bestow'd on them that is to say on the poor Seamen whom that excellent Corporation relieves thereby The Chainage of Ships belongs to the Admiral and the right of the Ferriage over all Rivers between the first Bridges and the Sea is a Perquisite of Admiralty and the right thereof is inherent in the Office of the Admiral and 't is notorious that the Right of the Ballastage in all the other Royal Rivers of England belongs to the Admiral as well as in the River of Thames There is the Perquisite of Anchorage in the Thames as well as elsewhere belonging to the Admiral as are likewise many other Perquisites and that are enumerated in the Admiral 's Patent Nor can any Right belonging to the Admiral be pass'd by the Crown under the Great Seal to any one but by the Admiral 's Warrant to the Attorney or Solicitor general To the Lord Mayor as Water-bayly and Conservator of the River of Thames several Fees and Profits belong And to that Office of Conservator belongs the Office of Measuring Coals Grain Fruit in the Port of London with the Fees belonging to it and the Fines imposed in his Court of Conservacy or by the Commissioners of Sewers for Misdemeanors that concern the River and other Perquisites and in the which the Admirals have long ceased to intermeddle and not without cause because of the great Charge incident to the Lord Mayor's Conservacy of the River and particularly in matters relating to the Fishery and the charge that attends the traversing Indictments and removing them to the Kings-Bench as likewise the Charge of suing out Scire Facias ' es to vacate the Grants of particular Persons that entrench on the rights of the Lord Mayor's Conservacy and which Charge they have often supported without being therein assisted by the Lord Admirals I might instance in many passages in the reigns of our Kings long ago concerning the Lord Mayor's applying to the Government when private Courtiers had surreptitiously obtain'd Patents that interloped in the Conservacy of the River as for example Edward the 4 th having made a Grant to the Earl of Pembroke for setting up a Weare in the River of Thames and the Lord Mayor applying to the King about it obtain'd a Scire Facias to vacate that Grant and vigorously prosecuted the vacating thereof to effect And how in the two last Reigns several Lord Mayors with great Industry and Charge prosecuted the vacating of Patents that they judged entrenching on the Conservacy that both by Charter and Prescription belong'd to them is known to every one Nor will the unwearied diligence of those Patriotly Lord Mayors Sir William Pritchard Sir Henry Tulse Sir James Smith Sir Robert Jefferys Sir John Peak in thus shewing their Zeal for the Conservacy of the River be ever forgot while that City keeps Records And they are strangers to the Character of the present Lord Mayor both for integrity and prudence in Political Conduct and his Zeal for maintaining the known Rights of the City who shall think that if he had been at the Helm of them Government of the City when they were he would not have steer'd the same Course as the most active of them did and that with such a Courage as is worthy the high Sphere of Magistracy he moves in A Coward saith one cannot be a good Christian much less a good Magistrate Solomon 's Throne of Ivory was supported by Lyons Innocency and Integrity cannot be preserved in Magistracy without Courage Magistrates are great Blessings Modo audeant quae sentiunt if they dare do their Conscience Me quae te peperi ne Cesses Thorna tueri was the ancient Inscription of the Bridge-house Seal and which may give an occasional hint to any Citizen of London advanced to Authority and Opulency therein to wish well to the defence of that River that hath so long bred and preserv'd the Riches of that City I am here led to observe how that River being pester'd by various Annoyances in the Reign of Henry the 8 th and the Lord Mayor's Offices being made uneasie and hinder'd in the Conservacy of the River the City apply'd to the King for a Proclamation who accordingly issued out one in the 34th Year of his Reign strictly requiring That none should presume to resist or deny or impugne the Lord Mayor or his Deputies in doing or executing any thing that might conduce to the Conservacy of the River c. And methinks the Customary yearly Solemnity of the New Lord Mayor's attended with all the City Companies in their Barges on the Thames and there on that River above Bridge having their first Scene of Triumph as they are going to Westminster-Hall to be sworn should give them occasion to think often of that Rivers preservation in the following part of the Year I am here led to call to mind a fatal danger that that River above Bridge escaped in the Reign of the late King when some were so hardy as to offer him a Proposition and in the way of a Project to enlarge his Revenue by straitning the River and by building another Street between the high and low-water-mark from the Bridge to White-Hall But thô so great a straitning of the River there would not have been so prejudicial to the publick as lesser straitnings of it below bridge where the great Scene of Navigation lyes yet his Majesty with great judgment gave a peremptory denyal to the Proposition for this particular reason namely that such an alteration in the River might perhaps produce an alteration in the Tide of Flood and be the cause of its not flowing so many hours as it doth and which effect too he thought the building of a Bridge at Lambeth a Project that some offer'd to his Consideration might produce it being obvious that the Obstacle the course of the Tide meets with by London bridge doth much occasion the Tide of Flood being the shorter And if great Care had not been taken by the Trinity-house in the government of their Ballast-Lighters and ordering them not to draw up Ballast too near the Banks of the River there would have been great danger of another accident that might have curtail'd the Tide of Flood I mean by their coming nearer to the shoar than the safety of the great Level by Limehouse will admit In the same time that they can draw up one Tun of Ballast in deep Water they may draw up three near the shoar A breach in that Level did within these few Years cost the Proprietors 25000 l. a third part of the value of the Land And if a new greater breach came perhaps it would not be repairable and possibly cause the Thames not to flow up so far as it did and yet doth But any thing of this Nature we may well hope will be prevented by the excellent Management of the Ballast-Office by the industry of that Virtuous and Prudent Lady the Lady Brooks who hath the Lease thereof from the Trinity-house and
the Draught of that River by Captain Collins they should be no more minded than if such a Survey had been made of the Annoyances of the Rhine or Texel Would any one think that after the vast pains taken by the Trinity-House in going down the River to perfect its Survey so many times in the extremity of Winter-weather and many of them being Veteran Seamen thereby contracting dangerous Colds Coughs and Catarrhs because the Government required the Survey to be made with all expedition and after that excellent Seaman and Hydrographer Captain Collins had in order to the making his Draught of the River exact made so many weary steps in the mud of the shore yet many Summers after Summers should pass without any thing brought to effect for the good of the River or the abatement of one Causway or other Nusance and both Survey and Draught be no more regarded than an old Almanack calculated for the Meridian of Paris or Madrid Nay which is more can it be imagin'd that Captain Collins a Person of great integrity should relate it to another such Person That he within this Year or thereabouts going to see the sides of the River formerly survey'd and to find what effects the Survey and his Draught had there produced that he there found Stone-wharfs built into the Thames for three or four hundred Foot in length and from ten to thirty Foot in breadth and that he found a great many other smaller Encroachments on both sides of the Water and several new Causeways which in time would raise the Mud equal to the superficies of the Causways and that he acquainting the City-Officer entrusted with the Care of the Concerns of the River therewith had from him instead of thanks a ruffianly Answer yet these very words of the Captains speaking were Noted down from his Mouth by the Person to whom he spake them Thus is the Case of the Rivers Survey and Abatements of its Nusances like that in the Epigrammatist Eutrapelus tonsor dum Circuit ora Luperci Arraditque genas altera barba subit His dilatory Shaving occasion'd a New Beards forth coming But that the Watermen may have no cause to complain that they cannot Land nor take in their Fare if they may not have that use of the Causways that the Survey mentions as prejudicial I shall here say that both their Fare and they may be accomodated as well below Bridge as above by the Vse of a Truck or Board with Wheels at the end next the Water to move too and fro as the Tide comes in or goes out which may answer their purpose And if those to whose Care the Conservacies of the Rivers are entrusted as Depositories may happen to tell your Lordship that they are not at leisure to mind the vigorous discharge of this trust a Reply may be had from the trite passage of King Philip's telling a Complaining Woman that he had no leisure to do her Justice and on which occasion she said that then he should have no leisure to be King Most certainly he who receives a Depositum obligeth himself to be at leisure to preserve it And I never knew any Iudge but who would find leisure to ampliate and enlarge his Iurisdiction especially when he saw any Men find leisure to try to diminish it There was one thing that seem'd to be of some moment for the discouraging any one from a belief of the likelyhood of any of the Encroachments on the Royal Rivers being shortly removed or of the event of any Person of Honour or Quality's being likely to undertake to serve his Countrey therein namely the want of any Fonds to support the Charge of such Office But as to which it is obvious to consider that the Law is open to compel Encroachers to be at the Charge of abating their own Encroachments if able to do it and wherein such especially who after the Survey made Encroachments on the Thames will deserve little Favour And in the Case of Insolvents the Encroachments of solvent Persons that shall by the Conservators be permitted to continue as consistent with the safety of the Rivers may easily be made to bear that charge I remember a Person employ'd by some of the late Kings Ministers to discourse Sir Robert Jefferys when Lord Mayor about this Matter acquainted me that Sir Robert then moved it to the Court of Aldermen That a Committee thereof might be appointed to meet at his House with that Person and he there offering it to their Coasideration as the sense of those Ministers that Commissioners should be appointed by his Majesty to make moderate Compositions with the Owners of such Encroachments as were not very prejudicial to the River and were to be continued and the Charge of the demolishing the prejudicial ones might be defray'd out of such Composition and that he desired to know whether they had any thing to object against it The Lord Mayor and the rest of the Committee unanimously declared that they were very well pleas'd with the Proposition and did thankfully embrace it And no doubt but if the like way of Compositions were order'd for such Encroachments as are to continue in the Royal Rivers in the Countrey the charge of the demolishing some there and of the regulation of those Rivers might not only be thence defray'd but a considerable summe of Money might be thence brought in to support the Charge of the Government and that without any gainsaying or reluctance from the People provided that they might be deliver'd from the vexatious Prosecutions of the many Patents to private Persons for such Encroachments to whom they have been in a manner forced to give Money to redeem their Vexation rather than out of hopes that they could buy a good Title for the continuance of their Nusances And certainly the Condition of the French Subjects being so ill on the account of their being forced to buy Salt ' any Mens being harrass'd into the buying such insâ—pid things or as I may rather say noxious as Nusances is a more compassionable Case This is humbly offer'd to the Consideration of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty in order to their offering it to the Considerations of their Majesties or of the House of Commons who are the grand Inquest of the Kingdom or of the House of Lords as they shall see occasion And perhaps if by their Application a Clause may be inserted in some new Act of Parliament for the continuance of Peoples Enchroachments that shall be compounded for by Commissioners in the respective Counties named in the Act or by their Majesties they being by the Legislative power secured in their Titles to such Encroachments will no doubt be chearfully ready to pay near the full Value thereof The common Observation that Prerogative in the Hand of the Prince is a Scepter of Gold but in the Hand of the Subject a Rod of Iron is apparently applicable to the Case of the Jubile such People will have when freed
again with them for more than a small tripp and that followed by a later from Sir R. B. in October 1682. wherein after her having been abroad he makes the Condition of her Iron-works so miserable as to be under the same wonder he was before that she also had not sunk at Sea whereas it appears even from their own calculations that her first set of Rudder-Irons lasted her four Years and an half which were it a common standand for their duration and then to be renewed would yet leave Lead-sheathing greatly cheaper than that of Wood and her second for ought that appears of any supplies six Years and three quarters 4. From a Certificate of the Officers in Portsmouth-Yard in October 1677. declaring the Condition of the Lyon's Iron-works under water to be such as they never saw in any Ship they ever had to do with not sheathed with Lead though droven twice as long Whereas that Certificate it self does not only expresly confess her Bolts having been all in her five Years but will here furnish your Lordships with one Instance besides the many you may hereafter meet with of what this Company is owing for to the sincerity as well as Thoughtfulness of its Accusers if your Lordships shall please to have their last Assertion examined by the Books of the Navy Officers with whom it carries so much weight this Company being well assured that instead of no Ship not sheathed with Lead being ever found perished in their Iron-work under water in twice five years variety of instances will be met with within much a shorter time 5. From Sir Iohn Narbrough's saying in February 1676. that he had found the condition of the Henrietta's Iron-works no other than that of the forementioned Harwich whereas your Lordships may be pleased here to take notice that the Lords your Predecessors in the Admiralty did by their Order of the 9 th of April 1678. upon some Complaints touching the Iron-works of this Ship recommend to the Officers of the Navy the making a strict enquiry into the general and natural Reasons of this great Evil directing them twice in the same order to the particular case of this Ship For execution whereof the said Officers contented themselves with answering the Lords not with any effects of their own Inquisitions but with a bare Transcript only of Sir R. B's Conceptions thereon from Chatham when had they so thought good they could as well have given their Lorships something of their own by communicating to them the Result of an Occular Survey by them had in their Publick Office this Company being present of the Rudder-Irons themselves sent from Chatham for that purpose where upon the outward coat of the said Irons being eaten off with Rust the inside of their Pintells as never having had their due welding discovered themselves in three several arms or branches like the stalks of so many Tobacco-pipes not only to the removing the wonder of this Ships condition but confirming the suggestion this Company had before made to his Majesty and the Lords touching the Smiths neglects and contributing not a little towards the making a right Judgment in the Matters in question of which more in its due place 6. From Sir R. B's observing in September 1682. the eating off of two of the lower Pintells and Gudgeons wholly and a third in part of the Rose which will not as this Company conceives be thought very extraordinary when it shall be understood that this is the first and only Complaint heard of her not only after two Voyages to Sea and one of them three years long and her having lain now three years more in Salt water in Harbour but after her having worn those Irons eight years and the Complaint it self when all is done amounting only to three Pintells and Gudgeons without any thing objected to the rest of her Iron-works 7. From Sir Iohn Narbrough's Information in Iuly 1678. touching some defectiveness then discovered in the Iames and Charles Gallies which he fears would force him to send them home that Winter as not being repairable in the Streights Whereas the Iames being sheathed and sent forth in October 1676. continued there three years when making a Tripp for England she within two months after returned thither and has there remained to this day being in all six years without ought said by the Officers of the Navy of her having any Recruits of her Rudder-Irons in all that time either at home or abroad And for the Charles which accompanyed the Iames to Sea in October 1676 instead of being driven home as Sir Iohn Narbrough apprehended in 1678. she continued there till about August 1680. being four years and has now remained at home above two years more in all six years without any such repairs alledged to have been given her either in the Streights or here 8. Lastly From these particulars of eight Ships thus circumstanced the Officers of the Navy have held it reasonable to assert to your Lordships their having received Complaints of the extraordinary Corrosion of the Iron-works of every of his Majesties Ships sheathed with Lead Whereas these make but eight of twenty so sheathed without any thing either offered now or heretofore appearing to this Company in exception to the other twelve viz. Mary Defiance Woolwich Bristol Hampshire Foresight Phoenix Assistance Kingsfisher Hunter Vulture Norwich but on the contrary many Instances might be drawn from them in advantage to the Credit of Lead-sheathing of much more force were that the business of this Paper than any thing of what has been before offered to its diminution But this Company humbly referrs your Lordships for that to the Navy Officers contenting themselves with an Appeal only to the Phoenix and Norwich the first and last of all the twenty The former of which coming home after two Voyages and three years spent therein happened as has been already mentioned to Carreene at Sheerness where his Majesty receiving full satisfaction in her having answered all that was aimed at in this sheathing she from thence proceeded to Guiny and after return in 1674. was sent to Iamaica Voyages all calculated for the proving her against the Worm and coming back was in 1677. stripp'd of her sheathing and then sent abroad unsheathed without having one Bolt under water shifted from her being so sheathed to that day being seven years And for the Norwich we are well informed that not one word of Advice much less of Complaint has ever been received either from her Commanders or any other hand of the least defect discovered in any of her Iron-work under water during the whole four years time of her service in the West-Indies from her first sheathing to the day of her Miscarriage Nor does this Company after having thus opened the matters of Fact reported in these Complaints conceive it will appear to your Lordships less allowable for them in this place to make one Remark upon what the Officers of the Navy have
Kingsale referred to with Honour p. 48. An Account of the Invention of Gunns in the Year 1378. iâ— That Invention maligned by Polydore Virgil Cardan and Melancton ib. King Alfred the first Inventor of Lanthorns p. 49. Of our new Invented Glasses and Lamps p. 50. Of the Scarlet or Bow-Dye p. 51. Of the New-River-Water p. 52. An Account of the New Engine for taking away Obstructions and Shelfes in the Thames and other Royal Rivers p. 53 54. How much the River of Thames is shallower before the King's Yard at Deptford since King Charles the second 's Restoration p. 55. Of the City of London's Applications to the former Commissioners of the Admiralty for the Preservation of the River of Thames p. 56. Of the City of London's Reasons in writing presented to that Board against Letters Patents for licensing Encroachments p. 56. If that River were spoil'd the great Trade of England would be transplanted not to other Sea-Port Towns in England but to Forreign Parts p. 57. A Lease made of a great part of the Soil of the River and by which the Conservatorship thereof may accrue by Survivorship to a Colour-man in the Strand ib. Those Commissioners of the Admiralty took much Pains in preserving that River ib. The Report from the Judge of the Admiralty of the Admiral 's being Conservator of all the Royal Rivers and having a Concurrency with the Lord Mayor in the Conservacy of the Thames p. 58. The Wisdom of our Ancestors in making them both Conservators of it p. 59. Of the Conservators of the great Rivers among the Romans ib. p. 60. The River of Thames now labouring under its most Critical State p. 60. The great ill effect that the Fire of London had on the Thames p. 61. The Stream of the Thames more clear and gentle than that of Severn and the Cause thereof ib. p. 62. Why the Tide flows up so high into the heart of this River p. 62. The Cause of the shifting of the Tides there ib. The three Constituent parts of a River p. 64. Of the destruction of several great Rivers by Sullage ib. The Administration of the Banks of great Rivers is a part of the Regalia p. 65. The Conservatorship of such Rivers is a part of the Regalia ib. Of the Conservators of such Rivers and their Banks among the Romans p. 66. This Branch of the Regalia granted to our Admirals in their Patents ib. The Vice-Admirals of Counties are in their Patents from the Admiral appointed Conservators of the Royal Rivers there ib. Of those Vice-Admirals Non-user of the Power to demolish Nusances p. 67. Of the Agreement of the Common-Law and Civil-Law Judges An. 1632. that the Admiral may redress all Obstructions in Rivers between the first Bridges and the Sea p. 68. Licenses granted by the Admiral for enlarging Wharfs c. p. 69. The illegality of granting Forfeitures before Conviction p. 72. Sir George Treby the Attorney General mention'd with Honour ib. The Benefit the People now find by being freed from illegal Grants of Forfeitures before Conviction doth much outweigh all the Taxes they pay to their Majesties p. 77. The Passage concerning the Alderman who ask'd King Iames the first if he would remove the River of Thames ib. p. 78. Of the Survey of that River by Sir Ionas Mâ—or p. 79. Of the Survey of that River by the Navy-Board and Trinity-house with the assistance of Captain Collins ib. p. 80. Captain Collins his Draught of that River commended ib. The only way possible for preventing future Encroachments on that River ib. The Nature of the Office of a Conservator as defined by the Writers of the Regalia p. 81. The same agrees with the Measures of our Law-Books ib. Granting things to the Low-water-mark vexatious p. 83. The Course taken by the Council-Board An. 1613. to preserve the River of Tyne p. 84 85. An Order of Council for demolishing a Nusance to Navigation in the Port of Bristol An. 1630. p. 87. More of the Conservacy of the Royal Rivers ib. p. 88 89. That Care be taken against the Sea-mens being molested ib. p. 90. In a little more than 12 Years after the Year 1588. our Seamen were decay'd about a third part p. 90. In the Act of 35 Eliz. for restraining New Buildings a tender regard was had to the Sea-men ib. p. 91. A necessary Document to be thought of by the Conservators of our Rivers p. 92. The Wardmote Inquest referr'd to for the preservation of the River of Thames p. 93 94. A fifth part of the River of Thames in our Memory taken in by Encroachers p. 95. The Profit accruing from the River of Thames to the Admiral and Lord Mayor ib. p. 90. Of the Charge incident to the Lord Mayors in the Conservacy of that River ib. Of the Charge born by the City in the obtaining Patents to be vacated that prejudiced that Conservacy ib. p. 97. Of the City's applying to King Edward the 4 th for a Scire Facias to vacate a Patent of that Nature and of the Lord Mayor's obtaining and prosecuting that Scire Facias to effect p. 97. The Diligence of several late Lord Mayors in thus shewing their Zeal for the Conservacy of the Thames ib. The present Lord Mayor referr'd to with Honour on the same account p. 98. Courage in Magistrates commended ib. The City of London apply'd to the Government in Henry the eighth's Reign for a Proclamation and obtain'd one for the better enabling the Lord Mayor and his Deputies to promote the Conservacy of the River of Thames p. 99. Of the late King Iames rejecting a Proposition for Building on the Shore above Bridge p. 100. More of the present State of Encroachments on that River below Bridge and the only way to prevent future ones there and in the other Royal Rivers from p. 107 to the end To the Right Honourable Iohn LORD Churchill Baron Churchill of Sandridge Viscount Churchill of Aymouth in the Kingdom of Scotland Earl of Marlborough and one of their Majesties most Honourable Privy Council My most Honoured LORD IT hath been observed by several of our late ingenious Writers that an eminent Venetian Embassador after a long residence in England sayling homeward did cast his Eye back on this Land and said in his own language O Isola felicissima c. The happiest Countrey on the face of the Earth did it not want publick Spirits among them Nor do I think that the pudet haec opprobria nobis c. was in any Age so justly applicable to England on this account as in the present one wherein Men generally depraved by a selfish inhospitable temper do like the Hedge hog wrap themselves up in their own warm Down and shew forth nothing but Bristles to the rest of the World and cry out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when they have found a Stone to throw at an Inventor of any thing beneficial to Mankind instead of giving a tender
the Walls of our Nation with their vile Pens and such Epistolae obscurorum Virorum should meddle with the Gally-â—oists of my Lord Mayor's Show and not first Rate Ships And I believe had any such pauvres Diables in France so belyed the Shâ—p St. Lewis they would have been Pillory'd or Keel-hauled under her Our excellent Statesman Sir William Temple who truly deserves the Name of a publick spirited Man for the excellent Writings he hath published in his Suâ—vey of the Constitutions and In-Interests of the Empire and other Countries with their relation to his Majesty in the Year 1671. mentions the strength of our Shipping as having for many Ages past and still for ought we know made us an over-match for the strongest of our Neighbours at Sea and speaks of the Dutch having been awed by the strength of our Oak and the Art of our Shipwrights c. It is therefore not without reason that the Charter of the Corporation of our Shipwrights hath obliged them not to communicate their Art to any Forreign Prince or State But yet when I consider that whereas the Contracts of the Navy-Board for building of Ships did 'till within these few Years past oblige the Builders to build with good substantial English Oaken Timber and Plank and that such not being now to be had that word English is left out and liberty given to build with forreign and further consider that application was made to the Ministers of King Charles the second by the Cnrporation of Shipwrights shortly after his Restoration with their Proposals in Writing for the preservation and encrease of Oaken Timber and Copies of which I have seen under the Hand of Sir Phinehas Pett and many others of the most eminent of that Corporation and that those Proposals being referred to the then Attorney General he referring their Consideration to the Navy-Board Sir William Coventry Mr. Pepys Sir William Batten and the rest of the Commissioners of the Navy did with great Iudgment Report in Writing how and where a sufficient number of Oaken Trees might be planted in his Majesty's Forrests and that the judicious Report from that Board carryed with it self-evidence of the practicableness of thâ— thing with ease and that had not so great a Proposition then evaporated but on the contrary have been vigorously pursued the Oaken Timber sufficient for the use of the Navy Royal had now been in a forward way to its sufficient growth For it having been known that Acorns sown have in the space of thirty Years born a Stemme of a Foot diameter 't is obvious how soon they will bear a stemme of a foot and a half diameter and that such Timber so of a foot and a half will be sufficiently serviceable in the building of Ships I say when I consider these things and fear how few else consider them here and how many observe and consider them abroad I think there is too much occasion to bewail our Soils not being fertile with men of publick Spirits Whether we shall at this rate come to build with English Oak again before Plato's great Year I know not But my Lord this that I have said doth speak or as I may say cry it aloud to us that while we have the Mill'dâ—Lead Sheathing for Ships without fear of losing it that he will scarce deserve to be thought a Patriot who at this time of day when the Crown hath so little Timber in its Forrests serviceable for Shipping and hath Lead of our own for Sheathing would have it unnecessarily send a great deal of Money for Eastland â—irr for that purpose of which the arrival here will be so uncertain and indeed hazardous in time of War My Lord I intend not to entertain your Lordship with Rhetorical flourishes and Harangues of the usefulness of the Invention of the Mill'd-Lead Sheathing It is of Age in the World to speak for it self and it hath had the Honour not only to have great unbyass'd Artists for its Encomiasts but a great Prince who had a profound Iudgment in the Shipwrights Mystery I mean King Charles the second For as soon as Sir Francis Watson had acquainted him with the Invention of Milling Lead for Sheathing his Majesty was very impatient 'till he had made experiment thereof whereupon Lead was prepared by a small Engine wherewith the Phoenix a fourth Rate was sheathed by Sir Anthony Dean at Portsmouth which he saw done with care the Bolt-heads c. being fairly parcelled as they ought to be in any sheathing and after divers Voyages to the Straits Guinea and the West Indies she had her sheathing strip'd at seven Years end to repair the Plank but not for any defect in the Sheathing it self Nor could those of the Navy-Board when at their attendance on the Council with their Complaints of Eight Ships in Twenty make the least Objection though they were fairly challenged to it against the Rudder-Irons Bolts or other Iron work of the Phoenix the which made that judicious Peer the then Earl of Hallifax declare That if of twenty Ships they complained of Nineteen and had nothing to say against the twentieth he must conclude it to be the Workmens fault for if they had done the other nineteen as that twentieth Ship was done they must have proved all as well as she The King also at the same time when they objecting that the Merchants did not use it which they would do if it was so good a sheathing as was pretended replyed That the Shipwrights whose best Friend the Worm was wanted not Skill to discourage them yet that their decrying it must soon be discerned to proceed from their interest And indeed it is obvious how the Shipwrights do influence the Merchants and Owners in the Sheathing and other Repairs of Ships by their being generally Part-Owners in all the new Ships they build Nor is it to be wondred at that the King from the beginning gave all the encouragement he could to this Invention for when he considered of the thing upon Sir Francis Watâ—on's first laying it before him his Majesty pressed him to make effectual Preparation for the Work saying It would save him at least 40000 l. a Year in his Navy the which was not improbable if it had met with that due encouragement use and application for Sheathing Scuppers Bread rooms and all other purposes it was capable of with regard had to the charge and damage that a Wood-sheathing brings to the Plank by the great Nail-holes which they use to spile up at stripping and other inconveniences that attend Wood-sheathing And here it occurrs to my thoughts that his Majesty being occasionally in Depâ—ford yard as the Workmen were bringing on an ordinary Straits-sheathing with Wood upon one of his small Ships he asked them why they did not sheath her with Mill'd-Lead and answer was made she was a weak Ship and required strengthning The King thereupon replyed they had as good have sheathed her with Sarâ—enet as such a sheathing
Sir W. P's Calculation of a Tax of one Million above six Millions may be raised and no Man feel it much if equally laid And thô it falls heaviest upon Persons yet according to it no Man will pay â— tenth of his yearly expence It is certainly now the Opus diei and a propos what he had said before in thaâ— Page viz. That he believed that the suture State of Christendom will necessaâ—â—rily prompt all Patriots instead of stuâ—dying to make men unwilling to promote publick Supplies to bend theiâ— Brains in the way of Calculation tâ— shew what the Kingdom is able to conâ—tribute to its defence and how to dâ— it with equality Your Lordship will find this Book solâ— at the Shop of William Rogers Bookâ—seller at the Sun over against St. Duâ—stans Church in Fleetstreet as I find 〈◊〉 in an Advertisement thereof in one 〈◊〉 the New Almanacks for the Yeaâ— 1691. I must frankly own that I should no have repented of my expence in the purchase of this Book had there been 〈◊〉 Calculation in it but that in p. 188 and 189. where the Author Calculates the number of the now living here who were born since the Year in which our Civil War ended or were then Children viz. of such Years as not to have experienced or been sensible of the Miseries and Inconveniencies of the War and a Calculation of what Numbers of those who lived in 1641. are now dead and what proportion of those now living who lived in the time of the War did gain by the War and of the number â—f such in Ireland and Scotland The Auâ—hor giveth a very momentous reason â—or the finding out those things by Calcuâ—â—tion and the which might well seem â—mpossible to be perform'd For that â—rinces and their Ministers being ratioâ—ally to be steer'd in their apprehensions 〈◊〉 the danger of Civil War by the great â—ule of Dulce Bellum inexpertis ought â—arefully to have their Eye on the Numâ—ers of such inexperti in any long time 〈◊〉 Peace So little regard hath been had by our â—eat Political Writers to Matters of â—alculations and Accounts of the Reâ—enues of Princes that I have in the great Thuanus observ'd but one passage relating to the same and which by this Author is cited p. 246. viz. as to the Receipts and Expences of Lewis the 13th for the Year 1614. and in p. 250 out of his own Observation he makes the Expences and Receipts of the present French King more than quadrupled since as to what they were in the Year 1614. and in the so much cry'd up Political Treatise call'd Nouveaux Interests des Princes de l'Europe and commended by the Author of la Republique des Lettres there is little or nothing of such Political Calculations contained But tho at present in the many such curious Calculations presented to the Age by that Author of the Happy future State of England he doth as to the Rabble of Readers Vinum raris praeministrare whereas Water would have served their turns as well yet I believe its impression on Men of refined thought and sense will be such as to make the way of writing of Politicks hereafter without Calculations grow as much out of Fashion as the garb of Trunk-breeches My Lord I have herewith for your Lordships farther Entertainment thought fit to publish Sir William Petty's rough draught of Naval Philosophy The filings of Gold are precious and a Schytz or hasty Piece of Painting done by a great Hand is of great Value To have drawn so great an historical Picture of that Philosophy as he had the Idea of in his Mind would have took up his whole Life And he therefore considering the little value the Age hath for such Curiosities thought it only worth his while to finish this Piece up at one sitting and to shew Posterity what he could have done But in this as it is the Judicious few will find many a Coup de Maitre and may instruct themselves thereby in some very considerable principles relating to Naval and Maritine knowledge My Lord I know that Providence hath so disposed of the course of your Lordships Life as to call you to do things that are to be written of rather than to read things by others already written Your Lordships great and successful Courage and Conduct lately so conspicuous to the World in the taking of Cork and Kinâ—ale will employ the Writers of the Annals of our Nation and adde a further lustre to the Name of Marlborough which was so much ennobled by your Lordships Predecessor that the great Poets of the Age crown'd him with their just Laurels when they said Marlborough who knew and durst do more than all There is one noble Invention that was there tributary to your Lordships success I mean that of Guns But as great and noble as this Invention is and which was found out by a German in the Year 1378. and whereby the Lives of Men if we reckon by wholesale are better preserved in the defence of Cities and by the fate of Victory being sooner decided in Camps that hinders Armies from so much butchering one another as formerly it hath been by snarling Writers of great Name maligned and because by it some Men were killed by retale it hath been render'd execrable and diabolical and that not only by Polydore Virgil but by Cardan and Melancton Nor need it be told your Lordship how much this Invention hath been improved since its first use The manner of contriving and applying them hath not been less improved than the way of preserving light for the Passengers in our streets since the finding out of Lanthorns hath The only Author I know who hath recorded the Original of Lanthorns is our learned Antiquary Mr. Gregory in his learned Notes on Ridley's View c. He there tells us p. 286. That the Inventor of Lanthorns was our King Alured in whose dayes the Churches were of so poor and mean a structure that when the Candles were set before the Relicks they were often blown ouâ— by the Wind which got in not only per Ostia Ecclesiarum but per frequentâ—s parietum rimulas insomuch that the ingenious Prince was put to the practice of his dexterity and by occasion of this Lanternam ex lignis bovinis cornibus pulâ—herrime construere imperavit by an apt composure of thin Horns in Wood he taught us the Mystery of making Lanthorns But our New invented Glasses and Lamps that casting out so powerful and extensive and withal so durable and chearful an Illumination as to make Mens passing about their Affairs in the Night not only tolerable but pleasant have much outdone the Lanthorns invented by our Monarch in diebus illis Yet on the publishing of a Paper containing the various uses this Invention might be of to the Nation and wherein it was mention'd inter alia that these Lights might for the publick good be employed at the Light-houses which give directions to Sea-faring People in dark
and stormy Nights and that these Lights being so clear and strong and continued with so much certainty as might probably save many from Shipwrack where the usual Coal-fires or Candles often fail by either not giving sufficient Light or by the uncertainty of these Lights subject to so many accidenâ—s as doth often occasion the great losses both of Men Merchandize and Vessels The Patentees of these New Lights being invited to discourse with those that have the Charge and receive the profits of the Light-houses they said they thought they came to save their Candles but since the Oyl necessary to maintain these Lights though a Pint which would cost about a Groat they were told would serve one Lamp burning twelve hours was dearer than Candles they declined the use of these Lamps whereupon the Patentees telling them they thought the saving of Menâ— Lives and Goods to be of more importance than the saving a few Candles desisted from further application I might here too instance in the Invention of the Scarlet or Bow-dye the exportation whereof hath brought us in return so much Treasure was put to it to make its way into the World through much opposition And thus is and was and always will the birth of every New Art and Science be of difficult parturition and the Inventors be enforced to cry Fer opem Lucina I mean to crave aid and Patronage from such generous and Heroical and publick spirited men as your Lordship My Lord about eighty Years agoe the Invention of the New-River-Water was much labour'd and it was a kind of partus Elephantinus about ten Years in bringing to perfection by Sir Hugh Middleton but Stow tells us of the great danger difficulty detraction scorn envy and malevolent interpositions it first encountered with And indeed it may be said that after the six days Work and Adam's Fall the World was yet a kind of Chaos as to the use and service of Man till necessity and humane Industry set his Reason to work and by degrees to invent and contrive how to apply and dispose the things he found therein best for his ease and service and teeming Nature goes still big with new Inventions to improve the things we have and is ready to bring them forth whenever Philosophical and Industrious Men lend her their Midwivery And for this purpose I am thinking it was a noble and ingenious saying of Seneca Pusilla res mundus est nisi in illo quod quaerat omnis mundus habeat Senec. Nat. Qu. l. 2. par 3. i. e. The World were a poor little thing but for its affording ample matter of research and enquiry to all succeeding Ages My Lord there is another incomparable Invention that was found out not many Years since and which without some such Patriotly Hero as your Lordship awakening the Age about it is likely to fill up the Number of lost things and it is the New Engine that so much exceeds all formerly used for the eternal preservation of our Royal Rivers by deepening them and making them every where Navigable and taking away all Obstructions and Shelfs in a very short time Sir Martin Beckman the chief Engineer of England and as I am informed the ingenious Sir Christopher Wren their Majesties Surveyor General have given their approbation thereof and as likewise did King Charles the second who was highly pleas'd therewith and declared after he had seen the working of the Engine which in his Majesty's presence took up about a Tun and an half in little more than a Minutes time that he was perfectly satisfy'd it would answer the end proposed and that by means of its working horizontally it made no holes but rather fill'd such as lay in the way of its working and left the bottom of the River level as it wrought whereby such inconveniencies would be avoided as had happened from the common Ballast-Lighters making such great Holes in the River of Thames and in which several of the Kings as well as Merchants Ships coming to an Anchor had broke their backs And his Majesty having been made acquainted that this Engine being sent down below Bridge to Berking-shelfe where is nothing but hard Shingle and that after half an hours breaking ground it took up at 19 Foot deep about two Tuns in a Minute and a half during the whole time it wrought he said thereupon That he thought there was no way practicable for the deepening the River of Thames and removing Shelfes therein but by this Engine This Engine was invented by Mr. Bayly an excellent Engineer and much cultivated and improved to its perfection by the great Expence of Mr. Joseph Cotinge King Charles the 2d so often going down that River in his Barges and Yachts took occasion thereby often to consider the State thereof insomuch that upon a publick Hearing in Council that the Lord Mayor and Aldermen had upon their Complaint against Patents that straiten'd the River and licenced Encroachments on it he took occasion to speak it openly that the River was shallower before his Yard at Deptford by three Foot since his Restauration and that if it should be but a Foot shallower there his Ships that did ride at Anchor there would be spoiled But I have heard Mr. Shishe the Master-builder there and likewise Sir Phinehas Pett who was formerly Master-builder there and afterward at Chatham averr that the River is there very near four Foot if not altogether shallower than it was at that King's Restauration insomuch that their Majesties Ships there as likewise in the River of Medway at Chatham do ground about four Foot before they have Water enough to wind up with the Tide of flood the which doth very much strain and wring them to their great prejudice and that if there be not a speedy course taken to remove some Encroachments and prevent all future ones and the farther stopping up those Rivers with sullage those two Royal Rivers will be spoiled and in a short time useless for Capital Ships riding therein and the Crown be put to immense Charge in purchasing of ground for other Ship-yards and in making of Docks and Store houses and building new Dwelling-houses for the Officers of the Yards I remember visiting my worthy Friend Mr. Brisband who was Secretary to the former Lords Commissioners for the Admiralty he entertain'd me with the fight of many Papers in his Office that related to the Applications that had been made by the City of London to that Board for the preservation of the River of Thames and one of them was a Paper of the City's Reasons against the Patents for Licensing Encroachments and straitning that River and which seem'd to me very weighty and drawn with such great care and pains that what Councellor soever drew them I am sure he deserved a very large Fee from the City and out of which I noted down this Passage namely That if that River were spoiled the great Trade of England would be transplanted not to other
continued against it from Persons interested in the opposing it p. 6. The final removal of those Obstructions by the express Order of his Majesty and the Lords of the Admiralty in the Year 1673. upon three Years proof of the efficacy of the said Invention and the King 's personal Observation of its success upon the Phoenix p. 7. The Navy-Officers contracting with this Company for the use of this their Invention after five Years tryal of it in March 1675 6. in terms expresly declaring their sufficient experience thereof both as to Lead and Nails p. 8. The first breaking forth after this five Years proof of a Complaint from the Streights of an extraordinary decay discovered in Ships Rudder-Irons from their being sheathed with Lead p. 9. The care of his Majesty and the Lords of the Admiralty by their several Orders to the Navy-Officers for the finding out the true grounds of that Complaint and improving in Order thereto a Suggestion and Proposal of this Company 's touching their Iron-work p. 10. The particular Instances of Complaints upon which the Navy-Officers do found this their Iudgment against Lead-sheathing with the Companies solutions thereto and observation of a greater number of Ships resting uncomplained of than those they have instanced in were their Complaints true p. 11. The Companies Remarks upon the Philosophical reasoning of the said Officers upon the Lead it self as a Mettal p. 17. The Companies Opinion and Argument that the sheathing Ships with Lead neither is nor can be the true Cause of this decay of Iron-work p. 19. Their Iudgment and Reasons what alone this Mischief ought rightly to be imputed to p. 23. The only certain and effectual Expedient of arriving at the knowledge of the truth in this matter p. 32. Instances of the Discouragements and Obstructions wherewith this Company has ever hitherto been prevented by the Officers of the Navy in their Endeavours of serving his Majesty herein p. 34. Their fresh Offer nevertheless of the proposing of an effectual Remedy to the Evil complained of after premising the three following Reflections viz. p. 36. 1. That Sheathing with Wood the only security before this of Lead for sheathing Ships against the Worm is and has always been owned to be attended with circumstances greatly detrimental to his Majesty with respect both to his Ships and to his Service p. 36. 2. That the only Expedient besides this of Lead for obviating those Evils in Wood-sheathing has hitherto been the exposing his Majesty's Ships to the Worm unsheathed p. 39. 3. That the only third Method yet extant of serving his Majesty herein is this of Lead sheathing against which none of the Evils in the former two nor any other are at this day so much as suggested by the Officers of the Navy themselves after near twelve Years experience of it saving this relating to the Iron-work p. 40. The Company 's final Proposal of an obvious easie and chargeless Remedy to the said Evil to whichsoever of the supposed Causes the same should be found imputable p. 41. A particular of the Navy-Officers Complaints with reference to the Company 's particular Answers thereto in the Reply p. 45. The Navy-Officers Report and the Companys Reply laid before the King and Council by one of the Lords of the Admiralty p. 50. The Council-Boards Order upon hearing referring it back to the Commissioners of the Admiralty throughly to examine the Matter and Report the Fact upon each Article with their Opinion p. 51. The Company 's Memorial presented to the Commissioners of the Admiralty upon the Council-Boards Reference p. 54. The determination of the Admiralty Commission before any Report p. 58. The Company 's New Proposal to the Navy-Board 20 Decemb 1686. to sheath the Kings Ships per Yard square and to keep them in constant repair at a rate certain above Cent. per Cent. cheaper than the present Charge p. 60. Letters and Certificates from Master-Builders Carpenters c. in behalf of the Lead-sheathing p. 72. Pursers Certificates how the Sheathing Lead proved in the lyning their Bread-rooms p. 82. A Brief of the Controversie between the Officers of the Navy and the Mill'd-Lead Company p. 86. The Excellency and Cheapness of Mill'd-Lead for Covering of Houses c. p. 92. An Advertisement lately printed and published to all that have Occasion to make use of Sheet-lead abundantly proving Mill'd Sheet-Lead to be much cheaper as well as better than Cast Sheet-lead for any use whatsoever p. 93. A Paper presented by the Plumbers to prevent the Company 's Contract with the Navy-Board wonderfully decrying the Mill'd-Lead and commending their own naming half a score Houses that they say were amongst many others covered with Mill'd-lead which being defective were strip'd and their Cast-lead laid in the room p. 102. Letters and Certificates from the Owners or Inhabitants of those Houses proving the Plumbers said Paper to be scandalous and false p. 105. Also their idle suggestion therein about their Solder answered p. 113. A Memorial given in to the Navy-Board by the Mill'd-Lead Company proving that by two Tryals purposely made with the Plumber in Jan. and Febr. 1678 9. the Mill'd-Lead Scuppers were according to the Order given which the Plumber could not obey and above 25 l. per Cent. in both those Tryals cheaper to the King than theirs p. 114. A Treatise of Naval Philosophy written by the ingenious Sir William Petty p. 117. A Survey of the Buildings and Encroachments on the River of Thames on both sides from London-Bridge Eastwards to the lower end of Lyme-house taken by â—he principal Officers and Commissioners of his Majesty's Navy with the assistance of the Elder Brethren of Trinity-House in pursuance of an Order of the Lords Commissioners for executing the Office of Lord High Admiral of England Dated the first of March 1683 4. Wherein is also particularly expressed which of the said Buildings and Encroachments are old and which are new and likewise which of them are judged most prejudicial to Navigation and the River together with References to each of them by Numbers in the Draught of the River lately made by Captain Collins To the Right Honourable The LORDS COMMISSONERS For executing the Office of Lord High Admiral of England The humble Reply of Sir Philip Howard Sir Francis Watson K t s and Comp. interested in the Manufacture and Invention of Milled-Lead to the late Report to your Lordships from the Officers of the Navy touching the Method of Lead-sheathing used upon his Majesties Ships Wherein they shew to your Lordships THat from every Ship of his Majesties that has been so sheathed they have had complaints of the extraordinary Eating and Corroding of their Rudder-Irons and Bolts beyond whatever was found upon any Ship not so sheathed and annexed a Transcript of several Complaints by them received from several Commanders and others to that effect And that therefore upon due sideration had thereof and of the many Experiences had of the great damages arising
present Advice they have received from abroad will justifie their saying thus much before hand that those Effects will be found of many times more Charge to the King than all that the Complaint now before your Lordships concerning Rudder-Irons can be made to amount to But My Lords As these Proceedings have not heretofore neither shall they now discourage this Company from a free Discharge of their Duty by opening whatever Conceptions of theirs they think reasonably grounded towards the Remedying as well as Right understanding the Original of the Evil laboured under and a Remedy both Obvious Easie Effectual and next to being of no Charge we take our selves to be Masters of and shall lead your Lordships to the concurring with us in it by the few steps or Reflections following viz. First That the only competent and allowed Defence of Ships against the Worm before this of Lead-sheathing was the paying the Hulls from the Waters edge downwards with Stuff and laying the inside of a Sheathing-board from inch and quarter to three quarters thick all over with Tarr and Hair to be brought over the forementioned Stuff and being well nailed Graving or Paying the outside of the said Board all over with another Composition of Brimstone Oyl and other Ingredients which is called Wood-sheathing Concerning which however united the Opinion of us English Men may be thought to have been touching the same it seems to this Company grounded not so much upon the real Perfection thereof as the Profit that attends it to the Builders interested in the working of it and consequently leaving them under no temptation either to look out for a better themselves or give encouragement to any discoveries made towards it by others And that indeed the so universal Reception given to Wood-sheathing is rather due to this than its own real sufficiency your Lordships will be Judges of from the following Notes 1. That if not the most at least the most essential of all the Ingredients employed in that method of Sheathing are of Forreign growth which we make use of not so much for the sake of the Nationality of its Argument though yet that is such as the Parliaments of England have ever laid great weight upon in all their Deliberations upon Trade and particularly in the Act relating to this very Invention but from a Consideration which the Books of the Navy sufficiently confirm the force of viz. That being Forraign such has sometimes been the scarcity thereof here even when their use has been most wanted that they have been either not to be had at all or at Prizes much exceeding the ordinary Market 2. That the said Wood-sheathing hath been always observed and confessed to be very apt to gather Filth and of no less uneasieness when fouled to be thoroughly cleansed again 3. That from its roughness and the multitude of Nail-heads standing out from the Ships sides or otherwise Ships sheathed with Wood have ever been complained of as lessened thereby in that only quality upon which our Friggats most value themselves and have their Service in preference to others calculated from namely That of their Sailing for proof of which your Lordships have not only the Evidence lately mentioned of the Navy Officers choosing to send naked Ships to the Streights when with as little violence to practice and order they might have sent them so sheathed but that general application which was heretofore made to his Royal Highness then Lord High Admiral of England by the Flag-Officers and Commanders of the Fleet designed under Sir Thomas Allen as we remember against the Turks advising that as his Majesty would expect any success of the said Fleet against that People he would let his Ships go with all their virtue of Sailing about them undiminished by sheathing as being from former Experience of the Turks out-doing us that way taught that without this nothing was to be hoped for of Advantage to be gained upon them which Advice of theirs was urged so pressingly and justified so fully that both his Royal Highness and the then Officers of the Navy concurred with those of the Fleet in the Council thereupon given his Majesty and afterwards pursued rather of exposing the Hulls of his Ships to the worst Effects of the Worm than hazard the loss both of their whole Service and his own Honour by sheathing and thereby disabling them in this their best quality of Sailing Secondly Which being so and that therefore besides these plain and important Imperfections in Wood-sheathing the only Remedy hitherto thought on has been to deliver up his Majesty's Ships to the mercy of the Worm by sending them abroad wholly unprovided of any Fence against them This Company takes leave in the next place humbly to recommend to your Lordships the requiring from the Officers of the Navy an impartial Account of the condition wherein the Ships of that Fleet of Sir Thomas Allen's brought home their Hulls notwithstanding all the mighty professions then made by their Commanders of the care that should be taken in the frequent turning up of their Bottoms and use of the long Scrubbing-brushes then first devised and introduced into the Navy for the easier reaching towards their Keeles in the making of them clean And for whatever issue your Lordships are to expect from the late Liberty taken by these Gentlemen of doing the like on other Ships at this day though it be yet too soon for your Lordships to expect any certain Account thereof as being a Matter not to be done before they are brought in and searched Yet we cannot think it will be reckoned any ill measure for your Lordships to frame your Expectations by therein to consider the single case of the Rupert in her last Voyage to the Streights under Captain Herbert which Ship in lieu of being according to the Kings Order sheathed with Lead was by the said Officers Advice and the Undertaking of her Commander for the frequency of her cleaning sent away naked saving in her Keel which was Leaded with this success that besides the Apprehensions Captain Herbert was under concerning her even while in the Streights upon what was then discovered relating to the Worm putting him upon thoughts had it been practicable of shifting her Garble-strake there The Officers of the Navy are well able to inform your Lordships that notwithstanding all that promised care of Captain Herbert and their own presumptions thereon it will be no small charge to his Majesty to make good the damage she brought home by Worm-eating What then remains after this that has been said and lies so easily within your Lordships proving touching the Imperfections of both these Methods of Sheathing Ships with Wood and exposing them to Sea without any Sheathing at all but the waiting for some Fourth not yet heard of or continuing this Third under debate of Sheathing with Lead to which nothing is so much as pretended to in Objection by the Officers of the Navy themselves but this of its supposed
At the Court at White-Hall Decemb. 22. 1682. Present The KING 's most Excellent Majesty in Council IT is this day Ordered by his Majesty in Council that the whole Matter contained in the Report of the Officers of the Navy to the Right Honourable the Commissioners of the Admiralty this day read at the Board and the Answer thereto from Sir Philip Howard and Company relating to the Sheathing his Majesty's Ships with Lead together with the other Paper then also delivered and read from the Officers of the Navy and what new Matter was further mentioned by them in Discourse upon the same Subject be Referred to the said Commissioners for executing the Office of Lord High Admiral of England who upon the full and distinct Examination of the same and Hearing of all Persons concerned therein are to make their Report upon each Article thereof in Writing to this Board with particular regard had therein to the shewing the differences of Charge that has attended his Majesty whether in Iron-work or otherwise upon the Hulls and Rudders of the several Ships that have been sheathed with Lead and those that within the same time have been either Sheathed with Wood or sent to Sea Vnsheathed And if upon Examination it shall appear that Lead-sheathedâ—ships do sustain greater damage in their Iron-works than those Sheathed with Wood or Not Sheathed at all what the same is truly to be imputed to whether to their Lead Nails or what other Cause In all which the said Commissioners are to report to this Board the Truth of the Fact as the same shall upon Examination appear to them with their Opinion touching the same and what upon the whole Matter may be most for His Majesty's Service to be done therein with relation to the ceasing or continuing the said Method of Sheathing Francis Gwyn Hereupon Sir Philip Howard and Company further applyed themselves to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty in their humble Memorial following viz. To the Right Honourable The LORDS His MAJESTY's Commissioners For executing the Office of Lord High Admiral of England The Humble MEMORIAL of Sir Philip Howard and Company Interested in the Manufacture and Invention OF Milled-Lead Shewing THat His Majesty and my Lords of the Council having out of the same Consideration of its Importance to the King which led your Lordships first to the laying it before them been pleased by their Order of 22 Decemb. last to Referr back to your Lordships the Business in Controversie between the Officers of the Navy and this Company touching Lead-sheathing These are humbly to acquaint your Lordships that as we are and shall at all times be ready to answer any Commands which you shall think fit to direct to this Company in relation thereto so do we hold our selves bound in Right no less to his Majesty and your Lordships than our selves to remove a Prejudice which the said Officers did lately offer at the raising before his Majesty in Council against what we had then and may yet have further Occasion of saying in this Debate by a suggestion of our being governed by Considerations of Self-interest while themselves would be thought removed above all suspicion of any other End herein than that of His Majesties Service In Answer whereto we shall only crave leave to say That as to that Uninterestedness so pretended to by them it is too manifest that their obtaining from your Lordships a suddain Condemnation of this Method of Lead-sheathing is the only Expedient they have for preventing the Effects of that Enquiry which the Wisdom of His Majesty and the Lords of the Council have been so pleased to recommend to your Lordships into the particulars of our Answer leading your Lordships to the several Failures in Duty and breach of Orders reflected on them by us in relation to this Affair and the Prejudices sustained therefrom by his Majesty And for what concerns the Self-interest suggested to lye on our side we shall only Note 1. That under all the Discouragements and Oppositions our Invention has for twelve Years together been treated with by them we never have given them nor our selves the trouble of making one Complaint to his Majesty or your Lordships concerning them saving what has been extorted from us in our necessary Reply to their late Report to your Honourable Board on this Subject nor in the whole four Years last past wherein they have for ought appears both without and contratrary to Order taken upon them the Exercising even that which is the very Matter of the present Controversie namely the Adviseableness of laying aside the use of Lead-sheathing have we ever made one Application to them for removing or so much as enquiring into the Reaâ—on on their so doing 2. That had there been the least sollicitude on our parts after our private benefit it would have easily prompted us to a much greater reservedness of Style than your Lordships find us using on this occasion towards the said Officers upon whose good-will alone the success of ours and all other Contracts with the Navy is well known wholly to depend Nor does this Company need to appeal to any other Evidence than your selves for the Fidelity of their Proceeding in this Matter towards His Majesty in preference to any thoughts of private Advantage after that Declaration under our Hands wherewith we Prefaced our very first Paper to your Lordships on this Occasion not only of our Consent but Desires that No Considerations relating to the Interest or Right of this Company might stand in the way of whatsoever His Majesty and your Lordships should think most for his Service to determine concerning it 3. That besides the many other Advantages arising to His Majesty from this Invention the saving of his Treasure will we doubt not in your Enquiry be found concerned in a no less Degree than that of 60 l. or a much greater summe per Cent. through the whole of his Expence of Lead-sheathing compared with that of Wood or sending Ships to Sea Unsheathed Upon which Consideration and of the good Husbandry the present State of his Majesty's Treasure seems in so particular a measure at this time to call for as also for our fuller Discharge against the Consequences of any Mistake that may attend the issue of a Debate of such Importance to the Royal Navy of England We do on his Majesty's-behalf humbly pray and must take leave to insist upon with your Lordships not only that the Contents of our late Reply in this Cause may receive your due Construction and Examination with respect to what we have therein and do still assert touching the True Causes and Remedy of the Evil in Controversie about Ships Iron-works But that whatsoever your Lordships shall in Order to his Majesty's Service which alone we again desire your having any regard to find Cause of requiring further from the said Officers on this Subject may be mutually transacted between us in Writing and not otherwise In which we shall
endeavour to acquit our selves with all faithfulness and Duty to his Majesty and no less submission to your Lordships as becomes My LORDS Your Lordships c. The Lords of the Admiralty's Commission being determined before they had proceeded to make any Report herein and King Charles the second taking in to himself the Office of Lord High Admiral of England which was transacted by his Brother Mr. Pepys being Secretary and Sir Anth. Dean and Mr. Hewer the one always a professed Friend to the Thing and the other not only so but to that time a Partner also for a twelfth share in the Work being made Commissioners of the Navy the Mill'd-Lead Company could not but expect their Lead-sheathing would soon be restored by the Power of these Gentlemen they having throughly Examined the Matter and informed themselves of the great Benefit and Advantage this Sheathing had and might bring to his Majesty's Service as hath been shewn and by the Post they were in it now becoming their Duty also so that they did not much press their Work waiting only to be called for as soon as it should be thought convenient but much time being lost under these Expectations at length Complaining of this Delay to their late Partner Mr. Hewer he advised them not to Petition the King as they intended but to present a New Proposal to the Board to do the Work per Yard square without any Reflection or Notice of the former Proceedings saying they that had been against it must needs be convinced of their mis-information which had caused the Prejudices they had formerly conceived against Lead-sheathing the whole Matter â—eing so clearly stated and this Sheathing so well vindicated in the Company 's Reply which they had had so much time better to examine and consider of and that they would take this way of application to them well and we needed not to doubt the better and speedier success Wherefore the 20 Decemb. 1686. the Company presented the Proposal following which they leave still before the Navy-Board in hopes at one time or other they will find reason and leisure to take the same into further consideration To the Honourable The Principal Officers and Commissioners OF HIS MAJESTY's NAVY A Proposal of Mr. Kent and Partners concerned in the Work of Mill'd-Lead to Sheath his Majesty's Ships with the said Lead for preservation of their Plank against the Worm which way of Sheathing is plainly much better for Sayling cheaper and more durable than any other way hitherto used IT is humbly offered to your Consideration that when this way of Milling Lead for Sheathing of Ships was first invented it was immediately communicaed to the late King and his present Majesty then Lord High Admiral of England and the Usefulness of the Invention by them well weighed and considered and thought to be of such consequence that his Majesty gave the Inventors encouragement and advice to lay the same before the Parliament where aâ—ter a most strict scrutiny into the Matter in both Houses they obtained in the Year 1670. an Act of Parliament with Terms in it highly expressing the good Opinion they had conceived of this Invention After which by his Majesty's particular direction it was first tryed upon several of his own Ships but the interest several Persons trading in the Materials formerly used in Sheathing had to oppose this Invention did make them very iudustrious to raise Objections against it all which being throughly examined by his late Majesty and a View by him in Person made of the Ship Phoenix after two Voyages to the Streights with the same Sheathing it pleased his Majesty by his Order of 20 th Decemb. 1673. to signifie his pleasure that for the future this way of Sheathing and no other should be used upon his Majesty's Ships by the then Lords of the Admiralty in these words viz. After our hearty Commendations in pursuance of his Majesty's Pleasure signified to us by himself at this Board That in regard of the many and good Proofs which had been given of the usefulness of Sir Philip Howard and Major Watson's Invention of Sheathing his Majesty's Ships with Lead in preference to the doing of it with the Materials and in the manner anciently used and with respect had no less to the charge thereof than the effectual securing the Hulls of his Majesty's Ships against the Worms his Majesty's Ships may for the time to come be sheathed in no other manner than that of Lead without special Order given for the same from this Board These are to authorize you to cause this his Majesty's pleasure â—erein to be duely complyed with And so we remain Your Loving Friends Anglesey Ormond G. Carteret And after two Years further experience the then Navy-Board thought it for his Majesty's Service to Contract with the Mill'd-Lead Partners for the Materials to sheath his Ships at the Rates expressed in their Articles of Agreement during their whole term of their Act of Parliament And thus stood the Matter 'till the close of the Year 1675. at which time as we humbly conceive by the Artifice of the interested Traders was raised a Clamour never heard of before as if this way of Sheathing did occasion a more than ordinary Decay of the Rudder-Irons This immediately put the Partners upon a strict enquiry into the Truth and validity of these Objections and it was not long e're they fully discovered that this decay in the Iron-work proceeded not from the contrariety of the Nature of Lead with the matter of Iron but that the Iron-work lasted or decayed as it was better or worse mixt and wrought by the Smith for such different decays as are charged could never proceed from one common Cause His late Majesty himself was convinced that there was not such corrosive quality in Lead having consulted the Person in England the most skilful in those matters Furthermore Universal Practice both in his Majesties Yards and Merchant Builders has and does at this day make Lead the common security of Iron-work against Rust not only by covering therewith upon all Ships unsheathed and designed for long Voyages the Iron-work about the Rudder but by capping the heads of their Bolts under water with pieces of Lead sized to and nailed over the said Bolts Nor is this all for at this day whatever Merchant Man or Man of War is appointed for a Voyage where the Worm eats the back of her Stem-post and beard of her Rudder are sheathed with Copper or Lead and this even where the Ships also are sheathed with Wood the East India Company it self upon whom we may best depend for Cautions wherever preservation of Ships is in question not omitting in that very case to sheath their Rudders with Lead or Copper which practice certainly could never have prevailed with our Fathers and been followed with so continued a consent to this very day by us of the vicinity of either of these Metals assisted as is by some imagined by salt-water had
that 's not yet according to the Proverb as Broad as Long for the Mill'd Lead size of Three Foot and an half being broad enough and perhaps better than broader for general use and they able to make their Sheets above twice as long as the Plumber can cast if need require to save Drips and comply with the length of Coverings this disadvantage is not made good by any pretence of breadth soever which if greater breadths are necessary as for Coperas-works c. may be supplyed with Mill'd Lead by burning a Seam joyning two Sheets together This Mill'd Lead being to be had of any Thickness even from one pound in the Foot to twenty or more if desired must for the Reasons aforesaid be cheaper and better than Cast Lead and will serve for all uses that Cast Sheets are fit for and the thinner sorts for many more any one may be supplyed with able Workmen to lay the same on Churches or other Buildings or work it into Cisterns Fountains Pipes Vessels for Brewers Dyers Coperas-works Dairies c. and Solder at 6 d. a pound also where Nailing is required there sheathing Nails made of a Mettal that will not rust corrode or decay the Lead as Iron does may be had for 8 d. a Hundred at the Mill'd-Lead-Shop the Sign of the Mallard on the West-side of Fleet-Channel near Holborn-brigde or by a Note left for Mr. Hale al the Temple Coffee-house that he may know where to speak with the Parties or send his Plumber to undertake their Work There 's nothing said herein relating to the Mill'd-Lead-Sheathing that having been discontinued in the Navy after about twenty Ships sheathed requiring a more large and particular Account what may have been the Cause thereof the Objections Answers Proofs and whole Proceedings in that matter are intended shortly to be Printed which will suficiently satisfie the unprejudiced and justifie the preference of Lead-sheathing before that of Wood in many particulars besides Cheapness which with regard to its Duration and the Value of the old Sheathing when stript will save the Owner above Cent. per Cent. And all the noise that has been about the Rudder-Irons decay charged on that Sheathing proved to be frivolous vain and groundless All Merchants or others that shall buy any considerable quantity above a Tun at least upon discourse with the said Mr. Hale may have some Abatement even from the present Prices suitable to the quantity and payment LONDON Printed for T. H. and are to be had at Garraway's Coffee-house the Temple Coffee-House and the Mill'd-Lead Shop above-mentioned 1690. Notwithstanding which the Plumbers to prevent a Contract with the Commissioners of the Navy for which this Company had then a Proposal lying before them to furnish their Mill'd-Lead of all sizes of thickness and thinness as well for Sheet-Lead as Scuppers c. into their Majesty's Yards gave in to them the Paper following The Vanity and Falshood of which Paper will plainly appear to the Reader from the Testimonies given even by the Owners or Inhabitants themselves of those Houses from whence they raise their Instances of commending their Cast and decrying the Mill'd-Lead divers of which are here also Printed at the Foot of their said Paper others being Houses never covered with Mill'd-Lead at all as the Lord Preston's or with Mill'd-Lead as the Lord Crew 's against which no ground for complaint of the Lead in which Houses Servant-women only living they could not give proper Certificates herein THE Plumber's Proposal TO THE NAVY-BOARD Right Honourable UNderstanding that the Persons concerned in the Mill'd-Lead have put out Printed Papers in Vindication of the Service of the said Lead and have also lately made Proposals to your Honours to serve their Majesty's therewith or any private Persons for Covering of Houses Gutters Pipes Cisterns Scuppers Liquor-Backs or such like Work which they pretend will be cheaper and better than Cast-Lead May it please your Honours THe Mill'd Lead is no ways so serviceable and cheap as the same is represented nor indeed scarce fit for any service as is evidently proved by daily experience in most places where the same has been used that after it hath lain a few Years it hath crack'd flaw'd and rose in ridges so that the Persons concerned after having been at a considerable Charge in the daily patching and mending of it have at last been forced to take it up and lay Cast-lead in the room of it before such time as the Houses or Places could be made tight of the truth of which several Examples can be given your Honours upon Oath if required That on the other side the Cast-Lead doth plainly make appear its durance and service for in several old Buildings about this City and Westminster where this Lead hath been laid for a great term of years yet remaineth as firm and right as when first laid And besides the same is cheaper and better to their Majesty or any private person by 20 l. per Cent. than the Mill'd-Lead is according to the Rates it is now sold which together with the strength and service is very considerable Also the Solder made and used by them of the Mill'd Lead is not fit for service whereas all Solder used by the Plumbers is by Essay sealed according to the standing Rules of the Company By what is here offered is humbly desired may be taken by your Honours as proceeding from Duty and not in prejudice to the Persons concerned in the Mill'd-Lead for notwithstanding the plausible pretences of the usefulness and service of the said Lead and the disparagement of the Cast-Lead yet the Plumbers have not made any like returns to discredit the Mill'd-Lead not for want of reasons but being assured that a short time would sufficiently make appear the service and firmness of the Cast-Lead and the sleightness and the charge of the other which is now sufficiently evidenced and is humbly submitted to your Honours Considerations Places where the Mill'd-Lead hath been used His Majesty's Horse-guard Houses at White-Hall The Lord Preston's House The Countess of Portland's The Lord Crew 's in Soho-square Mr. Fox's in Arundel-street Mr. Harris's in Norfolk-street Sir Iohn Iames's in Pell-Mell Dr. Chamberlain's in Essex-buildings Esq Sanders at Tooting Sir Ant. Deane's These and several others which have been covered with Mill'd-Lead have been taken up and laid with Cast-Lead in a very short time as may be made appear Ex. per W. Dale 23 Aug. 1690. COPIES OF Letters and Certificates Proving The Plumber's foregoing Paper TO BE Scandalous and False Mr. Saunders's Letter Mr. Hale I Have thought upon the Paper you shewed me which you said the Plumbers presented to the Navy-Board complaining of mighty defects in your Mill'd-Lead and mentioning a great many places where they say they have been forced to strip it off and new cover with their Cast-Lead and amongst the rest my House at Tooting I wonder much at their Confidence and Folly to say such