Time and Means of Experience that way Capt. Because my Lord as a Man may have a Command in a Merchant Voyage ten times too and again from the East-Indies and yet be fitter for a Master than a Captain in one of his Majesties Ships of War so a Man may make himself a Titular Captain and be all his Life long in a Piratical Way and yet understand little or nothing how to manage a stout and well resolved Fight at Sea Because the Pirate assaults not where he expects to find a firm Resistance and the Merchant Man fights only when he is assaulted so that both of these may be likely enough to be very much to seek in those thorow Knowledges of true Fights which require a fit Commander in His Majesties Royal Ships and especially Fleets of War and therefore whosoever he be that shall ground his Choice for the seeking out of Abilities answerable to His Majesties Services from Experiences and Practices in any of these two ways only I am much deceived if he find not himself much mistaken Adm. And yet you said but now that you could wish that our Nobility in general were used in Merchants Voyages How is it then that you say here that they will deceive themselves that fetch their Election from this way Capt. This was not then so propounded as a Course so to compleat them as from thence to step immediately into a Command in Chief in any of his Majesties Ships Royal but only to inure them to endure the Sea to learn them Sea Language and to know Sea-men that so by Degrees they might come first to be Lieutenants or if it must be so to be Captains in some other inferiour Ships serving in his Majesties Pay upon extraordinary Occasions where less Care and Skill is required and then upon the Improvement of themselves to be culled out and called up higher to Employmenâ—s of greater Charge and Worth for otherwise besides the Peril how can it but beget both Scorn to themselves and scandal with the World Adm. I perceive by this as I said before that there is but small hope to find any store of able Commanders for His Majesties Royal Ships for the present nor scarce for an Age hereafter Capt. Surely my Lord in respect of the Quantity and Number of the Commanders this must indeed be confest and therefore those few of ability that we have ought the more to be regarded and cherished and this the rather in that I am fully of the Opinion and dare profess it that all such as are to command as Captains in any Man of War serving in His Majesties Pay ought to be of Noble Birth and Education and that not only in regard of the better Breeding as aforesaid of our Nobility in general in this kind of Service and Knowledg which so much concerneth us but also by reason of that free and frequent Access and Converse which in all Actions of this Nature is requirable and unavoidable betwixt the General and these Captains And besides it may of due and with reason be expected in regard of their very Bloods that the Tye of Honour and Reputation should work more actively upon them than upon the meerly bred Mariner and common Seaman be he otherwise what he will And surely as in the making of a Gentleman an able Sea Commander Practice is to be added to the Theory so more than meer Practice is requirable in the making of a Captain out of a meer Mariner For besides the Civility of Carriage and Behaviour the which well becomes the Place and Company they are to hold there is also a general Judgment to be sought after and an Entertainment fit for all Persons and all Occasions whatsoever Adm. I shall not go about to alter your Opinion in this particular For as touching the meer bred Mariner for mine own part I am of Opinion that even such Seamen as are part Owners of Ships are not so much as to be admitted to go Masters in their own Ships whilst they serve in the Kings Pay for in this Case it may be probable enough that some of them will shew themselves less forward in point of Service and more favourable to their beloved Ships Sides Sails and general Rigging than shall stand with the Honour and Welfare of the Service neither can the Redress be found by the Captain at the instant of Service be he never so sufficient much less if ignorant because the Masters are of necessity to be entrusted in many particulars and in this especially that the Sailing and Conducting of the Ship is peculiarly belonging unto him and is his particular Charge Capt. And by the same reason and upon the very same ground it seemeth to me unfit also that the Masters of such Ships as are in his Majesties Service should be entrusted with the placing of most of the subordinate Officers in those Ships and have Commissions for the pressing of the common Men into them for it may fall out that in this Employment they may mainly aim either to bring in as many of their own Servants as they can and that without all respect of Sufficiency or at the least of their old Acquaintance and Confidents and so make up a Pack as well for a Party as a Concealment whereby to contrive and act what they list and this the Captain shall be never able to discover untill it be too late and much less redress by reason of his coming in amongst them as a meer Stranger and not being admitted but at the last Cast and perhaps not until the Ships Company do enter into Sea-Victual which I dare boldly say is the ready way to multiply all these Disorders and may well cause all men of ability to retire themselves Adm. The like Exception likewise or a greater may be taken methinks to those resident Officers for term of Life which are in His Majesties Ships Royal who are the Pursers Gunners Boat-Swains and Cooks for these also have the means to cull out a Company of their own Consorts who shall mainly depend upon them and perhaps be neither serviceable nor fit for the Places and Offices that they are entred for nor indeed can be made use of in any other place whatsoever upon any occasion So that for my part I shall willingly give my Voice that none of these kind of men have ever my Power or Commission given them to make up their own Gangs or Companies when they are to be employed in any Service abroad I grant that whilst these Ships lie idle in Harbour or are over the Chain at Chatham that these kind of Officers are absolutely necessary for how else should His Majesties Ships there be conveniently guarded and looked unto How can the Implements of their Cook-rooms their Sails Cables and general Ropes their Ordnance and the Appurtenances be kept and preserved the Ships kept clean and wholsom unless some such Officers as Gunners Cooks Boat-swains and Swabbers be held always
and that care be had that these imprest Monies be not farther entrusted then at the most from Week to Week Proceed to your third Observation about the Extravagancy of their Hopes in point of Pillage when they are employed abroad in private Men of War Capt. As for this business of Pillage which is with them a going upon their thirds and that is when they have the third part shared amongst them of whatsoever shall be gotten it is sure enough that there is nothing that bewitcheth so much nor any thing wherein they promise to themselves so loudly and delight in so greatly insomuch that I have known some of them who though they might look for a hanging from their own Commanmanders at their return for their irregular going out and adventured the the cutting of their Throats by the Enemy in their going out yet stuck not to rove into an Enemies Quarter two or three Miles in hope only to pillage some rotten house-hold Stuff And I saw one of these returning with a Feather-bed on his back all that way in an Extremity of hot weather that was not worth ten Shillings when he had it at home A Voyage and an Adventure that all the Commands and Compulsions in the World nor as I think ought else save this for these Ladds know but little of any other Terms of Honour and Reputation should ever have brought them unto And by this your Lordship may know their Nature the which in this kind and by this means may be made use of Adm. It seemes by this that you would infer that these good Fellows as part of a cure of their unwillingness to Services of the State should have some allowance of Pillage granted unto them whilst they are in His Majesties Services Capt. I would so indeed for sure I am that it would not only whet their Stomachs to the Service but to the Fighting that belongs to the Service Adm. But how can this be done without much dammage and loss to His Majesty whose sole charge it is to Furnish out all His Ships and Fleets and who payeth the Company largely and fully at the end of the action whether the Voyage be successful or not Capt. But the Pillage the which I wish might be allowed being only that which shall be found betwixt the Decks and of this we have a President from our thriving and thrifty Neighbours the Netherlanders is not of any such considerable Value as to extend to any notorious loss to His Majesty by their pillaging of it and yet the very only hearsay of an allowance shall not only as aforesaid entice and recover them to a forward employing of themselves in these Services but withal make them adventurous and stout in Fights when they are brought unto them whereas at the present not finding any other Tast or Feeling this way or by this means than danger and knocks and that it is all one with them whether they take any Prizes or take them not they propound it as the safest of their ways to receive their pays in a whole Skin Adm. I must confess that you have satisfied me in this particular also But what say you to that fourth motive you mentioned which was that of Liberty Capt. Surely Experience hath taught that those so strict restraints which so frequently have been urged of late and wherein the Captains have received so peremtory Commands against sufferance of their common Men to go on shore whilst they lay in Harbour in His Majesties Ships which hath been sometimes three and four Months together instead of preventing a going away and running from the Service which was aimed at have produced the quite contrary effects for these prohibitions being not in possibility to be made good to any purpose by reason of the many Shore-boats that haunted the Ships continually and stole aboard them in the night time wherein the Mariners got to the Shore in spight of all care to the contrary They being thus gotten on Shore and having there spent their little money they became as they grew sober to be so gastred from a return to their Ships for fear of the punishment due unto the breach of the restraint as that as many of them as could and some of these Officers conveyed themselves quite away and utterly forsook the Service the which but for fear of this punishment in all likelyhood they would not have done and yet would rather adventure upon any hazard then to be so imprisoned and strictly held on Ship-board within smell and sight of the Shore as their Captains were compelled to keep them Adm. This may well be and besides I conceive that another mischeif might hereupon also ensue in that the long and continual Tying of these Men to the Salt Fare and Feeding upon Sea Victual before they came to any Service or Action could not but be one main means of the much Sickness and Infection that hath of late been every where found amongst them whereby they becam utterly disabled in the Service when they came unto it Capt. Your Lordship judgeth rightly and in these respects I must confess that for mine own part it is mine opinion that our Sea-men are not to be farther restrained from going to the Shore whilst the Ships lye in Harbour then only that they are to acquaint the Captain or in his absence his Lieutenant or the Master with their going and to ask their Licences the which may be left to their discretions either to grant or deny as they shall find cause and occasion Adm. Well Captain you have spoken sufficiently to the four particulars which you delivered as Causes and motives of the present distastes that the ordinary Sea-man hath falen into of late against all Sea Services in His Majesties Ships of War and I approve also of the remedies you have prescribed to be very probable But you know withal that the Insolencies of these People are at the present so overgrown as that upon the slightest occasions these Lads have been found with nothing more ready in their Mouths then that mutinous Sea-cry One and All and you have seen them affronting Justice even in the High Streets of the City and at the very Court it self and Seats of Justice they have been heard in Tumults and Out-cries so that it may be doubted that these Lenitive Potions you have prescribed will not work to any perfect and through Cure upon such Surly-natured Patients whose Diseases may be feared to be inveterate and deeply over-spread Capt. Indeed my Lord these times have produced new examples and unusual Distempers in these kinds and they have rather been fuelled then allayed by an over Indulgency in that these Men have found their Tumultuous Clamours and demands contented and satisfied by this Rude and Boystrous not to say rebellious Course of feeking them a president that may be feared of worse Consequence then thanks be to God hath yet been felt unless it shall be thoroughly and seasonably looked unto
SIX DIALOGUES ABOUT Sea-Services BETWEEN An High-Admiral and a Captain at Sea CONCERNING The Commanders in Chief in Dialogue the First The common Mariner in Dialogue the Second The Victualling out of Ships in Dialogue the Third The Names of all the Parts of a Ship in Dialogue the Fourth The choice of the best Ships of War in Dialogue the Fifth The Sailings Signals Chases and Fights in Dialogue the Sixth By NATHANIEL BOTELER Esq Lately a Commander and a Captain in one of His Majesties Royal Ships of War LONDON Printed for Moses Pitt at the Angel in St. Paul's Church-yard 1685. To the Honourable Samuel Pepys Esq Secretary to the Admiralty SIR MEeting with this Book in Manuscript and liking well the Contents thereof I desired some of my Friends to give me their opinions of it which they freely did and told me that they thought it would be a useful Treatise not only for Seamen but also for all those that are curious to be informed in the Menage of Shipping whereupon I was incouraged to undertake the Printing of it But the Author neither having recommended his Book by any Dedication nor Preface I thought my self obliged to beg the Protection of some person eminently skilful in these matters to make it the more acceptable to the Ingenious and knowing your great experience in the subject treated of and how great a Patron and Encourager you are of the improvement of Navigation I presume to lay it at your Feet and if you shall please to accept it favourably and afford it a good Character I hope the benefit will be to the Reader as well as to the Bookseller who is SIR Your most Humble Servant MOSES PITT May 19 1685. A Discourse by way of Dialogue of Marine Affairs between an Admiral and a sea-Sea-Captain Dialogue the First About Commanders in Chief Admiral WElcome Captain I much desire to know you and to be known unto you Captain I humbly thank your Lordship and am affectionately at your Service Adm. Your hear I doubt not that his Majesty hath honoured me with that Command of so high trust the High admiral-Admiral-Ship of his Kingdoms and because it is not to be denied but that a long Peace hath well nigh worn out all men of Practice and Experience especially amongst those of my Rank in matter of War and especially Sea-War I am for my part desirous to take the nearest way to the enabling of my self to this my present Charge and this I conceive to be by an Admittance and free Access of such as your self and by advising with you to which end I have now sent for you that we may confer upon some such especial Points of your Art as are most necessarily to fall within the Bounds of my Place and Office Capt. For mine own part my Lord I hold it good for us that we have an Admiral restored unto us and especially one of this Mind with whom we shall not only know our certain Addresses but find a Personal Access and a due Dispatch and not be wearied out by over many several Attendances nor be abused by the Puttings-off and Slightings of subordinate Officers And I the rather say of this Mind of yours in respect that I apprehend it very important that not only the High Admiral as your Lordship but that all the Generals and Admirals of his Majesties Royal Fleets be of that Eminency of Birth and Title as may both silence Envy and draw on Adventurers and Voluntiers of Worth and Eminency to serve under them whereby all Services and Designs may be much advanced And certainly when such as these shall be free of Access and desirous of Conference and withall be found of that Practice and Knowledge as that they shall not need to depend too much upon the prompting of others It must needs prove a prime Happiness not only to the Seamen in particular but also to the whole Common-Wealth in general Adm. As for the one it is within the Power of our own Will to effect but touching the Sufficiency that you speak of I hold it for the present a Happiness rather to be wisht for than hoped after Capt. It is doubtless to be wished for indeed and as much as any whatsoever of that nature and especially by us of this Nation whose both Honour and Safety depends so much upon our Sea-strength and Experience and surely this might not only be hoped for but had too if our Nobility in general and chiefly those of the higher Form would but addict themselves to the Theory of this Mystery until the Providence of the State shall find Occasions and Means to call them to the Practice and perhaps it were to be wisht that the very Occasions were not altogether so absent nor so unconstant as they have been of late that so as the Spanish by their East and West-India Employments in this Course our Nobility might be nourished in the Knowledge and Practice of so brave and so concerning a Profession Neither do I conceive why there might not be an Act of State to this purpose to injoyn our very Merchants to employ yearly upon fit terms some certain number of Gentlemen Voluntiers in all their long Voyages by Sea nor why the Merchant should be unwilling withal that so we might have a Seminary of Seamen of Rank and Quality bred up amongst us to serve upon all occasions Adm. You wish well Captain but this will ask Time and Deliberation Capt. Whensoever cause calls for it an Amends must be made then for the present by the choice of a good natural Judgment quick Apprehension moderate Application and resolute Valour and the other Defects made up by a Council of War orderly and impartially composed Adm. It is to be believed indeed that an able Council of War with a tractable and moderate General may work too much Perfection in all Actions that are to be executed upon the Land where Councils of War may be assembled at pleasure but at Sea this as I conceive is not performed but with much uncertainty by reason of many Accidents that may hinder these Meetings whereas nevertheless there is no Place where occasions offer themselves with more Variety nor where Advantages may be gotten and lost sooner than at Sea Capt. It is true and therefore for the help hereof it is of absolute necessity that not only the Captain commanding under the General in his own Ship be the most able and active of all the rest but likewise that some selected and choice Men of the Council of War be always resident aboard with him besides and if the General have the main stroke in the Election of these Men as it is reason he should that then he would be pleased to ground his Approbation not so much from the Time of their Sea-Services as from the Condition and Quality of the Services that they have been exercised in Adm. And why from the Condition and Quality of their Services rather than from the
Place Capt. The Office of this Master-Gunner is to take into his Charge all the Ordnance that the Ship carrieth to see that they be serviceably mounted and sufficiently supplied with Spunges Ladles and Rammers that in foul weather they be traversed with Board especially those of the lower Tire and that the Ports be shut and calked up that at all times they be throughly breeched and made fast least any one of them should chance to break loose to the eminent danger of the foundring of the Ship and for the time of a Fight he is to provide that every Peece be sufficiently manned He is also to be cautious and provident in the Guard of the Powder in the Powder-room and upon no occasion to suffer any Fire to come near unto it unless it be a Candle in a well-glazed Lanthorn and he is to take and give an account of all the Powder and of the remainder thereof at all times To which end he is is to keep a Reckoning in writing as near as may be of every Shot that is made and not to make any Shot without the Knowledge and Order of the Captain or in his Absence of the Lieutenant or Master He is besides to take into his Charge all the Provisions belonging to the Gun-room which is the proper Rendezvouze of himself and his Gang to eat and sleep in and is to have there in a readiness a fit number of Carthrages proportionable to the Cilenders of all his Guns filled with Powder if any present Use be expected with lattin Cases also which serve as well to form as to carry them in a Fight and thereby to avoid the danger of Fire And in this Gun-room also are to be ordered and handsomly placed all the small Shot belonging to the Musqueteers of the Ship together with their Bandeliers and due proportions of Match Adm. This must needs be an Office requiring a Person of Honesty Care and Skill and I am in doubt that though we are become generally somewhat defective in our Sea Officers yet in none more than in this But what is your Pilots Place and Part Capt. Pilots are properly those who upon Coasts and Shores unknown to the Master are used for the Conduction of Ships into Rodes or Harbours or over Barrs and Sands or thorow serpentine and intricate Channels the which they perform by their knowledge of the true depths and the heights and flowings of the Tides and how they set from Point to Point with the difference of those aboard from those in the Channel or the Shores and by the blowings of the Winds where the Sands are movable and by Land-marks which they are acquainted withal when they are to pass thorow any Channel or Narrow And though these Pilots are but rarely entertained whilst the Ships are abroad at Sea or for the whole Voyage but having done their Parts in piloting the Ships out in the Offin are returned to the Shore where they have their Residence and get their Bread in this Fashion yet in Ships of Charge and Burthen it were no unthrifty Providence to have one of them always aboard to prevent all Hazards Adm. And I am of that mind too For though they may be certainly had for the piloting outwards bound yet is there as much need if not more of having them at the Land-fall when the Ship returneth which may be in such Weather as that they cannot be gotten aboard by any means whatsoever And therefore I shall give my Vote that to all the Ships Royal belonging to his Majesty there be the Allowance of a Pilot or at least that one of the Masters Mates be known to be very sufficiently traded this way if not the Master himself And now go on to the particular Office and Charge of the Master Capt. The Masters Place and Duty is when the Ship is abroad at Sea to take the general Conduction of the Way and sailing of the Ship into his Charge and Care and to shape all such Courses as may safest and soonest bring her to her designed Ports and Places of Rendesvouse To which end he is to see the Ships Company duly divided and quartered for the true performing of their Watches and for the trimming and management of her Sails upon all occasions He is carefully and diligently to look unto the Steerage and to appoint and order that some of the Quarter-masters be always ready to cond her he is to inquire and to take account of all the ways that the Ship hath made and upon what points of the Compass she hath been steered in every Watch and as conducing thereunto to take a View of the Traverse Board and to consider of all the dead Reckonings and by his Observations to take the height of the Sun or Stars with is his Astrolabe Back-staff or Jacobs-staff and accordingly to prick his Card and upon the approach to any Coast to use the deep Sea-line or Sounding-line that so he may know the Ground and Soundings and all this is to be done that he may the surer and readier give an account unto the Captain of the Place where the Ship at any time is briefly the Master with his Mates are the Guids to lead the Ship in her right Way and the Scouts to look out that she take no harm in it any where Adm. But there is an extension of the Masters Office in all Merchants-Ships far enough beyond all this that you mention here for there I find them in a Command in Chief and some of them taking upon them the Titles of Captains and to go away with it too who I believe were never commissioned either by His Majesty or any of His Admirals or Generals Capt. You may indeed find them there mistaken by some degrees in their Observations and over elevated and it is because our Merchants the more is the pity cannot abide to have any Gentlemen Commanders in their Ships and it may be the most of Gentlemen are as unwilling as themselves But withal it hath brought forth this ill effect even in His Majesties Ships that of late these Masters undergo the Command of a Captain with a great deal of repining and sullenness and the rather in regard that many times they meet with but weak Captains And as for the Usurpation of the Title the Marshals Court may as I conceive call it into question whensoever it pleaseth and perhaps it were not unfit that it did Adm. Well go on and proceed to the Duty of the Corporals at Sea Capt. The Corporal his Office is to look unto all the small Shot belonging unto the Ship and to keep them fixed and clean together with their Bandeliers filled with good and dry Powder and their proportions of Match and with these he is to exercise all such of the Company as are assigned by the Captain to use their musquets in a Fight and to practise and thorowly inure them to all their Sea-postures Adm. Though this be but
a new Officer at Sea yet it is a necessary one especially in the point of well using their Arms and besides it may lead on in a fit way to the finding out of a Lieutenant for I could wish that the Corporals were Gentlemen Adm. And what is the Lieutenants Part Capt. A Lieutenants Place at Sea is as the Lieutenants Place on the Shore for in the Captains Absence he is to command in Chief only he is to be admonished that he be not too fierce in his Way at the first which is an Humour whereto young men are much addicted but to carry himself with Moderation and Respect to the Master Gunner Boat-swain and the other Officers that so he may not be despised but beloved and obeyed and when Experience hath taught him somewhat more fully to understand his Place he may grow to an higher strain and at last attain to his affected Port a Captain-ship Adm. Well then to conclude what are the Parts and Properties requirable in a Captain at Sea who is to direct and command all the forenamed Officers Capt. There is no doubt but that a Sea Captain commanding in Chief in one of His Majesties Royal Ships hath as enlarged a Charge under his Hand and of as high a Nature as any Colonel at Land for besides that in some of those Ships there ought not to be fewer than five six or seven hundred men to the due manning of them when they are to go out to Sea the which amounts well neer to the number of some Regiments all of which are absolutely under the Command of the Captain He is also over and above to stand answerable to His Majesty for the whole Ship her self and all her Ordnance the Value and Worth whereof is seldom less than twenty thousand Pounds and of some of them thirty yea forty and upwards And as for the Point of Honour What greater Honour hath our Nation in Martial Matters than in His Majesties Navy What greater Dishonour besides the Loss can there be in this kind to the State than that such a Ship as one of these should either by the Ignorance Cowardliness or Treachery of the prime Commander fall into an Enemies hand In few Words therefore I say my Lord that it were to be wished that this Commander thus entertained in His Majesties Pay and this Service should bring with him besides an unsuspected Loyalty and approved Valour a full Experience and sufficient Skill to enable him not only to exact an Account of all his subordinate Officers in their several and distinct Charges and Places but so well to understand them when they are given up as to find out all the Fallacies and Failings discover the Errors and short Executions and so to correct and amend them And thus my Lord I have run through the Task you enjoyned me concerning the Commanders and Officers requirable in a Ship of War I have done it briefly and according to my mean Sufficiency the which as I leave to your Lordships Censure so I crave your favourable Acceptance Adm. I thank you Captain and we will here end our first days Dialogue and begin our second to morrow Capt. I shall be ready to wait Dialogue the Second About the Common Mariner Admiral WELL met again Captain As our first days discourse pointed upon Sea Commanders in Chief and their subordinate Officers so let our second be concerning the common and ordinary Sea-man and about some particulars that in that way do most reflect on the present Times Captain I shall attend your Lordships Commands and Demands Adm. Let us then begin with that Loathness if not Loathing which of late days hath so possessed these People against all Services in His Majesties Ships and Fleets What do you conceive to be the main and true motives hereof Capt. I apprehend they may be chiefly these three 1. Some Procrastinations and Delays of their Pays at their returns Home 2. A stoln Trade and Profit that way which they find in Merchant Voyages over and above their Wages and Hire 3. The extravagant Hopes that they flatter themselves withal when they serve in private men of War where they go upon their Thirds And 4ly The loose Liberty and uncontrouled Life that they lead when they are entertained in any of these Courses and especially in that of private Men of War Adm. These are indeed likely ways all of them to work upon this kind of Men. But what Courses can you propound for their Recovery Capt. Since your Lordship is pleased herein to demand and hear my mean Opinion I shall not fear to speak freely First then touching the first of these The which since I apprehend it might be occasioned by those mighty Disbursments the which a long Disuse did put upon the Exchequer in the fitting up of His Majesties Ships and the victualling of them out together with the Failings of such Supplies as upon just grounds might well be relied upon and were expected would be continued there is no doubt but that for the future the Wisdom of the State will find it fit either to be sufficiently furnished aforehand and have in possession these Nerves of all great Actions and especially Military ones or will forbear over vast Designs until it be found that there is Fulness and Growth enough to grapple with them And then I doubt not but that one only Voyage and Employment bringing with it a full and quick Discharge of all Pays and Arrears of this nature will help well to rectifie all former Misconceits and recover all that Affection which hath been lost by the contrary Courses Adm. This is not improbable But what say you to the second motive that you mentioned as leading to this dislike which was the Overplus of their gain by their secret Trading in Merchant Voyages Capt. This hath in some good part been already ballanced by his Majesties late Augmentation of Sea mens Pay in general which hath been improved almost half in half For there is no Prince or State in the World that alloweth larger Wages to Sea-men then his Majesty now doth to his And that late Addition also of providing some convenient Cloaths for them before-hand hath bin very well thought upon For these People when they are left to themselves are generally found to make more of their Bellies than their Backs and yet are in nothing more disabled in their Services nor more discontented abroad then by the miss of Shift and Sence of Cold by the want of sufficient Cloathing So that if with these provent Cloaths some small part of their Pay might be imparted unto them also aforehand by way of some Spending Money I assure my self they would be well wrought upon as well to a willingness to serve as a constancy to stay where they shall find themselves so pleasingly supplied from Day to Day Adm. And I conceive that this might be done without any inconvenience any way and especially when his Majesties Coffers are full
if ever any the like occasion should be offered hereafter For it is Certain that no due or right whatsoever is either to be given or gotten the wrong way Adm. You hold right so that perhaps this Cure will scarce be perfected without some Corrosives Capt. Due and fit experiments being first made by these gentle and winning prescriptions formerly propounded as ways of perparation if they prove or work not there may and must be added unto them severe poenal Prohibitions against their serving abroad with any Forraign State unless particularly Licenced and due Executions of some such warranted Inflictions as have anciently been practised upon all such who having been impressed into the Princes Services and received his imprest Monies shall dare either to run away or hide themselves from these employments after they have been Mustered or shall not punctually and orderly present themselves at their appointed times and places of Rendezvous after they are impressed In all which pariculars it is more then time that some pickt and choice Examples had been offered to the World and Age and that not only in the Persons of the Refractory Run-aways but upon all such likewise whether Natives or Strangers as shall dare and presume to entertain them much less entice and hide them away after they have been commanded into any of his Majesties Services And for the more thorough Execution hereof it is the opinion of some Men that it were fit that some of the most Ancient Sea Captains that have Commanded in his Majesties Ships Royal should be always commissioned for the ordering of Delinquents of this nature and to have Authority in themselves and power to call in unto their Assistance any such of his Majesties Officers as Costanbles Justices of the Peace and the like as may best and fittest be had in all Places where the Offenders shall be found that so due punishments may be inflicted upon all Seamen and others as shall be any way or in any place in any of these kinds found in their Insolencies and Disorders and that these Captains thus commissioned that they may be the better known should be distinguished by some Ribbon about their Necks or Truncheons in their Hands or both the which they and none but they should be suffered to wear and carry Adm. I differ not from you in any of these particulars and touching this last I assure my self that as it would work much to a due respect of these Captains among Sea-men in general so it would either reduce these Libertines of our Age unto their old Queen Elizabeth Obedience and Discipline or leave them to the sufferance of deserved punishment without all Excuse or Pity for there are no ways of Government either just or prevalent but Praemio et Paena But Captain before I can dismiss you from this Days meeting in regard that I have heard it said and lamented that there is at the present an unwonted want of Sea-men in general within his Majesties Dominions and that as well in respect of number as sufficiency I would entreat you to offer and present some such Ways and Cources for the better breeding and multiplying of these so necessary Hands as either in your Apprehension Experience or both you do conceive to be most proper and probable Capt. Having your Lordships Command for it and having adventured thus far already under your Lordship protection and with I hope some approbation I shall readily and briefly deliver my poor Opinion in this particular also It is not to be denyed my Lord but that all Tradings upon the Water and every Employment in that kind of Life may be allowed and accounted in their several Degrees as ways tending to the encrease and breed of Seamen for who knoweth not but that the continual rowing in our Wherries between London-bridge and Westminister maketh expert Oar-men and this is one step though the lowest towards the Attainment of this Art and Occupation and therefore I hold it good Prudence by way of farther improvement that in all Sea-services whereinto any Men are impressed some numbers of these Fresh-water Sea-folk be found out and employed abroad and that even the Merchants themselves be admonished to use some of them aboard their Ships in their shorter Voyages provided that they be no where relied upon at the first dash for any farther piece of the Ships sufficient Manning than only to row in the Boats and for a while also in fair Weather only for otherwise it is to be confest that there may be a want and danger Adm. You say well for there are many of these Water-men stout and able and besides their daily Practice at the Oar the only Air of the Water and the motion there must needs make them sooner Seamen then such others as are not at all or but seldom used unto it though considered but in the particulars of Sea-leggs and Sea-stomachs Capt. The second growth which I find in our Nursery of Sea-men is amongst the small Fisher-Boats used in our Rivers Creeks and close by the Shoars and those of these growth may be admitted unto the second Form in our Sea-school for besides the Sea-leggs and Sea-stomachs that they have very good and perfect they have some few Ropes and Sayls to handle and mannage also some Grapnels to to employ and look unto and are passing well fore-sighted about sudden Gusts Storms and change of Weather and therefore I could wish that of these also some were always had aboard and carried out to Sea that so they might be inured to live out of sight of Land to learn new Ropes and more Sayls to get an encrease of Sea-language and to know and Steer by the Compass the which they would nimbly do and one Degree sooner than your former fresh Water-men and therefore it is pity but that they should be preserved in all their Rights and by all means and favourable usage be encouraged to grow and multiply Adm. It is indeed pity that these poor Men should be any way disheartned for a good many of these petty Fisher-men there are that in a short time might be made good Sea-men Capt. A third Rank and Order of Sea-scholars are tutored among those bolder Fisher-men of ours who not only dare lay the Shore and Fish out of sight of it or Sayl as far as Ireland for their Herrings but adventure upon the Coasts of America and fish at New-found land and upon the Bank and these as they are bolder Men so they have bigger Vessels fitted and rigged with all the Ropes Sayls Masts and Yards that belong to a good Ship and become hereby throughly acquainted with every Inch of them and can readily mannage and order them with sufficient Dexterity and can also take their turns at the Helm so that with a little larger experience they soon grow up to be very stout and active Men for any Service and Employment that they shall be put unto These therefore are carefully to be
aboard them and so have their Places for their Lives And how can these Men be furnished with Victual aboard unless there be a Purser to provide it for them I deny not therefore but that such Officers as these are in this Case to be admitted and held on and it may be a convenient Reward also for such old Seamen as have been long Servitors and well Deservours in His Majesties Employments But yet it followeth not that these and none but they are to be used and had in their several Offices during a time of Service and when these Ships are abroad because at least for that time they may deliver over their Stores by Inventory to such other as the Captain shall find to be more fit and better known unto him and be installed in their Places again at the Return of the Ships or at the least that it be left unto the Captains Choice whether he will have them with him or no. And much less doth it follow that these old Officers for term of Life should though they do go the Voyage have the only Trust put upon them the which they now claim by prescription of the providing and Election of their own Gangs when the Ships are to be fully Manned the Complement whereof in some of these Places as in that of the Gun-room amount in some of His Majesties great Ships to no less than thirty forty and fifty in number These say I at all times of Service are in all Equity and Providence to fall within the Compass of the Captains Choice and Ordering that so he may the better stand answerable for them be the better obeyed by them and find no cause to complain if he be not Capt. I cannot see how your Lordship may be gainsaid in any thing touching this particular for howsoever it is likely enough that it will be distastful to some particulars yet will it be found necessary and beneficial for the publick Service in general And surely if any Elections of this kind be left to any out of the Office of the Admiralty and they seem to be over many to be all of them made there it must needs in all Right and Reason belong unto the Captains whose Reputations and Credits stand chiefly if not solely engaged for all Failings and whose Commands also which have of late been much eclipsed shall hereby be well restored and made good neither to speak freely can I discern with what justice any Captain may be questioned for any Miscarriage of his Ships Company or about the short Executions of the Generals Instructions and Commands whilst he is thus barred from the Choice and so use of his Instrument to work by let him have Men of his own Providing about him and then stand answerable for Neglects in general but not till then Adm. I am well satisfied in this particular and fully of your Opinion howsoever some others perhaps may affect the contrary and strive to effect it And I likewise approve and shall do until I hear more to the contrary whatsoever you have said touching our Sea Commanders in Chief And the Summ thereof is that as the High Admiral the Generals and the main Body of the Council of War are to be appointed and directed by the Prince and State so the subordinate Comanders and Captains are to be chosen and approved of by the Admiral or Generals with the Advice and from the Examinations of the Council of War and that the Elections of all other inferiour Officers be as at land left to the Choice and Appointment of the Captains at Sea But before we forsake this Subject of our present Discourse and make an end of this days Dialogue I desire to have nominated unto me all the distinct Officers belonging a unto brave man of War such as His Magjsties Ships Royal are and to have distinguished unto me their several charges and Commands Capt. I shall do it willingly my Lord and as briefly as I may And they are the Captain his Lieutenant the Corporal the Master and his Mates the Pilot the Master Gunner and his Mates the Master Carpenter and his Mate and in great Ships the Joyner the Boat-swain and his Mate he Cockswain and his Mate the Master Cook and his Mate the Purser the Steward the Quarter-masters and lastly the Swabber And every one of these have augmentation of Wages and their peculiar and several Offices and charges to look unto and to stand answerable for Adm. Well and what are these their peculiar and several Offices Capt. I will begin with the lowest and so pass upwards The Office of the Swabber is to see the Ship kept neat and clean and that as well in the great Cabbin as every where else betwixt the Decks to which end he is at the least once or twice a week if not every day to cause the Ship to be well washed within Board and without above Water and especially about the Gun-walls and the Chains and for prevention of infection to burn sometimes Pitch or the like wholsom perfumes between the Decks He is also to have a regard to every private Mans Sleeping place and to admonish them all in general to be cleanly and handsom and to complain to the Captain of all such as will be any way nastie and offensive that way Adm. Surely if this Swabber doth thoroughly take care to discharge this his charge I easily believe that he may have his hands full and especially if there chance to be any number of Landmen aboard But go on Capt. The particular Duties of the Quarter-masters whereof there are more or fewer as the Ship is of Burthen are to rummage in the Hold of the Ship upon all occasions to accompany and overlook the Steward in delivery of the Victuals to the Cook and in his pumping and drawing of the Beer and to take care in general that there be no abuse nor wastes committed in any of those Services They are likewise employed in the Loading of the Ship Adm. I apprehend these Officers to be very necessary and that not only in respect of the preservation of these necessaries but also by way of satisfaction to the Ships whole Company that they may know that they are not defrauded of their dues and allowances in these kinds and so may be kept quiet from such causeless murmurings and surmises as they are now a days but too much addicted unto this way Capt. The Office of the Steward is to receive the full Mass of Victual of all kinds from the Purser to see it well and conveniently stowed in the Hold to look well unto it when it is there to take into his Custody all the Candles and all things of that nature belonging to the Ships use to look diligently to the Bread in the Bread-room and to share out the proportions of all the several Messes in the Ship to which end he hath a several part in the Hold of the Ship designed for himself
on in your way Capt. The sixth and last way of making of Mariners with us is by the Service in His Majesties Fleets and Ships Royal and that especially in the time of a War for herein they may not only attain to whatsoever can be taught in any of the former ways but to an addition of being as well Sea-Soldiers as Sea-men Here may be learned Discipline and Obedience the use of their Arms and chiefly of their fiery Weapons and the Sea-Gunners Art the most opportune Courses to be held in the sailings out of Fleets for Comliness Conveniency and keeping of Company the best and most proper parts for all Rendezvous and meetings again upon any Separation The Advantages that may be lost and gained in all manner of Chases the best ways and helps in all Sea-fights the safest and fittest Forms to be practised upon all occasions in all Sea fights and Battels upon the Sea the surest and most probable ways for any Fleet either to offend another or secure it self being put unto it in any Rode or Harbour with other the like Dependencies But because it is neither to be hoped nor wisht for that a War should be immortal though hereby the Spanish Monarchy and the States obtain an Advancement of Sea-Strength as well as Land beyond all others in the Christian World It is therefore a fit Common-wealths Act that every one of these six several Nurseries formerly noted should be well fenced watered and manured in their several kinds that so they may altogether and joyntly produce such Fruit and Encrease as may be pleasing to all true English Hearts and profitable to the whole English Empire in general Adm. I wish it be so And with Thanks bid you farewel until to morrow Dialogue the Third About the Victualling of Ships Admiral GOod morrow Captain Let the Subject of this days Discourse be about the Victualling out of Ships and Fleets and in the first place I would be satisfied by you for you must needs know if there hath been any such matter having been a Commander in all our late Actions abroad whether that so fierce and general cry as well against the Quantity as Quality of the Victuals hath been just and deservedly yea or no Capt. I must needs say my Lord that I have only not heard this but have had my share of the Trouble and Ill of it for the common Sea-man finding himself never so little agrieved this way and missing the Victualler to be revenged of who is far enough out of his reach when these kinds of Tryals and Complaints come upon the pinch and are in agitation he takes his next way either to the Purser Master or Captain himself if he appear first in sight and vents his clamour and Spleen amongst them and many times against them as if either they were in the fault or could redress it when there is a fault Adm. But how comes there to be any fault for as touching the quantity of Victuals I have heard it generally and confidently spoken that there is no Prince nor State that by a good deal maketh so large an allowance of Victuals to Sea-men as His Majesty doth whence is it then that there have been so many complaints of late of this nature Capt. It is indeed true that as well in ways as Victual our English proportions are very transcendent and in the particular of Victual especially of Bread it is indeed more than can be eaten But the Original and ground of complaint in this particular hath been in that the Marriner hath conceited himself to be shortned and defrauded in that Quantity which they well know to be allowed unto them by the State Adm. And upon examination and proof have you found this to be true at any time Capt. I must needs confess that in our late and especially latest Voyages I have more than once found twenty or thirty of the common Sea-men of the Ship waiting at my Cabbin door at a Dinner time with sometimes their Beef sometimes their Pork in their hands to shew me how small the Pieces were and how much under the quantity and weight proportioned unto them for their dues And this indeed I evidently found to be so but could not redress the wrong nor right them by reason that every Cask and Hogshead being to contain a certainty of so many pieces of Beef or Pork and every Piece to be of such a weight if I should have made up the full of the weight that was to have been for the quantity of their allowed Meals to every particular Person by an addition of some more Pieces it would of necessity have followed that the general proportion in gross which was to serve so many Men for so many Months must have failed long before the limited time of Service abroad would have expired the which might have hazarded a general starving of all the Ships Company Adm. It may seem by this that the due and full quantity of Victuals in these kinds allowed by the State for the Ships Company and expected to have been in the Ships Hold for the prefixed Time of Service abroad was not laid into the Ship for though there were the full number of Pieces of Beef and Pork yet there was a want in weight and quantity so that there were so many Pieces indeed as there ought to have been but not so much in Substance and Flesh the which if it were so was a foul Cousenage and a desperate Abuse and might as you say have occasioned not only a general Mutiny but a general Ruin Capt. It might so and yet the abuse proceed from some inferior Officers as from the Butchers and Cutters out of the Flesh or from some other particular under-Victuallers or perhaps from the ill choice of the Beasts as being Lean and Old which might cause the Flesh to shrink in the seething rather than from the prime and general Victualler who I perswade my self did take a great deal of care to the contrary Adm. Be it from whomsoever or wheresoever most necessary it is that a thorough Redress should be found for the future But what say you Captain concerning the general quality of the Victual in point and condition of goodness and badness Capt. Truly in this also I must needs say that there hath been found and felt very ill dealing and that not only in the provisions of Flesh which perhaps may be somewhat excused by the unfitness of the Time of the Year that of necessity they were to be made in which was in the very Heat of the Summer when Flesh will not take Salt but in the Rotteness of the Cheese vileness of the Butter and badness of the Fish the which sorts of provisions cannot allow any the like excuses And as for our Beer in general it was not only very ill conditioned but a great part of it lost by a new device of petty saving in not affording some Iron bound Cask for
to the Pains of some others that have laboured before me in this particular or else we must have been put to it to have talked this Dialogue somewhere on Shipboard where the sight of the parts and pieces would have served me as a Nomenclator for had it not been talked of at all I should in my two ensuing Discourses have been thought to speak Fustian or at least as one that instructed in a strange and un-understood Language Adm. You have done well Captain and I thank you and will study your Language against to morrow that I may the better understand it and you Dialogue the Fifth Touching the best Ships of War and the Ceremonies of Entertainment Admiral COme on Captain The work of this day shall be a brief Conference touching Ships of War and especially about such of them as you apprehend to be most serviceable and proper for the present Times and Occasions for having learned somewhat of your Sea-terms in the precedent Dialogue I am now reasonable well fitted for the better understanding of this Capt. Your Lordship saith well in saying proper for the present for it is certain that every Age and indeed every fifty years of time taught by sense and perhaps beaten unto it by being beaten after a tedious travail brings forth some new Birth or other to free it self from the old Burthen As for example our Saucy Neighbours the Dunkirkers finding it to their cost how short they fell of matching with us at Sea in the late Queens time and in what peril they then adventured to pilfer abroad To remedy this and secure themselves they have of late fitted themselves with Ships though not great yet of extraordinary sail whereby it is come to pass that as the Sea word is they can take and leave upon all our Ships at pleasure that is they can out-sail and fetch them up when they find themselves too strong for any of our Ships and run as fast away from them when they perceive themselves over-weak to deal with them Adm. They need no greater advantage than this to work their wills on us Cpt. It is true and this hath been one main reason and a true cause of those frequent braves and bold darings that they have put upon us of late days and that they have brought so much loss upon our complaining Merchants and we taken so little revenge upon them Adm. I believe it well But why should not our Ships sail as well as theirs Capt. Of these there may be many and sundry causes as the size of some of our Ships for it cannot be expected that a Ship of any extraordinary Burthen as of eight or six hundred Tuns being heavily Laden with Ordnance should possibly sail so yare or nimbly and make so good way as another Ship that is lesser and lighter The fashion also and frame of a Ships make and building is very considerable in the point of her sailing For the long Rake of a Ship forward on as most of the French and some of these Dunkirkers have give a Ship great way and withal makes her to keep a good Wind but then Care must be had as aforesaid in the last Dialogue that she have a good full Bow lest she pitch over much into a head-Sea and the longer her Rake is the fuller must be her Bow to preserve her from being over-charged with her Rake And the very same may be considered in the Run of a Ship the which being long and coming off handsomly by degrees that so the Water may come the more swiftly to her Rudder and so help her Steerage is of main importance likewise for a Ships good going And it is to be noted that the narrower the Rudder of a Ship is if she will feel it and that she have a fatt Quarter the better it is for this purpose because an over broad Rudder holdeth much Water whensoever the Helm is occasionly put on the one side the which must needs hinder the Ships way The setting and sitting of the Masts of a Ship also is very Material in this Case for if she be over-masted either in length or bigness it will over-charge her and so make her to lye down too much to a Wind for the more upright a Ship sails the better she sails And if she be under-masted she then loseth the benefit and advantage of the spreading of a large Sail which must needs hinder her sailing that way There is much Care and consideration to be 〈◊〉 likewise as touching a Ships Sailing and Working in the point of the staying of her Masts For generally the more aft Flemish like the Masts of a Ship do hang the better the Ship will keep the Wind and some Ship require the stay to be taught others slack the which must be caught by practice and observation To this end also Regard is to be had that a Ship be not over-rigged for this as hath formerly been touched is a great wronging to a Ships sailing by reason that a small weight aloft hinders more than a great one below for it must needs make her stoup and in a good Gale of Wind to lye too much with her quick side in the Water especially if she sail by a Wind and a Cranck-sided Ship can never sail well So that these particulars or any one of these as they are more or less punctually observed or neglected do work much towards the good or bad sailing of all kinds of Ships whatsoever Though perhaps the more particular cause of our Ships being so generally out-sailed by the Dunkirkers and French is as I conceive in that for the most part they are built so strong and consequently heavy and so full of Timber and Timbers We building ours for seventy years they theirs for seven We for stowage they for stirring Adm. And yet I have often heard it confidently spoken that our English Ships in general and especially those of His Majesties are the primest Ships of War in the World Capt. I deny not but that in the composition of a Royal Fleet the which being to meet with another the like seek out one another with a resolution to fight it out and to set up their Rests upon a main Battel on the main Sea there are no better nor braver Vessels swimming on the Seas then are our English and chiefly those of His Majesties Royal Ships which are indeed the very Castles of the Ocean And yet let me say thus much that even in a Royal Fleet thus composed and thus disposed unless with them there be a mixture of some of these lighter sort of Ships and some of those nimble and prime Sailers it must needs prove it self but like a huge Gyant strong and perhaps invincible at a close and grapling but weak and lame in his Legs so that any active and nimble Dwarf may keep out of his reach and doing so may affront and scorn him nay hurt and endammage him without receiving the least hurt
or danger from him again Adm. By this it seemeth to me that it may be collected and concluded that one hundred Sail though but small Ships being good Sailers may be able to make a good party with full the like number of any Ships whatsoever that are heavy Ships and but bad of sail or at the least that these small Ships may chuse whether they will take any harm by these great ones or no. Capt. I dare affirm my Lord that not only one hundred Sail of such Ships but even half the number or less being well Manned and sufficiently provided may not only 〈◊〉 a saveing business of it but have the better and the advantage in an open Sea of any hundred Ships whatsoever that Sail but badly although they look never so strong and big on the matter Adm. I pray demonstrate this for otherwise it will be hardly believed Capt. These hundred ill sailers though big Ships when they come to the Battel must either be put into close or open order if into the close the good Sailers who hereby can take and leave where and when they will by charging them upon any Angle shall force those they charge to give some ground and so to fall back and retreat upon their next Fellows in which falling back as many of them as entangle and fall foul as ten to one but many of them will do do become hereby utterly unserviceable And withal these good sailers shall force and overpress the hundred bad with their very Ordnance for being nimble and agile and having scope and Sea-room enough by clapping into the Wind and bringing themselves on the Back-stays after they have bestowed one Broad-side they may suddenly give the other The which the hundred by being so close one unto another and heavy Ships withal shall never be able to do so that these smaller and nimbler Ships shall batter and beat upon the hundred with a continual peal of Ordnance whereas the hundred cannot by any means use nor employ save one and the same beaten side Adm. This may well be so indeed when the hundred Ships are compelled to fight in close order But how if they shall find opportunity to put themselves to a due and fit Birth and distance how will it pass with your good Sailers in this case being that they are but half so many in number as you have propounded them as the other Capt. And even in this Case my Lord though it be at the very best that can be hoped for for great Ships bad of sail it is very probable that the good sailers who being nimble Ships may charge at pleasure or not charge as they find cause shall prevail either against those that are in the Rear or upon any such of them as by any accident shall be separated from the rest of their Fleet or the main body thereof And besides if the Fight shall happen to be upon any Lee shore and that any of the great Ships next the Wind for the small Ships will be sure enough to keep to the Windwards of them all be forced as it may well be to retire upon any of their own Squadrons it is then all to nothing but that the whole hundred of great Ships by falling foul one with another shall either suffer Shipwrack upon the Shore or be constrained to render themselves to their Enemies Adm. For mine own part I find not how to confute you in any thing that you have delivered in any of these particulars for I find good reason in whatsoever you have said Capt. And I assure my self my Lord that there is no Sea-man who understands both the Language and the reason that can find any Ground of opposition herein neither unless it chance to meet with some one more possessed with the spirit of contradiction than with reason or sense Adm. Well then give me in brief your opinion and Judgment what kind and manner of Vessels those are that you most approve for Ships of War to serve according and best to the present occasions and use of the time Capt. And I say my Lord that as touching their Burthen and Bulk I shall make choice of those of the middle Rank for these well moulded and fitted as aforesaid are commonly the best of sail and withal will bear a stout sail and are generally also nimble and yare of steerage and withal of convenient force in any Service whatsoever as well for chases as fights both offensive and defensive Adm. But what say you touching the fashion and form of their building and contriving Capt. I say that the three Deck't Ships built flush fore and aft without any falls or steps up or down which both hinder the ready passage of men too and again and pester the Ship besides and that have double Fore-castles and their Bulk and Cub-bridge heads full Musquet proof and so in flank one with another as that they may every way scoure their Decks with their Ordnance laden with Case-shot and having Loop-holes for the Musqueteers in Covert commanding every Inch of them abroad are thus far Ships impregnable that they are not to be forced by any boarding unless given up by Treason or Cowardice But in these Ships a prime Care and regard is to be taken that they be Roomy betwixt the Decks where the Ordnance lye that so the Guns may be the more easfully managed and that those that plye them may make the surer shots and be the less annoyed with the Smoak of the Powder and a Care is likewise to be had that in the laying of their Decks the lower Tire of Guns be not lodged too low and near the Water an error found committed in too many of His Majesties Ships Royal that are of the old building but that the lower Tire of Guns may be carried out in all sighting Weathers without peril of taking in of Water at any of their Ports and it is also to be observed that these Ships be not over-flote built a fault amongst some others in some of those late built Pinnaces called the Whelps for being so unless the staying of their Masts be very much aftward on they can never sail well by a Wind but proving Leeward sailers they will be soon eaten out of it in a Chase of any length It is to be required also that the Bows and Chases of these Ships be so contrived that out of them they may shoot as many Guns right forwards and bowing as possibly may be and that the Ports be so cut out as that the Guns lye not right over one another but so that upon the least Yaw of the Helm one Piece or other may still be brought to bear To which end also the Ports are to be made so large that the Guns may be every way traversed Adm. Have you not some ratable and allowed proportions for the size of all Ports Capt. The ordinary Rate is of about thirty Inches in breadth for a Demy-Culverin and so
these ways so punctually and strictly observed at Sea that whensoever they are given even it is received for an infallible sign that either the Captain Master or Master Gunner is dead in the Voyage and this farewell of Guns is also in use whensoever the prime Passengers and especially the Captain doth leave the Ship at the end of any Voyage Adm. Since you have ended this Ceremony with the giving of Guns I pray proceed to all other particulars wherein Guns are used in this Nature Capt. The fond and foul expence of powder in these kinds especially by the English who herein are the vainest of all Nations as using it in every ordinary feasting and health-drinking is very much to be condemned and hath lately been providently restrained by His Majesty in all such Ships as are in his Service Nevertheless some Motives there are the which may not only allow but in mine opinion require somewhat to be done in this very manner and that not only for Jollity and Ceremony but as of some use and benefit withal and these being those as I take it of which your Lordship is now desirous to be informed I shall do my best to call my Memory to account for them Adm. I pray do so Capt. I say then that if any Ship or Fleet either of our own or strangers whether Merchant Men or Men of War shall come up any thing near as within reach of Cannon Shot with any of His Majesties Ships either at an Anchor or under Sail it becometh them to pass under her Lee after the Custom of the Sea and in their going by to salute her with one three or five great Guns the which are to be answered with fit correspondency And this I conceive fit to be done not only in regard of an acknowledgment of Superiority to the Ships belonging to His Majesties especially in all our Channels but that by an expectance and looking out after this all treacherous attempts that may be plotted by a stealing upon them to the Windwards of laying of them aboard either with fire-Fire-ship Mine-ship or the like may seasonably be prevented and avoided Adm. This is indeed in these respects fit and necessary to be continued nor can it occasion much idle expence of powder for the motives are not met withal often Capt. I opine likewise my Lord that all Ships whatsoever though of His Majesties own when they come to an Anchor under the command of any of his Castles are to give some Guns the which are to be respectively answered by the Castle or Fort that so a due and timely notice may be taken one of another and all practices suspicions and mistakes avoided by making known one unto another what they are Ad. I find cause for the continuance of this also go on Capt. It is the general custom also upon the death either of the Captain Master or Master Gunner of a Ship when they are at Sea at his throwing over board to Ring his knell and farwell with some Guns the which as I said before are to be always of an even number and the which Custom for respect and distinction sake I think fit enough to be held on Adm. And I too Proceed Capt. It is the use likewise though this be rather a part of a punishment than a Complement as was formerly noted when we spake of Sea-punishments that when any Ossender is ducked at the Main-yard-arm to shoot off some one or two Pieces of Ordnance at the instant of his falling into the Water the which is done as well to make the penalty the more terrible by troubling and astouning him with noise when he is over head and ears in the Sea as to give knowledge thereof to all the other Ships of all the Fleet that they may look out and beware Adm. Be this allowed also for my part Capt. It is the use likewise when any Ship of the Fleet is sent abroad and chanceth to meet with a Prize and taketh it at her return into the Fleet having her Prizes following of her and her Prizes Colours hung disgracefully under her own at her Stern to pass under the Lee of the Admiral and in a Jollity and triumph to give some Guns Adm. This expence of powder may well be allowed for there is somewhat gotten to pay for it Capt. When Ships have been long in Consortship at Sea and are to part several ways upon their occasions it is the Custom to take a leave and farwell one of another with some Guns Adm. This being a complement of Civility it is fit to be continued have you any more of this nature Capt. There are some other way wherein powder is spent or rather mispent as in Drinking of Healths and the like idle and vain Fooleries so utterly unfit to be held in practise as I assure my self your Lordship will take no content in the rehearsal of them neither indeed do I mention any of the former as of any such real necessity but that they may be well enough forborn wheresoever and whensoever Powder is seant for it is true that they are of the right nature of all other Ceremonies as having much more of the superficial than of the substantial Adm. Well let us leave them out then and in their stead let me hear somewhat from you about the Ceremonial Custom and use of carrying out of Flags Capt. Flags my Lord to speak properly are only those which are carried out in the Tops of Ships and they serve as Badges and that as well for the distinctions of Nations as Officers and Commanders And so the Admiral of a Fleet or Squadron hath his Flag in the Main-top the Vice Admiral in the Fore-top and the Rere Admiral in the Missen-top with the Crosses or Colours of their Nation and Country-men And thus far it is usual and common even with Fleets of Merchant Men agreeing amongst themselves for the Admiral Ships in this kind But in a Fleet Royal consisting mainly of Men of War whensoever either the Prince is there in Person or his high Admiral in his room there is carried out in the Main Top of the Admiral Ship where he himself is instead of one of these ordinary Flags the Standart Royal which is the Arms of his Kingdom Adm. And may no man but the Prince or his high Admiral carry out this Royal Standart Capt. It is not usual that any others do nevertheless as it is in the power of the Prince to tranfer his favours at pleasure so in my time I once saw this Standart carried out during a whole Voyage when neither of both were present But as I take it it was a Grace extraordinaand cannot be challenged by any General quatenus a General though of a Fleet Royal save only of the high and chief Admiral Adm. What are the observations and respects due unto these Flags when they are thus seen flying abroad Capt. That all Ships and Fleets inferior either in
respect of right of Soveraignty Place or the like respects are tied to express an acknowledgment and submission by taking in their own Flags when they meet with any others being any way justly their Superiors As in the case of Soveraignty in our narrow Seas which hath been long claimed and made good too by the Kings of England If therefore any Fleet whatsoever shall in any of those parts meet with any Admiral of his Majesties giving notice of her self and having her Flag flying and shall not submit to this acknowledgment by taking in all her Flags she may and is to be treated and used as an Enemy Adm. Although this be never so reasonable and just yet I believe that it will no longer be observed any where but where fear and force shall work it But Captain how if two of His Majesties own Fleets or Squadrons of Fleets being abroad in His Majesties Service under the command of two distinct and equally absolute Generals or Admirals shall by any accident meet one with another at Sea how is this Ceremony to be passed and carried betwixt them in this case Capt. Truly my Lord I see no Cause that being both Generals and Commanders under one and the same Princes Commission and as you put the Case without all relation or Inferiority or Superiority one unto another in any point of Command but that both of them may and ought to keep abroad their Flags although there should be found some Personal In-equalties betwixt them as the one perhaps a Lord the other a Gentleman And I have heard it argued and concluded that the Admiral of the English narrow Seas is to carry out his Flag in all Companies and Fleets whatsoever unless the Standart of England be flying abroad which is as much as to say unless the Prince or his high Admiral be there in their proper Persons Adm. But what if any of His Majesties Admirals come up under the Command of any of his Castles is he then to carry out his Flag yea or no Capt. There is no equal understanding Man can deny but that he is of due to carry out his Flag though he come to an Anchor there for the one being His Majesties Fort at Sea as well as the other 〈◊〉 Land and both of them employed in His Majesties Service and the Commanders being distinct in their Commands and without all Relations of Inferiority or dependency there is no cause or ground to be found for a submission on either side It is sufficient as I said before that they salute one another with some Guns and that the Comer in begin first I know well that there have been some Land Commanders who have hotly argued to the contrary but until I do find them less partial and more reasonable they shall give me leave to dissent from them in this particular For whereas they think to speak much for themselves in saying that the Land Fort is a setled one and the Sea Fort but a wanderer they herein speak against themselves since that Fort seems to be more preferable which may do His Majesty Service in more places then one then that which can do it but in one only But howsoever sure I am that this point of challenge is not hitherto decided for them in any of the Martial Courts of England Adm. Nor is it fit that Friends and fellow Servants should fall out about Ceremony But what other Flags have you at Sea and what are their uses Capt. As I said before in strictness of terms these only which are carryed out in the Tops are to be called Flags the other are named the Colours or Ensigns and Pendants Adm. Wherefore serve the Colours or Ensigns and where are they to be placed Capt. They are placed in the Sterns or Poops of Ships and very few Ships there are whether Men of War or Merchants but have one or more of them And the especial Service and use of them is that when any strange Ships meet one with another at Sea or make into any Harbour by puting these Ensigns abroad which as before said is in Sea-language termed the heaving out of the Colours in the Poop they manifest and make known of what part and Country they are And thus the English heave out their Colours with St. George's Cross in it the Scotish with St. Andrew's and so all the rest with some note and peculiar distinction whereby they may be known Adm. Serve these Ensigns for no other uses but this Capt. For many uses besides by way of direction as we shall shew hereafter in the Ensuing Dialogue Adm. What serve the Pendants for and what are they Capt. A Pendant is a long kind of streamer of Silk or other stuff cut pointed out towards the ends and there slit into two parts The use of them is in Fleets to distinguish the Squadrons by hanging of them out in the Tops as all those Ships of the Admirals Squadron hang them out in the Main-top those of the Vice Admirals in the Fore-top and those of the Rere Admirals in the Missen-top and here also they are of different Colours They are likewise used in great Ships and especially those belonging to His Majesty for triumph and Ornament and are then hung out at every Yard-arm and at the heads of the Masts Adm. Are there no other uses for them Capt. No neither do I know of any farther employment for any kind of Flags or Ensigns than those before mentioned Adm. What other Sea Ceremonies have you then Capt. Some sew others we have which are used in the Haling of Ships and in the mannerly coming up with them when they are found to be friends Adm. I pray let us hear somewhat of these also though it be but breifly Capt. Your Lordship hath heard somewhat of these already as well in the begining of this Dialogue as in the next before it so that I shall only touch upon them here again with some addition of some others in that kind I say therefore that when strange Ships meet at Sea it is the Custom that the better Ship especially being a Man of War calleth first unto the other to know whence he is and whither he is bound and then the common word is Hoe the Ship and the other answers Hae c. And this is termed haling And many times it they fall out to be respective friends or good acquaintance they salute with Whistles and Trumpets and the Ships Company give a general shout on both sides at which time also it is punctually observed that the Inferior Ship either in respect of worth or employment doth pass by under the others Lee for at Sea if a small Ship especially being but a Merchant Man shall come up with a Man of War to the Windwards though both be of one Nation and Party it is held as unmannerly and unrespective a trick as if a Constable of a Parish should justle for the Wall with a Justice of
Peace dwelling in the same hundred But to say sooth there is more than Ceremony in this Ceremony for many advantages may be lost and dangers incurred by the suffering of Ships to come up with them to the Windwards and therefore no true and well practised Man of War will endure it if he can by any means help it And touching the reasons hereof your Lordship may hear when we are to speak of Sea-sights Adm. Let them be left then till then and in the Interim go on with your Ceremonies Capt. The only one that I can remember unspoken of is that of striking or lowering of the Top-sails as they call it And this is when any Inferior Ship or Fleet being to come up or to pass by within reach of the Cannon of another Fleet more eminent in any respect than it self that then all the Admirals of the inferiour Fleet do not only strike all their Flags but that every particular Ship of that Fleet as they come up with the Admiral of the other by way of an acknowledgment of a respect and submission do strike all their Top-sails upon the Bunt that is do hale them down at the least half Mast high And this respect is also due to all His Majesties Forts of Command and is requirable from all Ships whatsoever not being of His Majesties own nor in his service when they are to pass by them within reach of Cannon Shot And if any Ship whatsoever shall pass by any Pallace of His Majesties wherein himself is then in Person so that it be the Court she is to do the like and withal to give some Guns And thus I have given your Lordship the best satisfaction that my poor ability and mean memory could perform in all the particulars touching the best Ships of War with those Sea-ceremonies and Naval Complement that belong unto them Adm. And I thank you for it Captain and shall be glad and will expect to find you here again to morrow Capt. I shall not fail to wait Dialogue the Sixth About the Ordering of Fleets In Sailing Chases Boardings and Battels Admiral CAptain in our former discourses we have chosen our Commanders â—itted our Common Men Victualled and Shipt them with the Ceremonies thereto belonging Let us now bring them into action And in the first place to begin orderly with a March give me your opion concerning the best forms for great Fleets to Sail in and to hold Company together with Comlyness and Conveniency Capt. Your Lordship cannot but have heard of the ordinary and general way which is to divide them into three Squadrons the Admirals Squadron the Vice-Admirals and the Rere-Admirals the which being distinguished by their Flags and Pendants are to put themselves and as near as may be in their Sailing to keep themselves in their customary places As the Admiral with his Squadron to sail in the Van that so he may lead the way to all the rest by the view of his Flag in the Main-top in the day time and by his light or Lanthorn in his Poop in the night The Vice-Admiral and his Squadron to sail in the Battel or middle of the Fleet. And the Rere-Admiral and those Ships of his Squadron to bring up the Rere This I say is the most common and usual order for the sailing of great Fleets Only in the Spanish Fleets that yearly go for the West-Indies the Vice-Admiral brings up the Rere but this is because for the most part those Fleets have no Rere-Admirals at all Adm. And what think you of this old and ordinary order Capt. I mislike it not yet withal affirm that in great Fleets consisting of fourscore Sails or upwards the divisions into more Squadrons will be very necessary and useful and being proportioned into five the order in their sailing cannot but be very advantageous and serviceable if the two Squadrons composed of the lighter Ships and best Sailers shall be placed as Wings to the Van Battel and Rere of the rest of the Fleet. Adm. Wherein serviceable and advantageous Capt. First in the facillitating of all commands and the publishing of all Instructions The which being sent from the Admiral General to the Admirals of the Squadrons may hereby by their being more in number and having the fewer Ships in their Squadrons be by them dispersed and imparted to every particular Ship of the Fleet with the more ease certainty and speed And surely the short intelligences and by consequence executions through the want of this mean and course of conveyance have occasioned in some actions that I have been in upon mine own knowledge both ignorance and disorder Secondly in that all the Ships of every Squadron may also with more certainty and less hazard of falling foul one upon another come up with their several Admirals at all times and so by speaking with them at the least once every day receive all fresh order and Advices upon all new and sudden occasions Thirdly in that every Squadron of the Fleet taking a Care to keep themselves together and to birth themselves at a fit distance as within kenn one of another may hereby spread the more Sea and thereby discover every way farther about upon all strange Ships and Fleets whatsoever that shall come in their way And fourthly in that when any such are discovered they may by this order be in a better readiness to chase them and in more likelyhood to fetch them up and speak with them Adm. I well approve of all these reasons But withal conceive that the difficulty must needs be great for any Fleet consisting of many Ships whereof some are good of Sail some bad some great others small to keep together unsevered and especially unconfounded in the Squadrons in the least foul Weather at Sea Capt. I confess that the difficulty is indeed great yet may be much eased by due care and observation the which is to be so much the more in regard that it is a point of great consequence To which end also besides the common Custom of carrying out of Flags and Lights by all the Admirals in their Poops several signs are to be particularized and communicated in the Instructions sent to every particular Ship of the Fleet before their putting out to Sea whereby it may be known even in the dark of the night when the Admiral General upon any occasion casteth about when he shortneth sail when he intendeth to lye a-trie when a-Hull signs are likewise to be imparted both by day and night that when any of the Fleet are too far a-head they may retire by sparing of some sail or when they are too far a-stern to cause them to make all the sail that they can to get up Peculiar signals are also to be made and known to every Ship of the Fleet that having lost Company and coming afterwards again in sight one of another they may presently be discovered one unto another As likewise when any strange Fleet or Ship is
Bitter of a Cable 194 Bitts 120 Bittackle 121 Bight 194 Bluff-head 103 Blocks 121 Boat-swains Office and duty 23 Bow 109 Bolts 122 Bonnets and Drablers 158 Bowlings and Bowling Bridle 159 Boats belonging to a Ship of War 246 Boungrace Pag. 195 Board 241 The best way to board a Ship in and the way to do it 367 How to make use of a Consort in the boarding of an Enemy 368 Bread-room 103 Bracket 124 Brest Ropes 153 Brooming of a Ship 265 Broad-side what distance it is to be given 362 Boardings Trains of Powder are to be taken heed of and how these may be done 370 Braces 182 Brails 195 Brest-fast 197 Bulk-head 102 Buttock 104 Burthen 108 Bulk ib. Butt 165 Bunt-lines 160 of a Sail. 166 Buoy 242 up a Cable ib. Stern the Buoy ib. C CAburns 163 Captains to choose their Officers 14 Place and part Pag. 42 not Justly taxed for Neglects 15 Carpenters Office 28 Carlings 111 Catt 112 Holes ib. Capston and its parts 113 Cap. 152 Calings 185 Cable and clinch of a Cable 190 Caskets 196 Catherpins 107 Careen 183 Chess-trees 110 Ceremonies of Entertainment aboard of the Prince his Admiral or General 318 In Haling of Ships 335 Of Striking the Top Sails 336 Chain-Wales 119 Channel 242 Cheeks 154 Chasing of a Rope 198 Chace 199 Chasing of a Rope 198 Clamps 124 Clew of a Sail 156 Cleat 157 Clew-line 200 Clew Gurnet Pag. 199 Cooks Room 125 Coats of the Masts 157 Coller 188 Colours c. 332 Council of War 5 Commanders to rise by degrees 8 Of His Majesties Men of War to be Gentlemen and of Noble birth and Education 9 Cooks Office 21 Cocksons Office and who carry Whistles 23 Corporals Office at Sea 39 Coal Ships to breed Sea-men 62 Conveniences of Council of War and Councils General 347 Counter lowre and upper 100 Conding 106 Cocks 116 Compass and it's parts 122 Cranck by Ground 127 Crank 269 Cross-Trees 153 Cross-piece 120 Cross-jack 164 Crengles 159 Crows-Feet 188 Cradle 202 Cut-Water Pag. 101 Cubbridge head 102 Culver-tail 111 D DAvit 118 Decks 99 Dead-mens-eyes 173 Dead-Rope 297 Deep-sea-line 200 Sea-lead ib. Disembouging 270 Difference of Ships sailing and causes 304 Docks 201 Drift-sail 203 Drive 204 Draught or drawing of a Ship 214 Duck up 209 E EArings 156 Ease 177 Ensigns 332 F FAt or a board which is called Fat Quarter 104 Fashion-pieces Pag. 126 Fakes 193 Feazing 207 Fishermen Sea some made perfect Mariners 61 Fish block 118 Fish ib. Hook 119 Fishing of the Mast 119 Fight or Wast Cloaths 148 Fights of defence may be well made in Ships well fitted for them 371 Some ways and courses to be used in Fights of defence 374 Courses to preserve your Men from the Enemies Cannon shot 375 Courses to keep off an over potent Enemy from boarding of your Ship 376 Stratagems to avoid boardings 377 Neither this Age nor half of the last have afforded any thorough example of Forms for Sea-Battels 380 A proper and fit form for a great Fleet to order her self in for a Sea-Battle Pag. 381 Form of a small Fleet in Fight 384 Some courses to disperse Fleets when they are thus formed 387 Best courses for the serving a great Fleet formed into a half Moon 392 Forms of Fights to be practised when a small Fleet is hemmed in by a great 393 The best forms and Courses for a Fleet to defend it self in an Enemies Road or Harbour 396 Being assaulted in an Enemies Harbour that is to Friend 398 Best courses to assault an Enemies Fleet lying in a Road or Harbour that is a Friend 399 What Ships of War are fittest to be employed in this assault 399 Fidd. 192 Fire-works 297 Fidd-hammer 193 Fire Ships how to be used and employed by way of Stratagem Pag. 389 Flair 209 Flown-sheats 210 Flags 327 Respects due to Flags 329 belonging to the Princes Ships to be carried out within the command of any of his Castles 331 Fore-Castle 102 Fore foot of a Ship 211 Fore-locks 212 Fore-reach 212 Founder 213 Foul-water 213 Fraight 108 Free the Ship 210 Fresh shot 211 Futtocks 99 Furring 127 G GArboard Planck and Garboard Strake 94 Gallerie 123 Gage 214 Gale 215 Garnet 216 General at Sea to be of noble birth 3 Girding-gort 216 Goring 157 Goose-wing 217 Ground Timbers 97 Gratings Pag. 128 Gripe 129 Grounding of a Ship 130 Gromets 158 Graving of a Ship 183 Gunners place 33 Gudgeons 105 Gun-wale 130 Guyes Booms 117 Guns and places 151. 152 Called Courtaux 316 Of salute and Entertainment to be always in Number odd 322 To be allowed to be given at the bringing home of Prizes 326 Guns to be given at parting of Consort Ship 326 Offenders ducked at the Main-yard-arm to shoot of one or two pieces 325 H HAtches 109. Coamings of the Hatches 109 Hatch-way 112 Hawses 116 Harpings 131 Halliards 172 Haling 118 Hand or Handing Pag. 219 Hawser 219 Helm 105 Right the Helm 107 Bear up the Helm 107 Bear up round 107 Ease the Helm no near 111 Heaving 220 Head Sea 220 Sails 220 Horse 220 Hospital Ships most necessary 83 Hold. 102 Hoising 108 Hooks 131 Housed in 132 Holsom in the Sea 133 Hounds 154 Hull and the Sea-Word Hulling 92 Hullock of a Sail. 221 I JEer-rope 222 Imprest monies allowable 47 Indulgences to be shunned 54 Joyners Office 27 Iron bound Cask very necessary 76 Iron-sick Pag. 272 Jure-mast 160 K KEel of a Ship 92 False 93 Keelson 93 Keeling Rope 93 Kennells 132 Keckle 273 Knights 116 Knettles 163 Knave-line 224 L LAndmen to be commanded by Sea Officers at Sea 82 Larboard 106 Launce 202 Land-fall 225 Land-lockt ib. Land-to ib. Land-turn ib. Lash 273 Lashers 273 Lashing 274 Let-fall ib. Leaks in Ships 30 may be found and stoped 31 Lee-seel Pag. 186 Lee-latch 110 Ledges 132 Leetch 156 Leeward 166 Leaking 185 Laefang 226 Letch-lines 227 Limber-holes 94 Lifts 228 Lieutenants Place and part 40 Loof 110 Loof up or keep nearer the Wind. ib. Spring the Loof ib. Loof-hook 230 Log-line 229 Log. ib. Loom 274 Loop-holes for Musquets 109 Lasketts 158 Lye under the Sea 275 M Mast duty and charge 37 Masters of the Ships Vsurpers 39 Mariners not over rigorous to be kept on Ship board when they are in Harbour 51 Perfect Mariners not Sea Soldiers bred in Merchants Voyages 67 Maiz an excellent Sea food 86 Manger 120 Man of War 139 Of England the best 307 Main Mast 151 Fore Mast ib. Marling 207 Martnets 227 Mats 278 Mend the Ship 275 Missen-mast 151 Top-mast 152 Top-gallant-mast ib. Mine alias Powder Ships hard to be made use of and employed 391 Moorings 278 by East or West 280 Moor alongst 279 To Moor Water-shot ib. Monks-seam 280 Munition Ships and Victuallers where to be ordered and placed 383 N NEttings 128 Nippicers 235 O OAkham Pag. 185 Oazie-ground 201 Offin 281 Off-ward 282 Observation 267 Orlope 100 Over-rake 135 Out-licker 138 P PArtners 139 Parrels 153 Paunches 162 Paying 184
Parcelling 184 Parbuncle 231 Passarado 232 Pendents 174. 332 Serve for 334 Pilats Office and part 35 Pilage to be allowed 49 Pintles or Hocks 105 Pillow 140 Pitch or Pitching 282 Plats 232 Powches 102 Powder-room 103 Idle expence of Powder to be forbiden 322 Port the Helm 106 Ports 140 Points 206 Predy Pag. 283 Proviso 280 Prow of a Ship 102 Pursers Office 20 Pumps Sea 94 Pump-brake 96 Pump can ib. Pump-vale ib. Puttocks 180 Puddings 189 Pullet 282 Q QValities of Sea Services considerable 6 Quarter Masters duty 18 Quarter 105 Quoyle 138 Quartering 168 Quoil 193 Quoins 277 Cantique Coins ib. Standing Coins ib. R RAre-lines 232 Ram-head 172 Rake 103 Rabbiting 266 Ranges 141 Resident Officers in the Kings Ships Pag. 12 Rends 185 Renner 231 Rising Timbers 98 Right the Helm 107 Risings 124 Ridings and Labourings in the Sea 139 Ride a-cross 135 a-Peek ib. Hawseful 136 a-thwart ib. Wind and Tide ib. Wind-road ib. Portoise ib. Riders 137 Ribbs 142 Rigging 169 Round-house 101 Roof-trees 132 Roomer 133 Rope-yarn 163 Round in or the Wind Largeth 284 Rowse in 284 Robens 189 Run-aways to be severely punished 55 Rules for manning of Ships 66 Rung-heads 98 Run ib. Rudder 105 Rummage the Hold. Pag. 285 Rules to be practised in all Chases 356 S SAyles 155 Sailers Good have great advantage over bad Sailers 304 Advantage that small Ships being good sailers have of great Ships that are bad of sail 311 The best manner and form of Sailing for a great and Royal Fleet. 341 With reasons and advantage of doing thereof 341 Scuttles 142 Scarfed 100 Scoper-holes 96 Leathers ib. Nailes 97 Sea Punishments 25 Men a general want of 58 Soldiers not bred in Merchant Ships 67 Best Sea Soldiers bred in His Majesties Ships 68 Yoak 236 Sea-drags Pag. 272 Sea-board 281 Sea-gate 142 Sea-cart or Plot. 266 Seel or Seeling 285 Set the Land 287 The chase by the Campass 287 Send or Sends much that way 286. 287 Sews 280 Seams 185 Serving of Ropes 163 Settle a Deck 143 Shear 134 Shot and to Ride by a Shot 135 Ships of War to be well Manned 64 To what burden to be of 312 Shivers 115 Ship-Ladders 126 Sheering 289 Sheer-shanks ib. Sheers ib. Sheer-hook 290 Shoaling 291 Ships of War how to be built and framed 313 Best sizes for ports and great Guns 315 Of advice to discover strange Fleets Pag. 35 How to make Preâ— for Fight 35â— Are to be baled befâ—â— they are fought withal ib. Of the Enemy to knâ—â— whether they be higher 〈◊〉 lower of board than your own 364 The manner of the Enemies Ships building in case of boarding mainly 〈◊〉 be observed 365 the best part ib. Shackels 288 Shrowds 178 Sheats 207 Ship of charge 198 Sheathing a Ship 144 Signals for knowing one â—r other 34â— Are to be distinguished and conveniently to be discern'd 345 For setting out at Sea 347 Vpon the discovery of strange Ships and Fleets 349 For the Battel ib. Vpon discovery of Land 350 Of Dangers by Leaks or the like Pag. 351 To be well observed and looked after by all Ships in a Fleet. 352 Courses for the re-collection of dispersed Fleets 353 Sinnet 162 Skigg 144 Slinging of the Yards 164 Sleepers 97 Slatch of a Cable 291 Small-craft 172 Smiting-line 233 Sounds 270 Spun-yarn 163 Spending of a Yard or Mast 164 Spring a Mast ib. Spell 199 Spelling the Missen 167 Splices 192 Spooning 293 The fore Sail. ib. Spurkets 99 Specks or Nails ragged 276 Marling Specks ib. Strakes 145 Stirrup 146 Stanchions 131 Strap 188 Stewards Office 19 Stem Pag. 100 Stretchers 300 Steerage 101 Staying of Masts and the over rigging of a Ship 306 Standard Royal and of Flags what they are 327 Stewards Room 103 Stern ib. Fast 113 Steddy 111 Striking 295 Step. 115 Stretch 294 Standing-ropes 234 Stocked 294 Surge 295 Swifters 176 Sweep 98 T TAmpkin 296 Taunt or Taunt-masted ib. Tarpawlin 128 Tackles 175 Tack 178 Ties 154 Tides 204. 244 Top Ropes 234 Top-armours 297 Transom-piece 104 Trying 134 Trusses Pag. 237 Trice 197 Traverse of a Ship 267 Trennels 185 Trim of a Ship 146 Tuck 104 V VEer 167 Victualling of Ships 72 Vnder Victuallers and such to be supected 75 Captains are Victuallers abroad 77 Bad Victuals cause Infectious Diseases 79 Salt Victual too much in use at Sea 84 Violl 235 W WAtermen to be bred Mariners 59 Way of a Ship 300 Wast 128 Trees 130 Cloaths 148 Boards 299 Wale-reared Pag. 133 Wale-knot and Tapering-knot 179 Wake of a Ship 298 Walt. 148 Waft 298 Water born 148 Water line of a Ship or Windlass 149 Way 149 Washing of a Ship 186 Warp 197 Watch. 229 Wending 117 Weather coiling 222 Weather-gage to be kept in a fight how to fight 361 What course to take if the Weather-gage be left ib. Weapons Fiery to be imployed at Sea 363 Whip 105 Winding Tackle blocks 116 Windlass 149 Wind-taught 171 Winding of a Ship 187 Woulding 119 Wood and Wood. 150 FINIS The Admiral Generals and Admirals to be of Noble Birth Of a Council of War The Quality of Sea-Services considerable Commanders to rise by Degrees His Majesties Ships of War to be commanded by Gentlemen Of the resident Officers in the Kings Ships Captains to choose their Officers Or not justly to be taxed for Neglects The Swabbers Office and Duty The Quarter-masters â—â—â—y The Office of the Steward The Pursers Office The Cooks Office The Cocksons Office and who carry Whistles The Boat-Swains Office and Duty Sea Punishment The Office of the Joyner The Office of the Carpenter What Leaks in Ships are How Leaks may be found and stoped The Master-Gunner his Place The Pilots Office and Part. The Masters Duty and Charge The Maste of Ships are Vsurpers Corporals Office at Sea The Lieutenants Place and Part. The Captains Place and Part. Some small imprest â—â—niâ—s allowable Some Pillage to be allowed Mariners not over rigorously to be kept on Ship-board when they are in Harbour An over Indulgency to be shunned Run-aways to be severely punished A general want of Sea-men Water-men and Fishermen to be bred Mariners Sea Fishermen some made perfect Mariners The Coal-ships bred Sea-men Ships of War to be well manned Of Rules 〈◊〉 Manâ—ing of â—â—ips Perfect Mariners but not Sea-Soldiers bred in Merchants Voyages The best Sea-Soldiers bred in His Majesties Employments The English allowance of Sea-Victual transcendent Vnder Victuallers and such to be suspected Iron bound Cask very necessary The Captains are Victuallers abroad Bad Victuals cause Infectious Diseases Landmen to be commanded by the Sea Officers at Sea Hospital Ships most necessary Our Salt Victual too much in use at Sea Maiz an excellent Sea Food The Bermudaes of especial use and Consideration The Hull and the Sea-word Hulling The Keel False Keel The Keelson The Keel-rope The Garboard Plank and Garboard Strake Limber-holes Sea-pumps The Pum-brake The Pump-Can The Pump-vale Scoper-holes Scoper-leathers Scoper-Nails Ground-Timbers Sleepers Rungs Rung-heads Sweep Hooks Rising-timbers