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Thursday 8 May 1662

At the office all the morning doing business alone, and then to the Wardrobe, where my Lady going out with the children to dinner I staid not, but returned home, and was overtaken in St. Paul’s Churchyard by Sir G. Carteret in his coach, and so he carried me to the Exchange, where I staid awhile. He told me that the Queen and the fleet were in Mount’s Bay on Monday last, and that the Queen endures her sickness pretty well. He also told me how Sir John Lawson hath done some execution upon the Turks in the Straight, of which I am glad, and told the news the first on the Exchange, and was much followed by merchants to tell it. So home and to dinner, and by and by to the office, and after the rest gone (my Lady Albemarle being this day at dinner at Sir W. Batten’s) Sir G. Carteret comes, and he and I walked in the garden, and, among other discourse, tells me that it is Mr. Coventry that is to come to us as a Commissioner of the Navy; at which he is much vexed, and cries out upon Sir W. Pen, and threatens him highly. And looking upon his lodgings, which are now enlarging, he in passion cried, “Guarda mi spada; for, by God, I may chance to keep him in Ireland, when he is there:” for Sir W. Pen is going thither with my Lord Lieutenant. But it is my design to keep much in with Sir George; and I think I have begun very well towards it. So to the office, and was there late doing business, and so with my head full of business I to bed.

Friday 9 May 1662Wednesday 7 May 1662

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Parliament on this day

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  • “Lawson hath done some execution on the Turks in the Straight”

    Lawson had sailed under Sandwich on the 13th June 61, and on July 29th arrived at Algiers. After a council of war, Sandwich sent demands to the Algerians. They were refused, as they said the death of Cromwell had abrogated Blake

  • “Sir John Lawson hath done some execution upon the Turks in the Straight, … and told the news the first on the Exchange, and was much followed by merchants to tell it”

    Obviously this was good news for merchants whose vessels were in constant danger in the Straights of Gibraltar. They would all have been eager to hear all about it.

    Gibraltar itself not being in British hands yet, the navy lacked a permanent foothold close to the action. Successes like Lawson’s might therefore be expected to have only a short term effect. Any chance of the British using some Portuguese port as a basis for future expeditions?

  • re: “…and told the news the first on the exchange…”

    A heady day for Sam! It’s always nice to be among the first in the know — information is power, as I’m sure was true even then (perhaps more so, since information moved more slowly than now). Add to that his perception of his rising importance in Sir George’s eyes, and of Sir George’s confidence in him as a confidant (all according to plan, thank you very much), and no wonder he goes to bed with his “head full of business.”

  • also the House of Commons did mention “…Captives at Algiers, &c.
    Sir Jervas Hollis delivers a Message from his Majesty,
    That he had, upon the Petition of the Captives of Algiers, recommended them to this House, to take their Case into Consideration.”
    Ordered, That the Debate of the Matter touching the Captives of Algiers be heard on Friday…”

    From: ‘House of Commons Journal Volume 8: 7 May 1662’, Journal of the House of Commons: volume 8: 1660-1667 (1802), pp. 422-23. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=26514. Date accessed: 09 May 2005.

  • “navy lacked a permanent foothold”
    Is this what they are after with Tangier? But got a much better deal wit hGibralter. Also Malta.
    See The Command of the Ocean: a Naval history of Britain 1649-1815 by N.A.M. Rodger, Allen Lane, 2004, ISBN 0713994118
    The author is an ex-Admiral and has written other books about the Royal navy, so he has all the personal experience to make this an excellent read. I have not yet read it, but it is now on my to-be-read list. Large section on Pepys and the Navy, also Penn and Batten and much else to interest us.
    Amazon link http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0393060500/qid=1115342835/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-4953021-7875311?v=glance&s=books
    Amazon.co.uk link
    http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0713994118/qid=1115342955/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_11_1/026-5496445-0112462

    (Added to further reading section)

  • Guarda mi spada

    “watch my sword”

  • “Guarda mi spada” (Italian)
    …Sir Carteret raises his sword by the sheath’s blade, showing Pepys the cross formed between the handle and the blade and cries “guarda mi spada”…meaning “by this cross I swear!” for, by God, I may chance …etc.
    The cross being in a sword made the promise more emphatic, and more agressive…


  • “some execution upon the Turks in the Straight”

    Read a private Hagman’s report of his encounter with the Moors at Tangiers five days earlier:
    “On the 3rd May we had our first real engagement with the Moors…”

    http://www.army.mod.uk/tigers/battletour.htm

  • ‘a private Hagman

  • “Sword watches me”
    is how Babelfish renders it.


  • So Honest Marshall (er Commissioner) Will Coventry is coming to town to rout out corruption…No wonder Treasurer Carteret’s nervous. But what’s Carteret got against good Admiral Sir WP? Unless Penn Sr’s been less skillful in his ‘dealings’ in the office which threatens to expose their cozy nest?

  • Pvt. Hagman vs official report. “Tis Like the great victory on Jamaica and neer a mention of the drubbing weeks before at Santa Domingo;
    Nowt changes ‘wot’ the PBI see and the His Lordship dispaches be two different battles fought on the same day and same location.
    salt on the wound and then sniff the pinch.
    Thanks Dirk for the peek.

  • A military man named hagman in Tangier, hmmm—one wonders if he found a bottle with a bare-midriffed genie in it. Tis well the English are now defending tiny lil princess Braggo’s dowry, though: the moors, like, totally pwnz0red the portugeuse at tangiers. Game over, d00d.

  • Tis well the English are now defending tiny lil princess Braggo

  • “Is this what they are after with Tangier? But got a much better deal with Gibralter. Also Malta.”


    Ollard in his biography of Sandwich mentions that at the Restoration, the only two members of the Privy Council for the Navy with naval experience were Monck and Sandwich. Sandwich having an analytical turn of mind, and being a

  • “He told me that the Queen and the fleet were in Mount’s Bay on Monday last,”


    On this day Allin is on his way to Lisbon in the Foresight with horses for Portugal. He is near Mount’s Bay, and meets the fleet carrying the Queene…

    “…Sir John Mennes sent his boat aboard for me…he wished me to speak the General, to know the Queen’s pleasure, so I stood close in to the bay where he came to anchor. I went aboard and kissed the Queen’s hand who ordered me to stay for her letters, which were not finished before ten o’clock…”

    (Journals of Sir Thomas Allin edited by RC Anderson)

    Interesting here is that there is a lack of known letters from Catherine to her mother, while there are many going the other way.

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