An earlier annotation asked for clarification of codes, ciphers, and characters from annotators who had worked with codes. In my youth I was an Air Force codes officer, however, these days, the message encryption process is so highly automated that it bears no resemblance to the processes Pepys used. A very few pen and paper ciphers remain, and they are so very weak that they are changed daily, and are used only to protect information that needs security for a brief period of time. For instance, you might want to tell someone that an aircraft has taken off, while concealing that fact from hostile eavesdroppers long enough for the plane to land. In Pepys’s day they used nomenclators that were part code, part cipher. A box with a dot in it might mean “The Pope”. Two boxes one atop the other with a dot in the top might mean “The King” and a dot in the bottom might mean “The Duke of York”, and dots in both boxes “the King and Duke of York”. Special meanings were assigned to Greek letters, and all of these had to have a spelling table to encipher words and phrases for which no symbols were provided. You can see how Pepys would have trouble alphabetizing the list of entries. Does Theta come after T? Where do you put this symbol that looks like a backwards R? If they were reasonably short – one or two pages – you could use the same “character” for both enciphering and deciphering messages. If they were long, you needed a two-part character, one part with the symbols in order, and the second with the meanings in order. Again there were problems with alphabetizing the list. Suppose one entry was for the phrase “His Most Christian Majesty King Louis of France”, would you put the entry under H for “His”, L for “Louis” or F for “France”?
These characters were hard to use, slow and cumbersome both to send, and to receive. A trusted messenger with unenciphered text was often faster, and just as secure. They avoided transposition ciphers, in which the order of letters or words were scrambled, largely because almost any error would render the message gibberish from the point of the error to the end, and errors are very hard to avoid. Steganography, which has seen a modern resurgence in use, was used in the 17th Century, but often as a one-time message. For example, if someone received a gift of two oranges, it might mean “burn your papers and get out of town, quick!” If the authorities intercepted the message, it would just be a snack. I recommend David Khan’s books if anyone is seriously interested in the subject.
The early Plymouth Plantation was split between Church Members, called "Saints", and the non-member servants, called "Strangers". On Christmas day, Governor Bradford led the Saints out to work in the fields, while the Strangers protested that to labor on Christmas was a violation of conscience. At noon, the Saints returned, and found the Strangers playing at "Stool Ball" (Like cricket or baseball, only you had to sit on a stool to be "safe"). The Governor declared that it violated his conscience that some would play while others worked, so he make them work, and "took away their playthings." Merry Christmas!
Regime change is in the wind, and everybody is on the make. People are coming and going from the King, and Sandwich supplies passes and escort. He is very civil to the travelers, for if they are not VIP's now, they may be, soon. They are very civil to him, because he controls travel, now, and who knows what he might control in the future. Pepys is a jolly good fellow, good musician, pleasant companion, likeable. He is honored to be treated as a friend by Captain Cuttance. It is hard to tell how naive Pepys is.
Thank you Jeannine, for your most enlightening post! To summarize the news: The people who ought to be pleased by the prospect of restoration, are making happy preparations. The people who should be displeased by the prospect of restoration are making ineffectual protests and taking precautions. Sandwich continues in correspondance with both the King and the Duke. I hope it is not a spoiler to note that James, Duke of York, will shortly become commander of the Navy, and, as such, will be particularly important to Sandwich and Pepys. This correspondance seems to indicate that Charles' decision to appoint James Lord High Admiral was already in the works, before the restoration. Otherwise, why correspond with the Duke at all?
I read "to shift" the same way Glyn read it, not Pauline. He changed his clothes, underwear and socks and cap too. Changing clothing was an occasion important enough to get a mention in the diary, like his being "trimmed". These gentlemen were nothing if not ripe. It was probably worse aboard ship, where they were short of fresh water for bathing, not that they used much wash water on themselves, ashore. I guess it would have been his boy's duty to wash the clothes he had taken off. Where the kid would work, whether he used soap, and where to hang out the stuff to dry -- these are more mysteries. I suspect that the only way the boy and his clothing got washed was when he came on deck during foul weather.
The Army has agreed to stand by the decisions of the new Parliament. Monck and Sandwich have their choices of which seats to take in it. The final decision might well be based upon whom they exclude by selecting one seat over another. Each has doubtless made his own secret deal with the King. To bring in the King and to reap the rewards they have been promised, they need the friendliest Parliament they can arrange. Sandwich is still arranging for new MP's who will follow his own lead, first. He is not quite ready to start openly recruiting new MP's to form a Royalist party, to take direction from the King. His is a role requiring great subtlety. Whether Pepys realizes it yet or not, he must help Sandwich pull it off.
With masts struck, and one assumes yards also, they are not going to get underway in a hurry, no matter what the emergency. The weather may be bad, but not so bad as to stop the coming and going of small craft carrying packets of mail, or vessels of ale. Let's hear a yo-ho-ho for the miserable tars that rowed boats about in foul weather, bringing ale to the quarterdeck. I'll bet they were thrilled with the duty.
On another topic, there was mention in an earlier annotation of a BBC Program (Programme) which referenced our boy Sam. I have just watched such, and it might be the referenced show. The presenter goes through several pages of Pepys' scrapbook. It is on Youtube and is a little less than an hour long. Just log onto Youtube.com and do a search for "17th Century History for Girls _ BBC Documentary _ Harlots, Housewives and Heroines". This is evidently part one of three parts. The principal subject of this part is not Housewives or Heroines.
A journal, from "jour" meaning day, is a book in which one makes daily entries. An accounting journal is one which records transactions as they occur; then, daily, entries are sorted out and copied into their proper account books. I think we can assume, from the fact that Pepys was writing in this journal when he reported showing Lt. Lambert his manner of keeping a journal, that he was revealing the existence of this document to his friend. Was this a smart thing to do? Probably not. Does anyone know when ships began keeping log books? I know of one Naval officer who kept a secret log book of his own, because he did not trust the captain's log. By the way, "Diary" in British English can mean "appointment book" or "office appointment book", but not in American English.
The flagship arrives and anchors amid the fleet. Whether it signals for captains to come aboard or not, the commanders of the other ships will come aboard as soon as waves and weather permit. They want to know from Sandwich "Is the King coming in or not? Are we going to fetch him, or what?" Also, the way to get ahead with one's career in those days was to ingratiate oneself with one's superiors. Times have not changed all that much. The captains want to make nice with Sandwich, and if there is an overflow at his table, they will make nice with his Secretary, Mr. Pepys. They are not aboard to make merry, or to be merry (a process that involves alcohol), exactly. The Vice-Admiral was also presenting himself as a good-natured fellow. But what these gents want most of all are sailing orders -- and they are not getting them.
Salutes like this could waste a large amount of powder. Later history developed the use of "Saluting Guns" -- model cannons with brass barrels about a foot long, and with a bore of about three-quarters of an inch. These could be fired off with no more powder than would be used by a musket, but still made a satisfactory bang and lots of smoke. Let me pose a question for folks who know such things: Did they have to stir up the powder in their magazines, or roll the kegs about, invert them etc., to keep the powder from deteriorating? Or was the rolling of the ship enough to prevent "corning"?
I am with you, Robin. The first time through the diary I lurked, read without posting, in part fearing backlash from the crazies on the internet, but mainly because I had little to contribute to the mix. This time, I figure to ignore the crazies -- Thank you Phill, for censuring them -- and to contribute posts, trying to make up for what I may lack in facts, with a matching lack of thought. Cheers!
The Virginians of this era discovered that they could get much higher prices for their Tobacco in New Amsterdam (New York) than they could in London, (the one English port in which they were permitted to trade). They maintained this trade throughout Cromwell's Reign, and well into the Restoration. When the Dutch Wars began, they were distraught when they learned that they were expected to not trade with the enemy. Dutch ships from new Amsterdam also called in Virginia.
The extra six shillings Pepys paid Moore might be interest, or a fee of some kind. Usually, interest-bearing notes were discounted in advance. For example a creditor would pay nine pounds, and the debtor would sign a note that says "I will pay you ten pounds one year from this date." I wonder how Moore and Pepys wound up owing money to each other. Pepys borrowed seven pounds from Moore. How came Moore to owe Pepys one pound sixteen shillings? Any ideas? It has been quite some time since our boy has been able to pinch a wench's bottom. It is not a seventeenth century adjective, but the word "horny" comes to mind.
Well! My question of yesterday has been answered: They are in the Naseby, which Pepys continues to misspell. Now I wonder where the boy will sleep: On the floor of Pepys' cabin? Sling a hammock between decks with the crew? There are plenty of spaces for boys to work aboard a warship. A 90 gun ship might require 30 or more powder monkeys, I don't know, but enough to keep all the guns supplied with powder from the magazine. A flagship would require cabin boys too, as servants, but again, there is no telling how many were aboard. Did they bunk together, or separately?
Are Pepys & Montague aboard the Swiftsure or the Naseby?
Each summer, a portion of the fleet was "set out", ie, it went to sea, cruising about, keeping trouble away from the shore. The rest of the fleet stayed in port.
A ship with an Anabaptist Captain would likely have a crew largely recruited by him, and he would appoint or select the petty officers, etc., and the ship would largely assume his character. What Monague was doing was to put ships captained by Anabaptists at the bottom of the list for victuals, paint, gunpowder, rope, canvass -- supplies and stores of all kinds, and deferring maintenance on their ships, so they would stay in harbor, grow old and rot.
Thanks, Bryan, that is useful. The warships of that day were boxes crammed with guns. How to accomodate VIP's in large numbers aboard one is a problem not easily visualized. Also, if they had gun crews of say, 5 men each, and enough crews to man half the guns at a time, an 80 to 90 gun ship like the Naseby would require 200 men, minimum. Total crew would likely run to 400 or more, given deckhands and topsail hands and cooks etc.. The noise, and stink, of so many people jammed together would be awful. Then add the general-at sea and his entourage, the vice-admiral and his staff plus support services and you are up over 500 very quickly. Now: welcome aboard the King, the Duke of York, their attendants and their attendants' servants (and a half dozen favorites) and it's a good thing it's a short trip! Does anyone know how many souls are aboard the Naseby at this time?
Comments
Second Reading
About Thursday 26 April 1660
Dick Wilson • Link
Sorry, spelling error. Make that David "Kahn".
About Thursday 26 April 1660
Dick Wilson • Link
An earlier annotation asked for clarification of codes, ciphers, and characters from annotators who had worked with codes. In my youth I was an Air Force codes officer, however, these days, the message encryption process is so highly automated that it bears no resemblance to the processes Pepys used. A very few pen and paper ciphers remain, and they are so very weak that they are changed daily, and are used only to protect information that needs security for a brief period of time. For instance, you might want to tell someone that an aircraft has taken off, while concealing that fact from hostile eavesdroppers long enough for the plane to land.
In Pepys’s day they used nomenclators that were part code, part cipher. A box with a dot in it might mean “The Pope”. Two boxes one atop the other with a dot in the top might mean “The King” and a dot in the bottom might mean “The Duke of York”, and dots in both boxes “the King and Duke of York”. Special meanings were assigned to Greek letters, and all of these had to have a spelling table to encipher words and phrases for which no symbols were provided. You can see how Pepys would have trouble alphabetizing the list of entries. Does Theta come after T? Where do you put this symbol that looks like a backwards R? If they were reasonably short – one or two pages – you could use the same “character” for both enciphering and deciphering messages. If they were long, you needed a two-part character, one part with the symbols in order, and the second with the meanings in order. Again there were problems with alphabetizing the list. Suppose one entry was for the phrase “His Most Christian Majesty King Louis of France”, would you put the entry under H for “His”, L for “Louis” or F for “France”?
These characters were hard to use, slow and cumbersome both to send, and to receive. A trusted messenger with unenciphered text was often faster, and just as secure.
They avoided transposition ciphers, in which the order of letters or words were scrambled, largely because almost any error would render the message gibberish from the point of the error to the end, and errors are very hard to avoid. Steganography, which has seen a modern resurgence in use, was used in the 17th Century, but often as a one-time message. For example, if someone received a gift of two oranges, it might mean “burn your papers and get out of town, quick!” If the authorities intercepted the message, it would just be a snack.
I recommend David Khan’s books if anyone is seriously interested in the subject.
About Monday 23 April 1660
Dick Wilson • Link
How do you play nine-pins on a ship?
About Sunday 22 April 1660
Dick Wilson • Link
The early Plymouth Plantation was split between Church Members, called "Saints", and the non-member servants, called "Strangers". On Christmas day, Governor Bradford led the Saints out to work in the fields, while the Strangers protested that to labor on Christmas was a violation of conscience. At noon, the Saints returned, and found the Strangers playing at "Stool Ball" (Like cricket or baseball, only you had to sit on a stool to be "safe"). The Governor declared that it violated his conscience that some would play while others worked, so he make them work, and "took away their playthings." Merry Christmas!
About Saturday 21 April 1660
Dick Wilson • Link
Regime change is in the wind, and everybody is on the make. People are coming and going from the King, and Sandwich supplies passes and escort. He is very civil to the travelers, for if they are not VIP's now, they may be, soon. They are very civil to him, because he controls travel, now, and who knows what he might control in the future. Pepys is a jolly good fellow, good musician, pleasant companion, likeable. He is honored to be treated as a friend by Captain Cuttance. It is hard to tell how naive Pepys is.
About Wednesday 18 April 1660
Dick Wilson • Link
It is not really a spoiler. There was a reference in a footnote to yesterday's entry, to Sandwich's dealing with James as High Admiral.
About Wednesday 18 April 1660
Dick Wilson • Link
Thank you Jeannine, for your most enlightening post! To summarize the news: The people who ought to be pleased by the prospect of restoration, are making happy preparations. The people who should be displeased by the prospect of restoration are making ineffectual protests and taking precautions. Sandwich continues in correspondance with both the King and the Duke. I hope it is not a spoiler to note that James, Duke of York, will shortly become commander of the Navy, and, as such, will be particularly important to Sandwich and Pepys. This correspondance seems to indicate that Charles' decision to appoint James Lord High Admiral was already in the works, before the restoration. Otherwise, why correspond with the Duke at all?
About Tuesday 17 April 1660
Dick Wilson • Link
I read "to shift" the same way Glyn read it, not Pauline. He changed his clothes, underwear and socks and cap too. Changing clothing was an occasion important enough to get a mention in the diary, like his being "trimmed". These gentlemen were nothing if not ripe. It was probably worse aboard ship, where they were short of fresh water for bathing, not that they used much wash water on themselves, ashore. I guess it would have been his boy's duty to wash the clothes he had taken off. Where the kid would work, whether he used soap, and where to hang out the stuff to dry -- these are more mysteries. I suspect that the only way the boy and his clothing got washed was when he came on deck during foul weather.
About Sunday 15 April 1660
Dick Wilson • Link
The Army has agreed to stand by the decisions of the new Parliament. Monck and Sandwich have their choices of which seats to take in it. The final decision might well be based upon whom they exclude by selecting one seat over another. Each has doubtless made his own secret deal with the King. To bring in the King and to reap the rewards they have been promised, they need the friendliest Parliament they can arrange. Sandwich is still arranging for new MP's who will follow his own lead, first. He is not quite ready to start openly recruiting new MP's to form a Royalist party, to take direction from the King. His is a role requiring great subtlety. Whether Pepys realizes it yet or not, he must help Sandwich pull it off.
About Friday 13 April 1660
Dick Wilson • Link
With masts struck, and one assumes yards also, they are not going to get underway in a hurry, no matter what the emergency. The weather may be bad, but not so bad as to stop the coming and going of small craft carrying packets of mail, or vessels of ale. Let's hear a yo-ho-ho for the miserable tars that rowed boats about in foul weather, bringing ale to the quarterdeck. I'll bet they were thrilled with the duty.
About Wednesday 11 April 1660
Dick Wilson • Link
On another topic, there was mention in an earlier annotation of a BBC Program (Programme) which referenced our boy Sam. I have just watched such, and it might be the referenced show. The presenter goes through several pages of Pepys' scrapbook. It is on Youtube and is a little less than an hour long. Just log onto Youtube.com and do a search for "17th Century History for Girls _ BBC Documentary _ Harlots, Housewives and Heroines". This is evidently part one of three parts. The principal subject of this part is not Housewives or Heroines.
About Wednesday 11 April 1660
Dick Wilson • Link
A journal, from "jour" meaning day, is a book in which one makes daily entries. An accounting journal is one which records transactions as they occur; then, daily, entries are sorted out and copied into their proper account books. I think we can assume, from the fact that Pepys was writing in this journal when he reported showing Lt. Lambert his manner of keeping a journal, that he was revealing the existence of this document to his friend. Was this a smart thing to do? Probably not. Does anyone know when ships began keeping log books? I know of one Naval officer who kept a secret log book of his own, because he did not trust the captain's log.
By the way, "Diary" in British English can mean "appointment book" or "office appointment book", but not in American English.
About Tuesday 10 April 1660
Dick Wilson • Link
The flagship arrives and anchors amid the fleet. Whether it signals for captains to come aboard or not, the commanders of the other ships will come aboard as soon as waves and weather permit. They want to know from Sandwich "Is the King coming in or not? Are we going to fetch him, or what?" Also, the way to get ahead with one's career in those days was to ingratiate oneself with one's superiors. Times have not changed all that much. The captains want to make nice with Sandwich, and if there is an overflow at his table, they will make nice with his Secretary, Mr. Pepys. They are not aboard to make merry, or to be merry (a process that involves alcohol), exactly. The Vice-Admiral was also presenting himself as a good-natured fellow. But what these gents want most of all are sailing orders -- and they are not getting them.
About Monday 9 April 1660
Dick Wilson • Link
Salutes like this could waste a large amount of powder. Later history developed the use of "Saluting Guns" -- model cannons with brass barrels about a foot long, and with a bore of about three-quarters of an inch. These could be fired off with no more powder than would be used by a musket, but still made a satisfactory bang and lots of smoke.
Let me pose a question for folks who know such things: Did they have to stir up the powder in their magazines, or roll the kegs about, invert them etc., to keep the powder from deteriorating? Or was the rolling of the ship enough to prevent "corning"?
About Sunday 8 April 1660
Dick Wilson • Link
I am with you, Robin. The first time through the diary I lurked, read without posting, in part fearing backlash from the crazies on the internet, but mainly because I had little to contribute to the mix. This time, I figure to ignore the crazies -- Thank you Phill, for censuring them -- and to contribute posts, trying to make up for what I may lack in facts, with a matching lack of thought. Cheers!
About Sunday 8 April 1660
Dick Wilson • Link
The Virginians of this era discovered that they could get much higher prices for their Tobacco in New Amsterdam (New York) than they could in London, (the one English port in which they were permitted to trade). They maintained this trade throughout Cromwell's Reign, and well into the Restoration. When the Dutch Wars began, they were distraught when they learned that they were expected to not trade with the enemy. Dutch ships from new Amsterdam also called in Virginia.
About Wednesday 4 April 1660
Dick Wilson • Link
The extra six shillings Pepys paid Moore might be interest, or a fee of some kind. Usually, interest-bearing notes were discounted in advance. For example a creditor would pay nine pounds, and the debtor would sign a note that says "I will pay you ten pounds one year from this date." I wonder how Moore and Pepys wound up owing money to each other. Pepys borrowed seven pounds from Moore. How came Moore to owe Pepys one pound sixteen shillings? Any ideas?
It has been quite some time since our boy has been able to pinch a wench's bottom. It is not a seventeenth century adjective, but the word "horny" comes to mind.
About Monday 2 April 1660
Dick Wilson • Link
Well! My question of yesterday has been answered: They are in the Naseby, which Pepys continues to misspell.
Now I wonder where the boy will sleep: On the floor of Pepys' cabin? Sling a hammock between decks with the crew? There are plenty of spaces for boys to work aboard a warship. A 90 gun ship might require 30 or more powder monkeys, I don't know, but enough to keep all the guns supplied with powder from the magazine. A flagship would require cabin boys too, as servants, but again, there is no telling how many were aboard. Did they bunk together, or separately?
About Sunday 1 April 1660
Dick Wilson • Link
Are Pepys & Montague aboard the Swiftsure or the Naseby?
Each summer, a portion of the fleet was "set out", ie, it went to sea, cruising about, keeping trouble away from the shore. The rest of the fleet stayed in port.
A ship with an Anabaptist Captain would likely have a crew largely recruited by him, and he would appoint or select the petty officers, etc., and the ship would largely assume his character. What Monague was doing was to put ships captained by Anabaptists at the bottom of the list for victuals, paint, gunpowder, rope, canvass -- supplies and stores of all kinds, and deferring maintenance on their ships, so they would stay in harbor, grow old and rot.
About Saturday 31 March 1660
Dick Wilson • Link
Thanks, Bryan, that is useful. The warships of that day were boxes crammed with guns. How to accomodate VIP's in large numbers aboard one is a problem not easily visualized. Also, if they had gun crews of say, 5 men each, and enough crews to man half the guns at a time, an 80 to 90 gun ship like the Naseby would require 200 men, minimum. Total crew would likely run to 400 or more, given deckhands and topsail hands and cooks etc.. The noise, and stink, of so many people jammed together would be awful. Then add the general-at sea and his entourage, the vice-admiral and his staff plus support services and you are up over 500 very quickly. Now: welcome aboard the King, the Duke of York, their attendants and their attendants' servants (and a half dozen favorites) and it's a good thing it's a short trip! Does anyone know how many souls are aboard the Naseby at this time?