Part 9 (1/2)
On the 9th of September, 1665, he meets Sir William Doyly and Evelyn at supper: ”And I with them full of discourse of the neglect of our masters, the great officers of state, about all business, and especially that of money, having now some thousands prisoners kept to no purpose, at a great charge, and no money provided almost for the doing of it.”
”Captain c.o.c.ke reports as a certain truth that all the Dutch fleet, men-of-war and merchant East India s.h.i.+ps, are got every one in from Bergen, the 3rd of this month, Sunday last, which will make us all ridiculous.”
On the 14th, however, he says: ”A letter from my Lord Sandwich at Solebay, of the fleet's meeting with about eighteen more of the Dutch fleet, and his taking of most of them; and the messenger says, that they had taken three after the letter was wrote and sealed, which being twenty-one, and the fourteen took the other day, is forty-five sail, some of which are good and others rich s.h.i.+ps.”
On the 18th he goes to Gravesend in the bezan yacht, and ”by break of day we come to within sight of the fleet, which was a very fine thing to behold, being above 100 s.h.i.+ps, great and small, with the flag-s.h.i.+ps of each squadron distinguished by their several flags on their main, fore, or mizen-masts. Among others, the _Soveraigne, Charles_, and _Prince_, in the last of which my Lord Sandwich was. And so we come on board, and we find my Lord Sandwich newly up in his night-gown very well.”
He attends a council of war on board, ”When comes Sir W. Penn, Sir Christopher Mingo, Sir Edward Spragg, Sir Jos. Jordan, Sir Thomas Teddiman, and Sir Roger Omittance.” Sir Christopher Mings was one of the bravest admirals of the day. He was the son of a shoemaker, and had worked his way up in the sea-service. He was killed the following year, June, 1666, in action with the Dutch. Pepys describes him as ”a very witty, well-spoken fellow, and mighty free to tell his parentage, being a shoemaker's son.”
On the 25th of January, 1666, he writes: ”It is now certain that the King of France hath publickly declared war against us, and G.o.d knows how little fit we are for it.”
As an example of the way affairs were managed, he tells us that, viewing the yard at Chatham, he observed, ”among other things, a team of four horses coming close by us, drawing a piece of timber that I am confident one man could easily have carried upon his back. I made the horses be taken away, and a man or two to take the timber away with their hands.”
Still more abominable was the way in which the wages of the unfortunate seamen were kept back. On the 7th of October, 1665, he writes: ”Did business, though not much, at the office, because of the horrible crowd and lamentable moan of the poor seamen that lie starving in the streets for lack of money, which do trouble and perplex me to the heart; and more at noon, when we were to go through them, for then above a whole hundred of them followed us, some cursing, some swearing, and some praying to us.” He continues: ”Want of money in the navy puts everything out of order; men grown mutinous, and n.o.body here to mind the business of the navy but myself.”
On the 19th of May, 1666: ”Mr Deane and I did discourse about his s.h.i.+p _Rupert_, built by him, which succeeds so well as he hath got great honour by it, and I some by recommending him--the king, duke, and everybody saying it is the best s.h.i.+p that ever was built. And, then, he fell to explain to me his manner of casting the draught of water which a s.h.i.+p will draw beforehand, which is a secret the king and all admire in him; and he is the first that hath come to any certainty beforehand of foretelling the draught of water of a s.h.i.+p before she be launched.”
On the 4th he describes the fight between the English and Dutch, the news brought by a Mr Daniel, ”who was all m.u.f.fled up, and his face as black as the chimney, and covered with dirt, pitch, and tar, and powder, and m.u.f.fled with dirty clouts, and his right eye stopped with ok.u.m.”
The English ”found the Dutch fleet at anchor, between Dunkirke and Ostend, and made them let slip their anchors; they about ninety and we less than sixty. We fought them and put them to the run, till they met with about sixteen sail of fresh s.h.i.+ps, and so bore up again. The fight continued till night, and then again the next morning from five till seven at night. And so, too, yesterday morning they began again, and continued till about four o'clock, they chasing us for the most part of Sat.u.r.day, and yesterday we flying from them.” Prince Rupert's fleet, however, was seen coming, ”upon which De Ruyter called a council, and thereupon their fleet divided into two squadrons--forty in one, and about thirty in the other; the bigger to follow the duke, the less to meet the prince. But the prince come up with the generall's fleet, and the Dutch come together again, and bore towards their own coast, and we with them. The duke was forced to come to anchor on Friday, having lost his sails and rigging.”
Some days afterwards he continues the description of the fight: ”The commanders, officers, and even the common seamen do condemn every part of the late conduct of the Duke of Albemarle; running among them in his retreat, and running the s.h.i.+ps on ground; so as nothing can be worse spoken of. That Holmes, Spragg, and Smith do all the business, and the old and wiser commanders nothing.”
”We lost more after the prince came than before. The _Prince_ was so maimed, as to be forced to be towed home.” Among several commanders killed in the action was Sir Christopher Mings.
He describes the affection the seamen entertained for those commanders they esteemed: ”About a dozen able, l.u.s.ty, proper men come to the coach-side with tears in their eyes, and one of them that spoke for the rest begun and said to Sir W. Coventry, `We are here a dozen of us, that have long known and loved and served our dead commander, Sir Christopher Mings, and have now done the last office of laying him in the ground.
We would be glad we had any other to offer after him, and in revenge of him. All we have is our lives; if you will please to get His Royal Highness to give us a fire-s.h.i.+p among us all, here are a dozen of us, out of all which choose you one of us to be commander, and the rest of us, whoever he is, will serve him; and, if possible, do that which shall show our memory of our dead commander, and our revenge.' Sir W.
Coventry was herewith much moved, as well as I, who could hardly abstain from weeping.”
”Sir Christopher Mings was a very stout man, and a man of great parts, and most excellent tongue among ordinary men; and would have been a most useful man at such a time as this.”
He gives a deplorable account of the state of the navy, the neglect of business by Charles and his brother, and the want of money. On the 8th of October, 1665, he writes: ”I think of twenty-two s.h.i.+ps, we shall make s.h.i.+ft to get out seven. (G.o.d help us! men being sick, or provisions lacking.) There is nothing but discontent among the officers, and all the old experienced men are slighted.”
Speaking of the action with the Dutch, he says: ”They do mightily insult of their victory, and they have great reason. Sir William Barkeley was killed before his s.h.i.+p taken; and there he lies dead in a sugar-chest, for everybody to see, with his flag standing up by him. And Sir George Ascue is carried up and down the Hague for people to see.”
The abominable system of the press-gang was then in full force, and was carried on with the same cruelty which existed till a much later period: ”To the Tower several times, about the business of the pressed men, and late at it till twelve at night s.h.i.+pping of them. But, Lord! how some poor women did cry; and in my life I never did see such natural expression of pa.s.sion as I did here in some women bewailing themselves, and running to every parcel of men that were brought one after another to look for their husbands, and wept over every vessel that went off, thinking they might be there, and looking after the s.h.i.+p as far as ever they could by moone-light, that it grieved me to the heart to hear them.
Besides, to see poor, patient, labouring men and housekeepers leaving poor wives and families, taken up on a sudden by strangers, was very hard, and that without press-money, but forced against all law to be gone. It is a great tyranny.”
The next morning he went ”to Bridewell to see the pressed men, where there are about 300; but so unruly that I durst not go among them; and they have reason to be so, having been kept these three days prisoners, with little or no victuals, and pressed out and contrary to all course of law, without press-money, and men that are not liable to it.”
”I found one of the vessels loaden with the Bridewell birds in a great mutiny; I think it is much if they do not run the vessel on ground.”
He continues: ”With regard to the building of ten great s.h.i.+ps, none to be under third-rates; but it is impossible to do it, unless we have some money.”
Sir W. Penn gives his advice as to the mode of fighting at sea: ”We must fight in a line, whereas we fight promiscuously, to our utter and demonstrable ruin; the Dutch fighting otherwise; and we, whenever we beat them. 2. We must not desert s.h.i.+ps of our own in distress, as we did, for that makes a captain desperate, and he will fling away his s.h.i.+p when there are no hopes left him of succour. 3rd. That s.h.i.+ps when they are a little shattered must not take the liberty to come in of themselves, but refit themselves the best they can, and stay out--many of our s.h.i.+ps coming in with very small disableness. He told me that our very commanders, nay, our very flag-officers, do stand in need of exercising among themselves, and discoursing the business of commanding a fleet; he telling me that even one of our flagmen in the fleet did not know which tack lost the wind or kept it in the last engagement. Then in the business of forecastles, which he did oppose, all the world sees now the use of them for shelter of men.”
He observes that ”we see many women now-a-days in the streets, but no men; men being so afraid of the press.” He speaks of purchasing ”four or five tons of corke, to send this day to the fleet, being a new device to make barricados with, instead of junke.” The importance of protecting men against shot was even then, it will be seen, thought of.
On the 10th he goes ”to the office; the yard being very full of women coming to get money for their husbands and friends that are prisoners in Holland; and they lay clamouring and swearing and cursing us, that my wife and I were afraid to send a venison-pasty that we have for supper to-night, to the cook's to be baked.”