate cost of the ship was to
some extent due to the fact that his protest was not successful, though it is
difficult to believe that his original estimate can have been even
approximately accurate. He had also under-estimated by six months the
time required to build her.
The manuscript ends abruptly with Pett's visit to the
Lord High Admiral on the 1st October 1638, and, The Last Years.
curiously enough, the references to him in the State Papers—hitherto
frequent—cease at the same date, with a letter from Northumberland to
Pennington mentioning this visit. Except for one reference in connexion
with a gratuity to be given to Henry Goddard in April 1645, his name is
never again mentioned therein. Yet he remained in the service and carried
on his duties at Chatham until his death.
On 28th June 1642 the King sent him a warrant informing him of the
appointment of Pennington as Lord High Admiral in place of
Northumberland, and directing him to send the standard and all necessaries
for the fleet as Sir John should direct.[170] It will be remembered that
Pennington hesitated and waited before going to the Fleet, with the result
that Warwick, who had been nominated by Parliament to take command,
went on board the flagship on the 2nd July, and the Fleet went over to the
Parliamentary side. On the 20th August Colonels Sir John Seaton and
Edwyn Sandis, acting on instructions from the Committee of Public Safety,
went to Chatham Dockyard, 'which was surrendered to them by Captain
Pett when he saw their warrant.'[171] This was on Saturday evening, and on
the Monday they completed their work by placing a guard on board the
Sovereign.

Pett was rewarded for his ready obedience by being included among the
Commissioners of the Navy appointed by Ordinance on the 15th
September,[172] and he was to receive the same allowance as he already held,
although the other captains (except Batten) and John Hollond were only
given 100l. a year. From this time until his death in August 1647, in his
seventy-seventh year, he seems to have remained quietly at Chatham,
perhaps too old to take any very active part in current affairs, for he has
certainly left no mark upon them. His death seems to have occurred
unnoticed; the exact date is unknown,[173] and there is no record of his will
—if he made one. The last entry concerning him in the official records[174]
relates to the payment of his salary up to 29th September 1647, when he
had passed away, but no reference is made to that fact. It is curious that Sir
Henry Vane, the Treasurer of the Navy in 1647, who had corresponded with
Pett, and must have known of his death, has left a blank in place of his
name in the entry in these accounts relating to the salary of Thomas Smith,
[175]
who succeeded to Pett's post at Chatham on the 28th August.
No authentic portrait of Phineas is known to exist. He tells us that in
1612 his 'picture was begun to be drawn by a Dutchman working then with
Mr. Rock,' one of the ship-painters, but does not say if it was ever finished.
The picture in the National Portrait Gallery, which shows the stern view of
the Sovereign, at one time supposed to be a portrait of Phineas, is now
acknowledged to be that of his son Peter. Another picture, in the possession
of the Earl of Yarborough, has been exhibited in the past as a portrait of
Phineas, but there can be no doubt that it really represents Sir Phineas (son
of Peter of Deptford and grandson of Peter of Wapping), who was a
Commissioner of the Navy from 1685 to 1689. The ship included in this
picture is probably the Britannia, built by Sir Phineas in 1682.
In forming any just appreciation of the character and
abilities of Phineas Pett, regard must be had to the Phineas Pett's
Character.
circumstances of age in which he lived. It was a time of
great political and religious unrest, and expressions of religious devotion
which might now be thought extravagant were then normal, and were
apparently not thought incongruous with dishonesty in money matters. The
chronic maladministration of the Navy, and the arrears in payment of the
relatively small salaries allotted to responsible posts, may to some extent

justify methods of acquiring additional emoluments that nowadays are
judged more severely.
Pett's kindness towards his unfortunate brothers and sisters shows a good
heart, and there must have been something attractive in his character to
secure him the steady support of Nottingham, James I, and Charles I, which
went so far as to shield him against the consequences of his misdeeds.
The favoured position which he held, and the privilege he enjoyed of
direct intercourse with the supreme heads of the Navy behind the backs of
his immediate superiors, brought Pett into conflict with the latter on many
occasions. It is not necessary to accept the explanation of Phineas that these
incidents were the results of conspiracies directed against him. To oppose
him was a deadly sin; thus, Burrell, who was 'a worthy gentleman and good
friend' when he stood on Pett's side in the Prince Royal inquiry, became
Pett's 'greatest enemy,' engaged in the 'malicious practice' of 'tending to
overthrow me and root my name out of the earth' because he was appointed
one of the Commissioners of Inquiry in 1618.
Pett was evidently interested in the various efforts made in the early
seventeenth century to explore and colonise the coasts of North America.
He frequently refers to his friendship with Button, and states that he assisted
in the selection of the Resolution for the voyage of 1612. He was,
moreover, a kinsman of Hawkridge and an acquaintance of Foxe; while
Gibbons was the master of his ship the Resistance. The disparaging remark
on Waymouth's 'mistaking his course (as he did in the North-West
Passage)'[176] shows that he was acquainted with the story of the voyage of
1602, but the most competent modern authorities do not agree with this
opinion of Pett (and of his contemporary Foxe), and hold that Waymouth
did in fact enter the straits subsequently called after Hudson and sail along
them for a considerable distance.[177] Pett was also a member of the Virginia
Company, though he does not mention this fact. His name appears in the
second and third Charters of the Company (1609 and 1612), and in 1611 he
subscribed the sum of 37l. 10s. This was the lowest subscription allowable
for members, but it was a comparatively large sum for those days.
Evidently Phineas, in spite of his large and growing family, was at this
time fairly prosperous, and had an income considerably greater than the 54l.
15s. which represented his official salary and allowance. No doubt this

income was augmented by the trading ventures in the Resistance and by
shipbuilding for private owners and by various official 'perquisites.' In 1614
it was increased by 40l., granted him by the King under writ of Privy Seal,
but in 1617 and the following years his bad speculations in regard to the
Destiny, the pinnace built for Lord Zouch, the Mercury, and the Spy, made
serious inroads into his capital and burdened him with a load of debt which
seems to have weighed upon him for many years and given him much
trouble. James came to his assistance in 1620 by presenting him with a
patent for a baronetcy which brought him about 650l., and Charles gave
him another in 1628 which only fetched 200l. His appointment as a
Commissioner of the Navy in 1631 increased his official income to 200l.,
exclusive of the 40l. payable on the writ of Privy Seal. With this substantial
addition to his salary he was in a position to gradually improve his finances,
and after 1634 we hear no more of the actions for debt.
From the story of his life as now unfolded it is clear that Phineas Pett was
a man of considerable ability and industry, kindly to his friends, but
impetuous and quick-tempered; 'well-in' with the authorities, and apt to take
advantage of that fact when he disagreed with his equals or superiors. It is
probable that he was slightly in advance of his contemporaries in the
profession of shipbuilding, but not to the extent commonly supposed. Here
his autobiography has stood him in good stead, for it has attached to his
name a personality that makes his existence seem more real and of more
moment to a later age in which his professional contemporaries have
become shadowy names. It is difficult to say what was his real motive in
writing it, but it was probably commenced as an explanation of his position
in regard to the Prince Royal dispute of 1608, and afterwards continued
partly for recreation; partly, perhaps, for the edification of his children.
Pepys appears to have thought much of it, for he took the trouble to copy it
into his collection of miscellanea; but it is certainly wanting in the candour
and honesty of the celebrated Diary, and seems to have been written in
order to convey a favourable impression to the reader, and explain away
doubtful deeds, rather than as a real revelation of self.

FOOTNOTES:

[94] 'The rage for Bible names dates from the decade 1560-1570, which decade
marks the rise of Puritanism.'—Bardsley, Curiosities of Puritan Nomenclature,
p. 39.
[95] Numbers xxvi. 11-13.
[96] Cott. MSS., Otho E. vii. fol. 155.
[97] Misc. x. 353. There are errors in this transcript, which has been corrected,
so far as possible, from the original.
[98] Double-dealer; probably he refers to Bright.
[99] MS. flattsheate.' Pepys has transcribed this 'flat cheat.'
[100] Sic in transcript, probably 'far.'
[101] Cal. S.P. Dom., 26 Feb. 1626.
[102] Monson Tracts, ii. 140.
[103] Miscell., vol. x. pp. 257-262: A large and particular complaint against
Phineas Pett relating to abuses in the Navy about the end of the Queen's and
beginning of King James's Reign. Cf. Dr. Tanner's Introduction in Hollond's
Discourses of the Navy (N.R.S., vol. vii.). What is probably the same account is
calendared by the Hist. MSS. Commission (Coke MSS, vol. i. p. 36) as
'1602 Oct 14} allegations by George Colyson of abstraction of sea stores, and
1603 June 19}
other frauds by Phineas Pett.'
[104] Infra, p. 18.
[105] Infra, p. 70.
[106] Cott. MSS., Julius F. 111—the depositions of Pett and various witnesses;
S.P.D. James I, xxxi. 51—memorandum drawn up from the above; S.P.D. James
I, xli.—report of the Commission, drawn up by Sir Robert Cotton, with
analytical draft and notes attached.
[107] The capital of Spain from 1601 to 1606.
[108] Pat. Roll, 1771.
[109] The names were as follows: Henry, Earl of Northampton; Charles, Earl of
Nottingham; Lord Zouch; Lord Wotton, Comptroller of the Household; Sir
Julius Cæsar, Chancellor of the Exchequer; Sir Thomas Parry, Chancellor of the
Duchy of Lancaster; Sir Edward Phillips and Sir John Doderidge, Serjeants-at-
Law; Sir Henry Hobart, Attorney-General; Sir Francis Bacon, Solicitor-General;
Sir William Waade, Lieutenant of the Tower; Sir Charles Parkins; Sir Robert
Cotton; Sir Thomas Crompton; and John Corbett, a Clerk of the Privy Council.
Pat. Roll, 1770.
[110] Cott. MSS., Julius F. 111.
[111] S.P. Dom. James I, xli. The 'book of reformation' referred to at p. 37.
Northampton also made a report direct to the King, which deals, however, only
in generalities.—Royal MSS. 18 A, xxxiv.
[112] Pp. lxiv and 29 et seq.

[113] Pipe Off. Dec. Accts. 2247. 'New Building the Victory in dry dock at
Woolwich;' ibid. 2248, 'Shipkeepers attending the Victory, now named the Prince
Royal'; 'New Building the Victory now named the Prince Royal.'
[114] The relative dimensions were: Prince Royal—length of keel 115 ft.;
breadth 43 ft.; depth 18 ft. Merhonour—length of keel 110 ft.; breadth 37 ft.;
depth 17 ft. Baker built the Merhonour by contract for £3600.
[115] The Resistance.
[116] The Answer. He does not include the Anne Royal, which had just been
finished.
[117] The Moon.
[118] 'There are two kinds of furring, the one is after a ship is built, to lay on
another plank upon the side of her (which is called plank upon plank). The other,
which is more eminent, and more properly furring, is to rip off the first planks
and to put other timbers upon the first, and so to put on the planks upon these
timbers. The occasion of it is to make a ship bear a better sail, for when a ship is
too narrow, and the bearing either not laid out enough, or too low, then they must
make her broader, and lay her bearing higher. They commonly fur some two or
three strakes under water and as much above, according as the ship requires,
more or less. I think in all the world there are not so many ships furred as are in
England, and it is a pity that there is no order taken, either for the punishing of
those who build such ships, or the utter preventing of it, for it is an infinite loss
to the owners, and an utter spoiling and disgrace to all ships that are so
handled.'—Mainwaring, Seaman's Dictionary, s.v. Fur.

[119] Addl. MS. 19889.
[120] Harl. MS. 309, f. 68.
[121] S.P. Dom., James I, xlv. 33.
[122] See note on p. lxviii. In this case pieces were laid upon the outsides of the
timbers to make the mould broader.
[123] See note on p. 37.
[124] The sweeps are the circular arcs of the mould; see the mould of the
Sovereign on p. xcvi.
[125] 'The Harpings of a Ship is the breadth of her at the bow: also some call the
ends of the bends, which are fastened into the stem, the Harpings.'—
Mainwaring, Seaman's Dictionary.
[126] Overhang.
[127] Holes cut through the timbers over the keel to allow the bilge water to run
to the pump.
[128] See note on p. 60.
[129] I.e. the overlap of the joint was not sufficient.
[130] The inside planking upon the floor timbers, sometimes called 'seeling' or
'ceiling.'

[131] The rungheads at the ends of the floor timbers, where these begin to curve
upward into the lower (or runghead) sweep.
[132] I.e. shortened the futtock sweep.
[133] The moulds fore and aft in which the lower sweeps become concave
instead of convex exteriorly.

[134] Addl. MS. 18037.
[135] At Hinchinbrook, Hampton Court, and Windsor Castle. See R. C.
Anderson, 'The Prince Royal and other Ships of James I,' in Mariner's Mirror,
vol. iii. (1913), in which these pictures are reproduced.
[136] Pepysian MS. 2820.

[137] Addl. MS. 9299, f. 206.
[138] Coke MSS. (Hist. MSS.), I. 114. See also pp. 124, 125, infra.
[139] Add. MSS. 9294 f. 409 and 9300.
[140] I.e. in 1621.
[141] Appendix V, p. 207.
[142] It need scarcely be pointed out that the illustrations in Charnock's Marine
Architecture do not remotely resemble the real ship.
[143] Burrell quarrelled with the Company in 1626 and was dismissed their
service. He died in 1630.
[144] See especially Playfair, The Scourge of Christendom; Corbett, England in
the Mediterranean, vol. i., chap. viii.; and Oppenheim, Monson Tracts, vol. iii.
p. 94 et seq.
[145] S.P. Dom., James I, cxxxiv. 60.
[146] I.e. his wages as captain of the Mercury.
[147] Infra, pp. 139, 141.
[148] About 1631. In January 1634 he is stated to have been dead three years.
[149] He refers especially to his loss on the Destiny. For this use of 'main' in the
sense of considerable,' cf. 'a very main loss.'—N.E.D.
[150] Infra, p. 154. The above account has been collected from the S.P. Dom.,
James I, ccxv. p. 98; ccxxviii. f. 14, 84a; ccxxi. 45; ccxxxii. 27; ccxxxiii. 10;
ccxxxviii. 89; ccxlii. 3, 36; ccxlvii. 84; ccli. 18; cclix. 10.
[151] Appendix VI, p. 210.
[152] App. VII, p. 212.
[153] Infra, p. 126.
[154] S.P. Dom., Chas. I., ccli. 74.
[155] Infra, p. 153.
[156] It was 252l. 6s. 9d.
[157] S.P. Dom., Chas. I, cclx. 108, ccxxviii. f. 122.

[158] Appendix VIII, p. 214.
[159] S.P. Dom., Chas. I, cclxiv. ff. 67a, 87a.
[160] Storekeeper at Deptford. He seems to have had some knowledge of design,
for in 1626 and 1627 he had been associated with Pett, Stevens, Lydiard, and
Gunter, the mathematician, in drawing up new rules for ship measurement.
[161] S.P. Dom., Chas. I, cclxxxvi. 44.
[162] The transverse section at the greatest breadth.
[163] The curves passing through the ends of the floor timbers, as referred to the
plan and elevation respectively.
[164] S.P. Dom., Chas. I, cclxxxvi. 105.
[165] Add. MSS. 9300 f. 64; 9336 f. 53. S.P. Dom., Chas. I, ccclxviii. 121. In
this list, which is dated September 1637, the ship is not named. The keel length
is given as 127 ft., depth from breadth to top of keel as 19 ft. 4 ins., and breadth
as 46 ft. 6 ins.
[166] S.P. Dom., Chas. I, cccvi. 83.
[167] Diary, Jan. 31, 1663.
[168] S.P. Dom., Chas. I, ccxcviii. 20.
[169] S.P. Dom., Chas. I, ccxcix. 2, 12.
[170] Hist. MSS. Report, v. 33.
[171] Hist. MSS. Report, v. 46.
[172] Firth, Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum, i. 27.
[173] He was buried in Chatham Church on August 21.
[174] Pipe Office Dec. Accts. 2286.
'Phineas Pett, Esq., another of the said Commissioners and one of the principal
officers of the Navy, for his salary at 200l. per annum, 8d. per diem for one clerk
and 6l. per annum for paper, pens etc., due to him for the same time ended as the
former [i.e. the year ended September 29, 1647]
217l. 3s. 4d.
'Thomas Smith, Esq., now one of the Commissioners of the Navy in the room
and place of (blank) for the entertainment of himself at 200l. per annum and two
clerks at 16d. per diem and 6l. per annum for paper money due to him for 34
days begun the 28th of August 1647 and ended the 30th of September following
22l. 9s. 4d.'
[175] Smith, who had been Northumberland's secretary, had been appointed
Secretary of the Admiralty by Ordinance of the same date as the one by which
Pett had been re-appointed a Commissioner of the Navy in 1642.
[176] Infra, p. 71.
[177] See Christy, Voyages of Foxe and James (Hakl. Soc.) and Asher, Henry
Hudson the Navigator (Hakl. Soc.).

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF
PHINEAS PETT
I, Phineas[178] Pett, being the son of Mr. Peter Pett of Deptford Strond[179] in
the County of Kent, one of her Majesty's Master Shipwrights, was born in
my father's dwelling house in the same town one All Saints' day in the
morning, being the first day of November in the year of our Lord 1570, and
was baptized the 8th of the same month and year aforesaid in the parish
church of Deptford Strond aforesaid.
I was brought up in my father's house at Deptford Strond until I was
almost nine years of age, and then put out to a free school at Rochester in
Kent, to one Mr. Webb, with whom I boarded about one year, and afterward
lay at Chatham Hill in my father's lodging in the Queen's House, from
whence I went every day to school to Rochester and came home at night for
three years space. Afterwards, by reason of my small profiting at this
school, my father removed me from thence to Greenwich to a private school
kept by one Mr. Adams, where I so well profited that in three years I was
made fit for Cambridge.
In the year 1586 at Shrovetide, against bachelor's commencement, I was
sent to the University of Cambridge, and by the means of one Mr. Howell,
[180]
a Minister in Essex, I was placed in Emanuel College with a reverend
tutor, President of the house, called Mr. Charles Chadwick, where I was
allowed 20l. per annum during my father's life, besides books, apparel, and
other necessaries.
In the year 1589, about the 6th day of September, it pleased God[181] to
call to his mercy my reverend loving father, whose loss proved afterward
my utter undoing almost, had not God been more merciful unto me; for
leaving all things to my mother's directions, her fatal matching with a most
wicked husband, one Mr. Thomas Nunn,[182] a Minister, brought a general
ruin both to herself and whole family.

Some two months after my father's decease or thereabouts, my eldest
sister Rachel was married to one Mr. Newman, Minister of Canewdon in
Essex, a man of most dissolute life, with whom she not long enjoyed, for
God, of his great mercy, took her and delivered her from a most miserable
and slavish life wherein she lived with him; by whom he had two children,
but both died.
By reason of my mother's cross matching, my means of maintenance
being wholly taken from me, and having no hopes of exhibition from any
friend, I was forced after four years continuance in Cambridge, my graces
for Bachelor of Art being passed both in house and town, to abandon the
University presently after Christmas in anno 1590.
At Candlemas after, I, by the instant persuasion of my mother, was
contented to put myself to be an apprentice to become a shipwright (my
father's profession) and was bound a covenant servant[183] to one Mr.
Richard Chapman of Deptford Strond in Kent, one of her Majesty's Master
Shipwrights, and one whom my father had bred of a child to that profession,
my allowance from him to find myself tools and apparel being bare but 46
shillings and 8 pence per annum. This man I served almost two years
altogether at Chatham in the Queen's Majesty's Works, and then he died;
where I spent all that time, God he knoweth, to very little purpose.
After my foresaid master his death, I laboured to have served Mr.
Mathew Baker, one of her Majesty's Master Shipwrights also; but by the
working of one Mr. Peter Buck,[184] then Clerk of the Check at Chatham, and
some other back friends, I was crossed in my service and so put to my
shifts, and left to the wide world without either comfort or friend, but only
God.
At this time my eldest brother by my father's side, Mr. Joseph Pett,
succeeded in my father's place, one of her Majesty's Master Shipwrights,
which preferment no doubt God brought him to the better to enable him to
have given his help to us; but we found it clean contrary, for he was not
only careless of us all and left us to our fortunes, but became also so unkind
a brother to two of us, my own brother Noah and myself, that he was forced
to leave his native country and seek comfort in Ireland with an uncle of
ours, own brother to my mother, called George Thornton, an ancient and
well experienced sea captain; where he shortly after was drowned in the

river of Cork; and myself was constrained to ship myself to sea upon a
desperate voyage in a man of war,[185] not greatly caring what became of me.
I was shipped on this voyage a little before Christmas in anno 1592, in a
ship called the Gallion Constance of London, of burden of 200 tons or
thereabouts, belonging to a gentleman of Suffolk, one Captain Edward
Glenham,[186] for the carpenter's mate, the master carpenter being one
Edward Goodale, born in Deptford. To my setting out to sea, I found not
any of my kindred so kind as to help me, either with money or clothes, or
any other comfort; only another brother I had by my father's side, Peter Pett,
dwelling then at Wapping, that vouchsafed me lodging and meat and drink
till the ship was ready to set sail; one William King, a yeoman in Essex and
a stranger to me, lent me 3l. in ready money to help to furnish my
necessaries, which afterward I repaid him again.
In this voyage I endured much misery for want of victuals and apparel;
and after twenty months spent in the Levant Seas, coasts of Barbary and
Spain, with many hazards both of loss of life and time, without taking any
purchase[187] of any value, we, extreme poorly, returned for Ireland into the
river of Cork; and there taking leave both of ship and voyage, I travelled to
Dublin[188] to visit my uncle Captain Thornton and my brother Noah, being
then master with him in the Popinjay of the Queen's Majesty's; and
presently after bent my course for England, taking passage at the town of
Waterford.
With some difficulty I got to London, some three days before Christmas
in anno 1594, having neither money nor apparel, and took up my lodging at
my brother Peter's house in Wapping, before spoken of, who, although I
was returned very poor, yet vouchsafed me kind entertainment. The next
day I presented myself to my brother Joseph, who very coyly receiving me,
out of his bounty lent me 40s. to apparel myself, which I bestowed as
frugally as I could in Birchin Lane in London, contenting myself as well as
I could with mean attire, till such time as it should please God to provide
better for me.
At that time it so fell out that there were certain of her Majesty's ships
appointed to be made ready for the voyage of Sir Francis Drake and Sir
John Hawkyns, amongst which the Defiance[189] was to be brought into
Woolwich Dock to be sheathed; which work being commended to my

brother Joseph's charge, he was contented to admit me amongst many
others to be one, where I was contented to take any pains to get something
to apparel myself, which by God's blessing I performed before Easter next
after, and that in very good fashion, always endeavouring to keep company
with men of good rank far better than myself.
In the latter end of this year 1594 about the beginning of Lent, I lost my
dear brother Noah, who was drowned in Cork river with eight more of his
company, and lieth buried in Cork church in Ireland.
About Bartholomew tide in anno 1595, the Triumph of her Majesty's was
had into Woolwich Dock to be new builded by Mr. Mathew Baker, under
whom I was entertained there as an ordinary workman and had allowed me
a boy, which was John Wood, being the first servant that I ever kept; but
presently after Mr. Baker was appointed to leave that business, and had
order to go in hand with the building of a great new ship at Deptford, called
afterward the Repulse,[190] and was admiral of my Lord's of Essex squadron
in the Cadiz journey. The Triumph[191] was then appointed to my brother
Joseph's charge, with whom I a while continued, but, finding him altogether
unwilling to prefer[192] me in his work as next under him, with some passage
of discontent betwixt us, I left him, and had ready entertainment by Mr.
Baker in his new business at Deptford, yet no otherwise than an ordinary
workman; with whom I continued from the beginning of the foresaid ship,
till she was wholly finished, launched, and set sail of her voyage from
Woolwich, which was about the latter end of April 1596.
All that winter, in the evenings, commonly I spent my time to good
purposes, as in cyphering, drawing, and practising to attain the knowledge
of my profession, and I then found Mr. Baker sometime forward to give me
instructions, from whose help I must acknowledge I received my greatest
lights. At this time also the Lord Admiral[193] lay most of the winter at his
house[194] at Deptford, by reason whereof I got some acquaintance amongst
his men, and was much importuned to have attended his Lordship in that
journey,[195] which no doubt might have proved very much both profitable
and beneficial unto me, besides it would have brought me in acquaintance
and favour with my Lord Admiral, but some other reasons restrained me
from all these likelihoods and kept me at home, to my no small hindrance as
it fell out.

After I was discharged from the Repulse, my brother Joseph entertained
me at Woolwich upon the Triumph, upon which ship I wrought till her
launching and the discharge of the men from her, and afterwards was
employed at my brother's, at Limehouse, upon a small model for the Lord
Treasurer[196] his house called Theobalds,[197] and the next winter I spent in
Essex, at Paglesham[198] in Rochford Hundred, as overseer for my brother
Peter in certain woods he had bought there.
About this time, was I very desirous, by the instigation of some special
friends of mine, to have been a follower of the Lord of Essex, and was three
several times brought purposely to have been presented unto his lordship,
but was every time delayed by reason of his great state[199] affairs, the Lord
of heaven having other ways in his secret wisdom determined to dispose of
me.
In the latter end of March succeeding, or beginning of April 1597, by the
means of one Mr. Gilbert Wood, one of the Lord Admiral's Chamber, an
especial good friend of mine, I was presented to the Lord High Admiral of
England, at his Manor at Chelsea, where his lordship was pleased not only
to accept me as his servant, but also openly shewed such extraordinary
respect of me as I had much cause to give God thanks, who no doubt had
stirred his honourable heart to regard me, but a simple and mean fellow,
even far beyond my expectation or desert, and this was the very first
beginning of my rising.
In the beginning of this year, 1597, my dear and loving mother deceased
at Weston in Suffolk, not far from Bury, and lieth buried in the parish
church there. A little after midsummer in the same year, I was employed by
my brother Joseph Pett, in his yard at Limehouse, upon the repairing of a
great Flemish ship of whom was master Mr. John King of Limehouse,
where I first came acquainted with him, and in his company and Mr.
Nicolas Simonson of Limehouse, I was first brought acquainted at
Highwood Hill[200] where I first fell in love with my now wife, which was
about St. James' tide.[201] About Bartholomew tide[202] next following, the
Elizabeth Jonas was brought into her Majesty's Dock at Woolwich, and
there was the first preferment my brother Joseph holp me with, making me
principal overseer of that business under him. During all the time of this
work, we both lodged and dieted at old Mr. Lydiard's[203] in the yard.

During the continuance of this work I did not neglect my wooing, having
taken such a liking of the maiden that I determined resolutely (by God's
help) either to match with her or never to marry any; the which I with much
difficulty (praised be God) at length achieved, all my own kindred being
much against my matching with her, by reason of some controversies grown
twixt Mr. Nicolas Simonson and them.
Toward the end of February in this present year, I took the lease of a new
house (of Mr. William Borough,[204] then Comptroller of her Majesty's
Navy) at Limehouse by the through head,[205] which to some charge I fitted
for my dwelling, although I remained not in it little more than two years,
paying 11l. yearly rent, and 20l. income.[206]
I was married to my now wife Ann, the daughter of Richard Nicholls of
Highwood Hill in the parish of Hendon in Middlesex, a man of good report
and honest stock, the 15th day of May 1598 at Stepney Church upon a
Monday in the forenoon. I kept my wedding at my own charge in my new
dwelling house at Limehouse, accompanied with my brothers and sisters,
my wife's parents, and divers of her friends and kindred.
About midsummer after, was the Elizabeth Jonas launched out of
Woolwich Dock, and sudden preparation made to have received her
Majesty aboard the ship riding afloat; but upon some unknown reasons her
Majesty came not at all, for even at that instant had one Mr. Wiggs[207]
procured commission about examination of certain abuses in the Navy,
which was pursued with a great deal of malice against divers particular men
but with little profit to her Majesty's service.
From midsummer, all the ensuing year, till Christmas I lay still and idle
without any manner employment or comings in but what my servants got
with working now and then abroad, which was very little and hardly able to
buy me food.
About Christmas my honourable lord and master the Lord High Admiral
commended me to an employment in Suffolk and Norfolk for the finishing
of a purveyance of timber and plank formerly undertaken by one Child of
Sole,[208] who dealt in Norfolk and, dying, left the business in much
disorder.

And one Robert Ungle[209] who dealt in Suffolk and, for divers abuses by
him there committed, fled the country and left all the service in great
disorder and spoil; for the rectifying of which abuses, saving of her
Majesty's provisions, and discharging of the countries,[210] it pleased my
Lord to make choice of me to undertake the same, and to take order to send
in all the said provisions of timber and plank; which accordingly I did,
using all care and diligence in the performance of the same, both to the
content of her Majesty's service, my Lord Admiral and the Officers of the
Navy, and the satisfaction of all countries where I had to do.
Notwithstanding through the malicious envy of old Mathew Baker, Bright,
Adye, and others[211] all my doings and accounts were throughly sifted, but
thanks be to God nothing could be proved against me, so that I had all my
bills passed quietly; but by reason Mr. Fulke Greville,[212] being then
Treasurer of the Navy, did not greatly affect[213] me, by cause of some
particular spleens between him and Mr. John Trevor,[214] then newly made
Surveyor, who was my especial and worshipful friend, he laid a rub[215] in
my way, cutting me off wrongfully of twenty pounds in my accounts after
all my bills were passed and signed by the hands of the Principal Officers,
according to the custom of the Navy.
All this year of 1599, I spent wholly in this service, in which time these
occurrences happened.
After the decease of my dear and loving mother there were left under the
keeping of my father-in-law,[216] Thomas Nunn, then Minister of Weston in
Suffolk, three sisters, vide: Abigail Pett, Elizabeth and Mary, the youngest,
and one brother named Peter Pett, who was put out to a gentleman's house
in Suffolk to teach his children, the daughters remaining all at home with
him, he being then lately again married.
He used himself to them as a stern and cruel father-in-law, not contented
that he had brought a general ruin upon my mother's whole family by
cosening us of all that was left us, but proceeded further, even to blood, for
upon a slight occasion about making clean his cloak, being wet and dirty
with riding a journey the day before, he furiously fell upon my eldest sister
Abigail, beating her so cruelly with a pair of tongs and a great firebrand that
she died within three days upon that beating and was privately by his means
buried; but God that would not let murder pass unrevenged, stirred up the
hearts of his own parishioners and neighbours, who, complaining to the

Justice, caused the body to be taken up, and so by the coroner's inquest that
passed upon her and miraculous tokens of the dead corpse, as fresh
bleeding, sensible opening of one of her eyes, and other things, he was
found guilty of her death and so committed and bound over to answer the
matter at next General Assizes to be held at Bury, which was in the Lent
after, being in this year 1599, and in the time of my employment in Suffolk
and Norfolk.
Upon his committing, my two other poor sisters were put by the justices
to the keeping of the town of Weston, till the assizes[217] were past, at whose
hands I received them at Bury in a miserable fashion, not having clothes nor
any necessaries fit for them; the charge of their board I was glad to defray
to the constable, and all the charge of the assizes, where both they and my
young brother were bound to give in evidence against our father-in-law, to
whom we shewed more mercy than he did to us, whom our spoil would not
content, but he thirsted also our blood. In his arraignment Sir John Popham,
then Lord Chief Justice of England and Chief Judge of that circuit, shewed
such true justice (notwithstanding great means was made for him, not only
by his friends, but by the clergy of that country), that all his cruelty and
wicked proceedings was laid open and he, convict of manslaughter by the
jury, was committed to prison to sue for the benefit of the Queen's pardon,
[218]
from whence being shortly freed, he, by God's just revenging hand,
lived but a short time after.
From the assizes at Bury I sent my brother and my two sisters home to
my wife at Limehouse, being no small charge to me, being but newly
married and having little means but my hands to bring in anything, yet I
refused not to do the duty of a brother to them to the utmost of my power;
the eldest of my sisters, called Elizabeth, by means of friends I placed in
London with a gentlewoman of good fashion, where she continued not long,
but came home sick and died at my house as we doubted of the plague. My
youngest sister sickened also shortly after, but it proved the small pox.
In all these extremities I had little help from my brothers, who were
bound in conscience to have had some care of them, the small portions they
had being in the hands of my eldest brother Joseph, yet no relief came from
him towards their maintenance or bringing up; but being but half brothers
and sisters they thought them less bound to do them good and therefore left
all the burden upon me, worst able of all to bear it.

My youngest sister Mary, recovering her sickness, continued with me in
my house contenting herself with such breeding as I could give her; from
whence she never removed till she was married from me. My young brother
Peter, about the end of November, I placed with a worshipful gentleman,
Doctor Hone,[219] in the Arches,[220] as one of his clerks, where he might have
lived well if he would have stayed with him.
In December this year, 1599, I began a small model, which being
perfected and very exquisitely set out and rigged, I presented it to my good
friend Mr. John Trevor, who very kindly accepted the same of me.
In the beginning of this year, I, having no employment, determined with
myself to have bought some part of a castle carvel[221] and to have gone in
her myself; whereby I hoped (by God's blessing) to have gotten an honest
and convenient maintenance, and to that end I began to follow one John
Goodwin of London, professor of the mathematics, with whom I spent three
days in a week in practice, and so was purposed to have continued the
whole year till the spring following; but God, who in his secret counsel had
otherwise decreed of me, altered all my determinations, for upon the 25th
day of June I was sent for to the Court, lying then at Greenwich, by my
honourable lord and master the Lord High Admiral who, after some
speeches expressing both his love and honourable care of me, his lordship
concluded to send me down to Chatham, where I was to succeed in the
place of one John Holding, a shipwright that was keeper of the plank yard
timber and other provisions (upon some displeasure turned out of all), the
means whereof being but small, as 18d. per diem and 6l. per annum fee for
myself, and allowance for one servant at 16d. per diem.
I was very unwilling to undertake so mean a place, by the which I was
neither sure of competent maintenance nor of any reputation, but that I was
encouraged by the persuasions of my ever honourable lord, who comforted
me with promises of better preferment to the utmost of his power;
whereupon I being contented to accept his lordship's offer, I was, the 27th
of the same month of June, placed at Chatham by Sir Henry Palmer, then
Comptroller, Mr. John Trevor, Surveyor, and Mr. Peter Buck, Clerk of the
Ships.
At this time there was grown very high terms of unkindness between my
brother Joseph and me about my poor sisters and brother, because he did

not only deny to be any ways contributory to their maintenance but also
made the neighbours believe that they were brought up at his charge in my
house, because he would not be troubled with them, when God knoweth he
never disbursed halfpenny to their bringing up, nor cared what became of
them.
Now upon this occasion of my placing at Chatham, we were reconciled
and ever after lived together as loving brethren. It also happened that Sir
Fulke Greville, then Treasurer, continuing his spleen against me for Mr.
Trevor's sake, opposed me all he could, which after turned me to much
trouble.
About the time of my coming to Chatham, Mr. Barker, the lord of the
Manor, was removed to a house he had bought at Boley Hill[222] by
Rochester, by reason whereof his Manor House wherein he formerly dwelt
at Chatham was void, the which house by means of my brother Joseph's
encouragement I ventured upon and took a lease for twenty-one years,
paying 25l. income, the which lease was sealed unto me the 17th day of
October, 1600.
The 16th day of June in this year my youngest brother Peter, having,
against all the consent of his friends and without their knowledge, forsaken
his worshipful master Doctor Hone's service and betaken himself to
disordered courses, sickened at London at the sign of the Dolphin in Water
Lane, and the 21st day after deceased of the small pox before I knew he was
sick, whose charge both of his sickness and funeral I was at, and saw him
seemly interred, accompanied with a good company of my friends, in
Barking churchyard[223] in Tower Street, the 23rd of the same month of June
1600.
The 24th October, having bestowed all my poor stock upon the lease of
my house and the furnishing of the same in some convenient manner, I
shipped the same in [an] hoy of Rainham[224] and so removed to Chatham,
myself going down in the hoy; where I missed a great danger, for at the
west end of the Nore about 3 of the clock in the morning, 25th day, we were
like to be surprised by a picking Dunkirk[225] full of men who, being at our
passing by (although it was very dark) at an anchor, suddenly weighed and
gave us chase, and had boarded us had not God prevented him by our

bearing up, the wind being at east; and running ourselves on shore within
the Swatch,[226] the next day we got safe as high as Gillingham.
My dwelling house at Limehouse I passed away with a great deal of loss,
both of income, rent and wainscotting to the value of 50l., putting it over at
10l. per annum, when I was bound by lease to pay 11l. Yet was I glad to be
rid of it upon any condition.
Presently after Christyde[227] my wife, being great with child, fell sick at
Chatham and grew so weak that I was forced, about the 10th of March
following, to remove her, not without great hazard, to London, and from
there to her father's house at Highwood Hill in Middlesex, where the 23rd
day of March after, thanks be given to God, she was delivered of her first
born son, John Pett; from whence she returned to Chatham in safety some
two months after.
Much about this time I was made an assistant to the Master Shipwrights
at Chatham, in the room of Thomas Bodman. In this year the first business I
undertook was the repairing of the Lion's Whelp hauled up at the storehouse
end at Chatham.
In the year 1602 I also new built the Moon, hauled up in the same place,
enlarging her both in length and breadth, and this year also, I, with Mr.
Pickasee, undertook the victualling of the shipwrights and caulkers at
Chatham, which we continued only two months, to our great loss; which we
could never get recompensed by reason Mr. Fulke Greville continued my
heavy enemy, and was content to receive and countenance informations
against me, because he could not win me to such conditions as he laboured
me in, both against my good friend Sir John Trevor (who then lay very
dangerously sick at Plymouth) and against many others serving with me at
Chatham. The principal informer and stirrer in this business against me was
one George Collins, sometimes carpenter of the Foresight, a very stubborn
and malicious fellow, who by Mr. Greville's countenance was suffered to
sue me at the common law upon an action of trespass for striking him with
a little rod upon the shoulder in the Queen's yard at Chatham, upon a cause
of mutiny in the time of victualling; and so little relief had I against him,
notwithstanding my Lord Admiral's favour, that I was forced to compound
with him and gave him 20 nobles[228] ready money for satisfaction. Thus it

pleased God to exercise me with continual trouble and hindrances in the
beginning of my service.
In November this present year, 1602, Mr. Greville, having undertaken the
preparation of a Fleet with her Majesty, to be ready fitted to sea by a set
time, was contented (upon my promise to him to procure the said Fleet to be
fitted in six weeks) to receive me to his favour, which promise I accordingly
(by God's gracious assistance) fully accomplished; by which means I had
gained his love, favour and good opinion, had there not happened a sudden
alteration by the death of her Majesty which presently followed.
The 18th day of March 1603,[229] my wife was delivered of her second
son, Henry, at my house at Chatham.
The 24th day of the same month, her Majesty of sacred memory deceased
at Richmond.
The same day his Majesty, whom God grant long to reign, was
proclaimed at Westminster, London, and other places, and the next day,
being Friday and market day, at Rochester.
This year happened the great plague throughout England, but especially
about London, by reason whereof many removed from thence into divers
places in the country where they had any friends or means of succour.
In the middle of July my brother Joseph, with his wife and children,
removed from his house at Limehouse to Ipswich.
To transport them thither by sea I procured a small pinnace of his
Majesty's to be prepared ready, called the Primrose, and manning her with
my good friends and neighbours as Boatswain Vale,[230] David Duck, Mr.
Rock, Robert Perin, Jarvis Mins, and divers others, together with myself,
we embarked at Chatham the 14th of July, 1603, and in Tilbury Hope took
in our passengers; and the 16th day in the afternoon landed them safely at
Ipswich, where of their friends we received very great entertainment,
staying there about 4 days; and the 21st day we arrived again at Chatham,
thanks be to God, in health, about 4 of the clock in the afternoon.
The sickness beginning to be very hot at Chatham, upon the persuasions
of some of my friends I removed my wife and children from thence to my
wife's father's in Middlesex, shipping them away in the same vessel I had to
Ipswich, and landing at Dagenham[231] in Essex, had horses there met us,

and so journeyed to Highwood Hill. This voyage was taken from Chatham
the 16th of August; we came to Highwood Hill the 19th day, where my wife
and children remained till the 3rd of October following, which day we took
our journey to Dagenham, where the next day we were stayed by a great
rain, but the 4th day we came over the ferry at Greenhithe[232] and safely
home, thanks be given to God, at 4 of the clock that afternoon.
This summer I began to new-build the Answer, being hauled up and
blocked at the end of the storehouse at Chatham.
The 10th of November my landlord Mr. Barker, with some of his family,
sojourned with me at Chatham, where they remained till the 28th day of the
same month, and then returned to their own house at Boley Hill.
During this time I divers times solicited my brother to be joined patentee
with him, but his remissness caused me to overslip opportunity so long that
one Mr. Stevens[233] of Limehouse, this year, by means of some great friends
about my Lord Admiral, got a general reversion of all the Master
Shipwrights' places, cutting me off from all hopes of any timely preferment,
to my great discouragement considering what pains I took at Chatham to
further his Majesty's service.
When I was most dejected with the conceit of this injury, as I took it, it
pleased God of His great mercy to me, even then when I least expected any
such thing, to raise me up a means of some hope of preferment after this
manner; for about the 15th of January, being at Ratcliff with my wife, to
christen her sister Simonson's daughter Martha, there was, unknown unto
me, a letter sent post to Chatham from my honourable Lord Admiral,
commanding me with all possible speed to build a little vessel for the young
prince Henry to disport himself in above London Bridge, and to acquaint
his Grace with shipping and the manner of that element, setting me down
the proportions and the manner of her garnishing, which was to be like the
work of the Ark Royal, battlement wise. This little ship was in length by the
keel 25 foot, and 12 foot in breadth, garnished with painting and carving
both within board and without very curiously, according to his Lordship's
directions. I laid her keel the 19th day of January, wrought upon her as well
day as all night by torch and candle lights under a great awning made with
sails for that purpose.

The 6th day of March after, I launched the ship, being upon a Tuesday,
with a noise[234] of trumpets, drums, and such like ceremonies at such time
used.
I set sail with her on the Friday after, being the 9th day, from Chatham.
Between the Nore head and the east end of Tilbury we had a very great
storm, so that it was Sunday before we could get Gravesend; and on
Monday morning, being the 12th day, we anchored at Blackwall. Mr.
George Wilson, then boatswain of the Lion, was master with me, and
myself captain, and I was manned with almost all boatswains of the Navy
and other choice men.
On Wednesday, being the 14th day of March, by my Lord Admiral's
commandment we weighed from Limehouse, and anchored right against the
Tower before the King's lodgings, his Majesty then lying there before his
riding through London. There the young Prince, accompanied with the Lord
Admiral and divers of the Lords, came and took great pleasure in beholding
of the ship, being furnished at all points with ensigns and pendants. The
16th day, being Friday, we unrigged and shot the bridge, and the 17th day
we rigged again and received both ordnance and powder from the Tower.
On Sunday in the afternoon, being the 18th day, fitted with a noise of
trumpets and drums and fife, we weighed and turned up with the wind at
south-west as high as Lambeth, with multitudes of boats and people
attending upon us. As we passed by Whitehall, I saluted the Court with a
volley of small shot and our great ordnance, and upon the ebb, turning
down again, we did the like, and then taking in our sails we came to an
anchor right against the Privy Stairs.
On Monday the 19th day his Majesty went by barge to the Parliament.
We shot our great and small ordnance of round,[235] both at his taking barge
and landing.
All Tuesday and Wednesday we rode still, without doing anything but
giving entertainment to gentlemen of the King's and Prince's servants that
hourly came aboard of us.
On Thursday morning, being the 22nd day, I received a commandment
from the Lord Admiral to prepare the ship and all things fitting to receive
the young prince aboard of us in the afternoon; who accordingly

presently[236] after dinner came aboard us in his barge accompanied with the
Lord High Admiral, Earl of Worcester, and divers other noblemen. We
presently weighed and fell down as far as Paul's Wharf,[237] under both our
topsails and foresail, and there came to an anchor; and then his Grace,[238]
according to the manner in such cases used, with a great bowl of wine
christened the ship and called her by the name of the Disdain.
His Grace then withdrawing himself with the lords into the great cabin,
there my honourable lord, and till then master,[239] with his own hands
presented me to his Grace, using many favourable words (beyond my
deserts) in my commendations, with this addition, that I was a servant
worthy the acceptance of the greatest prince of the world. From his hands it
pleased his Grace very thankfully to receive me as his servant, with many
promises of his princely favour to me. The next day, being Friday and the
23rd of March, it pleased my Lord Admiral to entreat my worthy friend Sir
John[240] Trevor to accompany me to the Lord Thomas Howard, then Lord
Chamberlain, from whom receiving a ticket, I was sent to St. James', the
Prince's house, where by Mr. Alexander and Mr. Abington, then gentlemen
ushers, I was sworn his Grace's servant, and by them presented to the Prince
before he went to dinner, with as much favour and respect as I could desire.
During this time of my attendance at the Court as his Grace's Captain of
his ship, it pleased my honourable Lord Admiral to give order to Sir
Thomas Windebank,[241] one of the Clerks of the Signet, to draw me a bill
for the reversion of Mr. Baker's or my brother Joseph Pett's place, which
first should happen to be void, notwithstanding the letters patent formerly
granted to Mr. Stevens; which accordingly was with all expedition
performed, and the 11th of April following was presented to his Majesty
and signed, and shortly after passed the great seal; for the whole charge
whereof I gave Sir Thomas Windebank 17l. About the same time Sir Robert
Mansell had his patent passed for the Treasurer of his Majesty's Navy.
The 3rd of May, after my return to Chatham from my attendance at
Court, I began to set up a small ship at Gillingham in David Duck's yard at
my own charges; and the 17th day of the same month also was launched the
Answer, whom I had new built, who by carelessness ran off before her time
without any great hurt, thanks be to God therefor. About the midst of June
following, the preparation was begun for the entertainment of his Majesty
aboard the ships at Chatham, where I took both extraordinary care and

pains, which my envious enemies Mr. Baker and Mr. Bright sought by all
means to disgrace, even at the instant time when his Majesty was to come
on board the Elizabeth; but the Lord diverted all their malice by the
countenance of my old master the Lord Admiral who, approving my honest
endeavours and finding the success answerable in all respects to his
Lordship's expectation, dismissed them with sharp rebukes and encouraged
me with no small commendation. This happened the 4th of July, 1604.
The 12th of November after, I launched the new ship at Gillingham,
which was begun in May preceding, and called her[242] name the Resistance.
And in the beginning of December following I carried her up to
Limehouse, and there hauled her on shore at the south side of my brother
Joseph's wharf, where she lay till I had sold away part of her.
The 21st of January following I sold one-third part of her to Sir Robert
Mansell and another third to Sir John Trevor, and the other third I reserved
to myself.
I rigged her and prepared her with all her furniture to attend the Lord
High Admiral of England in his journey into Spain when he went
Ambassador, and made ready the Bear and the rest of his Majesty's ships at
Chatham that went that voyage, myself being commanded by his Lordship
to wait upon him in his own ship, the Bear, which accordingly I performed.
The 24th of March I took my leave of the most noble Prince my master at
Greenwich, being Sunday in the afternoon; and the 28th day of the same
month following I took leave of my wife and children at Chatham and
attended the Lord Ambassador on board the Bear in his own barge, the
whole fleet then riding at Queenborough, from whence we set sail the last
day, being Sunday and Easter day.
The 4th day of April we[243] came to an anchor in Dover Road, and the
10th day after we lost the sight of the Lizard. The next day, being the 11th,
the Lord Ambassador sent me aboard my own ship, the Resistance, with one
Captain Morgan, with certain directions, to the Groyne.[244] But by the
overbearing of Captain Morgan, his Lordship altering his determination
came into the Groyne two days before us, where we also arrived the 16th
day, being Tuesday.

The 20th of April, being Saturday, I set sail with the Resistance out of the
Groyne, with instructions to go for Lisbon, where I arrived the 24th after,
and there stayed to despatch my affairs till the 9th day of May following;
from whence I set sail for St. Lucar,[245] and arrived there the 11th day in the
afternoon, being Saturday; from whence I went by passage boat, leaving my
ship at Bonanza,[246] to Seville;[247] from whence, after three days stay there,
I returned to my ship the 17th day of the same month.
From St. Lucar I set sail the 2nd day of June, and plying it up for Cape
St. Mary's[248] with a contrary wind, I put room[249] the 5th day for Cales[250]
road, from whence, putting to sea again the 8th day, I arrived back again at
the Groyne the 19th day, according as my instructions directed me. Where
going ashore to the Governor and understanding the fleet to be all gone to
St. Anderas[251] and that the Lord Ambassador was already (as he said)
embarked for England, I put to sea again presently, directing my course for
England. The 23rd day I made the Start, and the 26th day of June, being
Wednesday, I landed at Rye in the forenoon; from whence I came post to
my house at Chatham, with much rain, thunder, and lightning all the way,
where I lighted about 10 of the clock at night.
In the midst of July, after my return home, I let out my ship, the
Resistance, to merchants for a voyage into the Straits by the month, one Mr.
Burgess going master, and my friend William Gibbons, his mate and purser.
I docked her, sheathed her, and fitted her, and she went from Gravesend the
23rd day of August following.
In the midst of October following I made a journey into Hampshire, to
make a survey of a part of the forest of East Bere,[252] being then in the
occupation of the Right Honourable the Earl of Worcester, of whom, after
my return, Sir Robert Mansell and Sir John Trevor bought 3000 trees.
At my return to London from that journey I found my eldest brother
Joseph Pett, then dwelling at Limehouse, very dangerously sick, of the
which he never recovered but departed this life the 15th day of November
about 9 of the clock in the forenoon, being Friday.
He was buried in the chancel in Stepney Church the 18th day of
November in the forenoon, accompanied with my good friends Sir Robert
Mansell, Sir Henry Palmer, Sir John Trevor, then Principal Officers of His
Majesty's Navy, and many other good friends and neighbours, who after the

funeral returned to my brother's house, where they all were welcomed with
a very great dinner and feast.
Presently after my brother's decease, it pleased my very good lord, the
Lord High Admiral, to grant his warrant for my entrance into my brother's
place, to the effect of my letters patent, notwithstanding the claim made
unto it by one Edward Stevens[253] of Limehouse, who had formerly
procured a general reversion of all the Master Shipwrights' places, but by
reason the fee was mistaken, wherein his Majesty was abused and charged
with an innovation, he could not prevail in his claim, albeit he often
petitioned the Lords of the Council and made great friends against me; yet it
pleased God, by the noble favour of the Prince my master, and the Lord
Admiral's countenance, I enjoyed my place with a general approbation both
of the State and Officers; and so finished this year of 1605.
I had forgotten[254] to insert in his proper place the birth of two sons,
which it pleased God were born unto me, the eldest whereof named John
was born at Highwood Hill, in my wife's father's house, in the Parish of
Hendon in Middlesex, the 23rd day of March, 1600. The second son named
Henry was born in my house at Chatham in Kent the 18th of March in anno
Domini 1602.
The 12th of January following I began a journey into Hampshire, into the
forest of East Bere, where I spent the rest of that month in making choice of
the trees were bought of the Earl of Worcester; which business performed,
and my good friend David Duck undertaking the whole charge of the same
in the behalf of Sir Robert Mansell and Sir John Trevor, I returned home to
my house at Chatham in the beginning of February.
The 21st of June succeeding it pleased God my wife was safely delivered
of our third son Richard Pett at my house in Chatham.
The 8th day of July I took another journey into Hampshire into Bere
forest, as well to survey how the business was ordered as to carry down
money to David Duck; from whence I returned home the 14th day of the
same month.
The 17th day of July, his Majesty the noble King of Denmark arrived in
England, against whose coming, being but only supposed some two months
before, I received private directions from the Lord Admiral and some of the

Principal Officers to have all the ships put into a comely readiness, which
accordingly was performed in a decent and warlike manner, as if they had
been prepared to sea; but upon the news of his certain arrival they were all
rigged and furnished with their ordnance, and a great preparation was made
aboard the Elizabeth Jonas and the Bear, for entertaining the Kings, Queen,
Prince, and all the other State and Troupes;[255] wherein I confess I strove
extraordinarily to express my service for the honour of the Kingdom, but by
reason the time limited was short, and the business great, we laboured night
and day to effect it; which accordingly was performed, to the great honour
of our sovereign King and Master and no less admiration of all strangers
that were eye witnesses of the same.
The solemnity of this entertainment was performed the 10th day of
August, being Sunday. At this time Sir Oliver Cromwell[256] and other
gentlemen, my good friends, were lodged at my house.
Presently after the King of Denmark was returned into his own country,
order was taken by the Lords of his Majesty's Council, together with the
Lord Admiral, for the dry docking of four of his Majesty's ships, videlicet,
the Ark Royal, the Victory, the Golden Lion, and the Swiftsure; the two
latter being appointed to be docked at Deptford, commended to the charge
of old Mathew Baker; the other two, being ships royal, appointed to
Woolwich and committed to my charge (by reason the Victory was given by
the King to the Prince, whose servant I being, it was held fit to be most
proper to me, which bred me no small trouble and question afterward).[257]
About the beginning of September following I received warrant and
directions from the Principal Officers of the Navy for preparing the dock at
Woolwich to receive the ships formerly appointed for that place; which
accordingly being effected, the 8th of October ensuing I docked the Victory,
and the next day after, being Thursday, I docked the Ark, hastened the
shutting in of the dock gates, shored them, and discharged my company the
3rd day of November following; but the 21st day of the same month I had
order to press in new men, to rip and lay open the state of the ships, which
in a short time being performed, I discharged my company the 11th of
December after.
Towards the fine of January ensuing, I received warrant for the surveying
of the forest of Alice Holt[258] in Hampshire, and the forest of Shotover near

Oxford. I began my journey thither from London the 27th day of the same
month, and returned back to London the second day of February, with a
good account of my service; within short time after, warrants being granted
for the number of trees to be taken in both these places, I substituted my
brother Peter, my purveyor in Alice Holt, and one Richard Meritt, purveyor
for Shotover.
About the 15th day of April 1607, I received warrant for going in hand
with the ships at Woolwich, whereupon I removed thither with my
household presently after, and began first to work upon the Ark with a small
company, till provisions could be brought in to put on more workmen,
which was not till the beginning of August following, at which time I began
to victual all the workmen, on a Monday, being the 3rd day of the same
month.
The 25th day of the same month, I was elected and sworn Master of the
Company of Shipwrights, and kept a solemn feast with a great number of
our friends, well stored with venison, at the King's Head in New Fish Street.
[259]

After my settling at Woolwich I began a curious model for the Prince my
master, most part whereof I wrought with my own hands; which being most
fairly garnished with carving and painting, and placed in a frame arched,
covered, and curtained with crimson taffety, was, the 10th day of
November, by me presented to the Lord High Admiral at his lodging at
Whitehall. His Lordship, well approving of it, after I had supped with his
honour that night, gave me commandment to carry the same to Richmond,
where the Prince my master then lay; which accordingly was performed the
next day after, being Tuesday and the 11th day.
On Wednesday morning, being the 12th day, having acquainted Sir David
Murray[260] with my business, and he delivering the same to his Highness,
order was given to have the model brought and placed in a private room in
the long gallery, where his Highness determined to see it in the afternoon,
but my ever honoured old lord and master, unknown to me, studying by all
means to do me good, had acquainted his Majesty with this thing, and the
same day, unlooked for of any, procured his Majesty to make a purposed[261]
journey from Whitehall to Richmond, to see the same model, whither he
came in the afternoon about 3 of the clock, accompanied only with the

Prince, the Lord Admiral and one or two attendants. His Majesty was
exceedingly delighted with the sight of the model, and spent some time in
questioning me divers material things concerning the same, and demanding
whether I would build the great ship in all points like to the same, for I will
(said his Majesty) compare them together when she shall be finished.
Then the Lord Admiral commanded me to report to his Majesty the story
of the 3 ravens I had seen at Lisbon, in St. Vincent's Church,[262] which I did
as well as I could, with my best expression, though somewhat daunted at
the first at his Majesty's presence, having never before this time spoken
before any King. It pleased his Majesty to accept all things in good part,
and to use me very graciously; and so returned back to Whitehall again the
same night.
The succeeding year brought with it many great troubles, for the Lord of
Northampton having, by the instigation of some that were no great well
willers to the honourable Admiral and some of the Principal Officers of his
Majesty's Navy in especial favour with his Lordship, had procured a great
and large[263] commission from his Majesty for the inquiring of all abuses
and misdemeanours committed by all Officers in their several places, under
colour of reformation and saving great sums to his Majesty, which he
expended yearly in the maintenance of his ships; which inquisition was
presented with such extremity of malice as not only many were brought into
great question and tossed to and fro before the commissioners at
Westminster, to their no small charge and vexation, but the government
itself of that Royal Office was so shaken and disjointed as brought almost
imminent ruin upon the whole Navy, and a far greater charge to his Majesty
in his yearly expense, than was ever known before. In this great inquisition
it pleased God, for punishment of my sins, to suffer me to be grievously
persecuted and publicly arraigned, as shall be in his proper place at more
large described.
The parties informers[264] were many, whereof some were principal
members of the Navy and had been raised from nothing by the noble
favours of the good Lord Admiral, against whom they were contented to
take party; by name Sir Peter Buck, Clerk of the Ships, Thomas Buck, his
brother, under clerk to him, Mr. Mathew Baker, William Bright, principal
Master Shipwrights to his Majesty, Hugh Meritt, one of the six Masters,
Hugh Lydiard, Clerk of the Check at Woolwich, Thomas Norreys, and one

Clifton, a baker, sometime Pursers of ships in the Navy, with divers others,
Pursers, Boatswains, Gunners, and Carpenters. These were assisted with
many others, as one Edward Stevens, a shipwright and yard keeper of
Limehouse, and was in reversion for a Master Shipwright's place[265] to his
Majesty, Thomas Graves of Limehouse, shipwright and yard keeper,
Nicholas Clay of Redriff,[266] shipwright and yard keeper, George
Waymouth, sometime a master and mariner, one Tranckmore, a shipwright;
with divers others that were either drawn into this business upon private
ends of their own or wrought in with great hopes of future preferment.
The persons principally questioned and aimed at (leaving the great
master of the office) were Sir Robert Mansell, then Treasurer, Sir John
Trevor, Surveyor, Sir Henry Palmer, Comptroller, Captain Thomas Button,
John Legatt, Clerk of the Check at Chatham, myself, and Sir Thomas
Bludder,[267] then Victualler to the Navy.
This year, in the end of July, I began the new gates for Woolwich Dock,
and set up a dam without them, so that we wrought always dry; which gates
were placed, set up, and finished, and the dam taken away, within the space
of nine weeks; wherein I saved to his Majesty above four hundred pounds,
according to a former estimate made of the charge of the same under the
hands of his Majesty's Master Shipwrights.
During this business at Woolwich it pleased God that my wife was safely
delivered of her fourth son in Mr. Lydiard's house in the yard the 27th April
1608, and was baptized in Woolwich Church the 5th of May following, and
named Joseph.
About the beginning of August it pleased the Prince's Highness my
master to send me word that he would come to Woolwich at his return out
of Essex from the Lord Petre's,[268] whither his Grace was then going in
progress; and on Saturday after, being the 13th day of August, his Highness
took his barge at Blackwall, and came by water to Woolwich about noon,
accompanied only with his own train, where I received him on shore at the
yard stairs. On the poop of the Ann Royal was placed a noise of trumpets,
an ensign, and two ensigns upon the heads of both the mizens. After my
duty presented to his Highness with the best expression I could, to cause
him to understand his welcome to that place and how much it would joy all
seamen's hearts to perceive his Highness so well addicted to his Majesty's

ships and the sight of them, I conducted his Highness round about the dock,
and so directly aboard the Ann Royal to the very top of her poop where,
after my duty performed, I gave a secret signal (as was before concluded
between us) to my good friend Mr. William Bull, then Master Gunner of
England, who stood ready prepared upon a mount in Mr. Hugh Lydiard's
garden with thirty-one great brass chambers,[269] orderly and distinctly
placed, which, with Mr. Gunner's help, I had procured from the Tower for
that purpose. He, presently receiving the signal, diligently attending the
same, gave fire to the train, and so discharged the whole volley with so
good order as gave a marvellous pleasing content to his Highness (and the
more because he expected no such thing, but that it was done suddenly).
When the ordnance gave over, I then kneeled down to his Highness and
besought him to be pleased to accept this poor sea entertainment from me,
as an unfeigned earnest of my duty to him, which I would hereafter strive to
express in better manner if his Highness would be pleased graciously to
receive this his first homely welcome. His Highness then, having answered
my request with a princely acceptance, commanded me to lead into all the
places of the ship; which having viewed with a great deal of delightful
judgment, I led his Grace into the Yard, and so to the place where the keel,
stem, and stern of his own ship, which was to be built, lay ready framed;
which having perused very seriously, and caused the length of the keel to be
measured, I besought his Grace to walk into the house to rest himself,
which his Highness willingly condescending unto, I conducted him unto
Mr. Lydiard's parlour where was prepared a set banquet of sweet meats and
all other fruits the season of the year could yield, with plentiful store of
wine, both Rhenish white, sack, Greek wine and claret. His Highness was
well pleased to take his refection, and after the banquet done, giving his
hand to kiss to divers gentlewomen of the town that were in the room
together with my wife, his Highness desired to be brought to the mount
where the chambers were placed, which were again laden in this interim
and ranged in their first order with the train made ready. This sight so much
pleased his Grace that he was very desirous to have the train fired, his
Highness standing by, but at my humble entreaty, understanding what
danger was incident to such a business, he gave me order that, at the
holding up of his handkerchief in his barge, I should see them put off; and
so taking notice of Mr. Bull and giving him his hand to kiss, taking his
leave, I conducted his Highness to his barge, being the top of full sea; where

kissing his hand upon my knee, he expressed how kindly he accepted his
welcome, using many gracious speeches to me, and so putting off. I
returned to the mount, and, upon his Highness' signal given me, the train
was fired and the chambers delivered their loud voices in as distinct order
as at the first, to the great delight of his Highness, and general applause of
all others there present.
Having now finished, by God's providence and gracious assistance, the
Ark, which I began to repair in Woolwich Dock in May, was twelve-month
before, on the 29th day of September, 1608, I launched her. It was a very
blustering day, the wind at south-west, but, thanks be to God, with a little
difficulty she was launched and brought safely to her moorings. Her name
was altered and given by the mouth of my very good friend Sir Oliver
Cromwell, in presence of Sir Robert Mansell, Sir John Trevor and Captain
Button, divers other gentlemen being on board, with his Majesty's trumpets
and drums; her name was given the Anne Royal. These knights, with the
Lady Mansell, the Lady Trevor, Mrs. Button, and sundry others, dined this
day with me at Woolwich in Mr. Lydiard's parlour, my lodgings being as yet
not altered, and therefore inconvenient for entertaining of any friends of
account; which lodgings I after by warrant repaired and made as they now
are, for which I was greatly questioned by the Lord of Northampton in his
inquisition, and stand upon his book of reformation at large recorded.
The 20th October following, being Thursday, by God's good help I lay
the keel of the new great ship[270] upon the blocks in the dock, and the 28th
day following, of the same month, I raised her stern, and presently after the
stem, and proceeded in order with the floor[271] as fast as I could,
notwithstanding the many practices underhand attempted to have diverted
the whole course of that building, as hereafter in his proper place shall be
discovered.
During the time that I proceeded on with the new frame, the inquisition
against the Navy then growing to the height and prosecuted with extremity
of malice against Sir John Trevor, Sir Robert Mansell, and some others,
amongst whom myself held not the least place, about the fine of March,
1609, there was discovered unto me (by Mr. Sebastian Vicars, Carver to the
Ships, my ever true and faithful friend) a secret combination against me
concerning the building of the great ship, suggested first by the practice of
my fellows, old Mr. Mathew Baker and Mr. William Bright, old adversaries

to my name and family, assisted by Edward Stevens, a Master Shipwright,
who laid great claim to my place by a former patent to him granted under
the broad seal of England, with some other shipwrights also joined with
them by especial warrant from the great Lord of Northampton, my most
implacable enemy; my fellows bearing me no small grudge because by the
Prince's Highness' means, my master, I was preferred to that great business
before them; and Mr. Stevens malicing me because he could not prevail
against me to recover my place from me.
They had also won to their party by much importunity, and by means of a
particular letter directed from the Lord Northampton to him to that very
purpose, a great braggadocio, a vain and idle fellow sometime a mariner
and master, called by the name of Captain George Waymouth; who, having
much acquaintance abroad amongst gentlemen, was to disperse the
insufficiency of my business, reporting how I was no artist, and altogether
insufficient to perform such a service, of no experience, and that the King's
Majesty was cosened and all the charge lost, and the frame of her was unfit
for any use but a dung boat, with many other such false opprobrious
defamations, wherein he was better practised than in any other profession.
These rumours being thus divulged, the report thereof coming to Mr.
Sebastian Vicars' ears was the cause that he, out of his great love and
honesty to me, wrote to me what he heard abroad, wishing me to keep a
careful watch over myself, for that they would bend all their practices,
powers and friends, to the disgracing of the building and ruining of me. But
I, being very confident of the goodness of my cause (though I received that
admonition as from a dear friend with much acknowledgment of his love
and care of me), yet, little regarding what their malicious practices could
bring forth, made small reckoning of their plottings till such time as the
good honest man, understanding from some of their own mouths what was
intended against me, made a purposed journey to me to Woolwich (though
he was then scarce able to travel by reason of a tedious[272] sickness) and
there thoroughly possessed me of the certainty of what he before by his
writing had truly informed me.
I, now perceiving it was no idle flim flam[273] as I before supposed,
considered that the goodness of my cause might by my secure[274] neglect
either suffer hazard, or be overborne by greatness, began to call my wits
about me and to advise what was to be done in the business; at which time,

to make good the supposition, I received a message by word of mouth from
a worthy gentleman, and good friend of mine, Mr. William Burrell,
principal Master Workman to the East India Company, of all their project,
which was discovered to him particularly by that Captain Waymouth, being
at that instant time between drunk and sober.
The 13th of April this Waymouth was, by consent of the rest, sent to
Woolwich to survey my work, and thereupon to deliver his opinion, and I in
the mean time was appointed to be at Redriff at a meeting at a court held for
the incorporation of Shipwrights, whereof I was then Master, that in my
absence he might have the better opportunity to perform his malicious
instructions, as he was directed by his great masters; of the which his
purpose I receiving certain intelligence, leaving my intended journey to
Redriff, I awaited his coming, and, receiving him after a courteous manner,
after some discourse and ordinary compliments he returned back to his
confederates, frustrate of his great purpose.
Within some few days after, I wrote something to this purpose to my very
good friends Sir Robert Mansell and Sir John Trevor, being then Treasurer
and Surveyor of the Navy, desiring them, for that it was a business highly
concerning the honour of our honourable lord the Lord High Admiral and
their own particular reputations, they would be pleased to take the pains to
make a sudden journey to Woolwich, there truly to inform themselves not
only concerning the state of the work but of divers other material business
wherewith I was to acquaint them at their coming thither. According to my
request, they both came the next day; where being throughly possessed of
all the passages and occurrences concerning the project of our adversaries,
after they had carefully also surveyed the work, with all other things
necessary to be advised of, leaving with me, with good deliberation,
instructions how to proceed in my defence, they departed again to
Westminster the same afternoon.
Presently after the departure of these gentlemen, desiring first the Lord to
guide and direct my pen so as might best tend to his glory and the discharge
of my duty, I betook myself to my study and in the briefest manner I could I
certified the Lord Admiral of the truth of all the whole project plotted
against me, with the names of the principalest actors therein, and the
reasons inducing them unto it; withal earnestly beseeching his Lordship to
be pleased, since the matter so nearly concerned his Majesty's profit, the

honour of the state, his Lordship's own safety, and the reputation of his
Office, to leave all respect of my particular good and to procure such a view
to be presently made of the work, by judicious and impartial persons, as his
Majesty might receive no loss, the strength of the kingdom no prejudice, his
honour no impeachment, and the Officers of the Navy no just calumniation
nor blame.
It pleased his Lordship, then lying at Whitehall, presently after the receipt
of my letter (wherewith he was not a little troubled to observe their
malicious practices) to send for me to wait upon him, that by conference
with me his Lordship might be better informed of each particular passage in
this so dangerous information and conspiracy; and after his Lordship had
received from me such satisfaction as he desired, comforting me with many
noble encouragements, as being (as he said) sufficiently persuaded both of
my skill, experience and honesty, wishing me to take a good heart and never
a whit to distrust the goodness of my cause, albeit I had strong adversaries,
for that God in his mercy would never permit such a malicious practice to
prevail against those that relied upon him, with many other fatherly
instructions; and so, being somewhat late, for that night his Lordship was
pleased to dismiss me, giving me commandment to attend his further
pleasure the next morning; and this was the 20th day of April.
It was no sooner day the next morrow but his Lordship, very careful of
doing something in this weighty business, made himself ready, and by 4 of
clock, taking my letter in his hand, speeds himself to his Majesty's chamber,
lying then also at Whitehall, and sending in word that his Lordship was
there to acquaint his Majesty with some business of great consequence, was
presently admitted to his Majesty's bedside, and, having in few words given
his Majesty a taste of his errand, delivered him my letter and besought him
to be pleased thoroughly to peruse the same. The letter his Majesty twice
read over, and perceiving how malice was the original of all this stir,
seemed greatly to pity the wrong and injury done unto me, using this
gracious speech in my behalf, that whatsoever my act was he knew not, but
I deserved great commendation for my honest plainness delivered in my
letter, and that it was great reason I should be justly proceeded withal.
To the end therefore I might not be wrongfully oppressed, and the works
disgraced without just cause, his Majesty took present order with the Lord
High Admiral that he should join unto him the right honourable lords, the

Earls of Worcester, then Master of his Majesty's horse, and of Suffolk, then
Lord High Chamberlain, and repairing to Woolwich, should there, upon
their oaths, honours, and faithful allegiance to his Majesty, without respect
of any particular person, call before them my accusers, and, as well by
examination of them as trial of the work itself, both in point of sufficiency,
as well of matter as manner, should truly inform themselves whether this
main accusation so much concerning his Majesty's honour were justly
commenced or no; which charge of his Majesty being performed, they
should return the true report thereof with all speed to his Majesty, as they
would answer it upon their allegiance.
Whilst these things were thus ordering, my malicious adversaries were
not idle, but plotting as fast against me, and had so far prevailed with the
Lord Northampton that there should be a private warrant directed to the
chief of them, vide; to Mr. Baker, Bright and Stevens, and to some other
whom they should associate with them, which warrant should have been
signed with the King's own hand, to authorise them to repair to Woolwich,
and there strictly to make a survey of the work; which being done, upon the
return of the insufficiency of the same under their hands and confirmation
by oath, it was resolved amongst them I should be turned out and for ever
disgraced, the work utterly defaced, and I never to come to any personal
answer; and one of them that could make his party strongest should
undertake the business, about which they were in great contention amongst
themselves who should be preferred to it.
But it pleased my good God, that never leaves his servants destitute of
his help when all other means fail them, so mightily to work for me by
means of my letter sent to my honourable Lord Admiral, and, as is shewed
afore, delivered to his Majesty, so far to prevent their purposes, that upon
that very day wherein they had determined to have displaced and disgraced
me, that they were, unawares to them, warned by one of his Majesty's
messengers to appear before the three Lords before named, to answer them
at that very place and time wherein they made their account to have
triumphed over me. This was the Lord's doing and it is marvellous in our
eyes, and this day was appointed to be on Tuesday the 25th day of April,
which time was accordingly kept, and the Lords were come to Woolwich by
nine of the clock the same morning. The first thing they did was to take a
diligent survey of the work, first touching the form and manner of the same,

and then concerning the goodness of the materials; which having very
carefully perused, they repaired into the house and sat at a little table in the
middle of my dining room. Their Lordships being set, first Mr. Baker was
called and demanded, for the good of his Majesty's service, to deliver
plainly what he could justly except against the ship, either in point of art or
in sufficiency of the materials, and leading him from point to point
concerning her proportion of length, breadth, depth, draught of water,
height of tuck,[275] rake afore and abaft, breadth of the floor, scantling of
timber, and other circumstances, after a deal of frivolous arguings to no
purpose, their Lordships found by his examination nothing worthy of
observing; and directly finding him to be led more out of an envious
malicious humour against me than upon any certain ground of error in the
mould, or probability of insufficiency of any of the materials used in the
frame; whereupon he was dismissed.
After him was Bright called, and then Stevens, who were so tripped in
their several examinations as their Lordships found them in their answers
clean contrary one to another almost in every question, by which their
Lordships concluded, as they did of Mr. Baker, that all this question and
infamous report of the business was plotted by them out of some malicious
respects to disgrace me and my works, and not of any care or conscionable
regard of the good of his Majesty's service; and so they were dismissed.
Then was great killcow[276] Waymouth called, who being examined as the
others before him were, was able to say nothing to any purpose, but held
their Lordships with a long tedious discourse of proportions, measures,
lines, and an infinite rabble of idle and unprofitable speeches clean from the
matter, wherewith their Lordships were so tired as he was commanded
silence. Then every man being dismissed the room, they consulted in
private about some half hour, and then we were all called in again; where
their Lordships, addressing their speech to me, delivered that, by all this
enquiry, they in their judgments could find no just cause of exception
against the business, and this accusation grew for aught they could perceive
out of envy and malice, and therefore I had no cause to be discouraged in
my service but to go on both comfortably and cheerfully, assuring me they
would so effectually return the account of the particulars of this their day's
work to his Majesty as should not only give his Majesty satisfaction, but
also secure and defend me from all the opposition any of my adversaries

could practise against me, with many other noble speeches of
encouragement. And so about 4 of the clock in the evening, taking their
caroches,[277] they returned to the Court to Whitehall.
The same night, after their coming to the Court, their Lordships repairing
to his Majesty, they there delivered the account of their journey, together
with all the particular passages in the same; there offering to prove upon
their honours, allegiances, and their lives, the ground of that conspiracy to
spring from no other reason than inveterate malice to me, and that they
found the business in every part and point so excellent, as befitted the
service of so royal a king; with which his Majesty rested marvellous well
satisfied.
My adversaries, whose malicious practices nothing could daunt, hunting
after nothing so much as my ruin and utter disgrace, were so fired with this
prevention that, redoubling their fury, [they] went all together the next
morning to their great patron and abettor, the Lord Northampton, who being
vehemently incensed before, to have such an affront to the proceeding of
his commission, as he termed our courses to have wrought, was willing to
entertain anything that carried but likelihood to give him means to be
revenged on me for it. After therefore these caterpillars had discovered to
his Lordship all the circumstances of the hearing before the Lords,
complaining very grievously as they termed it, of their partiality towards
me and bitterness to them, and that they were not suffered to speak, nor
could be heard in any[thing] they could inform against me, they offering
upon their lives to make good all their informations against me to be true,
so that they might but gain an equal hearing, his Lordship promised to
move his Majesty in the granting of a second hearing; wherein he doubted
not, as he said unto them, but they should have amends made to them for
the former injuries and obtain their purpose against me in despite of all my
friends and upholders.
His Lordship immediately upon this repaired to his Majesty, and there
made a grievous complaint against the partiality of the three Lords, which
they shewed in the examination of the business; there in the behalf of the
plaintiffs—tendering to his Majesty that they did offer upon their lives to
prove all their informations true, and besought his Majesty very earnestly
there might be a second examination committed to his Lordships care,
whereby all partiality should be prevented and his Majesty receive better

confirmations of their good service than what the Lords had before, upon
their superficial survey and partial examination, exhibited to his Majesty.
His Majesty made answer that upon his Lordship's first complaint he had
made especial choice of three principal peers of the realm, of whose faithful
fidelity he was so confidently assured that he could not but give credit to
that account their Lordships had returned upon the serious examination of
that so weighty a business. Notwithstanding, seeing his Lordship urged so
earnestly a review and second examination, since it was a business of such
main consequence, for his better satisfaction and clearing all doubts and
scruple, his Majesty resolved to take the pains in his own person to have the
hearing of the cause indifferently between all parties; appointing Monday
the 8th of May following to be the time for the same hearing at Woolwich in
the yard where the ship was then in building; giving order to the Lord High
Admiral of England to provide for the same, and to command all such
persons as were any ways interested in that business to give their personal
attendance upon his Majesty at the same time and place.
This resolution of his Majesty made known, there was preparation on
both sides, to be provided both of information and defence, to give his
Majesty satisfaction; but the contrary parties doubting their malicious
practices would now be plainly discovered, never dreaming of such a
course, they still laboured to bring disgraces upon me; informing, in this
interim of ten days, if I might be suffered to continue the workmen upon the
frames, I would so handle the matter that all things should be reformed that
had by them been formerly found defective, both in point of materials and
proportions; and therefore were earnest suitors to have all the workmen
presently discharged, and the work to stand. His Majesty, upon the advice
of some of the Lords, whereof the then Lord Treasurer, Sir Robert Cecil and
Earl of Salisbury[278] being chief, would not consent on any condition to
have the workmen absolutely discharged, but that order should be taken the
work should cease, and the men continued at his Majesty's charge till the
hearing should be past, and his Majesty determine what was after to be
done. Whereupon his Majesty commanded a letter to be written to me to the
same effect, charging me upon my allegiance to follow the directions
therein contained, which I accordingly very carefully observed. In the mean
time no day almost passed wherein Mr. Baker, Bright, Stevens, Clay,
Graves, Captain Waymouth, with their malicious associates, did not meet at
Woolwich to take all the dimensions of the ship, to deface the work by

striking aside the shores, and condemning the materials, aggravating
continual disgraces upon me, and railing despitefully to my face; which I
was forced to endure with patience and put up with silence, flying to God,
on whose mercy I wholly depended in these extremities.
The good Lord Admiral was not idle in this interim to provide for to give
his Majesty full satisfaction in all things could be objected by the informers,
and to that purpose carefully advising with Sir Robert Mansell and Sir John
Trevor, principal Officers of his Majesty's Navy, together with myself,
whom it did most concern, what course was to be held to meet all
objections could be any ways produced against me; and for that the adverse
part had made choice of a certain number of masters and builders in the
river of Thames to strengthen their proceedings, it was held fit and resolved
the like course should be taken by us for our better defence; whereupon
sundry experienced men known to be honest and impartial of both kinds
were nominated and appointed by warrant from the Lord Admiral to attend
this service, some inhabiting about the river of Thames and others of remote
places, with whom divers consultations were held, as well to inform them
of the truth of every particular as also to satisfy their doubts in anything
wherein it was fit they should be throughly resolved. I, for my own part,
confident of mine own integrity, commending my cause to God, provided
myself to be able to answer all objections whatsoever could be alleged
against me, either in point of art, experience, or care, in this so weighty
service of trust and consequence.
I must not here forget the princely favour of my royal, then master,
Prince Henry, of ever famous memory, who in his noble care of me in the
interim of the time appointed by his Majesty for my hearing did almost
every day send me a comfortable encouragement by some one of his
principal gentlemen to heart me on and put life into me, lest I should any
ways be disheartened with the apprehension of the power of my great and
potent adversary; and when the time grew near for my trial sent me a
commandment to wait upon his Grace, the Sunday preceding the day, at St.
James, which I accordingly performed; where his Highness vouchsafing to
lead me in his hand through the park to Whitehall, in the public view and
hearing of many people there attending to see him pass to the King, his
father, did in such loving manner counsel me with such comfortable, wise,
and grave advice touching my carriage and resolution in my trial, as was no

little testimony of his principal care of me, to my great comfort, and joy of
all those that were both eye and ear witnesses of it; besides casting[279] the
worst that might be, if I had been overthrown by the censure of his Majesty,
his Highness had graciously determined to have received me into a place in
his house, and resolved to have provided for me whilst I had lived.
The time drawing now near, there was sent from London at the
appointment of the Lord Admiral, hangings to furnish the room where his
Majesty was to sit, and the next room to it where he was to withdraw, the
one being the common dining room of the workmen, and the other my own
dining room, both which I caused to be hanged and trimmed up with such
furniture as was befitting such a presence, with all convenience the place
could any ways afford.
On Monday morning, being the eighth day of May, the Lord Admiral
came betimes to Woolwich, attended by Sir Robert Mansell, Sir John
Trevor, and others, where his Lordship was met by all those persons which
were formerly[280] warned to be there on our part, and his Lordship took
those rooms which were fitted for his Majesty. Presently after came the
Lord Northampton attended with all the spiteful crew of his informers, and
he took Hugh Lydiard's house, being Clerk of the Check, which was fitted
for him, and was there attended with all his rabble.
Before his Majesty's coming, Waymouth and his associates pryed up and
down the yard, belching out nothing but disgraces, despiteful speeches, and
base opprobrious terms, being so confident of their wished ends as they
before had given out that I should be hanged and the work defaced at the
least; which was likely enough to have proved so, had not God put a hook
into their nostrils and by the justice of the King caused themselves to fall
into the pit they digged for another.
The noble Admiral spent the time till his Majesty's coming very quietly
and privately, consulting advisedly with those appointed for the business,
never so much as taking notice of the base usage of them on their side.
All things being in a readiness, about eight of the clock his Majesty came
in his caroche attended with Prince Henry and the principal Lords of his
Majesty's Council. The Lord Northampton met him before he came to the
ordinary gate of the yard, and used all the means he could to have led his
Majesty through Lydiard's garden by a back way into his house; but his

Majesty told his Lordship that the Lord Admiral, whom he espied waiting
with his train at the ordinary gate of the yard, would justly take exception at
his so doing, for that it belonged properly there to his Lordship to receive
and entertain him. So alighting, the Lord Admiral, after his duty performed,
guided his Majesty in the rooms provided purposely for the business, whom
I ushered as belonged to my place.
After his Majesty had a little reposed, he desired the Lord Admiral to
bring him to the sight of the work then in hand, which accordingly was
done, directing his Majesty to a brow[281] or stage made at the stem of the
ship, where he might perfectly take a perfect view of the whole ground
work of the frame, being then about half set up and planked as high as the
rungheads,[282] no foot-waling[283] as then begun. After his Majesty had
satisfied himself sufficiently, he returned back to the place again, and there
seated himself in the chair under the state,[284] at a little table standing right
before him; the Prince and Lords taking their stands on his Majesty's right
hand, with the Lord Admiral and all those warned on our part; and the Lord
Northampton on the left hand of his Majesty, with all his crew of informers
and others appointed to assist him on his part, of sea masters and
shipwrights of the Thames.
These things thus ordered, his Majesty, silence be[ing] commanded by
his gentlemen ushers, his Majesty began a very worthy speech; first to
signify the cause of his coming to that place and how much it imported the
royal care of a king to take to his personal examination a business of such
consequence, as so much concerned the strength and honour of his
Kingdom and State, besides the expense of his Treasure. Next he addressed
his speech to the actors on both sides, to those that were informers and to
those that were defendants; the substance of his royal speech tending to a
religious exhortation that none of both sides should either accuse for malice
or other pretence, or excuse for love, favour, or other particular respects, for
that his Majesty, in the seat of justice presenting God's person, would not be
deluded, nor led by any coloured pretences from understanding the very
plain truth of that business which was to be handled; and therefore willed
such on both sides whose conscience accused them either of malicious
proceedings, private ends, or partial favour, to give over and depart before
they took the oath to be administered unto them; threatening severe

punishments to those should be found offenders herein; declaring what
danger it was to be perjured before the Majesty of God and the King.
His Majesty's speech so effectually delivered to the purpose of the matter
in hand to the admiration of the hearers, commandment was given to call
the names of those to be sworn on both sides.
On Lord Northampton's side were:
Seamen.
Sir Henry Middleton.[285] Robert Rickman.[292]
Mr. Hugh Meritt.[286] Thomas Redwood.[293]
Captain Watts.[287] Captain Geare.[294]
Captain Norreys.[288] Captain Moore.[295]
Mr. Chester.[289] Mr. James Woodcott.[296]
Captain Waymouth.[290] Mr. Mathew Woodcott.[297]
Captain Newport.[291] Captain Miller.
Shipwrights.
Mr. Mathew Baker.[298] Mr. Clay.[299]
Mr. William Bright.[298] Mr. Graves.[300]
Mr. Edward Stevens.[298] Mr. Tranckmore.[301]
Captain Waymouth. Mr. Lydiard.[302]
Other Informers.
Thomas Buck.[303] Clifton, a baker.[304]

Sworn on our part:—
Seamen.
Mr. William Jones.[305] Mr. Thomas Fuller.[311]
Mr. William Bygatt.[306] Mr. Robert Wright.[312]
Mr. Michael Meriall.[307] Mr. Thomas Johnson.[313]
Mr. John King.[308] Mr. John Dawes.
Mr. George Ireland. Mr. Nicholas Diggens.[314]
Mr. Arthur Pett.[309] Mr. Jorden.[315]
Mr. John Woodcott.[310] Mr. Michael Edmondes.
Shipwrights.

Mr. William Burrell.[316] Mr. Thomas Cole.[319]
Mr. Nicolas Simonson.[317] Mr. Thomas Prime.[319]
Mr. Thomas Jenkins.[318]
Carpenters of his Majesty's Navy.
Lawrence Andrews.[320] John Elye.
[321]
David Duck. Thomas Hampton.
Robert Bromadge. Nicholas Surtis.[322]
Thomas Cateroll. Robert Sharpe.[322]
These several persons being called and appearing, the form of the oath
was read unto them by the Right Honourable Sir Robert Cecil, Earl of
Salisbury, and then Lord Treasurer, who personated the Clerk of the
Session, and the book was presented to them by the Right Honourable
Charles Howard, Earl of Nottingham, Lord High Admiral of England.
These ceremonies performed, his Majesty willed the Lord Northampton
to begin his accusation, and then I was called personally to answer and
kneeled right before his Majesty, near the side of the table; the Lord High
Admiral standing at my left hand, Sir Robert Mansell and Sir John Trevor
standing both right behind me. The accusation against me was exhibited by
the Lord Northampton in writing,[323] containing sundry articles in point of
my sufficiency, art, and experience, and in point of my care and honesty in
discharge of my duty in putting in unserviceable materials to the great
detriment of his Majesty's Service. His Majesty perceiving the articles to be
many and very intricate to answer each particular, very judiciously
contracted all the business to three principal heads: the point of art, the
point of sufficiency of materials, and the point of charge; and to these heads
I was commanded to frame my answers, and they their accusations. I must
confess that at the first I was so daunted with the majesty of the King, the
power of my adversary, and the confused urging of the objections, that I
was confounded in myself till it pleased God, by the helps of the Lord
Treasurer and his discreet directions,[324] I was recollected and recovered my
spirits, and so orderly answered to each objection; his Majesty still holding
us on both sides to the proposition.
Much time was spent in dispute of proportions, comparing my present
frame with former precedents and dimensions of the best ships, for length,
breadth, depth, floor, and other circumstances; in all which they could not

fasten anything upon me but reflected to their disgrace and apparent breach
of oath, and plain demonstration and expression of combined practice.
One point of proportion was mainly insisted upon and with much
violence and eagerness urged on both sides, which was the square of the
ship's flat in the midships,[325] they affirming constantly upon their oath it
was full thirteen foot, we as constantly insisting that it was but eleven foot
and eight inches; but because this difference was long and could not be tried
upon the small plates his Majesty referred the trial to be made upon the
great platform, which was purposely framed of planks, to the full scale of
the ship, where all the lines of the midship bend[326] were drawn, and the
square of the flat truly described, with their centres, perpendiculars, and
sweeps; which trial, because it much concerned the truth or falsity of all the
rest, his Majesty would not give trust to any of those that were by oath
interested in the same, but made choice of the noble and worthy knight, Sir
Thomas Chaloner, then Governor of the Prince's Highness' household, and
of the learned reverend gentleman Mr. Briggs,[327] reader of geometry
lecture in Gresham College in London, and Master of Art and student in St.
John's in Cambridge, who were to decide this controversy.
This thus concluded, we came to the point of charge; to which was
answered that the charge of the building of this ship should not exceed other
ships that had been built in her Majesty's times, I mean Queen Elizabeth of
famous and happy memory, allowing proportion for proportion, the
garnishing not exceeding theirs. This gave full satisfaction to this point of
charge, being the second head propounded. It then being almost one of the
clock, his Majesty called for his dinner, referring the other points to be
handled in the ship, after dinner. All this time I sat upon my knees, baited
by the great Lord and his bandogs; sometimes by Baker, sometimes by
Bright, Stevens, Clay, gaping Waymouth, and sometimes confusedly by all;
and, which was worst, his Majesty's angry countenance still bent upon me,
so that I was almost disheartened and out of breath, albeit the Prince's
Highness, standing near me, from time to time encouraged me as far as he
might without offence to his father, labouring to have me eased by standing
up, but his Majesty would not permit it.
So soon as his Majesty and the Lords had dined, the King rose and went
into the body of the frame of the ship, to make trial of the goodness of the
materials. All the lower futtocks[328] were placed, and many upper futtocks

also. The adverse part had chalked with a mark almost half the lower
futtocks for red[329] wood, cross-grained, and merely[330] unserviceable, all
which timbers his Majesty caused to be dubbed[331] by the workmen ready
with their tools for that purpose, and being tried they were all approved
very sound and serviceable; and touching the cross-grained timber his
Majesty protested very earnestly the cross grain was in the men and not in
the timber. His Majesty spent much time in the survey of these things, still
giving way to what objections the adverse part could allege, and what
answer I could make in my defence.
This business performed within board and his Majesty well satisfied in
every particular, he openly delivered that the ship would be too strong if
one third of the timber[332] were left out; and then began to give me a
princely countenance and encouragement, protesting oftentimes that all this
grievous accusation proceeded of nothing but malice. Then his Majesty
came without board and curiously[333] surveyed the planks, trenails, and
workmanship, all which gave him such good satisfaction as still confirmed
his opinion of their malicious proceedings.
All the while his Majesty was intentive upon this search, the gentlemen
forenamed, that were appointed for the trial of the point of the true flat of
the floor, they were busied in taking off the measures from the ship and
bringing them to the platform; and when they found by due trial all the lines
to be truly set off, they acquainted his Majesty that all things was in
readiness. His Majesty then, having received satisfaction of all things about
the frame, repaired to the platform, attended with the Prince, the Lords, and
many thousand spectators besides. His Majesty then caused those
gentlemen to measure each dimension of breadth and depth for his own
satisfaction, and then coming to the point of the square of the floor, whether
it were answering their assertion of 13 foot, or agreeable to ours of eleven
foot eight inches, the square of 13 foot was tried from the true centre and
perpendicular, which being applied to the sweeps of the mould did differ
above 16 inches at the runghead, the like trial made by our true centre and
perpendicular fell as just in our lines as could be possibly; which done, his
Majesty with a loud voice commanded the measurers to declare publicly the
very truth, which when they had delivered clearly on our sides, all the
whole multitude heaved up their hats, and gave a great and a loud shout and
acclamation, and then the Prince's Highness called with a high voice in

these words: 'Where be now these perjured fellows that dare thus abuse his
Majesty with these false informations, do they not worthily deserve
hanging?'
By that time all these things were thus performed and his Majesty
wonderfully satisfied, and it growing somewhat late, his Majesty returned
again into the hall where he formerly sat; and being placed, and the room
filled as full as it could be packed, his Majesty began a most worthy and
learned speech for conclusion of the business, the scope of his words
tending first to a full declaration of the satisfaction he had received
touching this great business, wherein he expressed with many effectual
speeches what content he received in bestowing his pains that day to so
good a purpose; next his Majesty addressed himself to give thanks to the
Lord Northampton for his great care and diligence to search out such errors
in the Office of the Admiralty, wherein his Majesty and the State were
abused, with encouragement for him to go forward with prosecuting his
commission, notwithstanding his Lordship had been misinformed by being
drawn to question this present business; next, his Majesty directed his
speech to Mr. Baker, Bright, Stevens and the rest of the informers, very
bitterly reprehending their malicious practices, more to bring to effect their
own private ends than out of any conscionable care of the good of his
Majesty's Service or benefit of the State, repining at the preferment I had
and the countenance of the Prince, his son, and therefore combining
together to disgrace and ruin me, though otherwise they envied one another
and were at controversy who should be preferred to my business; with
many good exhortations to will them to beware how they did abuse the
Majesty of God and himself, his substitute, with malicious informations in
which he could do no less than think them perjured, as in the prosecuting of
this whole business was too apparent to himself and all the world, whereby
they deserved to be severely punished, if he should censure them as they
worthily merited.
His Majesty then began to shew me a very pleasing countenance and
turned his speech to me, willing me not to be discountenanced with these
proceedings against me, since he was now sufficiently persuaded of my
honesty, integrity and abilities to perform what I had undertaken, advising
me not to refuse counsel of my fellow servants since it was his service,
wherein we ought to join together for his good and the honour of the State;

with many other princely expressions of his good opinion of me and
readiness, not only to give me countenance, but assurance of future favour
towards me; and lastly he cleared all imputations and aspersions unjustly
cast upon the Lord High Admiral, with recital of all his honourable services
performed to the honour of the State and his perpetual fame, commending
his great wisdom and impartial carriage of himself in this day's trial,
wherein he was never observed to give any impediment to his Majesty's
judicial proceedings but all furtherance possible, as was both evidently
manifest to his Majesty by the great pains he had endured that day and the
noble patience he had given public testimony of to all present which were
eye witnesses of it; with many other gracious speeches to put new life and
power into him to go on as he had begun to the perpetual eternizing his
name and honour: then, giving general thanks to those that had taken pains
in that day's business, with protestation of his princely care in all matters of
such consequence for the safety and honour of the State and Kingdom, he
concluded his speech.
Then the noble Admiral, as his Majesty was rising, humbly besought his
Majesty to license him to speak a few words, as well to declare his own
innocency concerning these unjust accusations, as to clear me in the point
both of my sufficiency and my care and honesty to perform the service
entrusted to me, to which his honourable request (though it grew now to be
late) his Majesty most willingly condescended.
The sum of his Lordship's speech tended to admire[334] and extol his
Majesty's justice, great wisdom, and princely care of the good of the
commonwealth, in that he had refused no pains (as this day's work and
honourable assembly could justly witness) to provide to rectify and set
straight, to the wonder and admiration of them all, a work of so great a
consequence, and of such a kind of intricacy as his Majesty had never been
accustomed to before, and yet so clearly to examine and try in so short a
space, as if he had only [been] bred and accustomed to such elements, with
many other honourable speeches tending to that purpose. His Lordship then
laying his hand upon my head, standing next unto him upon his right hand,
did there freely offer to pawn all his lands, his honour, and his life, in my
behalf for the performance and finishing of this royal work; which being
once perfected, if his Majesty (by the advice of the best experienced artist
and seamen of the Kingdom) should dislike, he would willingly, with help

of his, take off from his Majesty's hands at his and their proper charge
with[out] any damage or loss to his Majesty; and this did his Lordship
deliver with such bold, assured, confident earnestness as gave much content
to his Majesty and satisfaction to the Prince, the Lords, and most part of the
rest of the standers by.
To this speech his Majesty replied briefly with gracious
acknowledgments of his princely acceptance of his Lordship's true, faithful
service and zeal expressed in that his worthy speech, of which he had so
great assurance as he confidently protested never king could be more happy
than himself in the service of such an honourable subject; and therefore
there was no need why he should any ways engage neither himself nor his
honour in that which his Majesty had, by the course of upright justice,
before the face of God and the world, so apparently cleared; this said, his
Majesty rose.
In passing through the hall, the Lord Admiral going before and leading
me in his hand, the Lord Thomas Howard, then Lord Chamberlain of the
Household, made a motion to his Majesty to lay a charge upon me that I
should not make any quarrel against any person or persons that had that day
given information against me, alleging he knew my stomach to be such as,
if I were not contained by his Majesty's commandment, I would call them to
account for their doings, whereupon blood might ensue.
His Majesty, giving ear to what his Lordship advised, gave him thanks
for his worthy counsel; and calling me unto him before the whole company,
I sitting upon my knees, he gave me an especial charge upon my allegiance
and life that I should not quarrel or challenge any person or persons
whatsoever that had that day given information against me, alleging I had
honour sufficient to have been cleared of all questions and objections
unjustly laid to my charge by the equity of my cause and his justice.
This speech concluded, his Majesty hastened to take his caroche which
attended at the gate: the noble Lord Admiral brought me in his hand to his
Majesty, to kiss his royal hand and take my leave. His Majesty gave me his
hand to kiss with such an expression of his princely favour and
encouragements to proceed cheerfully in my business as did not only infuse
new life into me, but also gave great comfort and content to all the standers
by.

Then I presented myself upon my knee to the most noble Prince my then
master, who, taking me from the ground, did so affectionately express his
joy for my clearing and the satisfaction his father had received that day, that
he protested he would not only countenance and comfort me hereafter but
care to provide for me and my posterity while he lived. I received the like
noble courtesy from all the lords, who declared their joy for the happy
success[335] God gave me in this great deliverance.
The great Lord of Northampton, seeing the event of this business, and
that all things sorted out clean contrary to his expectation, railing bitterly
against his informing instruments, took the back way to his coach and
would not so much as take any leave of his Majesty, but posted away with
no little expression of great discontentment, as did also the rest of his
partakers.
The Lord Admiral attended his Majesty, being never better contented in
all his life, and returned to Whitehall with the company, it being almost
eight of the clock before they went from Woolwich.
Sir Robert Mansell, Sir John Trevor, Captain Button,[336] and the rest of
my good friends followed, amongst whom was the good old Lady Mansell
and Mrs. Button, who had taken the pains to attend the hearing in an inner
room all that day.
This day, as it was a very tedious day unto me by reason I was to answer
all objections and kneel so long together, so was it a day of jubilee to me, a
day never to be forgotten of me nor mine; wherein my good God shewed
me wonderful favour and mercy to enable me to endure the frowns of the
King, and to strengthen my weak abilities to withstand the malice of such
and so many powerful adversaries by the space of one whole long summer's
day, for his Majesty (albeit he was sufficiently persuaded of their malice
and my integrity) yet till he had cleared all doubts by the course of strict
examination, and found me in his justice guiltless, he would show me no
countenance at all; but after their malice was discovered, and all those
heads and points fully answered and clearly resolved, his Majesty then both
in countenance, words, and all other princely expressions, declared his royal
disposition towards me.
The next day, being the 9th of May, I began the work again, every man
striving to express his willingness thereunto by reason of the great

encouragement his Majesty had publicly and generally given to them; and
within two or three days after, the Lord Admiral, Sir Robert Mansell, and
Sir John Trevor, advising together with me, we resolved to move the Lords
of the Council to have two principal men, which were Master Shipwrights,
to be by their order appointed to repair twice at least in the week to
Woolwich, to survey the provisions, and to foresee that no unserviceable
materials should be wrought upon the ship, which we did to clear all
suspicions of any ends of our own. This accordingly was consented to of the
Lords, and Mr. Mathew Baker and Henry Reynolds were appointed to be
the overseers, who for fashion's sake some three or four times came to
Woolwich, but finding our care to be more to perform honestly than theirs
could be to prevent with their best endeavours, they gave over the trust
recommended to them and left me to myself.
The 7th of June following, the Red Lion, which was newly rebuilt by Mr.
Baker at Deptford, was launched; where was present the King's Majesty and
the Prince, I attending then near the place at the great storehouse end, where
his Majesty had his standing; he was pleased very graciously to confer with
me and to use me with extraordinary expressions of his princely favour.
The 8th day of June, being the Thursday in Whitsun week, his Majesty
began to hear the great and general cause of the Navy in his Presence
Chamber at[337] Greenwich, wherein three whole days was spent in several
examinations of the truth and circumstances of the informations delivered
by the Lord Northampton and his agents, against Sir Robert Mansell, Sir
John Trevor, Captain Button, Sir Thomas Bludder, Mr. Legatt,[338] myself
and many others.
The first day the Lord Northampton made the very entrance into the
business a great complaint of the dishonour he reaped by my hearing at
Woolwich, insisting very maliciously in incensing his Majesty against me
and others, who, as he said, traduced him in every tavern and ale bench, to
his great dishonour; and therefore humbly besought his Majesty that
business might be again called in question, alleging the confidence of the
informers who were ready to maintain the truth of their former informations
with their lives.
His Majesty, taking it ill that my Lord should dare to question his just
proceedings, which he had taken such pains personally to hear [and]

determine, took him short off with a sharp reprehension and willed him no
further to insist upon that whereof his Majesty and the whole world were so
sufficiently satisfied; but if he had aught else to say he should proceed with
that, and he was there ready to hear and to do him all right. Then his
Lordship began to deliver sundry particular bitter accusations against Sir
Robert Mansell, Sir John Trevor, and the rest, all savouring more of malice
than of truth, as was apparent by every man's answer when they were called
to speak for themselves.
On Saturday, being the 10th of June and the last day of hearing, to
conclude all, I was called the last man to answer a grievous accusation for
my Spanish voyage made in the Resistance, when I attended the Lord
Admiral for the conclusion of the peace. Captain Norreys being then the
principal informer, it was laid to my charge I had transported and sold to the
Spaniards divers tons of brass ordnance and other provisions of powder and
shot, but after it came to the trial all proved nothing but ridiculus mus;[339]
his Majesty being made privy to all the proceeding in that business by the
Lord Admiral when he was in Spain, so that I was fully cleared of all those
scandalous and false informations by his Majesty's own mouth, to the
shame and disgrace of those that were the principal actors and prosecutors
of it; and thus was that great hearing fully concluded at Greenwich.
It must not be forgotten how the Lord in his justice did revenge my
injuries and wrongs even upon all those that were sworn against me; but
because in modesty I will spare to nominate some, and in what particulars
they were afterwards in special matters beholding to me, yet I must not pass
over one remarkable accident that happened to one of them in this manner.
Captain George Waymouth before mentioned, being one of the most
violent and bitterest adversaries that came against me, happened to have
drawn in a knight of Hampshire to be so credulously confident of his
special art in building of ships, that he trusted him to have the oversight and
direction of building a small ship for him, which was expected to have been
so rare a sailer, and every way so well conditioned, as she should run
beyond the moon; but in the end, when she came to be tried, she proved the
veriest bauble and drown devil[340] that ever went to sea; and so plainly
cozened the knight both of his charge and expectation.

The provisions of cordage, anchors, sails, munition, and other furniture
were to come from London, and Captain Waymouth was trusted both to
ship them and to convey them to the vessel; and for the better security he
resolved to embark himself with them, and falling down as low as the North
Foreland, there mistaking his course (as he did in the North-west
Passage[341]), instead of going to Shoreham in Sussex, he went for Flushing;
and so, pretending some lame excuse to colour his pretence, passed from
thence to Antwerp, where it is most certain he proffered to sell all his
commodities and his service also, had he not been prevented, albeit he
enjoyed a pension[342] of ten groats per diem here in England from his
Majesty under the title of Master Engineer.
This his juggling was not so privately conveyed but notice and
advertisement was given and sent to the Lords of the Council, and by their
Lordships to the Lord High Admiral; whereupon strict order was taken that
he should be apprehended as a pirate if he at any time were found in
England.
Upon knowledge hereof, he secretly stole over and got to London, and
there very privately, by means of one Mr. Poory,[343] a gentleman having
some near dependence upon the right honourable the Earl of Salisbury, then
the Lord Treasurer of England, his case was made known to his Lordship to
be a means to his Majesty for his pardon. His Lordship, very well
remembering what part he played at my hearing at Woolwich, and what
particular notice his Majesty and the Prince's Highness took of his dishonest
and base carriage, utterly disclaimed him so much as to hear him named;
but being very much importuned by Mr. Poory and one, old Keymer,[344] he
advised his safest course to be to make his way to the Lord Admiral, in
whose power he was now fallen by piracy, and that he had no better or
readier way to effect this but to repair to me and to confess his former
injuries and truly to deliver by what means and working he was drawn into
that business, and so to offer me as public satisfaction as he had done me
public injury, that I might be a mean both to the Prince's Highness and to
the Lord Admiral he might, upon this submission, be both pardoned and
received into favour. This counsel was presently followed, and a great
supper bespoken at the Three Cranes in the Vintry by Mr. Poory and Mr.
Keymer, to which I was trained by a solemn invitation by them both, by a
letter sent to me to Woolwich that very morning before the supper intended.

We met according to appointment, and, after some compliments passed,
Poory and Keymer, drawing me aside into a private room, there discovered
unto me the cause of their meeting and sending for me, which when I
throughly understood I refused either to stay or see Waymouth; but at length
won by their importunities, and the rather for that they confidently assured
me this was done by the advice of my most honourable good Lord, the Lord
Treasurer, I was contented to stay supper with them, and Waymouth came
in and sat at the same table without any speech concerning the business.
Supper ended, Mr. Poory began to break the matter to this effect: that
Captain Waymouth there present, acknowledging his error in doing me so
great an injury, was purposely come in their company to offer me what
satisfaction I would desire, confessing it now lay in my power either to
undo him or to recover his lost reputation, and to perform what I should
enjoin him, in what public manner I would require.
To this I answered that, first, I never had any conversation with
Waymouth, nor did ever give him any cause to be my enemy in so great a
height as to accuse me before a king in the presence of such an audience,
wherein no less than my life was questioned, aggra[va]ting each
circumstance of his malicious carriage towards me as well as I could then
remember.
To be short, Captain Waymouth, there rising from the table, in the
presence of all that were there, fell on his knee and desired me as I was a
gentleman to pardon what he had inadvisedly done against me; all the
circumstances he would truly discover, if I would give him leave to speak;
and then, rising from the ground, laid down his sword at my feet, there
vowing in the presence of God and that company, both himself, his life, and
sword, should be ever at my command and service.
He then freely delivered by whom he was first solicited to join in that
business against me, which was Mr. Baker, Bright, and the rest, for the
space of two months together; to whom he made flat denial to join in such a
malicious practice, and did never condescend till they procured him to be
sent for by a letter from the Lord Northampton to come to speak with him,
by whose flatteries and fair promises he was enticed to be a party with
them; and this he offered to make good upon his oath whensoever he should
be called.

Upon this his submission, I was contented to forgive the injury done to
me in my own particular, but I could not promise to mediate betwixt him
and the Prince my master, nor the Lord Admiral. This was accepted upon
my promise I would not aggravate anything against him, and thus spending
almost the whole night I took my leave, and so took boat and returned that
morning to Woolwich; and this was about the 18th of November.
This meeting was not so private but that his Highness and the Lord
Admiral had notice of it, whereupon the Prince sent for me and commanded
me to deliver the truth, which I accordingly did in each particular. His
Highness disliked that I did not acquaint him with it, but when I assured
him of the manner of my training thither, with some little check[345] he was
satisfied; and the Lord Treasurer did so mediate for him to the good Lord
Admiral that his pardon was granted, but himself from that time after (till
his dying day which shortly followed) was never received to favour, nor
good opinion.
In the beginning of January following, there were two new ships, builded
at Deptford[346] for the East India Merchants, to be launched; whereat his
Majesty with the Prince and divers lords were present, and feasted with a
banquet of sweetmeats on board the great ship in the dock, which was
called the Trade's Increase[347]; the other was called the Peppercorn,[348] the
names being given by his Majesty. I did there attend, and received gracious
public usage from his Majesty, the Prince, and the Lords; but the tide was
so bad that the great ship could not be launched out of the dock, and the
smaller, which was built upon the wharf, was so ill stroken[349] upon the
launching ways that she could by no means be put off, which did somewhat
discontent his Majesty.[350]
The last day of January, the Prince's Highness came to Woolwich, to see
in what forwardness the ship was in, where I gave him and his followers
entertainment.
The 7th day of January, by commandment from the Prince's Highness, I
attended at the great feast made by him at St. James's to the King, Queen,
Duke of York, Lady Elizabeth, the Lords of the Council, and all the Knights
that were actors at the barriers.[351] The supper was not ended till after ten at
night, from whence they went to the Play, and, that ended, returned again to

a set banquet in the gallery where the supper was, the table being above 120
foot long, and it was 3 of the clock in the morning before all was finished.
The 9th of February, my wife's brother, John Nicholls, being a linen
draper dwelling in Friday Street, died of the sickness.
The 25th April the Prince's Highness came to Woolwich and dined there,
with all his train, in my dining room.
The 27th April, my sister Lydia, whom I was glad to maintain a long time
before, with a poor man that was her husband, died at Plumstead, and was
there buried at my charge.
The 30th of this month, the Resistance was launched out of my brother
Simonson's Dock at Ratcliff, where she was newly repaired.
The second of May, the Lady Elizabeth with her train came to see the
great ship at Woolwich, and was entertained by my wife, I being then at
London.
About the 10th of May, this present year, I bought Sir John Trevor's third
part of the Resistance, so that I had two third parts of her to myself.
The 18th of June the Prince's Highness came to Woolwich, to see the
ship, who was now in great forwardness and almost ready; and the next day
after he came thither again in company of the King his father, and a great
train attending on them, in the afternoon. His Majesty spent almost two
hours in great content in surveying the ship, both within and without,
protesting it did not repent him to have taken such great pains in
examination of the business of that work, since the fruit thereof yielded him
such contentation.[352] His Majesty then did me the honour to come into the
house, where my wife had prepared a banquet of sweetmeats and such fruits
as were then to be had, whereof he was pleased to taste plentifully and did
very graciously accept of his homely entertainment, giving me especial
commandment not to launch the ship till his progress was ended.
Between Easter and Michaelmas that the ship began to be garnished,[353] it
is not credible what numbers of people continually resorted to Woolwich of
all sorts, both nobles, gentry, citizens, and from all parts of the country
round about; which was no small charge to me, in giving daily
entertainment to all comers, which could not be possibly avoided in that
place at such a time.

In the beginning of August I was summoned to Chatham with my fellow
Master Shipwrights, there to take a survey of the Navy according to the
yearly custom. Sir John Trevor, then Surveyor, attended that service
personally; where we spent four days in performing that business, and so
returned to Woolwich.
The 6th of this month of August, my wife was delivered of her fifth son,
at Woolwich in my own lodgings, between the hours of 6 and 7 of the clock
in the morning, being Thursday.[354] And the 16th day of the same month he
was baptized in the church at Woolwich, upon a Thursday in the forenoon.
The witnesses were my brother Peter and brother William Brooke,
godfathers, and my wife's mother, Mistress Katherine Nicholls, godmother.
The 22nd of this month, I let out the Resistance for a voyage into the
Straits at the rate of 100l. per mensem, with 36 men; Mr. William Gibbons
appointed the master.
The 31st day, I rode to Nonsuch,[355] to the Prince, that then was there in
hunting, who of his nobleness promised to send me a buck to Woolwich,
because he had then given all away that were fallen that day.
The 9th of September, being Sunday, about six of the clock in the
evening, divers London maids, coming to see the ship, brought in their
company a little boy of 12 years old, the only child of his mother, a widow
woman dwelling in Tower Street, who, carelessly going up and down upon
the main orlop,[356] fell down into the hold of the ship and was thereby so
broken and bruised that he died before midnight, being the first mischance
that did happen in the whole time of the ship's building.
About the middle of this month, being ready to have the ship stroken
down upon her ways, I caused 12 of the choice master carpenters of his
Majesty's Navy to be sent for from Chatham to be assistance in her striking
and launching; and upon the 18th day, being Tuesday, she was safely set
upon her ways, and this day Sir Robert Mansell came and dined with me in
my lodgings.
The 20th of this month, the French Leaguer[357] Ambassador came to
Woolwich, to see the ship, whom I entertained in the best manner I could;
and in the time of his being within, the Prince, my royal master, sent me a
wonderful fat buck which he killed with his own hand.

Now began we on all sides to make preparation for the launching of the
ship, and for that purpose there was provided a rich standard of taffety,[358]
very fairly gilt with gold, with his Majesty's arms, to be placed upon the
poop, and a very large ensign of crimson rich taffety, with a canton of the
Prince's crest, to be placed upon the quarter deck, and all other ornaments
were carefully provided for, befitting that purpose. There was a standing set
up in the most convenient place in the Yard for his Majesty, the Queen, and
their royal children, and places fitted for the ladies and Council, all railed in
and boarded; all the rooms both in my own lodgings and at Mr. Lydiard's
were[359] prepared and very handsomely hanged and furnished with a cloth
of state, chairs, stools and other necessaries; nothing was omitted that could
be imagined any ways necessary, both for ease and entertainment.
Upon Sunday in the afternoon, being the 23rd day of September, Sir
Robert Mansell, Sir John Trevor, and Sir Henry Palmer came to Woolwich
to see how everything was ordered, and finding all things prepared and
fitted to their likings, about three of the clock they returned all to Deptford,
where they lodged that night at Sir Robert Mansell's. This evening, very
late, there [came] a messenger to me from them, bringing a letter which was
sent to them from Court, at Theobalds, to give me order to be very careful
to search the ship's hold for fear some treacherous persons might have
bored some holes, privily, in the ship, to sink her after she should be
launched; but my care had prevented their fears aforehand, so far as
possibly could be searched or discerned.
On Monday morning, assisted by the help of my brother Simonson and
sundry other my friends, we opened the dock gates and made all things
ready against the tide, but the wind blowing very hard at south-west kept
out the flood so as it proved a very bad tide, little better than a neap, which
put us afterwards to great trouble and hazard.
The King's Majesty came from Theobalds, though he had been very ill at
ease with a scouring taken with surfeiting by eating grapes, and landed here
about eleven of the clock. Prince Henry attended him, and most part of the
Lords of the Council. The Lord Admiral, attended by the Principal Officers
of the Navy together with myself, received him on land out of his barge and
conducted him to the place provided for him in Mr. Lydiard's house; his
dinner was dressed in our great kitchen. After dinner came the Queen's
Majesty, accompanied with the Duke of York, Lady Elizabeth, and divers

great lords and ladies in her train. The drums and trumpets [were] placed on
poop and forecastle and the wind instruments by them, so that nothing was
wanting to so great a royalty that could be desired.
When it grew towards high water and all things ready, and a great close
lighter made fast at the ship's stern, and the Queen's Majesty with her train
placed, the Lord Admiral gave me commandment to heave taut the crabs[360]
and screws,[361] though I had little hope to launch by reason the wind over-
blew the tide; yet the ship started and had launched, but that the dock gates
pent her in so strait that she stuck fast between them, by reason the ship was
nothing lifted with the tide as we expected she should, and the great lighter
by unadvised counsel being cut off the stern, the ship settled so hard upon
the ground that there was no possibility of launching that tide, besides that
there was such a multitude of people got into the ship that one could
scarcely stir by another. The noble Prince himself, accompanied with the
Lord Admiral and other great Lords, were upon the poop, where the great
standing gilt cup was ready filled with wine to name the ship, so soon as
she had been on float, according to ancient custom and ceremony
performed at such times, by drinking part of the wine, giving the ship her
name, and heaving the standing cup overboard.
The King's Majesty was much grieved to be frustrate of his expectation,
coming on purpose, though very ill at ease, to have done me honour, but
God saw it not so good for me and therefore sent this cross upon me both to
humble me and to make me know that howsoever we purposed, he would
dispose all things as he pleased; so that about five of the clock his Majesty
with the Queen and all their train departed away to Greenwich, where then
the household were removed. Prince Henry stayed behind a good while
after his Majesty was gone, conferring with the Lord Admiral, Principal
Officers, and myself what was to be done; and, leaving the Lord Admiral to
stay here to see all things performed that was resolved on, he took horse and
rode after the King to Greenwich, with promise to return back presently
after midnight.
So soon as the multitudes were gone and things quiet, we went presently
in hand to make way with the sides of the dock gates, and having great store
of scavelmen[362] and other labourers, we made all things ready before any
flood came; which performed, every man applied himself to get victuals
and to take rest. The Lord Admiral sat up all the night in a chair in his

chamber, till the tide was come about the ship; and Sir Robert Mansell, Sir
John Trevor, and Sir Henry Palmer made shift in my lodgings to rest
themselves.
The beginning of the night was very fair and bright moonshine, the moon
being a little past full, but after midnight the weather was sore overcast, and
a very sore gust of rain, thunder and lightning, which made me doubt that
there was some indirect working amongst our enemies to dash our
launching; this gust lasted about half an hour with great extremity, the wind
being at south-west.
In the midst of this great gust, Prince Henry and all his [train] were taken
upon the top of Blackheath in their coming to Woolwich, but his invincible
spirit, daunted with nothing, made little account of it but came through, and
was no sooner alighted in the yard but, calling for the Lord Admiral and
myself and Sir Robert Mansell, went all presently on board the ship, being
about two of the clock, almost one hour before high water; and was no
sooner entered but, the word being given to set all taut, the ship went away
without any straining of screws or tackles, till she came clear afloat into the
midst of the channel, to the great joy and comfort of the Prince's Highness,
the Lord Admiral, and all the rest of my noble loving friends, which mercy
of God to me I pray I may never forget.
His Highness then, standing upon the poop with a selected company only,
besides the trumpets, with a great deal of expression of princely joy, and
with the ceremony[363] of drinking in the great standing cup, threw all the
wine forward towards the half deck, and solemnly calling her by the name
of the Prince Royal, the trumpets sounding all the while, with many
gracious words to me, gave the standing cup into mine own hands, and
would not go from the ship till he saw her fast at her moorings. In heaving
down to the moorings we found that all the hawsers that were laid on shore
for land-fasts were treacherously cut, to put the ship to hazard of running on
shore, if God had not blessed us better.
In the interim of warping to the moorings, his Highness went down to the
platform of the cook-room where the ship's beer stood for the ordinary
company, and there finding an old can without a lid, went and drew it full of
beer himself, and drank it off to the Lord Admiral, and caused him with the
rest of his attendants to do the like.

About nine the same morning, being very rainy, he took his barge,
accompanied with the Lord Admiral and the rest of his train, and, giving us
a princely gracious farewell, rowed against the tide to Greenwich, where he
made relation of all the business and the circumstances thereof to the King
his father.
We then came on shore to refresh ourselves with victuals, and to take
some rest, having toiled all the night before; and, amongst the rest of the
company, Sir Henry Palmer was pleased to stay dinner, where we drank
Prince Henry's health round, to hansel[364] the standing cup given at the
launching.
The 8th day of October I began to kill beef at Woolwich for the
victualling of the Resistance, for a voyage into the Straits.
The 20th of October were discharged most part of all the workmen which
wrought upon the Prince, and were paid at Deptford [the] same day.
The 22nd day of this month, the Resistance fell down to the wall,[365] and
the 27th day she came down to Woolwich, and there anchored by the
Prince.
This day also I shipped away my household stuff from Woolwich to
Chatham.
The 29th day, being Monday, I removed from Woolwich to Chatham,
with my wife, children, and my whole family, and the next day I returned
again to Woolwich, and the next day divers Straits ships fell down to
Woolwich, and we caused them to anchor by the Prince, and to help us with
all their men to set the Prince's masts.
The first of November, being Thursday, was set the Prince's foremast,
and on Saturday, being the 3rd day, her boltsprit was set also, all the
merchantmen's companies helping us.
The 8th day, being Thursday, the Resistance and the rest of the Straits
ships set sail for Gravesend, and I went down thither in the Resistance, and
that night went to Chatham, and the next day returned to Gravesend and
cleared away my ship.
The 10th day, being Saturday, betimes in the morning the Resistance and
the rest of the Straits ships set sail from Gravesend, and went over the next

tide. I went in the Resistance, Captain John King went in his own ship, the
Mathew, and Mr. Jenkins the shipwright went with Mr. Wills in the Althea,
and Mr. Newport went master in the Centaur. We all anchored in the Gore,
[366]
and lay ashore at Birchington that night, old Thomas Puniett in our
company. The next day Captain King, Mr. Jenkins, Mr. Puniett,[367] and
myself, came post to Chatham; they lay at my house all night, and the next
day I came up to Woolwich with them in my company.
The Prince by this time was wholly rigged and made ready to go to
Chatham, of which having made Prince Henry's Highness acquainted, he
was pleased to come on board her at Woolwich on Thursday, being the 6th
December, where he stayed some 3 hours, being wonderful desirous to
[have] had us set sail, if we could possibly have done it without danger. Sir
Robert Mansell that day attended upon the Prince, and was by him
commanded to go down in her to Chatham with us. Captain King was
master, thereto being appointed by the Prince, old John a Vale was our pilot,
Mr. John Reynolds the master gunner, and Lawrence Spencer, boatswain.
So soon as it was high water, which was about 3 of the clock, his Highness
went on shore at Woolwich where his coach attended; at his landing we
gave him eleven pieces of ordnance, which was all we had then aboard.
The 7th day of this month, Sir Robert Mansell sent his bedding and
provision on board the Prince, and necessaries for the journey, and that
night he came on board and lay there all night; and the next day, being
Saturday, the wind being at south-west, we made ready to set sail and got
our anchors on board, but it was a great fog all the morning, and at noon it
cleared up, but it was so little wind that we could scarce bear ahead with all
our sails and boats, yet we with much ado got as low as Halfway Tree,[368]
and there, the water being much fallen, we anchored all that night.
The next day, being Sunday the 9th December, we set sail about one of
the clock, with a fresh gale at south-west, and that night anchored at the
lower end of Gravesend. Monday, the 10th day, we set sail into Tilbury
Hope, and, for that we wanted a great anchor and cable, Sir Robert thought
it fit for us to stay there till we were supplied with all wants, for which
purpose Sir Robert went back to London that night, and I went home to
Chatham.

On Friday after, being the 14th day, I returned on board the ship into
Tilbury Hope, and presently after Sir Robert came on board, and having
received the supply of our wants, we made ready to set sail again the next
day.
Saturday morning, we set sail from Tilbury Hope and anchored thwart
the Nore, where we lay all that night; Sunday, the 16th day, we weighed and
anchored within Sheerness; and on Monday we got up as high as St. Mary's
Creek;[369] and the next day, being Tuesday and the 18th day, we brought the
ship safe to her moorings within the chain at Upnor, for which we gave God
thanks.
So soon as the ship was safe moored, Sir Robert Mansell rode away post
for London, and I went home to my house. On the Wednesday after I made
a journey to London to wait upon the Prince, my master, where I stayed till
the Saturday after, being the 22nd day, and then returned home to Chatham;
and thus ended the year of 1610.
Anno 1611. There passed little worth note till towards the end of April,
this present year; and the 29th day of this month, being on a Monday, I was
by the Prince's Highness' command sent for to come to London, to be at
Westminster with Sir Robert Mansell that night at supper. The message
came to me between 2 and 3 [of the] clock in the afternoon. I presently
caused my horses to be taken up and made ready, and presently took horse
and according to appointment came thither by seven that night, where I
found Sir Robert Mansell and Sir Oliver Cromwell expecting my coming.
The next morning Sir Robert Mansell and myself repaired to St. James's,
where I received from the Prince's own mouth his Highness' intent to make
a private journey to Chatham, and to go down in his barges round about by
Queenborough; giving me strait charge I should acquaint none with it, but
make preparation for his lodging and diet and his small train in Chatham,
Mr. Legatt's house being appointed the place to receive his own person. So,
being taught my lesson, I returned to Chatham, taking present order for the
preparing of all things for his entertainment.
There was a small merchantman bound for the East Country, which was
purposely sent down into Tilbury Hope, to ride there, to refresh his
Highness on board her and to relieve the watermen; to which purpose she
was quaintly fitted with all things, and a great breakfast prepared for that

purpose, Sir William St. John[370] having the charge of seeing it performed,
being as Captain of the ship for present.[371]
The 5th of May, being Sunday, after dinner I took horse to Gravesend,
where met me Captain King, who had part of that merchant ship and was
commanded to attend, and we lay all night at Gravesend.
On Monday morning, being the 6th of May, the Prince's Highness took
his barges at Whitehall by 5 of the clock. He was accompanied with the
Earls of Shrewsbury, Arundel, and Earl of Mar, Sir Thomas Chaloner, Sir
Oliver Cromwell, Sir Robert Mansell, and some others of his household
servants. About 9 of the clock his Highness came on board, where we were
ready to receive him after the sea manner, with trumpets and drums, and
after he had refreshed himself, the Lords broke fast, and the watermen
relieved with fresh spells, we went on against the tide till we came within
Queenborough water, and it was ebbed before we could get as high as
Upnor; and so, passing along by all the ships, his Highness was landed at
the old dock at Chatham a little before 6 at night, and thence walked on foot
to Mr. Legatt's house, where his supper was ready prepared for him and his
train, to his great content.
The Earl of Arundel was lodged at a boatswain's house next Mr. Legatt's,
the Earl of Shrewsbury and Earl of Mar were lodged at my house, the other
train in other convenient places.
Tuesday morning betimes, according to his Highness' directions
overnight, barges and boats were ready prepared to attend his Highness;
who had broke fast and was ready by seven of the clock, and took his barge
and went first on board the Prince, and so from ship to ship of the lower
reach, taking particular private information from Sir Robert Mansell and
myself (none else suffered to come near) of the state and condition of each
several ship in his own table book. This done, landed and went to dinner,
where he was very merry and pleasant; we having placed 15 great brass
chambers in the garden to be fired when his Highness drunk any healths,
and were attended by Mr. John Reynolds, master gunner of his own ship,
who carefully performed his charge.
Dinner done, his Highness proceeded again in viewing all the ships and
pinnaces in the upper reach, not leaving out any one which he was not on
board of, taking[372] the same course with them as was done with the other in

the forenoon, by which time the day was far spent, and his Highness
returned to his lodging, supper being ready against his coming.
Wednesday, after his Highness had broke fast, he took his barges and
went up to Strood by water, all the ships of both reaches giving him a royal
farewell with their ordnance, which he commanded to be shot, even over
his barge, notwithstanding all the persuasion to the contrary.[373] He was
landed at Strood, where his coaches attended him, and thence went to
Gravesend, whither I also waited on him, and there his Highness was
received by the magistrates of the town with all their small shot and the
ordnance of the blockhouses: at his putting in his barge he was pleased to
grace me with kissing his hand, expressing how well he was pleased with
his journey and entertainment; thence I returned home to Chatham.
The 4th of June, being Tuesday, being prepared to have gone to London
the next day, about midnight one of the King's messengers was sent down to
me from the Lord Treasurer to man the light horseman[374] with 20
musketeers and to run out as low as the Nore head to search all ships, barks,
and other vessels, for the Lady Arabella[375] that had then made a scape and
was bound over for France; which service I performed accordingly, and
searched Queenborough, and all other vessels I could meet withal, and then
went over to Leigh[376] in Essex and searched the town; and when we could
hear no news of her went to Gravesend, and thence took post horse to
Greenwich, where his Majesty then lay, and delivered the account of my
journey to the Lord Treasurer by his Majesty's command; and so was
dismissed, and went that night to Ratcliff, where I lay at Captain King's.
The 10th of June, being at London, I had news of the arrival of the
Resistance from the Straits, whereupon I went presently for Chatham, and
the next morning returned to Gravesend and shipped myself in a ketch, and
was before night set on board the Resistance in Gore End road, where were
other ships that came thither in company, and amongst the rest one of the
East India ships newly come, of whom one David Middleton[377] was
captain. I stayed in the Gore till the 17th day, at which time we were
purposed to have weighed and come over, but there rose such a storm at
west, and so over-blew, that divers ships venturing were cast away, and they
that scaped best lost their masts and ground tackle, but God blessed us that
we did not lose the ship at all. I then, having earnest business to be at
Chatham, was set on shore at Margate, from whence I took post horse and

came safely that night to Chatham, giving God thanks for his merciful
deliverance.
About this time Sir John Trevor, having sold his place of Surveyor of the
Navy to one Captain Richard Bingley,[378] was come down to Chatham to
surrender his place unto him at the pay then made; and thereupon there was
by the new Surveyor's means a strict survey made of the whole Navy,
wherein I denied to join before I knew the Prince's pleasure, but was
afterwards persuaded to yield unto it by Sir John Trevor's importunity;
whereby I incurred great blame and a sharp check from the Prince's
Highness, which I had much ado to pacify by the help of the best friends I
had about him, being sent for on purpose to Richmond to give his Highness
satisfaction therein.
About the 8th day of July I paid the company of the Resistance for their
voyage, and presently graved her for another, and at the same time I was
sent for by the Lord Admiral of England, to Hampton Court, to give an
account about the proceedings of the survey, made a little before at
Chatham, of the state of the Navy; and then I was also sent for to attend the
Prince at Richmond, to give his Highness satisfaction concerning the
proceedings therein, which he took as an affront, because I had not made
his Grace acquainted with it, being hindered by Sir Richard Bingley.
The 17th day of this month,[379] being Saturday, having fitted the
Resistance in all points for her voyage into the Straits, she set sail to
Blackwall, and the next morning came to Gravesend, where I left her and
went to Chatham; and next day, being Monday morning, I brought my wife
to Gravesend with me, where we lay that night, and having cleared the ship
from thence, saw her set sail on Tuesday morning betimes, and then
returned home to Chatham.
In the end of this month I caused the little Disdain, Prince Henry's
pinnace, to be rigged and fitted for me to take the air of the sea to the river's
mouth.
The 3rd of September, being Tuesday, I set sail with the Disdain betimes
in the morning from Upnor, having the ship manned with divers of my
friends in the Navy, which voluntary went with me, as David Duck,
Nicholas Surtis, Robert Sharpe, cousin[380] Peter Pett, and others, whom I
royally victualled, and put out of Queenborough, and with the next flood,

the wind westerly, we turned up as high as Hole Haven,[381] where we
anchored all night; next morning I turned up to Gravesend, where we
anchored in expectance of the company of my friend Captain John King,
who was to come from London to meet me there upon his faithful promise,
but he failing, I with my company dined on shore at Gravesend, and in the
afternoon set sail into Tilbury Hope where we anchored all night.
The next morning, being Thursday and the 5th day, we weighed betimes
in the morning with a fair gale of wind at west and went down as low as the
buoy of the Oase edge, where we anchored till the flood, before which time
the wind harted[382] in and blew a very fresh gale, and before a quarter flood
it blew so much wind as we could not maintain our topsails abroad, and the
sea was so high grown that our little ship would not work, so that we had
much ado to get up as high as thwart of Minster Church upon the Island of
Sheppey,[383] where, close under the edge of the Cant, we came to an anchor
in shoal water; by which time it blew up a very great storm, the wind at
west-south-west, and there we were forced to ride it out till the next day at
half flood, not without some danger; and then the wind beginning to
duller[384] we weighed and got up under Sheerness,[385] where we anchored
all night, and the next day, being Saturday and the 7th day, we brought our
ship safe to Gillingham, giving God thanks for our safety and deliverance.
About the middle of December, the Honour[386] and Defiance being
appointed to be brought into dry dock at Woolwich, the Honour to be
repaired by Mr. Baker, who first built her, and the Defiance commended to
me, we began to prepare the dock for the receiving of them in after
Christmas; and so ended this year of 1611.
The 6th day of January I went from Chatham to Woolwich to dock the
Honour and the Defiance. On the 9th day we opened the gates and brought
in the Defiance; the next day proved so much wind as we could not stir the
Honour from her moorings, so that she was not docked till the night tide;
the 11th day the gates were shut in and caulked. About the middle of this
month, Prince Henry lying at Greenwich, all the King's Master Shipwrights
were commanded by his Highness to attend him about a resolution of
building ships in Ireland, and a proposition was made by Mr. William
Burrell to undertake to build one of six hundred tons in the room of the old
Bonaventure, at a rate,[387] to build her in Ireland, myself being appointed to
have gone over thither to see him to perform his bargain; and every Master

Shipwright brought in plats,[388] to the end his Highness might make the
better choice for what proportions and kinds of moulds[389] he did best
approve of for fitness of service.
About this time also I did accompany Captain Thomas Button to make
choice of a ship[390] for the North-west Passage, in which journey he was to
be employed by the appointment of the Prince. Towards the end of this
month I attended at Deptford to the docking of the Dreadnought.
About the 6th of March, the Resistance returned home of her voyage, and
the 23rd of the same I paid all her company.
The 14th day of April, being Easter Tuesday, I came to Gravesend to
meet Captain Button, who was then going away upon his voyage, and we
parted together[391] on board his ship, from whence I returned to Chatham.
About the middle of June, by the commandment of Prince Henry, I began
to make ready a frame for a small new ship, who was to be as a pinnace to
the great ship, the Prince, in which the Prince's Highness did purpose to
solace himself sometimes into the Narrow Seas; and therefore she was
appointed to be fitted with a very roomy cabin and all other
accommodations for that purpose; the keel of which ship was laid in the
launching place at the old dock at Chatham the last day of June, being in
length 72 foot, in breadth 24 foot, and to draw 11 foot water, of the burden
250 tons and tonnage,[392] or thereabouts.
Much about the 10th July, I sold the good ship called the Resistance to
one Mr. Henry Mainwaring,[393] brother to Sir Arthur Mainwaring, for 700
and odd pounds, whereof I received 450l. down and gave time for the
payment of the rest, having Sir Arthur Mainwaring bound for the payment
of the same, which was not performed in more than two years after. The
cause that I sold this lucky ship was for that Mr. William Gibbons,[394] that
was my master in her, was by my consent licensed to go with Captain
Button (being his near kinsman) to the North-west Passage.
The 1st of August, being Saturday, the Prince's Highness being to take his
progress from Richmond, I rode from Chatham to Richmond, accompanied
with Captain John King and Mr. John Reynolds, then master gunner of the
Prince. The next day, being Sunday, I waited on his Highness to chapel and
at dinner; he had this day a great deal of private conference with me

concerning affairs of consequence. After his Highness was risen from
dinner and had talked with me awhile at the bay window of the presence,[395]
he was pleased to license me to depart to dinner, which was prepared for me
and my company by Mr. Alexander, the principal gentleman usher, at Mr.
Wilson's house, then his Highness' tailor; from whence I was three times
sent for by his Highness in dinner time, to attend him to give him
satisfaction about sundry material questions wherein he desired to be
satisfied; which done, he sent me to dinner, commanding me after I had
dined to wait upon him again. Between two and three of the clock, I
attended according to his Highness' commandment, at what time he was
pleased to deliver his pleasure to the full unto me, with protestation of the
trust he reposed in me and the good opinion of my performance of what he
was pleased to commend to my charge, with many princely passages of his
gracious favour and intendiments to provide for me. In conclusion, upon my
parting, with a most princely loving gravity, he gave me a farewell in these
words 'Go on cheerfully' saith he 'in that which I entrust you with, and let
not the care for your posterity incumber you any ways, for you shall leave
the care both of yourself and them to me, who have a purpose carefully to
provide for you'; which gracious speeches took such impression in me, that
when I came to kiss his Highness' hands at parting I could not choose but
shed some tears, though I little thought (as God knoweth) that had been the
last time I should have seen him alive, and those the last words that ever he
spake unto me. This night we took our leaves at Richmond and came to
Greenwich, and lodged that night with Mr. Reynolds.
At the time of our being at Richmond, it was concluded by Mr. Alexander
and some others of the Prince's servants (not without his Highness'
knowledge) to come to Chatham with their wives to be merry, and it was
agreed also that we would fetch them to Chatham by water in our pinnaces,
to go round about by water; which accordingly was by us performed, and
upon the 12th day of this month we embarked them at Greenwich, about
five of the clock in the morning, to the number of some twenty persons,
men and women, being provided of all manner of victuals and store of wine
for our passage, and by 6 at night we arrived at Chatham, where they were
that night entertained at supper and lodged with me, as many as we could
receive; the rest were billeted with Mr. Legatt and other neighbours; they
were entertained by none but the Prince's servants. The first day I feasted all
the company; the second day they were feasted with great royalty on board

the great ship, the Prince, dinner and supper, accompanied with the
Principal Officers of his Majesty's Navy, where the King's, Queen's, and all
their children's healths were drunk round with loud report of the ordnance, a
noise of music attending us all the day. We took leave on board about ten of
the clock at night, our music playing before us, and for our farewell there
were 25 pieces of great ordnance discharged after the watch was set. On the
Saturday, being the 15th day, all the company were feasted, dinner and
supper, at Mr. John Legatt's. On the Sunday we were all invited to
Rochester by Doctor Milbourne, one of his Highness' chaplains, and then
Dean of Rochester, who bestowed upon us a sermon, himself preaching;
with him we dined and supped, and then returned to Chatham.
Monday proved so foul and rainy that the company could not take their
journey towards London as was purposed; they all dined with me and
supped at Captain King's.
The next proved very fair, so that after breakfast some in coaches, and
some on horseback, rode for Gravesend, accompanied with Mr. Legatt,
Captain King, and myself; where we saw them shipped in a barge, and then
took our leaves, bidding them farewell with some ordnance from both
blockhouses.
The 25th day of September, the new charter[396] for incorporating the
shipwrights of England, granted by King James, in which by the same
charter I was ordained the first Master. I was sworn in my place of Mr.
Master, the dinner being kept at the King's Head in Fish Street, Mr. Doctor
Pay[397] making the sermon at the next church adjoining.
About this time my picture was begun to be drawn by a Dutchman
working then with Mr. Rock[398] at Rochester.
The 15th day of October, my eldest and first daughter Ann was born at
my house [at] Chatham between one and two of the clock in the afternoon,
and at that time I had a little fit of sickness which made me keep house 9 or
10 days.
The 25th day of this month the noble Prince my master, the hope of
Christendom, sickened.
The 26th of this month my daughter was baptized in the forenoon at
Chatham Church, where Mr. Doctor Milbourne, then Dean of Rochester,

preached; where a great company of my friends dined with me and were
very merry, little thinking of the calamity that so soon followed to us all in
general, but to myself in particular, by the death of that ever renowned
branch, Prince Henry, my royal and most indulgent master; at which time
began my ensuing misfortune and the utter downfall of all my former
hopes, to the ruin of all my poor posterity, being now exposed to the
malicious practices of my old enemies, having nothing but the mercies of
my good God to trust unto and to comfort me withal.
The 6th day of November, I being the same day come up to London, in
the afternoon I came to St. James about four of the clock, where I found a
house turned to the very map[399] of true sorrow, every man with the
character of grief written in his dejected countenance, all places flowing
with tears and bitter lamentations; and about 6 of the clock the same
evening, the most renowned Prince of the world, our royal and most loving
master, departed this life, not only to the loss and utter undoing of his poor
servants, but the general loss of all Christendom of the protestant religion.
The beginning of December, I had warning to attend at St. James upon
the preparation for the funeral of our master, and had black cloth delivered
to me according to the place I was ranked in above stairs, which was a
gentleman of the Privy Chamber extraordinary; and the 6th day after, being
Sunday, all his Highness' servants waited at St. James upon his hearse, then
standing in the Chapel, to whom Doctor Price, then one of his Highness'
chaplains, directed an excellent sermon, his text being taken out of the 3rd
chapter of the second book of Samuel, the 31st verse, in these words:
—'Rend your clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourn before Abner.' There
were very few present at the sermon that did not bitterly mourn and shed
tears in abundance.
The next day, being Monday the 7th December, we did attend his
Highness' corpse to the funeral in the Abbey at Westminster, which was the
most lamentable march that ever I went. It was three of the clock in the
afternoon before his body was placed under the hearse. The Lord of
Canterbury's Grace preached the funeral sermon: there, with his body, I
burying all my hopes of my future preferments. I came with an exceeding
heavy heart that night to Ratcliff, where that time I lodged.

After the ceremonies of the funeral were performed, I returned to my
house at Chatham, where I stayed till the 27th day of this month, and then,
being sent for by the Lord High Admiral's messenger to attend his pleasure,
I rode to London by land, where I stayed till the end of December, and then
returned again to my house at Chatham.
The 6th day of January I received a letter from the Lord High Admiral,
together with the list of those ships that were appointed to be made ready
for the transportation of the Lady Elizabeth,[400] with warrant to put them
presently in hand to be graved and fitted accordingly.
The 11th day I was sent for from Chatham by a messenger, to attend the
Lord Admiral, lying then at Chelsea; which accordingly I presently
performed and rode to London, where I stayed full three days, the Lord
Admiral sitting every of those in council, attended by the Principal Officers
of the Navy, the Masters and Master Shipwrights, to resolve not only for the
preparation of the fleet to attend the transportation, but also for preparing
many vessels, to be built upon long boats and barges, for ships and galleys
for a sea-fight to be presented before Whitehall against the marriage of the
Lady Elizabeth; the manner whereof concluded and ordered in writing, I
was licensed to go to Chatham, to take order for the Disdain and sending up
of as many long boats and sea barges as could be spared from the Navy;
which having ordered, I returned again presently to London, and did there
attend daily in overseeing these businesses, which were put out by the
great[401] to divers yardkeepers,[402] by reason of the shortness of time limited
for making them ready against the marriage. By reason of this my continual
attendance, not only upon that service but also upon the Admiral and Sir
Robert Mansell (principally entrusted for the ordering of the whole service),
I first took a lodging at Westminster, near Sir Robert's house, in St.
Stephen's Alley,[403] which I continued many years after. Amongst other
vessels fitted for this piece of service was an old pinnace of the King's
called the Spy, of the burden of 60 tons, having 9 pieces of brass ordnance,
appointed to serve as an Argosy, whereof I was (somewhat against my will,
by the Lord Admiral's persuasion) made to serve as a Captain, in which
jesting business I ran more danger than if it had been a sea service in good
earnest.
After the sea fight was performed, I was entreated by divers gentlemen of
the Inns of Court, whereof Sir Francis Bacon was chief, to attend the

bringing of a mask by water in the night from St. Mary Overy's[404] to
Whitehall in some of the galleys, but, the tide falling out very contrary, and
the company attending the maskers very unruly, the project could not be
performed so exactly as was purposed and expected, but yet they were
safely landed at the Privy Stairs at Whitehall; for which my pains the
gentlemen gave me a fair recompense.
The marriage consummate and these royalties ended, the Lord Admiral
gave me a present despatch to post to Chatham, to make all possible haste
for to make ready the fleet, the Prince being appointed to go Admiral,[405]
and to transport the Lady and the Palsgrave's[406] person and the Lord
Admiral to command her. So that upon the 21st day of February I took my
journey from London to Chatham, and about the middle of the week
ensuing I caused the Anne Royal and the Lion to be brought on the ground
and graved.
On the 27th of this month I launched the small ship I had begun to build
the summer before, which the Lord Admiral was pleased to call by the
name of the Phœnix, and was also appointed to be one of [the] Fleet for the
transportation, being commanded by Sir Allen Apsley, then Victualler of the
Navy.
The 5th and 6th days of March I careened the Prince, and might with
much ease have brought her keel above the water but that I received a strict
commandment from the Lord High Admiral that I should not careen her but
within six strakes[407] of the keel, to which purpose Mr. Thomas Aylesbury,
[408]
then his Lordship's secretary, was sent down to see me perform it.
About the 14th of this month the Lord Admiral, very careful to have all
things ordered as befitted the royalty of such a service, came down to
Chatham in person, where he stayed two days to direct all things according
to his liking; wherein I gave his Lordship much satisfaction, and by the end
of this month I had by my care and diligence fitted the whole Fleet to set
sail to Gillingham.
The 1st of April, being Maundy Thursday, the Prince set sail over the
chain,[409] Captain John King being master. The Lord Admiral, being newly
come to Chatham, came on board of us as we were under sail and went
down in her to Gillingham, coming to an anchor at St. Mary Creek's mouth.
His Lordship lay at Mr. Legatt's.

On Easter day, being the 4th of April, the Lord Admiral with his retinue
received the holy sacrament in the parish church at Chatham. Doctor Pay
that was chaplain to the Lord William Howard, Baron of Effingham and
Vice Admiral in the Anne Royal, preached and delivered the sacrament.
On Easter Tuesday in the afternoon the Lord Admiral with all his retinue
removed from Chatham, and came on board their several charges at St.
Mary Creek at Gillingham, and lay on board in his own cabin this night. So
soon as prayers were done this evening and the tables covered, the Lord
Admiral, out of his noble favour to me, called me unto him and there gave
me special charge to take my place at his own table all the voyage; and
would not commonly have grace said before his Lordship had seen me set
down, except I had been upon some earnest business, giving charge also to
all his officers to let me have any thing of his own provisions which I
should send for at any time. I lay in a settle bed on one side of the master's
cabin.
Wednesday being the 7th day, at quarter flood, being about eleven of the
clock, we set sail from Gillingham, the wind at south-west, a pretty fresh
gale: the ship wrought exceedingly well and was so yare[410] of conduct, as a
foot of the helm did steer her: we came to an anchor at Queenborough a
great while before high water, where we rode all that night.
The next day, being Thursday, the wind south-west and a very fair gale,
the Admiral had given order we should weigh betimes to get out, and
accordingly the Anne Royal, being Vice Admiral, in whom Hugh Meritt
served Master, was fitted and prepared for the purpose, having one anchor
on board by the time the ship was went up upon the flood, and was ready
with his other anchor on peak,[411] supposing we had been so provident to
have our ship in the like readiness; but our master, willing to do his
countryman a courtesy, that lay by our side in a hoy with forty tons of beer
of our provision to take in, neglected the time so long, being not
accustomed to command such great ships, that it was more than half flood
before we could get our anchor on board; by reason whereof, the tide
running very strong and the wind hartening[412] in, it was almost high water
before we were fitted to set sail and our other anchor got up. The wind then
having power on our weather quarter, and the tide upon the lee bow, kept
our ship from flatting;[413] and in the setting of our sails, many seamen being
with us that were prime commanders and captains, attending the Lord

Admiral as his retinue, had every one their voice in commanding and
countermanding one another, that they bred a mere[414] confusion and put the
master clean besides almost his senses; so that in fine the ship was put on
ground at the top of high water, upon the tongue of the spit of the sand
going into Queenborough, where, do what we could with all our wits and
endeavours, she sat all the tide of ebb and almost ebbed dry; which
unfortunate accident gave not only great discouragement to the Lord
Admiral, to have such a chance befall him, but also gave great advantage to
the enemies of the ship, of whom the Lord Northampton was chief, to
persuade the Lady Elizabeth not to venture her person in such a vessel that
had so ill a beginning, but rather to embark herself in some other and to
return her[415] home.
When we saw we were so fast as there was not hope of getting the ship
off that tide, I desired liberty to sound the place where she sat, which the
Lord Admiral easily gave his consent to do. I then calling into the boat with
me some of the captains that were masters and mariners, amongst which I
chose Captain Robert Bradshaw and Captain Geare for two principal, with
others, and John Reynolds, then Master Gunner of the ship, taking lead
lines with us, we sounded both on head, stern, and sides; and finding soft
ground and little difference in depth, we were satisfied that the ship could
take no hurt if she had strength sufficient to bear herself with so massy a
weight as she had in her of ordnance, victuals, and other things in hold, and
her masts and sails above head, with so much company, both of the
mariners belonging to the ship and the Lord Admiral's retinue, being not so
few in all as 800 persons; but God be thanked, the ship took no harm at all;
and we, having sounded the depth of the same furrow she made in running
on shore, we caused an anchor to be laid right a-stern as her dock[416]
directed us, and so with little difficulty she was heaved afloat into the
channel in the morning tide, to the great satisfaction and content of[417] the
Lord Admiral and general joy of the whole company, for which we gave
God thanks.
The next days, being Friday and Saturday, we lay still to prytly[418] the
ship and take in such provisions as were wanting.
The 11th day, being Sunday, we weighed and set sail, and anchored for
that night at The Spits[419]; next day we weighed and anchored short of the

Long Sand head[420]; next day we weighed and anchored middle of the
Channel[421]; next day anchored short of the North Foreland.
The 15th day, being Thursday, we came to an anchor in Margate Road.
The next day the Lord Admiral went on shore to Margate, where he lay 3
days at the house of Mr. Roger Morice, one of the 4 Masters of His
Majesty's Navy, and then returned on board.
The 21st day, being Wednesday, [the] Lady Elizabeth's Grace [and] the
Palsgrave, with all their train, came to Margate; there were embarked in
barges and the ships' boats, and were received on board the Admiral, where
they lay all the night.
The 22nd day, the wind being got easterly and likely to be foul weather,
her Highness, with the Palsgrave and most part of her train, were again
carried on shore to Margate and there landed.
The 25th day, being Sunday, they were all again embarked in the barges
and boats and received on board the ships; presently we set sail and that
night anchored without the Foreland.
The 26th day the wind shortened[422] upon us, so that we were constrained
to anchor in the midst of the Channel in 25 fathom, being a windy, rainy,
foul night.
The 27th day, being Tuesday, was a very wet forenoon, but about 11 of
the clock whilst her Highness was at the sermon, it cleared up and the wind
veered southerly, so that we weighed, both having fair weather and a fair
wind; standing our course, quarter winds, a little before we made the land
we lost a man through his own wilfulness. This evening we anchored under
Blankenberghe[423] Sconce,[424] being very fair weather.
The 28th day we weighed about noon, and anchored thwart of Sluis,[425]
where came on board us with his yachts,[426] the Prince of Orange, Grave[427]
Maurice, with a great train of gallantry and followers, who all lay this night
on board the Admiral.
The 29th day we weighed upon the flood and turned up to Flushing.
Some mile short of the town, her Highness, with the Palatine and most part
of her train, were embarked in the barges and boats, being very fair weather,
and was saluted with all the ordnance of the whole fleet, and landed at

Flushing, where they were received with all royalty and saluted with all the
ordnance of the town and castles and guarded with the soldiers and garrison
of the town; our ships anchored a little above the Rammekens.[428] This
afternoon I went on shore to attend the Lord Admiral and lay in Flushing,
our charges being defrayed by the town. The 30th day, being Friday, the
Count Palatine took leave of her Highness and went post to the Palatinate.
This afternoon I, with others of the Lord Admiral's retinue, took coach to
Middelburg and were lodged and billeted for our diet at the English house
with him.
This forenoon, being May Day, divers of our retinue took a coach and
rode to Camphire[429] to see the Island; this afternoon her Highness and her
train were received into Middelburg with all royalty.
The second day, being Sunday, the Burghers feasted her Highness at the
Town House; this evening the Lord Admiral brought me to take leave of her
Highness and to kiss her hand; the next day her Highness took leave of the
Lord Admiral and his train, having attended her to the place where she was
embarked; which done, the Lord Admiral returned from Middelburg in his
barge on board the Prince, where he found such a multitude of people, men,
women, and children, that came from all places in Holland to see the ship,
that we could scarce have room to go up and down till very night, which
confluence of people lasted from the time we anchored at Flushing till we
weighed thence.
Fourth day; [the] Lord Admiral gave order we should weigh from
Flushing to avoid the trouble of people, which accordingly was done, and
we fell down to Cassant Point,[430] where we anchored all that day and next
night.
The 6th day, in the morning, we weighed with the wind at east-north-east,
a fresh gale and very fair weather, and this evening we anchored under the
Gunfleet.[431]
The 7th day, the wind continuing easterly, we weighed and set sail, and
by 12 of the clock we came to anchor at Gillingham, from whence I
attended the Lord Admiral in his barge to Chatham, where he lay that night
at Mr. Legatt's house. I found my wife and family all in health, and gave

God thanks for his preservation of us in our journey and safe return home to
our mutual comforts.
Sir Robert Mansell lay at my house. On Saturday morning, being the 8th
day, the Lord Admiral went from Chatham, on whom I attended to
Gravesend, and there taking leave returned back to my house [at] Chatham.
At Whitsuntide Sir Robert Mansell was committed to the Marshalsea,[432]
upon some displeasure[433] his Majesty took against him by the instigation of
the Lord Northampton, where he was detained prisoner, till the 13th June
following [he] was released at Greenwich.
In the latter end of July I received commandment to take the charge of
new building the Defiance, being then in dry dock at Woolwich. Old Mr.
Baker having the charge of new building the Merhonor at the same time in
the same dock with her, upon which business I was entered the second
August.
About the middle of August, old Mr. Baker sickened and, perceiving his
sickness was to death, was desirous to recommend the finishing of the
Merhonor to me, and to that end importuned me to ride to Windsor to the
Lord Admiral to signify his earnest suit to his Lordship in that behalf; which
was willingly condescended unto, and I had his Lordship's warrant at the
same time for it; he deceasing the last of this month, and his funeral was
solemnized at Deptford, the second of September, where myself was
present.
About the midst of September, my good, faithful friend, Mr. Sebastian
Vicars, the carver, departed this life; and the 27th day of this month my
second son Henry departed this life at Chatham; and at the very instant my
noble, worthy friend, Sir Thomas Button, then Captain Button, alighted at
my house, newly being returned from the dangerous voyage of the North-
west Passage, where he had wintered.
The 16th of October, I escaped a great danger by the fall of my horse
within one mile of Dartford, being riding to Chatham.
The 28th of October, I was taken very sick, going by water from
Woolwich to Westminster to accompany the ordinary shipwrights and other
of Chatham to move the Lord Admiral about their pay, being much
behindhand. I was forced this night to lie at the King's Head in Fish Street,

whither I came from Westminster on foot, to have prevented my sickness.
The whole company having appointed to dine there, most part of them
waked with me all that night. The next day, accompanied with my brother
Peter, I took oars to Gravesend, and from thence rode home, being taken
with a fit upon Gad's Hill, with much ado recovering my own house,
presently taking my chamber, and being dangerously sick; from whence I
did not stir down stairs till Christmas holidays after; which happened ill for
my business at Woolwich, where in my absence, through the careless
neglect of the foremen, the workmen made wonderful spoil and havoc.
The next week after I took my sickness, and the news thereof, brought to
London, came to the ears of the Lord Admiral, who acquainted his Majesty
therewith; whereupon I received two several letters from the Lord Admiral
by post, and special commandment from his Majesty to be certified the
truth, and to let me know that, if I needed, some of his own physicians
should be sent unto me; which exceeding great grace from his Majesty and
expression of love from the Lord Admiral was no small comfort unto me in
my extremity.
The end of this month my wife's cook-maid died in the house, and was
buried on New Year's Day.
The seventh of January, I returned from Chatham to Woolwich with my
wife and some of my children and family; and because my lodgings at the
Dock were not fitted, I lay in the town at the house of a widow woman
called Mistress Spicke, for the space of a month, till the lodgings in the
King's Yard were prepared and made ready.
The 14th of February, I began to victual all the shipwrights and workmen
employed upon the Merhonor and Defiance at Woolwich.
The 28th of March it pleased God miraculously to preserve me from loss
of life by a fall on board the Honor, which was only from deck to deck, by
God's merciful providence very hardly escaping to fall into the hold, which
would have beat me all to pieces.
The 14th of June, my honourable and implacable enemy, the Earl of
Northampton, departed this life at his house at Charing Cross.
The 22nd of July, the King of Denmark came suddenly to Somerset
House unexpected.

The first of August, my gracious master, King James, accompanied with
the King of Denmark, Prince of Wales, Lord Admiral, and many other lords,
came to Woolwich and went on board the Merhonor, then being in dry dock
and almost finished, which ship liked them wondrous well: here our King
took leave of his Majesty of Denmark and returned to Whitehall. From
hence the King of Denmark took barge to Gravesend, being accompanied
with the Prince and Lord Admiral; Sir Robert Mansell and myself were
commanded to attend them.
The second of August, the King of Denmark was entertained on board the
Prince, riding at her moorings in the river of Chatham, the Prince of Wales
and the Lord Admiral of England accompanying him, Sir Robert Mansell
and myself attending. The ship was completely rigged and all her sails at
the yards, and richly adorned with ensigns and pendants, all of silk, which
gave very great content to the King of Denmark; yet it was a very foul rainy
day. From thence they returned to Gravesend, where they took leave and the
King of Denmark embarked in his own ships.
In the end of November, all the workmen that wrought upon the
Merhonor were discharged from Woolwich.
The 6th of March,[434] the Merhonor and Defiance were both launched out
of the dry dock at Woolwich in one tide, and the 25th day of April following
they set sail from Woolwich, and the next day came to their moorings at
Chatham.
In May the dock at Woolwich was prepared for the receiving in of the
Elizabeth Jonas and the Triumph, who were appointed to be new built;
which ships were accordingly brought from Chatham, and were both
brought into the dock, the first and second days of June, and the gates shut
again and the ships shored.
The 25th of July, the Lord's Grace of Canterbury lay at Rochester, and
went on board the Prince, riding at her moorings, where he was entertained
with a banquet of sweetmeats by Sir Robert Mansell, myself attending
there.
The 29th of August, I removed from Woolwich to Chatham with my wife
and family, and the next day after my wife sickened of a surfeit, eating too
many grapes, which had like to have cost her her life.

The 9th of October, my wife was delivered of her 7th child, being a son,
between the hours of 10 and 11 [o']clock at night: the 22nd day after he was
baptized at Chatham Church and called by mine own name, Phineas; the
witnesses were Mr. Robert Yardley and Mr. King, godfathers, and my sister
Simonson, the godmother.
About the 27th day of March I bargained with Sir Walter Ralegh[435] for to
build him a ship of 500 tons, which I procured leave for from the Lord
Admiral, to build her in the galley dock in his Majesty's Yard at Woolwich,
towards which I presently received 500l. to begin withal, and the 8th day of
April following I began to set men on work upon her.
The 8th day of April, I bought a piece of ground of one Christopher
Collier, lying in a place called the Brook at Chatham, for which I paid him
35l. ready moneys.
The 18th day of April, I was elected and sworn Master of the Corporation
of Shipwrights at our common hall and meeting place at Redriff.
The 13th day of May, I bought the rest of the land at the Brook, of John
Griffin and Robert Griffin, brothers, and a lease of their sister, belonging to
the College of Rochester.
The 22nd of May, I removed my wife and some of my family from
Chatham to Woolwich.
In July Sir Henry Mainwaring caused me to build a small pinnace of 40
tons for the Lord Zouch, being then Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports,
which pinnace was launched the 2nd of August and presently rigged and
fitted, all at my charge; and the 6th day we set sail with her from Woolwich
accompanied with Sir Walter Ralegh and his sons, Sir Henry Mainwaring,
Mr. Christopher Hamon,[436] cousin William Hawkridge,[437] myself, son, and
divers others. The first tide we anchored [at] Gravesend; next night at the
North Foreland; next tide in the Downs, where we landed and rode to Dover
Castle in the Lord Warden's coach, sent purposely for us, leaving the
pinnace to be brought in to Dover Pier with the pilot and mariners. We
stayed at Dover till the 16th of August and then took leave of the Lord
Warden, and came to Woolwich the 17th day at night.
Towards the whole of the hull of the pinnace and all her rigging and
furniture I received only 100l. from the Lord Zouch, the rest Sir Henry

Mainwaring cunningly received in my behalf, without my knowledge,
which I could never get from him but by piece-meal, so that by the bargain I
was loser 100l. at least.
The 3rd day [of] December following, died my brother Cooper at
Chatham. The 16th of December I launched the great ship of Sir Walter
Ralegh's called the Destiny, and had much ado to get her into the water, but
I delivered her to him on float in good order and fashion; by which business
I lost 700l. and could never get any recompense at all for it, Sir Walter
Ralegh going to sea and leaving me unsatisfied.
This year of 1617 proved a very fatal and troublesome year unto me. The
14th day of March I removed my wife and family from Woolwich to my
house at Chatham, she being so big with child that I was forced to carry her
by coach, and that very leisurely for that she was with child with two twins.
The 20th of this month my wife's own father died at his house at Highwood
Hill.
The 15th day of April my wife was safely delivered of two daughters at
12 of the clock at night: they were both baptized in Chatham Church the
22nd day in the afternoon, being Tuesday; the eldest named Mary; the other
Martha.
About the midst of May, I was sent for by the Lord Treasurer, then Earl
of Suffolk, and Sir Fulke Greville, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, and
by them employed in a most troublesome business into the New Forest in
Hampshire, where one Sir Giles Mompesson[438] had made a vast waste in
the spoil of his Majesty's timber, to redress which I was employed thither to
make choice, out of the number of trees he had felled, of all such timber as
was useful for shipping; in which business I spent a great deal of time, and
brought myself into a great deal of trouble.

The 6th of November my daughter Mary, the eldest of the twins, departed
this life at Chatham, and was buried 2 days after at Chatham.
The 8th day of December my young son Phineas departed this life after
he had lived 2 years 2 months and odd days,[439] and was buried at Chatham.
My dear loving wife sickened at Chatham the 29th day of December, and
hardly escaped with life, yet it pleased God she did recover.
The last of this month my brother Simonson made himself away in the
garret of his own house at Ratcliff, to the utter undoing of his poor wife and
children.
In the month of June[440] there was a commission granted by his Majesty
to certain Commissioners for the reformation of the abuses in his Majesty's
Navy, the names of which Commissioners were Sir Lionel Cranfield,[441] Sir
Thomas Smith,[442] Sir Richard Weston,[443] Sir Francis Gofton,[444] Sir
Richard Sutton,[445] Mr. John Coke,[446] Mr. Pitt[447] of the Exchequer, Sir
John Osborne, Sir John Wolstenholme,[448] Mr. Burrell, and Captain Thomas
Norreys.
The 6th day of July these Commissioners came to Chatham in great state,
having called to assist them divers masters of the Trinity House and divers
shipwrights of the river of Thames, where, commanding also the masters
and master shipwrights of his Majesty's Navy, they went on board the
Prince and there publicly caused their Commission to be read, the Officers
of the Navy being present; which done they proceeded to give order for a
general survey of all the ships in the Navy, with all their furniture, and all
other things belonging unto them; in the which was spent a great deal of
time, for they returned not to London till the 16th day of the month after.
Myself was commanded in particular from his Majesty to give them the
best assistance I could, which accordingly I did with all diligence and
carefulness; which proved afterwards to the ruin and undoing to me and all
mine, the whole bent of Mr. Burrell tending only to overthrow me and root
my name out of the earth, by his means procuring most part of the
Commissioners to join with him in his malicious practice; so that from the
time that he was settled, I was sequestered from meddling with any
business, and all employments and privileges taken from me, Captain
Norreys being brought over me, and I forced to live as a slave under them

the whole of the time of their Commission, undergoing many disgraces and
contempts which I could not possibly have undergone had not the Lord
been exceedingly merciful unto me in giving me patience to submit myself
to his will and pleasure.
The whole year of '18, '19 and part of '20, I attended altogether at
Chatham, being employed upon the making of the new dock and other
businesses under the command of the Commissioners; the reward of my
extraordinary pains was recompensed with no other reward than base usage
and continual counsels and plats to ruin me, wherein they obtained the sum
of their desires to the utter undoing of me and mine; Mr. Burrell and
Norreys my greatest enemies.
The 24th of January in this present year my wife was delivered of a
young son at Chatham, who was, the 3rd day of the next month, being
Sunday, baptized in Chatham Church by Mr. Pyham; his name called
Phineas. The witnesses were my wife's sister Russell and niece Hawkridge,
godmothers, my nephews Peter and William Pett, godfathers.
The 19th day of this present month of July in the year 1619, the great
Duke of Buckingham, lately made the Lord Admiral of England, came to
visit the Navy then riding at Chatham, being accompanied with divers lords
and Sir Robert Mansell; who in his being here used me with such
extraordinary public respect that wrought me much prejudice in the opinion
of the Commissioners, who ever after plotted to ruin me and to bring me out
of favour both with the Lord Admiral and the King himself.
The 20th day of November, attending at Theobalds to deliver his Majesty
a petition, his Majesty in his princely care of me, by the means of the
honourable Lord High Admiral, had before my coming bestowed on me for
supply of my present relief the making of a knight baronet,[449] which I
afterwards passed under the broad seal of England for one Francis
Radclyffe[450] of Northumberland, a great recusant,[451] for which I was to
have 700l., but by reason that Sir Arnold Herbert[452] (that brought him to
me) played not fair play with me, I lost some 50l. of my bargain.
About this time the Commissioners of the Navy had finished two new
ships built by Mr. Burrell at Deptford in his Majesty's Dockyard, and had
procured the King's Majesty to come thither and see them, and named[453]
the one the Happy Entrance, and the other the Reformation.

The 14th day of May in the year 1620, my wife was delivered of her
eleventh child, being the last she had, being a son born at my house in
Chatham. The 25th day after, it was baptized and called Christopher. Sir
Christopher Cleve[454] and his brother-in-law, Mr. Samuel Heyward, being
godfathers, and my good neighbour, Mistress Legatt, godmother.
The 12th day of June this present year, Sir Robert Mansell being
ordained Lord General of the Fleet for the expedition against the Pirates of
Algiers, by his great importunity with his Majesty I was commanded to go
in hand with building two new pinnaces for that voyage, whereof the one
was to be of burden 120 tons, and the other, 80 tons; for which I did
contract with certain merchants of the city that were appointed Committees
for that business, whereof Sir Thomas Smith, Mr. Burrell, and divers others
of my great enemies were of the quorum; but I, upon some hopes of thanks
and reward, enlarged them to a greater proportion than my contract, making
the one wherein I was myself to serve as Captain in the voyage, of 300 tons,
called the Mercury, and the other, called the Spy, of 200 tons, wherein
Captain Edward Giles served; and for that I exceeded the contract, the
unconscionable merchants and Committees cast upon me all the whole
surplusage[455] of the charge, to the value of 700l., notwithstanding I was
forced to hasten the business and to keep extraordinary numbers of
workmen at great rates, and in a place where the provision and materials
were nightly stolen and embezzled to my utter undoing; whereof I never
could obtain any recompense, though to my great expense and charge I
made means both to his Majesty and the Lords of the Council, and had
warrant against the Committees, but was continually overborn by their
greatness and malice.
The 16th and 18th days of October, both the pinnaces were launched at
Ratcliff, where they were built, and all expedition was used to rig and make
them ready to set sail; I preparing myself, to my great charge, to proceed in
the voyage and to get the ships to Erith, because of ice in the river, where
we rode till we were cleared thence by the Committees, which was about
the 22nd of December; at what time Mr. Puniett the pilot came on board me
to carry me into the Downs, and Sir John Ferne,[456] that went passenger
with me to the Fleet; my wife also came then on board of me.
The 27th day of December, we weighed and turned down from Erith into
Tilbury Hope, where we rode till the 29th day, and then weighed, and

anchored at the buoy of the Oaze Edge.[457]
The 30th day of December, I parted with my wife and sent her to
Gravesend in a light horseman that came to the ship with some provisions.
We set sail from the buoy of the Red Sand[458] the first of January, being
New Year's Day, and anchored in the Gore, where we rode one day, and
thence into the Downs, where we landed our pilot.
We rode in the Downs till the 13th day, and then set sail and were put
into the Needles, and anchored at the Cowes two days; then set sail, and the
4th of February we made the South Cape.[459] The 8th day we entered into
the Straits of Gibraltar,[460] and the 8th day at night came to an anchor in
Malaga Road.
The 19th day of September, 1621, we arrived in the Downs, and the 20th
day at night, I came safe to my house at Chatham, finding my wife and
children all in good health, for which mercy of God I gave God thanks, as
did also my whole family.
All the year 1622 I did nothing but follow the Court with petitions, to my
infinite charge and trouble, and all to little purpose, for I could never prevail
against my adversaries, who detained all my entertainment for the Algiers
voyage, both for myself, son, and servants; which cost me 300l. setting out,
and the expense of the voyage.
I must not forget that in the beginning of the year 1621, before I was two
months out of England, [through] the malice of Mr. Burrell and some of the
rest of the Commissioners for the Navy, that there were divers master
shipwrights of the river of Thames and some masters of the Trinity House
sent down to Chatham to survey the state of the Prince;[461] amongst which
Commissioners was, beside old Burrell and his son, my fellow,[462] Stevens,
Graves,[463] Dearslye,[464] Bourne,[465] Thomas Brunning of Woodbridge, and
one Chandler,[466] a creature of Mr. Burrell's, and divers other mariners, who
maliciously certified the ship to be merely unserviceable and not fit to be
continued, and what charge soever should be bestowed upon her would be
lost, which they certified under their hands. But the 24th of February
succeeding, by special command from his Majesty, who well understood
their malicious proceedings, the selfsame surveyors were again sent to
Chatham and under their hands certified that the ship might be made

serviceable for a voyage into Spain with the charge of 300 pounds,[467] to be
bestowed upon her hull and the perfecting her masts, which certificate was
returned under their hands and delivered to his Majesty. Whereupon present
warrant was granted to have the ship docked and fitted for a Spanish
voyage; which was accordingly done, and brought into the dock the 8th of
March, 1623, at Chatham, and was launched the 24th day of the same
month.
About the 17th of this month of February, I attended at Theobalds the
very morning that the Prince's Highness and the Lord Duke of Buckingham
took leave of the King to take their journey for Spain, being carried so
privately that few knew of their intent. At their taking horse I kissed both
their hands and they only gave me an item[468] that I should shortly come to
sea in the Prince.
After the Prince and the rest of the Fleet were all fitted and prepared to
set sail from their moorings, the St. George fell down to Gillingham with
the Antelope, being both appointed to go before to Santander with the
jewels and other provisions. The noble gentleman, my honoured friend, Sir
Francis Steward,[469] commanding in her, whom my eldest son, John Pett,
attended as one of his retinue in that journey, and Captain Thomas Love[470]
commanded in the Antelope.
The 2nd of May being on a Friday, the Prince removed from her
moorings to St. Mary Creek, where she anchored. Thither came down from
London many of the Commissioners of the Navy, with Sir Thomas Smith
and the Lord Brooke,[471] who all plotted together to have hindered me from
going the voyage which the King had commanded me unto, but their
malicious practices were prevented and their purposes frustrated.
The 17th day of May I took leave of his Majesty in the park at Greenwich
and kissed his hand, with many expressions of his favour, which was not
very pleasing to Sir John Coke, then there present.
The 20th of May, the Prince set sail from St. Mary Creek and anchored at
Queenborough; the 21st day we set sail from Queenborough and anchored
at Whitaker;[472] 23rd day anchored [at the] Gunfleet; 24th day anchored
short [of the] North Foreland; 25th day we came and anchored in the
Downs, where we rode till the 28th day of June, having three several times
proffered to go on, but were still put room[473] again; but the 28th day, being

Saturday, we weighed and got as high as Fairlight,[474] where we anchored
all the flood and so plyed to windward all the ebbs, being fair weather. On
Tuesday after, being the first of July, we came to anchor in Stokes Bay by
Portsmouth. The 20th day of August, his Majesty, then lying in the New
Forest at Beaulieu[475] House, embarked himself and train and came on
board the Prince, then riding in Stokes Bay, accompanied with Marquis
Hamilton,[476] the Lord Chamberlain,[477] Holderness,[478] Kellie,[479] Carlisle,
[480]
Montgomery,[481] and divers other attendants, who all dined on board the
Prince; our Admiral, the Earl of Rutland,[482] being absent at London. His
Majesty was very well pleased, and after dinner, again embarking in the
barge, lay hovering in the midst of the Fleet till all the ships had discharged
their great ordnance, and then returned on shore at Calshot Castle.
In the interim of our stay in Stokes Bay I procured leave of the Admiral
to go to London, and the 2nd day of August, being Saturday, I met my wife
at Lambeth with my son Richard. There we lay that night, and the next day
took oars to Kingston, where we lay till Tuesday following, on which day I
went to Hampton Court to take leave of my honoured lord and good master,
the Earl of Nottingham, who then lay there in his old lodgings, which was
the last time I ever saw him, being the fifth of August. The next day I took
leave of my wife and friends at Kingston; she returned home, and myself to
Portsmouth on board the Prince again.
The 24th day of August, being Sunday and Bartholomew's day, we set
sail out of Stokes Bay in the afternoon; the 25th day, the wind taking us
short[483] put us into the grass[484] at Weymouth, where we rode till the 26th
at night; and thence setting sail with the wind easterly, on the 28th day,
being Thursday, we came to anchor in Plymouth Sound.
The 2nd day of September, being Tuesday, in the morning betimes we set
out of Plymouth Sound, and by contrary winds we beat it up till, the 9th day
following, being Tuesday, we made the Cape of Ortegal[485] bearing south-
west of us. The 10th day we lay becalmed, and the 11th day about 2 of the
clock in the forenoon we came to an anchor in the river of Santander.
The 12th day, it pleased God, the Prince and all his train came to
Santander and presently took his barge, being there ready attending for him,
and came on board the Prince, accompanied with all the Spaniards that
attended him thither, where we all joyfully received him. After some stay on

board, his Highness resolving to lie at Santander Town that night, where
provision was made to entertain him and his train, he took his barge to go
back; whereinto we, being overjoyed with his safe arrival, forgot to send
either master, pilot, or mariner to conduct him to the town, being a
dangerous rocky way, and the tide of ebb bent,[486] which runneth there with
a very swift stream; which had likely to have proved a very dangerous
accident, for that at the instant of embarking there arose a very great
tempest of rain and wind and darkness withal, so that the barge could not
possibly row ahead[487] the tide, whereby she was in great danger to have
been driven to sea out of the harbour's mouth, to the utter loss of all in her,
had not God in mercy prevented it by the vigilant care of the captain and
officers of the Defiance, Sir Sackvill Trevor[488] being the commander,[489]
who seeing the danger they were in, veered out casks and buoys with lights
fastened unto them, by small warps, of which they taking hold, were rowed
and haled on board the ship, where the Prince with all his train were
entertained and lodged all this night, the weather proving so stormy and
rainy that no provision from any other ship could be brought unto them.
The 13th day, being Saturday, the Prince came on board his own ship and
lodged in his own cabin.
The 14th day, being Sunday, the Prince feasted all the Spaniards that
accompanied him to the waterside, the Cardinal Zapata and his brother, who
was a grandee, being the chief, with Gondomar[490] and divers others of the
King of Spain's servants; whom he feasted with no other provisions than
such as we brought out of England with us: stalled oxen, fatted sheep,
venison and all kind of fowls and other varieties in abundance, wanting no
ordnance to welcome them withal, loudly speaking every health; but it was
a very foul rainy day. Notwithstanding, at their going from the ship all the
ordnance was discharged in our ship, all the rest of the Fleet following in
order as they passed by to the town of Santander.
The Rainbow, wherein Sir Henry Palmer commanded as captain, and
John King, one of the four Masters, being master, by neglect of following
the Admiral, could not get within the river's mouth, but was forced to
leeward, where she rode three days and nights in such extremity as every
hour it was expected when she should drive upon the shore, which she
hardly escaped by God's great mercy, and upon the Tuesday after, came
safely off and anchored under the Prince's stern.

On Thursday, being the 18th day of September, we set sail out of
Santander River, the wind somewhat southerly, from whence we beat it to
and fro with contrary winds till the 26th day after, being Friday, at which
time a little before noon we had sight of Scilly, which bore north-east of us,
about some 8 leagues off.
This day we met 4 Dunkirk men-of-war, very well fitted, chased by
Holland men-of-war, whom the Prince caused to come to leeward, and their
commanders to come on board; whom his Highness laboured to have
accepted a peaceable course, which the Hollanders durst not accept,
whereupon they were dismissed, the Dunkirkers having liberty to have the
start of the Hollanders, which many disliked.
Saturday all day we plied to and fro, and got within some four leagues of
the Islands, the wind at north-east but fair weather.
On Sunday a Council of War was summoned, wherein was principally
propounded his Highness landing upon the Island of Scilly[491] in the ketch,
some pilots of the island being come off unto us, but it was generally
protested against under all the Council's hands, and so were dismissed to
their charges; but after supper, beyond expectation, order was given to make
ready the long boat and to call the ketch, and the Prince made choice of all
the company should accompany him on shore, and so about one of the
clock after midnight, with great danger to his Highness' person and to the
Lord Duke of Buckingham, they were put into our long boat, which was
veered astern by a long warp, where the ketch, laying the long boat on
board, and the sea going somewhat high, they entered the ketch disorderly,
without regard to any, but everyone shifting for themselves. Being all
shipped, the ketch was so over burdened as she could make but little way,
so that after we had taken farewell with the discharge of a volley of our
great ordnance we tacked into the sea and left the ketch to ply into the
island, which she safely gained by 7 of the morning, and had landed the
Prince and all his company on St. Mary's Island.
The next morning our Admiral advised with me what course we should
take with ourselves, for the Prince had commanded Sir Henry Mainwaring,
who was Captain under the Admiral, and Mr. Walter Whiting, the Master of
the ship, to attend him in the ketch, I being left purposely to supply both
their places in their absence. After serious consultation with the master's

mates and two pilots of the island, who all assured us we might safely go in,
the Admiral resolved on that course, and after two or three boards we laid it
in quarter winds,[492] and came to an anchor in the best of the road about 2 of
the clock afternoon; the Prince and all his train standing upon the lower
point of land, and welcomed us in as we passed close by with much
expression of joy and heaving up their hats. The Prince and his train lay in
the Castle[493] four nights.
On Friday morning, being the 3rd of October, we set sail out of Scilly,
and on Sunday following, being the 5th day, we came into St. Helen's and
anchored on Nomans Land,[494] and shipped the Prince and his train into our
long boat and other ships' boats, who were safely landed at Portsmouth
about 11 of the clock; we taking our farewell with discharge of all our great
ordnance, seconded by all the Fleet, with general thanksgiving to God for
our safe arrival, to the joy and comfort of all true hearted subjects.
The 14th day of October, we set sail from St. Helen's Point, being
Tuesday. The 16th day after, being Thursday morning, we came to an
anchor in Dover Road, where, having leave of the Admiral, I went into a
fisher boat, and taking in my son John out of the St. George, wherein he had
served the whole voyage under Sir Thomas Steward, we landed at Dover,
from whence we took horse to Chatham, where we alighted at my house
about 4 of the clock in the evening, finding my wife and family in good
health; for which great mercies in our preservation in the whole journey and
safe return we all gave thanks to our good God.
The 24th of May, 1624, being sent for to St. James's, I there received
from Sir Robert Carr,[495] by the Prince's Highness' order, a gold chain of the
value of 104l. in way of reward for my attendance in the voyage into Spain
in bringing his Highness home, which chain I was commanded to wear one
day, and to wait upon the Prince to the Parliament, which I accordingly did
and received very gracious respect from his Highness.
About this time I was joined Commissioner with Captain Love, Captain
Edward Giles, and Mr. John Reynolds, the Master Gunner of England, to
take up divers colliers, and to put them out to sundry shipwrights to be
fitted for men-of-war, for which service I never received allowance.
In the beginning of October this present year, happened a wonderful great
storm, through which many ships perished, especially in the Downs,

amongst which was riding there the Antelope of his Majesty, being bound
for Ireland under the command of Sir Thomas Button, my son John being
then passenger in her. A merchant ship, being put from her anchors, came
foul of her, and put her also from all her anchors, by means whereof she
drove upon the Brakes,[496] where she beat off her rudder and much of the
run[497] abaft, miraculously escaping utter loss of all, for that the merchant
ship that came foul of her,[498] called the Dolphin, hard by her utterly
perished both ship and all the company. Yet it pleased God to save her, and
got off into the Downs, having cut all her masts by the board, and with
much labour was kept from foundering. My son John was sent post from
the ship to Sir Thomas Button, who was presently sent by the Lord Admiral
on board, and brought warrant for me to attend him to the ship, to use the
best means we could to save her. After our coming on board, by placing
chain pumps into the steward's room, we kept the water easily under, and
then fitted a rudder and jury masts, by which means she was safely brought
to Deptford Dock and her defects perfected.
About the end of December this present year, the Prince was docked, to
be prepared and fitted to sea, meanwhile the Duke of Brunswick[499] came to
Chatham accompanied with divers of the Prince's servants, and went on
board the ship in the dock.
The 29th day of January after, the Prince was launched, and soon after
had her masts set; and divers other ships graved and made ready for a
voyage to sea.
The 28th of March 1625, certain news was brought to Chatham of King
James' death; and the next day after, his Majesty was proclaimed amongst
us in the Navy at the Hill House;[500] the Masters, Boatswains, Gunners,
Pursers, and all belonging to the Navy were present.
All April and May I attended at Chatham, to prepare the Fleet that was
then bound to fetch over the Queen. In the latter end of May his Majesty
came to Rochester, where I presented myself unto him in the Dean's Yard
and kissed his hand and had speech with him, till he came into the house,
where he dined and I attended him all the dinner while. Thence I hasted
home, and waited his Majesty's coming by towards Canterbury, who
alighted at my house and stayed there awhile and gave me leave to drink his
health, and then returned to his coach, giving me charge to follow him and

to hasten on board the Prince, being then in the Downs. According to his
command, I presently took horse and followed him, and lay at Sandwich
that night, and next day came into the Downs; went on board to the
Vanguard, commanded by Captain Pennington, bound for France, where I
met Sir Thomas Button, Captain Ned Giles, and other good company; there
dined, and after was set on board the Prince.
Saturday the 4th of June, his Majesty came on board the Prince, riding
then in Dover Road, where he dined and was safely landed again. Yet this
evening we let slip and went room[501] for the Downs with very foul weather.
Thursday the 9th of June, we got over to Boulogne[502] and anchored in
Boulogne Road. The 10th day we had a great storm, the wind north-west,
where all our ships drove,[503] and we brake our best bower and were forced
to let fall our sheet anchor, which put us both to great danger and puzzle[504]
of loss of men and boats, and had also one of our men belonging to the
steward-room drowned.
Sunday morning, being the 12th day, all things prepared fit and the great
storm allayed, about 11 of the clock we received our young Queen on
board, and having a fair leading gale, fitting the entertainment of a Queen,
we set sail out of Boulogne Road about one [of the] clock, and before 8 had
safely landed her and her train at Dover.
Monday morning I left the ship and went on shore at Dover, and missing
my horses was forced to go to Sandwich, where I lay all night, and next day
hired post horse home. The boatswain of the ship, John Handcroft, died so
soon as I was landed upon the beach.
The 14th day of July 1625, my eldest son John Pett was married to
Catherine Yardley, youngest daughter to Mr. Robert Yardley, of Chatham,
deceased. The wedding was kept at our own house.
The 24th of September my wife's mother sickened at my house [at]
Chatham, and the 4th of October she died, and the 6th day, being Thursday,
she was buried in the chancel of our parish church: Mr. Pyham[505] made her
funeral sermon.
The last part of this Christmas quarter, I was posted to and again from
Chatham to London and Hampton Court, about building of small ships and

presenting plats[506] of them, both to the King and Commissioners of the
Navy, to very little purpose and my great trouble and charge.

My son Joseph died in Ireland in February this year.[507]

In the year '26 I was called to sundry employments, the one to have built
a new ship at Chatham of 300 tons, and Mr. Burrell was to have built
another, for which I made moulds and sent them into the woods by one
Thomas Williams, shipwright, who hewed the frame in the woods, which
was brought into the yard with an excellent provision of long straight
timber; but by the malice of Mr. Burrell the business was hindered, and not
suffered to go forward, so that the frame was kept in the yard till it was
good for no use of shipping; but afterward I was employed to build two
small pinnaces of 70 tons a piece or thereabouts, which I performed
accordingly at Chatham, my son Richard being my principal foreman. They
were called, the one the Henrietta, the other Maria, after the Queen's name.
Also, the Commissioners of the Navy growing to be called in question
for their actions, in the latter end of this year,[508] there was a great
commission of Lords and divers other experienced captains granted under
the Broad Seal[509] for inquiry of their actions, amongst which number I was
chosen one: much doing was about it, but in the end it trenched so far upon
some great personages, that it was let fall and nothing to any purpose done
in it, but divers of the Commissioners came to Chatham, and surveyed the
state of the ships and other things; and so in the end of January following
returned all to London.
The 14th of February, being Wednesday and St. Valentine's Day, my dear
wife Ann departed this life in the morning, and was buried the Friday after
in Chatham Church in the evening, leaving behind her a disconsolate
husband and sad family. Not long after, I being at London, my only sister
then living, Mary Cooper, departed this life the fifth of March for very grief
of the loss of my dear wife.
This summer, my son John was made captain of a merchant ship, and
served under Sir Sackvill Trevor's command at the taking of the French
prize called the St. Esprit.[510]

In July, I was contracted to my second wife Mistress Susan Yardley, the
widow of Mr. Robert Yardley, whose daughter my son John had formerly
married. The 16th of the same month we were married at St. Margaret's
Church, by Mr. Franklyn; Mr. George Wilson[511] gave her in the church.
The 20th of February, 1627,[512] the Commissioners of the Navy were
summoned before the Lords, and their commission called in and dissolved,
and the government of the Navy conferred upon the Principal Officers then
being, to be carried as in former times.
The 26th of February, attending the Officers of the Navy at Sir Sackville
Crowe's[513] house by Charing Cross, Sir[514] John Pennington came thither to
acquaint them with a warrant from the Lord Duke, directed to him and
myself, for present bargaining with the yard-keepers[515] of the river for the
building of 10 small vessels[516] for the enterprise of Rochelle, of some 120
tons a-piece, with one deck and quarter only, to row as well as sail. The
28th day of the same month we concluded our bargains with the several
yardkeepers and drew covenants between us, and delivered them
imprests[517] accordingly. In this business I was employed till the latter end
of July, that the ships set sail to Portsmouth. My son John was placed
Captain in the sixth Whelp, built by my kinsman Peter Pett; having liberty
from the Lord Duke to make choice for him amongst them all, I chose that
pinnace before the rest, supposing she would have proved best, which fell
out afterward clean contrary.
The 21st of this month of July, as I was going in London to attend the
meeting of the Officers of the Navy, I was arrested at the suit of one
Freeman, upon 3 executions for timber delivered to the building of Sir
Walter Ralegh's ship and the two pinnaces built at Ratcliff[518] for the
expedition of Algier, and was forcibly carried to prison to the Counter[519] in
the Poultry, where I was lodged all night. The next morning, the King and
the Lord Duke being made acquainted by Sir John Pennington with the
business, the Lords of the Council were twice assembled about my clearing,
and the care recommended to the Lord Treasurer Weston, who employed his
secretary, Mr. John Gibbons, to see me freed, which was done by a habeas
corpus to remove me to the Fleet,[520] where I was carried and there put in
bond for my appearance the first day of Michaelmas term; so for that time
discharged, Mr. Gibbons defraying the whole charge. A little before this his

Majesty gave me a blank for making a baronet, which was signed by his
hand.
I received warrant from the Lord Duke to go to Portsmouth, there to
attend the setting out of the Fleet; which accordingly I did, taking my
journey from Lambeth the first of August, accompanied with my son
Richard, William Dalton, and some other shipwrights. When I came to
Portsmouth, by means of some friends I procured a convenient lodging in a
private house, where I lay all the time of my being there, in which I saw
many passages and the great disaster happening unto the Lord Duke. After
the mutiny upon the Green on Friday in the evening, about the execution of
a poor seaman that was hanged upon a gibbet on the beach, and the next
day, being Saturday and the 23rd day, about 10 of the clock, the Duke was
murdered in Captain Mason's[521] house by a private[522] discontented
lieutenant called Felton, being stabbed with a knife to the heart as he was
talking with Sir Thomas (left blank in MS.)[523] at the parlour door.
The 4th of September, my son John took leave of me in the evening and
went on board his ship; whom I never saw after, being unfortunately cast
away in the return from Rochelle; both ship and men perishing in the sea, as
it was supposed foundered in the storm, which was a grievous affliction to
myself, my wife [and] his own wife, left great with child at his going to sea.
The 6th September, the service concluded and all the Fleet sent away, I
left Portsmouth accompanied with son Richard and returned for Chatham,
coming thither on Monday the 8th day, finding my wife and family in good
health, praising God for our comfortable meeting.
After divers passages and journeys from Chatham to London and
Hampton Court, to my great expense, and could conclude nothing for
clearing my arrest, I was forced, for saving harmless my sureties in the
Fleet,[524] to deliver myself a prisoner the first day of the term, going thither
in the evening, taking possession of the chamber provided for me with a
heavy heart, my son Richard accompanying me. Afterward, being advised
by my worthy friend, Captain Pennington, who never forsook me in all my
troubles, but furnished my wants continually, way was made to acquaint his
Majesty with my case; who very graciously gave order to the Lord
Treasurer to see me freed from prison, where I continued, notwithstanding,
six or seven days before I could be released and an agreement concluded

with Freeman for his debt by the Lord Treasurer; which done, I presented
myself to his Majesty who used me very graciously.
In this interim I received certain intelligence of the great loss of my son
John, his ship, and all his company, who foundered in the sea about the
Seames,[525] in a great storm about the beginning of November; not one man
saved to bring the doleful news; no ship near them to deliver the certainty,
but a small pink belonging to the Fleet, that was within ken of her, and saw
her shoot 9 pieces of ordnance, hoping of succour. This affliction was the
greater for that his dear wife was, much about the time of her husband's
loss, delivered of a son at my house at Chatham, having a mournful time of
lying in, which son was baptized at Chatham Church on Sunday the 23rd
day, afternoon, called Phineas. The witnesses:—my wife, godmother;
myself and good friend, Mr. George Wilson, being godfathers.
Towards the end of December, I was appointed by the Officers of the
Navy to take charge of docking the Vanguard at Woolwich, which I
presently took order in, to have the dock fitted and prepared for that
purpose.
I docked the Vanguard and caused a dam to be made without the gates;
then took down the gates and wharves within the dam, and made all new,
both floor, wharves and gates; which was finished in a short time. About
this time, riding from Woolwich to Greenwich, sent for by Captain
Pennington, mid way betwixt both, the horse gave me a dangerous fall,
close by a ditch side full of water; by which I received a great hurt upon my
right leg and thigh, which was sore bruised by the fall, in so much as I had
much ado to get back again, and was not recovered of the hurt in six weeks
time, but was forced to use crutches.
About the beginning of June, by Captain Pennington's procurement I
passed the baronet given me formerly by the King, for which the Captain
received for me 200 pounds, which he sent me to Woolwich in gold.
About this time I gave over my house at Chatham and surrendered the
lease thereof to Mr. Isackson,[526] the painter, who renewed it for longer time
with Sir Robert Jackson, then Lord of the Manor.
Towards the end of September, I was employed by the Lord Treasurer
Weston as a Commissioner for his Majesty to the forests of Shotover and

Stowood, near Oxford, which forests were granted from his Majesty by
letters patent to the Earl of Lindsey;[527] wherein I discharged my duty so
effectually as gained me a good opinion both from his Majesty and the Lord
Treasurer; from which employment I returned to Woolwich the 8th day of
November, having finished a tedious and troublesome business.
The 27th day of November, it pleased God to take from me my dear
beloved son Richard, who died with me at Woolwich and was buried in the
church chancel next day after; being a great affliction unto me, by reason he
was my eldest son then living, being a very hopeful young man, and for his
years an excellent artist, being trained by me to that purpose for making of
ships.
A little after Christmas, I was employed as a Commissioner with Mr.
Treswell,[528] Surveyor of his Majesty's Woods, to view certain parks of his
Majesty: as Ditton Park, Sunning Park and Folly John[529] Park, lying near
about Windsor; which we despatched in four or five days, and returned back
to Westminster, and delivered in the account and certificate of the business
to the Lord Treasurer.
Towards the middle of February, there was a resolution by his Majesty
and the Lords of the Admiralty to make an addition of assistants to the
Principal Officers of his Majesty's Navy, for the better managing of that
great business by experienced men; to which purpose Mr. William Burrell
was nominated as one and myself by his Majesty's own appointment was
chosen for the other, not without some strong opposition which could not
prevail; so that there was a letter under his Majesty's signet directed to the
Officers, and ourselves to sit with the Officers, and to authorise us to
proceed together in all businesses concerning his Majesty's Service, which
was twice read in public court at their meeting in Mincing Lane, the 8th day
of March 1629, and then we took place first with them; where it was
concluded to begin first with a general survey of the whole Navy at
Chatham, and all stores within and without doors, and to put out by the
great, as we should hold fitting, the repair of all apparent defects in the
ships, which was recommended wholly to the care of Mr. Burrell and
myself; which was effectually performed by us, and the works of the ships
put to Mr. Goddard,[530] one of the Master Shipwrights, to be done by
contract; which business we fully concluded by the end of March, 1630.

After we had settled all business at Chatham, Deptford and Woolwich,
Mr. Burrell and myself took our journey, the 6th of May, to Portsmouth,
where we arrived the 8th day after; taking up our lodgings at [the] Dock
with the Clerk of the Stores,[531] where Mr. Burrell lay, and myself at the
Clerk of the Check,[532] both Mr. Brookes and brothers; here we stayed upon
despatch of all business concerning the defects of the ships, surveys, and
other material business; which having all ordered, settled, and graved the
ships, we returned thence and came to London the 4th day of June
following.
The 4th of August, there was a great Commission sent to Portsmouth, to
take a view of the harbour and the river running up to Fareham,[533] for the
removing of his Majesty's ships to a more safe place of riding; all the
Principal Officers of his Majesty's Navy being Commissioners, together
with Mr. Burrell, his Majesty's Masters of the Navy, and six of the chief
Masters of the Trinity House. There was much dispute and contrariety about
the business, but in the end a fair agreement was concluded. Some of the
Masters of the Trinity House there sickened, which hastened both their
returns and ours back. In our return home, myself was taken very sick at
Farnham, where Mr. Burrell and myself parted, he staying behind about
some particular business of his own, but we never saw one another after,
being the 13th day of August. It pleased God that I got home to Woolwich
that very night very dangerously sick, and stirred not out of my chamber in
eight weeks space, in which interim Mr. Burrell died in an inn, as he
travelled toward Huntingdon, the end of this present month.
About the 23rd day of November following, I was sent again to
Portsmouth with a commission to search and enquire about the worm which
was reported to eat the ships in the Road, to their endangering and hazard.
There were divers Master Shipwrights joined with me in the business, but
upon strict examination upon oath there could be no such matter found, but
only a rumour raised to hinder the keeping of any his Majesty's ships in that
harbour.[534]
About the end of December his Majesty signed my letters patent for the
place of a Principal Officer and Commissioner of his Navy, and the 19th
day of January following I had my letters patent publicly read at the
meeting of the Principal Officers of his Majesty's Navy in Mincing Lane in

London, and accordingly took my place amongst them; the 26th day after,
they were publicly read before the whole Navy men at Chatham.
The 23rd of February I brought my wife from Woolwich to Chatham in a
coach all the way by land; we alighted at son Yardley's door where we took
up our lodging.
The first of March I received from Mr. Robert Smith, Messenger of the
Navy, 8 commissions of purveyance and other business concerning the
Navy under the Broad Seal of England directed to me.
The 21st day of April, being Thursday, his Majesty, accompanied with
divers of the lords, as the Treasurer,[535] Chamberlain,[536] Marquis Hamilton,
Holland[537] and others, came to Woolwich to see the Vanguard launched that
day, which was performed to his Majesty's great content. I entertained them
in my lodgings with wine, cakes and other things, which were well
accepted. His Majesty commanded me into the barge with him, purposing
to have landed at Deptford to have seen the St. Denis,[538] newly repaired in
dry dock, but the rain hindered his landing, and I was taken out of his
Majesty's barge into a pair of oars. On Friday morning was launched the
Victory, lying above the Vanguard in the same dock [at] Woolwich.
On Friday, being the 13th of May, I shipped all my goods and household
stuff from Woolwich in one Starland's hoy, which were all safely landed at
his Majesty's new dock [at] Chatham the next day. On Monday, the 16th
day, I brought myself and family into my lodgings at the new dock.
Wednesday, being the 15th day of June, all the ships in the Navy at
Chatham being completely trimmed in all points, rigged, and all their sails
at yards, and ordnance on board, his Majesty, attended with divers lords,
came to Strood[539] about 2 o'clock afternoon, where the Officers of the
Navy attended his Highness with barges and boats, and being embarked
rew[540] down the river on board the Prince, and from her on board all the
ships riding in that [place]. At his Majesty's embarking, the ships did
orderly discharge their ordnance. The King went to his lodging at the
Crown, Rochester.
Next morning betimes, his Majesty took his barge again, and went on
board the rest of the ships riding in the upper reach, beginning with the
Lion, being the uppermost ship; so to the rest in order, observing the course

and order of the discharging their ordnance as the day before; then landed at
the old dock and viewed all the ordnance upon the wharves; then walked on
foot to the new dock, by the way taking notice of the ropehouse and
storehouses without the dock gates; then came into the yard and viewed the
stores and houses; after came into my lodgings, where he stayed a pretty
while; then went to the top of the hill on the back side, where his Majesty
stood to see the ordnance fired from the ships; from thence walked back to
the old dock, where his Highness took his barge to Rochester, by the way
hovering to observe the trained-band placed in two battalions and
skirmished in warlike manner, to his Majesty's great content. His Majesty
landed at Rochester and went to dinner; then called for the Officers of the
Navy, giving[541] them many thanks for their care and pains; then took his
coach to Gravesend, thence up by water to Greenwich.
Monday morning, being the 25th of July, I took my journey from
Chatham towards Portsmouth, riding through Sussex. We came to
Portsmouth [the] 27th day at night and lodged at the Queen's Head. We
were sent to provide and prepare all the ships riding at Portsmouth in
manner as they were at Chatham, to entertain his Majesty, resolved to view
them all; which was accordingly performed.
The second of August, being Tuesday, his Majesty came to Portsmouth
accompanied with divers lords, and presently took boat and went on board
each several ship, from thence treatably[542] returning, and the ships saluting
him with their ordnance. His Majesty was landed by six of the clock and
went directly to the Governor's house, where he was lodged, and called for
supper as soon as he came. Next day I attended his Majesty for order for
removing the ships, which presently was done by his Majesty's own mouth;
and waiting at dinner, his Majesty commanded me to attend the Lord
Treasurer and others, to transport them into the Isle of Wight and bring
them back; which I carefully performed in his Majesty's pinnace, the Maria,
appointed for that purpose, and safely landed him from the Cowes at
Titchfield Haven, being attended with one of the Whelps. I returned to
Chatham from Portsmouth the 10th of August after.
The 25th of this month, being Thursday, my son John's wife, lost in the
sixth Whelp, was married to Edward Stevens,[543] a shipwright, in Chatham
Church, the wedding being at my house in the new dockyard, where we

gave entertainment to all his friends till Monday after, when they returned
for London.
In[544] the beginning of this year, 1632, I was commanded from his
Majesty to assist my son Peter in the building a new ship at Woolwich,
which was begun in February, being of the burthen of 800 tons and
tonnage; most part of the frame and provisions being made in the forests of
Shotover and Stowood, Oxfordshire; my son had the oversight of the work.
About the 8th of June, his Majesty came to Woolwich to see the work, where
I entertained him afterwards in my lodgings and attended his Majesty to
Deptford in his own barge, where he landed to view the other new ship built
by Mr. Goddard.
The 30th day of January, 1633, the new ship at Woolwich was launched,
the King's Majesty being there present, standing in my lodgings. It proved a
fair day and good tide, so that the ship was put out without strain of tackle,
which much contented his Majesty, who soon after took his barge and
returned to Whitehall. The ship was named the Charles after his own name.
The next day the new ship at Deptford built by Mr. Goddard was
launched, the King and Queen's Majesties being present, and was called
after the Queen's name, Henrietta Maria.
By the beginning of March, the Henrietta being come to ride at Woolwich
by the Charles, both being ready fitted to set sail for Chatham, his Majesty
was pleased to come down in his barge on board the Charles. We presently
weighed with both ships and set sail with the wind at south-west and better;
his Majesty went in her a little beneath[545] Barking Creek, and then took his
barge and returned, we taking leave after the manner of the sea with our
voices and whistles, and the King's trumpets upon the poop. By low water
we were got beneath the Nore a good distance, and there anchored all
night, and the next flood we turned up as high as Oakham Ness[546] and
there anchored, and on Monday after came over the chain.
The 22nd of March, I was appointed to make a journey to Portsmouth to
take survey of all the business there, both on float and on the shore. Mr.
Edisbury,[547] Mr. Goddard, Mr. Goodwin[548] the Master, Mr. Apslyn,[549] and
our clerks going along with us. We took our journey from London on Friday
morning, and came to Portsmouth on Sunday afternoon. It was the 6th of
April following before I returned to home to Chatham. The 11th day, son

Peter first time took his journey to Woodbridge in Suffolk to see Mrs. Cole's
eldest daughter.
The 15th of June, 1633, I went a journey to Portsmouth from Chatham,
through part of East Kent, accompanied with Sir Henry Palmer, Captain
William Hawkridge, newly returned from captivity,[550] our clerks and
servants. Saturday and Sunday night we lay at Buckwell,[551] at Captain
Moyle's, whose wife was sister to the Lady Palmer. Monday we rode to one
Sir William Campion's, where we were very kindly entertained till
Wednesday morning; thence taking leave we rode to Lewes to dinner;
thence to Shoreham,[552] where we lodged that night; thence to Chichester,
there dined; then to Portsmouth where we stayed four days to despatch
business there; which done, we came thence to Guildford; so to London;
and the 26th day, being Wednesday, I came home to Chatham.
The 5th of July, 1633, being a Friday, I began a journey from Chatham
by sea into Suffolk in the little Henrietta pinnace commanded by Captain
Cook, one of the Master Attendants of his Majesty's Navy, accompanied
with young Mr. Henry Palmer, Mr. Isackson, son Yardley, cousin[553] Joseph,
my sons Peter and Christopher, man Charles Bowles, and George Parker.
[554]
We set sail from Gillingham in the morning, having a fair gale at south-
west. We anchored against Harwich, between two and three of the clock,
afternoon, and from thence shipped ourselves and company in boats for
Ipswich, arriving there afore 6 in the evening, and lodged at the Angel Inn,
which was then kept by my cousin Barwick. On Saturday morning we were
horsed to Woodbridge on hackneys, whither we came about 11 of the clock
and were lodged at the Crown. After dinner we went to visit Mrs. Cole and
her daughters, with whom we had large discourse about the match of her
daughter with my son Peter, and found our propositions entertained, I
having great liking to the maid. Sunday, we and our train dined and supped
at Mrs. Cole's. Monday, we invited mother and daughters and Mr. Fleming
to dine with us at our inn, whither came to us divers of our friends to whom
we gave the best entertainment the place could afford. In the afternoon we
had private conferences together, and concluded the match and contracted
the parties with free consent on both sides; we supped this night at Mrs.
Cole's. Tuesday forenoon, having despatched all our business, we took our
journey by horse to Landguard Point[555] accompanied with Mistress Cole,
her daughters, and other their friends and neighbours, whom we entertained

a while on board our pinnace, and there resolved the day of marriage;
thence we accompanied them on shore, saw them horsed, and so took leave.
My son and some other of our company accompanied them to Woodbridge,
being overtaken with a mighty storm of rain, thunder and lightning all the
way. All the next day proving very foul and wet weather, the wind contrary,
and my son and his company not returned (who came not to us till almost 3,
afternoon) we concluded to stay till next morning in the road. Myself and
most of our company went on shore to Harwich and there lay that night.
Thursday morning we came on board betimes and set sail, and that tide
came up as high as Bishop Ness in our river of Medway, where we
anchored and had boats meet us from Chatham, in whom we embarked, and
were safely landed at the new dock about seven, Friday morning, 12th July,
giving God thanks for our prosperous voyage and safe return.
About the middle of this month, my son Peter had order to prepare
moulds for a frame of a new ship of 500 tons, to be built by him at
Woolwich, and was assigned to have the timber out of Stowood and
Shotover in Oxfordshire.
About this time also, Sir Henry Palmer and myself were deeply
questioned about making sale of brown paper stuff[556] which we claimed as
a perquisite to our places, and by the information of Mr. Edisbury, our
fellow officer, to Sir John Coke. The information was presented with a great
deal of malice, and his Majesty was made acquainted withal; but it pleased
God that their malice took no effect, the King giving us a free discharge,
only we repaid the moneys received for the commodity to the Treasurer of
the Navy for his Majesty's use.
The 3rd day of September, my son Peter came to Chatham accompanied
with Mr. Sheldon[557] and Mr. Francis Terringham, and the next morning we
embarked ourselves at the new dock, accompanied also with Mr. Bostock,
cousin Joseph, and son Christopher, and all our provisions, and came on
board the Henrietta pinnace at Gillingham, where Captain Cooke attended
us ready to set sail; from whence with a prosperous gale, the wind at south-
west and very fair weather, we came to anchor before Harwich about six of
the clock. All our company went on shore to Harwich, where we lodged that
night, and the next day from thence took our journey to Woodbridge, where
we were joyfully received and entertained by Mistress Cole[558] and her

friends. On Sunday following, being the 8th day of September, my son was
married to Mistress Cole's daughter in Woodbridge Church after the
sermon. On the Thursday after, all my company took leave at Woodbridge
and came to our ship riding at Harwich, where we lodged that night, and on
Friday morning embarked ourselves and set sail; having the wind fair, we
got up as high as Oakham, where we anchored and took boats to St. Mary
Creek, where we landed and walked home on foot, giving God thanks for
our prosperous voyage and safe return.
The 8th of December, being Sunday, lying at my lodging in Mincing
Lane, London, as I was going to church in the forenoon, I was set upon by
six sergeants,[559] who arrested me at the suit of my sister Pett,[560] widow to
my brother Peter; by whom I was used uncivilly, but after they were told by
Sir Henry Palmer they would be called to account for abusing the King's
servant they let me go; which turned me afterward to a great trouble and
suit in law, to my great charge.
In the month of February were launched the Unicorn at Woolwich, built
by Mr. Boate,[561] and the next spring following was launched the James out
of Deptford Dock, built there by my nephew, Peter Pett; the King's Majesty
being in person present at both places, where I attended his Highness all the
time of that business.
The 22nd day of the same month, Sir Henry Palmer[562] and myself were
commanded to attend the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, to answer
the great information prosecuted against us by the malice of Secretary Coke
by intimation of Mr. Edisbury, newly made Surveyor of the Navy, for
selling the old brown paper stuff as perquisites of our places; we were not
called in till the evening; none but Mr. Fleming[563] and myself appeared, Sir
Henry Palmer purposely absenting himself. There were present at [the]
council table, Earl Dorset,[564] Sir Henry Vane,[565] Secretary Coke and
Secretary Windebank.[566]
Mr. Secretary Coke delivered his Majesty's pleasure, with despiteful
aggravation of the fact and the dangerous precedent[567] to others. The
conclusion was that his Majesty's command was we should be suspended
our places. We were not suffered to make any reply, but dismissed and
referred to his Majesty's further pleasure. On the Monday after, I attended to
speak to his Majesty so soon as he was ready in his withdrawing chamber,

where his Majesty was pleased to call me to him; and before all the lords
there present and my professed enemy, Secretary Coke, his Majesty used
me very graciously, with large expression and protestation of the
continuance of his future favour and continued encouragements; which
though Secretary Coke liked not, yet he made great show of his well
wishing to me in his Majesty's presence; but notwithstanding all this, I
repaid the moneys I had received for my share, being 86 pounds, to the
Treasurer of the Navy for his Majesty's use, out of my yearly entertainment.
About the middle of March, my son brought his wife and his mother,
with their family, from Woodbridge to my house at Chatham, where they all
stayed with us till the 23rd of April following, and then went all to
Woolwich, where my son was employed upon the building of his Majesty's
ship the Leopard.
The 22nd of June was finished a little ship, being completely rigged and
gilded, and placed upon a carriage with wheels[568] resembling the sea; was
enclosed in a great case of deals and shipped for London in the Fortune
Pink, and was out of her taken into a wherry and carried through bridge to
Scotland Yard and from thence to St. James', where it was placed in the long
gallery and presented to the Prince, who entertained it with a great deal of
joy, being purposely made for him to disport himself withal.
The 26th of June, his Majesty came to Woolwich in his barge to see the
frame of the Leopard, then half built; and being in the ship's hold his
Highness, calling me aside, privately acquainted me with his princely
resolution for the building of a great new ship, which he would have me to
undertake, using these words to me:—'You have made many requests to me,
and now I will make it my request to you to build this ship,' commanding
me to attend his coming to Wanstead[569] where he would further confer with
me about it.
The 29th October, the model made for the great new ship was carried to
Hampton Court and there placed in the Privy Gallery, where, after his
Majesty had seen and thoroughly perused, he commanded us to carry it
back to Whitehall and place it in the Privy Gallery till his Majesty's coming
thither; which was accordingly performed.
In March, 1635, the 11th day, his Majesty came to Woolwich to see the
launching of the new ship built there by my son Peter, the which ship I

caused to have her masts set in the dock and to be completely rigged and
ten pieces of ordnance placed in her, with her sails at the yard. The ship
being launched betimes, she was, by his Majesty's command, called the
Leopard by Sir Robert Mansell. After the ship was clear out of the dock, his
Majesty came on board and there stayed almost one hour. We hoped to sail
her whilst his Majesty had been on board, but the wind came northerly, that
we could do no good to lead it to our moorings. At his Majesty's parting
away in his barge we gave nine pieces of ordnance.
In the midst of April, his Majesty was graciously pleased to renew my
privy seal for my pension of 40l. per annum, payable in the Exchequer, with
order for all my arrears due upon it. The 8th of May following, my son
Peter received the same arrears, being one hundred pounds.
The 14th of May, I took leave of his Majesty at Greenwich, with his
command to hasten my journey into the north, to provide and prepare the
frame and timber and plank and trenails for the great new ship to be built at
Woolwich; and having despatched all warrants and letters concerning that
business and some imprests of moneys for travelling charges, I took leave at
Woolwich and came to Chatham, leaving my son to see all the moulds and
other necessaries to be shipped in a Castle ship, taken up for that purpose,
to transport all our provisions and workmen to Newcastle and to send the
ships to take us in at Queenborough.
The 21st of May, my son with his wife, mother, and sisters, and rest of
their company, being come to us to Chatham and in readiness, we,
accompanied with cousin Joseph's wife and mine own company, we took
leave at Chatham in the morning and repaired by our boats to
Queenborough, where the ship was in readiness; where we embarked
ourselves, intending to have set sail presently, but the wind chopping to east
and north-east, we could not stir that tide, but rode till the morning; then
weighed and set sail and got down as low as the Blacktail Sand,[570] where
we anchored all the flood. At high water, being about 3 [o']clock afternoon,
we weighed again and plyed down beneath the Spits and there anchored all
that night. Saturday morning we weighed and set sail again, and the next
day by five afternoon we came to an anchor against Harwich and landed all
our passengers bound for Woodbridge, who got thither that night; and the
next myself and rest of my company went for Woodbridge, where we stayed
till Tuesday afternoon and then returned to Harwich to our ship. Wednesday

forenoon, we set sail from Harwich, and Thursday morning we came into
Yarmouth Road, where we anchored, went on shore and dined, and after
dinner returned on board and set sail, plying our course till Saturday
morning. Being got within twenty leagues of Newcastle, the wind took us
short, and we put room and were landed, not without some danger, at
Scarborough where we lay that night, and our ship put room for
Bridlington.[571]
Sunday morning we got horse with some difficulty and rode to Whitby,
[572]
where we were kindly entertained and lodged at one Captain Foxe's[573]
house, then lying sick. There we found much kindness at the hands of one
Mr. Bagwell, a shipwright and yardkeeper; this was the 31st of May.
Monday morning we parted thence and came to Guisborough, a great
market town, where we baited. From thence we went to Stockton,[574] where
we found but mean entertainment, being lodged in the Mayor's house, being
a poor thatched cottage.[575] On Tuesday we came to Durham, where we
baited; from thence we came to Newcastle about five of the clock, lodging
this night at the posthouse, where we were very homely used; but the next
day we removed thence to Mr. Leonard Carr's house, where we were very
well accommodated and neatly lodged, in which house we lay all the time
of our abode at Newcastle; this was the 3rd of June, 1635.
After our coming to Newcastle and that[576] lodged ourselves
conveniently, we advised together how to proceed in our business, [that] no
time might be lost; and first viewed the places from whence we were to
make choice of our frame and other provisions, which were Chopwell
Woods[577] and Brancepeth Park,[578] a good way from one another.
Then, having marked such trees as were fittest our purpose, our workmen
were disposed of to their several charges, and began to fell, square, and saw
with all the expedition we could. That work being settled, my son carefully
followed that business whilst I myself attended the Lord Bishop of
Durham[579] with my commission and instructions, whom I found
wonderfully ready and willing to give all furtherance to us, assisted by other
knights and gentlemen, Justices of the Peace in the county; who with all
care and diligence took order with the country for present carriage. God so
blessed us in our proceedings that in a short time as much of the frame was
made ready as laded away a great collier belonging to Woodbridge, which
was safely landed at Woolwich; and as fast as provisions could be made

ready, they were shipped away. That from Chopwell Woods was laded from
Newcastle; that which came from Brancepeth, from Sunderland.
Having ordered all our business, both for carriage, moneys, and all other
needful things to set forward the business, leaving my loving son Peter to
oversee all, I took my leave of my friends at Newcastle the 22nd day of
July, being Wednesday, and came to Durham where we lodged that night at
the posthouse. Next morning I waited upon my Lord of Durham, with
whom I dined, and after dinner took leave and returned to my lodging.
Friday morning, being the 24th day, I parted from Durham accompanied
with my son Christopher, Charles Bowles,[580] and the guide. We met, also
bound our way towards London, three Scottish gentlemen and their
attendants, who very kindly accepted of our company, and we rode together
to Northallerton where we lodged that night at the postmaster's. Next day
we rode to York and lodged at the postmaster's. Sunday, we stayed at York
all the day, myself being entertained at dinner by Sir Arthur Ingram[581] and
at night by Alderman Sir William Allison.
Monday morning, 27th day, we rode to dinner to Wentbridge, thence to
Doncaster to bed. Tuesday we rode to Tuxford,[582] where we dined; thence
to Newark upon Trent, there lodged this night.
Wednesday morning we rode from Newark to Grantham[583] where we
dined; thence to Stamford, where lodged this night.
Thursday, being the 30th day, we rode from Stamford to Huntingdon, and
there dined and met there my old acquaintance and noble friend, Sir Oliver
Cromwell. After dinner we took horse again, and at Huntingdon town's-end
the Scottish gentlemen and we parted; they took their way for London,
myself and company for Cambridge, where I lodged at the Falcon and
visited Emmanuel College, where I had been a scholar in my youth.
Friday, being last of July, after I had visited Trinity College and some
others, I rode from Cambridge to Bury in Suffolk, where we only baited,
and rode that night to Stowmarket, coming thither very wet, having rained
very hard all that afternoon; there we lay that night. From thence rode next
morning to Ipswich, drank only at the Greyhound Inn, and thence came to
Woodbridge, alighting at sister Cole's about eleven of the clock, being the
first of August.

I stayed at Woodbridge till Tuesday, the 4th of August; thence taking
leave, I rode to Witham to bed; from thence next morning taking horse I
came to Gravesend ferry; there passing over my horses I stayed their
coming, and then taking horse again I came home to my house about 4
clock afternoon, in safety and health, giving God thanks for our safe
meeting after eleven weeks absence from thence.
The 4th November, being Tuesday, it pleased God to send my son Peter
safely to Woolwich, where we met together to our great comfort; and so
gave order for proceeding in our business.
The 21st day of December, the keel of the great new ship was laid in his
place upon the blocks in the dock; most part of the frame and other
provisions came safely to Woolwich and were landed in the Yard.
The 16th day of January, his Majesty, accompanied with divers of the
lords, came to Woolwich to see part of the frame and floor of the ship laid.
At that time his Majesty gave order to myself and son to build two small
pinnaces out of the wastes of the great ship.
The 28th day of March, his Majesty came again to Woolwich,
accompanied with the Palsgrave,[584] his brother Duke Robert,[585] and divers
other lords, who all stood in the windows of my lodgings to see the two
pinnaces launched, which was performed to their great content, and named
the Greyhound and Roebuck.
About[586] the 10th of April, his Majesty's ship called by the name of the
Anne Royal, bound for to be Admiral of the narrow seas, and anchoring in
Tilbury Hope, being unmoored,[587] the ship winding up[588] upon the flood,
came foul of her own anchor, which pulled out a great part of her keel abaft
the mast; and so, in sinking, overthrew so suddenly that some of the
company were drowned, amongst whom was the master's wife and one
other woman. Myself, amongst others, was commanded by his Majesty to
give my assistance for weighing of her, which cost much trouble, great
charge and no small danger to them that travelled[589] about it; which was
afterwards objected to them as a great fault, and were rewarded with a bitter
check from the Lords. The ship was weighed, and carried to Blackwall, and
put into the East India Dock about the 10th of August.

The 3rd of February, his Majesty came to Woolwich by water,
accompanied with the Prince Elector[590] and divers other lords, where he
thoroughly viewed all the works of the ship without; and then went on
board and seriously perused all the ship within board, both aloft and in the
hold, being very well satisfied in all points; and then retired himself into my
lodgings, where he stayed till flood, and then took his barge and returned to
Whitehall.
Tuesday, the 25th of April, my daughter Martha was married unto John
Hodierne, sometimes my servant.[591] She was married at Chatham Church,
accompanied with the best sort of our neighbours, who were entertained in
the garden under a long tent, set up for that purpose, where they ate, dined,
and supped.
On the 21st day [of] July, being Friday, I brought my wife from
Woolwich to Chatham in a coach, having been very ill some weeks before.
We brought her safe to my house, and the next day she was to our thinking
very cheerful, and was visited by divers our good neighbours, but on
Sunday she grew very ill, and continued worse and worse all that night.
About 3 clock, Monday morning, she fell into a sweet sleep and so like [a]
lamb quietly departed this life, and the Wednesday afternoon following was
buried in Chatham Church, accompanied with the better sort of all the
neighbours about us; Mr. Vaughan, our Minister, preached at her funeral.
Tuesday, being the 29th August, proved a very wet, rainy day, but the
shipwrights of the river, which were warned to help to strike the ship upon
the ways, being come together, we set on the business, and by God's
blessing the ship was struck by eleven of the clock without harm to any
man, which we accounted a great mercy of God.
Monday, the 25th of September, was the day peremptorily appointed by
his Majesty for launching the great ship; and accordingly all things were
prepared in readiness for performance thereof. His Majesty, accompanied
with the Queen and all the train of lords and ladies, their attendants, came to
Woolwich, for the most part by water, landing at the dock stairs about 12 of
the clock, and went directly on board the ship, where they stayed about one
hour, and thence retired into our rooms, prepared and furnished for their
entertainment. About 2 of the clock the tackles were set taut and the ship
started as they heaved, till the tackles failed and the water pinched,[592] being

a very poor tide, so that we gave over to strain the tackles and began to
shore the ship. Then his Majesty with the Queen took their barge and
returned to Whitehall, being very sorry the ship could not be launched. We
attempted two or three tides afterward to no purpose; it was then concluded
to let the ship sit till the next spring,[593] sitting so easily and safely that she
could take no hurt.
After, it was resolved the ship should lie till the spring after, which was
about the 12th or 13th October following. In the interim many malicious
reports were raised to disable the ship, and to bring as much disgrace upon
me as malice itself could possibly invent; all proceeding from the Masters
of the Trinity House and other rough-hewn seamen, with whom William
Cooke, one of the four Masters of his Majesty's Navy, enviously adhering to
pleasure Secretary Coke, and Mr. Edisbury, then newly made Surveyor of
his Majesty's Navy, all professed enemies to the building of the ship, and
more to myself, joined together to cast what aspersions upon both as far as
they durst (for fear of the King's displeasure); but the time of the spring
drawing on, there was a meeting called by Sir Robert Mansell's means at
Woolwich of such Trinity House Masters as were formerly employed on the
business, with the Officers of the Navy, to resolve of the certain day and
time of launching, which was generally concluded to be on Sunday
following, being the 14th October, and that I should not attempt to stir the
ship before; but on the Saturday night tide, the wind chopping up for
westerly, and a fair night in hand promising a great tide to follow, I caused
the two Masters of the Navy there attending to be ready, commanding all
we could on the sudden get together to attend us, contrary to the mind of
Mr. Cooke, who was very unwilling to meddle with the ship in the night,
though Mr. Austen,[594] the more resolute man, was very willing to take the
benefit of the first opportunity to launch. The tide came in so fast that the
ship was on float by three-quarters flood, which I perceiving thought it fit to
command the ship to be heaved off, the night being fair and calm; which
accordingly was presently performed, and the ship brought into the channel
and from thence by several warps conveyed safely to her moorings by high
water; keeping lights with reed[595] all alongst the shore till the mooring
cables were taken in and made fast to the bitts; which success with much
thankfulness we acknowledged an especial mercy of God towards us. This
done, I presently dispatched a messenger to Sir Robert Mansell at
Greenwich, who came with all speed on board us, and according to his

Majesty's commandment gave the name to the ship and named her the
Sovereign of the Seas. The next morning the company of the Trinity House
Masters and others appointed to attend the launching, came according to the
appointment to give their attendance, but finding the ship already launched,
and at her moorings in the midst of the river, they seemed to be much
discontented that they were so disappointed and prevented, which they
expressed as far as they durst.
This morning Sir Robert Mansell rode away post to the King, lying then
at Hampton Court, and acquainted his Majesty with our proceedings, who
was wonderfully pleased with it.
The week following we reared the sheers to set the masts, which was
performed with much safety and expedition, and all the masts set within
fourteen days; and so soon as the rigging could be in some reasonable
complete manner fitted, and sails brought to the yards, the ship was
removed from Woolwich to Erith, by reason there was a greater depth of
water to ride in. His Majesty had been on board of her before she went
thence.
The 12th of May, 1638, the Sovereign set sail from Erith to Greenhithe,
[596]
where she anchored to take in her ordnance and provisions. The 6th of
June after, his Majesty, accompanied with the Queen, Duchess of
Chevreuse,[597] Duke and Duchess of Lennox,[598] with divers other lords and
ladies more, came on board the ship at Greenhithe, where they dined to
their great content. At their going from the ship, we gave them 17 pieces of
ordnance.
The 10th of February before, I received particular warrants from his
Majesty at council table, being himself there present, for bringing the ship
from Chatham to Woolwich dock; which was by my care speedily
performed, and the ship safely dry docked, the 21st day of March following.
About the 12th of July, the Sovereign weighed from Greenhithe and
anchored a little beneath Gravesend, where she rode till the King's Majesty
came on board her, which was upon the 21st day of July, being Saturday,
coming down in his barge, and rowed some part of the way against the tide.
In the time of his being on board, his Majesty observed the condition of the
ship as she now rode ready to sail, vidt. the draught of water, the distance of
the ports of the lower tier from the water, number of the ordnance, and all

other circumstances to her complete furnishing; wherewith he was so well
satisfied and pleased that he parted from her with as much expression of
content and satisfaction as we could expect from him, to the general
comfort of us all.
Before his Majesty took barge I had placed my then wife, Bylande,[599]
daughter Ann,[600] and many other gentlewomen, my special friends, in the
great cabin to kiss his Majesty's hand, and prevailed with his Majesty to
walk aft into the cabin, where his Highness most graciously gave each of
them his hand to kiss. His Majesty then took his barge, and at his going
from the ship we gave him 72 pieces of great ordnance. I then with my wife
and friends went on shore and took the coach and came directly home.
Thursday, 2nd of August, I took leave of my wife and friends at Chatham
after supper; so rode to Gravesend, thence on board the Sovereign and lay
on board in mine cabin, being the first night I lodged in her.
Friday, my son Peter came on board from Woolwich; then about 10 of the
clock we weighed from Gravesend, and stood down beneath Hole Haven,
and there anchored that night, being little wind.
Saturday morning, 4th August, we weighed from Hole Haven and stood
down beneath the buoy of the Gunfleet, where we anchored all that night.
Sunday we came to an anchor right before Margate town, where we rode
till Thursday morning following, then weighed and set sail with the wind at
west; but coming about the Foreland we met the wind so far southerly as
put us to go without the sand, and blew so much wind as we could bear our
topsails but half mast high, so that we could not possibly weather the South
Sand Head;[601] the tides running also dead, we were forced to anchor in 32
fathom and there rode that night, which proved reasonable fair.
Friday morning, the 20th August, we weighed; having the benefit of a
whole tide of ebb, we weathered the South Sand Head and stood in right
thwart of Dover; but neither the town nor Castle took notice of us. So we
put room into the Downs and anchored as near Sir John Pennington, then
riding Admiral, as we conveniently could do, being about 8 of the clock in
the morning; we were saluted by the Admiral and all the ships in the road,
whom we answered again, giving the Admiral 21 pieces. This done we went

on board the Admiral, Sir John Pennington, to whom we were continual
guests while we stayed in the Downs.
Wednesday morning, being the 15th of August, we set sail out of the
Downs, the wind at south and sometimes south-west. We turned to [and] fro
with very foul weather till we came as high [as] thwart of Shoreham, or
thereabouts (the Garland attending us, who was not able to keep way with
us); which course we held till Saturday the 18th day [of] August; then
finding in that time we had sufficient trial of the condition and working of
the ship in all respects, and having but a small proportion of victuals to stay
out longer, we resolved to bear up again for the Downs; which accordingly
was done, and about 3 clock, afternoon, we anchored close to the Admiral,
Sir John Pennington entertaining us on board his ship all the time we rode
by him.
Tuesday morning, the 21st of August, I took leave of the Sovereign and
the Admiral, and went on shore at Deal, where I found my man attending
ready with my horses, being the night[602] before come thither, where I
presently took horse and rode directly to Canterbury, having visited Sir
Henry Palmer by the way. I baited some hour or more at Canterbury, and
took horse again and came home to my house [at] New Dock[603] a little
after four in the afternoon; giving God hearty thanks for my safe return,
finding my wife, family and friends in a reasonable health.
The 28th of August, the Sovereign came safe to her moorings at St. Mary
Creek, being Tuesday.
The 8th of September my dear wife sickened, taken with a violent fever,
being then great with child.
The 19th of September, being Wednesday, between 8 and 9 clock in the
morning, she departed this life in a most Christian manner, surrendering up
her spirit into His hands that gave it her; the next day after, being Thursday,
she was buried in a seemly manner in Chatham Church, close by the side of
my first wife, leaving me a sorrowful and disconsolate husband.
Within few days after, deceased also my wife's one[604] sister and next
neighbour, wife to Mr. John Short, Clerk of the Check to his Majesty's
Navy.[605] They sickened together, she also being with child, and knew not

of one and tother's death. Soon after died Mr. Etherington, their own father,
at Mr. Short's house, who came thither purposely to visit them.
After I had a little passed over this great and sudden affliction, I prepared
myself to go for London; and having set all things in order, on Thursday
morning, the 27th of September, 1638, I took leave of my family at
Chatham and rode to Gravesend, thence took boat to Woolwich where I
stayed one night, and next day, accompanied with my son Peter, we went by
water to Kingston, where we took up our lodging in a private house, the
inns being full. The next day, being Sunday, we went by water to Hampton
Court, where we presented ourselves to his Majesty, who was pleased to use
us very graciously, where we spent that whole day, at night returning by
water to our lodging at Kingston.
Next morning, my son and myself rode to Sion,[606] to wait upon the Lord
Admiral, and was presently commanded by him to hasten to Chatham to
prepare barges and boats to be sent to Dover for the receiving on shore the
Queen Mother,[607] expected to arrive and land there

(Here the manuscript ends.)

FOOTNOTES:
[178] MS. 'Phinees' (the form also adopted in his signature), the Greek form of
the Hebrew name Mouth of Brass, given as 'Phinehas' by the translators of the
Bible.
[179] MS. 'Deepforde Stronde.' The etymology of this well-known name does
not appear to have been satisfactorily determined. Antiquaries have been content
to explain it as the 'Strand' or shore of the deep ford over the Ravensbourne
River, which enters the Thames at Deptford Creek. As a matter of fact, Deptford
Strond lay on the shore of the Thames some distance to the west of the
Ravensbourne. It seems more probable that Deptford Town, at the head of the
creek near the bridge by which the Dover Road crosses, was the original
settlement, and took its name from the deep creek (fiord), which was navigable
for ships of 500 tons up to that bridge, and that Deptford Stronde was settled
later from the 'Town' and took the addition 'Stronde' in contradistinction. The
dockyard was on the site now occupied by the Foreign Cattle Market.
[180] Probably Thomas Howell, Rector of Paglesham.

[181] Throughout the MS. the name of the Deity is spelt without a capital letter:
the use of capitals in this connection appears to be comparatively modern.
[182] 'Num' in MS., in which it occurs twice.
[183] I.e. apprentice.
[184] Benjamin Gonson, junior, and Buck were appointed jointly Clerk of the
Ships, with reversion to the longer liver, by letters patent of 10 July 1596.
Gonson died in 1600 and Buck succeeded him. Buck was knighted in 1604 and
died in 1625.
[185] A private man-of-war, called later in the 17th century a 'privateer.'
[186] Or Glemham. This was the second voyage. Neither appears to have been a
financial success. An account of this voyage under the title, News from the
Levane Seas ... was published in 1594.
[187] Prize.
[188] MS. 'Divelinge,' apparently a phonetic attempt at the old name of Dublin,
'Duibhlinn,' pronounced Divlin. Pepys in his marginal note writes 'travelled to
Dublin.'
[189] This was destined to be the last voyage of Drake and Hawkyns. The
Defiance was Drake's ship.
[190] Or Due (Dieu) Repulse.
[191] Built in 1561, this was a rebuilding.
[192] Advance.
[193] Howard of Effingham.
[194] On the north side of Deptford Green, overlooking the Thames, afterwards
the Gun Tavern. See Dew's History of Deptford, p. 185.
[195] I.e. the Cadiz Expedition of 1596, under the joint command of Howard
and Essex.
[196] William Cecil, Lord Burghley.
[197] Pronounced 'Tibalds,' whence the form 'Tiballs' in which it appears in the
MS. Theobalds Park (near Waltham Cross) was afterwards exchanged between
Burghley's son, the first Earl of Salisbury, and James I for Hatfield.
[198] MS. 'Pakellsum.'
[199] MS. 'estate.'
[200] MS. 'Hye Woodehill'; near Mill Hill.
[201] St. James's Day, 25th July.
[202] St. Bartholomew's Day, 24th August.
[203] Hugh Lydiard, senior, Clerk of the Check.
[204] The navigator, brother of Stephen Borough.
[205] Possibly the entrance to the dock.
[206] The 'income' was the fee or fine paid on entering upon the lease.

[207] Thomas Wiggs, a subordinate of Lord Buckhurst, Commissioner of State
Trials. He is mentioned in a letter of Buckhurst to Cecil of 7th December 1600.
Salisbury MSS. (Hist. MSS.), x. p. 411, and in Pepys' Miscell., x. p. 349.
[208] Southwold.
[209] Or 'Vugle.'
[210] I.e. districts.
[211] See Introduction.
[212] Afterwards Lord Brooke.
[213] Like, favour.
[214] See Introduction.
[215] An allusion to the game of bowls.
[216] Stepfather.
[217] MS. 'syses.'
[218] S.P. Dom. 28th May 1599; the name is given as 'Nun.'
[219] Probably John Hone, Advocate of Doctors' Commons, 1589; Master in
Chancery 1596-1602.
[220] The ecclesiastical 'Court of Arches' held at St. Mary-le-Bow.
[221] A Newcastle carvel-built ship.
[222] MS. 'Bulley'; the high ground south of Rochester Castle.
[223] 'All Hallows, Barking,' founded by the nuns of Barking Abbey, whence the
name.
[224] MS. 'raynam.'
[225] Thievish Dunkirker.
[226] Swatchway; the channel south of the Nore Sand.
[227] Christmas.
[228] Originally half a mark, or 6s. 8d., afterwards 10s.
[229] 1602, according to the Old Style, as it is before the 25th March.
[230] Or Avale, see p. 86; for many years the pilot for the river and Downs. The
Commission of 1618 proposed to pension him as 'aged and blind.'
[231] MS. 'Dagnam.'
[232] MS. 'Grenehyve.'
[233] See Introduction.
[234] Band.
[235] Round shot. At that period salutes were fired with shotted guns, not with
blank charges.
[236] Immediately.
[237] South of St. Paul's, and on the east side of Baynard's Castle.

[238] I.e. Prince Henry.
[239] I.e. the Lord High Admiral.
[240] M.S. 'Ihon,' mis-transcribed in the Harl. MS. here and elsewhere as
'Thomas.'
[241] M.S. 'Winebancke.'
[242] The words in italics are wanting in the original MS.
[243] The words in italics are wanting in the original MS.
[244] Coruña.
[245] San Lucar, at the mouth of the Guadalquivir.
[246] MS. 'Bonance': opposite San Lucar.
[247] MS. 'Civill.'
[248] C. de Sta. Maria.
[249] Bore away.
[250] Cadiz.
[251] Santander.
[252] In Hampshire, north of Havant.
[253] See Introduction.
[254] This is a mistake. He has already given the date of birth of John as 23rd
March 1601-2 and of Henry as 18th March 1602-3; see pp. 17 and 18.
[255] Suites.
[256] Of Hinchinbrook, a gentleman of the Privy Chamber, uncle of the
Protector.
[257] In 1608, see Introduction.
[258] MS. 'Alceholte' (Aisholt = Ashwood), near the Surrey border S.W. of
Farnham.
[259] At the northern approach to old London Bridge.
[260] The poet, then gentleman of the bedchamber to Prince Henry.
[261] I.e. for this special purpose.
[262] A legend concerning the relics of St. Vincent, who suffered martyrdom at
Valencia in A.D. 304. His body on being exposed to wild beasts was said to have
been protected by a raven. During the Moorish invasion of Spain these remains
were removed from Valencia to Cape St. Vincent, and in the twelfth century
were brought by water from that Cape to the cathedral of Lisbon and placed in
the Chapel of St. Vincent. Two (not three) ravens, who watched over his tomb,
accompanied the ship on its voyage, remaining on watch when the relics were
deposited in the cathedral. The ship and the two birds appear in the arms of
Lisbon.
[263] I.e. of ample powers.
[264] See the list and notes at pp. 54-5.

[265] Ante, p. 20.
[266] Rotherhithe; MS. 'Redreife.'
[267] MS. 'Bluther.'
[268] MS. 'Peter.'
[269] A small piece of ordnance without carriage, used for firing salutes. This
was not the 'chamber' used with the early breech-loading ordnance.
[270] The Prince Royal.
[271] MS. 'flower.' 'Floor—are those timbers lying transverse to the keel, being
bolted through it ... and strictly taken, is so much only of her bottom as she rests
upon when lying aground.'—Blanckley, Naval Expositor.
[272] Troublesome, painful.
[273] Lie.
[274] Careless.
[275] The Tuck is 'that part of the ship where the ends of the bottom planks are
collected together immediately under the stem ... a square tuck' (as in this case)
'is terminated above by the wing transom and below and on each side by the
fashion-pieces' (Falconer, Marine Dictionary). According to Sutherland
(Shipbuilder's Assistant), the 'height of the tuck' was taken from the point where
the heels of the fashion-pieces were 'let in upon the posts,' i.e. upon the stern
post and false stern post.
[276] Bully, swashbuckler.
[277] A coach or chariot of a stately or luxurious kind.—N.E.D.
[278] Sir Robert Cecil had been created Earl of Salisbury in 1605.
[279] Considering.
[280] Previously.
[281] MS. 'brew.'
[282] MS. 'Wrong heads.' The upper ends of the floor timbers.
[283] The inside planking from the kelson to the orlop clamps.
[284] Canopy.
[285] Of the East India Company, merchant and sea-captain.
[286] One of the six Masters Attendant of the Navy.
[287] Probably John Watts, who was captain of Denbigh's flagship in the Cadiz
Expedition of 1625 and was knighted; together with Michael Geere and others,
at Plymouth on the return. He was captain of Buckingham's flagship in the Ile de
Rhé expedition of 1627.
[288] Captain Thomas Norris (or Norreys) referred to at p. 119 as being one of
the Commissioners of 1618 and at p. 120 as one of Pett's 'greatest enemies.'
From p. 33 it would appear that at one time he had been a purser.
[289] Perhaps the Captain James Chester referred to in Naval Tracts of Sir
William Monson, I. xxxiv. and III. 60.

[290] See Introduction.
[291] Captain Christopher Newport, recommended by Mansell and Trevor in
1606 for the reversion of one of the principal masters' places. In 1612 he was
captain of the East Indiaman Expedition. He was removed from among the six
masters by the Commission of 1618, on account of his employment by the East
India Company.
[292] Of Limehouse; master of a merchantman, and a shipbuilder.
[293] Probably the 'Thomas Redwood, mariner, precinct of the Tower of
London,' whose will was proved in 1613 (Wills. P.C.C.)
[294] Possibly the William Geere granted 'the office of an Assistant of the
Admiralty' in 1604; or Michael Geere granted 'the place of Assistant to the
King's chief officers of the Admiralty' in March 1608, subsequently knighted and
a Master of Trinity House.
[295] In 1618 'Captains Geer and Moore' were engaged 'in receiving and
inventorying the Destiny and her furniture, the goods of Sir Walter Raleigh.'—
Cal. S. P. Dom., November 2, 1618.
[296] A servant of the East India Company.
[297] Of Limehouse, mariner.
[298] See Introduction.
[299] MS. 'Cleye.' Referred to at p. 33 as 'Nicholas Clay of Redriff, shipwright
and yardkeeper.' Nominated in the Charter of 1605 as one of the 'Assistants' of
the Shipwrights' Company. The name is there spelt 'Cley,' but he signed as
'Nycholas Clay.'
[300] Referred to at p. 33 as 'Thomas Graves of Limehouse, shipwright and
yardkeeper'; the indictment is, however, signed by 'John Greaves' (see
Introduction), and it may be noted that 'John Graves' was nominated an
'Assistant' by the Charter of 1612. Probably Pett has made a mistake in the
forename.
[301] Probably Robert Tranckmore, who with Jonas Day was employed in 1627
in making a dry dock, etc., at Portsmouth. These two with Pett were also ordered
to report on the faults in the ships built by Burrell.
[302] Clerk of the Check at Woolwich.
[303] Brother of Sir Peter Buck, Clerk of the King's Ships. It appears from p. 33
that he was an under clerk to Sir Peter. In October 1607 Thomas Buck and
William Holliday were granted 'protection' for a year, and this was renewed in
September 1609. On 31st July 1609 Thomas Buck and John Clifton were
granted the moiety of all forfeitures, etc., incurred by officers of the navy for
frauds against the Crown.
[304] John Clifton (see preceding note); he had been purser in the Answer in the
Spanish voyage of 1605.
[305] In October 1604 he was granted with others a reward of 5s. a ton for
building five new ships. He was a friend of William Adams, the navigator, who
refers to him in his letter from Japan of October 23, 1611, to the East India

Company. It would appear that he and Diggens (and possibly Woodcott) would
more properly have been included under 'shipwrights.'
[306] Probably the William Bigatt who was master of the Lion under William
Borough in 1587. See 'The Mutiny of the Golden Lion' in Oppenheim,
Administration of the Royal Navy, p. 382 et seq.
[307] Of Stepney.
[308] Became in 1610 one of the six principal masters. Newport's reversion (see
note 7, p. 54) was granted 'after the placing of John King.'
[309] Possibly Arthur Pett, the navigator of 1580. He was one of the members
incorporated by the second charter of the Virginia Company in 1609.
[310] Possibly referred to in Court Minutes of the East India Company (Cal. S.P.
East Indies, 407) of April 1608: 'Gratifications to Diggins, Burrell, Kitchen and
Woodcott.'
[311] This may be the 'old Thomas Fuller' who died in the East India Company's
ship Thomas in 1612.
[312] MS. 'Write.' In 1604 the Lord Mayor was directed to appoint Richard and
Robert Wright joint packers of woollen cloths, &c., and porters of strangers'
goods in and out of the port of London. It is not, however, clear that this is the
same man.
[313] Of Ratcliff. Mentioned in the grant to the North-West Passage Company.
Cal. S.P. Colonial, July 26, 1612.
[314] Granted in August 1604 the usual allowance for building five new ships.
William Adams, who died in Japan in 1620, had been for twelve years
apprenticed to Diggens, and refers to him affectionately in his letters to the East
India Company. (See Letters received by the East India Company, vol. i.)
[315] Probably the 'Edward Jordan, mariner,' mentioned in the Pipe Office Dec.
Acct. for 1613 (No. 2251).
[316] Principal master workman of the East India Company; see Introduction.
[317] Brother-in-law of Phineas. A shipbuilder at Ratcliff; nominated as a
warden in the shipwrights' charter of 1605.
[318] Nominated as an 'Assistant' in the shipwrights' charter of 1612.
[319] Thomas Cole of Woodbridge and Thomas Pryme of Yarmouth were
nominated 'Assistants' in the shipwrights' charter of 1605.
[320] MS. 'Androes.'
[321] Shipbuilder at Gillingham, see p. 24. He was also a shipwright in Chatham
Yard.
[322] Referred to at p. 93 as 'friends in the navy.'
[323] See Introduction.
[324] MS. 'directed.'
[325] See Introduction.
[326] The transverse section of the ship at the greatest breadth.

[327] Henry Briggs (1561-1630), mathematician. First Professor of Geometry at
Gresham College.
[328] The futtocks or foothooks are the timbers between the floor timbers and
the top timbers. The floor timbers, lower and upper futtocks, and top timbers,
when put together, form a complete frame-bend.
[329] Redness being a sign that the wood was past its prime and beginning to
decay.
[330] Entirely.
[331] To be dressed or smoothed with an adze.
[332] The timbers, popularly called 'ribs,' forming the frame.
[333] Carefully.
[334] Marvel at, Lat. admirari.
[335] Result.
[336] Thomas Button. Knighted 1616; died 1634.
[337] MS. 'and.'
[338] John Legatt, or Legate, Clerk of the Check at Chatham, granted in 1604
the reversion of the Clerkship of the Navy after Peter Buck, sen. (Pat. Roll,
1655). He appears, however, to have died before Buck, probably in 1615.
[339] An allusion to the well-known line of Horace (De Arte Poetica, 139):
'Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus' (Mountains are in labour, a silly little
mouse will be born).
[340] MS. 'veryest bable and drowne divell.' This has the appearance of a
seaman's saying, but I have not met it elsewhere. 'Bable' (bauble) is used
contemptuously for 'a mere toy, applied to a machine, etc., considered too small
or weak for actual work' (N.E.D.), as in the following passages:
' ... the sea being smooth,
How many shallow bauble boats dare sail
Upon her patient breast ...
But let the ruffian Boreas once enrage
The gentle Thetis ...
... where's then the saucy boat
Whose weak untimbered sides but even now
Co-rivall'd greatness?'
Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, I, iii.

' ... his shipping
Poor ignorant baubles—on our terrible seas
Like egg-shells mov'd upon their surges, crack'd
As easily 'gainst our rocks.'
Shakespeare, Cymbeline, III, i.
The word 'bawble' is also used by Anson in speaking of the Tryal sloop, which
the Spaniards at Juan Fernandez could not credit with having rounded Cape
Horn.

'Devil' seemingly refers to the 'poor devils' forming the crew: it does not appear
to refer to the seam in the ship's bottom to which that name is sometimes given.
[341] Referring to his voyage in 1602. See Introduction.
[342] Granted October 27, 1607.
[343] Apparently John Pory, who, from his letter to Dudley Carleton of January
3, 1610 (S.P. Dom., James I, lii, 1), appears to have been connected with the
Lord Treasurer. This would be the traveller and geographer of that name, then
M.P. for Bridgwater, but settled in London.
[344] Probably John Keymer, the author of Observations upon the Dutch
Fishing.
[345] Reproof.
[346] By William Burrell.
[347] Of 1100 tons; wrecked on her first voyage in 1613 and burnt by the
Javanese.
[348] Of 250 tons.
[349] MS. 'strokes.' The ship is struck (lowered) upon the launching ways when
the blocks and wedges on which the keel is supported are driven out and the
weight of the ship taken upon the cradle, the bottom of which rests upon, and
slides along, the launching ways.
[350] According to the account of the captain of the Peppercorn (Egerton MS.
2100) this was on 30th December. The Peppercorn was launched on 1st January,
'and the great ship the Trade's Increase ... a little removed, but not launched. The
2nd day Tuesday the Trade's Increase was half her length removed but not
launched for the dockhead was too narrow for her passage. The 3rd day ... she
was launched.'
[351] An account of this tournament is given in Birch, Life of Henry, Prince of
Wales, p. 182 et seq.
[352] Satisfaction, content.
[353] Completed with her ornamental work.
[354] The 6th August 1610 was a Monday.
[355] Near Cheam. This Palace was commenced by Henry VIII and pulled down
by the Duchess of Cleveland.
[356] 'The Orlopp is no other but the Deck (as we say) the lower Deck, the
second Deck, so you may as well say the lower Orlopp, or the second Orlopp:
and indeed it is commonly held the proper speech to call them the first Orlopp
and the second Orlopp: for this word Orlopp seems to be appropriated only to
these two Decks,'—Manwayring, The Seaman's Dictionary.
[357] MS. 'Lyeadger.' The Sieur de la Boderie, then engaged in settling the
'League' or Treaty between the two kingdoms.
[358] A silk stuff.
[359] MS. 'withe.'
[360] A small capstan, placed on the ground.

[361] MS. 'scruses.' Placed at the bow to start the ship.
[362] The 'scavel' was a small spade used for digging clay, etc., as in forming
drains. The scavelmen were dockyard labourers whose duty it was to clean and
pump out the docks. The name, which disappeared after 1844, probably on the
introduction of steam pumping machinery, was no doubt a survival from the time
when the 'dock' was formed of piling, wattles, and clay, which was placed round
the ship when she had been brought to the shore, or across the mouth of the
creek into which she had been hauled, and which had to be dug away in 'opening
the dock.'
[363] For an account of this ceremony see Fraser, The Londons of the British
Fleet, p. 68.
[364] To inaugurate the use of. (N.E.D.)
[365] Presumably of Deptford Yard, but he may mean Blackwall. She had been
undocked at Ratcliff.
[366] The Gore Channel, running between the Kent coast and Margate Hook
Sand, west of Birchington.
[367] Thomas; one of the pilots for the river and Downs. The name appears
elsewhere as 'Poynett,' 'Punnett,' and 'Poinet.' He signed with a mark 'T.'
[368] On the Essex shore, half-way between London and Gravesend.
[369] Now covered by the extension of Chatham Dockyard northwards.
[370] A Captain of the Navy, commended by Nottingham to Salisbury in 1609
for having taken Harris, the pirate, on the Irish coast and done good service off
the West Islands of Scotland (Cal. S.P.D., July 3, 1609).
[371] For the time being.
[372] MS. 'taken.'
[373] It was customary at that period to fire salutes with shotted guns, and
accidents from the shot were not infrequent.
[374] A light ship's boat or gig.
[375] Arabella Stuart. Placed in custody after her marriage to William Seymour.
She escaped dressed as a man, but was captured in the Straits of Dover and
committed to the Tower.
[376] MS. 'Lee.'
[377] Younger brother of Sir Henry Middleton. This was the return from his
voyage in the Expedition.
[378] The grant of this post to Bingley was dated 7th May. He was knighted on
10th November.
[379] August: the month is noted in the margin.
[380] Nephew.
[381] W. of Canvey Island.
[382] This word is not in the N.E.D.; it is probably derived from 'heart' or
'hearten,' to acquire more energy. See also note on p. 106.

[383] MS. 'Shepeway.'
[384] This word is not in the N.E.D., but it evidently means 'to become more dull
or calm.' It is used as a transitive verb by Mainwaring in the Seaman's
Dictionary, s.v. 'Blowe':—'the heat of the land, which should duller the wind.'
[385] Sheirenasse.
[386] Merhonour.
[387] For an inclusive sum.
[388] Plans, draughts.
[389] I.e. the curves of the timbers which were to form the frame. Each complete
'mould' would give a transverse section of the ship.
[390] Button sailed as 'Admiral' of this expedition in the Resolution, which was
lost in the voyage. He was accompanied by the Discovery in which Waymouth
and Hudson had made earlier voyages to the same parts.
[391] This use of 'together' in the sense of mutually, from each other, is not
illustrated in the N.E.D., but it is evidently cognate to its use in the expressions
'love together,' 'see together' (= meet) of which examples are given.
[392] The burden in 'tons' represents the net wine-carrying capacity of the ship
in Bordeaux casks. The 'tonnage' was an additional allowance equal to one-third
of this; the 'ton and tonnage' representing the gross burden (see Oppenheim,
Administration, pp. 30, 132, 266).
[393] The pirate; subsequently a naval officer; author of the Discourse of the
Beginnings, Practices, and Suppression of Pirates, and of The Seaman's
Dictionary; knighted 1618. MS. 'Manwaring'; other spellings of the name are
Maynwaring, Manwayring, Maynnaring, Mannering.
[394] Gibbons, who was Button's cousin, went in the Resolution as a volunteer.
In 1614 he went out again in the Discovery in command, but this voyage proved
a complete failure. Button had a very high opinion of him, and so, apparently,
had Pett. For an account of the voyages, see Rundall, Narratives of Early
Voyages (Hakluyt Soc.), and Christy, Voyages of Foxe and James to the North-
west (Hakluyt Soc.).
[395] Presence-chamber.
[396] See Introduction.
[397] Perhaps Nicholas Pey
[398] Thomas; ship-painter.
[399] Picture, image.
[400] Daughter of the King, married to Frederick, Elector Palatine, subsequently
King of Bohemia. Prince Rupert was her third son.
[401] By contract.
[402] Shipbuilders.
[403] St. Stephen's Alley occupied a site near the position of the present
Parliament Street, where Charles Street runs into it.

[404] The wharf of that name at Southwark. It lay north-west of the present
cathedral (St. Saviour's) which had been the church of the Priory of St. Mary
Overy.
[405] I.e. the Prince Royal to be flagship of the fleet.
[406] The Elector Palatine.
[407] 'A strake is the term for a seam betwixt two planks (as the ... ship heels a
strake, that is one seam),' Mainwaring (1623). According to Blanckley (1750)
the term was applied to 'the uniform ranges of planks on the bottom, decks and
sides of the ships.' The ship was not to be heeled over further than would bring
the sixth seam, or edge of the sixth plank, above water.
[408] MS. 'Alsbrey.' Mathematician; appointed one of the Commissioners of
Inquiry in 1626; Master of the Mint and created baronet in 1627; appointed
Surveyor of the Navy in 1628.
[409] At Upnor.
[410] Nimble, quick, ready.
[411] MS. 'pike.' The anchor is a-peak when the cable is heaved in so far as to
bring the hawse of the ship right over the anchor, the cable being then
perpendicular.
[412] On p. 94 the wind is spoken of as having 'harted.'
[413] Going round; turning head from wind.
[414] Complete.
[415] I.e. the ship.
[416] The 'furrow' or depression in the ground made by the ship's bottom.
[417] MS. 'to.'
[418] This word, which Pepys transcribes as 'pritly,' is not in the N.E.D., but
since it appears to have the same meaning as 'predy' (or 'priddy') which was in
use at sea in the seventeenth century for 'make ready' or 'set ... in order,' it is not
impossible that it may be a variation of that word.
[419] The ends of the Buxey and Gunfleet sands, where the Spitway leads
between them from the East Swin to the Wallet.
[420] Eight and a half miles north of Margate.
[421] The entrance to the Thames, opposite the Queen's Channel; not the English
Channel.
[422] Drew ahead or became 'scant.' The use of 'shorten in this sense is rare and
unknown to the dictionaries.
[423] MS. 'Blakenborough.' On the Belgian coast.
[424] MS. 'Scone.' A small fort or earthwork.
[425] MS. 'Sluce.'
[426] MS. 'yoathes.' This must be one of the earliest instances of the introduction
of the Dutch 'Iacht' into English. The word 'yacht' does not seem to have come
into use until after 1660.

[427] Count: Dutch 'Graaf.'
[428] Fort Rammekens, east of Flushing, at the entrance of the channel between
Walcheren and South Beveland. Rammekens, Flushing, and Brill were then
occupied by English garrisons as 'cautionary towns,' in security for the money
lent to the Dutch by Elizabeth.
[429] Campvere, now called Vere, on the north-east side of Walcheren Island, at
that time the staple port for Scottish merchants.
[430] On the (then) I. of Cadzand.
[431] Off the Essex coast.
[432] The prison situated near St. Saviour's, Southwark.
[433] Mansell was accused of taking exception to the Commission for Inquiring
into the Abuses of the Navy, in a contemptuous and disloyal manner.
[434] 1615.
[435] MS. 'Rawly.'
[436] Mentioned by Ralegh in his testamentary memorandum.
[437] See note on p. 151.
[438] Politician; degraded 1621. Smiles, Men of Invention and Industry, p. 43,
says he was the original of 'Sir Giles Overreach' in Massinger's play, 'A New
Way to Pay Old Debts.'
[439] Sic.
[440] 1618; see Introduction.
[441] A protégé of Northampton and Buckingham. Master of Wardrobe and
Court of Wards. Treasurer 1621. Earl of Middlesex 1622. Impeached 1624.
[442] First Governor of the East India Company, member of the Muscovy
Company, and Treasurer of the Virginia Company.
[443] Chancellor of the Exchequer 1621. Created Earl of Portland 1633.
[444] Knighted in company with Sutton, Pitt, and Osborne in February 1619.
[445] MS. 'Robert.'
[446] MS. 'Cooke.' Deputy Treasurer of Navy 1591; knighted 1624.
[447] William Pitt; one of the Tellers of Receipt.
[448] MS. 'Worsenam.' Of the East India and Virginia Companies; knighted
1617.
[449] This rank was instituted in 1611 by James I. to raise money for the Crown,
the sum to be paid being 1095l. At first certain restrictions as to numbers and
conditions were made. The restrictions were gradually withdrawn, and under
Charles I. blank patents were put up for sale. The price seems to have fallen as
low as 300l. by the end of Charles I.'s reign.
[450] MS. 'Ratcliff'; ancestor of the Earls of Derwentwater.
[451] A Roman Catholic who refused to attend his parish church.

[452] A gentleman pensioner, knighted in 1617.
[453] I.e. the King named them. The names allude to Buckingham's entrance
into the Lord High Admiralship and his 'reformation' of the Navy affairs.
[454] Or Cleive (Clive), MS. 'Cleave.' Knighted in 1605.
[455] MS. 'surplage.'
[456] Captain of the Marygold merchantman.
[457] Probably what is now the West Oaze Buoy, about five miles east of the
Nore Light.
[458] South-east of the Oaze, on the opposite side of the Oaze Deep.
[459] Cape St. Vincent.
[460] MS. 'Jubellatare.'
[461] See Introduction.
[462] Stevens was now a master shipwright, associated with Pett at Chatham;
see Introduction.
[463] John Greaves; see note, p. 55.
[464] John Dearslye.
[465] Robert Bourne, nominated an 'Assistant' in the charter of 1612.
[466] Edward. MS. 'Chandelor.'
[467] The estimate was 994l. 11s. 8d. Coke MSS. (Hist. MSS.), vol. i. p. 130.
[468] Intimation, hint.
[469] See Introduction.—Steward was in command of the rear squadron in the
Cadiz expedition of 1625.
[470] Knighted 1625.
[471] Sir Fulke Greville, created Baron Brooke in 1621.
[472] Whitaker Spit, between the Swin and the entrance to the river Crouch.
[473] Obliged to veer, or go large.
[474] MS. 'Fayrelye.' East of Hastings.
[475] MS. 'Beawlye.'
[476] James, second Marquis of Hamilton, a commissioner for the marriage of
Prince Charles to the Infanta.
[477] William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke.
[478] Sir John Ramsay, created Earl of Holderness in 1621.
[479] Thomas Erskine, created Earl of Kellie in 1619.
[480] James Hay, created Earl of Carlisle in 1622.
[481] Philip Herbert, created Earl of Montgomery 1605.
[482] Francis Manners, sixth Earl of Rutland.
[483] Drawing ahead suddenly and becoming foul; cf. 'shorten,' p. 109.

[484] This expression is unknown to the dictionaries, and it is difficult to
conjecture its meaning: it may be a synonym for 'bank' or 'shore,' or for
'seaweed,' which would be found in the shallower water near the shore.
[485] N.W. Spain. MS. 'Ortingall.'
[486] Apparently 'bent' was in use at this period in speaking of the tide when it
had turned and begun to ebb or flow with full force. Cf. Luke Ward's narrative
(1582) in Hakluyt (vol. xi. p. 174): 'Being at anchor, I manned our boat and
would have gone aboard the Admiral, but could not, the flood was bent so
strong.'
[487] I.e. make way against.
[488] Brother of Sir John Trevor, and a naval officer of distinction; knighted in
1604.
[489] The captain, or commanding officer. 'Commander' as a substantive rank
dates only from 1793.
[490] MS 'Gundamar.' Diego Sarmiento d'Acuna, Count of Gondomar. He
played an important part in the foreign policy of Great Britain from 1613, when
he was sent to England as ambassador to bring James into accord with Spanish
policy. It was Gondomar who secured the execution of Ralegh.
[491] MS. 'Sylla.' He means the principal island, St. Mary.
[492] I.e. the ship first beat to windward, tacking two or three times, and then
laid her course for the anchorage with the wind on her quarter.
[493] Castle Hugh, near Hugh Town, the capital.
[494] The shoal at the entrance to Spithead, north of St. Helen's.
[495] Gentleman of the Chamber.
[496] The sands along the Kent coast off Sandwich.
[497] The narrow part of the ship's bottom near the stern post.
[498] MS. 'over.'
[499] Duke Christian of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. He arrived in England on
December 20 with letters of recommendation from Elizabeth of Bohemia, whose
cause he was championing, and was the guest of the Prince of Wales.
[500] The official residence of the Navy Officers on Chatham Hill.
[501] Bore large, bringing the wind on the beam or quarter.
[502] MS. 'Bullen.'
[503] Dragged their anchors.
[504] Predicament.
[505] John Pyham, Vicar of Chatham.
[506] Designs.
[507] This has been added at the bottom of the page, where it has no connection
with the context. In the margin Pett has written, 'Son Joseph died in Ireland this
year 1625.'

[508] 12 Dec. 1626. Pett was named last in the list.
[509] I.e. the Great Seal.
[510] Built by the Dutch, but intended for the French Navy. It was captured in
the Texel and added to the English Fleet.
[511] One of the four Masters Attendant.
[512] MS. '1637.' 1628 new style.
[513] Treasurer of the Navy.
[514] Knighted in 1634.
[515] Shipbuilders.
[516] The ten Lion's Whelps.
[517] Payments in advance.
[518] MS. 'Redcliff.'
[519] More usually spelt 'Compter': one of the debtors' prisons attached to the
Sheriff's Court; the last was abolished in 1854.
[520] The prison on the east side of Farringdon Street, taking its name from the
Fleet River; burnt down in 1666 and in 1780; it was abolished in 1842.
[521] Treasurer of the Army, with whom Buckingham was lodging.
[522] Apparently used in the sense of 'unemployed.'
[523] Colonel Sir Thomas Fryer. The circumstances are related in detail by Dr.
S. R. Gardiner in his History of England from the Accession of James I., vol. vi.
chap. lxv.
[524] I.e. the prison of that name.
[525] Chaussée de Sein, south of Ushant.
[526] Richard, successor to Paul Isackson.
[527] Robert Bertie, created Earl of Lindsey 1626; admiral of the second fleet
sent to Rochelle in 1628.
[528] Robert Treswell.
[529] Foliejon on the modern ordnance map. 'Folly' appears to be a local name
for a clump of trees on a hill.
[530] Henry Goddard.
[531] Francis Brooke.
[532] John Brooke.
[533] MS. 'Farum.'
[534] The report, signed by Phineas Pett, Jo. Dearslye, Peter Pett, Andrewes
Burrell, John Greaves and John Taylor, is preserved (S.P. Dom. Chas. I. clxxvi.
8). Mr. Oppenheim (Administration, p. 297) points out that 'five years later some
of the same men turned round with "we positively conclude that there is a worm
in that harbour."'

[535] Richard Weston, created Baron Weston in 1628, and Earl of Portland in
1633.
[536] The Lord High Chamberlain was Robert Bertie, Earl of Lindsey; the Lord
Chamberlain was Philip Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, who had succeeded his
brother, William.
[537] Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland, beheaded 1649.
[538] A prize of 1625 taken into the Navy.
[539] MS. 'Strowde.'
[540] A very late example of this form of the past tense of 'row.'
[541] MS. 'given.'
[542] Deliberately.
[543] Son of Edward Stephens, late Master Shipwright. Imprisoned in 1626 for
disrespect to Pett and Trevor.
[544] The passage in italics is wanting in the original MS.
[545] Below.
[546] MS. Ockum. In the Medway.
[547] Kenrick Edisbury, alias Wilkinson, who in 1626 was Paymaster of the
Navy, succeeded Sir Thos. Aylesbury as Surveyor of the Navy in December
1632 and died in 1638. Mr. Oppenheim pronounces him 'perhaps the most
observant and energetic of the chief officers.'
[548] John Goodwin, Master Attendant at Portsmouth.
[549] Nathaniel Apslyn. In 1626, when Carpenter of the Red Lion, he was
recommended by Pett for the post of Assistant Master Shipwright, and was
appointed in that capacity at Chatham.
[550] Hawkridge is said to have accompanied Button in the voyage of 1612. In
1619 he was in command of an expedition in search of the North-West Passage
which proved a failure. Subsequently he was captured with his ship and cargo,
valued at £2000, by the pirates of Algiers and held to ransom. See Christy,
Voyages of Foxe and James (Hakluyt Soc.).
[551] Near Wye, on the main road from Ashford to Canterbury.
[552] MS. 'Shorum.'
[553] Nephew.
[554] Master Carpenter of the St. Denis in 1632.
[555] MS. 'Langer.' At the entrance to Harwich harbour.
[556] Old cordage, used for manufacture into brown paper.
[557] Francis Sheldon, Clerk of the Check at Woolwich.
[558] The wife of Thomas Cole, who was one of the witnesses at the Inquiry of
1610 (supra, p. 57). Thomas Cole owned the Manor of Woodbridge, which by
1649 came into Peter's possession. See Copinger, Manors of Suffolk, vol. iv. p.
328.

[559] Bailiffs.
[560] See Introduction.
[561] Edward Boate, Master Shipwright.
[562] Comptroller of the Navy since 1632; son of the Comptroller of the Navy
of the same name who died in 1611.
[563] Denis Fleming, Clerk of the Acts.
[564] Edward Sackville, 4th Earl, one of the Commissioners of the Admiralty
appointed after the death of Buckingham.
[565] The elder (1589-1655), then Comptroller of the Household and Privy
Councillor.
[566] Sir Francis Windebank (1582-1646), joint-Secretary of State with Sir John
Coke, 1632.
[567] MS. 'president.'
[568] MS. 'whelles.'
[569] MS. 'Waynstead.' A royal manor.
[570] On the edge of the Maplin, six miles east of Shoeburyness.
[571] MS. 'Burlington.'
[572] MS. 'Whytebye.'
[573] Luke Foxe, the Arctic navigator. He died at Whitby in July.
[574] M.S. 'Stockdone.'
[575] Stockton had fallen into decay during the sixteenth century.
[576] Sic.
[577] MS. 'Chopple.' On the Derwent, six miles south-west of Newcastle.
[578] MS. 'Bramespeth.' On the Wear, four miles south-west of Durham.
[579] MS. 'Duresme.'
[580] Pett's clerk.
[581] Comptroller of Customs for Port of London; one time Secretary of the
Council of the North.
[582] MS. 'Tuckesford.'
[583] MS. 'Grantum.'
[584] Charles Lewis, the second son of Frederick and Elizabeth, born in 1617.
Frederick had died in 1632.
[585] Prince Rupert.
[586] It was the 9th.
[587] I.e. not moored, having only one anchor down.
[588] Swinging round with the tide.
[589] Obsolete form of 'travailed'; laboured.

[590] Charles Lewis, whom, on p. 162, he called the Palsgrave. The title of
Elector was, however, not formally accorded to him until the Peace of
Westphalia, in 1648, when the Lower Palatinate was restored.
[591] Apprentice. In 1633 he was recommended by Pett for the post of Master
Carpenter of the Charles on the ground that he had wrought upon the same
throughout her being built, and was also 'a pretty mariner.' S. P. Dom. Chas. I.,
ccxxxi. 45.
[592] Became too shallow.
[593] Spring tide.
[594] MS. 'Austyne'; Thomas Austen.
[595] Burning reeds.
[596] MS. 'Grenhyve.'
[597] MS. 'Shevarees.' Marie de Rohan; exiled from France in 1626.
[598] James Stuart, 4th Duke; created Duke of Richmond, 1641.
[599] Married on 7th January. On p. 171 his wife's father's name is given as
'Etherington'; her Christian name was Mildred. The use of two forenames was
practically unknown at this period; evidently she had been married before.
[600] Wife of Christopher Pett.
[601] The south end of the Goodwin Sands.
[602] This word is lost, the margin being torn away; these six words are not in
the Harleian copy.
[603] Chatham.
[604] Perhaps intended for 'own.'
[605] At Chatham.
[606] Sion House at Brentford, the seat of the Duke of Northumberland, who
had been appointed on 13th April to act for the young Duke of York, declared
Lord High Admiral for life at the Council on 18th March.
[607] I.e. of France. Marie de Medicis, widow of Henri IV. and mother of Queen
Henrietta Maria; she landed at Harwich on 18th October.

APPENDICES

I

Grant to Phineas Pett. 26th April 1604

(In Latin)
[Pat. Roll 1646]
The King[608] to all to whom etc. greeting. Whereas our dearest Sister Elizabeth late deceased
Queen of England by her letters patent under the great seal of England bearing date at Westminster
the twenty-third day of January in the twenty-sixth year[609] of her reign gave and granted for herself
her heirs and successors unto Mathew Baker and John Addey Shipwrights and to the longer liver of
either of them among other[610] things a certain annuity or annual rent of twelve pence sterling a day:
to have and to receive yearly the said annuity or annual rent of twelve pence sterling a day to the
aforesaid Matthew Baker and John Addey and their assigns and to the longer liver of either of them
from the Feast of the Nativity of the Lord then last past before the date of the same letters patent
during the natural life of the same Mathew Baker and John Addey and the longer liver of either of
them from her Treasury and that of her heirs and successors at the Receipt of the Exchequer at
Westminster of herself her heirs and successors at the hands of the Treasurer and Chamberlain of her
her heirs and successors there for the time in being at the four terms of the year namely at the Feast
of the Annunciation of the B.V. Mary of St. John the Baptist of St. Michael the Archangel and of the
Nativity of the Lord in equal portions. And whereas also our same dearest Sister Elizabeth by other
letters patent under the great seal of England bearing date at Westminster the twenty-ninth day of
July in the thirty-second year of her reign[611] gave and granted for herself her heirs and successors to
Joseph Pett Shipwright another annuity or annual fee of twelve pence a day of lawful money of
England; to have hold and receive unto the same Joseph Pett and his assigns during the natural life of
the same Joseph Pett from the Treasury of her her heirs and successors at the Receipt of the
Exchequer at Westminster by the hands of the Treasurer and Chamberlain there and from time to time
existing, as by the several said letters patent more plainly doth appear. Which said Mathew Baker and
John Addey and Joseph Pett to this day remain alive and to this present have and enjoy the said
several annuities by virtue of the several letters patent aforesaid. Know ye that we of our special
grace and sure knowledge and mere motion also in consideration of the good true and faithful service
to us done and hereafter to be done by our beloved and faithful subject Phineas Pett now serving our
dearest son Henry Prince of Wales both in the building of the ships of us our heirs and successors and
in his attendance on our marine affairs and causes have given and granted and by these presents for
ourself our heirs and successors do give and grant to the same Phineas Pett that annuity or annual fee
of twelve pence sterling a day of good and lawful money of England out of the two above named
annuities whichever first after the date of these presents by death resignation surrender or
composition of any one of the aforesaid Mathew Baker and John Addey and Joseph Pett or in any
other manner shall have become vacant or determined or shall hereafter become vacant or cease. To
have hold enjoy and receive the said annuity or annual fee of twelve pence a day as is in manner

aforesaid vacated or determined or shall hereafter determine to the aforesaid Phineas Pett or his
assigns for the term of the natural life of the same Phineas immediately from the time at which either
of those annuities shall first become vacant or determine as aforesaid from the Treasury of us our
heirs and successors at the Receipt of our Exchequer at Westminster by the hands of the Treasurers
and Chamberlains of us our heirs and successors there from time to time in being at the four terms of
the year namely at the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel the Nativity of the Lord the Annunciation
of the B.V. Mary and the Nativity of St. John the Baptist in equal portions to the aforesaid Phineas
Pett or his assigns during the natural life of the same Phineas Pett annually to be paid the first
payment thereupon commencing at that feast of the aforesaid feasts which first and nearest shall fall
after one of the two separate aforesaid annuities of twelve pence a day shall become vacant or
determined in the mode and fashion above specified. Although express mention etc. In witness etc.
Witness the King[612] at Westminster the 26th day of April.
By writ of Privy Seal.

FOOTNOTES:
[608] In the enrolment this is given simply as 'Rex'; in the original the
commencement would be 'Jacobus Dei Gratia,' etc.
[609] 23 Jan. 1584.
[610] I.e. the office of Master Shipwright with its emoluments.
[611] 29 July 1590.
[612] In the original this would be 'meipso'; myself.

II

Petition of Shipwrights for Incorporation (?) 1578

(No signatures or date)
[S.P. Dom., Eliz., ccxxvii. 63]
To the right honourable the Lords of her Majesty's most honourable Privy Council.

In most humble and reverent wise do complain unto your honours as well the Mr. Shipwrights of
her Majesty's Ships, as also all other of the same art, that take charge over any of that faculty, be it in
ships, boats, barges, or any such like vessels, both appertaining to her Majesty or her Highness'
subjects, specially within the liberty of the Thames and other places near adjoining to the same. In
the which place, as all kind of vessels are greatly increased, so are the artificers likewise augmented,
only in number, but less in skill, whereby such as do use them are not only deceived but also the

work greatly endangered. Besides their manners are mutinous even in her Majesty's service, and their
exactions intolerable amongst her Majesty's subjects. These and many other enormities, which daily
increase to the great grief of many her Majesty's good and honest subjects, may bring the art to a
ruinous state.
In tender consideration of the premises we humbly pray your Honours to be a mean unto her
Highness that a Corporation may be granted in such reasonable form as her Majesty's learned
Council shall allow of, and be thought meet for us; whereby her Majesty in her own Navy shall be
more safely and dutifully served, the whole State through the Realm better furnished, and we daily
bound to pray to Almighty God both for her Majesty and your Honours' most happy and prosperous
estate.

III

Charter to Shipwrights, 22nd April 1605.
[Pat. Roll. 1684]

[Parts in italics abbreviated to save space]
James &c. To all to whom these presents shall come greeting. Whereas we are credibly informed
as well by our right trusty and well-beloved cousin and councillor Charles Earl of Nottingham, High
Admiral of England and Captain General of our Navy Royal as also by our principal officers of our
said Navy how slenderly and deceitfully as well our own ships and barges as also other ships boats
pinnaces and like vessels of our merchants and other our subjects used in continual service and traffic
are made and wrought to the great loss danger and prejudice of us and our said subjects and also of
the great and wasteful charge and expense which we do from time to time bear and sustain in
building and repairing our own ships and pinnaces which are and have been the chiefest and greatest
defence of this our Realm from the assaults of such enemies as have practised the overthrow of the
same. We weighing the manifold dangers losses and hindrances which may and are likely more and
more to ensue thereof if speedy remedy be not therefore had and provided, and to the end that the
fittest and ablest shipwrights and workmen may from time to time as cause shall require be made
known unto our principal officers of our Navy and to be employed for wages for the building
repairing and making of our own ships and pinnaces as also may have the oversight of all such other
workmen as shall from time to time be employed or shall intermeddle in building of other ships
pinnaces or vessels for other our merchants and subjects for the further more better and continual
service of us our Realm and subjects. Know ye therefore that we intending to provide for the better
strengthening of this our Realm with shipping for the defence and service thereof and to the intent
that as well our self as also our merchants and other our subjects may from time to time hereafter be
furnished stored and supplied with skilful shipwrights and workmen of that kind to work upon our
Navy and other ships and vessels for the better suppressing of deceits and other abuses which may
hereafter be practised by divers persons which shall take upon them without sufficient skill and
knowledge to make or repair ships pinnaces and other vessels to the great danger and hindrance as
well of our self as of divers other our loving subjects, of our special grace certain knowledge and
mere motion have given granted constituted and ordained and by these presents for us our heirs and
successors do grant constitute and ordain that all and every person and persons being shipwrights or
carpenters using the Art or Mystery of building and making of ships within this our Realm of
England and Dominion of Wales shall be from henceforth forever one body corporate and body
politic in matter deed and name by the name of Master, Wardens and Commonalty of the Art or

Mystery of Shipwrights of England.... [To be] one Master and four Wardens and twelve Assistants ...
do assign name ordain and constitute our well-beloved subject Mathew Baker our servant and
ancientest Master Shipwright to be the first Master ... Joseph Pett and William Bright two other of
our Master Shipwrights, Edward Stephens of Limehouse and Nicholas Symonson of Ratcliffe in the
county of Middlesex Shipwrights to be the first four Wardens.... John Adye of Deptford in our county
of Kent, Phineas Pett of Chatham in our county of Kent, John Apslyn of our said town and county,
Peter Pett of Wapping in our county of Middlesex, Nicholas Cley of Redriff in our county of Surrey,
Thomas Cole of Woodbridge in our county of Suffolk, Robert Wilkinson of Ipswich in our county of
Suffolk, James Russell of Southwark in our said county of Surrey, John Head of our City of Bristol,
Esau Whitehead of our town of Southampton in our county of Southampton, Thomas Dymocke of
Horsey Downe[613] in our said county of Surrey and Thomas Pryme of Yarmouth in our county of
Norfolk, Shipwrights, to be the first and present twelve Assistants....
[Power to hold and dispose of real property; to plead and defend in any Court; to have a common
seal.]
[To meet in a] convenient house or hall for their use to be by them provided within the City of
London or Suburbs[614] of the same or within five miles of the said City ... Nicholas Rabye Gent. to
be the first and present Clerk....
[Power to meet in their hall and] to entreat consult determine constitute ordain and make any
Constitutions Statutes Laws Ordinances Articles and Orders whatsoever ... touching or concerning
the good estate rule order and good government of the said Master Wardens and Commonalty ... and
in what Order and manner the said Master Wardens and Commonalty ... and all other person and
persons using the said art or mystery within this Realm of England or Dominion of Wales shall
demean and behave themselves [with power to punish offenders.... Power to] view search and survey
all and every the Works and Workmanship of all and every person or persons whatsoever making
working or building or which hereafter shall make work or build any manner of ships, pinnaces or
other vessels and all manner of timber and wood appointed provided and fitted for the building of
ships ... [Ships found to be] falsely and deceitfully and untruly made wrought and builded [timber,
wood, &c. to be put in safe custody and complaint made to Justices of Peace.... Power to] buy and
provide in any the places beyond the seas all such timber planks masts deals spars and wood and also
all pitch, tar, rosin and oil as they shall think necessary and convenient for the building or repairing
of ships pinnaces or other vessels [and bring same to England or Wales on payment of custom and
other duties. Since the Master Wardens and Commonalty] are to be as occasion shall be offered
employed and attendant upon the Navigation of Us [etc., the said Master Wardens and Commonalty
shall not] be enforced put placed or impannelled in or upon any Assises Juries Inquests or Attaints
whatsoever [nor] be pressed or enforced to serve ... as land soldiers....
[Power to elect Beadles to gather fines penalties &c. and distrain. Power to hold land, tithes &c.]
Witness ourself at Westminster the two and twentieth day of April.
By writ of Privy Seal.

FOOTNOTES:
[613] Horsleydown, below the Tower, on the opposite shore.

[614] MS. 'Subberbes.'

IV

Charter to Shipwrights, 6th May 1612
[Pat. Roll 1951]

[The first nineteen lines as in the Charter of 1605.]
... if speedy remedy be not therefore had and provided, and intending to provide for the strengthening
of these our Kingdoms and Dominions with sufficient shipping for defence and service thereof, and
to the intent that as well ourself might from time to time be furnished stored and supplied with the
fittest and ablest shipwrights and workmen for the building making and repairing of our own ships
pinnaces and other vessels as also that our merchants and other our subjects might also in their works
and buildings from time to time be stored and supplied with skilful and sufficient shipwrights and
workmen, and for the better suppressing of deceits and abuses of divers persons which should take
upon them without sufficient skill and knowledge to make or repair any ships boats pinnaces or other
vessels, to the great danger and hindrance as well of ourself as of divers other our loving subjects, We
did by our letters patent under the great seal of England bearing date the two and twentieth day of
April in the years of our reign of England France and Ireland the third and of Scotland the eight and
thirtieth incorporate the Company of Shipwrights and the persons being shipwrights or carpenters
using the art or mystery of building and making of ships within our realm of England and Dominion
of Wales by the name of Master Wardens and Commonalty of the art or mystery of Shipwrights of
England, and did grant unto them by our said charter or letters patent divers privileges liberties and
immunities mentioned and contained in the said letters patent tending to the reformation of the said
abuses and deceits. And whereas divers defects and imperfections have been since by experience
found to be in the said charter as well in the extent thereof to what persons it should extend as also in
the want of sufficient authority and means to govern and order the said corporation and the men and
members thereof and the affairs of the same and the shipwrights workmen apprentices and servants
using the said art and for want of power and means to reform prevent order and correct many
contempts misdemeanours deceits and offences in the said art or mystery and the matters and things
thereunto appertaining and to punish stubborn obstinate and disobedient persons of that profession,
whereby great and manifold errors deceits and inconveniences are still practised and continued to the
great hindrance of the navigation of this Kingdom the often loss and hazard of men's lives and goods
and the special prejudice of our own service and the Commonwealth, know ye that we for
reformation amendment and supply of the defects and imperfections aforesaid and for redress of the
said great and manifold errors enormities deceits and inconveniences, at the humble petition of the
said Master Wardens and Commonalty, and for the great desire we have that good and convenient
laws orders and ordinances should be established and used in and about the said Corporation and
Company and the said art and mystery, and for the advancement of the good estate of the shipping
and navigation of this Kingdom to the good service both of ourself and the Commonwealth, have of
our especial grace certain knowledge and mere motion granted constituted and ordained, and by these
presents for us our heirs and successors do grant constitute and ordain, that all and every person and
persons being shipwrights caulkers or ship-carpenters or in any sort using exercising practising or

professing the art trade skill or mystery of building making trimming dressing graving launching
winding drawing stocking or repairing of ships carvels hoys pinnaces crayers ketches lighters boats
barges wherries or any other vessel or vessels whatsoever used for navigation fishing or
transportation within or about our realm of England and Dominion of Wales or of making trimming
or repairing of masts tops pullies pumps for ships oars or any other instruments or appurtenances of
wood thereunto belonging or any other carpentry work whatsoever belonging to or used occupied or
employed in or about any ships pinnaces or other vessel or vessels above mentioned or in any sort
appertaining to shipping sailing rowing stocking launching or navigation shall from henceforth for
ever be and shall be taken and accompted to be one body corporate and politic in matter deed and
name by the name of Master Wardens and Commonalty of the art or mystery of Shipwrights of
Redrith in the County of Surrey and them by the name of Master Wardens and Commonalty of the art
or mystery of Shipwrights of Redrith in the County of Surrey We do for us our heirs and successors
really fully and wholly erect make ordain create incorporate constitute and declare by these presents
one body corporate and politic in matter deed and name. And ... the said Master Wardens and
Commonalty of the said art or mystery of Shipwrights of Redrith aforesaid shall from henceforth
have perpetual succession, and ... shall be at all times hereafter a body corporate and politic able and
capable in deed and in law to have hold occupy possess enjoy and retain all and singular usages
customs liberties privileges immunities jurisdictions franchises pre-eminences benefits profits and
commodities whatsoever to them heretofore granted or belonging or hereafter to be granted or to be
belonging or incident requisite or fit to or for them or for such a corporation to have and enjoy of
what kind nature or quality soever they shall be to them and their successors for ever.
[Power to hold and dispose of lands and other properties; to sue and be sued; to have a common
seal.]
And further we will and for us our heirs and successors we do grant by these presents, that from
henceforth for ever there be and shall be one Master three Wardens and sixteen Assistants of the said
corporation art or mystery of Shipwrights of Redrith aforesaid to be constituted and chosen in such
manner and form as hereafter in these presents is expressed and specified. And for the better
execution of the premises and also for the good rule and government of the Master Wardens and
Commonalty of the art or mystery of Shipwrights aforesaid from time to time forever we have
assigned named ordained and constituted ... our well-beloved subject Phineas Pett our servant and
ancient Master Shipwright to be the first Master of the said art or mystery of Shipwrights, willing
that the said Phineas Pett be and shall continue Master of the said art or mystery from the day of the
date of these presents until the morrow after the Feast of Saint Bartholomew the Apostle now next
ensuing and then and from thenceforth until some other meet and sufficient man of the said art or
mystery of Shipwrights aforesaid be elected and sworn to execute the said office of Master of the
said art or mystery of Shipwrights of Redrith aforesaid according to the ordinances and provisions in
these presents expressed and limited, if the said Phineas Pett shall so long live, unless the said
Phineas Pett shall happen in the mean time for some misgovernment or other just cause to be
removed, whom for such just cause we will and ordain to be removable according to the form herein
expressed. And also we have assigned ordained named and constituted ... our well-beloved subjects
William Burrell Nicholas Simonson and Thomas Dymock three other shipwrights to be the first three
Wardens of the art or mystery of Shipwrights aforesaid.... And moreover for the better assistance and
counsel of the said Master and Wardens in and about the execution of their several offices, we have
assigned named ordained and constituted ... our well-beloved subjects Mathew Baker William Bright
Edward Stephens Nicholas Clay John Apslyn Peter Pett Thomas Jenkins John Graves Robert Bourne
James Marsh William Hedger Thomas Wells William Picks John May Edmond Jordon and Richard
Watford to be the first and present sixteen Assistants of the said art or mystery, willing that they the
said [names as before] and all other assistants of the said art or mystery for the time being shall be
and continue Assistants of the said art or mystery of Shipwrights of Redrith aforesaid for and during

their natural lives and shall from time to time be aiding counselling and assisting unto the said Master
and Wardens for the better government rule and direction of the said Master Wardens and
Commonalty of the said art or mystery and every member thereof, unless they or any of them shall be
removed from the said place of assistant or assistants for some misdemeanour or other just cause,
whom for such just cause we likewise will and ordain to be removable according to the form herein
also expressed. And for the better establishment of this our good intention and purpose and for the
perpetual and constant continuance direction rule and government of the whole body of the said art or
mystery and every member thereof we will and ordain that on the morrow next after the said Feast of
Saint Bartholomew the Apostle yearly hereafter the Master Wardens and Assistants of the said art or
mystery of Shipwrights aforesaid for the time being or the greater part of them for that intent and
purpose to be assembled at or in their common house or hall shall elect choose and nominate one
person who hath formerly been Warden of the said art or mystery to be Master of the said art or
mystery for the next year then following, and shall at the same time and place elect choose and
nominate out of the said Assistants three that shall likewise be Wardens of the said art or mystery,
which said Master and Wardens so as aforesaid nominated elected and chosen shall be and continue
Master and Wardens of the said art or mystery unto the end and term of one whole year then next
ensuing and further until some other Master and Wardens shall be respectively elected and preferred
and chosen thereunto, they and every of them first taking a corporal oath upon the Holy Evangelist
before the Master and Wardens being their last predecessors or any two of them or before the
assistants of the said corporation art or mystery or the greatest part of them for the due execution of
their several offices respectively, and also the oath commonly called the Oath of Supremacy, which
oaths we do by these presents give power and authority to the said Master and Wardens for the time
being or any two of them or to the said Assistants or the greater part of them to minister and take of
the said person or persons so elected accordingly, and then every such Master Warden and Wardens
so removed shall then instantly be chosen and elected to be Assistant or Assistants and so to remain
Assistant or Assistants in the room and place of him or them that shall be so chosen out of the said
Assistants to be Master Warden or Wardens, first taking his or their corporal oath or oaths....
[Power to majorities to remove Master, Wardens, or Assistants for misdemeanour and elect others
in vacancies caused by removal or death.]
[Fine not exceeding 10l. for refusing or neglecting the office of Master or Warden, or not
exceeding 20 nobles in case of the office of Assistants.]
And ... there shall or may be from henceforth for ever in all and every convenient and needful
place and places of our kingdom of England and dominion of Wales one or more honest sufficient
and skilful person or persons of the said art or mystery which shall be and shall be called the deputy
or deputies of the Master Wardens and Assistants of the said Corporation art or mystery, to be from
time to time hereafter elected nominated and appointed by the said Master Wardens and Assistants or
four of them, whereof the Master and one of the Wardens of the said corporation art or mystery for
the time being to be always two, and to continue in the place or places of deputy or deputies of the
Master Wardens and Assistants of the said corporation art or mystery for the time being from the time
of their said election for the space of one whole year next ensuing or until he be for some just cause
removed and some other of the said corporation art or mystery be elected nominated and sworn to the
said office or place of deputy or deputies according to the true intent and meaning of these presents....
And we will ordain and command that every person that shall be from henceforth named and chosen
to be deputy or deputies to the said Master Wardens and Assistants during the time that he or they or
any of them shall continue in his or their office or offices place or places of deputyship do and shall
from time to time employ the uttermost of his and their endeavours abilities and skill in the due
execution of this our charter and letters patent and of every branch article and thing therein contained
and of all good and wholesome laws orders and ordinances which at any time hereafter shall be made
and constituted by the said Master Wardens and Assistants in every respect according to the true

intent and meaning of the same and of these presents, and in all other causes matters and things
concerning the good and welfare of the said art and mystery, and that they the said deputies for the
time being and every of them shall be from time to time accomptable to the said Master Wardens and
Commonalty and their successors for all sums of money profits and commodities by them or any of
them to be collected or received by reason or in respect of his said office or offices place or places of
deputy or deputies, and shall further before he or they execute or undertake the same office or place
of deputy or deputies take a corporal oath ... for the true and due execution of the said office and
place, and also the oath commonly called the Oath of Supremacy.... And ... if any person or persons
so named or elected to be deputy or deputies to the Master Wardens and Assistants of the said
corporation art or mystery for the time being as aforesaid shall accept the same office and deputation
and then after shall wilfully and obstinately without good and just cause or excuse refuse to attend or
execute the same, so as no person so nominated be compelled against his will to hold such place of
deputation above the space of two years together, that then the said Master Wardens and Assistants or
the more part of them shall or may impose upon every such person so refusing to exercise the said
office or place after such acceptance thereof as aforesaid a reasonable fine not exceeding twenty
nobles, to be levied and paid to the use of the said corporation. And further we will and by these
presents ... do grant unto the said Master Wardens and Commonalty and their successors that they ...
and their successors shall and may have take and entertain one honest and discreet person in manner
and form hereafter in these presents expressed to be nominated and chosen which shall be and be
called the Clerk of the said corporation art or mystery of Shipwrights. And we have assigned made
constituted named and ordained ... our well-beloved subject and servant Richard Newman gent. to be
the present Clerk of the said corporation art or mystery, to be and continue in the said office during
the term of his natural life, unless he for some misdemeanour shall be removed or dismissed or shall
surrender the same ... [with power to company to choose successor]. [Power to] name and appoint
any other inferior Officers Ministers and Members as shall be needful and expedient in to or for the
said corporation art or mystery or the good government and affairs thereof [and to remove them].
[Power to] admit receive and take in whatsoever person or persons being our natural born subjects as
well within this our realm of England as in other our Dominions and places being under our
obeisance and not otherwise which would be and are or shall be willing and desirous to be of the said
corporation as a member or members thereof, and that all and every person and persons so to be
admitted received and taken in by the said Master Wardens and Assistants or the more part of them
shall from the time of his or their admission be called and accompted a brother and member or
freeman of the said Corporation in deed and in name ... [and power to remove them]. And to the
intent that as well our self our heirs and successors as also all our merchants and other our subjects
may from time to time hereafter be better furnished stored and supplied with cunning skilful and
sufficient Shipwrights and workmen of that kind for the making building and repairing of ships
pinnaces and other vessels, and for the avoiding suppressing or preventing as much as in us lieth of
the manifold abuses and deceits therein daily practised and committed by such persons as are
altogether unskilful, having never been trained or brought up as apprentices in the said art or mystery
according to the laws and statutes of this our realm of England, we do therefore ... will and grant to
the said Master Wardens and Commonalty of the said art or mystery of Shipwrights of Redrith and to
their successors forever that every Freeman of the said company shall and may from time to time
hereafter have take and keep one or more apprentice or apprentices to be trained and brought up
under him in the said trade art or mystery of Shipwright, and that every such apprentice shall be by
covenants bound by and to his master that shall entertain him as aforesaid duly and truly to serve him
as his apprentice for and during the full space and term of seven years at the least, and to be ordered
and used to all intents and purposes according to the custom of the city of London, and that the same
covenant of apprenticeship be made by writing indented and registered or enrolled at their common
hall before themselves in their said corporation by their Clerk or his sufficient deputy or deputies for
the time being, and that such enrolment shall be good and effectual in the law to all intents and

purposes against us our heirs and successors and against all other person or persons whatsoever, any
law statute custom or usage to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding. Willing and by these
presents for us our heirs and successors straitly charging and commanding that no shipwright caulker
or ship-carpenter or any other being a Freeman of the said company and using exercising practising
or professing the said trade skill art or mystery of building making trimming dressing graving
launching drawing stocking or repairing of any ships pinnaces or other vessel or vessels whatsoever
for navigation or traffic shall or may at any time or times hereafter receive have entertain or keep any
apprentice or other servant being not already free of the said Corporation or not having served with
some other shipwright in the same trade, to be used exercised trained or brought up under him in the
said trade art or mystery as aforesaid except he first cause every such his servant or apprentice to be
bound unto him by indenture for the said term of seven years at the least or for so many years as
together with the years which he hath served in the said trade as aforesaid shall make up the number
of seven years, and do likewise cause his said indenture of apprenticeship to be registered or enrolled
before the Clerk of the Company or his deputy for the time being as aforesaid within one month next
after the taking thereof, upon pain of our heavy displeasure and of such fine or other punishment as
by the laws and statutes of this realm or by the laws and ordinances already made or hereafter to be
made by the said Master Wardens and Assistants of the said art or mystery for the time being or the
greater part of them according to the true intent and meaning hereof shall or may be inflicted upon
him or them that shall offend therein. [Power to] assemble convocate and congregate themselves
together at or in their common hall or house being now at Redrith in the County of Surrey or in any
other place or places for the same convenient, and then and there to keep Courts and consultation for
the said corporation art or mystery and the affairs thereof, and the perquisites issues and profits of the
said Court or Courts so to be held and kept to leave take and perceive to and for the use of the said
Corporation for the better maintenance and preservation thereof, without any accompt to be made or
rendered to us our heirs or successors in that behalf. [And power] then and there to treat consult
commune determine and agree amongst themselves or with any other person or persons whatsoever,
of upon and concerning the good estate benefit conversation and wholesome rule government and
ordering of the said Corporation art or mystery and the men apprentices workmen workmanship and
all other the affairs and things to the same belonging or thereupon in any wise depending, and at in
and upon such their assemblies meetings and conferences to make ordain and constitute such and so
many good wholesome and reasonable laws statutes articles constitutions orders and ordinances
whatsoever as to them or the greater part of them being then and there present, whereof the Master
and one of the Wardens for the time being to be always two, shall seem reasonable necessary meet
and convenient for touching or concerning the premises, and for the better advancement performance
and continuance of the same, and also for the better directing how and in what order and manner the
said Master Wardens and Commonalty and all other person and persons using the said art or mystery
within our said realm of England or Dominion of Wales shall demean and behave themselves as well
in all and singular matters and things touching or concerning the said art or mystery or any thing
thereunto appertaining as also in their several offices functions ministries and businesses touching or
concerning the said art or mystery as aforesaid, and the same laws orders articles and constitutions so
made or any of them to put in use and execute accordingly, and at their will again to revoke alter or
change when and as often as occasion shall thereto require. [The Regulations, &c., when] entered and
registered in some public book to be kept for that purpose ... shall be holden as laws ordinances and
statutes amongst them to be put in use and execution, and shall bind all persons of the said
Corporation art or mystery and all shipwrights and workmen of that profession in any place port
haven or town within our said realm of England and dominion of Wales, as well the subjects of the
same our realm and dominions as strangers and aliens for and during the time of their being in or
upon any part of our said realm coasts or dominions or any creeks or harbours of the same, to observe
obey and perform the same from time to time in all things as the same ought to be, upon the pains
penalties and punishments in the same to be imposed inflicted and limited so always as the said laws

statutes articles orders ordinances pains penalties and punishments and every of them be agreeable to
reason and justice and not contrary or repugnant to the laws statutes rights or customs of this our
realm of England, nor derogatory to the jurisdictions and pre-eminences of the Lord High Admiral of
England for the time being or to the Court of Admiralty of England or the Judges Register or
Marshall of that Court for the time being or any of them. [Power to impose] pains penalties
punishments fines amercements and forfeitures ... and for default of payment ... to distrain the goods
and chattels of such offender and the same to keep till they shall be satisfied or otherwise to bring
their action for the same according to law. And ... all and singular fines forfeitures sum and sums of
money whatsoever due or hereafter to be due and received by reason of the said decrees orders or
ordinances shall be to the use commodity and sole benefit and behoof of the said Corporation without
any accompt or other thing therefore to us our heirs or successors to be yielded paid rendered made
or done in that behalf, and without any let trouble molestation or interruption of any person or
persons whatsoever for the same. [Powers] by writing under their common seal ... to ask levy have
receive and take in all and every place and places within our said realm of England and Dominion of
Wales as well of every Master Workman Shipwright or other person or persons that shall hereafter
make or build or cause to be made or built any new ship or ships vessel or vessels of the burthen of
one hundred ton or more or less all and singular such profits dues duties fees allowances sum and
sums of money whatsoever after such rate and in such manner and form as at any time or times
heretofore themselves or their predecessors by any name or names of corporation by under or by
force and virtue of any former charter or letters patent by them or any of them given or granted or by
any other lawful and reasonable way or means have or ought to have received had taken or enjoyed
the same by way of tonnage quarterage poundage or otherwise, and also all and every such fines
amercements penalties sum and sums of money as shall be by force and virtue of these our letters
patent or any their laws orders ordinances statutes or jurisdictions already made or hereafter to be
made for the good government of the said company assessed or imposed upon any person or persons
whatsoever ... [and] to enter and distrain any the goods and chattels of the person or persons so
offending denying or withholding the same in any place or places whatsoever where the same goods
and chattels or any of them shall or may be found ... and ... to sue for and recover the same dues
duties allowances fines amercements penalties impositions sum and sums of money in any of our
Court or Courts of Record.... And to the end that the secret of the said art or mystery and the manner
of our English building and new making of ships pinnaces and other vessels should for more strength
and safety of our realms and kingdoms be kept secret to and within ourselves and our said realms and
dominions and altogether unknown to aliens and strangers of other Nations, our will and pleasure is
and we do by these presents for us our heirs and successors straitly charge and command that no
person or persons whatsoever of the said art or mystery of Shipwrights do at any time or times
hereafter directly or indirectly by any ways or means whatsoever presume or attempt to discover or
make known to any foreigner or stranger not being a natural born subject of us our heirs or
successors or not being naturalised or indenized nor to any other person or persons not being free and
sworn of and to the said Corporation nor being a servant or apprentice to the said art or mystery the
secrets of the said trade art or mystery or the special manner of our English building or new making
of ships pinnaces or other vessels as aforesaid, nor do take any alien or stranger born being not
naturalised or indenized to be his or their apprentice or servant, upon pain of our high displeasure and
of such further punishment as by the laws and statutes of this realm or the ordinances and laws so
made or to be made by the said Master Wardens and Assistants or the greater part of them as
aforesaid can or may be inflicted upon such offender or offenders for the same. And to the end our
will and pleasure herein may be the better observed and performed and the offender punished we do
further by these presents give and grant [power to] impose upon every such offender a reasonable
fine according to the quality of his offence at the discretion of the said Master Wardens and
Assistants or the more part of them, the same fine to be forfeited and paid by the person or persons so
offending to the sole benefit use and behoof of the said Corporation for the better maintenance and

upholding of the same and relieving of the poor of the said Corporation. [Power] to examine and
punish by fine or such other correction as the quality of the offence shall deserve and require every
person which shall unlawfully depart or go away from his work after he hath been hired or agreed
withal for wages before the time or times of his retainer or retainers be expired, or shall be found to
grow mutinous stubborn or disobedient or in any way a provoker seducer or enticer of any other to
any mutiny or disobedience to the hurt injury or likelihood of hurt or injury of the said Corporation
or of the good government and order therein or of any service whatsoever, and also to examine hear
and order all and every the complaints of or against any shipwright or other workmen of the said
Corporation art or profession or of or against any of his or their journeymen apprentices or servants.
And of our more ample grace certain knowledge and mere motion and for the better suppressing and
reformation of the deceits and abuses first above mentioned [power given] to and for the said Master
and Wardens or any two of them for the time being and also to and for any two of the said Assistants
or other two persons being skilful or which hereafter shall be skilful in the said art or mystery being
thereunto deputed and authorised by writing under the common seal of the said Master Wardens and
Commonalty, first taking his or their corporal oath or oaths upon the Evangelist ... for the due
execution of their said offices or places ... at all convenient time or times, taking with them if need so
require a constable or any other his Majesty's officer or officers of the city town or place, to search
view and survey all manner of timber wood and other stuff provided prepared and fitted for the
building making or repairing of any ships pinnaces or other vessels in any place or places whatsoever
within our realm of England and dominion of Wales or in either of them, and also to search view and
survey all and every the works and workmanship of all and every person and persons whatsoever in
making working building or repairing ... any manner of ships pinnaces boats or other vessels
whatsoever within our said realm of England and dominion of Wales or either of them, and that it
shall and may be lawful to and for the said Master and Wardens or any two of them or their deputies
so authorised as aforesaid all and singular ships pinnaces boats and other vessels hereafter to be built
to view search and survey, and such of them whereof the timber work at the time of such search shall
not be fully finished and which at the time of such search view or survey so to be made as aforesaid
shall be found to be so insufficiently falsely and deceitfully made wrought or repaired as they must
needs be by that means dangerous to such as shall use or employ them, to arrest and stay until the
same shall be reformed amended repaired and made fit for navigation. And our further will and
pleasure is that if the said persons before by these presents authorised to make such search as
aforesaid or any of them shall happen to find any sappy wood red wood or other insufficient wood or
timber to be put into any ships pinnaces or other vessels or hewn wrought and fitted for that purpose,
that then the said persons or any of them shall forthwith charge and warn the makers or owners of
such ships pinnaces or other vessels forthwith to take away the said sappy wood red wood and other
insufficient wood and timber and to supply the same with other sufficient timber and wood. And if
within convenient time after such charge and warning given as is aforesaid the said sappy wood red
wood and other insufficient wood and timber be not taken away and the same supplied with other
good and sufficient timber and wood as is aforesaid, that then it shall and may be lawful to and for
the said Master and Wardens or any two of them or any two of the said Assistants or any such deputy
or deputies as aforesaid to take and deface all such sappy wood and red wood and all and singular
such other timber and wood which upon any such search and view and after convenient admonition
and warning given to take the same away and to supply it with better and more sufficient wood and
timber they shall find to be put in or apparently intended to be put into any ship pinnace or other
vessel or hewn and cut out or wrought for that purpose, manifestly tending to the prejudice and
damage of us our heirs and successors or of any other our loving subjects merchants and mariners
whose goods and lives are hazarded and often lost by reason of such ill stuff, the use of all which
sappy and red wood and other insufficient stuff we do hereby for us our heirs and successors straitly
prohibit and restrain to be used or employed in any sort in or upon any ship or other vessel. [Power]
to impose and inflict such punishment upon every offender in that behalf either by fine or

imprisonment or both of them as by the laws or statutes of this realm or by any laws or ordinances to
be made by the said Corporation as is aforesaid shall or may be imposed or inflicted upon them for
their offences in that behalf or otherwise that the said Master and Wardens or any two of them or
such other person or persons so authorised as aforesaid and which upon such search shall find any of
the deceits and abuses aforesaid shall complain thereof to some Justice or Justices of Peace within
that place or county where such deceits and abuses shall be found. And we do ... straitly charge and
command all and every our Justice and Justices of the Peace whatsoever to whom any such complaint
or complaints shall so be made as is aforesaid that they and every of them shall by all good and
lawful ways and means examine and find out the truth of the said complaints abuses and deceits, and
if upon due examination thereof they shall find that any such abuses and deceits have been
committed as aforesaid, that then they cause the party or parties so offending to be indicted or
otherwise punished for such his and their abuses and deceits either before our Justices of Peace in the
county where the same abuses and deceits shall be committed and found at their Sessions of the
Peace or before the Justices of Assize of the same county or before any other lawful judge or judges,
to the end that the said person or persons so offending may receive such condign punishment as by
the laws and statutes of this realm can or may be inflicted upon him or them for his or their offence
or offences in that behalf. And ... we do ... straitly charge and command the said Master Wardens and
Assistants of the said art or mystery and their successors for the time being that once in every month
at the least such search be made as is aforesaid, and that the authority hereby in that behalf to them
given be put in due execution without any respect of persons or partiality whatsoever. Provided
always nevertheless and our will and pleasure is that neither the Master nor Wardens of the said art or
mystery for the time being or any their deputy or deputies so authorised to search as is aforesaid shall
not by colour of these letters patent meddle with or do anything to the hindrance stay or prevention of
any ship pinnace or other vessel that is or shall be at the time of such their search as aforesaid ready
to go forth for an intended voyage or journey or the master owner mariners sailors or other officers of
the same, any thing in these presents to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding. [Power] to
buy and provide in any the places beyond the Seas all such timber planks masts deals spars and wood
and wooden stuff and also all pitch tar rosin and oil as they shall think necessary and convenient for
the building or repairing graving or fitting of ships pinnaces or other vessels, and the same so bought
and provided shall and may from time to time for ever hereafter bring or cause to be brought into this
our realm of England and dominion of Wales or any part or place thereof and the same discharge and
lay on land, paying to us our heirs and successors the full Custom poundage and other duties due or
which hereafter shall be due to us our heirs or successors any law statute custom proclamation or any
other matter cause or thing to the contrary notwithstanding. And whereas for the better maintenance
of navigation and encouragement of our loving subjects to increase shipping within this our realm
there is and hath been of ancient time an allowance given by us and our predecessors of five shillings
sterling for every ton of any new builded ship to be rated according to the burthen of the said ship did
contain in burthen one hundred tons or upwards in ton and tonnage, which laudable custom we being
pleased to continue, and finding it also convenient as well for the avoiding of abuses that might be
offered in rating and setting down the tonnage of the said ships and otherwise as also that the builder
might have his right and due allowance of tonnage, to appoint some person or persons of knowledge
and experience for the surveying and overseeing of the true rates and tonnage in that behalf, we did
by our letters patent under our great seal of England bearing date the four and twentieth day of April
in the third year of our reign give and grant to John Grent gent. for and during his natural life the
office and place of surveyor of the tonnage and burthen of all new builded ships of the burthen above
mentioned or upwards from time to time within this our realm of England, together with the wages
and fee of twelve pence by the day of lawful money of England for the exercising of the said office
or place, together with all and singular other fees profits commodities and allowances whatsoever to
the same place or office in any wise due incident or appertaining, with a proviso or clause therein
contained that the said John Grent in the rating and setting down of the tonnage and burden of the