Wednesday 28 August 1661

At home all the morning setting papers in order. At noon to the Exchange, and there met with Dr. Williams by appointment, and with him went up and down to look for an attorney, a friend of his, to advise with about our bond of my aunt Pepys of 200l., and he tells me absolutely that we shall not be forced to pay interest for the money yet. I do doubt it very much. I spent the whole afternoon drinking with him and so home. This day I counterfeited a letter to Sir W. Pen, as from the thief that stole his tankard lately, only to abuse and laugh at him.

30 Annotations

First Reading

Eric Walla  •  Link

Sam the prankster? This opens up a whole new aspect of his personality!

I assume he does this not maliciously, but just out of fun ... uh, I hope.

daniel  •  Link

it does give one pause for thought!

Louis  •  Link

Plainly not old enough yet to recognize this is the sort of joke that comes back upon the joker. Imagine his dudgeon if someone played him the same ruse about the household items missing from his place awhiles back!

vicente  •  Link

counterfeited, sounds so modern,ME countrefet,MF contrefait;
So many meanings {7}for counter {1}-ME countour, computing place. as adverb contra- against.
So much fun with counter**********.

Jbailey  •  Link

Remember that Sam is only 26 and his wife, Elizabeth, is only 21. I think sometimes the seriousness of his attitude toward his job and his household makes us forget his young age. A few weeks ago, however, he was racing carriages and engaging in jumping contests, much more indicative of his age than his position or tone may make us believe. This prank is one of the times his lack of maturity shows through.

Australian Susan  •  Link

"setting papers in order"
There he goes again! More filing! Don't think he had enough to do today: filing, then a whole afternoon's drinking, then messing about (the drink encouraging him?) writing a spoof letter.
If he was a modern day young exec. no doubt he would have spent the morning fiddling about with his Outlook mailbox and then after his liquid lunch spent the afternoon forwarding joke emails to colleagues.

JWB  •  Link

"...abuse and laugh at him..."
The Joyses's laughed at Sam's pretentions twd. knighthood and they've not been treated kindly in the diary since. Penn tapped in '60. Appears Sam's been drinking gall this afternoon. In this connection, might want'a look back to the 2 Apr. post.

vicente  •  Link

How much be sir Wm: P's tankard worth?
There be a guilt tankard, that be worth from 42s to L20 [2, mention'd by Sam]and the Pepis one be silver , so how much be sir Wm: P's tankard.. No doubt, if the thief be caught, it would be to Tyburn to entertain the the Hungry ones.

Diana Bonebrake  •  Link

Ahhh, 26 years old, enjoying the waning days of summer, wheeling and dealing, forging correspondence...why not spend half the day drunk?

Kevin Peter  •  Link

I never expected that Sam would play such a prank on Penn. It was so unexpected and so silly that I couldn't help but laugh.

I love moments like this. It makes Sam seem so human. One rarely sees moments like this in history. The stuff of daily life like this rarely gets recorded: people tend to write down the serious stuff, and regard little things like this as not worth recording.

Ruben  •  Link

worth recording...
Think of all the emails we send and receive. They replaced the written word but not being backed by paper they will vanish like spoken words...

Canongate  •  Link

To Ruben: I keep my e-mail and from time to time burn it off to disk. I'm not sure anyone cares but me, still I do it anyway just to remember what loved ones had to say before they were as busy as they are today.

Second Reading

GrannieAnnie  •  Link

And what we wouldn't give for a Selfie of Sam! He would have loved the internet and speedy email and marveled at The Cloud. Except then he wouldn't have had as many excuses to meet his business associates in pubs to drink away the day. It amazes me to think how much time he must have spent hunting for people to accomplish his business though they had runners to do some of the leg work for them. And how slowly international business, even business in the next town, must have run.

Gillian Bagwell  •  Link

Per Ruben, emails "will vanish like spoken words." I summarize deposition transcripts, and emails are the single biggest category of documents produced as exhibits in litigation. They never go away--especially the damaging ones.

AndreaLouise Hanover  •  Link

Louise - Sam would love Facebook! I made a comment about the ability to "like" the annotations. Grannieannie - "Selfies" would be of his fine clothes, he would also be a fashion Blogger.

Third Reading

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

From Sandwich's log, off Tetuan

August 28. Wednesday. Wind E.S.E. At noon Tangier bore from us S. and by E.
About evening it fell calm, the current setting into the Straights, and being about 3 leagues off Trafalgar and by S. from Tarifa we came to an anchor in 84 fathom, foul ground and great overfalls, having at one cast of the lead 80 fathom, next 50, next 60, and then 84.
I sent the Lieutenant in a boat to sound in towards Tarifa and he found it shoaler and worse of the same kind.
It was our kedge anchor we let fall with 2 hawsers bent, and about an hour after sunset a gale fresh sprung up eastwardly, so we weighed and our anchor when he came up brought up a rock of 400 weight.
This evening we spoke with 2 small ships from Newfoundland, the first we heard of this year.

Copied from
The Journal of Edward Mountagu,
First Earl of Sandwich
Admiral and General-at-Sea 1659 - 1665

Edited by RC Anderson
Printed for the Navy Records Society
MDCCCCXXIX

Section III - Mediterranean 1661/62

@@@

Tangier
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…

Straights of Gibraltar
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…

Cape Trafalgar, Spain is a headland in the Province of Cádiz in the southwest of Spain. The 1805 naval Battle of Trafalgar, in which the Royal Navy commanded by Adm. Horatio Nelson decisively defeated Napoleon's combined Spanish and French fleet, took place just off the cape.

Cape Trafalgar lies on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean, northwest of the Strait of Gibraltar. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the western limit of the strait and the Mediterranean Sea as a line that joins Cape Trafalgar to the north with Cape Spartel to the south.

In May 2021, 2,000-year-old Roman baths emerged from the sand dunes of Cape Trafalgar, including entire walls, windows and doors.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cap…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

CONCLUSION:

Tarifa, Spain
After the Christian conquest, Tarifa was for a border town, first with the Kingdom of Granada and, after the fall of the Nazari kingdom, as the fortress which defended the coast against Berber pirates and, in the 18th century, as a military enclave against the English occupation of Gibraltar. It is in the Province of Cadiz.
https://theculturetrip.com/europe…

Kedge anchor
The Royal Navy’s 1904 seamanship manual describes kedging as a means for maneuvering large, engineless ships in and out of tight harbors and tidal river entrances.
Strapping young lads would row the longboat with one of the ship’s smaller anchors in the direction they wanted to move the ship. When they ran out of cable they would then drop the anchor, return to the ship, and on the capstan pull the ship up to the anchor, usually 600 ft. or so at a time.
It was a slow, hard process, but it was the only option, and they made it work.
https://www.sailmagazine.com/crui…

Newfoundland
The initial establishment of an English population in Newfoundland began in the early 17th century, particularly by the planting of a colony at Cupers Cove (Cupids, Conception Bay) by the London and Bristol Company in 1610, and the southern Avalon plantation.
Throughout the 17th century the population was augmented by fishermen and their families from the English fishing fleets engaged in the migratory cod fishery.
The settlers, or planters, were individuals who oluntarily chose to stay in Newfoundland, at least for a few years, rather than return to England. ...
By the 1670s there was at least one family in each of the 30 settlements on the east coast of Newfoundland between Trepassey in the south and Salvage to the north. St. John's had about 30 resident families and Bonavista, the second largest place, about 15.
Life in these settlements was burdensome and unstable, and lacked the support of community institutions or civil government. Legal authority rested with fishing admirals, captains of the first arriving migratory fishing ships in the different harbors. ...
The planters depended on fishing and trading ships for basic food staples, clothing, fishing equipment and supplies, and to market their cod, cod oil and produce.
The lifelines of 17th century Newfoundland planters were usually connected to the fishing ships of the West of England, English sack (cargo) vessels and New England traders. English ships furnished food such as bread and flour, manufactured goods and fishing equipment, but also brought Irish produce such as butter, salted beef and pork, and clothing materials.
New Englanders brought livestock, bread and flour, but especially tobacco, and lots of West Indian rum and molasses.
Much more at https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articl…

These 2 ships must be bringing dried cod to the Med. cities.

LKvM  •  Link

What with boats and ships now having engines, the only kedging done these days is to get oneself off a grounding. Hard aground, I sent the daughter out in a dinghy with an anchor that she set a ways from the grounded boat, then I operated the anchor winch to pull the boat toward the kedge anchor and off the grounding.
And by the way, the anchor "bent" to two hawsers (two thick anchor rodes -- the line an elevator car hangs from was originally called a hawser) means the anchor was "tied" to them.
Thank you, San Diego Sarah, for following Sandwich's log.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

You're welcome, LKVM. I find it fascinating to learn about life, at sea and otherwise, at this time. How about learning your husband is sick, and having to wait a month before finding out he's fine?! Talk about stress.

Your story about your daughter helping to get your boat off the sandbank had me until you put "tied" in quotes.
Do you mean the 2 hawsers (which each consists of 2 thick anchor rodes) are attached to the anchor by knots? Tying a hawser would create an enormous and unwieldy knot. Now imagine 2 of these huge knots. Perhaps they wove the ends into the rope to create a loop? But you specifically said tied.
Could you find a picture for me please?

Stephane Chenard  •  Link

Sandwich isn't telling us quite everything, in that terse nautical log of his. For instance, of late he has "taken Algiers", says a letter dated of this day (in the State Papers) from Capt. Dimond of the "Martin", presently in Lisbon. Did we know that? Surely Sam would have had another drink if the letter he received a few days ago mentioned it. But all of Europe is talkin' about it, the French Gazette being just now typesetting an Extraordinary, to appear on September 23 (new style), that reproduces a letter from Toulon which says it happened after failed negotiations on July 10 prompted a 10-hour gun battle with the Algerine fleet - of which Dimond, calling them "Turks" to keep things simple, says "the Earl of Sandwich is said to have burned 14 of their ships". Collateral damage on shore from the 10-hour bombardment is not mentioned.

Sandwich's journal mentions nothing special for July 10 and only a few inconclusive broadsides "for 2 or 3 hours" on July 31, which he called off to save ammo though "our shot killed them many men". The Gazette will also note that, after the battle, the wind came up and the English fleet almost ran aground, finding itself "in peril of perishing"; imagine if a few hundred "Turks" had used the moment to swarm aboard. Sandwich's journal says nothing of this, noting only humdrum until August 8 when "the whole fleet sailed out of Algier bay".

Dimond's letter also suggests a measure of chaos in the expeditionary fleet, noting a dispute with a rival captain "guided by one or two reformado captains who were cashiered for their disaffection, and the old servants of the King are in no regard". So the fleet is full of Cromwellian holdovers (reformados were deprived of their commands but allowed to keep their rank), who sneer at the new Royalist appointees and use the cruise to go off on their own business: Those one or two "are gone to assist the King of Portugal's fleet home from Brazil, and have their gold chains and large sums of money", while those who stuck to their orders just look on. The admiral being sick and on shore in Alicante for a few weeks can't have helped that situation.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

"The admiral being sick and on shore in Alicante for a few weeks can't have helped that situation."

It was only a week, Stephane. Sandwich was tough.

@@@

Europe was watching Sandwich's every move. They thought England and Portugal were going to fight it out against the Dutch Republic and Spain -- with France (which didn't have a fleet to speak of) winning tactically, no matter the outcome.
Unlikely partners like the Dutch and the Spanish wanted to protect their empires, and the English wanted to take one over -- the Portuguese empire was as good as any: hence this marriage (Charles is playing the long game with the Portuguese, since King Alfonso is crazy and childless).

Historians politely call this 'the pursuit of trade': why not be blunt about it? These Kings wanted to take lands and their valuable resources -- which are really empires even if they called them plantations and other psydonyms.

@@@

"So the fleet is full of Cromwellian holdovers (reformados were deprived of their commands but allowed to keep their rank), ..."

Just as Penn and Batten (Parliamentarians) planned it -- much to (Royalist) Carteret's dismay:
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…

@@@

"For instance, of late he has "taken Algiers", says a letter dated of this day (in the State Papers) from Capt. Dimond of the "Martin", presently in Lisbon. Did we know that?"

Sandwich dispatched the Martin and Capt. Bennett to Lisbon on July 27 and hasn't heard from them since. Diamond isn't mentioned.
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…

I suspect Diamond is reporting rumors he hears in Lisbon, since we know that Sandwich hasn't taken Algiers.

You go on with: "But all of Europe is talkin' about it, the French Gazette being just now typesetting an Extraordinary, to appear on September 23 (new style), ..."

Old style, Pepys' time, that's the beginning of October, and we aren't there yet in the Diary. Who knows what will have happened by then -- I don't!

@@@

"Those one or two "are gone to assist the King of Portugal's fleet home from Brazil, ..."

That was a rumor about Sandwich's true assignment being the taking of the SPANISH Plate fleet, which is why De Ruyter is lurking, supposedly looking for Barbary Pirates to chase, while really monitoring Sandwich's actions.

This info come from
ENGLAND IN THE MEDITERRANEAN : A STUDY OF THE RISE AND INFLUENCE
OF BRITISH POWER WITHIN THE STRAITS -- 1603-1713
By JULIAN S. CORBETT
VOL. II
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
NEW YORK AND BOMBAY
1904
https://archive.org/stream/englan…
CHAPTEE XX
THE FIRST OCCUPATION OF THE STRAITS

Stephane Chenard  •  Link

The letter which the French Gazette - to whom a month-old dispatch is practically live news - is preparing to reproduce, was, it says, written in Toulon on August 22 (new style), so would indeed pertain to the July/early August events that Sandwich's log, his letter and Dimond's letter (whoever he is) refer to. What events will pass in the future are indeed mysteries we refuse to intrude upon, but those were firmly in the past. I mean, our past, the past of the past, okay?

And so De Ruyter is in the Straits too: Extraordinary. You rightly point out, Sarah, that there also happens to be a lot of gold afloat in the same sector: The first Spanish treasure fleet to arrive from the gold and silver mines of America in several years is indeed on its way, and it's humongous. In letters on July 20 Giovanni Cornaro, the Venetian ambassador in Madrid, said "it is worth 20 millions" (no need even to specify of what) and comprises no less than "forty or fifty [vessels] with cargo", with an escort of 15 warships. Just 15 for around 45, every pyrate, corsair and beribboned admiral between Tortuga and Tangiers must have run the odds of nailing the Heist of the Century. And indeed, Cornaro wrote, "divers nations are interested, the Dutch in particular" (July 20), but the Spaniards have also been "much afraid of the English ships" (he wrote on June 15). On July 16 his colleagues in London, Correr and Morosini, picked on "the suspicions entertained by the merchants", who noted that the galleons "are much more heavily freighted with gold than usual, though their armed escort is less". The Venetians, merchants to whom the bullion market matters not a little, are tracking this quite keenly. On August 28, Cornaro reports that "French ships and a certain number of Dutch ones" are also joining the common fight against those barbarous Algerine pyrates. So everybody is there.

England and the United Provinces are, in principle, making peace and discussing treaties with Spain, but there's enough loot, and still enough casus belli here and there (in the East Indies for the Dutch, in the West Indies and potentially in Portugal for England, in Europe for both of them) for a bit of double-crossing. On July 22 however Correr and Morosini, freshly arrived in England, met in Dover "the vice admiral" (can't be Sandwich, who's long gone), who "assured us that those [vessels] which had already sailed had no intention of meeting the Spanish fleet". And on August 28 Cornaro even reported that "[De] Ruiter, has offered his squadron to the duke of Medina Celi [Medinacelli, a top Spanish grandee] to protect the fleet". Cornaro, perhaps passing on Spanish musings, adds that "the English being diverted against the corsairs" is still a reassurance.

And "the duke [in question] writes expressing his mortification at seeing things reduced to this pass". Because, you see, the fleet was expected in early August, and it's still nowhere in sight, and Spanish palms are getting quite sweaty.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Hello Alison -- I get knots -- I have some of those pretty ones like those on a jacket. But a hawser consisted of 2 thick anchor rodes, and can drag an anchor weighing ???? tons.

An anchor rode is a platted/spun rope, made of many smaller platted/spun ropes. They are very strong; the platting/spinning makes it possible for them to be very long with no weak splices where the hemp stalks end.

After platting/spinning it is tarred so it becomes waterproof. "... in our way walked into the rope-yard, where I do look into the tar-houses and other places, and took great notice of all the several works belonging to the making of a cable." https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…

On that day other annotators said:
Glyn on 16 Jan 2004
... Each naval ship was equipped with several miles (!) of rope, and the machines that made them were extremely impressive. They had to be stretched out in factories, which were huge. Many of the skills learned by the engineers supplying the navy were used elsewhere to begin the Industrial Revolution. Let's not forget that the Navy used the most advanced technology of the time, and took up a significant fraction of the country's GDP. It also changed the face of the country, e.g. each ton that a ship weighed was supposed to be equal to a single fully mature oak tree. Within a couple of centuries they were running out of oak trees.

Emilio on 16 Jan 2004
Cable
Not just rope, but rope impregnated with tar for added toughness. L&M confirm what Glyn's said and add a little more detail, in a note for 1665:
"Cables and cordage generally were made from hemp which was spun into yarn, laid in tar and then twisted into rope. Long ropeyards were required for the last process. The yarn was made pliable by exposure for about two days to slow heat over a charcoal fire in a stove-house."

dirk on 16 Jan 2004
Cable Making
"The method of manufacturing:
The first part of the process of rope making by hand, is that of spinning the yarns or threads, which is done in a manner analogous to that of ordinary spinning. (...)
The next step in ropemaking was to "warp" the yarns or to stretch all of them to the same length and at the same time to put a "slight turn or twist" in them. If the cordage was intended for marine use, it was wound from one reel to another, meanwhile passing through a vessel containing boiling tar. If "white work" was desired, the tar was omitted. Finally, the last step, called "laying the cordage," was carried out:

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

PART 2:

For this purpose two or more yarns are attached at one end to a hook. The hook is then turned the contrary way from the twist of the individual yarn, and thus forms what is called a strand. Three strands, sometimes four, besides a central one, are then stretched at length, and attached at one end to three contiguous but separate hooks, but at the other end to a single hook; and the process of combining them together, which is effected by turning the single hook in a direction contrary to that of the other three, consists in so regulating the progress of the twists of the strands round their common axis, that the three strands receive separately as their opposite ends just as much twist as is taken out of them by their twisting the contrary way, in the process of combination."
From: https://www.druglibrary.org/schaf…
... [A description of slavery in the rope making industry of the 19th century -- 200 years after Pepys]

Dennis Richards on 16 Jan 2004
More on ropes:
A sailing ship of the time had 3 different kinds of "ropes".
The kind used for the running rigging i.e the "ropes" (called lines by the seamen) were 3 strands right hand twisted or "hawser-laid"
By taking 3 hawsers and left hand twisting you got a "cable-laid rope" or cable, used for the anchor for example.
Then for the heavy lines used for the standing rigging, stays and shrouds etc., a special type of rope was used called "shroud-laid rope" which was 4 strands twisted left hand around a central strand.

Nate Lockwood on 16 Jan 2014
A cable, made of 3 hawser laid lines, must also be more than 10 inches in circumference to properly be called a cable. In the days of sail a cable's prime use was to attach the anchor. The cable was 100 fathoms long or approximately a tenth of a nautical mile so cable was also used as a measure of length or distance. A cable of this length would allow a large sailing vessel to anchor in as much as 14 fathoms of water in decent weather although I doubt very many ships ever anchored in water this deep.
Most of the cordage in the days of sail were termed lines but had specific names such as halyard, shroud, etc. Almost none were called "ropes" by the sailors although they did use the term "know your ropes". Lines were also described by their lay such as cable laid and hawser laid.

Eric the Bish on 16 Jan 2024
Rope making. Splices in a long rope are points of weakness, but as yet nobody had invented a way to make rope by a continuous process -- so the longest rope you could make was the length of your ropewalk. The nation with the world’s longest ropewalks will have the best (longest) ropes, and her warships a technological edge over others.

Our encyclopedia also has pages for
the Woolwich Ropeyard
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
and Chatham had a Rope House
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

CONCLUSION:

A 17th century warship anchor rode must have been very thick -- never mind 2 of them. The knots must have been enormous.

Perhaps one rode was looped through the anthor and then knotted to the other rode, so they were not tied to the anchor itself?

Pictures of modern, nylon, yacht rode is at https://search.yahoo.com/search?f… . These rodes are flexible, and can be tied directly to small yacht anchors using lovely knots.

Perhaps I just need to contact Mystic Seaport.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Back to the Mediterranean Policy being played out by Charles II and Sandwich:

40. Giovanni Cornaro, Venetian Ambassador in Spain, to the Doge and Senate.

Twenty Dutch ships are at Cadiz. The commander, Ruiter, has offered his squadron to the duke of Medina Celi to protect the [Plate] fleet.

Duke Antonio Juan de la Cerda y Toledo (1607 – 1671), 7th Duque de Medinaceli, Grandee of Spain, and Capt. Gen. of Valencia in 1641. He was married at 17 to Ana Francisca Luisa Enriquez de Ribera y Portocarrero, who was 13 on November 28, 1625, in Dos Hermanas, province of Sevilla. Ana Francisca Luisa Enríquez de Ribera y Portocarrero (1613 - 1645) was later granted the title of hereditary 5th Duquesa de Alcalá de los Gazules, as daughter of Pedro Enríquez Girón de Ribera, a Knight of the Military Order of Santiago. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duk…
De Ruyter https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…

The duke writes expressing his mortification at seeing things reduced to this pass; but the fleet is expected to sail free from alarm, the English being diverted against the corsairs.

It is reported that after the last engagement off Algiers, Mons. Polo joined with French ships and a certain number of Dutch ones, those nations being determined to reduce within limits that barbarous piracy which has infested the seas and troubled trade.
Mons. Polo with French ships???????????

But this union of English and Dutch ships is a motive for jealousy. They [THE SPANISH?] fear there may be understandings, of which there are rumours, and such concerted action of the Dutch, English and French, although against pirates would not please them because it would be an indication of a correspondence which they [THE SPANISH] do not desire.
Madrid, the 28th August, 1661.
[Italian.]

FROM 'Venice: August 1661', in Calendar of State Papers Relating To English Affairs in the Archives of Venice, Volume 33, 1661-1664, ed. Allen B Hinds( London, 1932), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk…

So the English think the Dutch and the Portuguese are up to something.
Spain thinks the English and the Dutch are conspiring to take their Plate fleet.
Venice is holding the Ottomans at bay in Crete.
The French don't have a fleet that can sail yet, but some ships are sailing with the French and Dutch.
And all the Europeans hate and fear the Barbary Pirates.
I wish we had the Portuguese and Dutch points-of-view on this. Why didn't the Portuguese correspond with Charles II? Why did it take so long for Catherine of Braganza to leave home? Were they having trouble getting her dowry cash together?

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

No response from Mystic Seaport yet, but September 18 is World Knot-Tying Day, and if there is anything that The Historic Dockyard Chatham knows about it's rope and knot-tying. 🪢
Not only is the Dockyard home to the last of the original four Royal Navy Ropeyards to remain in operation. A few years ago, The Trust acquired the collections of the Museum of Knots & Sailor’s Ropework (now known as the Pawson Rope Collection).
This small museum is based in Ipswich and has been the life work of Des and Liz Pawson. The collection has over 2,000 objects relating to rope, rope making, rope work and tools of the rope and canvas working trades, including a piece of anchor cable (the rope the anchor was attached to that is from HMS Victory believed to be from the 19th Century), preserved for the future.
During your visit to The Historic Dockyard Chatham, visit the Ropery Gallery and Ropewalk to experience what rope meant to the dockyard throughout its 400-year history.
👉 View the Pawson Rope Collection: https://bit.ly/CHDT_Pawson-Rope-C….

You probably guessed I lifted this info. off Facebook, which featured a great photo of a hunk of rope you must see to believe (possibly the Victory cable referred to above?), and would be a nightmare to knot. I'm going to ask Pawsons how they attached the unbendable to other things.

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