It will be observed that the highest rate under these Acts is sevenpence a day, although in several instances in the accounts[13] referred to above a Master Shipwright was paid eightpence a day.
When Henry VIII instituted[14] the practice of granting by letters patent an annuity for life to certain shipwrights performing the duties of the office known later as 'the Master Shipwright,' he fixed the daily rate upon the basis set forth above, but it must be borne in mind that (as will be shown later) this did not represent the total emoluments of that official, who was in effect raised, both as to emoluments and status, above the class in which he had formerly been placed.
The first of the succession of officials thus established by Henry appears to have been James Baker, who by letters patent[15] dated the 20th May 1538 was granted, as from Michaelmas 1537, an annuity for life of fourpence a day, the lowest rate of a Master Shipwright, or Master Ship Carpenter as he was alternatively called by the Acts referred to. The entry in the Roll is of some interest; unlike the later grants, this grant is not based upon past services, but solely upon services which are to be rendered in the future,[16] and the authority for the letters patent is not the usual writ of privy seal, but the direct motion of the King: 'per ipsum Regem.' In December 1544 new letters patent were issued,[17] in which Baker is described as a 'Shipwright' and the annuity (annuitatem sive annualem redditum) fixed at eightpence a day. In January of the same year, Peter Pett, 'Shipwright,' had by letters patent been granted a wage and fee (vadium et feodum) of sixpence a day for life, as from Michaelmas 1543, 'in consideration of his good and faithful service done and to be done'; from which it appears that Peter Pett was already in the royal service. It is probable that the increase in Baker's annuity was intended to mark his superior position in relation to Pett.
The official title of 'master shipwright' does not appear as yet in use, for when Baker and other shipwrights were, in the next year, sent by the Council, at the request of the Lord Admiral, to Portsmouth to examine into the decay of one of the ships there, they were simply described as 'Masters James Baker and others skilful in ships.'[18] In addition to Baker and Pett, these included John Smyth, Robert Holborn, and Richard Bull. On the 23rd April 1548 these three latter, under the designation of 'Shipwrights,' together with Richard Osborn, anchor-smith, 'had by bill signed by the King's Majesty each of them 4d. per diem in consideration of their long and good service and that they should instruct others in their feats.'[19] Smyth and Holborn were hardly in the same category as Baker and Peter Pett. They seem to have been skilled mechanics rather than constructors or designers, and are not mentioned as having 'built' a ship, though this is perhaps due to the scantiness of the surviving records; but the fact that the formality of letters patent was dispensed with in connexion with this grant is significant. Bull was, however, in May 1550 granted 12d. a day from Midsummer 1549 by letters patent in the usual terms,[20] and since Peter Pett was not granted this higher rate until April 1558,[21] in the last year of Mary's reign, it would seem as though Bull's services were rated by Edward VI more highly than Pett's. James Baker does not seem to have long survived Henry VIII. Probably he died in 1549, and Bull received Baker's annuity, since it is not likely that an additional annuity would be created for Bull at that time, and there is no mention of any reversion in Bull's patent.
Little is known of Bull[22] or of another master shipwright 'William Stephins'[23] who is mentioned in 1553 and 1558. The latter may have been the ancestor of the Stevens[24] who built the Warspite in 1596, and contested the place of Master Shipwright with Phineas.
In 1572 Mathew Baker, son of James, succeeded to Bull's annuity. The letters patent[25] by which the grant was made are different in form from those above referred to, for Baker is first granted the office of Master Shipwright[26] with all profits and emoluments pertaining to it, which he is to hold in as ample a mode and form as 'a certain Richard Bull, deceased,' or any other, had held such office, and then, for the exercise of this office, he is granted the usual annuity of 12d. a day for life, as from Lady Day 1572.
In January 1584 Baker attended personally at the Exchequer and of his free will surrendered this grant in exchange for one in similar form[27] made out to himself and John Addey[28] with reversion to the longer liver. The reasons why Baker thus formally adopted Addey as his successor do not appear. However, Baker outlived him, dying in 1613, whereas Addey died in 1606 at Deptford, where he was then the Master Shipwright.
In July 1582 Peter Pett had appeared at the Exchequer and surrendered his patent of 1558, receiving in exchange a joint patent,[29] in similar terms, for himself and his eldest son, William, who was already in the royal service as a shipwright,[30] with reversion to the longer liver. William, however, died in 1587, two years before his father, so that the annuity never reverted to him. In his will he describes himself as one of her Majesty's Master Shipwrights, and from the reference to him in the patent above referred to it seems probable that he held the office in 1584.
In 1587 Richard Chapman received a grant[31] of the office of 'Naupegiarius,' which was to be held on similar terms (modo et forma) to those in which Peter Pett and Mathew Baker or any other held like office, but the annuity granted with it was 20d. a day, and not the usual 12d. Apparently this was an additional post created especially for Chapman, and the 20d. indicates the rise that had by that time taken place in the shipwrights' rates of pay.
In July 1590 Joseph Pett was granted 12d. a day as from Midsummer.[32] Presumably this was the annuity that had reverted to the Exchequer on the death of his father in 1589, his brother William, who had held the reversion of it, being already dead; but the patent contains no reference to this, the grant being based upon 'his good and faithful service done and to be done in building our ships.' Unlike those issued to Mathew Baker and Chapman, this patent contains no reference to office and is in the earlier form. Phineas (see [p. 4]) dates Joseph's succession to his father's place as Master Shipwright in 1592, but this is evidently incorrect.