So saying, the commissioner led the way to the dockyard, past the ropehouse to the building slips, where a tall vessel lay ready for launching, yet hardly a workman was to be seen. Instead, a mob of women and children followed Sir Thomas at a distance, reviling and cursing the king, the commissioner, and the navy in general by reason of the non-payment of their husbands' and fathers' wages.
"Faith, 'tis hard on them," remarked Sir Thomas; "but for foulness of tongue they out-vie the daughters of Billingsgate. Now, we'll make for yonder workshop, for there will be found the only reliable men working in the dockyard."
But alas for the commissioner's hopes! On entering the shop he found that, instead of being diligently employed, the men were listening to a heated discourse from a malcontent from another part of the dockyard. This last straw raised Sir Thomas's ire. Seizing a stout cudgel from one of the men, he struck out right and left at the astonished party till bruised and cut pates became the order of the day. Then, having thoroughly cowed the malcontents by taking more pains in the use of the stick than in any business for the last twelve months (as he afterwards expressed it), he sent for the guard and clapped three of the ringleaders in the stocks.
"You see, Aubrey," he exclaimed on our return to his house, "how I am put upon. Though I would gladly serve His Majesty in great and small matters, yet how can I when the lack of money hangeth like a millstone round my neck? As for you, the moment I can get you a vessel I'll do my utmost, but, as things are, I can hold out but little hope."
I thanked him and withdrew, feeling sick at heart at the prospect of a life of idleness when I might be serving the king at sea.
Towards the end of February news came that war had been proclaimed against the Dutch, and the beating of drums and the firing of cannons welcomed the announcement. What ships there were in the harbour weighed and sailed for the Downs, to join the fleet that lay there under the command of the Duke of York. Disconsolately I watched their departure, regretting the fact that I was unable to take a part in the coming struggle.
As time wore on, news of sanguinary naval engagements reached us, while occasionally a Dutch vessel would be brought into the harbour, her ensign hoisted beneath the cross of St. George, and her crew battened down in the hold.
The captives were invariably taken to Porchester Castle, a building of immense strength that lay on the shores of Portsmouth harbour, some four miles away by water.
Spring came and went, yet to my great mortification I was not sent to join a ship, though in the interval I engaged in a private venture--a few gentlemen of Hampshire having fitted out a small vessel to prey upon Dutch merchantmen. But the task was not to my liking; little renown was to be gained, and after three weeks I was glad to return home.
One evening in June I went down to the Sally Port, as was my wont, to look towards Spithead, in the hope of seeing part of our victorious fleet return. The guard had been doubled since the declaration of hostilities, and every vessel and boat that made for the harbour was vigorously searched.