Today this is a treacherous part of the mouth of the Thames off Margate and Ramsgate. To give you an idea of the problems, look at the comments of these yachtspeople: https://forums.ybw.com/index.php?…
Oh well, that takes you to the index, not the page, so I've excepted the major info:
"You can get through this passage even at extreme low water springs with 1.5m draft. But you do need to be careful in places. Go round the Cheyney Spit just outside Medway by leaving the main channel around the no 6 buoy. ... on this spit, so don't cut it too fine. Aim carefully from the Spile buoy to a point 1/2 mile south of the Spaniard buoy. The Kent flats are indeed flat and you won't run suddenly aground, but if you get into the shallow water on the Red Sands or off Warden Point it takes patience to find your way out. The shallowest point of all is in the Gore Channel, mid way between E. Last and the Hook buoys. It goes suddenly shallow a couple of cables before you reach the bouys and has now only 2½m of water at low springs mid-way between them. Through that and you get into deeper water south of Margate Sands - a good few skippers relax and then run onto the sands! The final trap, and by far the most dangerous as it is rock, is Longnose Spit off North Foreland. A couple of red buoys mark it clearly, so just stand out to them. In summer there is a little N cardinal buoy closer in which, if you spot, you can use to cut in more closer. "Coming round N. Foreland, Broadstairs ledges are not too shallow but can cut up a bit rough in wind-over-tide. Finally, keep well out for the approach to Ramsgate, following in just north of the dredged channel. Beware a strong tide across the entrance to the harbour, yachts are lost on the harbour moles every year. Should you reach Ramsgate at extreme low water, you may find the entrance to the main harbour is too shallow. If you can see sand on the right hand side just inside the entrance, take it very slow. {Your recent chart of the southern Thames Estuary will be OK except that as I mentioned, its now shallower at East Last. The old Copperas channel to the south is now deeper, but is unmarked). Apart from Longnose, running aground is not that dangerous in this area except in a strong NE or E wind, in which case I would recommend a different route (or better still, going some place else)."
@@@
Pepys et al negotiated this without buoys and detailed charts. They must have used a local pilot!
L&M Companion: Balthasar St. Michel, "Balty," the son of Alexander St. Michel and Dorothea; Pepys' brother-in-law. An "absurd, posturing, melodramatic, egotist" in Richard Ollard's words, yet he managed, under Pepys' guidance, to make a success in the navy service by virtue of sheer brashness and energy. He expected to be put on the way to becoming a gentleman captain when Pepys was made clerk of the acts. Instead, he had to serve in the Dutch army for a year or two, after which Pepys found him a place in the Guards. The outbreak of the second Anglo-Dutch war (1666-68) gave him his chance. Pepys was prepared to risk having him made a Muster Master on board the fleet. In the Third Anglo-Dutch war he was made a Muster Master again, this time at Deal, and a sub-commissioner of the Sick and Wounded. His next appointment, as Muster Master and Surveyor of Victualling at Tangier, with some responsibility for stores at Gibraltar, was less happy. He regarded it as "being sent to the Devill". He postponed his departure until 1680 and came home two years later without leave. Things then took a turn for the better: He was made Commissioner at Deptford and Woolwich, and served to Pepys' complete satisfaction on the Special Commission of 1686-88. Like Pepys, Balty lost office at the Revolution.
Pepys had always distrusted him, but for Elizabeth Pepys' sake, forgave him much. Every ready for a jaunt, Balty accompanied them on their contrinental holiday in 1669.
When Pepys was charged with treason in 1679, Balty spent several happy months in Paris at Pepys' expense, gathering evidence to discredit Pepys' accuser, Col. John Scott. Balty had also visited Paris in 1678, probably trying to recover his father's lost inheritance.
In Dec. 1662 Balty married Esther, daugher of John Watts, a Northamptonshire yeoman who failed to provide her with the portion he had expected. Balty proved to be an impossible husband -- improvident, overbearing and secretive, amd keeping her, as she later told Pepys, 'in worst condition than the meanest servant.' Pepys found Esther discreet and humble and gave her his Brampton house to live in with her children during Balty's Tangier years. She had had 8 children by him when she died in Feb. 1678.
In Jan. 1689, Balty made a second marriage to a widow, Margaret Darling, who compounded his problems by bringing 2 children into the household. Balty now had no employment, no pension, no savings, and 10 children.
His appeals to the Admiralty for a position continued into the reign of Queen Anne. Pepys wrote to the Admiralty in his support, and came to his rescue with money and old clothes.
The last trace of Balty is in 1710 with a petition to the Cabinet. Pauline has added L&M's final comments about him, above.
Thank you, Ashley -- that was incredibly beautiful and helpful. Note: it took 8 men to fire a canon then. Which means the Naseby with 80 guns could have needed 640 men just to fire them, not the 5 Brian and Dick guessed at. Then they also needed men to sail the ship while the guns were going off. (I was on the Victory 20 odd years ago, and they had a demonstration of the noise of the guns firing. Every gunner must have been deaf quite quickly.) https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
I'm guessing you're in the UK, meaning the animation was made released March 11 of this year. As I'm in the States I first read that to mean next November and did a double-take!
Grays Thurrock, usually known simply as Grays, is the centre of the borough of Thurrock, lying beside the Thames 34 km. east of London.
It was formerly a small port, with chalk quarries, brickworks, and a brewery. Those occupations declined after WWI.
The ancient parish is bounded north and west by Stifford and east by Little Thurrock.
Local sites of interest include the Thurrock History Museum, and Grays Beach.
From the top of the Derby Road Bridge in Grays one can look down to Grays Beach children’s playground and the River Thames.
Grays Beach is the site of the local landmark The Gull, a lightship built in 1860, which has lain on the foreshore for decades and is now in a serious state of dilapidation. The light from The Gull has been removed, restored and installed on the foreshore.
Lee Road, Kent -- just west of Southend-on-Sea is Leigh-on-Sea. The area is close to the Leigh Channel leading into Leigh and Benfleet Creek, and described on Admiralty charts as suitable for "small ship anchorage" and would be a good place for sheltering a ship or fleet with quick access to the Thames estuary; about 30 nautical miles to clear Margate and North Foreland.
A ship could be anchored close enough to Leigh (about 2nm) for regular communication with London.
I know, our link for Lee Roads goes to Leigh-on-Sea, but compare the maps with that and Grey's Market, and it's a long way away. Pepys does say it took all afternoon to make the change. Assuming Pepys knew what he was talking about (and he's not a nautical man, so I think Montagu is more reliable), no wonder he was worried about "loosing" Mr. Burr.
Maybe this was John Evelyn's inspiration, both Christian and philosophical: "Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature." — St. Augustine
Spitalfields Life gave Pepys and St Mary Stratford Atte Bow Church another shout out with an informative article and photos, including one of the 17th century font. Also a sad story of a 15 year old who died of smallpox on her wedding day in 1690. The stories told on those old, worn memorials can break your heart. https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023…
'Is this not Good Friday ? He did celibrate the "pankakes " day but I guess work for the Admiral is very heavy, and "the preacher and 'im is nat atalking".'
Yes, the Church of England will be reinstated later in 1660, and along with it Christmas and Easter, but you're jumping the gun wanting to celebrate now.
"This evening came Mr. Boyle on board, for whom I writ an order for a ship to transport him to Flushing."
That would be Charles Boyle, 3rd Viscount Dungarvan (1639 – 1694), eldest son of Richard Boyle, 2nd Earl of Cork.
In our Encyclopedia I speculated that it might be his uncle, Francis Boyle -- taking a letter from his Irish brothers suggesting Charles II land in Ireland first. But now I'm reading the Diary and not jumping to conclusions, I think Francis made that trip a couple of weeks ago.
I don't think so, Terry. The broken external window was on the SWIFTSURE. They are on the NASEBY now -- and Pepys says the window is altered. An alteration of an internal window would not be a very big deal; he's experiencing a courtesy during the refurbishing of the ship. If it was a porthole, that would have involved the shipbuilders and be of material concern.
Are you sure about that, Terry? Pepys' damaged external window is on the SWIFTSURE. By 20 April he is living aboard the NASEBY, and he talks about having his window "altered" not repaired (it must have been the internal one -- an external one would have been of material concern to the shipbuilders).
Journal of the Earl of Sandwich; Navy Records Society, edited by R.C. Anderson “5th. Thursday. We sailed out of the Hope and came back to an anchor between the buoy of the Nore and Blacktail. “
"... we ready to set sail, which we did about noon, and came in the evening to Lee roads and anchored."
This is a short sail, I presume for safety, training and/or shake down purposes. As noted before, the Naseby would need a compliment of about 400 sailors, and Pepys hasn't mentioned any coming aboard. They will go on some short cruises "to learn the ropes" before sailing anywhere away from the home port.
With Captain Roger Cuttance away in Weymouth for a week or so, Montagu clearly doesn't expect to be going anywhere significant soon.
The new construction and interior improvements will have changed the way the Naseby handles, but that doesn't mean the Lieutenant and the local pilots (no, not pirates!) can't maneuver her around as necessary to keep her safe from the changing winds, especially if they have some experienced hands on board already.
The Lee Roads -- Google isn't being helpful about this: it wants to tell me about where Gen. Leigh rode in the American Civil War and a pop group! I think this must refer to the outlet of the Lee River into the Thames estuary: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/en…
Or was it off Leigh-on-Sea? "The riverside settlement of 'Old Leigh', or 'The Old Town', is historically significant; it was once on the primary shipping route to London. From the Middle Ages until the turn of the 20th century, Old Leigh hosted the settlement's market square, and high street (known as Leigh Strand). Elizabethan historian William Camden (1551–1623) described Leigh as "a proper fine little towne and verie full of stout and adventurous sailers". By the 1740s Leigh's deep water access had become silted up (as attested to by John Wesley) and the village was in decline as an anchorage and port of call." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lei…
Blacktail is no help either -- it's a USA ski center, there was a town in the Dakotas by that name, XBox game, type of deer, etc. etc.
"Meanwhile, the elevated old soldier Monck could enjoy life at his new country estate while he and his wife benefited from the generous spoils of royal patronage."
No they didn't -- Monck continued to earned his 'royal patronage' by standing right behind Charles II for another 10 years, until his health gave out. He stayed in London to oversee the fight against the plague when the Court skiddaddled off to Oxford. He commanded ships during the second Anglo-Dutch War. He is a councilor and trusted advisor the whole way through the Diary. My apologies for this Spoiler, but someone has to say that Hhomeboy needs a fact checker.
"At night, my Lord resolved to send the Captain of our ship to Waymouth and promote his being chosen there, which he did put himself into a readiness to do the next morning."
To be clear, this means "At night, my Lord [Montagu] resolved to send the Captain [Roger Cuttance] of our ship to Waymouth and promote his [Montagu's] being chosen there, which he [Cuttance] did put himself into a readiness to do the next morning."
Montagu has gone from retired country gentleman to political powerhouse very quickly; he needs to be a member of parliament to keep his power base.
Meanwhile Shaftesbury’s candidate, John Man, had been adopted unanimously by the corporation, although he had no known connexion with the borough. His campaign, managed by Pley, was strictly orthodox for this thirsty constituency.
One of Man’s own voters wrote to him: "I do assure you that I have not hitherto touched of yours or any other’s Canary, wherewith one of your pretended friends (as I was informed) swilled himself so the day my lord’s letter was read that he wanted supporters, and I am told he continues to drink your health daily at your charge with whomsoever he can get to accompany him, and for the Pleys’ parts, their brew-houses have full employment to furnish beer to their alehouses, whom they give liberty to cozen and cheat what they please on your account. ... I humbly conceive they have abused my lord chancellor and yourself by intimating to some of their schismatical crew that his lordship was a great and main instrument in procuring them liberty. ... Colonel Strangways would not, as I believe, [have] proceeded had they kept themselves civil, but a person of that honour to bear the threats [to] be thrown on his back was what he could not [do]."
Strangways refused to give up, although his son was defeated at the poll. When Parliament met he succeeded in having all the by-elections declared void on the grounds that the writs had been issued during the recess without the Speaker’s warrant.
He then reached a compromise with Shaftesbury, by which his son was returned at Poole in exchange for Man’s uncontested election at Weymouth. Nevertheless the Strangways interest had been out-manoeuvred, leaving Shaftesbury controlling 3 of the Weymouth seats in return for a shadowy claim to Poole.
With Shaftesbury’s intriguing cousin, John Harrington of the many aliases, at least intermittently resident in the town, there could be no doubt that the fourth seat would fall into his lap as soon as it became vacant, and in fact there is no evidence that Winston Churchill stood in 1679.
When the legal poll was resumed on Monday, 66 more votes were recorded for Sir John Coventry. But not one voice presented or offered itself for Mr Harvey, at which Mr Mayor asked aloud if there were not any voices more that would be polled for Mr Harvey, and it was likewise asked whether any could make exceptions against any of the freeholders that had then voted for Sir John Coventry, to which one Mr Collyer (a great stickler for Mr Harvey, and he that affronted the magistrates) replied ‘No, we except not against your voices, but your proceedings, for we know you will carry it by the majority of voices’; at which all the people laughed.
The corporation having completed the return immediately recorded in their minute book that "divers inhabitants of this town ... have by indirect means endeavoured to promote the interests of their friends by a new and unknown way of making freeholders contrary to the custom of the town ... savouring very highly of deceit and collusion."
They declared that freeholds created since the date of the writ did not carry the right to vote in that election, nor could it be exercised by children under the age of 14.
A double return was sent up, but the House saw no reason why Coventry should not take his seat.
Harvey presented a further petition in the next session. Evidence was given for Coventry of rather trivial corruption and intimidation. Capt. John Cuttance, now an alderman, said that he ‘saw some of Mr Harvey’s company wink and nod their heads to some of his party, and doth believe it was to whoop and bellow and make disturbance, for so it fell out presently after thereupon’. Harvey’s petition was rejected (20 Nov. 1667).
Ashley Cooper proceeded to consolidate his position. Nothing is known of the next election, in which his son was returned, probably unopposed.
But the next vacancy produced an all-out battle with the Strangways interest. Ashley Cooper, now the Earl of Shaftesbury and lord chancellor, issued the writ, with 33 others, just before Parliament reassembled. Strangways first put forward his son-in-law James Long (son of Sir James Long).
But when it became apparent that Thomas Strangways faced defeat at Poole at the hands of Shaftesbury’s brother, George Cooper, Strangways dropped Long in favour of his own son.
The court candidate, Sir John Coventry, on the other hand, was provided with a letter of support from his uncle and former guardian, Anthony Ashley-Cooper MP, who as Chancellor of the Exchequer was able to bring pressure to bear on the customs officials.
Sir John Strangways had been ill for months, and Harvey, ‘having many young attorneys in his company’, had used the time to good purpose in creating faggot votes. The Court Party were handicapped in the earlier stages of their campaign by uncertainty about Coventry’s intentions.
Pley held back the elections 10 days for this reason, and meanwhile a Dutch prize, laden with wine, was brought into port. The fleet was in, drink was cheap, and the election uproarious: "The poll began, and continued not above a quarter of an hour before a dispute arose about a freeholder, whether he were so or no; this occasioned the first heat, but afterwards many exceptions of that kind were taken on both sides, in so much as there was great noise and horrid confusion, as enforced the mayor several times to stop the poll until it was appeased, which lasted not long, for every now and then they would be up in arms, whooping and bawling and affronting the magistrates with opprobrious language as they sat on the bench, in so much as there was just cause to fear all the company would have gone by the ears."
Pley, despite, as he afterwards related, feeling excessively unwell — continued the poll unil Coventry was leading by 77 to 59, but the rowdiness increasing he adjourned the election for 3 days, because ‘the town being full of seamen belonging to men of war [which] were to set sail the next evening, and the town full of prize wine, one [day] might not have been enough to have appeased the difference’.
After a few minutes Browne sent his under-sheriff to the mayor to demand a resumption. On meeting with a refusal, he replied: ‘Since you refuse to go on with the poll, the high sheriff is resolved he will’.
Forty-two more votes were collected for Harvey, "allowing every voice to be a lawful freeholder that voted for Mr Harvey, which is since most evident they were not, five of them being made freeholders the last law-day, in order to a new election (as is reported) ... They shut up from the poll and proclaimed Mr Harvey their burgess, who, riding upon people’s shoulders from the hall to his inn, he himself shaked his own hat for joy."
In April 1660, Adm. Edward Montagu stood for the Weymouth election. To give you an idea of how chaotic an election was in those days, here is the House of Common's take on Weymouth elections after the Civil Wars:
During the Civil Wars neither Royalists nor Parliamentarians could claim a monopoly of support in Weymouth.
The main features of the Restoration period were the increasing strength of the Country Party and of government influence. These apparently conflicting tendencies were both reconciled and fostered by Anthony Ashley-Cooper MP, later the Earl of Shaftesbury, first in order to undermine the interest of his local rivals, the Strangways family, later for broader political purposes.
In the general election of 1660, the poll was topped by two ex-admirals, Edward Montagu and William Penn. Montagu’s election was procured by his flag-captain, Cuttance, son of a Weymouth merchant, and apparently a republican sympathizer.
George Monck wrote on behalf of Penn.
On one indenture he was followed by two merchants, the Weymouth alderman Henry Waltham and the Londoner Peter Middleton, whose grandfather had been a great benefactor to the borough; on the other the recorder Samuel Bond, son of a well-known Cromwellian, took Middleton’s place. A local Puritan gentleman, John Browne, and a locally born London merchant, Samuel Mico, brought up the rear.
On 5 May the committee of elections found Peter ‘Middleton had more voices of those that had the right to elect’, and the House seated him.
At the by-election which followed Adm. Montagu’s decision to sit for another constituency there were originally 3 candidates. But Mico’s supporters succeeded in blocking the election of the Hon. Edward Montagu, only to see their own man defeated at the poll by a local gentleman and courtier, Bullen Reymes.
Reymes’ success marks the re-entry of the Cavaliers, who, with their new recruit Penn, nominated by the Duke of York, swept the board at the next election. There was a marked distinction between Weymouth’s senior Member in the Cavalier Parliament, Sir John Strangways (a country cavalier of the old school) and the other 3. Reymes and Penn were both placemen, and Winston Churchill was soon to join them.
This cleavage came into the open on Strangways’s death. Reymes was now managing the court interest, a happy circumstance since the mayor, Pley, formerly an ardent Commonwealth man, was his partner in the supply of sailcloth to the navy. The sheriff, Browne (one of the unsuccessful 1660 candidates), was plainly a partisan of the dissenter Michael Harvey, set up by the Country Party. Browne’s letter to the late Member’s son (Giles Strangways) implies he expected the support of that pillar of the establishment; and Harvey’s return was in due course signed by George Strangways, who managed the family interest in Weymouth.
Comments
Third Reading
About Cheyney Spit
San Diego Sarah • Link
Today this is a treacherous part of the mouth of the Thames off Margate and Ramsgate. To give you an idea of the problems, look at the comments of these yachtspeople:
https://forums.ybw.com/index.php?…
Oh well, that takes you to the index, not the page, so I've excepted the major info:
"You can get through this passage even at extreme low water springs with 1.5m draft. But you do need to be careful in places. Go round the Cheyney Spit just outside Medway by leaving the main channel around the no 6 buoy. ... on this spit, so don't cut it too fine. Aim carefully from the Spile buoy to a point 1/2 mile south of the Spaniard buoy. The Kent flats are indeed flat and you won't run suddenly aground, but if you get into the shallow water on the Red Sands or off Warden Point it takes patience to find your way out. The shallowest point of all is in the Gore Channel, mid way between E. Last and the Hook buoys. It goes suddenly shallow a couple of cables before you reach the bouys and has now only 2½m of water at low springs mid-way between them. Through that and you get into deeper water south of Margate Sands - a good few skippers relax and then run onto the sands! The final trap, and by far the most dangerous as it is rock, is Longnose Spit off North Foreland. A couple of red buoys mark it clearly, so just stand out to them. In summer there is a little N cardinal buoy closer in which, if you spot, you can use to cut in more closer.
"Coming round N. Foreland, Broadstairs ledges are not too shallow but can cut up a bit rough in wind-over-tide. Finally, keep well out for the approach to Ramsgate, following in just north of the dredged channel. Beware a strong tide across the entrance to the harbour, yachts are lost on the harbour moles every year. Should you reach Ramsgate at extreme low water, you may find the entrance to the main harbour is too shallow. If you can see sand on the right hand side just inside the entrance, take it very slow.
{Your recent chart of the southern Thames Estuary will be OK except that as I mentioned, its now shallower at East Last. The old Copperas channel to the south is now deeper, but is unmarked). Apart from Longnose, running aground is not that dangerous in this area except in a strong NE or E wind, in which case I would recommend a different route (or better still, going some place else)."
@@@
Pepys et al negotiated this without buoys and detailed charts. They must have used a local pilot!
About Balthasar St Michel ('Balty', brother-in-law)
San Diego Sarah • Link
L&M Companion: Balthasar St. Michel, "Balty," the son of Alexander St. Michel and Dorothea; Pepys' brother-in-law. An "absurd, posturing, melodramatic, egotist" in Richard Ollard's words, yet he managed, under Pepys' guidance, to make a success in the navy service by virtue of sheer brashness and energy.
He expected to be put on the way to becoming a gentleman captain when Pepys was made clerk of the acts.
Instead, he had to serve in the Dutch army for a year or two, after which Pepys found him a place in the Guards.
The outbreak of the second Anglo-Dutch war (1666-68) gave him his chance. Pepys was prepared to risk having him made a Muster Master on board the fleet.
In the Third Anglo-Dutch war he was made a Muster Master again, this time at Deal, and a sub-commissioner of the Sick and Wounded.
His next appointment, as Muster Master and Surveyor of Victualling at Tangier, with some responsibility for stores at Gibraltar, was less happy. He regarded it as "being sent to the Devill". He postponed his departure until 1680 and came home two years later without leave.
Things then took a turn for the better: He was made Commissioner at Deptford and Woolwich, and served to Pepys' complete satisfaction on the Special Commission of 1686-88.
Like Pepys, Balty lost office at the Revolution.
Pepys had always distrusted him, but for Elizabeth Pepys' sake, forgave him much. Every ready for a jaunt, Balty accompanied them on their contrinental holiday in 1669.
When Pepys was charged with treason in 1679, Balty spent several happy months in Paris at Pepys' expense, gathering evidence to discredit Pepys' accuser, Col. John Scott. Balty had also visited Paris in 1678, probably trying to recover his father's lost inheritance.
In Dec. 1662 Balty married Esther, daugher of John Watts, a Northamptonshire yeoman who failed to provide her with the portion he had expected.
Balty proved to be an impossible husband -- improvident, overbearing and secretive, amd keeping her, as she later told Pepys, 'in worst condition than the meanest servant.'
Pepys found Esther discreet and humble and gave her his Brampton house to live in with her children during Balty's Tangier years.
She had had 8 children by him when she died in Feb. 1678.
In Jan. 1689, Balty made a second marriage to a widow, Margaret Darling, who compounded his problems by bringing 2 children into the household. Balty now had no employment, no pension, no savings, and 10 children.
His appeals to the Admiralty for a position continued into the reign of Queen Anne. Pepys wrote to the Admiralty in his support, and came to his rescue with money and old clothes.
The last trace of Balty is in 1710 with a petition to the Cabinet.
Pauline has added L&M's final comments about him, above.
About Friday 6 April 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
"W. Howe and I to our viallins"
You did bring an instrument -- that will make you very popular.
About Saturday 31 March 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
Thank you, Ashley -- that was incredibly beautiful and helpful. Note: it took 8 men to fire a canon then. Which means the Naseby with 80 guns could have needed 640 men just to fire them, not the 5 Brian and Dick guessed at. Then they also needed men to sail the ship while the guns were going off. (I was on the Victory 20 odd years ago, and they had a demonstration of the noise of the guns firing. Every gunner must have been deaf quite quickly.)
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
I'm guessing you're in the UK, meaning the animation was made released March 11 of this year. As I'm in the States I first read that to mean next November and did a double-take!
About Grays
San Diego Sarah • Link
Grays Thurrock, usually known simply as Grays, is the centre of the borough of Thurrock, lying beside the Thames 34 km. east of London.
It was formerly a small port, with chalk quarries, brickworks, and a brewery. Those occupations declined after WWI.
The ancient parish is bounded north and west by Stifford and east by Little Thurrock.
Local sites of interest include the Thurrock History Museum, and Grays Beach.
From the top of the Derby Road Bridge in Grays one can look down to Grays Beach children’s playground and the River Thames.
Grays Beach is the site of the local landmark The Gull, a lightship built in 1860, which has lain on the foreshore for decades and is now in a serious state of dilapidation. The light from The Gull has been removed, restored and installed on the foreshore.
Highlights from https://tudormarkets.com/markets/…
About Leigh Road, Essex
San Diego Sarah • Link
Lee Road, Kent -- just west of Southend-on-Sea is Leigh-on-Sea. The area is close to the Leigh Channel leading into Leigh and Benfleet Creek, and described on Admiralty charts as suitable for "small ship anchorage" and would be a good place for sheltering a ship or fleet with quick access to the Thames estuary; about 30 nautical miles to clear Margate and North Foreland.
A ship could be anchored close enough to Leigh (about 2nm) for regular communication with London.
About Thursday 5 April 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
I know, our link for Lee Roads goes to Leigh-on-Sea, but compare the maps with that and Grey's Market, and it's a long way away. Pepys does say it took all afternoon to make the change. Assuming Pepys knew what he was talking about (and he's not a nautical man, so I think Montagu is more reliable), no wonder he was worried about "loosing" Mr. Burr.
About John Evelyn
San Diego Sarah • Link
Maybe this was John Evelyn's inspiration, both Christian and philosophical:
"Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature." — St. Augustine
About St Mary-le-Bow
San Diego Sarah • Link
Spitalfields Life gave Pepys and St Mary Stratford Atte Bow Church another shout out with an informative article and photos, including one of the 17th century font.
Also a sad story of a 15 year old who died of smallpox on her wedding day in 1690.
The stories told on those old, worn memorials can break your heart.
https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023…
About Friday 20 April 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
'Is this not Good Friday ? He did celibrate the "pankakes " day but I guess work for the Admiral is very heavy, and "the preacher and 'im is nat atalking".'
The Puritan government banned Easter celebrations in 1647.
https://www.english-heritage.org.….
Yes, the Church of England will be reinstated later in 1660, and along with it Christmas and Easter, but you're jumping the gun wanting to celebrate now.
About Friday 20 April 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
"This evening came Mr. Boyle on board, for whom I writ an order for a ship to transport him to Flushing."
That would be Charles Boyle, 3rd Viscount Dungarvan (1639 – 1694), eldest son of Richard Boyle, 2nd Earl of Cork.
In our Encyclopedia I speculated that it might be his uncle, Francis Boyle -- taking a letter from his Irish brothers suggesting Charles II land in Ireland first. But now I'm reading the Diary and not jumping to conclusions, I think Francis made that trip a couple of weeks ago.
Terry's annotation is the right one.
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
About Friday 20 April 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
I don't think so, Terry. The broken external window was on the SWIFTSURE. They are on the NASEBY now -- and Pepys says the window is altered. An alteration of an internal window would not be a very big deal; he's experiencing a courtesy during the refurbishing of the ship. If it was a porthole, that would have involved the shipbuilders and be of material concern.
About Tuesday 27 March 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
Are you sure about that, Terry? Pepys' damaged external window is on the SWIFTSURE.
By 20 April he is living aboard the NASEBY, and he talks about having his window "altered" not repaired (it must have been the internal one -- an external one would have been of material concern to the shipbuilders).
About Thursday 5 April 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
Journal of the Earl of Sandwich; Navy Records Society, edited by R.C. Anderson
“5th. Thursday. We sailed out of the Hope and came back to an anchor between the buoy of the Nore and Blacktail. “
"... we ready to set sail, which we did about noon, and came in the evening to Lee roads and anchored."
This is a short sail, I presume for safety, training and/or shake down purposes. As noted before, the Naseby would need a compliment of about 400 sailors, and Pepys hasn't mentioned any coming aboard. They will go on some short cruises "to learn the ropes" before sailing anywhere away from the home port.
With Captain Roger Cuttance away in Weymouth for a week or so, Montagu clearly doesn't expect to be going anywhere significant soon.
The new construction and interior improvements will have changed the way the Naseby handles, but that doesn't mean the Lieutenant and the local pilots (no, not pirates!) can't maneuver her around as necessary to keep her safe from the changing winds, especially if they have some experienced hands on board already.
The Lee Roads -- Google isn't being helpful about this: it wants to tell me about where Gen. Leigh rode in the American Civil War and a pop group!
I think this must refer to the outlet of the Lee River into the Thames estuary: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/en…
Or was it off Leigh-on-Sea? "The riverside settlement of 'Old Leigh', or 'The Old Town', is historically significant; it was once on the primary shipping route to London. From the Middle Ages until the turn of the 20th century, Old Leigh hosted the settlement's market square, and high street (known as Leigh Strand). Elizabethan historian William Camden (1551–1623) described Leigh as "a proper fine little towne and verie full of stout and adventurous sailers". By the 1740s Leigh's deep water access had become silted up (as attested to by John Wesley) and the village was in decline as an anchorage and port of call." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lei…
Blacktail is no help either -- it's a USA ski center, there was a town in the Dakotas by that name, XBox game, type of deer, etc. etc.
The Nore we know: https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
Ideas???
About Wednesday 4 April 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
I wonder why no one reigned in Hhomboy:
"Meanwhile, the elevated old soldier Monck could enjoy life at his new country estate while he and his wife benefited from the generous spoils of royal patronage."
No they didn't -- Monck continued to earned his 'royal patronage' by standing right behind Charles II for another 10 years, until his health gave out. He stayed in London to oversee the fight against the plague when the Court skiddaddled off to Oxford. He commanded ships during the second Anglo-Dutch War. He is a councilor and trusted advisor the whole way through the Diary. My apologies for this Spoiler, but someone has to say that Hhomeboy needs a fact checker.
About Wednesday 4 April 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
"At night, my Lord resolved to send the Captain of our ship to Waymouth and promote his being chosen there, which he did put himself into a readiness to do the next morning."
To be clear, this means "At night, my Lord [Montagu] resolved to send the Captain [Roger Cuttance] of our ship to Waymouth and promote his [Montagu's] being chosen there, which he [Cuttance] did put himself into a readiness to do the next morning."
Montagu has gone from retired country gentleman to political powerhouse very quickly; he needs to be a member of parliament to keep his power base.
I wonder why he chose Weymouth?
About Weymouth
San Diego Sarah • Link
PART 4
Meanwhile Shaftesbury’s candidate, John Man, had been adopted unanimously by the corporation, although he had no known connexion with the borough. His campaign, managed by Pley, was strictly orthodox for this thirsty constituency.
One of Man’s own voters wrote to him: "I do assure you that I have not hitherto touched of yours or any other’s Canary, wherewith one of your pretended friends (as I was informed) swilled himself so the day my lord’s letter was read that he wanted supporters, and I am told he continues to drink your health daily at your charge with whomsoever he can get to accompany him, and for the Pleys’ parts, their brew-houses have full employment to furnish beer to their alehouses, whom they give liberty to cozen and cheat what they please on your account. ... I humbly conceive they have abused my lord chancellor and yourself by intimating to some of their schismatical crew that his lordship was a great and main instrument in procuring them liberty. ... Colonel Strangways would not, as I believe, [have] proceeded had they kept themselves civil, but a person of that honour to bear the threats [to] be thrown on his back was what he could not [do]."
Strangways refused to give up, although his son was defeated at the poll. When Parliament met he succeeded in having all the by-elections declared void on the grounds that the writs had been issued during the recess without the Speaker’s warrant.
He then reached a compromise with Shaftesbury, by which his son was returned at Poole in exchange for Man’s uncontested election at Weymouth. Nevertheless the Strangways interest had been out-manoeuvred, leaving Shaftesbury controlling 3 of the Weymouth seats in return for a shadowy claim to Poole.
With Shaftesbury’s intriguing cousin, John Harrington of the many aliases, at least intermittently resident in the town, there could be no doubt that the fourth seat would fall into his lap as soon as it became vacant, and in fact there is no evidence that Winston Churchill stood in 1679.
Excerpt from https://www.historyofparliamenton…
@@@
Ah, the good old days!
About Weymouth
San Diego Sarah • Link
PART 3
When the legal poll was resumed on Monday, 66 more votes were recorded for Sir John Coventry. But not one voice presented or offered itself for Mr Harvey, at which Mr Mayor asked aloud if there were not any voices more that would be polled for Mr Harvey, and it was likewise asked whether any could make exceptions against any of the freeholders that had then voted for Sir John Coventry, to which one Mr Collyer (a great stickler for Mr Harvey, and he that affronted the magistrates) replied ‘No, we except not against your voices, but your proceedings, for we know you will carry it by the majority of voices’; at which all the people laughed.
The corporation having completed the return immediately recorded in their minute book that "divers inhabitants of this town ... have by indirect means endeavoured to promote the interests of their friends by a new and unknown way of making freeholders contrary to the custom of the town ... savouring very highly of deceit and collusion."
They declared that freeholds created since the date of the writ did not carry the right to vote in that election, nor could it be exercised by children under the age of 14.
A double return was sent up, but the House saw no reason why Coventry should not take his seat.
Harvey presented a further petition in the next session. Evidence was given for Coventry of rather trivial corruption and intimidation. Capt. John Cuttance, now an alderman, said that he ‘saw some of Mr Harvey’s company wink and nod their heads to some of his party, and doth believe it was to whoop and bellow and make disturbance, for so it fell out presently after thereupon’. Harvey’s petition was rejected (20 Nov. 1667).
Ashley Cooper proceeded to consolidate his position. Nothing is known of the next election, in which his son was returned, probably unopposed.
But the next vacancy produced an all-out battle with the Strangways interest. Ashley Cooper, now the Earl of Shaftesbury and lord chancellor, issued the writ, with 33 others, just before Parliament reassembled. Strangways first put forward his son-in-law James Long (son of Sir James Long).
But when it became apparent that Thomas Strangways faced defeat at Poole at the hands of Shaftesbury’s brother, George Cooper, Strangways dropped Long in favour of his own son.
About Weymouth
San Diego Sarah • Link
PART 2
The court candidate, Sir John Coventry, on the other hand, was provided with a letter of support from his uncle and former guardian, Anthony Ashley-Cooper MP, who as Chancellor of the Exchequer was able to bring pressure to bear on the customs officials.
Sir John Strangways had been ill for months, and Harvey, ‘having many young attorneys in his company’, had used the time to good purpose in creating faggot votes. The Court Party were handicapped in the earlier stages of their campaign by uncertainty about Coventry’s intentions.
Pley held back the elections 10 days for this reason, and meanwhile a Dutch prize, laden with wine, was brought into port. The fleet was in, drink was cheap, and the election uproarious:
"The poll began, and continued not above a quarter of an hour before a dispute arose about a freeholder, whether he were so or no; this occasioned the first heat, but afterwards many exceptions of that kind were taken on both sides, in so much as there was great noise and horrid confusion, as enforced the mayor several times to stop the poll until it was appeased, which lasted not long, for every now and then they would be up in arms, whooping and bawling and affronting the magistrates with opprobrious language as they sat on the bench, in so much as there was just cause to fear all the company would have gone by the ears."
Pley, despite, as he afterwards related, feeling excessively unwell — continued the poll unil Coventry was leading by 77 to 59, but the rowdiness increasing he adjourned the election for 3 days, because ‘the town being full of seamen belonging to men of war [which] were to set sail the next evening, and the town full of prize wine, one [day] might not have been enough to have appeased the difference’.
After a few minutes Browne sent his under-sheriff to the mayor to demand a resumption. On meeting with a refusal, he replied: ‘Since you refuse to go on with the poll, the high sheriff is resolved he will’.
Forty-two more votes were collected for Harvey, "allowing every voice to be a lawful freeholder that voted for Mr Harvey, which is since most evident they were not, five of them being made freeholders the last law-day, in order to a new election (as is reported) ... They shut up from the poll and proclaimed Mr Harvey their burgess, who, riding upon people’s shoulders from the hall to his inn, he himself shaked his own hat for joy."
About Weymouth
San Diego Sarah • Link
In April 1660, Adm. Edward Montagu stood for the Weymouth election. To give you an idea of how chaotic an election was in those days, here is the House of Common's take on Weymouth elections after the Civil Wars:
During the Civil Wars neither Royalists nor Parliamentarians could claim a monopoly of support in Weymouth.
The main features of the Restoration period were the increasing strength of the Country Party and of government influence. These apparently conflicting tendencies were both reconciled and fostered by Anthony Ashley-Cooper MP, later the Earl of Shaftesbury, first in order to undermine the interest of his local rivals, the Strangways family, later for broader political purposes.
In the general election of 1660, the poll was topped by two ex-admirals, Edward Montagu and William Penn. Montagu’s election was procured by his flag-captain, Cuttance, son of a Weymouth merchant, and apparently a republican sympathizer.
George Monck wrote on behalf of Penn.
On one indenture he was followed by two merchants, the Weymouth alderman Henry Waltham and the Londoner Peter Middleton, whose grandfather had been a great benefactor to the borough; on the other the recorder Samuel Bond, son of a well-known Cromwellian, took Middleton’s place. A local Puritan gentleman, John Browne, and a locally born London merchant, Samuel Mico, brought up the rear.
On 5 May the committee of elections found Peter ‘Middleton had more voices of those that had the right to elect’, and the House seated him.
At the by-election which followed Adm. Montagu’s decision to sit for another constituency there were originally 3 candidates. But Mico’s supporters succeeded in blocking the election of the Hon. Edward Montagu, only to see their own man defeated at the poll by a local gentleman and courtier, Bullen Reymes.
Reymes’ success marks the re-entry of the Cavaliers, who, with their new recruit Penn, nominated by the Duke of York, swept the board at the next election. There was a marked distinction between Weymouth’s senior Member in the Cavalier Parliament, Sir John Strangways (a country cavalier of the old school) and the other 3. Reymes and Penn were both placemen, and Winston Churchill was soon to join them.
This cleavage came into the open on Strangways’s death. Reymes was now managing the court interest, a happy circumstance since the mayor, Pley, formerly an ardent Commonwealth man, was his partner in the supply of sailcloth to the navy. The sheriff, Browne (one of the unsuccessful 1660 candidates), was plainly a partisan of the dissenter Michael Harvey, set up by the Country Party. Browne’s letter to the late Member’s son (Giles Strangways) implies he expected the support of that pillar of the establishment; and Harvey’s return was in due course signed by George Strangways, who managed the family interest in Weymouth.