Sunday 24 November 1667

(Lord’s day). In my chamber all the morning (having lain long in bed) till Mr. Shepley come to dine with me, and there being to return to Hinchinbroke speedily, I did give him as good account how matters go here as I could. After dinner, he being gone, I to the office, and there for want of other of my clerks, sent to Mr. Gibbs, whom I never used till now, for the writing over of my little pocket Contract-book; and there I laboured till nine at night with him, in drawing up the history of all that hath passed concerning tickets, in order to the laying the whole, and clearing myself and Office, before Sir R. Brookes; and in this I took great pains, and then sent him away, and proceeded, and had W. Hewer come to me, and he and I till past twelve at night in the Office, and he, which was a good service, did so inform me in the consequences of my writing this report, and that what I said would not hold water, in denying this Board to have ever ordered the discharging out of the service whole ships by ticket, that I did alter my whole counsel, and fall to arme myself with good reasons to justify the Office in so doing, which hath been but rare, and having done this, I went, with great quiet in my mind, home, though vexed that so honest a business should bring me so much trouble; but mightily was pleased to find myself put out of my former design; and so, after supper, to bed.

8 Annotations

First Reading

Robert Gertz  •  Link

Gibbs' big moment...And we are there.

Hard to imagine Sam having someone on his team he doesn't "use". Who is this guy, Downing's nephew or something?

Ah, looks like from the reference he might have been a creature of Sandwich's...Or a relative of a creature of Sandwich's.

"Gibbs?"

"Mr. P?"

"Gibbs..." Sam give Sidney Reillyish icy stare..."I want you to know I suspect you, Gibbs. I suspect that you are a Dutch or French or Parliamentary agent. However, lacking assistance today I shall employ you, Gibbs. But you should know that I will have you killed should my suspicions be confirmed and you betray me. Do we understand each other, Gibbs?"

"Uh..."

"Excellent. We shall proceed."

Robert Gertz  •  Link

A wise man to heed the wise counsel of a friend...

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"I did alter my whole counsel, and fall to arme myself with good reasons to justify the Office in so doing, which hath been but rare"

L&M note in his letter to Brooke of 25 November, Pepys admitted that the Board had authorized payment by ticket on three occasions -- at Chatham December 1666 -- but only for the benefit of absentees.

Second Reading

Terry Foreman  •  Link

This inquiry into the payment of ships by ticket strikes me as unlikely to succeed. Brooke's mandate is to trace how funds were spent in the war, Brooke has testimony from seamen that whole ships were paid by ticket.

Sir Robert Brooke has approached Pepys because he assumes there must be a warrant in the files and SP will know how to find it: Pepys has been asked to find what does not exist: a written order signed and dated showing who is responsible for the practice of paying by ticket. That is, Brooke and the Committee on Miscarriages assume what happened in wartime was far more orderly than it was.

Pepys's job today is to convince Brooke to adopt another narrative.

As I understand it. the decision to pay ships off by ticket at Chatham was arguably an ad hoc measure to put a stop to seamen's time-in-service so they could be discharged with something in hand that was of some value. However, methinks Pepys is representing payment by ticket as rarer than it had been.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

"I laboured till nine at night with him, in drawing up the history of all that hath passed concerning tickets, in order to the laying the whole, and clearing myself and Office, before Sir R. Brookes; and in this I took great pains."

L&M: Pepys's rough longhand notes (undated) are in Rawl. A 191, ff. 175-93, 245-8, endorsed: 'An Assortment of my severall Collections out of our Bookes of Letters Orders and Memorandums &c. upon severall points to bee made use of in the prepareing a defence for thr Officers of the Navy to bee delivered in Parliament touching the business of Ticketts. Memd. That what I finde lyn'd out heerin is what I tooke thence to be perticularly mencioned in my discourse to the Parliament as appeares in my Paper I provided for my Memory contayning the Heads thereof.'

mountebank  •  Link

BBC Radio 4 are currently broadcasting a programme giving a historical perspective on the Fire Courts:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/…

"Jonathan Freedland looks at the huge backlog of legal cases caused by this year's COVID pandemic and compares it to the backlog caused by the Great Fire of London in 1666."

Batch  •  Link

Yes, Hewer is a true friend, and an intelligent one, to tell Pepys that his argument won't "hold water" and then convince him to alter his statement. He has certainly moved up from having been one of Pepys' early "boys."

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