Monday 16 April 1660

And about 4 o’clock in the morning Mr. Cook waked me where I lay in the great cabin below, and I did give him his packet and directions for London. So to sleep again. All the morning giving out orders and tickets to the Commanders of the Fleet to discharge all supernumeraries that they had above the number that the Council had set in their last establishment.

After dinner busy all the afternoon writing, and so till night, then to bed.


8 Annotations

First Reading

Les  •  Link

Taking the chance to get a first comment in, while all in the in UK are asleep.
Liked the direct nature of today's entry which could almost be taken from current business/football news.
Backs to the wall - times are tough - reduce the head count, freeze all spending etc etc. Plus ca change n'all that.

Chip  •  Link

Perusing the first few chapters of Antonia Fraser's "Cromwell..." today, I came across a line that relates to someone's query or remark concerning the weekly sermons upon which SP so often remarks. According to Fraser, it was madatory by law to attend them, at least around the time of Pepys' birth. I do not know if that continued to our virtual present of 1660. My apologies if someone has already noted this, I have not kept up with all the wonderful notes having been on a few barques myself these past few months.

Eric Walla  •  Link

Are we to assume the weather ...

... remains so poor that Sam continues to sleep in the "great cabin below" rather than return to his own? Or would it have been more convenient in the wee hours for Mr. Cook to seek him out in the great cabin?

Or does the great cabin more closely resemble the crowded, lively taverns we have know Sam to frequent? Even with the comings and goings of well-bred officers and gentlemen, he must miss the simple pleasures of London life.

helena murphy  •  Link

Although church attendance was mandatory up to the year 1650 when it was abolished, the Anglican Episcopalian Church was never all embracing. There is evidence to show that the very poor, rogues, vagabonds, masterless men, and beggars did not ever attend. In some instances parish relief had to be witheld in order to get the poor to attend. Donne asked " How few of these who make beggary an occupation from their infancy were ever within church, how few of them ever christened, or ever married?"
In 1657 compulsary church attendance was restored but its ineffectiveness was evident after 1660 with the existence of de facto sects in the towns. The Anlican or state church drew its congregation for the most part from the privileged 3 percent of the population or those with incomes of more than 100 poounds per year, such as peers, bishops, baronets, knights, esquires, gentlemen, greater and lesser offfice holders, merchants ,traders and lawyers.

Hill, Christopher, Some Intellectual Consequences of the English revolution,Phoenix 1997

Jenny Doughty  •  Link

'After dinner busy all the afternoon writing' - do we think he was busy with official writing, or playing catch-up with his diary? The last few entries have been shorter than some we have seen earlier.

Glyn  •  Link

Jenny: I think that he is definitely busy with official writing rather than with his diary. And paradoxically, the harder he is working, the less leisure time he has for conversations and trips, so his diary entry will be shorter and more business-like.

Third Reading

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"All the morning giving out orders and tickets to the Commanders of the Fleet to discharge all supernumeraries that they had above the number that the Council had set in their last establishment."

That sounds like a lot of cross-referencing and writing to me, especially as Pepys' clerk has yet to catch up with the Naseby. I wonder if he ever will -- and if he will be paid for the time he's been MIA.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Supernumeraries (those above ["super"] the official number on board):

L&M: Supernumeraries (men carried aboard extra to the ships' complements) were to cause a great deal of trouble later to Pepys as Surveyor-General of Victualing. Sometimes they were authorized by the flag-officers and the Lord Admiral.

Peach on 22 Jul 2019:
I assume officers had entourages then as they do now. It's never JUST a Captain; it's usually Captain, XO, several senior officers, a contingent of junior officers, some senior enlisted, and a junior enlisted to take notes or run messages. The average orbit of an Admiral pushes 20 personnel. The gaggle of hangers-on must be worse when the officers are also nobility/gentry. Plus with all the favors and nepotism going on, a few extra "open positions" on any given ship might free up if some officer's buddy needed cash or glory. All to the chagrin of Pepys, trying so hard to keep accurate books and forecasts of supplies.

https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…

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