Saturday 17 February 1665/66

Up, and to the office, where busy all the morning. Late to dinner, and then to the office again, and there busy till past twelve at night, and so home to supper and to bed.

We have newes of Sir Jeremy Smith’s being very well with his fleete at Cales. — [Cadiz]

17 Annotations

First Reading

cape henry  •  Link

This short entry is a good reminder that Pepys success, making him a wealthy man in a few years, is founded on his work ethic. It sets him apart from his rivals and protects him from his enemies. It is the amplifier through which all his other qualities pass.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Click the links to correspondence about the Chatham Infirmary for tars proposed by Evelyn and promoted by Pepys ("Also on this day" above, right).

Ruben  •  Link

Is it possible that the English entered Cadiz bay peacefully as merchants? Gaditanos (Cadiz citizens) did not have much love for the English in those days.
History tell us that "in 1587 all the shipping in its harbour was burned by the English squadron under Sir Francis Drake; in 1596 the fleet of the earl of Essex and Lord Charles Howard sacked the city, and destroyed forty merchant vessels and thirteen warships...Its...wealth tempted the duke of Buckingham to promote the fruitless expedition to Cadiz of 1626; thirty years later Admiral Blake blockaded the harbour in an endeavour to intercept the treasure fleet; and in 1702 another attack was made by the British under Sir George Rooke and the duke of Ormonde."

I am not a naval expert but I pressume this "fleet" was what we call a convoy, progressing at the pace of the slowest vessel involved. From time to time a very fast ship was sent home for intelligence sake.
In Sam's diary we read "at Cales". But, may be Sir Jeremy Smith was off Cadiz? He was already near Lisbon, a friendly port. Why take chances in Spain?

For historical maps see:
http://historic-cities.huji.ac.il…
http://historic-cities.huji.ac.il…

JWB  •  Link

Ruben:
You forget Louis and his march to the Rhine, lusting after Spanish Neatherlands & Franche Comte (Sp Burgundy). England has just declared war-the enemy of my enemy.

Ruben  •  Link

JWB:
France and Spain's Kings may be quarreling for a piece of land and glory but for the citizens of Cadiz, who suffered so much because of the English invasions to their city, an English heretic was still meat for the Inquisition. Only after Wellington, did the Spanish common people find the English acceptable, in spite of Nelson.

All that happened before the football kind of invasions. :)

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Sorry Ruben. L&M say Smith's "strong" fleet was a response to the English declaration of war on France.
They cite *England in the Mediterranean* By Julian Stafford Corbett. A read of pp. 53-6 and 58-60 makes plain that Smith's fleet blocked Corbet's strategy in the Med. http://snipurl.com/c4ma0

cgs  •  Link

wot the lads on street feel and wot the epauletty betters feel has 'nutin' to do with how the money flows.
'istory is full of how the lads with the law ignore the majority even in a democracy.
The showing of teeth do not reflect the gnashing of brain cells , 'tis why the 'uman be so succesful.

Diplomacy usually trumps armour in due time, but works well in the short time.

Ruben  •  Link

Terry:
I think the difference between us is that I was speaking about the Cadiz citizen and you are speaking of political maneuvering by the different Kings.
My first language is Spanish and the first song I learned as a boy was "Mambru se fue a la guerra y ya no volvera", (taken from the French). This popular song has nothing good to say about John Churchill (Mambru) and represents well what the Spanish people felt 300 years ago. Do not think the Spanish love to see England inserted in Gibraltar!
Always remember that the "magnificent sailor" of one country was considered a pirate in the other and viceversa. And England had a lot of magnificent sailors...

cgs  •  Link

Calle be road so as the locals did not wish to tell a bunch of Tars where they be, "Si Calle", they say pointing to road into town, so until peace be made and English got that rock, Cadiz be Cale.
Many a place got strange names, one I know of "Nasty, and the females were up in arms when the local institute be called " ***** WI" and the en too, it was then known as the WI of "*****"

Language be simple two Sapiens trying to identify themselves, the first pointing to 'imself " me Man " then pointing to the other body " noman" .

Andrew Hamilton  •  Link

Cadiz

A popular college song in the USA in the 1920s and 1930s when (in some versions) like this:

When I was a young man in Cadiz
I played on my Spanish guitar, ha, ha.
And I used to make love to the ladies,
To the tune of my Spanish guitar, ha, ha.

I haven't been able to find a citation earlier than 1938, but my father sang it when he was in college in the 1920s. Anyone know it?

JWB  •  Link

"...in 1596 the fleet of the earl of Essex and Lord Charles Howard sacked the city, and destroyed forty merchant vessels and thirteen warships..."

John Donne was along & during the expedition wrote these three epigrams:
1) A BURNT SHIP.
Out of a fired ship, which by no way
But drowning could be rescued from the flame,
Some men leap'd forth, and ever as they came
Near the foes' ships, did by their shot decay ;
So all were lost, which in the ship were found,
They in the sea being burnt, they in the burnt ship drowned.

2) FALL OF A WALL
Under an undermined and shot-bruised wall
A too-bold captain perish'd by the fall,
Whose brave misfortune happiest men envied,
That had a town for tomb, his bones to hide.

& 3) A LAME BEGGAR.
I am unable, yonder beggar cries,
To stand, or move ; if he say true, he lies

Ruben  •  Link

JWB:
thank you for the epigrams. 300 years later I can still feel the sharp mind of the poet and enjoy the reading.
In the book I looked http://books.google.co.il/books?i… after "a Lame Beggar" you can find yet again "Cales and Guiana", a poem about the importance of Cadiz to the intercontinental contact.

cgs  •  Link

Man is and still is greedy and still thinks 'wots yours be mine" .

And many memories on pain pass, still hurt deep,
and many [never all] will do anything to get his way.

Does anyone Know the correct connection on Cales, Gales, Cadis, Cadiz ?

Cales and Guyana [Gales and Guyana] [Cadis]

If you from spoyle of th'old worlds fathest end
To the new world your kindled valors bend,
What brave Examples then do prove it trew
That one things end doth still beginne a new.

http://books.google.com/books?id=…

Second Reading

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"We have newes of Sir Jeremy Smith’s being very well with his fleete at Cales."

This being a stormy time of year, sailing from Cadiz to Portsmouth or London could take a long time -- or be very quick -- depending on the winds. Do we have any independent information on when Smith reached Cadiz?

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