The Autobiography of Phineas Pett
[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 1095_l._ 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 300_l._ 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 994_l._ 11_s._ 8_d._ _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.