Men of Invention and Industry
by Samuel Smiles
Hypertext Meanings and Commentaries
from the Encyclopedia of the Self
by Mark Zimmerman

by Samuel Smiles

"Men there have been, ignorant of letters; without art, without
eloquence; who yet had the wisdom to devise and the courage to
perform that which they lacked language to explain. Such men
have worked the deliverance of nations and their own greatness.
Their hearts are their books; events are their tutors; great
actions are their eloquence."--MACAULAY.

Contents.

Preface

CHAPTER I  Phineas Pett:
  Beginings of English Shipbuilding

CHAPTER II  Francis Pettit Smith:
  Practical introducer of the Screw Propeller

CHAPTER III  John Harrison:
  Inventor of the Marine Chronometer

CHAPTER IV  John Lombe:
  Introducer of the Silk Industry into England

CHAPTER V  William Murdock:
  His Life and Inventions

CHAPTER VI  Frederick Koenig:
  Inventor of the Steam-printing Machine

CHAPTER VII  The Walters of 'The Times':
  Inventor of the Walter Press

CHAPTER VIII William Clowes:
  Book-printing by Steam

CHAPTER IX  Charles Bianconi:
  A lession of Self-Help in Ireland

CHAPTER X  Industry in Ireland:
  Through Connaught and Ulster to Belfast

CHAPTER XI  Shipbuilding in Belfast:
  By Sir E. J. Harland, Engineer and Shipbuilder

CHAPTER XII  Astronomers and students in humble life:
  A new Chapter in the 'Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties'

PREFACE

I offer this book as a continuation of the memoirs of men of
invention and industry published some years ago in the 'Lives of
Engineers,' 'Industrial Biography,' and 'Self-Help.'

The early chapters relate to the history of a very important
branch of British industry--that of Shipbuilding. A later
chapter, kindly prepared by Sir Edward J. Harland, of Belfast,
relates to the origin and progress of shipbuilding in Ireland.

Many of the facts set forth in the Life and Inventions of William
Murdock have already been published in my 'Lives of Boulton and
Watt;" but these are now placed in a continuous narrative, and
supplemented by other information, more particularly the
correspondence between Watt and Murdock, communicated to me by
the present representative of the family, Mr. Murdock, C.E, of
Gilwern, near Abergavenny.

I have also endeavoured to give as accurate an account as
possible of the Invention of the Steam-printing Press, and its
application to the production of Newspapers and Books,--an
invention certainly of great importance to the spread of
knowledge, science, and literature, throughout the world.

The chapter on the "Industry of Ireland" will speak for itself.
It occurred to me, on passing through Ireland last year, that
much remained to be said on that subject; and, looking to the
increasing means of the country, and the well-known industry of
its people, it seems reasonable to expect, that with peace,
security, energy, and diligent labour of head and hand, there is
really a great future before Ireland.

The last chapter, on "Astronomers in Humble Life," consists for
the most part of a series of Autobiographies. It may seem, at
first sight, to have little to do with the leading object of the
book; but it serves to show what a number of active, earnest, and
able men are comparatively hidden throughout society, ready to
turn their hands and heads to the improvement of their own
characters, if not to the advancement of the general community
of which they form a part.

In conclusion, I say to the reader, as Quarles said in the
preface to his 'Emblems,' "I wish thee as much pleasure in the
reading as I had in the writing."  In fact, the last three
chapters were in some measure the cause of the book being
published in its present form.

London, November, 1884.

CHAPTER I.

PHINEAS PETT: BEGINNINGS OF ENGLISH SHIP-BUILDING.

"A speck in the Northern Ocean, with a rocky coast, an ungenial
climate, and a soil scarcely fruitful,--this was the material
patrimony which descended to the English race--an inheritance
that would have been little worth but for the inestimable moral
gift that accompanied it. Yes; from Celts, Saxons, Danes,
Normans--from some or all of them--have come down with English
nationality a talisman that could command sunshine, and plenty,
and empire, and fame. The 'go' which they transmitted to us--the
national vis--this it is which made the old Angle-land a glorious
heritage. Of this we have had a portion above our brethren--good
measure, running over. Through this our island-mother has
stretched out her arms till they enriched the globe of the
earth....Britain, without her energy and enterprise, what would
she be in Europe?"--Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine (1870).

In one of the few records of Sir Isaac Newton's life which he
left for the benefit of others, the following comprehensive
thought occurs:

"It is certainly apparent that the inhabitants of this world are
of a short date, seeing that all arts, as letters, ships,
printing, the needle, &c., were discovered within the memory of
history."

If this were true in Newton's time, how much truer is it now.
Most of the inventions which are so greatly influencing, as well
as advancing, the civilization of the world at the present time,
have been discovered within the last hundred or hundred and fifty
years. We do not say that man has become so much wiser during
that period; for, though he has grown in Knowledge, the most
fruitful of all things were said by "the heirs of all the ages"
thousands of years ago.

But as regards Physical Science, the progress made during the
last hundred years has been very great. Its most recent triumphs
have been in connection with the discovery of electric power and
electric light. Perhaps the most important invention, however,
was that of the working steam engine, made by Watt only about a
hundred years ago. The most recent application of this form of
energy has been in the propulsion of ships, which has already
produced so great an effect upon commerce, navigation, and the
spread of population over the world.

Equally important has been the influence of the Railway--now the
principal means of communication in all civilized countries.
This invention has started into full life within our own time.
The locomotive engine had for some years been employed in the
haulage of coals; but it was not until the opening of the
Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830, that the importance of
the invention came to be acknowledged. The locomotive railway
has since been everywhere adopted throughout Europe. In America,
Canada, and the Colonies, it has opened up the boundless
resources of the soil, bringing the country nearer to the towns,
and the towns to the country. It has enhanced the celerity of
time, and imparted a new series of conditions to every rank of
life.

The importance of steam navigation has been still more recently
ascertained. When it was first proposed, Sir Joseph Banks,
President of the Royal Society, said: "It is a pretty plan, but
there is just one point overlooked: that the steam-engine
requires a firm basis on which to work."  Symington, the
practical mechanic, put this theory to the test by his successful
experiments, first on Dalswinton Lake, and then on the Forth and
Clyde Canal. Fulton and Bell afterwards showed the power of
steamboats in navigating the rivers of America and Britain.

After various experiments, it was proposed to unite England and
America by steam. Dr. Lardner, however, delivered a lecture
before the Royal Institution in 1838, "proving" that steamers
could never cross the Atlantic, because they could not carry
sufficient coal to raise steam enough during the voyage. But
this theory was also tested by experience in the same year, when
the Sirius, of London, left Cork for New York, and made the
passage in nineteen days. Four days after the departure of the
Sirius, the Great Western left Bristol for New York, and made the
passage in thirteen days five hours.[1]  The problem was solved;
and great ocean steamers have ever since passed in continuous
streams between the shores of England and America.

In an age of progress, one invention merely paves the way for
another. The first steamers were impelled by means of paddle
wheels; but these are now almost entirely superseded by the
screw. And this, too, is an invention almost of yesterday. It
was only in 1840 that the Archimedes was fitted as a screw yacht.

A few years later, in 1845, the Great Britain, propelled by the
screw, left Liverpool for New York, and made the voyage in
fourteen days. The screw is now invariably adopted in all long
ocean voyages.

It is curious to look back, and observe the small beginnings of
maritime navigation. As regards this country, though its
institutions are old, modern England is still young. As respects
its mechanical and scientific achievements, it is the youngest of
all countries. Watt's steam engine was the beginning of our
manufacturing supremacy; and since its adoption, inventions and
discoveries in Art and Science, within the last hundred years,
have succeeded each other with extraordinary rapidity. In 1814
there was only one steam vessel in Scotland; while England
possessed none at all. Now, the British mercantile steam-ships
number about 5000, with about 4 millions of aggregate tonnage.[2]

In olden times this country possessed the materials for great
things, as well as the men fitted to develope them into great
results. But the nation was slow to awake and take advantage of
its opportunities. There was no enterprise, no commerce--no "go"
in the people. The roads were frightfully bad; and there was
little communication between one part of the country and another.

If anything important had to be done, we used to send for
foreigners to come and teach us how to do it. We sent for them
to drain our fens, to build our piers and harbours, and even to
pump our water at London Bridge. Though a seafaring population
lived round our coasts, we did not fish our own seas, but left it
to the industrious Dutchmen to catch the fish, and supply our
markets. It was not until the year 1787 that the Yarmouth people
began the deep-sea herring fishery; and yet these were the most
enterprising amongst the English fishermen.

English commerce also had very slender beginnings. At the
commencement of the fifteenth century, England was of very little
account in the affairs of Europe. Indeed, the history of modern
England is nearly coincident with the accession of the Tudors to
the throne. With the exception of Calais and Dunkirk, her
dominions on the Continent had been wrested from her by the
French. The country at home had been made desolate by the Wars
of the Roses. The population was very small, and had been kept
down by war, pestilence, and famine.[3] The chief staple was
wool, which was exported to Flanders in foreign ships, there to
be manufactured into cloth. Nearly every article of importance
was brought from abroad; and the little commerce which existed
was in the hands of foreigners. The seas were swept by
privateers, little better than pirates, who plundered without
scruple every vessel, whether friend or foe, which fell in their
way.

The British navy has risen from very low beginnings. The English
fleet had fallen from its high estate since the reign of Edward
III., who won a battle from the French and Flemings in 1340, with
260 ships; but his vessels were all of moderate size, being
boats, yachts, and caravels, of very small tonnage. According to
the contemporary chronicles, Weymouth, Fowey, Sandwich, and
Bristol, were then of nearly almost as much importance as
London;[4] which latter city only furnished twenty-five vessels,
with 662 mariners.

The Royal Fleet began in the reign of Henry VII. Only six or
seven vessels then belonged to the King, the largest being the
Grace de Dieu, of comparatively small tonnage. The custom then
was, to hire ships from the Venetians, the Genoese, the Hanse
towns, and other trading people; and as soon as the service for
which the vessels so hired was performed, they were dismissed.

When Henry VIII. ascended the throne in 1509, he directed his
attention to the state of the navy. Although the insular
position of England was calculated to stimulate the art of
shipbuilding more than in most continental countries, our best
ships long continued to be built by foreigners. Henry invited
from abroad, especially from Italy, where the art of shipbuilding
had made the greatest progress, as many skilful artists and
workmen as he could procure, either by the hope of gain, or the
high honours and distinguished countenance which he paid them.
"By incorporating," says Charnock, "these useful persons among
his own subjects, he soon formed a corps sufficient to rival
those states which had rendered themselves most distinguished by
their knowledge in this art; so that the fame of Genoa and
Venice, which had long excited the envy of the greater part of
Europe, became suddenly transferred to the shores of Britain."[5]

In fitting out his fleet, we find Henry disbursing large sums to
foreigners for shipbuilding, for "harness" or armour, and for
munitions of all sorts. The State Papers[6] particularize the
amounts paid to Lewez de la Fava for "harness;" to William Gurre,
"bregandy-maker;" and to Leonard Friscobald for "almayn ryvetts."

Francis de Errona, a Spaniard, supplied the gunpowder. Among the
foreign mechanics and artizans employed were Hans Popenruyter,
gunfounder of Mechlin; Robert Sakfeld, Robert Skorer, Fortuno de
Catalenago, and John Cavelcant. On one occasion 2,797L. 19s. 4
1/2d. was disbursed for guns and grindstones. This sum must be
multiplied by about four, to give the proper present value.
Popenruyter seems to have been the great gunfounder of the age;
he supplied the principal guns and gun stores for the English
navy, and his name occurs in every Ordnance account of the
series, generally for sums of the largest amounts.

Henry VIII. was the first to establish Royal dockyards, first at
Woolwich, then at Portsmouth, and thirdly at Deptford, for the
erection and repair of ships. Before then, England had been
principally dependent upon Dutchmen and Venetians, both for ships
of war and merchantmen. The sovereign had neither naval arsenals
nor dockyards, nor any regular establishment of civil or naval
affairs to provide ships of war. Sir Edward Howard, Lord High
Admiral of England, at the accession of Henry VIII., actually
entered into a "contract" with that monarch to fight his enemies.

This singular document is still preserved in the State Paper
office. Even after the establishment of royal dockyards, the
sovereign--as late as the reign of Elizabeth--entered into formal
contracts with shipwrights for the repair and maintenance of
ships, as well as for additions to the fleet.

The King, having made his first effort at establishing a royal
navy, sent the fleet to sea against the ships of France. The
Regent was the ship royal, with Sir Thomas Knivet, Master of the
Horse, and Sir John Crew of Devonshire, as Captains. The fleet
amounted to twenty-five well furnished ships. The French fleet
were thirty-nine in number. They met in Brittany Bay, and had a
fierce fight. The Regent grappled with a great carack of Brest;
the French, on the English boarding their ship, set fire to the
gunpowder, and both ships were blown up, with all their men. The
French fleet fled, and the English kept the seas. The King,
hearing of the loss of the Regent, caused a great ship to be
built, the like of which had never before been seen in England,
and called it Harry Grace de Dieu.

This ship was constructed by foreign artizans, principally by
Italians, and was launched in 1515. She was said to be of a
thousand tons portage --the largest ship in England. The vessel
was four-masted, with two round tops on each mast, except the
shortest mizen. She had a high forecastle and poop, from which
the crew could shoot down upon the deck or waist of another
vessel. The object was to have a sort of castle at each end of
the ship. This style of shipbuilding was doubtless borrowed from
the Venetians, then the greatest naval power in Europe. The
length of the masts, the height of the ship above the water's
edge, and the ornaments and decorations, were better adapted for
the stillness of the Adriatic and Mediterranean Seas, than for
the boisterous ocean of the northern parts of Europe.[7] The
story long prevailed that "the Great Harry swept a dozen flocks
of sheep off the Isle of Man with her bob-stay."  An American
gentleman (N.B. Anderson, LL.D., Boston) informed the present
author that this saying is still proverbial amongst the United
States sailors.

The same features were reproduced in merchant ships. Most of
them were suited for defence, to prevent the attacks of pirates,
which swarmed the seas round the coast at that time.
Shipbuilding by the natives in private shipyards was in a
miserable condition. Mr. Willet, in his memoir relative to the
navy, observes: "It is said, and I believe with truth, that at
this time (the middle of the sixteenth century) there was not a
private builder between London Bridge and Gravesend, who could
lay down a ship in the mould left from a Navy Board's draught,
without applying to a tinker who lived in Knave's Acre."[8]

Another ship of some note built at the instance of Henry VIII.
was the Mary Rose, of the portage of 500 tons. We find her in
the "pond at Deptford" in 1515. Seven years later, in the
thirtieth year of Henry VIII.'s reign, she was sent to sea, with
five other English ships of war, to protect such commerce as then
existed from the depredations of the French and Scotch pirates.
The Mary Rose was sent many years later (in 1544) with the
English fleet to the coast of France, but returned with the rest
of the fleet to Portsmouth without entering into any engagement.
While laid at anchor, not far from the place where the Royal
George afterwards went down, and the ship was under repair, her
gun-ports being very low when she was laid over, "the shipp
turned, the water entered, and sodainly she sanke."

What was to be done? There were no English engineers or workmen
who could raise the ship. Accordingly, Henry VIII. sent to
Venice for assistance, and when the men arrived, Pietro de
Andreas was dispatched with the Venetian marines and carpenters
to raise the Mary Rose. Sixty English mariners were appointed to
attend upon them. The Venetians were then the skilled "heads,"
the English were only the "hands."  Nevertheless they failed with
all their efforts; and it was not until the year 1836 that Mr.
Dean, the engineer, succeeded in raising not only the Royal
George, but the Mary Rose, and cleared the roadstead at
Portsmouth of the remains of the sunken ships.

When Elizabeth ascended the throne in 1558, the commerce and
navigation of England were still of very small amount. The
population of the kingdom amounted to only about five
millions--not much more than the population of London is now.
The country had little commerce, and what it had was still mostly
in the hands of foreigners. The Hanse towns had their large
entrepot for merchandise in Cannon Street, on the site of the
present Cannon Street Station. The wool was still sent abroad to
Flanders to be fashioned into cloth, and even garden produce was
principally imported from Holland. Dutch, Germans, Flemings,
French, and Venetians continued to be our principal workmen. Our
iron was mostly obtained from Spain and Germany. The best arms
and armour came from France and Italy. Linen was imported from
Flanders and Holland, though the best came from Rheims. Even the
coarsest dowlas, or sailcloth, was imported from the Low
Countries.

The royal ships continued to be of very small burthen, and the
mercantile ships were still smaller. The Queen, however, did
what she could to improve the number and burthen of our ships.
"Foreigners," says Camden, "stiled her the restorer of naval
glory and Queen of the Northern Seas."  In imitation of the
Queen, opulent subjects built ships of force; and in course of
time England no longer depended upon Hamburg, Dantzic, Genoa, and
Venice, for her fleet in time of war.

Spain was then the most potent power in Europe, and the
Netherlands, which formed part of the dominions of Spain, was the
centre of commercial prosperity. Holland possessed above 800
good ships, of from 200 to 700 tons burthen, and above 600 busses
for fishing, of from 100 to 200 tons. Amsterdam and Antwerp were
in the heyday of their prosperity. Sometimes 500 great ships
were to be seen lying together before Amsterdam;[9] whereas
England at that time had not four merchant ships of 400 tons
each! Antwerp, however, was the most important city in the Low
Countries. It was no uncommon thing to see as many as 2500 ships
in the Scheldt, laden with merchandize. Sometimes 500 ships
would come and go from Antwerp in one day, bound to or returning
from the distant parts of the world. The place was immensely
rich, and was frequented by Spaniards, Germans, Danes, English,
Italians, and Portuguese the Spaniards being the most numerous.
Camden, in his history of Queen Elizabeth, relates that our
general trade with the Netherlands in 1564 amounted to twelve
millions of ducats, five millions of which was for English cloth
alone.

The religious persecutions of Philip II. of Spain and of Charles
IX. of France shortly supplied England with the population of
which she stood in need--active, industrious, intelligent
artizans. Philip set up the Inquisition in Flanders, and in a
few years more than 50,000 persons were deliberately murdered.
The Duchess of Parma, writing to Philip II. in 1567, informed him
that in a few days above 100,000 men had already left the country
with their money and goods, and that more were following every
day. They fled to Germany, to Holland, and above all to England,
which they hailed as Asylum Christi. The emigrants settled in
the decayed cities and towns of Canterbury, Norwich, Sandwich,
Colchester, Maidstone, Southampton, and many other places, where
they carried on their manufactures of woollen, linen, and silk,
and established many new branches of industry.[10]

Five years later, in 1572, the massacre of St. Bartholomew took
place in France, during which the Roman Catholic Bishop Perefixe
alleges that 100,000 persons were put to death because of their
religions opinions. All this persecution, carried on so near the
English shores, rapidly increased the number of foreign fugitives
into England, which was followed by the rapid advancement of the
industrial arts in this country.

The asylum which Queen Elizabeth gave to the persecuted
foreigners brought down upon her the hatred of Philip II. and
Charles IX. When they found that they could not prevent her
furnishing them with an asylum, they proceeded to compass her
death. She was excommunicated by the Pope, and Vitelli was hired
to assassinate her. Philip also proceeded to prepare the Sacred
Armada for the subjugation of the English nation, and he was
master of the most powerful army and navy in the world.

Modern England was then in the throes of her birth. She had not
yet reached the vigour of her youth, though she was full of life
and energy. She was about to become the England of free thought,
commerce, and manufactures; to plough the ocean with her navies,
and to plant her colonies over the earth. Up to the accession of
Elizabeth, she had done little, but now she was about to do much.

It was a period of sudden emancipation of thought, and of immense
fertility and originality. The poets and prose writers of the
time united the freshness of youth with the vigour of manhood.
Among these were Spenser, Shakespeare, Sir Philip Sidney, the
Fletchers, Marlowe, and Ben Jonson. Among the statesmen of
Elizabeth were Burleigh, Leicester, Walsingham, Howard, and Sir
Nicholas Bacon. But perhaps greatest of all were the sailors,
who, as Clarendon said, "were a nation by themselves;" and their
leaders--Drake, Frobisher, Cavendish, Hawkins, Howard, Raleigh,
Davis, and many more distinguished seamen.

They were the representative men of their time, the creation in a
great measure of the national spirit. They were the offspring of
long generations of seamen and lovers of the sea. They could not
have been great but for the nation which gave them birth, and
imbued them with their worth and spirit. The great sailors, for
instance, could not have originated in a nation of mere landsmen.

They simply took the lead in a country whose coasts were fringed
with sailors. Their greatness was but the result of an
excellence in seamanship which prevailed widely around them.

The age of English maritime adventure only began in the reign of
Elizabeth. England had then no colonies--no foreign possessions
whatever. The first of her extensive colonial possessions was
established in this reign. "Ships, colonies, and commerce "began
to be the national motto--not that colonies make ships and
commerce, but that ships and commerce make colonies. Yet what
cockle-shells of ships our pioneer navigators first sailed in!

Although John Cabot or Gabota, of Bristol, originally a citizen
of Venice, had discovered the continent of North America in 1496,
in the reign of Henry VII., he made no settlement there, but
returned to Bristol with his four small ships. Columbus did not
see the continent of America until two years later, in 1498, his
first discoveries being the islands of the West Indies.

It was not until the year 1553 that an attempt was made to
discover a North-west passage to Cathaya or China. Sir Hugh
Willonghby was put in command of the expedition, which consisted
of three ships,--the Bona Esperanza, the Bona Ventura (Captain
Chancellor), and the Bona Confidentia (Captain Durforth),--most
probably ships built by Venetians. Sir Hugh reached 72 degrees
of north latitude, and was compelled by the buffeting of the
winds to take refuge with Captain Durforth's vessel at Arcina
Keca, in Russian Lapland, where the two captains and the crews of
these ships, seventy in number, were frozen to death. In the
following year some Russian fishermen found Sir John Willonghby
sitting dead in his cabin, with his diary and other papers beside
him.

Captain Chancellor was more fortunate. He reached Archangel in
the White Sea, where no ship had ever been seen before. He
pointed out to the English the way to the whale fishery at
Spitzbergen, and opened up a trade with the northern parts of
Russia. Two years later, in 1556, Stephen Burroughs sailed with
one small ship, which entered the Kara Sea; but he was compelled
by frost and ice to return to England. The strait which he
entered is still called "Burrough's Strait."

It was not, however, until the reign of Elizabeth that great
maritime adventures began to be made. Navigators were not so
venturous as they afterwards became. Without proper methods of
navigation, they were apt to be carried away to the south, across
an ocean without limit. In 1565 a young captain, Martin
Frobisher, came into notice. At the age of twenty-five he
captured in the South Seas the Flying Spirit, a Spanish ship
laden with a rich cargo of cochineal. Four years later, in 1569,
he made his first attempt to discover the north-west passage to
the Indies, being assisted by Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick.
The ships of Frobisher were three in number, the Gabriel, of from
15 to 20 tons; the Michael, of from 20 to 25 tons, or half the
size of a modern fishing-boat; and a pinnace, of from 7 to 10
tons! The aggregate of the crews of the three ships was only
thirty-five, men and boys. Think of the daring of these early
navigators in attempting to pass by the North Pole to Cathay
through snow, and storm, and ice, in such miserable little
cockboats! The pinnace was lost; the Michael, under Owen
Griffith, a Welsh-man, deserted; and Martin Frobisher in the
Gabriel went alone into the north-western sea!

He entered the great bay, since called Hudson's Bay, by
Frobisher's Strait. He returned to England without making the
discovery of the Passage, which long remained the problem of
arctic voyagers. Yet ten years later, in 1577, he made another
voyage, and though he made his second attempt with one of Queen
Elizabeth's own ships, and two barks, with 140 persons in all, he
was as unsuccessful as before. He brought home some supposed
gold ore; and on the strength of the stones containing gold, a
third expedition went out in the following year. After losing
one of the ships, consuming the provisions, and suffering greatly
from ice and storms, the fleet returned home one by one. The
supposed gold ore proved to be only glittering sand.

While Frobisher was seeking El-Dorado in the North, Francis Drake
was finding it in the South. He was a sailor, every inch of him.

"Pains, with patience in his youth," says Fuller, "knit the
joints of his soul, and made them more solid and compact."  At an
early age, when carrying on a coasting trade, his imagination was
inflamed by the exploits of his protector Hawkins in the New
World, and he joined him in his last unfortunate adventure on the
Spanish Main. He was not, however, discouraged by his first
misfortune, but having assembled about him a number of seamen who
believed in him, he made other adventures to the West Indies, and
learnt the navigation of that part of the ocean. In 1570, he
obtained a regular commission from Queen Elizabeth, though he
sailed his own ships, and made his own ventures. Every
Englishman, who had the means, was at liberty to fit out his own
ships; and with tolerable vouchers, he was able to procure a
commission from the Court, and proceed to sea at his own risk and
cost. Thus, the naval enterprise and pioneering of new countries
under Elizabeth, was almost altogether a matter of private
enterprise and adventure.

In 1572, the butchery of the Hugnenots took place at Paris and
throughout France; while at the same time the murderous power of
Philip II. reigned supreme in the Netherlands. The sailors knew
what they had to expect from the Spanish king in the event of his
obtaining his threatened revenge upon England; and under their
chosen chiefs they proceeded to make war upon him. In the year
of the massacre of St. Bartholomew, Drake set sail for the
Spanish Main in the Pasha, of seventy tons, accompanied by the
Swan, of twenty-five tons; the united crews of the vessels
amounting to seventy-three men and boys. With this insignificant
force, Drake made great havoc amongst the Spanish shipping at
Nombre de Dios. He partially crossed the Isthmus of Darien, and
obtained his first sight of the great Pacific Ocean. He returned
to England in August 1573, with his frail barks crammed with
treasure.

A few years later, in 1577, he made his ever-memorable
expedition. Charnock says it was "an attempt in its nature so
bold and unprecedented, that we should scarcely know whether to
applaud it as a brave, or condemn it as a rash one, but for its
success."  The squadron with which he sailed for South America
consisted of five vessels, the largest of which, the Pelican, was
only of 100 tons burthen; the next, the Elizabeth, was of 80; the
third, the Swan, a fly-boat, was of 50; the Marygold bark, of 30;
and the Christopher, a pinnace, of 15 tons. The united crews of
these vessels amounted to only 164, gentlemen and sailors.

The gentlemen went with Drake "to learn the art of navigation."
After various adventures along the South American coast, the
little fleet passed through the Straits of Magellan, and entered
the Pacific Ocean. Drake took an immense amount of booty from
the Spanish towns along the coast, and captured the royal
galleon, the Cacafuego, laden with treasure. After trying in
vain to discover a passage home by the North-eastern ocean,
though what is now known as Behring Straits, he took shelter in
Port San Francisco, which he took possession of in the name of
the Queen of England, and called New Albion. He eventually
crossed the Pacific for the Moluccas and Java, from which he
sailed right across the Indian Ocean, and by the Cape of Good
Hope to England, thus making the circumnavigation of the world.
He was absent with his little fleet for about two years and ten
months.

Not less extraordinary was the voyage of Captain Cavendish, who
made the circumnavigation of the globe at his own expense. He
set out from Plymouth in three small vessels on the 21st July,
1586. One vessel was of 120 tons, the second of 60 tons, and the
third of 40 tons--not much bigger than a Thames yacht. The
united crews, of officers, men, and boys, did not exceed 123!
Cavendish sailed along the South American continent, and made
through the Straits of Magellan, reaching the Pacific Ocean. He
burnt and plundered the Spanish settlements along the coast,
captured some Spanish ships, and took by boarding the galleon St.
Anna, with 122,000 Spanish dollars on board. He then sailed
across the Pacific to the Ladrone Islands, and returned home
through the Straits of Java and the Indian Archipelago by the
Cape of Good Hope, and reached England after an absence of two
years and a month.

The sacred and invincible Armada was now ready, Philip II. was
determined to put down those English adventurers who had swept
the coasts of Spain and plundered his galleons on the high seas.
The English sailors knew that the sword of Philip was forged in
the gold mines of South America, and that the only way to defend
their country was to intercept the plunder on its voyage home to
Spain. But the sailors and their captains--Drake, Hawkins,
Frobisher, Howard, Grenville, Raleigh, and the rest--could not
altogether interrupt the enterprise of the King of Spain. The
Armada sailed, and came in sight of the English coast on the 20th
of July, 1588.

The struggle was of an extraordinary character. On the one side
was the most powerful naval armament that had ever put to sea.
It consisted of six squadrons of sixty fine large ships, the
smallest being of 700 tons. Besides these were four gigantic
galleasses, each carrying fifty guns, four large armed galleys,
fifty-six armed merchant ships, and twenty caravels--in all, 149
vessels. On board were 8000 sailors, 20,000 soldiers, and a
large number of galley-slaves. The ships carried provisions
enough for six months' consumption; and the supply of ammunition
was enormous.

On the other side was the small English fleet under Hawkins and
Drake. The Royal ships were only thirteen in number. The rest
were contributed by private enterprize, there being only
thirty-eight vessels of all sorts and sizes, including cutters
and pinnaces, carrying the Queen's flag. The principal armed
merchant ships were provided by London, Southampton, Bristol, and
the other southern ports. Drake was followed by some privateers;
Hawkins had four or five ships, and Howard of Effingham two. The
fleet was, however, very badly found in provisions and
ammunition. There was only a week's provisions on board, and
scarcely enough ammunition for one day's hard fighting. But the
ships, small though they were, were in good condition. They
could sail, whether in pursuit or in flight, for the men who
navigated them were thorough sailors.

The success of the defence was due to tact, courage, and
seamanship. At the first contact of the fleets, the Spanish
towering galleons wished to close, to grapple with their
contemptuous enemies, and crush them to death. "Come on!" said
Medina Sidonia. Lord Howard came on with the Ark and three other
ships, and fired with immense rapidity into the great floating
castles. The Sam Mateo luffed, and wanted them to board. "No!
not yet!"  The English tacked, returned, fired again, riddled the
Spaniards, and shot away in the eye of the wind. To the
astonishment of the Spanish Admiral, the English ships approached
him or left him just as they chose. "The enemy pursue me," wrote
the Spanish Admiral to the Prince of Parma; "they fire upon me
most days from morning till nightfall, but they will not close
and grapple, though I have given them every opportunity."  The
Capitana, a galleon of 1200 tons, dropped behind, struck her flag
to Drake, and increased the store of the English fleet by some
tons of gunpowder. Another Spanish ship surrendered, and another
store of powder and shot was rescued for the destruction of the
Armada. And so it happened throughout, until the Spanish fleet
was driven to wreck and ruin, and the remaining ships were
scattered by the tempests of the north. After all, Philip proved
to be, what the sailors called him, only "a Colossus stuffed with
clouts."

The English sailors followed up their advantage. They went on
"singeing the Ring of Spain's beard."  Private adventurers fitted
up a fleet under the command of Drake, and invaded the mainland
of Spain. They took the lower part of the town of Corunna;
sailed to the Tagus, and captured a fleet of ships laden with
wheat and warlike stores for a new Armada. They next sacked
Vigo, and returned to England with 150 pieces of cannon and a
rich booty. The Earl of Cumberland sailed to the West Indies on
a private adventure, and captured more Spanish prizes. In 1590,
ten English merchantmen, returning from the Levant, attacked
twelve Spanish galleons, and after six hours' contest, put them
to flight with great loss. In the following year, three merchant
ships set sail for the East Indies, and in the course of their
voyage took several Portuguese vessels.

A powerful Spanish fleet still kept the seas, and in 1591 they
conquered the noble Sir Richard Grenville at the Azores--fifteen
great Spanish galleons against one Queen's ship, the Revenge. In
1593, two of the Queen's ships, accompanied by a number of
merchant ships, sailed for the West Indies, under Burroughs,
Frobisher, and Cross, and amongst their other captures they took
the greatest of all the East India caracks, a vessel of 1600
tons, 700 men, and 36 brass cannon, laden with a magnificent
cargo. She was taken to Dartmouth, and surprised all who saw
her, being the largest ship that had ever been seen in England.
In 1594, Captain James Lancaster set sail with three ships upon a
voyage of adventure. He was joined by some Dutch and French
privateers. The result was, that they captured thirty-nine of
the Spanish ships. Sir Amias Preston, Sir John Hawkins, and Sir
Francis Drake, also continued their action upon the seas. Lord
Admiral Howard and the Earl of Essex made their famous attack
upon Cadiz for the purpose of destroying the new Armada; they
demolished all the forts; sank eleven of the King of Spain's best
ships, forty-four merchant ships, and brought home much booty.

Nor was maritime discovery neglected. The planting of new
colonies began, for the English people had already begun to
swarm. In 1578, Sir Humphrey Gilbert planted Newfoundland for
the Queen. In 1584, Sir Waiter Raleigh planted the first
settlement in Virginia. Nor was the North-west passage
neglected; for in 1580, Captain Pett (a name famous on the
Thames) set sail from Harwich in the George, accompanied by
Captain Jackman in the William. They reached the ice in the
North Sea, but were compelled to return without effecting their
purpose! Will it be believed that the George was only of 40 tons,
and that its crew consisted of nine men and a boy; and that the
William was of 20 tons, with five men and a boy? The wonder is
that these little vessels could resist the terrible icefields,
and return to England again with their hardy crews.

Then in 1585, another of our adventurous sailors, John Davis, of
Sandridge on the Dart, set sail with two barks, the Sunshine and
the Moonshine, of 50 and 35 tons respectively, and discovered in
the far North-west the Strait which now bears his name. He was
driven back by the ice; but, undeterred by his failure, he set
out on a second, and then on a third voyage of discovery in the
two following years. But he never succeeded in discovering the
North-west passage. It all reads like a mystery--these repeated,
determined, and energetic attempts to discover a new way of
reaching the fabled region of Cathay.

In these early times the Dutch were not unworthy rivals of the
English. After they had succeeded in throwing off the Spanish
yoke and achieved their independence, they became one of the most
formidable of maritime powers. In the course of another century
Holland possessed more colonies, and had a larger share of the
carrying trade of the world than Britain. It was natural
therefore that the Dutch republic should take an interest in the
North-west passage; and the Dutch sailors, by their enterprise
and bravery, were among the first to point the way to Arctic
discovery. Barents and Behring, above all others, proved the
courage and determination of their heroic ancestors.

The romance of the East India Company begins with an
advertisement in the London Gazette of 1599, towards the end of
the reign of Queen Elizabeth. As with all other enterprises of
the nation, it was established by private means. The Company was
started with a capital of 72,000L. in 50L. shares. The
adventurers bought four vessels of an average burthen of 350
tons. These were stocked with provisions, "Norwich stuffs," and
other merchandise. The tiny fleet sailed from Billingsgate on
the 13th February, 1601. It went by the Cape of Good Hope to the
East Indies, under the command of Captain James Lancaster. It
took no less than sixteen months to reach the Indian Archipelago.

The little fleet reached Acheen in June, 1602. The king of the
territory received the visitors with courtesy, and exchanged
spices with them freely. The four vessels sailed homeward,
taking possession of the island of St. Helena on their way back;
having been absent exactly thirty-one months. The profits of the
first voyage proved to be about one hundred per cent. Such was
the origin of the great East India Company--now expanded into an
empire, and containing about two hundred millions of people.

To return to the shipping and the mercantile marine of the time
of Queen Elizabeth. The number of Royal ships was only thirteen,
the rest of the navy consisting of merchant ships, which were
hired and discharged when their purpose was served.[11]
According to Wheeler, at the accession of the Queen, there were
not more than four ships belonging to the river Thames, excepting
those of the Royal Navy, which were over 120 tons in burthen;[12]
and after forty years, the whole of the merchant ships of
England, over 100 tons, amounted to 135; only a few of these
being of 500 tons. In 1588, the number had increased to 150, "of
about 150 tons one with another, employed in trading voyages to
all parts and countries." The principal shipping which frequented
the English ports still continued to be foreign--Italian,
Flemish, and German.

Liverpool, now possessing the largest shipping tonnage in the
world, had not yet come into existence. It was little better
than a fishing village. The people of the place presented a
petition to the Queen, praying her to remit a subsidy which had
been imposed upon them, and speaking of their native place as
"Her Majesty's poor decayed town of Liverpool."  In 1565, seven
years after Queen Elizabeth began to reign, the number of vessels
belonging to Liverpool was only twelve. The largest was of forty
tons burthen, with twelve men; and the smallest was a boat of six
tons, with three men.[13]

James I., on his accession to the throne of England in 1603,
called in all the ships of war, as well as the numerous
privateers which had been employed during the previous reign in
waging war against the commerce of Spain, and declared himself to
be at peace with all the world. James was as peaceful as a
Quaker. He was not a fighting King;- and, partly on this
account, he was not popular. He encouraged manufactures in wool,
silk, and tapestry. He gave every encouragement to the
mercantile and colonizing adventurers to plant and improve the
rising settlements of Virginia, New England, and Newfoundland.
He also promoted the trade to the East Indies. Attempts
continued to be made, by Hudson, Poole, Button, Hall, Baffin, and
other courageous seamen, to discover the North-West passage, but
always without effect.

The shores of England being still much infested by Algerine and
other pirates,[14] King James found it necessary to maintain the
ships of war in order to protect navigation and commerce. He
nearly doubled the ships of the Royal Navy, and increased the
number from thirteen to twenty-four. Their size, however,
continued small, both Royal and merchant ships. Sir William
Monson says, that at the accession of James I. there were not
above four merchant ships in England of 400 tons burthen.[15]
The East Indian merchants were the first to increase the size.
In 1609, encouraged by their Charter, they built the Trade's
Increase, of 1100 tons burthen, the largest merchant ship that
had ever been built in England. As it was necessary that, the
crew of the ship should be able to beat off the pirates, she was
fully armed. The additional ships of war were also of heavier
burthen. In the same year, the Prince, of 1400 tons burthen, was
launched; she carried sixty-four cannon, and was superior to any
ship of the kind hitherto seen in England.

And now we arrive at the subject of this memoir. The Petts were
the principal ship-builders of the time. They had long been
known upon the Thames, and had held posts in the Royal Dockyards
since the reign of Henry VII. They were gallant sailors, too;
one of them, as already mentioned, having made an adventurous
voyage to the Arctic Ocean in his little bark, the George, of
only 40 tons burthen. Phineas Pett was the first of the great
ship-builders. His father, Peter Pett, was one of the Queen's
master shipwrights. Besides being a ship-builder, he was also a
poet, being the author of a poetical piece entitled, "Time's
Journey to seek his daughter Truth,"[16] a very respectable
performance. Indeed, poetry is by no means incompatible with
ship-building--the late Chief Constructor of the Navy being,
perhaps, as proud of his poetry as of his ships. Pett's poem was
dedicated to the Lord High Admiral, Howard, Earl of Nottingham;
and this may possibly have been the reason of the singular
interest which he afterwards took in Phineas Pett, the poet
shipwright's son.

Phineas Pett was the second son of his father. He was born at
Deptford, or "Deptford Strond," as the place used to be called,
on the 1st of November, 1570. At nine years old, he was sent to
the free-school at Rochester, and remained there for four years.
Not profiting much by his education there, his father removed him
to a private school at Greenwich, kept by a Mr. Adams. Here he
made so much progress, that in three years time he was ready for
Cambridge. He was accordingly sent to that University at
Shrovetide, l586, and was entered at Emmanuel College, under
charge of Mr. Charles Chadwick, the president. His father
allowed him 20L. per annum, besides books, apparel, and other
necessaries.

Phineas remained at Cambridge for three years. He was obliged to
quit the University by the death of his "reverend, ever-loving
father," whose loss, he says, "proved afterwards my utter undoing
almost, had not God been more merciful to me."  His mother
married again, "a most wicked husband," says Pett in his
autobiography,[17] "one, Mr. Thomas Nunn, a minister," but of
what denomination he does not state. His mother's imprudence
wholly deprived him of his maintenance, and having no hopes of
preferment from his friends, he necessarily abandoned his
University career, "presently after Christmas, 1590."

Early in the following year, he was persuaded by his mother to
apprentice himself to Mr. Richard Chapman, of Deptford Strond,
one of the Queen's Master shipwrights, whom his late father had
"bred up from a child to that profession."  He was allowed 2L.
6s. 8d. per annum, with which he had to provide himself with
tools and apparel. Pett spent two years in this man's service to
very little purpose; Chapman then died, and the apprentice was
dismissed. Pett applied to his elder brother Joseph, who would
not help him, although he had succeeded to his father's post in
the Royal Dockyard. He was accordingly "constrained to ship
himself to sea upon a desperate voyage in a man-of-war."  He
accepted the humble place of carpenter's mate on board the
galleon Constance, of London. Pett's younger brother, Peter,
then living at Wapping, gave him lodging, meat, and drink, until
the ship was ready to sail. But he had no money to buy clothes.
Fortunately one William King, a yoeman in Essex, taking pity upon
the unfortunate young man, lent him 3L. for that purpose; which
Pett afterwards repaid.

The Constance was of only 200 tons burden. She set sail for the
South a few days before Christmas, 1592. There is no doubt that
she was bound upon a piratical adventure. Piracy was not thought
dishonourable in those days. Four years had elapsed since the
Armada had approached the English coast; and now the English and
Dutch ships were scouring the seas in search of Spanish galleons.

Whoever had the means of furnishing a ship, and could find a
plucky captain to command her, sent her out as a privateer. Even
the Companies of the City of London clubbed their means together
for the purpose of sending out Sir Waiter Raleigh to capture
Spanish ships, and afterwards to divide the plunder; as any one
may see on referring to the documents of the London
Corporation.[18]

The adventure in which Pett was concerned did not prove very
fortunate. He was absent for about twenty months on the coasts
of Spain and Barbary, and in the Levant, enduring much misery for
want of victuals and apparel, and "without taking any purchase of
any value."  The Constance returned to the Irish coast, "extreme
poorly."  The vessel entered Cork harbour, and then Pett,
thoroughly disgusted with privateering life, took leave of both
ship and voyage. With much difficulty, he made his way across
the country to Waterford, from whence he took ship for London.
He arrived there three days before Christmas, 1594, in a beggarly
condition, and made his way to his brother Peter's house at
Wapping, who again kindly entertained him. The elder brother
Joseph received him more coldly, though he lent him forty
shillings to find himself in clothes. At that time, the fleet
was ordered to be got ready for the last expedition of Drake and
Hawkins to the West Indies. The Defiance was sent into Woolwich
dock to be sheathed; and as Joseph Pett was in charge of the job,
he allowed his brother to be employed as a carpenter.

In the following year, Phineas succeeded in attracting the notice
of Matthew Baker, who was commissioned to rebuild Her Majesty's
Triumph. Baker employed Pett as an ordinary workman; but he had
scarcely begun the job before Baker was ordered to proceed with
the building of a great new ship at Deptford, called the Repulse.

Phineas wished to follow the progress of the Triumph, but finding
his brother Joseph unwilling to retain him in his employment, he
followed Baker to Deptford, and continued to work at the Repulse
until she was finished, launched, and set sail on her voyage, at
the end of April, 1596. This was the leading ship of the
squadron which set sail for Cadiz, under the command of the Earl
of Essex and the Lord Admiral Howard, and which did so much
damage to the forts and shipping of Philip II. of Spain.

During the winter months, while the work was in progress, Pett
spent the leisure of his evenings in perfecting himself in
learning, especially in drawing, cyphering, and mathematics, for
the purpose, as he says, of attaining the knowledge of his
profession. His master, Mr. Baker, gave him every encouragement,
and from his assistance, he adds, "I must acknowledge I received
my greatest lights."  The Lord Admiral was often present at
Baker's house. Pett was importuned to set sail with the ship
when finished, but he preferred remaining at home. The principal
reason, no doubt, that restrained him at this moment from seeking
the patronage of the great, was the care of his two sisters,[19]
who, having fled from the house of their barbarous stepfather,
could find no refuge but in that of their brother Phineas.
Joseph refused to receive them, and Peter of Wapping was perhaps
less able than willing to do so.

In April, 1597, Pett had the advantage of being introduced to
Howard, Earl of Nottingham, then Lord High Admiral of England.
This, he says, was the first beginning of his rising. Two years
later, Howard recommended him for employment in purveying plank
and timber in Norfolk and Suffolk for shipbuilding purposes.
Pett accomplished his business satisfactorily, though he had some
malicious enemies to contend against. In his leisure, he began
to prepare models of ships, which he rigged and finished
complete. He also proceeded with the study of mathematics. The
beginning of the year 1600 found Pett once more out of
employment; and during his enforced idleness, which continued for
six months, he seriously contemplated abandoning his profession
and attempting to gain "an honest and convenient maintenance" by
joining a friend in purchasing a caravel (a small vessel), and
navigating it himself.

He was, however, prevented from undertaking this enterprise by a
message which he received from the Court, then stationed at
Greenwich. The Lord High Admiral desired to see him; and after
many civil compliments, he offered him the post of keeper of the
plankyard at Chatham. Pett was only too glad to accept this
offer, though the salary was small. He shipped his furniture on
board a hoy of Rainham, and accompanied it down the Thames to the
junction with the Medway. There he escaped a great danger--one
of the sea perils of the time. The mouths of navigable rivers
were still infested with pirates; and as the hoy containing Pett
approached the Nore about three o'clock in the morning, and while
still dark, she came upon a Dunkirk picaroon, full of men.
Fortunately the pirate was at anchor; she weighed and gave chase,
and had not the hoy set full sail, and been impelled up the Swale
by a fresh wind, Pett would have been taken prisoner, with all
his furniture.[20]

Arrived at Chatham, Pett met his brother Joseph, became
reconciled to him, and ever after they lived together as loving
brethren. At his brother's suggestion, Pett took a lease of the
Manor House, and settled there with his sisters. He was now in
the direct way to preferment. Early in the following year
(March, 1601) he succeeded to the place of assistant to the
principal master shipwright at Chatham, and undertook the repairs
of Her Majesty's ship The Lion's Whelp, and in the next year he
new-built the Moon enlarging her both in length and breadth.

At the accession of James I. in 1603, Pett was commanded by the
Lord High Admiral with all possible speed to build a little
vessel for the young Prince Henry, eldest son of His Majesty. It
was to be a sort of copy of the Ark Royal, which was the flagship
of the Lord High Admiral when he defeated the Spanish Armada.
Pett proceeded to accomplish the order with all dispatch. The
little ship was in length by the keel 28 feet, in breadth 12
feet, and very curiously garnished within and without with
painting and carving. After working by torch and candle light,
night and day, the ship was launched, and set sail for the
Thames, with the noise of drums, trumpets, and cannon, at the
beginning of March, 1604. After passing through a great storm at
the Nore, the vessel reached the Tower, where the King and the
young Prince inspected her with delight. She was christened
Disdain by the Lord High Admiral, and Pett was appointed captain
of the ship.

After his return to Chatham, Pett, at his own charge, built a
small ship at Gillingham, of 300 tons, which he launched in the
same year, and named the Resistance. The ship was scarcely out
of hand, when Pett was ordered to Woolwich, to prepare the Bear
and other vessels for conveying his patron, the Lord High
Admiral, as an Ambassador Extraordinary to Spain, for the purpose
of concluding peace, after a strife of more than forty years.
The Resistance was hired by the Government as a transport, and
Pett was put in command. He seems to have been married at this
time, as he mentions in his memoir that he parted with his wife
and children at Chatham on the 24th of March, 1605, and that he
sailed from Queenborough on Easter Sunday.

During the voyage to Lisbon the Resistance became separated from
the Ambassador's squadron, and took refuge in Corunna. She then
set sail for Lisbon, which she reached on the 24th of April; and
afterwards for St. Lucar, on the Guadalquiver, near Seville,
which she reached on the 11th of May following. After revisiting
Corunna, "according to instructions," on the homeward voyage,
Pett directed his course for England, and reached Rye on the 26th
of June, "amidst much rain, thunder, and lightning."  In the
course of the same year, his brother Joseph died, and Phineas
succeeded to his post as master shipbuilder at Chatham. He was
permitted, in conjunction with one Henry Farvey and three others,
to receive the usual reward of 5s. per ton for building five new
merchant ships,[21] most probably for East Indian commerce, now
assuming large dimensions. He was despatched by the Government
to Bearwood, in Hampshire, to make a selection of timber from the
estate of the Earl of Worcester for the use of the navy, and on
presenting his report 3000 tons were purchased. What with his
building of ships, his attendance on the Lord Admiral to Spain,
and his selection of timber for the Government, his hands seem to
have been kept very full during the whole of 1605.

In July, 1606, Pett received private instructions from the Lord
High Admiral to have all the King's ships "put into comely
readiness" for the reception of the King of Denmark, who was
expected on a Royal visit. "Wherein," he says, "I strove
extraordinarily to express my service for the honour of the
kingdom; but by reason the time limited was short, and the
business great, we laboured night and day to effect it, which
accordingly was done, to the great honour of our sovereign king
and master, and no less admiration of all strangers that were
eye-witnesses to the same."  The reception took place on the 10th
of August, 1606.

Shortly after the departure of His Majesty of Denmark, four of
the Royal ships--the Ark, Victory, Golden Lion, and
Swiftsure--were ordered to be dry-docked; the two last mentioned
at Deptford, under charge of Matthew Baker; and the two former at
Woolwich, under that of Pett. For greater convenience, Pett
removed his family to Woolwich. After being elected and sworn
Master of the Company of Shipwrights, he refers in his
manuscript, for the first time, to his magnificent and original
design of the Prince Royal.[22]

"After settling at Woolwich," he says, "I began a curious model
for the prince my master, most part whereof I wrought with my own
hands."  After finishing the model, he exhibited it to the Lord
High Admiral, and, after receiving his approval and commands, he
presented it to the young prince at Richmond. "His Majesty (who
was present) was exceedingly delighted with the sight of the
model, and passed some time in questioning the divers material
things concerning it, and demanded whether I could build the
great ship in all parts like the same; for I will, says His
Majesty, compare them together when she shall be finished. Then
the Lord Admiral commanded me to tell His Majesty the story of
the Three Ravens[23] I had seen at Lisbon, in St. Vincent's
Church; which I did as well as I could, with my best expressions,
though somewhat daunted at first at His Majesty's presence,
having never before spoken before any King."

Before, however, he could accomplish his purpose, Pett was
overtaken by misfortunes. His enemies, very likely seeing with
spite the favour with which he had been received by men in high
position, stirred up an agitation against him. There may, and
there very probably was, a great deal of jobbery going on in the
dockyards. It was difficult, under the system which prevailed,
to have any proper check upon the expenditure for the repair and
construction of ships. At all events, a commission was appointed
for the purpose of inquiring into the abuses and misdemeanors of
those in office; and Pett's enemies took care that his past
proceedings should be thoroughly overhauled,--together with those
of Sir Robert Mansell, then Treasurer to the Navy; Sir John
Trevor, surveyor; Sir Henry Palmer, controller; Sir Thomas
Bluther, victualler; and many others.

While the commission was still sitting and holding what Pett
calls their "malicious proceedings," he was able to lay the keel
of his new great ship upon the stocks in the dock at Woolwich on
the 20th of October, 1608. He had a clear conscience, for his
hands were clean. He went on vigorously with his work, though he
knew that the inquisition against him was at its full height.
His enemies reported that he was "no artist, and that he was
altogether insufficient to perform such a service" as that of
building his great ship. Nevertheless, he persevered, believing
in the goodness of his cause. Eventually, he was enabled to turn
the tables upon his accusers, and to completely justify himself
in all his transactions with the king, the Lord Admiral, and the
public officers, who were privy to all his transactions. Indeed,
the result of the enquiry was not only to cause a great trouble
and expense to all the persons accused, but, as Pett says in his
Memoir, "the Government itself of that royal office was so shaken
and disjoined as brought almost ruin upon the whole Navy, and a
far greater charge to his Majesty in his yearly expense than ever
was known before."[24]

In the midst of his troubles and anxieties, Pett was unexpectedly
cheered with the presence of his "Master" Prince Henry, who
specially travelled out of his way from Essex to visit him at
Woolwich, to see with his own eyes what progress he was making
with the great ship. After viewing the dry dock, which had been
constructed by Pett, and was one of the first, if not the very
first in England,--his Highness partook of a banquet which the
shipbuilder had hastily prepared for him in his temporary
lodgings.

One of the circumstances which troubled Pett so much at this
time, was the strenuous opposition of the other shipbuilders to
his plans of the great ship. There never had been such a
frightful innovation. The model was all wrong. The lines were
detestable. The man who planned the whole thing was a fool, a
"cozener" of the king, and the ship, suppose it to be made, was
"unfit for any other use but a dung-boat!"  This attack upon his
professional character weighed very heavily upon his mind.

He determined to put his case in a staightforward manner before
the Lord High Admiral. He set down in writing in the briefest
manner everything that he had done, and the plots that had been
hatched against him; and beseeched his lordship, for the honour
of the State, and the reputation of his office, to cause the
entire matter to be thoroughly investigated "by judicious and
impartial persons."  After a conference with Pett, and an
interview with his Majesty,  the Lord High Admiral was authorised
by the latter to invite the Earls of Worcester and Suffolk to
attend with him at Woolwich, and bring all the accusers of Pett's
design of the great ship before them for the purpose of
examination, and to report to him as to the actual state of
affairs. Meanwhile Pett's enemies had been equally busy. They
obtained a private warrant from the Earl of Northampton[25] to
survey the work; "which being done," says Pett, "upon return of
the insufficiency of the same under their hands, and confirmation
by oath, it was resolved amongst them I should be turned out, and
for ever disgraced."

But the lords appointed by the King now interfered between Pett
and his adversaries. They first inspected the ship, and made a
diligent survey of the form and manner of the work and the
goodness of the materials, and then called all the accusers
before them to hear their allegations. They were examined
separately. First, Baker the master shipbuilder was called. He
objected to the size of the ship, to the length, breadth, depth,
draught of water, height of jack, rake before and aft, breadth of
the floor, scantling of the timber, and so on. Then another of
the objectors was called; and his evidence was so clearly in
contradiction to that which had already been given, that either
one or both must be wrong. The principal objector, Captain
Waymouth, next gave his evidence; but he was able to say nothing
to any purpose, except giving their lordships "a long, tedious
discourse of proportions, measures, lines, and an infinite rabble
of idle and unprofitable speeches, clean from the matter."

The result was that their lordships reported favourably of the
design of the ship, and the progress which had already been made.

The Earl of Nottingham interposed his influence; and the King
himself, accompanied by the young Prince, went down to Woolwich,
and made a personal examination.[26]  A great many witnesses were
again examined, twenty-four on one side, and twenty-seven on the
other. The King then carefully examined the ship himself: "the
planks, the tree-nails, the workmanship, and the cross-grained
timber."  "The cross-grain," he concluded, "was in the men and
not in the timber."  After all the measurements had been made and
found correct, "his Majesty," says Pett, "with a loud voice
commanded the measurers to declare publicly the very truth; which
when they had delivered clearly on our side, all the whole
multitude heaved up their hats, and gave a great and loud shout
and acclamation. And then the Prince, his Highness, called with
a high voice in these words: 'Where be now these perjured
fellows that dare thus abuse his Majesty with these false
accusations? Do they not worthily deserve hanging?"'

Thus Pett triumphed over all his enemies, and was allowed to
finish the great ship in his own way. By the middle of September
1610, the vessel was ready to be "strucken down upon her ways";
and a dozen of the choice master carpenters of his Majesty's navy
came from Chatham to assist in launching her. The ship was
decorated, gilded, draped, and garlanded; and on the 24th the
King, the Queen, and the Royal family came from the palace at
Theobald's to witness the great sight. Unfortunately, the day
proved very rough; and it was little better than a neap tide.
The ship started very well, but the wind "overblew the tide"; she
caught in the dock-gates, and settled hard upon the ground, so
that there was no possibility of launching her that day.

This was a great disappointment. The King retired to the palace
at Greenwich, though the Prince lingered behind. When he left,
he promised to return by midnight, after which it was proposed to
make another effort to set the ship afloat. When the time
arrived, the Prince again made his appearance, and joined the
Lord High Admiral, and the principal naval officials. It was
bright moonshine. After midnight the rain began to fall, and the
wind to blow from the southwest. But about two o'clock, an hour
before high water, the word was given to set all taut, and the
ship went away without any straining of screws and tackles, till
she came clear afloat into the midst of the Thames. The Prince
was aboard, and amidst the blast of trumpets and expressions of
joy, he performed the ceremony of drinking from the great
standing cup, and throwing the rest of the wine towards the
half-deck, and christening the ship by the name of the Prince
Royal.[27]

The dimensions of the ship may be briefly described. Her keel
was 114 feet long, and her cross-beam 44 feet. She was of 1400
tons burthen, and carried 64 pieces of great ordnance. She was
the largest ship that had yet been constructed in England.

The Prince Royal was, at the time she was built, considered one
of the most wonderful efforts of human genius. Mr. Charnock, in
his 'Treatise on Marine Architecture,' speaks of her as abounding
in striking peculiarities. Previous to the construction of this
ship, vessels were built in the style of the Venetian galley,
which although well adapted for the quiet Mediterranean, were not
suited for the stormy northern ocean. The fighting ships also of
the time of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth were too full of
"top-hamper" for modern navigation. They were oppressed by high
forecastles and poops. Pett struck out entirely new ideas in the
build and lines of his new ship; and the course which he adopted
had its effect upon all future marine structures. The ship was
more handy, more wieldy, and more convenient. She was
unquestionably the first effort of English ingenuity in the
direction of manageableness and simplicity. "The vessel in
question," says Charnock, "may be considered the parent of the
class of shipping which continues in practice even to the present
moment."

It is scarcely necessary to pursue in detail the further history
of Phineas Pett. We may briefly mention the principal points.
In 1612, the Prince Royal was appointed to convey the Princess
Elizabeth and her husband, The Palsgrave, to the Continent. Pett
was on board the ship, and found that "it wrought exceedingly
well, and was so yare of conduct that a foot of helm would steer
her."  While at Flushing, "such a multitude of people, men,
women, and children, came from all places in Holland to see the
ship, that we could scarce have room to go up and down till very
night."

About the 27th of March, 1616, Pett bargained with Sir Waiter
Raleigh to build a vessel of 500 tons,[28] and received 500L.
from him on account. The King, through the interposition of the
Lord Admiral, allowed Pett to lay her keel on the galley dock at
Woolwich. In the same year he was commissioned by the Lord
Zouche, now Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, to construct a
pinnace of 40 tons, in respect of which Pett remarks, "towards
the whole of the hull of the pinnace, and all her rigging, I
received only 100L. from the Lord Zouche, the rest Sir Henry
Mainwaring (half-brother to Raleigh) cunningly received on my
behalf, without my knowledge, which I never got from him but by
piecemeal, so that by the bargain I was loser 100L. at least."

Pett fared much worse at the hands of Raleigh himself. His great
ship, the Destiny, was finished and launched in December, 1616.
"I delivered her to him," says Pett, "on float, in good order and
fashion; by which business I lost 700L., and could never get any
recompense at all for it; Sir Walter going to sea and leaving me
unsatisfied."[29] Nor was this the only loss that Pett met with
this year. The King, he states, "bestowed upon me for the supply
of my present relief the making of a knight-baronet," which
authority Pett passed to a recusant, one Francis Ratcliffe, for
700L.; but that worthy defrauded him, so that he lost 30L. by the
bargain.

Next year, Pett was despatched by the Government to the New
Forest in Hampshire, "where," he says, "one Sir Giles
Mompesson[30] had made a vast waste in the spoil of his Majesty's
timber, to redress which I was employed thither, to make choice
out of the number of trees he had felled of all such timber as
was useful for shipping, in which business I spent a great deal
of time, and brought myself into a great deal of trouble."  About
this period, poor Pett's wife and two of his children lay for
some time at death's door. Then more enquiries took place into
the abuses of the dockyards, in which it was sought to implicate
Pett. During the next three years (1618-20) he worked under the
immediate orders of the Commissioners in the New Dock at Chatham.

In 1620, Pett's friend Sir Robert Mansell was appointed General
of the Fleet destined to chastise the Algerine pirates, who still
continued their depredations on the shipping in the Channel, and
the King thereupon commissioned Pett to build with all dispatch
two pinnaces, of 120 and 80 tons respectively. "I was myself,"
he says, "to serve as Captain in the voyage"--being glad, no
doubt, to escape from his tormentors. The two pinnaces were
built at Ratcliffe, and were launched on the 16th and l8th of
October, 1620. On the 30th, Pett sailed with the fleet, and
after driving the pirates out of the Channel, he returned to port
after an absence of eleven months.

His enemies had taken advantage of his absence from England to
get an order for the survey of the Prince Royal, his masterpiece;
the result of which was, he says, that "they maliciously
certified the ship to be unserviceable, and not fit to
continue--that what charges should be bestowed upon her would be
lost."  Nevertheless, the Prince Royal was docked, and fitted for
a voyage to Spain. She was sent thither with Charles Prince of
Wales and the Duke of Buckingham, the former going in search of a
Spanish wife. Pett, the builder of the ship, was commanded to
accompany the young Prince and the Duke.

The expedition sailed on the 24th of August, 1623, and returned
on the l4th of October. Pett was entertained on board the Prince
Royal, and rendered occasional services to the officers in
command, though nothing of importance occurred during the voyage.

The Prince of Wales presented him with a valuable gold chain as a
reward for his attendance. In 1625, Pett, after rendering many
important services to the Admiralty, was ordered again to prepare
the Prince Royal for sea. She was to bring over the Prince of
Wales's bride from France. While the preparations were making
for the voyage, news reached Chatham of the death of King James.
Pett was afterwards commanded to go forward with the work of
preparing the Prince Royal, as well as the whole fleet, which was
intended to escort the French Princess, or rather the Queen, to
England. The expedition took place in May, and the young Queen
landed at Dover on the 12th of that month.

Pett continued to be employed in building and repairing ships, as
well as in preparing new designs, which he submitted to the King
and the Commissioners of the Navy. In 1626, he was appointed a
joint commissioner, with the Lord High Admiral, the Lord
Treasurer Marlborough, and others, "to enquire into certain
alleged abuses of the Navy, and to view the state thereof, and
also the stores thereof," clearly showing that he was regaining
his old position. He was also engaged in determining the best
mode of measuring the tonnage of ships.[31] Four years later he
was again appointed a commissioner for making "a general survey
of the whole navy at Chatham."  For this and his other services
the King promoted Pett to be a principal officer of the Navy,
with a fee of 200L. per annum. His patent was sealed on the 16th
of January, 1631. In the same year the King visited Woolwich to
witness the launching of the Vanguard, which Pett had built; and
his Majesty honoured the shipwright by participating in a banquet
at his lodgings.

From this period to the year 1637, Pett records nothing of
particular importance in his autobiography. He was chiefly
occupied in aiding his son Peter--who was rapidly increasing his
fame as a shipwright--in repairing and building first-class ships
of war. As Pett had, on an early occasion in his life, prepared
a miniature ship for Prince Henry, eldest son of James I., he now
proceeded to prepare a similar model for the Prince of Wales, the
King's eldest son, afterwards Charles II. This model was
presented to the Prince at St. James's, "who entertained it with
great joy, being purposely made to disport himself withal."  On
the next visit of his Majesty to Woolwich, he inspected the
progress made with the Leopard, a sloop-of-war built by Peter
Pett. While in the hold of the vessel, the King called Phineas
to one side, and told him of his resolution to have a great new
ship built, and that Phineas must be the builder. This great new
ship was The Sovereign of the Seas, afterwards built by Phineas
and Peter Pett. Some say that the model was prepared by the
latter; but Phineas says that it was prepared by himself, and
finished by the 29th of October, 1634. As a compensation for his
services, his Majesty renewed his pension of 40L. (which had been
previously stopped), with orders for all the arrears due upon it
to be paid.

To provide the necessary timber for the new ship, Phineas and his
son went down into the North to survey the forests. They went
first by water to Whitby; from thence they proceeded on horseback
to Gisborough and baited; then to Stockton, where they found but
poor entertainment, though they lodged with the Mayor, whose
house "was only a mean thatched cottage!"  Middlesborough and the
great iron district of the North had not yet come into existence.

Newcastle, already of some importance, was the principal scene of
their labours. The timber for the new ship was found in Chapley
Wood and Bracepeth Park. The gentry did all they could to
facilitate the object of Pett. On his journey homewards (July,
1635), he took Cambridge on his way, where, says he, "I lodged at
the Falcon, and visited Emmanuel College, where I had been a
scholar in my youth."

The Sovereign of the Seas was launched on the l2th of October,
1637, having been about two years in building. Evelyn in his
diary says of the ship (l9th July, 1641):- "We rode to Rochester
and Chatham to see the Soveraigne, a monstrous vessel so called,
being for burthen, defence, and ornament, the richest that ever
spread cloth before the wind. She carried 100 brass cannon, and
was 1600 tons, a rare sailer, the work of the famous Phineas
Pett."  Rear-Admiral Sir William Symonds says that she was
afterwards cut down, and was a safe and fast ship.[32]

The Sovereign continued for nearly sixty years to be the finest
ship in the English service. Though frequently engaged in the
most injurious occupations, she continued fit for any services
which the exigencies of the State might require. She fought all
through the wars of the Commonwealth; she was the leading ship of
Admiral Blake, and was in all the great naval engagements with
France and Holland. The Dutch gave her the name of The Golden
Devil. In the last fight between the English and French, she
encountered the Wonder of the World, and so warmly plied the
French Admiral, that she forced him out of his three-decked
wooden castle, and chasing the Royal Sun, before her, forced her
to fly for shelter among the rocks, where she became a prey to
lesser vessels, and was reduced to ashes. At last, in the reign
of William III., the Sovereign became leaky and defective with
age; she was laid up at Chatham, and being set on fire by
negligence or accident, she burnt to the water's edge.

To return to the history of Phineas Pett. As years approached,
he retired from office, and "his loving son," as he always
affectionately designates Peter, succeeded him as principal
shipwright, Charles I. conferring upon him the honour of
knighthood. Phineas lived for ten years after the Sovereign of
the Seas was launched. In the burial register of the parish of
Chatham it is recorded, "Phineas Pett, Esqe. and Capt., was
buried 21st August, l647."[33]

Sir Peter Pett was almost as distinguished as his father. He was
the builder of the first frigate, The Constant Warwick. Sir
William Symonds says of this vessel:-- "She was an incomparable
sailer, remarkable for her sharpness and the fineness of her
lines; and many were built like her."  Pett "introduced convex
lines on the immersed part of the hull, with the studding and
sprit sails; and, in short, he appears to have fully deserved his
character of being the best ship architect of his time."[34] Sir
Peter Pett's monument in Deptford Old Church fully records his
services to England's naval power.

The Petts are said to have been connected with shipbuilding in
the Thames for not less than 200 years. Fuller, in his 'Worthies
of England,' says of them--"I am credibly informed that that
mystery of shipwrights for some descents hath been preserved
faithfully in families, of whom the Petts about Chatham are of
singular regard. Good success have they with their skill, and
carefully keep so precious a pearl, lest otherwise amongst many
friends some foes attain unto it."

The late Peter Bolt, member for Greenwich, took pride in being
descended from the Petts; but so far as we know, the name itself
has died out. In 1801, when Charnock's 'History of Marine
Architecture' was published, Mr. Pett, of Tovil, near Maidstone,
was the sole representative of the family.

Footnotes for Chapter I.

[1] This was not the first voyage of a steamer between England
and America. The Savannah made the passage from New York to
Liverpool as early as 1819; but steam was only used occasionally
during the voyage, In 1825, the Enterprise, with engines by
Maudslay, made the voyage from Falmouth to Calcutta in 113 days;
and in 1828, the Curacoa made the voyage between Holland and the
Dutch West Indies. But in all these cases, steam was used as an
auxiliary, and not as the one essential means of propulsion, as
in the case of the Sirius and the Great Western, which were steam
voyages only.

[2] "In 1862 the steam tonnage of the country was 537,000 tons;
in 1872, it was 1,537,000 tons; and in 1882, it had reached
3,835,000 tons."--Mr. Chamberlain's speech, House of Commons,
19th May, 1884.

[3] The last visit of the plague was in 1665.

[4] Roll of Edward the Third's Fleet. Cotton's Library, British
Museum.

[5] Charnock's History Of Marine Architecture, ii. 89.

[6] State Papers. Henry VIII. Nos. 3496, 3616, 4633. The
principal kinds of ordnance at that time were these:--The
"Apostles," so called from the head of an Apostle which they
bore; "Curtows," or "Courtaulx"; "Culverins" and "Serpents";
"Minions," and "Potguns"; "Nurembergers," and "Bombards" or
mortars.

[7] The sum of all costs of the Harry Grace de Dieu and three
small galleys, was 7708L. 5s. 3d. (S.P.O. No. 5228, Henry VIII.)

[8] Charnock, ii. 47 (note).

[9] Macpherson, Annals of Commerce, ii. 126.

[10] The Huguenots: their Settlements, Churches, and Industries,
in England and Ireland, ch. iv.

[11] Macpherson, Annals of Commerce, ii. 156.

[12] Ibid. ii. 85.

[13] Picton's Selections from the Municipal Archives and Records
of Liverpool, p. 90. About a hundred years later, in 1757, the
gross customs receipts of Liverpool had increased to 198,946L.;
whilst those of Bristol were as much as 351,211L. In 1883, the
amount of tonnage of Liverpool, inwards and outwards, was
8,527,531 tons, and the total dock revenue for the year was
1,273,752L.!

[14] There were not only Algerine but English pirates scouring
the seas. Keutzner, the German, who wrote in Elizabeth's reign,
said, "The English are good sailors and famous pirates (sunt boni
nautae et insignis pyratae)."  Roberts, in his Social History of
the Southern Counties (p. 93), observes, "Elizabeth had employed
many English as privateers against the Spaniard. After the war,
many were loth to lead an inactive life. They had their
commissions revoked, and were proclaimed pirates. The public
looked upon them as gallant fellows; the merchants gave them
underhand support; and even the authorities in maritime towns
connived at the sale of their plunder. In spite of
proclamations, during the first five years after the accession of
James I., there were continual complaints. This lawless way of
life even became popular. Many Englishmen furnished themselves
with good ships and scoured the seas, but little careful whom
they might plunder."  It was found very difficult to put down
piracy. According to Oliver's History of the city of Exeter, not
less than "fifteen sail of Turks" held the English Channel,
snapping up merchantmen, in the middle of the seventeenth
century! The harbours in the south-west were infested by Moslem
pirates, who attacked and plundered the ships, and carried their
crews into captivity. The loss, even to an inland port like
Exeter, in ships, money, and men, was enormous.

[15] Naval Tracts, p. 294.

[16] This poem is now very rare. It is not in the British
Museum.

[17] There are three copies extant of the autobiography, all of
which are in the British Museum. In the main, they differ but
slightly from each other. Not one of them has been published in
extenso. In December, 1795, and in February, 1796, Dr. Samuel
Denne communicated to the Society of Antiquaries particulars of
two of these MSS., and subsequently published copious extracts
from them in their transactions (Archae. xii. anno 1796), in a
very irregular and careless manner. It is probable that Dr.
Denne never saw the original manuscript, but only a garbled copy
of it. The above narrative has been taken from the original, and
collated with the documents in the State Paper Office.

[18] See, for instance, the Index to the Journals of Records of
the Corporation of the City of London (No. 2, p. 346, 15901694)
under the head of "Sir Walter Raleigh."  There is a document
dated the 15th November, 1593, in the 35th of Elizabeth, which
runs as follows:-- "Committee appointed on behalf of such of the
City Companies as have ventured in the late Fleet set forward by
Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight, and others, to join with such
honourable personages as the Queen hath appointed, to take a
perfect view of all such goods, prizes, spices, jewels, pearls,
treasures, &c., lately taken in the Carrack, and to make sale and
division (Jor. 23, p. 156). Suit to be made to the Queen and
Privy Council for the buying of the goods, &c., lately taken at
sea in the Carrack; a committee appointed to take order
accordingly; the benefit or loss arising thereon to be divided
and borne between the Chamber [of the Corporation of the City]
and the Companies that adventured (157). The several Companies
that adventured at sea with Sir Waiter Raleigh to accept so much
of the goods taken in the Carrack to the value of 12,000L.
according to the Queen's offer. A committee appointed to
acquaint the Lords of the Council with the City's acceptance
thereof (167). Committee for sale of the Carrack goods appointed
(174). Bonds for sale to be sealed (196).... Committee to audit
accounts of a former adventure (224 b.)."

[19] There were three sisters in all, the eldest of whom
(Abigail) fell a victim to the cruelty of Nunn, who struck her
across the head with the fire-tongs, from the effects of which
she died in three days. Nunn was tried and convicted of
manslaughter. He died shortly after. Mrs. Nunn, Phineas's
mother, was already dead.

[20] It would seem, from a paper hereafter to be more
particularly referred to, that the government encouraged the
owners of ships and others to clear the seas of these pirates,
agreeing to pay them for their labours. In 1622, Pett fitted out
an expedition against these pests of navigation, but experienced
some difficulty in getting his expenses repaid.

[21] See grant S.P.O., 29th May, 1605.

[22] An engraving of this remarkable ship is given in Charnock's
History of Marine Architecture, ii. p. 199.

[23] The story of the Three, or rather Two Ravens, is as
follows:-- The body of St. Vincent was originally deposited at
the Cape, which still bears his name, on the Portuguese coast;
and his tomb, says the legend, was zealously guarded by a couple
of ravens. When it was determined, in the 12th century, to
transport the relics of the Saint to the Cathedral of Lisbon, the
two ravens accompanied the ship which contained them, one at its
stem and the other at its stern. The relics were deposited in
the Chapel of St. Vincent, within the Cathedral, and there the
two ravens have ever since remained. The monks continued to
support two such birds in the cloisters, and till very lately the
officials gravely informed the visitor to the Cathedral that they
were the identical ravens which accompanied the Saint's relics to
their city. The birds figure in the arms of Lisbon.

[24] The evidence taken by the Commissioners is embodied in a
voluminous report. State Paper Office, Dom. James I., vol. xli.
1608.

[25] The Earl of Northampton, Privy Seal, was Lord Warden of the
Cinque Ports; hence his moving in the matter. Pett says he was
his "most implacable enemy."  It is probable that the earl was
jealous of Pett, because he had received his commission to build
the great ship directly from the sovereign, without the
intervention of his lordship

[26] This Royal investigation took place at Woolwich on the 8th
May, 1609. The State Paper Office contains a report of the same
date, most probably the one presented to the King, signed by six
ship-builders and Captain Waymouth, and counter signed by
Northampton and four others. The Report is headed "The Prince
Royal: imperfections found upon view of the new work begun at
Woolwich."  It would occupy too much space to give the results
here.

[27] Alas! for the uncertainties of life! This noble young
prince--the hope of England and the joy of his parents, from whom
such great things were anticipated--for he was graceful, frank,
brave, active, and a lover of the sea,--was seized with a serious
illness, and died in his eighteenth year, on the 16th November,
1612.

[28] Pett says she was to be 500 tons, but when he turned her out
her burthen was rated at 700 tons.

[29] This conduct of Raleigh's was the more inexcusable, as there
is in the State Paper Office a warrant dated 16th Nov., 1617, for
the payment to Pett of 700 crowns "for building the new ship, the
Destiny of London, of 700 tons burthen."  The least he could have
done was to have handed over to the builder his royal and usual
reward. In the above warrant, by the way, the title "our
well-beloved subject," the ordinary prefix to such grants, has
either been left blank or erased (it is difficult to say which),
but was very significant of the slippery footing of Raleigh at
Court.

[30] Sir Giles Overreach, in the play of "A new way to pay old
debts," by Philip Massinger. It was difficult for the poet, or
any other person, to libel such a personage as Mompesson.

[31] Pett's method is described in a paper contained in the
S.P.O., dated 21st Oct., 1626. The Trinity Corporation adopted
his method.

[32] Memoirs of the Life and Services of Rear-Admiral Sir William
Symonds, Kt., p. 94.

[33] Pett's dwelling-house at Rochester is thus described in an
anonymous history of that town (p. 337, ed. l817):-- "Beyond the
Victualling Office, on the same side of the High Street, at
Rochester, is an old mansion, now occupied by a Mr. Morson, an
attorney, which formerly belonged to the Petts, the celebrated
ship-builders. The chimney-piece in the principal room is of
wood, curiously carved, the upper part being divided into
compartments by caryatydes. The central compartment contains the
family arms, viz., Or, on a fesse, gu., between three pellets, a
lion passant gardant of the field. On the back of the grate is a
cast of Neptune, standing erect in his car, with Triton blowing
conches, &c., and the date 1650."

[34] Symonds, Memoirs of Life and Services, 94.

CHAPTER II.

FRANCIS PETTIT SMITH: PRACTICAL INTRODUCER OF THE SCREW
PROPELLER.

"The spirit of Paley's maxim that 'he alone discovers who
proves,' is applicable to the history of inventions and
discoveries; for certainly he alone invents to any good purpose,
who satisfies the world that the means he may have devised have
been found competent to the end proposed."--Dr. Samuel Brown.

"Too often the real worker and discoverer remains unknown, and an
invention, beautiful but useless in one age or country, can be
applied only in a remote generation, or in a distant land.
Mankind hangs together from generation to generation; easy labour
is but inherited skill; great discoveries and inventions are
worked up to by the efforts of myriads ere the goal is
reached."--H. M. Hyndman.

Though a long period elapsed between the times of Phineas Pett
and "Screw" Smith, comparatively little improvement had been
effected in the art of shipbuilding. The Sovereign of the Seas
had not been excelled by any ship of war built down to the end of
last century.[1] At a comparatively recent date, ships continued
to be built of timber and plank, and impelled by sails and oars,
as they had been for thousands of years before.

But this century has witnessed many marvellous changes. A new
material of construction has been introduced into shipbuilding,
with entirely new methods of propulsion. Old things have been
displaced by new; and the magnitude of the results has been
extraordinary. The most important changes have been in the use
of iron and steel instead of wood, and in the employment of the
steam-engine in impelling ships by the paddle or the screw.

So long as timber was used for the construction of ships, the
number of vessels built annually, especially in so small an
island as Britain, must necessarily have continued very limited.
Indeed, so little had the cultivation of oak in Great Britain
been attended to, that all the royal forests could not have
supplied sufficient timber to build one line-of-battle ship
annually; while for the mercantile marine, the world had to be
ransacked for wood, often of a very inferior quality.

Take, for instance, the seventy-eight gun ship, the Hindostan,
launched a few years ago. It would have required 4200 loads of
timber to build a ship of that description, and the growth of the
timber would have occupied seventy acres of ground during eighty
years.[2]  It would have needed something like 800,000 acres of
land on which to grow the timber for the ships annually built in
this country for commercial purposes. And timber ships are by no
means lasting. The average durability of ships of war employed
in active service, has been calculated to be about thirteen
years, even when built of British oak.

Indeed, years ago, the building of shipping in this country was
much hindered by the want of materials.

The trade was being rapidly transferred to Canada and the United
States. Some years since, an American captain said to an
Englishman, Captain Hall, when in China, "You will soon have to
come to our country for your ships: your little island cannot
grow wood enough for a large marine."  "Oh!" said the Englishman,
"we can build ships of iron!"  "Iron?" replied the American in
surprise, "why, iron sinks; only wood can float!"  "Well! you
will find I am right."  The prophecy was correct. The Englishman
in question has now a fleet of splendid iron steamers at sea.

The use of iron in shipbuilding had small beginnings, like
everything else. The established prejudice--that iron must
necessarily sink in water--long continued to prevail against its
employment. The first iron vessel was built and launched about a
hundred years since by John Wilkinson, of Bradley Forge, in
Staffordshire. In a letter of his, dated the 14th July, 1787,
the original of which we have seen, he writes: "Yesterday week
my iron boat was launched. It answers all my expectations, and
has convinced the unbelievers, who were 999 in 1000. It will be
only a nine days' wonder, and afterwards a Columbus's egg."  It
was, however, more than a nine days' wonder; for wood long
continued to be thought the only material capable of floating.

Although Wilkinson's iron vessels continued to ply upon the
Severn, more than twenty years elapsed before another shipbuilder
ventured to follow his example. But in 1810, Onions and Son, of
Brosely, built several iron vessels, also for use upon the
Severn. Then, in 1815, Mr. Jervons, of Liverpool, built a small
iron boat for use on the Mersey. Six years later, in 1821, Mr.
Aaron Manby designed an iron steam vessel, which was built at the
Horsley Company's Works, in Staffordshire. She sailed from
London to Havre a few years later, under the command of Captain
(afterwards Sir Charles) Napier, RN. She was freighted with a
cargo of linseed and iron castings, and went up the Seine to
Paris. It was some time, however, before iron came into general
use. Ten years later, in 1832, Maudslay and Field built four
iron vessels for the East India Company. In the course of about
twenty years, the use of iron became general, not only for ships
of war, but for merchant ships plying to all parts of the world.

When ships began to be built of iron, it was found that they
could be increased without limit, so long as coal, iron,
machinery, and strong men full of skill and industry, were
procurable. The trade in shipbuilding returned to Britain, where
iron ships are now made and exported in large numbers; the
mercantile marine of this country exceeding in amount and tonnage
that of all the other countries of the world put together. The
"wooden walls"[3] of England exist no more, for iron has
superseded wood. Instead of constructing vessels from the
forest, we are now digging new navies out of the bowels of the
earth, and our "walls," instead of wood, are now of iron and
steel.

The attempt to propel ships by other means than sails and oars
went on from century to century, and did not succeed until almost
within our own time. It is said that the Roman army under
Claudius Codex was transported into Sicily in boats propelled by
wheels moved by oxen. Galleys, propelled by wheels in paddles,
were afterwards attempted. The Harleian MS. contains an Italian
book of sketches, attributed to the 15th century, in which there
appears a drawing of a paddle-boat, evidently intended to be
worked by men. Paddle-boats, worked by horse-power, were also
tried. Blasco Garay made a supreme effort at Barcelona in 1543.
His vessel was propelled by a paddle-wheel on each side, worked
by forty men. But nothing came of the experiment.

Many other efforts of a similar kind were made,--by Savery among
others,[4]--until we come down to Patrick Miller, of Dalswinton,
who, in 1787, invented a double-hulled boat, which he caused to
be propelled on the Firth of Forth by men working a capstan which
drove the paddles on each side. The men soon became exhausted,
and on Miller mentioning the subject to William Symington, who
was then exhibiting his road locomotive in Edinburgh, Symington
at once said, "Why don't you employ steam-power?"

There were many speculations in early times as to the application
of steam-power for propelling vessels through the water. David
Ramsay in 1618, Dr. Grant in 1632, the Marquis of Worcester in
1661, were among the first in England to publish their views upon
the subject. But it is probable that Denis Papin, the banished
Hugnenot physician, for some time Curator of the Royal Society,
was the first who made a model steam-boat. Daring his residence
in England, he was elected Professor of Mathematics in the
University of Marburg. It was while at that city that he
constructed, in 1707, a small steam-engine, which he fitted in a
boat--une petite machine d'un, vaisseau a roues--and despatched
it to England for the purpose of being tried upon the Thames.
The little vessel never reached England. At Munden, the boatmen
on the River Weser, thinking that, if successful, it would
destroy their occupation, seized the boat, with its machine, and
barbarously destroyed it. Papin did not repeat his experiment,
and died a few years later.

The next inventor was Jonathan Hulls, of Campden, in
Gloucestershire. He patented a steamboat in 1736, and worked the
paddle-wheel placed at the stern of the vessel by means of a
Newcomen engine. He tried his boat on the River Avon, at
Evesham, but it did not succeed, and the engine was taken on
shore again. A local poet commemorated his failure in the
following lines, which were remembered long after his steamboat
experiment had been forgotten:--

"Jonathan Hull,
With his paper skull,
Tried hard to make a machine
That should go against wind and tide;
But he, like an ass,
Couldn't bring it to pass,
So at last was ashamed to be seen."

Nothing of importance was done in the direction of a steam-engine
able to drive paddles, until the invention by James Watt, in
1769, of his double-acting engine--the first step by which steam
was rendered capable of being successfully used to impel a
vessel. But Watt was indifferent to taking up the subject of
steam navigation, as well as of steam locomotion. He refused
many invitations to make steam-engines for the propulsion of
ships, preferring to confine himself to his "regular established
trade and manufacture," that of making condensing steam-engines,
which had become of great importance towards the close of his
life.

Two records exist of paddle-wheel steamboats having been early
tried in France--one by the Comte d'Auxiron and M. Perrier in
1774, the other by the Comte de Jouffroy in 1783--but the notices
of their experiments are very vague, and rest on somewhat
doubtful authority.

The idea, however, had been born, and was not allowed to die.
When Mr. Miller of Dalswinton had revived the notion of
propelling vessels by means of paddle-wheels, worked, as Savery
had before worked them, by means of a capstan placed in the
centre of the vessel, and when he complained to Symington of the
fatigue caused to the men by working the capstan, and Symington
had suggested the use of steam, Mr. Miller was impressed by the
idea, and proceeded to order a steam-engine for the purpose of
trying the experiment. The boat was built at Edinburgh, and
removed to Dalswinton Lake. It was there fitted with Symington's
steam-engine, and first tried with success on the 14th of
October, 1788, as has been related at length in Mr. Nasmyth's
'Autobiography.' The experiment was repeated with even greater
success in the charlotte Dundas in 1801, which was used to tow
vessels along the Forth and Clyde Canal, and to bring ships up
the Firth of Forth to the canal entrance at Grangemouth.

The progress of steam navigation was nevertheless very slow.
Symington's experiments were not renewed. The Charlotte Dundas
was withdrawn from use, because of the supposed injury to the
banks of the Canal, caused by the swell from the wheel. The
steamboat was laid up in a creek at Bainsford, where it went to
ruin, and the inventor himself died in poverty. Among those who
inspected the vessel while at work were Fulton, the American
artist, and Henry Bell, the Glasgow engineer. The former had
already occupied himself with model steamboats, both at Paris and
in London; and in 1805 he obtained from Boulton and Watt, of
Birmingham, the steam-engine required for propelling his paddle
steamboat on the Hudson. The Clermont was first started in
August, 1807, and attained a speed of nearly five miles an hour.
Five years later, Henry Bell constructed and tried his first
steamer on the Clyde.

It was not until 1815 that the first steamboat was seen on the
Thames. This was the Richmond packet, which plied between London
and Richmond. The vessel was fitted with the first marine engine
Henry Maudslay ever made. During the same year, the Margery,
formerly employed on the Firth of Forth, began plying between
Gravesend and London; and the Thames, formerly the Argyl