The staff of the Ordnance office was very much larger, proportionately, than that of the Admiralty. It employed, at yearly salaries, a surveyor, £194; clerk, £215; storekeeper, £216; clerk of the delivery, £166; master gunner of England, £121; keeper of the small gun office, £66; messenger, £60; two furbishers, £12 each; and twenty labourers at £21 each.[1433] Its management had mended considerably since 1640, but the improvement did not avail to save its independence in 1653 when it became a department of the Admiralty. In February 1654 matters were so far better that there were 2359 barrels of powder and 38,000 round and other shot in hand, but still no guns in reserve. There are no complaints about the quality of the powder supplied during the Dutch war, but, in 1655 and 1656, accusations against the makers, who were said to ‘use some sleight to make it Tower-proof on delivery, but it does not long continue good nor abide change of weather,’ became numerous. All that the authorities could do was to call upon the manufacturers to make it good, or, if they preferred, take it back with a licence to export it abroad; 6827 out of 15,098 barrels recently furnished were defective, and, by an order of 2nd April 1656, the Council gave the contractors the choice between these courses and being committed to prison. The makers, however, had something to say on their side. Like most other naval purveyors they had not been paid, and even to get any money on account were sometimes compelled, under threats of still longer postponement, to repair Hamburg powder at 17s a barrel when the real price should have been £2, naturally with unsatisfactory results. Some attributed all the mischief to the Hamburg importations, but most of them seem to have gone into the business without any expert knowledge, simply with a view of profiting by the sudden demand for war material.[1434]
The form of reparation exacted was manifestly unfair: instead of each maker being required to substitute good for whatever bad powder he had sent in they were called upon to replace it in proportion to their contracts. Thus Josias Devey was made liable for 461 barrels instead of the 141 which were faulty in the number he had supplied, and apparently he would have fared just as badly if his powder had been excellent down to the last pound.[1435] As some of the manufacturers had delivered 50 per cent., or more, of inferior quality, the probable explanation of this not very honourable proceeding is to be found in the fear of the Council that the worst culprits would be pecuniarily unable to make amends if assessed at their full liability. Wapping seems to have been a manufacturing district, since, in July 1657, there was an explosion of powder mills, or stores, there which injured many people and damaged 846 houses to the extent of £10,000.
The Dockyards.
The enlargements and improvements of the dockyards were not as considerable as might have been expected in view of the increased number of ships, and the space required for their accommodation. These requirements were partly met by the greater use made of Plymouth, and making Dover and Harwich stations where ships might obtain provisions and minor repairs. Harwich, largely used for a few years in the middle of the sixteenth century, had been found of some service during the civil war, but the movements of the fleets in the North Sea, and off the coast of Holland, brought both it and Dover into prominence. The latter port was not utilised till 1653, and was never very freely used, although the quarterly accounts sometimes reached £700 or £800; both it and Portsmouth were supplied with stores from Deptford. Bourne, from the date of his appointment as Navy Commissioner, took up his residence at Harwich, and remained there till March 1658. Monk’s testimony to his ability and success has already been quoted, although he had none of the appliances available in the older yards. But in 1657 ground was rented from the corporation, for a permanent government yard and wharf, on a ninety-nine year lease at £5 a year.[1436] Plymouth was employed mainly for victualling the ships on the western Channel station, as Dover was for those eastwards, and, to a certain extent, for repairs, although its exposed roadstead was no favourite with captains whose vessels were fit to put to sea. Blake evidently did not like it; ‘the unsafeness and hazard of this road, which to us is worse than a prison, is enough to scare us hence.’
One way of gauging the relative importance of the dockyards is to compare the stores in hand at a given date. We are enabled to do this for February and June 1659, as follows:—[1437]
| Chatham | Woolwich | Deptford | Portsmouth | Plymouth | Harwich | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anchors | 108 | 129 | 62 | 17 | 13 | |
| Masts | 356 | 724 | 269 | 498 | 95 | 67 |
| Cables | 106 | 29 | 272 | 70 | 42 | 63 |
| Loads of timber[1438] | 1500 | 322 | 416 | 508 | [1439] | 79 |
| Tree-nails | 80,000 | 122,000 | 93,000 | 2000 | ||
| Compasses | 180 | 144[1440] | ||||
| Hemp | 100 tons | 75 tons | 63½ tons | |||
| Noyals canvas | 23,000 yds. | 10,600 yds. | 2000 yds. | 4850 yds. | ||
| Vittery ” | 1800 ells | 25,000 ells | 380 ells | |||
| Ipswich ” | 272 bolts[1441] | 5½ bolts | ||||
| English ” | 240 bolts | 7650 yds. | 370 yds. | |||
| Tar and pitch | 30 lasts | 99 barrels | 95 barrels | |||
| Hammocks | 900 | 1200 | 700 | 2020 |
Owing to want of money the magazines were very low at this date, but the relation shown here would doubtless always exist. Harwich and Plymouth can refit ships which have suffered in spars, fittings, or canvas; Chatham, Woolwich, and Deptford build or repair, while Portsmouth is equipped for all purposes. Hitherto all masts had been obtained from the Baltic, but in 1652 the government tried the experiment of sending two vessels to New England for them, and the results were so satisfactory that henceforth a proportion of masts from the colonies is found in all the lists of dockyard stores. The English canvas is elsewhere described as west country canvas, and was principally made in Somersetshire; its manufacture was due to Geo. Pley, afterwards government agent at Weymouth and governor of Portland, who successfully urged its use upon the Admiralty. It cost 1s 7d or 1s 8d a yard, and was dearer than French canvas, but considered better.[1442]
In 1653 there was a double dry dock at Chatham, Woolwich, and Deptford respectively,[1443] and one at Blackwall, probably in the East India Company’s yard; these were the only docks directly belonging to, or available by, the state. No addition appears to have been made to Chatham yard except the purchase of a wharf and storehouse adjoining the old dock in 1656.[1444] In October 1653 a contractor from Chatham was either repairing an old, or constructing a new, dock at Deptford;[1445] and in 1657 some wharves were built there along the waterside.[1446] A new dry dock was ordered for Woolwich in 1653[1447] and completed the next year;[1448] storehouses were built in 1656;[1449] and two years later a lease was taken from John Rymill, butcher, of London, of one acre of land, known as Chimney Marsh, on the east side of Ham Creek, ‘next to the state’s yard,’ for ten years, at £4 a year.[1450] The sizes of the yards may, perhaps, be inferred from the number of watchmen attached to each—Chatham, 32; Deptford, 18; Woolwich, 16; and Portsmouth, 13.
Dockyards:—Portsmouth.
Portsmouth, if the smallest of the chief yards, became under the Commonwealth one of the busiest and most important. In June 1649 one of five new frigates was ordered to be laid down there; this vessel, the Portsmouth, was duly launched in 1650, and, with the doubtful exception of the Jennett, in ‘new making’ at Portsmouth in 1559, was the first man-of-war of the modern Royal Navy built at that place since the Mary Rose and Peter Pomegranate of 1509 were first floated in the harbour.[1451] The dry dock so often recommended and ordered under Charles I was, however, not yet existent. It was urged that one-third of the Navy ought to be permanently stationed at the port, but in 1652 the Commissioner in charge complained that there was not room for the stores required for the few ships usually there. From a survey of 1653 we obtain, so far as names go, a statement of the number of buildings in the dockyard; they are upper and lower storehouses, upper and lower hemp houses, block loft, old rope-maker’s house, office and nail loft, canvas room, hammock room, kettle room, iron loft, tar house, oil house, sail loft, and top-makers’ and boat-makers’ house.[1452]