The 8th day of December my young son Phineas departed this life after he had lived 2 years 2 months and odd days,[439] and was buried at Chatham.
My dear loving wife sickened at Chatham the 29th day of December, and hardly escaped with life, yet it pleased God she did recover.
The last of this month my brother Simonson made himself away in the garret of his own house at Ratcliff, to the utter undoing of his poor wife and children.
In the month of June[440] there was a commission granted by his Majesty to certain Commissioners for the reformation of the abuses in his Majesty's Navy, the names of which Commissioners were Sir Lionel Cranfield,[441] Sir Thomas Smith,[442] Sir Richard Weston,[443] Sir Francis Gofton,[444] Sir Richard Sutton,[445] Mr. John Coke,[446] Mr. Pitt[447] of the Exchequer, Sir John Osborne, Sir John Wolstenholme,[448] Mr. Burrell, and Captain Thomas Norreys.
The 6th day of July these Commissioners came to Chatham in great state, having called to assist them divers masters of the Trinity House and divers shipwrights of the river of Thames, where, commanding also the masters and master shipwrights of his Majesty's Navy, they went on board the Prince and there publicly caused their Commission to be read, the Officers of the Navy being present; which done they proceeded to give order for a general survey of all the ships in the Navy, with all their furniture, and all other things belonging unto them; in the which was spent a great deal of time, for they returned not to London till the 16th day of the month after. Myself was commanded in particular from his Majesty to give them the best assistance I could, which accordingly I did with all diligence and carefulness; which proved afterwards to the ruin and undoing to me and all mine, the whole bent of Mr. Burrell tending only to overthrow me and root my name out of the earth, by his means procuring most part of the Commissioners to join with him in his malicious practice; so that from the time that he was settled, I was sequestered from meddling with any business, and all employments and privileges taken from me, Captain Norreys being brought over me, and I forced to live as a slave under them the whole of the time of their Commission, undergoing many disgraces and contempts which I could not possibly have undergone had not the Lord been exceedingly merciful unto me in giving me patience to submit myself to his will and pleasure.
The whole year of '18, '19 and part of '20, I attended altogether at Chatham, being employed upon the making of the new dock and other businesses under the command of the Commissioners; the reward of my extraordinary pains was recompensed with no other reward than base usage and continual counsels and plats to ruin me, wherein they obtained the sum of their desires to the utter undoing of me and mine; Mr. Burrell and Norreys my greatest enemies.
The 24th of January in this present year my wife was delivered of a young son at Chatham, who was, the 3rd day of the next month, being Sunday, baptized in Chatham Church by Mr. Pyham; his name called Phineas. The witnesses were my wife's sister Russell and niece Hawkridge, godmothers, my nephews Peter and William Pett, godfathers.
The 19th day of this present month of July in the year 1619, the great Duke of Buckingham, lately made the Lord Admiral of England, came to visit the Navy then riding at Chatham, being accompanied with divers lords and Sir Robert Mansell; who in his being here used me with such extraordinary public respect that wrought me much prejudice in the opinion of the Commissioners, who ever after plotted to ruin me and to bring me out of favour both with the Lord Admiral and the King himself.
The 20th day of November, attending at Theobalds to deliver his Majesty a petition, his Majesty in his princely care of me, by the means of the honourable Lord High Admiral, had before my coming bestowed on me for supply of my present relief the making of a knight baronet,[449] which I afterwards passed under the broad seal of England for one Francis Radclyffe[450] of Northumberland, a great recusant,[451] for which I was to have 700l., but by reason that Sir Arnold Herbert[452] (that brought him to me) played not fair play with me, I lost some 50l. of my bargain.
About this time the Commissioners of the Navy had finished two new ships built by Mr. Burrell at Deptford in his Majesty's Dockyard, and had procured the King's Majesty to come thither and see them, and named[453] the one the Happy Entrance, and the other the Reformation.