Thursday 16 July 1663

Up and dispatched things into the country and to my father’s, and two keggs of Sturgeon and a dozen bottles of wine to Cambridge for my cozen Roger Pepys, which I give him. By and by down by water on several Deall ships, and stood upon a stage in one place seeing calkers sheathing of a ship. Then at Wapping to my carver’s about my Viall head. So home, and thence to my Viall maker’s in Bishopsgate Street; his name is Wise, who is a pretty fellow at it. Thence to the Exchange, and so home to dinner, and then to my office, where a full board, and busy all the afternoon, and among other things made a great contract with Sir W. Warren for 40,000 deals Swinsound, at 3l. 17s. 0d. per hundred. In the morning before I went on the water I was at Thames Street about some pitch, and there meeting Anthony Joyce, I took him and Mr. Stacy, the Tarr merchant, to the tavern, where Stacy told me many old stories of my Lady Batten’s former poor condition, and how her former husband broke, and how she came to her state.

At night, after office done, I went to Sir W. Batten’s, where my Lady and I [had] some high words about emptying our house of office, where I did tell her my mind, and at last agreed that it should be done through my office, and so all well. So home to bed.

25 Annotations

First Reading

Australian Susan  •  Link

Sam, as ever, in interested in craftsmen at work or a new trade he has not seen before: the caulking, which he makes a point of stopping to watch and the vial-maker. Isn't this a busy, busy day, ending with a rousing neighbourly dispute about disposing of turds - I note that Sam had this argument with Lady B, not Sir W. Does this mean that, if Elizabeth had been around, the "discussion" [full-blown row?] would have been between Elizabeth and Lady B? I see a dialogue forming from Mr Gertz?

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Thus is my previous question about possible problems to the neighbors from Sam's own h of o answered in the affirmative. I suppose next Penn or Minnes will be complaining about the Battens.

"Sorry if dinner's a bit less pleasant than usual, Mr. Pepys." Lady Batten glares. "Perhaps if we could relieve our cellar of a few gallons of your effluent..."

"My effluent, my Lady? Now see here..."

God, this would never happen in my country, Mingo rolls eyes, sighing as he sets down a platter of meat.

We have a sense of decorum about such things...

Aqua  •  Link

"...my carver’s about my Viall head...."
"...where Stacy told me many old stories of my Lady Batten’s former poor condition, and how her former husband broke, and how she came to her state..."
"...some high words about emptying our house of office, where I did tell her my mind ..."
wat a vile state

dirk  •  Link

John Evelyn's diary today:

"16th. A most extraordinary wet and cold season. ---- Sir George Carteret, Treasurer of the Navy, had now married his daughter, Caroline, to Sir Thomas Scott, of Scott's-hall, in Kent. This gentleman was thought to be the son of Prince Rupert."

M  •  Link

deals Swinsound

For a prior meeting between Pepys and Warren, where all is explained to Sam about deal, and Paulene explains in her annotation that swinsound is Swinesund Fjord, south and to the east of Oslo/Christina, forming the southern end of the border between Norway and Sweden today

http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…

JWB  •  Link

back of an envelope-

Pine today is ~$0.38 or $5.13/deal =2.79GBP/deal. Sam paid 1540L for the contact, or (using this converter: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.u…) 118,225GBP which @ 40k X 2.79=111,600GBP. Close enough for government work.

Xjy  •  Link

"Swinsound"
Svinesund it is, and western Scandinavia, not the Baltic this time. The area was in flux between Danish and Swedish possession at the time. Although the Swedish navy was absolute crap at the time, Great Power or not. Read all about the multiple fiascos it suffered in the 1670s. (No refs for the moment, sorry, though the sea-battles concerned were Öland in 1676 and Köge Bay 1677. The Öland battle in particular was a hoot.)

Note the ease with which Sam's handling big money now, and doing it well.

John M  •  Link

"where I did tell her my mind, and at last agreed that it should be done through my office"

When jakes are full you have to get the honey bucket men in to empty them. Faced with a strong willed woman Sam caves in and the honey bucket men tramp through his office.

A. Hamilton  •  Link

Nothing like a brisk dispute before bedtime over the disposal of turds with a woman of uncertain pedigree to banish thoughts of amorous sporting, of which none noted in today's entry.

JWB  •  Link

Labor on a wooden cross...

The real price of lumber is about the same Sam's time & now. Only two data points, but suggests that tree farming & harvest technology have just offset 17th C timberland returns and lowcost labor. Wood so integral to living that the cost of living changes with the cost of wood. Maybe we'd have been better off tying currencies to a wood standard. Wooden nichels anyone?

Aqua  •  Link

"...where a full board..." plus all the spare commissioners Petts and even Lord whats his name.
This be too big a deal, to rip off the State treasury for hapeth of tar.

jeannine  •  Link

Servants empty Sam's house of the office
Lady B is appalled and standoffish
They slish slosh on the stairs
And destroy her fresh air
Leaving a stench like a pile of dead crawfish

(Thanks to an "unnamed co-conspirator" for sending me words to rhyme with office! After reading this I'm sure he wishes he hadn't!)

Australian Susan  •  Link

"through my office"
I took that to mean through Sam's *house* of office - i.e. through Sam's area of the cellar, not his workplace, which is surely on the other side ofthe Navy Office Courtyard? The Battens occupy the section of housing next to Sam's.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"seeing calkers sheathing of a ship."

The sheathing (to prevent damage by ship-worms) usually consisted of nailing below the waterline 'elm board half an inch thick over layers of Stockholm tar and hair of equal thickness': G.P.B. Naish in C. Singer et al., Hist. Technol, iii. 481. Experiments with lead were made later in the reign, but the only effective device (copper-bottoming) was not introduced until the later 18th century.
(L&M footnote)

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"made a great contract with Sir W. Warren for 40,000 deals Swinsound"

The first draft of this contract in Pepys's hand (23 July) is in what is now the National Archives of the UK. (Per L&M footnote)

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"... I went to Sir W. Batten’s, where my Lady and I [had] some high words about emptying our house of office, where I did tell her my mind, and at last agreed that it should be done through my office, and so all well. "

I read this as the Pepys' and the Battens' vats of effluent are co-located in Pepys' cellar, as we know from previous posts. Lady Batten wanted to maintain control over their vats (and therefore the timing of costs to empty them), but Pepys wins the argument: in future he will call the Night Soil Men so there will be no overflows as in 1661, or inconvenient scheduling as last week. Presumably they will split the bill, or whatever. "... and so all well." is his pat on the back for winning the heated conversation.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"... I was at Thames Street about some pitch, and there meeting Anthony Joyce, I took him and Mr. Stacy, the Tarr merchant, ..."

Pitch -- a black or dark viscous substance obtained as a residue in the distillation of organic materials and especially tars -- Merriam Webster Dictionary

James Louder  •  Link

@JWB Sorry, but I can't make your numbers come out. Wikipedia gives the English deal as 8.75 cubic feet. That is equivalent to 105 board feet in today's measure. (1bf = 12 x 12 x1 inches). That being so, Sam bought 4.2 million(!) board feet of lumber for £1540. Taking the 2005 equivalent of £118,225 (same conversion as yours) that comes out to 2.8 p ( 3.5¢ US) per board foot. If you know some place where I can get pine at that price, I'll take a truckload!

James Louder  •  Link

Anyone puzzled by Sam's repairing to the (wood)carver's shop to see "about my Viall head" should know that where the violin family typically has a simple, elegant scroll on the instrument's peg-head, the viols still cultivated in the 17th century often had a little carved figure: the head of a maiden, a sage, a warrior, a dolphin...and many other motifs, much like the figureheads of ships. If you Google "viol" or better yet, search on YouTube, you may see and hear these instruments, which have been revived in our time. Today's luthiers take pride in carving these things themselves, but here we read that in Sam's day it must have been common to send the unfinished instrument out to a professional carver to have this detail added.

john  •  Link

The journey of the honeymen -- today they use a honey truck to clean out (outdoor) septic tanks -- hints at what we take for granted nowadays in many urban areas. As usual, further information found in Jane Picard (and see also Rose George, "The Big Necessity".

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