[91] Richard Pett of London, gent. (elsewhere described as 'unus valettorum regis') in 1593 sold his share of the property at Deptford to his brother Peter Pett, of Wapping. This property had been bought by his father in 1566.
[92] Printed by the Parker Society in Select Poetry, vol. ii. p. 386.
[93] The following errors may be noted: p. 149, the name 'Marcy' should be 'March'; p. 151, the William Pett who petitioned the Admiralty in 1631, was not the son of Joseph but a much older man, apparently belonging to another branch of the family; p. 157, the dates of the death of Phineas' second wife and of his third marriage are antedated by a year; p. 158, the date 'July' was an error of the Harl. transcriber; the dates of birth and death of Phineas, junior, are incorrect; p. 172, Joseph Pett of Chatham was not the son of Phineas, but of Joseph of Limehouse, and he was born in 1592 not 1608.
3.—Phineas Pett.
Education.
From the care that had been taken to provide for his education, and from the fact that it was only at the 'instant persuasion' of his mother that he was 'contented' to be apprenticed as a shipwright, it may be inferred that Phineas had been destined for the Church or the Law, and that Peter Pett did not propose that his son should follow in his own footsteps. The peculiarity[94] of the name chosen for him (which no doubt refers, not to the disobedient son of Eli, but to 'Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest,' who received 'the covenant of an everlasting priesthood')[95] gives rise to the surmise that his parents had intended him for the Church, but whatever the intention may have been, it was certainly abandoned on the death of his father.
Phineas does not seem to have profited greatly from his studies at Cambridge. He was hardly a master of English; possibly he had a good knowledge of Latin, for the influence of the Latin idiom is to be seen in almost all his periods; but the fact that he had subsequently to practise 'cyphering' in the evenings does not imply any great acquirements in mathematics, even of the very elementary forms which at that period were sufficient for the solution of the few problems arising in connection with the design of ships. Nevertheless, he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1592 and that of Master in 1595.
If the statement that he spent the two years of his apprenticeship to Chapman 'to very little purpose' is to be accepted literally, it would seem that the misfortunes that subsequently befell him must have aroused latent energies and filled him with determination to master the details of his future profession when he returned to England in 1594. His voyage to the Levant and subsequent employment as an ordinary workman under his brother Joseph no doubt gave him a practical acquaintance with ships that enabled him to profit greatly by the instruction of Mathew Baker, although apparently this only extended over the winter of 1595-6. Pett's confession that it was from Baker that he received his 'greatest lights,' written, as it must have been, after he had found Baker an 'envious enemy' and an 'old adversary to my name and family,' indicates how great that assistance was. This is borne out by a letter[96] which he wrote to Baker in April 1603, in order to deprecate the old man's wrath, which had been aroused when Phineas, then Assistant Master Shipwright at Chatham, commenced work on the Answer. The letter was partially destroyed by the fire which damaged the Cottonian Library in 1731, but fortunately Pepys had copied it in his Miscellanea.[97]
Sir,—My duty remembered unto you. It is so that I received a message from you by Richard Meritt, the purveyor, concerning the Answer, who gave me to understand from you that you were informed I meant to break up the ship and to lengthen, and that I should no further proceed till I received further order from you. Indeed the ship was heaved up by general consent, both of my Lord, some of the Principal Officers, and two of the Master Shipwrights which were here present at the time she was begun to be hauled up, no determination being resolved upon what should be done unto her; for which cause (other haste of businesses also being some hindrance) she hath lain still ever since, till now that it pleased Sir Henry Palmer to command she should be blocked and searched within board only, and so let alone, partly because our men wanting stuff to perfect other businesses had little else to do, as also to the intent she might be made ready to be the better viewed and surveyed lying upright, being somewhat also easier for the ship. This is now done, but I ensure you there was no intent or other purpose to proceed in anything upon her any further till the Master Shipwrights, especially yourself who built her, had first surveyed her, and under your hands set down what should be done unto her; and therefore, good Mr. Baker, do not give so much credit to those that out of their malice do advertise you untruth concerning either this or any other matter, for it is supposed by whom this hath been done, and he is generally thought to be no other than an Ambodexter[98] or rather a flat sheet,[99] being so far off from either procuring credit to himself by due execution of his place and discharge of his duty, that like Aesop's Dog he doth malice any other that is willing to give him precedent of better course than all men can sufficiently in this place report himself to follow. And for myself it is so sure[100] from me to understand anything that you should think any ways prejudicial unto you, or to any of your works, that you shall always rather find me dutiful as a servant to follow your directions and instructions in any of these businesses, than arrogant as a prescriber or corrector of anything done by you, whose ever memorable works I set before me as a notable precedent and pattern to direct me in any work that I do at any time undertake, and you yourself can say, setting private jars aside, which I hope are all now at a final end, but that I ever both reverenced you for your years and admired you for your Art, in the which I know (to speak without flattery) no Artist in Christendom of our profession able in any respect to come near you. Therefore, good Mr. Baker, carry but that loving mind towards me as you shall find my loving duty to you to deserve, who you shall find always as ready to do you any service, either in this place or any other, as any servant of yours whatsoever, among whose rank I account myself one of the unworthiest, for although I served no years in your service, yet I must ever acknowledge whatever I have of any art (if I have any) it came only from you. Thus hoping this shall suffice to give you satisfaction in this behalf, I humbly take my leave, ever resting ready to do you service.