Monday 8 July 1667
Up, and to my chamber, and by and by comes Greeting, and to my flageolett with him with a pretty deal of pleasure, and then to the office, where [Sir] W. Batten, [Sir] W. Pen and I met about putting men to work for the weighing of the ships in the River sunk. Then home again, and there heard Mr. Caesar play some very good things on the lute together with myself on the violl and Greeting on the viallin. Then with my wife abroad by coach, she to her tailor‘s, I to Westminster to Burges about my Tangier business, and thence to White Hall, where I spoke with Sir John Nicholas, who tells me that Mr. Coventry is come from Bredah, as was expected; but, contrary to expectation, brings with him two or three articles which do not please the King: as, to retrench the Act of Navigation, and then to ascertain what are contraband goods; and then that those exiled persons, who are or shall take refuge in their country, may be secure from any further prosecution. Whether these will be enough to break the peace upon, or no, he cannot tell; but I perceive the certainty of peace is blown over. So called on my wife and met Creed by the way, and they two and I to Charing Cross, there to see the great boy and girle that are lately come out of Ireland, the latter eight, the former but four years old, of most prodigious bigness for their age. I tried to weigh them in my arms, and find them twice as heavy as people almost twice their age; and yet I am apt to believe they are very young. Their father a little sorry fellow, and their mother an old Irish woman. They have had four children of this bigness, and four of ordinary growth, whereof two of each are dead. If, as my Lord Ormond certifies, it be true that they are no older, it is very monstrous. So home and to dinner with my wife and to pipe, and then I to the office, where busy all the afternoon till the evening, and then with my wife by coach abroad to Bow and Stratford, it being so dusty weather that there was little pleasure in it, and so home and to walk in the garden, and thither comes Pelling to us to talk, and so in and to supper, and then to bed. All the world being as I hear very much damped that their hopes of peace is become uncertain again.
20 Annotations
First Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
John Evelyn's Diary
8th July, 1667. My Lord Brereton and others dined at my house, where I showed them proof of my new fuel, which was very glowing, and without smoke or ill smell.
http://short.to/2f316
Terry Foreman • Link
Lady Sandwich to the Earl
Written from: [London?]
Date: 8 July 1667
Communicates the birth of a son to Mr. Carteret and their daughter. Asks him to give no heed to certain "news" sent in the writer's last letter, which was the mere gossip of people. Rejoices to hear of a Peace with the Dutch.
http://www.rsl.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwm…
Terry Foreman • Link
"to retrench the Act of Navigation"
Presumably provisions of 'Charles II, 1663: An Act for the Encouragement of Trade', Statutes of the Realm: volume 5: 1628-80 (1819), pp. 449-452. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/… Date accessed: 08 July 2010
This was but the latest of the "Navigation Acts"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navi…
"The Acts were in full force for a short time only. After the Second Anglo-Dutch War, which ended disastrously for England, the Dutch obtained the right to ship commodities produced in their German hinterland to England as if these were Dutch goods. Even more importantly, England conceded the principle of "free ship, free good" which provided freedom of molestation by the Royal Navy of Dutch shipping on the high seas, even in wars in which the Dutch Republic was neutral. This more or less gave the Dutch freedom to conduct their "smuggling" unhindered as long as they were not caught red-handed in territorial waters controlled by England."
Robert Gertz • Link
"...home and to dinner with my wife and to pipe..."
"Quick, Bess...The pipe!"
Mary • Link
the great boy and girl.
L&M note that these children were reported to be four and a half feet tall (the boy) and nearly six feet tall respectively and that the girl was 'in thicknesse proportionable." Sam must have been feeling strong to try lifting that hefty lass.
Robert Gertz • Link
"... but, contrary to expectation, brings with him two or three articles which do not please the King: as, to retrench the Act of Navigation, and then to ascertain what are contraband goods; and then that those exiled persons, who are or shall take refuge in their country, may be secure from any further prosecution."
Considering this was originally conceived as a war to break the Dutch hold on world trade, I can see where Charlie would want to minimize humiliations on that score. On the other hand at least they're not demanding New Amsterdam back.
Tony Eldridge • Link
Their father a little sorry fellow, and their mother an old Irish woman. They have had four children of this bigness, and four of ordinary growth, whereof two of each are dead.
Roll up to the freak show!
There's something very sad about this entry - I wonder what became of them and their family.
L. K. van Marjenhoff • Link
". . . weighing of the ships in the River sunk."
Raising them, as in "Anchors aweigh."
Carl in Boston • Link
weighing of the ships in the River sunk ... Does anyone know the procedure for sinking a ship, and then raising it again? Surely they didn't pull out a plug and and then put it back. There must have been damage to the hull to allow sinking, and then there must have been repairs to make the ship seaworthy again. They must have had a way of pulling out planks from the middle of the hull and then reinstalling new planks for this to work. How did they get the ship to float up to the surface?
Terry Foreman • Link
"How did they get the ship to float up to the surface?"
JWB provided this annotation on Thu 1 Jul 2010.
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
Raising scuttled ships:
“Salvaging technology in the early 17th century was much more primitive than today, but the recovery of ships used roughly the same principles as were used to raise Vasa more than 300 years later. Two ships or hulks were placed parallel to either side above the wreck, and ropes attached to several anchors were sent down and hooked to the ship. The two hulks were filled with as much water as was safe, the ropes tightened, and the water pumped out. The sunken ship then rose with the ships on the surface and could be towed to shallower waters. The process was then repeated until the entire ship was successfully raised above water level.”
http://wapedia.mobi/en/Vasa_(ship….
L. K. van Marjenhoff • Link
Re sinking a ship, I don't know if they had seacocks back then, but a modern auxiliary sailboat has seacocks that can be opened to allow the sea to come in (i.e., into a hose for cooling the engine) or go out (i.e., waste water from the sink etc.). In the novel "Rebecca" the seacocks of her sailboat were deliberately opened to sink it with her body in it.
Carl in Boston • Link
Terry and L K, thank you so much for your clear explanation of how to float a sunken ship, especially in 1667 England. I am much obliged.
Brian • Link
In one of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels (I forget which) they repeatedly open their ship's "sweetening cock," allowing seawater to enter and flush out the bilges (to lessen the stench.)
Second Reading
cyclops • Link
Terry - your vasa link is DOA
Terry Foreman • Link
cyclops, thanks for heads-up. I've learned since 2010 not to use Wapedia and to stick with its source, Wikipedia!
About the way wrecks were raised in the 17th century and after: :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vas…
Terry Foreman • Link
" I perceive the certainty of peace is blown over."
L&M: Certain clauses of the draft treaty infringed the English Navigation Acts, and the Dutch were insisting on postponing consideration of the contraband question to a later treaty. The Privy Council, after long debates on 10-11 July, gave in to the Dutch on all these points: Feiling, p. 225.
Eric the Bish • Link
Good morning, and after a few years of “lurking” I thought I should register and comment - and thank all those make this wonderful website possible! Raising a sunken vessel in UK waters is easier than in eg the tideless Baltic. Less need for that tedious pumping of water in and out of the lifting vessels before moving the sunken vessel to shallower water: in many cases you can just let the tide do the work for you. Indeed, if the upper works of the sunken vessel are exposed at low tide you may simply have to close the sea cocks and allow the tide to float her – soggily – whereupon you can pump her out. Useful things, tides.
James Morgan • Link
I was interested in Evelyn's new fuel.
"8th July, 1667. My Lord Brereton and others dined at my house, where I showed them proof of my new fuel, which was very glowing, and without smoke or ill smell."
The link to his diary seems to be broken, but I found the Bray edition in Project Gutenberg, and on 7/2/67 he talks of the new fuel: "to be made at Maestricht, with a mixture of charcoal dust and loam, and which was tried with success at Gresham College"
John Evelyn. The Diary of John Evelyn (Volume 2 of 2) (Kindle Locations 671-672).
Jonathan V • Link
Welcome, Eric the Bish. Interesting observations that I never thought about (I'm a landlubber!).
San Diego Sarah • Link
"I was interested in Evelyn's new fuel."
Me too, James ... do we know Evelyn's invention by another name?