Chapter XIX: Appendix: VI

LISTS

_Of the Secretaries of the Admiralty, and Principal Officers of the
Navy; viz., Treasurers, Comptrollers, Surveyors, Clerks of the Acts,
and Commissioners of the Navy at Chatham; to the beginning of the
18th century._ (_Compiled by Colonel Pasley, C.B., R.E._)

From the middle of the 16th to the end of the 17th century, Chatham was by far the most important of the English naval stations, and the Commissioner resident there had from the first a seat and vote at the Board in London--a privilege which was not extended to his colleague at Portsmouth until a much later date. The rise of the latter port dates from the alliance with the Dutch, and war with France which followed the accession of William and Mary, and which made it necessary to establish a first-class naval yard at a less distance from the French coast than Chatham. The same cause led to the construction of a dry dock at Plymouth. See “Edmund Dummer,” in the list of Surveyors of the Navy.

The figures in the first column represent the year of appointment, when that can be ascertained. The prefix “circ.” implies that the person named in the second column is known to have held the office at the time stated, although the date of first appointment is not known. In some cases the only date that can be found is that of an order to the Attorney-General to prepare letters patent; sometimes that of the patent itself; sometimes of a warrant to execute the office, notwithstanding that the patent is not yet passed; and occasionally that of a letter from some person at Court informing his correspondent that the King or Queen has signed such and such a patent. It has been thought better, therefore, to state only the _year_ of appointment, as the insertion in lists of this kind of the month and day tends to give them a delusive appearance of accuracy.

The scantiness of MS. records before the Revolution arises from the practice which existed of retiring Officers taking away with them their office books and papers, which they regarded as their own property. This was put a stop to in the Dockyards by a Navy Board Order of the 18th August, 1692. Unless otherwise stated, the manuscripts in the following lists are in the British Museum.

SECRETARIES OF THE ADMIRALTY,

_From the first placing of the Office of Lord High Admiral in Commission to the commencement of the 18th century_.

NOTE.--An asterisk (*) _before_ the name of a titled office-holder signifies that the title (knighthood or other) was conferred upon him during his tenure of that office.

Date of
Appointment. Name. Authority. Lord High Admiral.

1628 Edward Nicholas. Cal. Stᵗᵉ Papers In Commission.
(Domestic
Series).

Nicholas had been Secretary to Lord Zouch, Warden of the Cinque
Ports, and afterwards to the Duke of Buckingham, Lord High
Admiral. On the assassination of the latter, in 1628, the office
of Lord High Admiral was for the first time entrusted to a body
of commissioners instead of to an individual, and Nicholas
was appointed Secretary of the Admiralty. When the Earl of
Northumberland was appointed Lord High Admiral, ten years later,
Nicholas ceased to hold any office immediately connected with
the Navy, but retained the post of Clerk of the Council. He was
afterwards knighted, and became Secretary of State to Charles I.,
and (after the Restoration) to Charles II.

1638 Thomas Smith. Cal. St. Pap. Earl of
Northumberland.

1643 ----? Earl of Warwick.

1645 ----? A Committee of
both Houses of
Parliament.

1648 ----? Earl of Warwick
again.

I have not met with any record of the names of the Secretaries
during the period from 1643 to 1649.

1649 Robert Coytmor. Cal. St. Pap. A Committee of
the Council of
State.

1652 Robert Blackborne. Cal. St. Pap. Commissioners
appointed by Act
of Parliament.

Blackborne had previously held the office of Secretary to the
“Navy Committee,” a Committee of the House of Commons. The
precise relations existing between the numerous committees and
commissions at this period are not very clear.

1653 Robert Blackborne. Cal. St. Pap. Commissioners
appointed by
Act of the
Convention.

1654 Robert Blackborne. Addit. MS. 18,986, Do. by Patent
fo. 150 (Letter of the Protector
to Blackborne Oliver.
from Commissr.
Pett).

1658 Robert Blackborne. Admiralty Orders Do. by Patent
and Instructions, of the Protector
1656 to 1658 Richard.
(Admiralty
Library MS.).

1659 Robert Blackborne. Addit. MS. 9,302, Commissioners
fo. 183 (List of appointed by
Officers and the Rump.
Salaries of the
Admiralty and
Navy before the
Restoration).

Blackborne continued to hold the office of Secretary until the
appointment of the Duke of York as Lord High Admiral in July,
1660. He is frequently mentioned by Pepys.

1660 *Sir William } Duke of York.
Coventry. } From “Mr.
} Hewer’s account
1667 Matthew Wren. } of the Duke of York.
} Secretaries
1672 Sir John Werden. } of the Duke of York.
} Admiralty
1673 Samuel Pepys. } from King King Charles
} Charles II.’s II, with a
} restoration to Commission.
} King James II.’s
1679 Thomas Hayter. } withdrawing, In Commission.
} December, 1688.”
1680 John Brisband. } In Commission.
}
1684 Samuel Pepys. } (MS. in Pepysian King Charles
} Collection, II. (assisted by
} “Naval Minutes.”) the Duke of
} York).
}
1685 Samuel Pepys. } King James II.
}
1688 Samuel Pepys. } Prince of
} Orange.
}
1689 Phineas } In Commission.
Bowles. }

1690 James Sotherne. Luttrell, ii. In Commission.
p. 10.

1694 William Bridgman. Luttrell, iii. In Commission.
p. 341.

1695 William Bridgman Haydn’s “Book of In Commission.
and Josiah Dignities.”
Burchett, joint
Secretaries.

The _date_ of the joint appointment is taken from Haydn, but the
_fact_ is proved by Admiralty letters in the Chatham Dockyard
Records, which about this time bear the signature sometimes of
Bridgman and sometimes of Burchett as Secretary.

1698 Josiah Burchett, Luttrell, iv. 396. In Commission.
alone.

1702 Josiah Burchett. Earl of Pembroke.

1702 Josiah Burchett, Luttrell, v. 176. Prince George of
George Denmark.
Clark, joint.

1705 Josiah Burchett, Luttrell, v. 605. Prince George of
alone. Denmark.

1708 Josiah Burchett. Earl of Pembroke.

1709 Josiah Burchett. In Commission.

NOTE.--Mr. Burchett continued to hold this office until 1742,
when he retired. (“British Chronologist,” 29th Oct., 1742.)

TREASURERS OF THE NAVY,

_To the commencement of the 18th century_.

Date of
Appointment. Name. Authority.

circ. 1546 Robert Legg. Harleian MS. 249.

The first paper in this volume of the Harleian Collection is
a “Confession taken of 23 of the crediblest forfathers at
Deptford-Strande the 29ᵗʰ day of October (anno R. R. Hen. VIII.
38vo.) consernynge the taking of the Gallye Blancherd, in the
presens of Sir Thomas Cleire, Lieuftennaunt, Robert Legg Esq.
Treasourer, Will. Brocke, Comptroller, Benjamin Gonson, Surveour,
and Rich Brocke, Capitaigne of the Kynges Majesties Gallye
Subtill.” I have not found any record of the date of Legg’s
appointment.

1549 Benjamin Gonson. Additˡ. MSS. vol. 9295, fo. 56.

1577 Benjamin Gonson and Additˡ. MSS. vol.
*Sir John Hawkins, 9295, fo. 56.
joint.

1578 Sir John Hawkins, Cal. St. Papers.
alone.

1595 Vacant. Cal. St. Papers.

On Sir John Hawkins’s death in 1595, Roger Langford, his deputy,
was appointed to do the duty of Treasurer, with the title of
“Paymaster of Marine Causes,” pending the appointment of a new
Treasurer, which did not take place till 1598.

1598 *Sir Fulke Greville.[406] Cal. St. Pap.

1604 Sir Robert Mansell. Cal. St. Pap., and
Phineas Pett’s Autobiography.

1618 Sir William Russell. Cal. St. Pap.

1627 *Sir Sackville Crowe, Cal. St. Pap.
Bart.

Sir Sackville Crowe was one of the Special Commissioners
appointed in 1618 by James I. to inquire into abuses in the
navy. In 1627 Sir W. Russell was superseded in his favour, but
three years later he was charged with misappropriation, or
embezzlement, and was compelled to resign, when Russell was
reinstated.

1630 Sir William Russell, Cal. St. Pap.
again.

1639 Sir William Russell, Cal. St. Pap.
and *Sir Henry
Vane, joint.

1642 Sir Henry Vane, alone. Forster, “Statesmen of the
Commonwealth.”

1651 Richard Hutchinson. Cal. St. Pap.

Hutchinson had been Deputy Treasurer to Sir H. Vane, whom he
succeeded as Treasurer in 1651. He continued to hold that office
until the Restoration. He is several times mentioned in Pepys’s
“Diary.”

1660 Sir George Carteret. Pepys, &c.

Sir George Carteret had been Comptroller of the Navy before the
Civil War.

1667 Earl of Anglesey. Duke of York’s Memoirs, p. 235.

1668 Sir Thomas Osborne, Duke of York’s Memoirs, p. 236.
Bart., Sir Thomas
Littleton, Bart.,
joint.

1671 Sir Thomas Osborne, Duke of York’s Memoirs,
alone. p. 236.

The patent of Sir Thomas Osborne (afterwards Duke of Leeds) to
be sole Treasurer is printed in the Duke of York’s “Memoirs of
the English Affairs,” pp. 235–238. It recites and revokes the
appointments of 1667 and 1668.

1673 Edward Seymour. Collins’s “Peerage of England”
(Sir E. Brydges’ edition),
vol. i. p. 195.

Afterwards Sir Edward Seymour, Bart. The Duke of Somerset and the
Marquis of Hertford are descended from him.

1681 Viscount Falkland. Luttrell, vol. i. p. 76.

Lord Falkland died in 1694. (Luttrell, iii. 317.)

1689 Edward Russell. Collins’s “Peerage,”
vol. i. p. 283.

A distinguished naval commander. Afterwards Earl of Orford, which
title became extinct at his death.

1699 Sir Thomas Littleton, Luttrell, v. 521.
Bart.

Died in 1710. (Luttrell, vi. 530.)

1710 Robert Walpole. Luttrell, vi. 534.

Afterwards Prime Minister and Earl of Orford.

FOOTNOTES:

[406] Afterwards Lord Brooke.

COMPTROLLERS OF THE NAVY,

_To the commencement of the 18th century_.

Date of
Appointment. Name. Authority.

circ. 1514 John Hopton. Cal. of Letters, &c.,
Henry VIII.

Hopton certainly held the office of Comptroller in 1514, but I
have been unable to ascertain the date of his appointment. He
died about 1524.

circ. 1542 John Osburne. Byng MSS. vol. x.[407]
Admiralty Library
(Pepys’s Naval Collections).

circ. 1546 William Brock. Harleian MS. 249,
No. 1.

1562 William Holstock. Cal. St. Pap.

circ. 1585 William Holstock and Lansdowne MS. 43,
William Borough, No. 33.
joint.

At this period (1585) W. Borough was Clerk _and_ Comptroller
of the Ships, but as Holstock certainly retained the office of
Comptroller till 1589, I presume they must have held it jointly.

circ. 1590 William Borough, Cal. St. Pap.
alone.

After 1589 Holstock’s name appears no more at the foot of
certificates or other papers connected with the navy recorded in
the Calendars of State Papers, and it is probable that he died or
retired then, leaving Borough sole Comptroller. The latter died
about the end of 1598. (Cal. St. Pap.)

1598 Sir Henry Palmer. Cal. St. Pap.

1611 Sir Guilford Slingsby. Cal. St. Pap.

1631 Sir Henry Palmer, Cal. St. Pap.
junior.

1639 Sir Hen. Palmer, jun., Cal. St. Pap.
and Capt. George
Carteret,[408] joint.

1642 In abeyance. Addit. MSS. vol. 9311, fo. 188.

In 1642 the Parliament abolished the offices of Comptroller,
Surveyor, and Clerk of the Acts, and constituted instead of them
a Board of equal Commissioners. The Treasurer remained, but was
no longer a member of the Navy Board.

1660 *Sir Robert Slingsby. Cal. St. Pap.; Pepys’s Diary.

The Navy Board in its old form was re-established at the
Restoration.

1661 Sir John Minnes. Pepys’s Diary.

1671 Sir Thomas Allen. Duke of York’s Instructions
(MS. Admiralty Library).

Died in 1685. (Luttrell, i. p. 358.)

1685 Sir Richard Haddock. Addit. MS. 9322.

1686 In abeyance. Pepys’s Memoir.

The principal officers (except the Treasurer) were suspended, and
the office placed temporarily under the charge of a body of equal
Commissioners, as described in Pepys’s “Memoir.”

1688 Sir Richard Haddock, Pepys’s Memoir.
restored.

Special Commission revoked, and former officers restored.

1715 Sir Charles Wager. Byng MSS. vol. 13
(Admiralty Library).

FOOTNOTES:

[407] This volume contains a transcript of part of Pepys’s Naval Collections in the Library of Magdalene College, Cambridge. It comprises some extracts from Lord Clarendon’s copy of the Council Books of King Henry VIII. from 1541 to 1543, one of which records a letter being written to Mr. Stanhopp and John Osburne, “Comptroller of the King’s H.’ˢ Ships.” I cannot find the date of his first appointment.

[408] Afterwards Sir George Carteret, Treasurer of the Navy.

SURVEYORS OF THE NAVY,

_To the commencement of the 18th century_.

Date of
Appointment. Name. Authority.

circ. 1546 Benjamin Gonson. Harleian MS. 249. (_See_
Robert Legg, Treasurer.)

Gonson was appointed Treasurer of the Navy in 1549.

1549 *Sir William Winter. Addit. MS. 5752, fo. 6ᵇ.

Letters Patent of Philip and Mary, dated 2nd Nov. 1557, recite a
patent of Edward VI. appointing William Wynter to be “Surveyor of
our Ships,” and go on to appoint him “Master of our Ordnance of
our Ships,” in addition to the Surveyorship. He continued to hold
the joint offices for many years--certainly till 1589, perhaps
later. The date of his death is uncertain.

1598 *Sir John Trevor. Cal. St. Pap.

1611 *Sir Richard Bingley. Phineas Pett’s Autobiography.

1616 *Sir Thomas Aylesbury. Cal. St. Pap.

1632 Kenrick Edisbury. Cal. St. Pap.

This is the “Old Edgborough,” whose ghost was supposed to haunt
the Hill House at Chatham. (Pepys’s Diary, 8th April, 1661.) He
died in 1638.

1638 William Batten. Cal. St. Pap.

Afterwards Sir William. (See 1660 below.)

1642 In abeyance. Addit. MSS. vol. 9311 fo. 188.

A body of Commissioners appointed by Parliament instead of the
principal officers.

1660 Sir William Batten, Cal. St. Pap., and
restored. Pepys’s Diary.

Died in 1667.

1667 Colonel Thomas Pepys’s Diary, 10th Dec. 1667.
Middleton.

_See_ Middleton in List of Commissioners at Chatham, 1672.

1672 *Sir John Tippetts. Duke of York’s Instructions
(MS. in Admiralty Library).

1686 In abeyance. Pepys’s Memoir.

1688 Sir John Tippetts, Pepys’s Memoir.
restored.

1692 Edmund Dummer. Luttrell, ii. 522.

In the British Museum (King’s MS. 40) there is an interesting
account by Dummer of a tour made by him in the Mediterranean
on board H.M.S. “Woolwich” in 1682–84. The volume contains
many plans and drawings. In the reign of William III., Dummer
contrived a simple and ingenious method of pumping water from
dry docks below the level of low tide, which enabled Portsmouth
for the first time to possess a dry dock capable of taking in
a first-rate man-of-war, previously regarded as impracticable,
owing to the small rise of tide there as compared with that at
Woolwich, Deptford, Chatham, and Plymouth. He also designed and
constructed the first docks at Plymouth. (See Harl. MS. 4318;
Lansdowne MS. 847; King’s MSS. 40, 43.)

1699 Daniel Furzer. Luttrell, iv. 556.

1715 Jacob Acworth. Byng Collection, vol.
xiii. (MS. in Admiralty
Library).

CLERKS OF THE SHIPS, OF THE NAVY, OR OF THE ACTS,

_To the commencement of the 18th century_.

Date of
Appointment. Name. Authority.

circ. 1482 Thomas Roger, or Pepys’s “Miscellanies”
Rogiers. (MS.) and Harleian
MS. 433.

The office of “Clerk of the King’s Ships,” or of the Navy,
afterwards “Clerk of the Acts of the Navy,” is in all probability
a very ancient one; but the first holder of the office whose
name I have met with is Thomas Roger or Rogiers, who seems to
have held it in the reigns of Edward IV., Edward V., and Richard
III. In the third volume of Pepys’s MS. “Miscellanies,” p. 87,
is an entry of an order dated 18th May, 22nd Edward IV. (1482),
to the Treasurer and Chamberlain of the Exchequer to examine and
clear the account of “our well beloved Thomas Roger Esq. Clerk of
our Ships.” Harleian MS. 433 (supposed to have belonged to Lord
Burghley) is a register of grants, &c., passing the Privy Seal,
&c., during the reigns of Edward V. and Richard III., with some
entries of other reigns. No. 1690 is the appointment of “Thomas
Rogiers to be Clerc of all maner shippes to the King belonging.”
It has no date, but is very probably a reappointment by Richard
III. on his assumption of the throne.

Temp. William Comersale. “Letters and Papers,
Henry VII. Henry VIII.,” vol. i. p. 48.
Temp. Robert Brigandyne,
Henry VII. or Brikenden.
1509

“Privy Seal 28 July 1509 for Robert Brikenden to be Keeper or
Clerk of the King’s Ships in the Realm of England, with 12_d._
a day for himself, and 6_d._ a day for his Clerk, in the same
manner as William Comersale,--out of the customs of Exeter and
Dartmouth.”

“Letters and Papers,
Henry VIII.,” vol.
iii. pt. 2, p. 1263.

“Grant 21 April 1523:--Rob. Briganden, of Smalhed, Kent, alias of
Portesmouth. Release, as Clerk of the King’s Ships to Henry VII.
and Henry VIII., and purveyor of Stuffs and timber for the same.”

From these two documents it appears that Brigandyne’s appointment
as Clerk of the Ships in 1509 was a reappointment on the
accession of Henry VIII., and that he had held the same office
under Henry VII. after Comersale, who may very probably have
succeeded Rogiers.

Brigandyne’s name appears very frequently in connection with
naval matters down to October, 1525, after which there is no
mention of him in the Calendar of letters and papers.

1526 Thomas Jermyn, or “Letters and Papers,
Germyn. Henry VIII.,” vol.
iv. pt. 1, p. 954.

Patent 1526, April 3rd. Thomas Jermyn, Yeoman of the Guard and
Crown, to be Keeper or Clerk of the Navy, and Keeper of the Dock
at Portsmouth, with 12_d._ a day, and 6_d._ a day for a Clerk,
out of the issues of the Ports of Exeter and Dartmouth.

From this date to 1530 there are numerous entries connected with
Jermyn’s accounts as Clerk of the Ships.

circ. 1540 Sir Thomas Spert. Pepys’s “Miscellanies,”
vol. vii. (MS. at
Magdalene College).

This volume of the “Miscellanies” includes a collection of
payments made to the navy between 1537 and 1541. Amongst these
are regular half-yearly payments at the rate of _£_33 6_s._ 8_d._
to “Sir Thomas Spert, Clerke of the King’s Ships.”

circ. 1563 George Winter. Addit. MSS. vol. 5752.

This volume contains an order of Queen Elizabeth, dated 16th
July, 1563, to Lord Clinton, Lord High Admiral, to deliver
certain stores to George Winter, “Clerk of our Ships.” I have
been unable to find the date of his appointment to this office,
which he continued to hold till his death in 1581. His epitaph
in Dyrham Church, Gloucestershire, is printed in Bigland’s
Collection. He was brother to Sir William Winter, Surveyor of the
Navy and Master of Sea Ordnance.

circ. 1585 William Borough. Lansdowne MS. 43,
No. 33.

In February of this year Borough was Clerk _and_ Comptroller:
see his letter of this date (Feb. 1584, meaning no doubt 1585
as years are counted now) to Lord Burghley (Lansd. MSS. 43, 33)
beginning, “To the righte honnorable the L. Burghley Lord Highe
Treasourer of Englande--your suppliant William Borough Clarke and
Comptroller of her Maᵗⁱᵉ Shippes,” &c. The paper is endorsed, “A
dewtifull declaration, February Anᵒ. 1584. By William Borough
Clarke and Comptroller of her Maᵗⁱᵉ Navie.” It is an original
letter, the body written in a very neat hand of the period, and
signed by Borough himself in a different, but also very neat,
hand. As William Holstock was certainly Comptroller at this time,
and had been so for more than twenty years, it is probable that
he and Borough held that office jointly, whilst Borough also
performed the functions of Clerk of the Ships. (_See_ List of
Comptrollers.) As Winter died in 1581, and Borough had certainly
been Clerk for some time before the date of his letter, it is
probable that he immediately succeeded Winter.

circ. 1600 *Sir Peter Buck. Phineas Pett’s Autobiography.

As Borough died in 1598 (Cal. St. Pap.), it is probable he was
succeeded about that time by Peter Buck; but the first occasion
on which I find the name of the latter mentioned as Clerk of the
Ships is in the year 1600, by Phineas Pett. Sir Henry Palmer
certainly succeeded Borough in the Comptrollership in 1598 (Cal.
St. Pap.). Buck died in 1625. He had been for some years Clerk
of the Cheque at Chatham before his appointment to the Board.
He is mentioned by Pepys as one of his predecessors (“Diary,”
14 Dec. 1660), who was not a little proud of his office having
once been held by a knight. Lord Braybrooke, in his note to this
entry, says that Buck was Secretary to Algernon Percy, Earl of
Northumberland; but Buck was Clerk of the Navy at least two years
before the Earl was born, and died when the latter was only
twenty-three years of age.

1625 Dennis Fleming. Cal. St. Pap.

1638 Dennis Fleming and Cal. St. Pap.
Thomas Barlow,
joint.

1642 In abeyance. Addit. MSS. vol. 9311
fo. 188.

A body of Commissioners appointed by Parliament instead of the
principal officers.

1660 Samuel Pepys.

Lord Braybrooke, in his note to the entry of the 27th June, 1660,
quotes Pepys’s patent, in which Fleming and Barlow’s joint patent
is recited and revoked, and Pepys was appointed Clerk of the
Acts at a salary of _£_33 6_s._ 8_d._ per annum. But this amount
was only the ancient “fee out of the Exchequer” which had been
attached to the office for more than a century. Pepys’s salary
had been previously fixed at _£_350 a year. Lord Braybrooke
says, in a note to 9th Feb. 1664–65, that “Barlow had previously
been Secretary to Algernon, Earl of Northumberland, when High
Admiral;” but he was appointed Clerk of the Acts two months
before the Earl became Lord High Admiral. Barlow had, however,
been in his service at an earlier date, and had been appointed by
the Earl Muster-Master of the Fleet under his command in 1636.
(Cal. St. Pap.)

1674 Thomas Hayter and Addit. MSS. vol. 9307.
John Pepys, joint.

When Pepys was promoted to be Secretary of the Admiralty, he was
succeeded in the office of Clerk of the Acts by his clerk and his
brother jointly.

1677 Thomas Hayter and Orders and Warrants,
James Sotherne, 1676–78 (MS. in Admiralty
joint. Library).

Sotherne was appointed “one of the Clerkes of yᵉ Acts of our Navy
Royall,” in the place of John Pepys “lately deceased:” 12th March,
1676–77.

1679 James Sotherne,
alone.

Hayter was promoted to be Secretary of the Admiralty when Pepys
was thrown into prison.

1686 In abeyance. Pepys’s Memoir.

Special temporary Commission appointed, and the principal
officers suspended.

1688 James Sotherne, Pepys’s Memoir.
restored.

Special Commission revoked.

circ. 1690 Charles Sergison.

Sotherne was made Secretary of the Admiralty in January, 1690,
and it is probable that Sergison immediately succeeded him. The
Letter-books of the Navy Board at Chatham show that he held the
office in 1691, and held it until 1719.

1719 Tempest Holmes. Byng Collection, vol.
xiii. (MS. in Admiralty
Library).

COMMISSIONERS OF THE NAVY APPOINTED TO RESIDE AT CHATHAM,

_From the first establishment of that office in 1630 to the commencement of the 18th century_.

Date of
Appointment. Name. Authority.

1630 Phineas Pett. Phineas Pett’s Autobiography
(Addit. MS. 9298).

This interesting MS., in Pett’s own handwriting, contains full
details of the life of the celebrated builder of the “Royal
Sovereign,” or “Sovereign of the Seas,” from his birth in 1570
until 1637, when it breaks off abruptly. It is endorsed, in a
much later handwriting: “The life of Comʳ. Pett’s father, whose
place he did enjoy.” A few leaves are wanting, but their contents
are supplied by a complete transcript in the Harleian MS. 6279,
in which, however (as well as in another transcript in the
Pepysian Library), the orthography is somewhat modernized, and
the handwriting is that of the latter part of the 17th century.
Extracts from a copy of the Harleian transcript are printed in
“Archæologia,” vol. xii.

Pett died in 1647, at Chatham. Having submitted to the
Parliament in 1642, he retained his office until his death in
1647.[409]

1647 Peter Pett. Addit. MSS. vol. 9306
(Navy Board Letter-book),
shows that in
Nov. 1648, Peter
Pett held this office.

I have not met with Peter Pett’s original appointment, but I have
no doubt that he immediately succeeded his father Phineas, on the
death of the latter in 1647. He was continued in the same office
after the Restoration. In 1667, in consequence of the Dutch
attack on Chatham, he was superseded, sent to the Tower, and
threatened with impeachment. The threat was not carried out, but
he was never restored to office.

1667 Vacant.

No new appointment was made for nearly two years after Pett’s
removal.

1669 *Sir John Cox. Pepys’ Diary: Narborough’s Diary.

Cox was master of the Duke of York’s flagship, “Royal Charles,”
in the victory over the Dutch Admiral Opdam, 3rd June, 1665. Was
captain of the “Sovereign” in the three days’ battle with the
Dutch fleet in June, 1666. Master Attendant at Deptford in 1667.
Resident Commissioner at Chatham, March, 1669. Appointed, 15th
Jan. 1672, Flag-Captain to the Duke of York in the “Prince,”
without vacating his office at Chatham. Knighted by King Charles
II., on board the “Prince,” at the Nore, on the 27th April.
Killed at the Battle of Sole Bay, on the 28th May in the same
year.

(See “Diary” of Captain John Narborough (afterwards Sir John),
whilst serving as First Lieutenant on board the “Prince.” It is
amongst the Pepysian MSS. at Magdalene College, and there is a
transcript in the Admiralty Library.)

1672 Colonel Thomas Duke of York’s Instructions
Middleton. (MS. in Admiralty Library).

Colonel Middleton was one of the Commissioners of the Admiralty
appointed by the Rump in January, 1660. Engaged in the West India
trade after the Restoration (see Duke of York’s “Memoirs,” p. 9).
Appointed Commissioner at Portsmouth in 1664, and Surveyor of
the Navy in 1667. Removed to Chatham as Resident Commissioner in
June, 1672. Died in December of the same year.

1672 *Sir Richard Beach. Duke of York’s Instructions
(MS. in Admiralty Library).

Captain of H.M.S. the “Crown” in February, 1663. Served at sea
till 1672, in which year he captured an Algerine man-of-war.
Appointed Resident Commissioner at Chatham in Dec. 1672, and
transferred to Portsmouth in the same capacity in 1679. Removed
to the Board in London as Comptroller of Victualling Accounts in
1690. Died in May, 1692.

1679 *Sir John Godwin. Addit. MS. 9312.

Served in the navy as a lieutenant, and subsequently in the
Victualling Department. Appointed Commissioner at Chatham in Dec.
1679; removed to the Board in London, March, 1686; died in 1689.

1686 Sir Phineas Pett. Pepys’s Memoirs.

Son of Peter Pett, shipbuilder, of Ratcliffe, and grand-nephew
of Phineas Pett, the first Commissioner at Chatham. Appointed
Master Shipwright at Portsmouth in June, 1660, and transferred to
Chatham in the same capacity in the following month. Dismissed
for misbehaviour in office on the 25th Sept., 1668, but restored
three months afterwards on making submission and surrendering
his patent. Promoted to the Board in London as Comptroller of
Victualling Accounts on the 5th August, 1680, and knighted by
the King on the same day. Transferred to Chatham as Commissioner
in 1686. Dismissed on account of his political opinions on the
accession of William and Mary.[410]

1689 *Sir Edward Gregory. Admiralty Orders,
1688–9 (MS. in the
Public Record Office).

Served as a purser in the navy in 1662–3. Succeeded his father as
Clerk of the Cheque in Chatham Yard in Feb. 1665, which office
he resigned after holding it nearly twenty years. Appointed
Commissioner at Chatham on the 20th April, 1689. Knighted by
William III. in Jan. 1691. Retired on a pension of _£_300 a year
in June, 1703. Died in 1713.

1703 Captain George St. Chatham Records.
Lo.

Attained the rank of captain in 1682. When in command of the
“Portsmouth,” in 1689, was captured with his ship, and taken into
Brest severely wounded. In 1693 he published a tract, entitled,
“England’s Safety or a bridle to the French King.” In the same
year he was appointed a member of the Navy Board. Transferred to
Plymouth as Commissioner in 1695, and from thence to Chatham in
1703. Superseded on the accession of George I., in 1714, by the
omission of his name from the new patent for the Navy Board.

FOOTNOTES:

[409] Chatham Parish Register, quoted in “Archæologia,” vol. xii. p. 284.

[410] _Note respecting Sir Phineas Pett._--There were so many shipbuilders of the name of Phineas Pett, that it is often difficult to trace the history of any one of them. In February, 1660, Phineas Pett, son of John Pett, and grandson of Commissioner Phineas Pett, being then Assistant-Master Shipwright at Chatham, petitioned to be promoted, and was appointed Master Shipwright at Chatham in the same month. But it would appear that the appointment was revoked, or never carried into effect, for in the following July we find Phineas Pett, “of Ratcliffe,” who had been appointed Master Shipwright at Portsmouth in June, transferred to Chatham in the same capacity. And in September Phineas Pett, Assistant-Master Shipwright at Chatham, was suspended from office on the accusation of having, _when a child_, spoken contemptuously of the King! For this offence he was dismissed in the following month.