About Thursday 10 October 1667

Eric the Bish on 11 Oct 2020  •  Link

“Telling” (counting) continues in the UK Parliament, where “Tellers” are appointed to count the votes. It’s also used in common speech in the UK come to think of it, but without the explicit concept of counting being foremost in the meaning: “How many?” and “what is it?” can both be answered “I can’t tell”.
See also https://www.parliament.uk/site-in…

About Sunday 25 August 1667

Eric the Bish on 31 Aug 2020  •  Link

"... so I back to my boat, which had broke one of her oars in rowing, and had now fastened it again; "

A friend who is coxswain of a very historic vessel has told me about oars of the period. They were generally made of a single piece of wood, and were very narrow. The blades are quite thin and relatively easily damaged. They are repaired by scarfing in a new piece of wood, which can be done in just a few hours. So this may be the case here. An hour in the pub, 90 minutes in church, an hour in the crowd, and 30 minutes of walking between these various locations: four hours is enough time for the unlucky Waterman to go to a Riverside “Kwik Fit“.

About Monday 8 July 1667

Eric the Bish on 9 Jul 2020  •  Link

Good morning, and after a few years of “lurking” I thought I should register and comment - and thank all those make this wonderful website possible! Raising a sunken vessel in UK waters is easier than in eg the tideless Baltic. Less need for that tedious pumping of water in and out of the lifting vessels before moving the sunken vessel to shallower water: in many cases you can just let the tide do the work for you. Indeed, if the upper works of the sunken vessel are exposed at low tide you may simply have to close the sea cocks and allow the tide to float her – soggily – whereupon you can pump her out. Useful things, tides.