Monday 21 September 1668
Up, and betimes Sir D. Gawden with me talking about the Victualling business, which is now under dispute for a new contract, or whether it shall be put into a Commission. He gone, comes Mr. Hill to talk with me about Lanyon’s business, and so being in haste I took him to the water with me, and so to White Hall, and there left him, and I to Sir W. Coventry, and shewed him my answer to the Duke of York’s great letter, which he likes well. We also discoursed about the Victualling business, which he thinks there is a design to put into a way of Commission, but do look upon all things to be managed with faction, and is grieved under it. So to St. James’s, and there the Duke of York did of his own accord come to me, and tell me that he had read, and do like of, my answers to the objections which he did give me the other day, about the Navy; and so did W. Coventry too, who told me that the Duke of York had shown him them: So to White Hall a little and the Chequer, and then by water home to dinner with my people, where Tong was also this day with me, whom I shall employ for a time, and so out again and by water to Somerset House, but when come thither I turned back and to Southwarke-Fair, very dirty, and there saw the puppet-show of Whittington, which was pretty to see; and how that idle thing do work upon people that see it, and even myself too! And thence to Jacob Hall’s dancing on the ropes, where I saw such action as I never saw before, and mightily worth seeing; and here took acquaintance with a fellow that carried me to a tavern, whither come the musick of this booth, and by and by Jacob Hall himself, with whom I had a mind to speak, to hear whether he had ever any mischief by falls in his time. He told me, “Yes, many; but never to the breaking of a limb:” he seems a mighty strong man.
So giving them a bottle or two of wine, I away with Payne, the waterman. He, seeing me at the play, did get a link to light me, and so light me to the Beare, where Bland, my waterman, waited for me with gold and other things he kept for me, to the value of 40l. and more, which I had about me, for fear of my pockets being cut. So by link-light through the bridge, it being mighty dark, but still weather, and so home, where I find my draught of “The Resolution” come, finished, from Chatham; but will cost me, one way or other, about 12l. or 13l., in the board, frame, and garnishing, which is a little too much, but I will not be beholden to the King’s officers that do it. So to supper, and the boy to read to me, and so to bed. This day I met Mr. Moore in the New Exchange, and had much talk of my Lord’s concernments. This day also come out first the new five-pieces in gold, coined by the Guiny Company; and I did get two pieces of Mr. Holder.
15 Annotations
First Reading
Glyn • Link
“He, seeing me at the play, did get a link to light me, and so light me to the Beare, where Bland, my waterman, waited for me”.
If it’s after 9 o’clock then the gates on London Bridge will have been closed, so Pepys would have to get a boat to take him across the Thames, but it might be earlier and he was going to use the boat anyway. It is interesting that he can now afford to keep a boatman waiting for him rather than just hire one. But I don’t understand why he didn’t go home first or get the money put somewhere safe as soon as possible.
By the way, this is the Bear at the south side of London Bridge, then owned by Abraham Browne whose very pretty and much younger wife had killed herself earlier in the year (see annotations and the entries for 8 March 1666 and 24 February 1668). The annotations about the Beare are well worth reading.
http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…
Terry Foreman • Link
"my draught of “The Resolution” come, finished, from Chatham"
Ordered 15 July: "Captain Deane come and spent the evening with me, to draw some finishing lines on his fine draught of “The Resolution,...." http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
Andrew Hamilton • Link
Hard to miss the comedy here. Sam shows his answers to the "Duke of York's great letter" (which he, Sam, wrote) to Coventry for his approbation. Then the Duke praises Sam's answer to the letter, and Coventry chimes in. Then Sam goes to see a puppet show.
Second Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
"Sir D. Gawden with me talking about the Victualling business, which is now under dispute for a new contract, or whether it shall be put into a Commission."
L&M note victualling had been put under the direct management of a commission during 1642-51 [Civil War] and 1655-60 [Commonwealth]. http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…
Terry Foreman • Link
"This day also come out first the new five-pieces in gold, coined by the Guiny Company"
The British Five Guinea coin was a machine-struck currency produced from 1668–1753. It was a gold coin 37 millimetres in diameter and weighing between 41 and 42 grams. Although the coin is now known as the "five guinea" piece, during the 17th and 18th centuries it was also known as a five-pound piece, as during the reign of Charles II a guinea was worth twenty shillings
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiv…
1668 elephant five guineas, obverse and reverse
Courtesy of Spink http://www.coins-of-the-uk.co.uk/…
Terry Foreman • Link
"to Southwarke-Fair, very dirty, and there saw the puppet-show of Whittington,"
See the link for Dick Whittington and His Cat
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
San Diego Sarah • Link
The volume covering correspondence from Nov. 1667 – Sept. 1668 is at
https://play.google.com/books/rea…
Page 641-643
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Sept. 21.
Lyme
Ant. Thorold to Hickes.
The Concord and Margaret of Lyme from Rotterdam report that the reception of the English Ambassador there was very splendid, and much exceeded what is ordinarily done on such occasions;
also that Holland and the other provinces are very high for making the Prince of Orange General, and investing him with all the privileges enjoyed by his father.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 246, No. 99.]
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Sir William Temple was the new Ambassador to the United Providences.
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Sept. 21. 1668
Falmouth
Thos. Holden to Hickes.
The Black Eagle of Amsterdam arrived from Sally,
reports that 4 English merchantmen were brought in there, as also 1 Spaniard and a Frenchman, having been deceived by an Algiers man-of-war with a Sally commission;
also that 4 men-of-war put to sea, bound for the Canaries;
2 English merchant ships are trading there.
Asks whether it is true that a new island, called Pine's Island, has been found, and that it is remarkable for the strangeness of its inhabitants.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 246, No. 100.]
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Sept. 21. 1668
Bristol
James Baskerville to Williamson.
Alderman Thos. Stevens has been elected mayor, and Humphrey Little, goldsmith, and Rich. Hart, merchant, sheriffs.
A very malignant fever rages in the adjacent parts, of which many die.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 246, No. 101.]
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Sept. 21. 1668
Order for a warrant
to pay to George Duke of Buckingham 8,083/. 6s. 8d.,
being the arrears due to him as gentleman of the bedchamber from 29 May 1660 to 24 June last;
and also a pension of 1,000/. a year for life.
[S.P. Dom., Entry Book 30, f. 82.]
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George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham is currently the most powerful person in the CABAL “government”. It appears the Treasury Commission isn’t empowered to stop Charles II’s gifts to his favorites. I wonder if they will question whether or not they should pay George for the time he spent in the Tower accused of Treason.
San Diego Sarah • Link
Sept. 21. 1668
Capt. Isaac White, of the Wren, to the Navy Commissioners.
Kinsale.
Set sail from Cadiz, with the Earl of Sandwich, 13 Sept.;
pressing sail to keep company with the Greenwich, sprang a leak, and was forced back to Cadiz;
and when ready to sail, had advice from Tangiers that the Earl of Sandwich had sailed from thence.
There being 10 sail of Dutch ships bound for Holland, kept company with them till near 60 leagues from Scilly;
was forced in to Kinsale by easterly winds, having a leaky ship and no provisions.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 246, No. 107.)
Encloses,
Paper of news
that a frigate of Algiers of 150 tons, 10 guns, and 200 men, takes all nations he meets with, and carries them to Sally.
The commander's name is Solyman Bewfen, a Turk of Algiers, and a fat black man.
There are also 5 other Sally ships out. - Sally, 25 August 1665.
With note that the original was sent to Esquire Wren, 8 October 1668.
[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 246, No. 1071.]
San Diego Sarah • Link
A Bill of Lading arrives on Pepys' desk today ... a gift from the Gods (of Massachusetts). It prompts a thank you note from Charles II:
PLANTATION CORRESPONDENCE, July 1668
https://www.british-history.ac.uk…
July 20. 1668
Charlestown, New England. #1797.
Fr. Willoughby, Daniel Gookin, Thomas Danforth, and Jno. Leverett to the Commissioners of his Majesty's Navy.
Inclose bill of lading of 24 great masts on board the Royal Exchange, Capt. John Pierce, which, with two great ones sent last year, are a present to his Majesty from the General Court of Massachusetts as a manifestation of their loyalty and good affection.
Four more masts which were provided were too big to be sent.
The Court has taken order for satisfying the freight, "although our incapacity is known."
Have a double request, the one, to represent these masts to his Majesty according to their worth, lest others should undervalue them;
the other, that they may be recorded in the office books, with their dimensions, as a present sent by the colony.
Inclose,
Invoice of the above 24 masts, ranging from 26 to 36 inches.
Indorsed, Rec. Sept. 21, 1668.
Together 2 pp.
[Col. Papers, Vol. XXIII., Nos. 17, 17 I.]
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AFTER SEPT 21 1668
#1798.
The King to (the Gov. and Council of Massachusetts).
Has received lately sundry assurances of their loyalty and affection in the present of masts for his Majesty's navy, as also in the supply so seasonably sent to his Majesty's ships at Barbados.
Is further assured by Lord Willoughby of their readiness to promote his Majesty's service.
Looks on all this as expressions of their loyal and sincere affection.
What they have now done has been exceeding acceptable.
Will always look on them as part of his care to provide for their peace and welfare in all things, and as the Plantation of New England was begun and carried on by the favour and protection of his Majesty's Predecessor, so he hopes it may flourish under his Majesty's Government, and he shall be ready at any time to receive any of their just desires and requests.
Indorsed by Williamson, New England.
1 p. [Col. Papers, Vol. XXIII., No. 18.]
James Morgan • Link
Jacob Hall's Jig is an English Country Dance from that era; it's nice to know the man. I've always thought the line of 4 going up and back i something he might do as a rope dancer. There are at least 4 online videos of "Jacob Hall's Jig": this is one of them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N…
john • Link
"Four more masts which were provided were too big to be sent. "
I am most curious as to how the other masts were sent by ship. (I assume that if towed, they would waterlog and sink.)
San Diego Sarah • Link
Good questions. I was wondering the same thing. Did they have a different design for large cargo ships? Maybe the masts dangled over the sides?
San Diego Sarah • Link
Would it have been possible to strap the lumber to the upright masts of the ship? No ... 24 upright would make the ship top-heavy.
24 long masts would be longer than the lower, middle part of the ship, so they must have be laid from the fore- to the aft-deck, making a sort of ceiling to the middle of the ship?
Who to ask???
San Diego Sarah • Link
While Googling this question, I found this:
To secure the strength and competence of these great merchant ships [SERVICING INDIA AND THE SPICE ISLANDS], advances in shipbuilding were necessary. The money was there: profits of 218 percent were recorded over five years, and even 50 percent profit could be earned in just 20 months. Among those undertaking more scientific construction was the British shipbuilder Phineas Pett (1570–1647).
Much fine shipbuilding emerged, including ships of the English East India Company, but the company began to freeze its designs too early, and its operating practices were a combination of haughty arrogance and lordly corruption. Captains were appointed who then let out the functioning command to the highest bidder. Education was thin, treatment of sailors despicable, and reverence for established practice defeated the lessons of experience. The merchantmen had to carry large crews to have available the numbers to make them secure against attack. But lost in this effort for security was the operating efficiency that a sound mercantile marine should seek.
It was left to other maritime markets to develop improvements in merchantmen after the early 17th century. The Dutch competitors of England were able to build and operate merchant ships more cheaply.
In the 16th century the sailing ship in general service was the Dutch fluyt, which made Holland the great maritime power of the 17th century. A long, relatively narrow ship designed to carry as much cargo as possible, the fluyt featured three masts and a large hold beneath a single deck. The main and fore masts carried two or more square sails and the third mast a lateen sail.
Only at the conclusion of the century, when the Dutch had been decisively defeated in the Anglo-Dutch trading wars, did England finally succeed to the role of leading merchant marine power in the world.
That role was gained in part because Oliver Cromwell restricted English trade to transport in English craft. In 1651 laws were initiated by Cromwell to deal with the low level of maritime development in England. The so-called Navigation Act sought to overcome conditions that had originated in the late Middle Ages when the Hanseatic League, dominating trade in the Baltic and northern Europe, carried most of Britain’s foreign seaborne trade.
When the Hansa declined in power in the 16th century the Dutch, just then beginning to gain independence from Spain politically and from Portugal in trade, gained a major part of the English carrying trade. The Navigation Act initiated a rapid change in that pattern.
After the restoration of the Stuart monarchy, English shipping nearly doubled in tonnage between 1666 and 1688.
By the beginning of the 18th century Britain had become the greatest maritime power and possessed the largest merchant marine until it lost that distinction to the Americans in the mid-19th century. ...
San Diego Sarah • Link
British shipping remained rather stagnant after the development of the East Indiaman in the 17th century. The Dutch became the innovators in the second half of the 17th century and maintained that status until the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars.
https://www.britannica.com/techno…