as we believe they are not yet we marvell that Master Burrell should suggest that Mr. Pet the builder acts against his affection or desires being the King and Parliaments servant unlesse he would bring the Parliament in dislike with the Ship-wrights and so to bring them under a Cloud as he hath endeavoured to eclipse the Trinity-house And as for the subtile plot as Master Burrell calls it in causing Master Pet Junior to build the great Frigate and Master Pet senior to build the two lesser it is false and untrue for Master Pet Junior builds one of the small ones and Master Pet senior builds the other small one and this we did to the end they might use the utmost of their skill to try who could build the best Saylor And because we had experience of the good performance of Master Pet senior in building the Constant Warwick he was appointed to build the great Frigate likewise By all which your Honours may perceive how he hath falsly traduced the Commissioners of the Navie the Master Wardens and Assistants of the Trinitie-house the principall men of the Corporation of the Ship-wrights and all he drives at is by his unjust aspersions to bring the Parliament and them at ods that so he might accomplish his own ends And thus we hope we have given your Honours satisfaction in the building of the Frigates In the next place being the moneth of May he still sings his old tune in dispraising Englands Navie which Master Burrell would have as weak as his brain and tells strange Stories of the mungrell Dunkirk the contemptible Irish and the insulting Dutch that they will not honour the Parliaments Ships nor acknowledge them Master of the Seas And then by way of Inference brings in his Maiesties horses as fat as himself how they were tired being led down to Barwick with empty saddles and then compares the dead with the living in these words As these Royall horses were clogged with too much flesh even so the Royall Navie is clogged with too many men too much victuals too many pieces of Ordnance to much timber and too much plank and then ads further to make the Royall Navy more contemptible he saith the Ship-wrights were commanded to make the Ships now in the Navy Ships for shaw as well as for service and to carry many pieces of Ordnance never to be used but at Feasts Salutations and Landings The example saith Master Burrell is lively in the Royall-Soveraign an admirable Ship for costly Buildings and cost in keeping and which ads to the miracle the Royall Ship saith he is never to be used for the Kingdoms good And that the Navy for swift sayling in Queen Elisabeths dayes was famous and farre exceeding those times To which we answer As for the honour of the Narrow-Seas it hath been kept in as much honour and reputation as ever witnesse the right Honourable the Earle of Warwick who hath commanded all Ships where ever his Honour came to render due obedience and Captain Owen in the Guardland commanding a Squadron of foure or five Ships under the right Honourable Earle of Warwick was sent out by his Lordship to seek out the Kings Men of Warre and all other that transported Armes or Ammunition to his Majesties Quarters and being in the Channell came in amongst sixtie sail of Hollanders whereof five or six Men of Warre and did not onely make them all strike but sent Captain Gilson in the Warwick Frigate who took out of the midst of the Fleet the Tiger of Roterdam and brought her away in despight of all those Men of Warre and sent her to London The next was Captain Batten who being alone in the Constant-Reformation off of Beachy met with the Vice-Admirall of Holland and foure great Ships more and although they suffered him to shoot divers shot at them before they would strike yet when they saw his resolution they lowered their top-sails and did homage Captain Ellis in the Providence and Captain Thomas in the Warwick Frigate commanded White the Vice-Admirall and three more to strike in Torbay which they did accordingly though with some shot before they did their duty And for the Royall horses being tired in being led down to Barwick it is not so with the Royall Ships for they are never weary with sailing And for too many Men Ordnance and victuals we know other Princes Ships that carry more and yet not of their burthen And as for Timber and Plank we shall refer that to the judgement of the best Sea-men and Ship-wrights in the Kingdome But we wonder much at the impudence of this Gent. who dare fay the Royall Ships of the Navie were built for show and carry many pieces of Ordnance never to be used but at Feasts Salutations and Landings when there is not one piece of Ordnance in any Ship of the Navie but is both usefull and serviceable for a defensive and offenfive Warre And to bring the Navie into a more contemptible condition he makes the Royall-Soveraign the best Man of Warre in Christendome to be incapable of doing service for the Kingdomes good When Captain Rainsborow whom Master Burrell confesseth in his time was the most eminent Commander in this Kingdom had the triall of her in the channell of England and at his return reported to his Majestie that he never set his foot in a better conditioned Ship in all his life And as for her Force she is not inferiour to the greatest Ship in Christendome And for the Ships in Queen Elisabeths dayes so famous for Sailing this Kingdom was never better furnished with good Saylors and Ships for defence then at this present farre exceeding those times By these and the precedent Articles your Honours may perceive how under a specious show of a well-affected man to the State he covertly by his Calumnies seeks to bring the Navie into a contemptible Condition not onely in the opinion of this Nation but also of Strangers that so they may be incouraged to attempt that which they never hitherto durst put in practice In the next place Master Burrell propounds how the Royall Navie with a little charge may be reduced into a serviceable postare and into such a Warlike posture as will inable the Parliament to recover and maintain the Soveraigntie of the Seas as in the Raign of Queen Elisabeth of happy memory Answer It is strange that Master Burrell should know more then all the Ship-wrights in the Kingdom being a man that many years hath had no practice and consequently lesse experience And as for the little charge in reducing the Navie the cost that will be spent in cutting down one of the first and second Rate-Ships and finishing them will build the hull of a ship of the fourth Rate that shall carry thirty pieces of Ordnance that will do more service then they will do when they are cut down to one Tire of Ordnance for the reasons given in our first Article And as for the Soveraignty
charge send many great sluggish Ships to Sea the honour of the Sea is lost and so lost that it cannot be regained and yet in a contradiction salves up the matter and saith But by reducing the Navie into a serviceable posture for these times into a nimble condition with one Tire of Ordnance and no more and some Drakes for close Fights with this caution the greater the Ship is the greater the Ordnance and number of men as the Ship can well accommodate Ans By the first part of Master Burrellls Non-sence he would have sluggish Ships sent to Sea or else the honour of the Sea is lost but at last saith That the Navie must be reduced into a serviceable posture for these times as if the Navie were to be altered upon every turn of the Tide and in stead of having the Navie maintained for the strength of the Kingdom against all forraign Forces that should invade the Realm he would bring them to one Tire of Ordnance pretending to suppresse the Kings Men of War which are no other then small Frigates Dogger-Boats Sloops and the like and then indeed he would make Englands Navie contemptible both at home and abroad Then he layes down what manner of Ordnance he would have put into the first second third and fourth Rate-Ships Ans For Answer thereunto This Gentleman it seems would go about to teach Minerva to instruct others that know better then himself And whereas he would have none but whole Canon Demi-canon whole Culverin and Demi-culverin according to their severall ranks we conceive that the Ordnance of his Majesties Ships are already so well proportioned and with such good advice that there needs none or Master Burrelis Reformation In the next place he saith The common Sea-men are so grosly cozened of their thirds of Prize-goods that many thousands have left the Kingdom and those that remain so dis-heartened that no good Service can be expected Ans Although this charge concerns not us yet to our knowledge it is most false as the Collectors for Prize-Goods will make it appear when they shall be thereunto called And for the many thousands of Sea-men that have left the Kingdom this is as true as the rest for we could never learn of any that deserted the Parliament but such as have alwayes lived as Pirats and Robbers at Sea formerly the Kingdom being better without such than to have them The Gentlemans Conclusion is That Ship that doth not sail well cannot serve well and that man that denieth this truth and cannot shew a better remedy for a Reformation of the Navie that man is wilfully ignorant or a Traitor to the State Ans In this particular we shall be brief and conclude He that sets forth falshoods and endevoureth to destroy the Navie being the Walls of the Kingdom and produceth no better reasons is either grosly ignorant or an Enemy to the Kingdom And thus we have gone through Master Burrells false suggestions scandalous informations and notorious falshoods and for the Vindication of our integrity we humbly submit to the Justice of the High Court of Parliament The Answer of the COMMISSIONERS of the Navie to the Particular Charge of Master ANDREWES BURRELL abstracted out of his Generall Charge MAster Burrell in his first Charge saith That divers of his Majesties Ships have been suffered to lie rotting in Harbour as also foure of his Majesties Ships were lately condemned to be sold yet such is the providence of the Officers of the Navie that those rotten Ships are still continued and do cost the Common-wealth 1500. l. per annum to keep them above water and that by two other Ships the State may save 1800. l. per annum and neither weaken nor dishonour the Navie Answer To which we answer That it is false and scandalous for we shall make it plainly appear That not onely those ships mentioned by him but the whole Navie is in a farre better condition then when his Majesty left the Parliament And first for the Soveraign she was carved graved and trimmed both under water and above water and made fit for the Kingdoms service the last Summer And that since his Majesties absence there have been repaired in drie Dock the Saint Andrew Victory Charles Vnicorn Vantguard Constant Convertine Guard-land Bonaventure Anthelope Swallow Mari-rose and Warwick Frigate besides the Triumph Providence and Iohn in the Dock which Ships when his Majestie left them were all defective and most of them unserviceable And as for the Nonsuch Asserance Saint Dennis and Adventure they were cast three years or more before his Majesties departure from the Parliament yet his Majesty would never suffer them to be sold untill new Ships were built in their rooms But the Parliament at one instance being informed of the yearly charge of those Ships gave Order in October last to put them to sale which was done accordingly but in regard the Winter was come and the charge would be great to the buyer to bring them up to London no man offered a penny for them but now the time of year is come and three new Frigates upon the stocks and shortly to be lanched we have put them to sail And for what other Ships not herein mentioned they are trimmed every year and kept as well as ever they were since the Kingdom stood And as for the two other Ships which Master Burrell mentions in the Navie in which 1800. l. per annum may be saved and neither weaken nor disable the Navie we confesse That is a good service if Master Burrell can make it good and we desire the Honourable Houses that he may give reasons how it may be done without weakening the Guard of the Navie In the next place he saith That the May-flower is an old Ship and hath formerly been a Collier and desires to know how many Men of Warre she hath taken for the 18000. l. she hath received of the State And that the John is an old sluggish Ship and hath not taken one Prize nor that her company have hopes to take any hereafter And that the Nicholas is a very sluggish Ship by which be would inferre that the Parliament imployed none but sluggish Ships Answer Concerning these worst of Merchants Ships as Master Burrell is pleased to call them the May-flower John and Nicholas As for the May-flower she hath been ever held a good sailer as most in the River and of good force insomuch that she fetcht up and fought with three Dunkirk Frigates in Seavern and had taken them if an unfortunate shot had not killed the Captain by name Captain Cock Besides many good services done by her upon the coast of Ireland both in the relief of Youghall and taking Dingley Couch she likewise took the Providence Regis in Humber and after beat the enemy from a Fort upon Humber and took their Ordnance And as for the John she is no Merchants Ship but belongs to the State yet when Captain Haddock was in her she tooke
they took which to moderate men should have been an engagement but in regard we are not of one mind as well by sea as by land and some had rather live Pyrates then in an honest calling there may be some English although not thousands out of their ill affection to the Parliament that have deserted the Cause and yet in the Kings Men of Warre there are three strangers for one English man And as for the Merchant Ships that have been taken some have been surprised in going from their Convoy And if Dunkirk being a small fisher-town taketh from the Hollanders every year at least eightie or a hundred sail of ships and some years more notwithstanding their great Fleets set out every year for suppressing of them how much more may all those Ports of Flanders France Holland and Denmark infest our Coasts and yet in all this time they have not taken any considerable Ship of force In the fourth place He falls upon some Members of Parliament to wit Master Vassall and Master Bence That they are owners of some slaggish Ships now in the service as if their Ships were not as well able to serve as any other Ships in the Kingdom and likewise would fain make all the Commissioners of the Navie Owners of such Ships as are unfit for the service of the State when indeed and in truth Master Burrell careth not what Ships they have so he may have their places Then he saith he hath a new complaint which he hath worn thred-bare and as false as the rest testified by witnesses and never a word true And that is that the best of Prizes have been estranged from the Parliament and possessed by the Officers of the Navie and their associates And that those Ships have taken many rich Prizes and when they have taken them the Officers of the Navie have paid them off with the Parliaments pay not allowing those that have been most valiant one penny for their shares when the Prizes taken have been worth 11000 l. And when the Sea-men demanded their shares one of the Officers threatned them with imprisonment By which unkind usage saith Master Burrell many thousand common Sea-men have been occasioned to leave the Kingdom and to serve against the Parliament Then Master Burrell doth beseech their Honours to give him leave to acquaint them that there is a Danish Ship now in the River of Thames and saith it is said she was taken from the Danes by authority of Parliament but saith he knowes not whether Prize or no But this he knoweth for certain that Ship is fitter for the Parliament then for any Subject in the Kingdom and wheresoever the mystery lieth saith wise Master Burrell that Ship was worth foure times so much money as she was sold for Answer Master Samuel Vassall doth owe part of the May-flower which is a serviceable Merchant Ship and hath been often imployed both in the Straits and in the West-Indies by diverse Merchants in London being fortified with twenty eight peeces of Ordnance and three Decks and never understood by us to be a Collier or sluggish as afore is declared Master Alexander Bence oweth a sixteenth part of the Blessing being a fit Ship for a Man of Warre as any Ship of her burthen in the River of Thames and no sluggard as Master Burrell would have her And as for the Angel we know of no such Ship in the service And whereas Captain Crandley and Captan Morris are said to be owners of the Anne Percie it is not true although the Ship be without exception fit to serve any Prince in Christendome And whereas master Burrell saith that Captain Crandley and Captain Tweedy owe part of the Honour and Providence it is true Captain Crandley owes part of the Providence though not in the service as likewise the Honour lately burnt But as for Captain Tweedie to be owner of either of them or of any other Ship in the service it is false and untrue although both the said Ships were and are serviceable both for the State and Merchants as appeared by the Honour which fought with six of the Kings best Men of Warre off Holy-head in Wales and beat them into Bristoll and yet not in the States service And whereas we are charged with severall Prizes taken by the Parliaments Ships estranged from the Parliament and possest by the Officers of the Navie and their associates and paid with the Parliaments pay and their chief Commanders Irish We answer it is notoriously false and scandalous as what else touching this Article And we desire your Honours would be pleased that he not proving it we may have vindication and be repaired in our reputation which to us is as dear as our lives And as for the Danish Ship we know of such a Ship taken by Captain Batten and after delivered by the Honourable Houses of Parliament to the Merchants Adventurers together with her goods brought from the East-Indies which was by them sold in satisfaction for their wrongs received from the King of Denmark and whether sold cheap or dear it no way concerneth the State nor us By this your Honours may perceive the malice of this filly ignorant man that will inform your Honours with that which he cannot in the one nor dare not in the other make good Master Burrell recites diverse Captains by name Captain Man Captain Ellison Captain Wills Captain Wild and Captain Wappell which he saith have done very good service but never received any reward or preferment And would make the world believe they are as discontented as himself insomuch that he saith they would leave the Kingdom when to our knowledge three of them are now at Sea in the service of the Parliament in three good Ships and are neither discontented nor unrewarded as Mr Burrell would have them to be Ans As to the fifth Article touching Captain Man so much commended by Mr Burrell for his valour wherein he saith he hath deserved a gold chain for his service against Mucknell we confesse had he and his consorts persevered and taken Mucknell they all had well deserved a good reward but leaving him to harbour himself in Silly where he run his Ship upon a rock we cannot conceive how he or they have deserved a reward yet for his incouragement we suppose the Honourable Committee of the Admiralty hath well preferred him from the command of a small Frigate to command one of the best third rank Ships in the Navy As for the good service of Captain Ellison we are well satisfied but that he hath not received any shares of what is due we cannot believe or that he should make any such complaint unto Master Burrell and not rather unto those who would do him right As for Captain Iohn Wills we marvell he should complain of all others for to our knowledge he is well satisfied in the Service being Captain of a small Ship the Lucie he left the said Ship and lived ever since on shore and if
with their strength of Ordnance having two and three Tire would have been too hot for their coming near them yet such was the strength of our Ships most of them having two Tire of Ordnance and well mann'd that by the blessing of God we gave them the overthrow And ever since the Navie hath been preserved and built in a better posture then in those dayes and more serviceable for the honour and preservation of the Kingdom And because your Honours may be satisfied how necessary great Ships are with two Tire of Ordnance for the defence of this Kingdom we shall onely instance in two Ships which are yet lively in our memory In Anno 1640. Don Antonio de Kendo came into the Downs with a Fleet of Ships from Spain and having rid there some time the Admirall Van Trump with six of the best Ships in Holland attended the motion of Don Antonio his Ship the rest of his Fleet consisting of eighty Sail attended the rest of the Spanish Fleet Don Antonio when he had refreshed his men and fitted himself weighed Anchor out of the Downs the Admirall of Holland did the like with six Ships and coming without the Goodwyn-Sands the Admirall of Holland came up with the Admirall of Spain as far as his transome but received such entertainment that he durst never more come up with him nor any of the Ships in his company notwithstanding the Admirall of Spain stayed for them with his top-Sails down and main yard a crosse such great force had this great Ship with two Tire and an half of Ordnance that the Hollanders durst not deal with her The Admirall of Portugall being another great Ship of that Fleet with two Tire of Ordnance fought with sixteen States Men of War almost a whole day yet never could take her and being offered any quarter that they would demand scorned it At last when the Hollanders saw they could not take her two of their Men of War desperately ran aboard of her with two Fire-Ships where they all burned together untill they were consumed And indeed if they had not used that Stratagem they had never destroyed her By this your Honours may perceive the great difference between Ships of two Tire of Ordnance and one Tire as Master Burrell would have them In the next place he makes a long Narration of the Sally Fleet where Captain Rainsborow was Commander and saith He findes in his Iournall these words We did give them chase all day and at night we lost them which great deficiency saith he renders the Navie to be in a contemptible condition Ans Now let any Sea-man judge whether Captain Rainshorow's Fleet could be in a fit condition to chase light and clean Vessels that came out of Sally that night when he had been two Moneths from England and grown foule and four Months Victuals in Besides those small Vessels which he chased were when he first saw them two Leagues from him which was a long chase to fetch up and would hold a good Sailor chasing all day Besides if the Men of War had contemned them as Master Burrell saith why did they run from them and would not fight For by their running away it is evident they were not contemned but feared And yet he confesseth that Fleet performed better Service then Englands Navie did in 44 years before In the next place because we will touch onely what concerns our selves Master Burrell discovers where the fault hath been That the Navie hath not been reformed and how the Right Honourable the Earl of Warwick hath been misled by the Officers of the Navie and the Brethren of the Trinity-house who should have advised his Lordship to make choice of nimble Ships for Warlike Service that if the Brethren of the Trinity-house were so knowing as they seem and so well affected as they ought they should have sent forth for their own Adventure one Ship and one Pinace that should have sailed as nimbly as the Queens Ship Such an example saith he peradventure would have moved the dull Officers to hearken to the reducing of part of the Navie into a serviceable posture for these times and to make choice of better Ships which they have hired at dearer Rates For Answer thereunto We wonder much at the boldnesse of this sick-brained man that he should question the judgement of that noble Earl to be misled by us as if his Lordship were not a Sea-man himself to discern what is fit to be done for the making of fit and nimble Ships for Service better then Master Burrell who scarce ever saw salt water and consequently never saw Service And for the affection of the Trinity-house we are confident that divers of that Corporation have set out many Ships and Pinaces for the Publike in these distracted times to their great losse and hinderance as some of the Members of the honourable House of Commons can witnesse but never heard that Master Burrell nor his Associates set out any Ship or Pinace in defence of the Parliament of England since these Wars began And for the reducing of the Navie into such a posture as Master Burrell would have it we hope never to be guilty of so great a disservice to this Kingdom And although Master Burrell saith we have made bad choice of Ships and at dear rates to serve the State we shall make it appear to the honourable Houses that they have been the best Merchants Ships in this Kingdom and taken up at no other rates then hath been given long before we came in Office in the most peaceable times In Folio 4 Master Burrell quarrels with the Trinity-house and talks of Toles and fair Immunities coming in by the industrious Sea-men and chalks them out their duty to take care for the common Sea-men and not to suffer thousands of them in discontent to run out of the Kingdom Ans As for the Toles and Immunities which the Trinity-house receive they receive it with one hand and pay it with the other to the widdow and fatherlesse of that Corporation and to such as have received wounds and hurts in the Parliaments and Merchants Service for which they have two pence a voyage out of every common Sea-man and no more if the voyage be three years long yet the malice of Master Burrell would make the world beleeve the Trinity-house receives much when indeed their whole comings in since these distracted times doth not releeve half the poor belonging to that Corporation And for the common Sea-men they need not be discontented having had an Augmentation of four shillings in a Moneth more then ever any King or Queen in England gave them besides other Immunities granted them by the Parliament Neither do we beleeve that any are gone over except such as are Malignants and Enemies to the State which are better out of the Kingdom then in it In the next place he roves by way of Multiplication in which it seems he is not skilfull for instead of 500
wil be as he doth all the rest of the Navie Then he falls to telling of a story and saith he believes that all the Ships in the Navie in three years have not taken so many Prizes as Plunkets Ship hath taken in these two years and that some of those Prizes were very rich but by estranging that Ship of Plunkets the Parliament hath lost all those Prizes Ans Your Honours may perceive what Master Burrells intentions are by his language that is still to dishonour the Royall Navie calling them sluggish and praising of Flunkets Frigate for a nimble Saylor when there is twentie sail of Frigates and Ships now in the Parliament service that fail as well and many of them better And whereas he falsely saith that Plunkets Ship hath taken more Prizes in two years then the Parliament Ships have taken in three we shall referre your Honours to the Collectours for Prizes and Prize-goods and they will tell your Honours that the Parliament Ships have taken a hundred and ten Merchant Ships and thirty nine Men of War have been taken and sunk which had his Majesties Commission besides many Spaniards French and Dutch that have been delivered back at the earnnest request of the Ambassadours And we never heard of more then six Ships taken by Captain Plunckets Frigate and most of them being Merchant Ships In the next place he begins a large discourse that in November last he understood that there was three Frigates to be built for the State and that he was designed to build one and was shewed a paper from a principall Ship-wright which be had received from the Officers of the Navie directing him how he should build one of the Frigats that when she was built she would never do any good service but saith Mr. Burrell that which troubled the Ship-wright most was the price for saith he if they give a slight price they must expect slight Frigates Then saith Master Burrell I took the paper into consideration and I acquainted the Ship-wright with my dislike of it and told him I would move the Lords of the Admiraltie so to order the businesse that those Ship-wrights that did build them should build without direction from the Officers of the Navy and that they should have an indifferent price for them which was that which Mr. Burrell aimed at because he would build one Then he sets forth the manner and form of his Petition to the Lords of Admiralty in two sides of paper and tells their Lordships of ten Whelps built by the direction of Sir Iohn Pennington and rakes up the ashes of his dead body and saith the builders were so misled by him that all those vessels proved sluggish Then he layes down positive rules and directions how the Frigates should be built as punctually as Archimedes the Mathematician but still hath a care of his interest and desires that the Builders might not be disheartned in the price of them Then he propounds 300l to be deposited that is to say to each builder an 100 l. and the Frigates to sail into Downs and from thence to the Isle of Wight and then round about the Island and so to Ports-mouth and that Frigate that cometh in there first to be reputed the best Frigate for service and that the Ship-wright that built her should have the 300 l. for his service Then saith he before I offered these propositions to their Lordships I conferred with Master Pet and Master Castle whether they were willing to build two of the Frigates upon the forementioned tearms or not and if they would build each of them one be would build the third So when I found saith he Master Pet and Master Castle to like my propositions I presented them to the Honourable Earle of Warwick and Lord Say and proved before their Lordships that if the Frigates were built according to the directions of the Officers of the Navie the Frigates would prove unserviceable to the State But saith Master Burrell this took no effect Soon after came forth other directions worse then the first That one of the intended Frigates should be built 70 Tons bigger then the other two whereas by my propositions they should be all of equall burden And secondly Master Pet Iunior should build the bigger and Master Pet senior the two lesser Frigates by which subtile plot saith he all emulation was laid aside For answer to the needfull of what Master Burrell hath falsely suggested In the first place your Honours may perceive what Master Burrell drives at the first is a good price not for the good of the Kingdome but for his own ends because saith he I was designed by their Lordships to build one In the next place he would brand the Commissioners of the Navie in giving directions for the building of unserviceable Frigates when indeed they gave no directions for them but gave the Master Ship-wright order to draw out their own dimensions which accordingly they did which we have ready to produce under their hands And if the ten Whelps built many years since proved deficient it doth not follow these Frigates now a building should prove no better Saylors But Master Burrell in that strikes at the Commissioners of the Navie wounding us through Sir Iohn Penningtons sides as if these Frigates would be unserviceable because he falsely suggests we gave directions therein And for his propositions to try their Sailing round about the I le of Wight to Portsmouth is so ridiculous that we need not trouble our selves about it for all Sea-men know that there can be no triall of Ships in that place the tydes running counter and one Ship may be in the tyde and the other out which may make great difference and indeed lies more in the skill of the Pilot then in the Ship in observing the setting of the tides and consequently to take the advantage of it by which your Honours may perceive how Master Burrell will undertake to tell your Honours that which he understands not And for his proposition to the Lords to build those Frigates by the great their Honours utterly refused it knowing it a dishonour to the Parliament to build Ships out of his Majesties yard having the best Ship-wrights in the Kingdome to perform that service and one who had given such testimony of his Art and skill in building of a Frigate for the right Honourable the Earle of Warwick that a better Saylor is not in England nor Dunkirk but the Lords told Master Burrell if he would build one to trie his skill he should have his Majesties yard at Portsmouth to build in with timber plancks and materialls needfull which Master Burrell refused to do and saith it was a dishonour cast upon him and for no other cause but that he could not build one by the great that so he might get two or three hundred pound by the Parliament And if the other Shipwrights are discontended as Master Burrell saith because they did not build them by the great
of the Seas it is true that since these distracted times the Hollanders have been very insolent in wearing their Flags as they have formerly done But such hath been the valour and courage of our Commanders that as often as they have been met withall they have been compelled to do their dutie In folio 9. Master Burrell saith that when the Royall Navie shall be reduced into a serviceable posture the Parliament may save a fourth part of that vast charge which hath been spent at Sea since these distracted times To which we answer We do not know what Master Burrell calls reducing the Navie but we conceive it is rather a destruction of the Navie to cut down the first second and third Rate-Ships which are walls of Brasse to defend this Kingdom And as for saving a fourth part of the charge that hath been spent at Sea since these distracted times we are yet to learn although we have constantly followed Marine affairs these thirty years and upwards how ever we desire that Master Burrell will give reasons how the fourth part of the charge may be saved and such Fleets maintained at Sea as have been set forth these foure yeares past without dimunition of the strength and glory of the Navie We come now to Master Burrells last quere where he desires the Honourable House of Commons to examine what the Kings party would have attempted that they have not freely effected have they not saith he been supplied from beyond Seas with Ordnance Armes and Ammunition and imported and exported eminent Traytours and have not both Irish and Turks landed in this Kingdom and carried away Men Women and Children Answer Although it be true that this quere belongs not wholly to us to answer our Office being no other then to act by the Parliament and Committee of Lords and Commons of the Admiralties Order to equip victuall and Manne the Ships destinated for the Guard of the Sea as also to inform their Lordships of the repair of Ships Docks and Houses in his Majesties severall yards c. We thought it our duty to give an answer in the just vindication of those Noble Lords and Commons of the Committe of the Admiraltie who sit at the Helm that there hath been as much care taken to prevent the landing of Irish the transportation and importing of Traytors The bringing in of Ammunition as the wit of man could invent and truly if Dunkirk being a small Town in one year took from the Hollanders notwithstanding the great Fleets they yearly set out 80 Sail of Ships how much more might the Kings men of Warre being assisted by the French Hollanders and Dunkirkers who seemed to be the Parliaments friends carry in Armes Traitors and Ammunition into the Kings Quarters yet they paid dear for it For although some escaped yet many were taken witnesse a States Man of Warre going into Scarborough with Powder and Armes The King of Denmarks Ship bound in for Newcastle laden with Armes and divers French men and Hollanders bound into Bristoll Falmouth Dartmouth Scarborough and Newcastle with Armes and other provisions which the Collectors for Prize-goods can certifie one and other to the number of 110. Sail besides many Ships with his Majesties Commission And as for the Turks landing in Cornwall they landed in his Majesties Quarters and not in the Parliaments and if Posts and Intelligence might have gone along that Coast they might have been prevented the Parliament Ships being at the seige of Plymouth in defending that Town but never heard of it untill too late and that from his Majesties Quarters And thus we hope we have answered Master Burrells false aspersions and calumnies cast upon the Right Honourable the Lords and Commons of the Admiralty the Commissioners of the navie the Master Wardens and Assistants of the Trinity-house with the principall members of the corporation of Ship-wrights and all for his own ends to get into imployment The ANSWER of the COMMISSIONERS of the NAVIE to the Generall Charge intituled ENGLANDS OUTGAURD or ENGLANDS ROYALL NAVIE surveyed and lamented by ANDREWES BURRELL Gentleman sometimes servant in the Navie IN the first place Master Burrell saith that there is not one Ship in the Navie that hath taken any one of the Kings Men of War since these Warres began and that the greatest Commanders which the Parliament hath sent forth as Admiralls Vice-Admiralls and Rear-Admiralls are so farre from subduing any of the Kings Men of Warre that there is not any one of them that have shot one shot in anger since these distracted Wars began though many hundred thousands of pounds have been spent in guarding the Seas Ans That is false and scandalous against that noble Lord and worthy Gentlemen that have commanded the Parliament Ships for we shall make it appear that since these Wars began the Parliament have taken and sunk 39 Ships and Pinaces Men of War who had his Majesties Commissions the names of the Ships with their Captains that took them for better satisfaction we have here under inserted Viz. Captain Batten in the Saint George took the Bonaventure Admirall of Ireland the Swallow Vice-Admirall and the Robert-Frigate Captain Swanley in the Leopard took the Globe Admirall of Bristoll the Providence Vice-Admirall Discovery Rear-Admirall and the Henrietta Pinnace Regis Captain Smith in the Swallow took the Fellowship and Hart-Frigate Captain Pecket in the May-flower took the Providence Regis Captain Thomas in the eighth Whelp took the May-flower Admirall of Falmouth and chased on shore her Vice-Admirall and Rear-Admirall at Brest also he sunk a Frigate of Sir Nicholas Crispes Captain Thomas Captain Ellison and Captain Whitty being all in company took one Man of War Captain Ellison in the Providence sunk a Man of War of Foy and also the Fortune of Dunkirk Captain Stansby in the Providence and Captain Rew in the Robert took Brown Bushell's Frigate called the Cavendish Captain Pet in the Mari-rose took the Roebuck-Frigate of Dunkirk Captain Coppin in the Grey-hound took the Constant Captain Skinner Commander of her Captain Clark in the Josline took the Swan-Frigate c. Captain Haddock in the John took a States Man of War laden with powper Regis going to Scarborough and also the Salvator Captain Beddall in the Hector took the Black-horse and Captain Denton's Ship and two Men of War of Scarborough and likewise an Ostend Man of War bound for Scarborough Captain Gattensby in the Prosperous took a Danish Man of War laden with Arms Captain Stansby in the Providence took the Jennet a Dunkirk Man of War Captain Gilson in the Constant Warwick took the Royalist Captain Cox in the Royalist took a Dogger-Boat of four Guns Captain Pilgrim in the Sampson took a Dogger-Boat The Irish Squadron took the Welcome-Pink Encrease Tryall-Pink Charles Trough Peter-Frigate and the William and John Captain Wodward in the Roebuck took a Dunkirk-Frigate of Falmouth which Frigate is now in the Service as most of the rest are Besides at least 110
Merchant-Ships trading in and out of those Ports in defection to the Parliament with Ammunition Money and Goods that have been taken and made Prize by the Parliament-Ships to a large Sum and many that have been restored to well-affected persons and divers that on the earnest request of the Spanish French and Dutch Embassadours that have been delivered back unto them By which it doth appear that some shot have been made in anger and not onely at Sea but it is well known to the Parliament that the Navie hath not had the least share in preserving of Plymouth the Isle of Wight Hampton Portsmouth Weymouth Lyme Hull Wales and Ireland and divers other places which otherwise had been in the hands of the Kings Forces at this time Neither must we omit the great service done in the Downs in Anno 1642 where by the wisdom and valour of the Right Honourable Robert Earl of Warwick Admirall in the James Captain William Batten Vice-Admirall in the Saint George and a mixture of Sea-men Commanders of the best of his Majesties Ships then in the Downs At which time there was a Message sent from his Majesty by the hands of Sir John Pennington and Master Villiers directed to the Earl of Warwick therein requiring the delivery up of the Fleet into the hands of Sir John Pennington appointed by his Majesty to be Admirall This Message being spred amongst the Commanders and Sea-men in the Fleet it invited the greater part of the Gentlemen who commanded divers of those Ships then present to submit unto his Majesties Message and to stand upon their guard refusing all commands the Earl of Warwick laid upon them in obedience to the Parliament The names of the Captains and Ships on either side are hereafter expressed Commanders that submitted to His MAjESTIES Message Sir John Mince Rear-Admirall in the Victory Captain Fog in the Reformation Captain Slingsby in the Guard-land Captain Burley in the Anthelope Captain Wake in the Expedition Captain Fox in the Lyon Captain Hill in the tenth Whelp Commanders who continued in obedience to KING and PARLIAMENT The Right Honourable Robert Earl of Warwick Admirall in the James Captain Batten Vice-Admirall in the Saint George Captain Thomas Trenchfield in the Vnicorn Captain George Hatch in the Mary Captain Richard Swanley Charles Captain Brian Harrison Vauntguard Captain Richard Owen Entrance Captain Henry Bethell Mari-rose Captain Martin Martin Captain Thomas Ashley Sampson But it pleased God that by the integrity of the Sea-men who faithfully stood to that Noble Lord the Commanders of such Ships that revolted from the Parliament were quickly suppressed and reduced to his Lordships obedience who placed other Captains in their room which was a very great Service and indeed under God the protection of the Parliament and Kingdom for had his Majesty been possessed of that Fleet he would thereby have been Master of the Seas and blockt up the City of London in their Relief and Trade By which all men may see that the many hundred thousands of pounds which Master Burrell saith hath been spent is not wasted in vain as he maliciously suggesteth In the second place Master Burrell saith The Officers of the Navie have been advised how they may make part of the Navie able to subdue the Kings Men of War with the saving of one 4th part of that vast charge which hath been spent at Sea but in opposition to any good advice they will not be moved to reduce one of the old Ships for a triall and though the Kingdom perish they will persist in deluding the State commending and supporting the Title of a Royall Navie when in truth it is unserviceable I beleeve I may safely say contemptible in the esteem of Strangers Ans We cannot but wonder at the imbecillity of this man who contrary to the opinion of the ablest Sea-men and Ship-wrights of this Kingdom would cut down the best Ships in the Navie and make them nimble Frigates as if the three Frigates now building and near twenty more now in the Service were not by Gods assistance able to subdue half a dozen which are left untaken of his Majesties Men of War and the most of them of so small force that they are not considerable if any of the Parliaments Frigates meet with them And for saving of one 4th part of the charge we beleeve if he bring the Navie into such a posture as he pretends from Ships to Frigates he may very well save one 4th part of the charge both in men Victuals and Ordnance But we desire to know of this Dull Carpenter how he will do this without disabling the Navie And for supporting the Title of a Rovall Navie we dare presume to aver and maintain and that in despite of Malignants and all Enemies to the King and Parliament That no Prince in Christendom hath so many brave Ships for a defensive and offensive War as the Kingdom of England hath at this present having of the first rank 4 Ships that carry from 50 to 80 peeces of Ordnance 12 Ships of the second rank that carry from 44 to 50 peeces of Ordnance 9 Ships of the third rank that carry from 36 to 44 peeces of Ordnance and of the fourth rate 3 Ships which carry from 24 to 32 2 Ships of the fifth rate carrying from 16 to 20 peeces of Ordnance 3 of the sixth rate carrying from 10 to 16 peeces of Ordnance besides 20 Ships and Frigats which the Parliament hath bought and taken And if these Ships appear contemptible in the eyes of Strangers we shall refer it to the judgement of any moderate man As also whether it be fit that Master Burrell should publish to all Strangers That the Navie of this Kingdom is in an unserviceable condition when it doth appear to all men that it was never better managed nor in a better posture then now it is In the next place Master Burrell saith The Officers of the Navie do know that the Navie hath not performed any good Service for the Kingdom since these distracted Wars began yet such is their plotting that they will continue it in an unserviceable condition Ans The Officers of the Navie do know that the Navie hath performed many good Services for the Kingdom as it is set forth in our Answer to the first Article And our plotting hath never been otherwise then for upholding and maintaining the honour of the Navie In the fourth place Master Burrell saith That the Officers of the Navie being thus resolved to accomplish their own ends they suffer the Royall Navie to lie rotting at Chatham and Portsmouth at a dear rate a rate that exceeds all former Presidents and that they hire the worst of Merchant-Ships and Colliers to serve in their room and that he is hold to say they are more sluggish then any Ships in the Navie and some of those Ships are belonging to the Officers of the Navie and some to Parliament-men Ans To which we Answer That it is false for the
Ships of the Navie were never better repaired upheld and maintained then since they were in the hands of the Parliament as by our particular Answer hereafter shall appear And as for their lying in Harbour and Merchant-Ships take up to serve in their room it will appear that there hath been yearly employed at Sea as many of the Ships of the Navie as was held in the wisedom of the Parliament fit for the number of men assigned for the yearly guard of the three Kingdoms which men had they been employed in the Ships of the Navie most of them being great Ships would have contracted a vast charge and not have spread sufficiently to guard the three Kingdoms For example There hath been employed yearly from 60 to 70 Sails viz upon the Coast of Ireland and Lancashire 25 Ships for the guard of Severn and Wales 5 for the guard of the Channell of England 15 Ships for the guard of Guernsey and those Islands 3 for the Downs to attend Convoys 8 and for the guarding of the North Coast and Kingdom of Scotland 12 Ships By which it will appear there is a necessity of hiring Merchant-Ships in regard the Navie consisted but of 32 Ships when we came in Office and the hiring of Merchant-Ships is no other then what hath been usuall in all times of War time out of mind And if the whole Navie should be yearly employed besides the vast charge it would contract it would be too great an adventure for the Kingdom to undergo for if the Fleet should by casualty of Weather or by accident of War miscarry there would be no reserve left to make another Fleet and so the whole Kingdom exposed to danger whereas if six or eight of the greatest Ships be left in Harbour with the assistance of thirty or fourty of the Merchant-Ships which may be alwayes had in the River of Thames they will make a sufficient Fleet to encounter any Force that shall come against them Besides the Merchant-Ships do cost the Kingdom nothing near the charge that the great Ships of the Navie stand in and yet they run the adventure of their Ships Ordnance and Ammunition If in case the great Ships of the Navie be employed in the room of Merchants the State bears the adventure which in case of losse of a second Rate-Ship will amount to 25000 pounds We say not this to discourage the Parliament from building of more nimble Frigates which may lessen the hiring of Merchant-Ships if there should be the like occasion but to let your Honours know there hath been nothing lost in taking up Merchant-Ships in the room of the great Ships of the Navie And further if all the Navie should be constantly employed yearly at Sea they would be so out of repair in two or three years that the Sea would be left unguarded by them and so be forced to hire all Merchant-Ships And as for such Ships Master Burrell saith belong to Parliament-men and the Officers of the Navie we refer you to our Answer to Master Burrells particulars In his fifth Article Master Burrell affirmeth That those Captains that have been most valiant have been discouraged and those that have deserved punishment preferred to places of trust and in particular Captain Man with others Ans In Answer to this charge because we will not reiterate things twice as in some things we are forced to do in regard of Master Burrells wandring progresse we shall herein refer our selves to his particular charge wherein we doubt not but to give your Honours satisfaction In the next place he makes a long discourse of Services done by Captain Man and Captain Gilson in two nimble Frigates against Mucknell in a great Ship and makes his inference That if two nimble Frigates can destroy so great a Ship as Mucknells with 42 peeces of Ordnance there is no Ship in the World able to encounter a Ship of the second rank being fortified with 20 Demi-canon every shot weighing 32 pounds Ans For Answer thereunto It is false that those 2 Frigates although accompanied with another good Ship of 20 peeces of Ordnance all three having 62 Guns and manned with 280 men yet did destroy Mucknells Ship she not being of the force of a third rate Ship in the Navie But rather foiled them all and forced them to leave her by which means the next day she went for Silly where in going in for want of a good Pilot she was cast away Whereby it doth appear that Master Burrells Observation is grounded upon a false Principle For if a Merchant-Ship was able to defend her self from three Frigates armed with whole Culverin and Demi-culverin and not with small Ordnance as Master Burrell saith much more might she have done against one Ship with one Tire of Ordnance But on the contrary had one of his Majesties Ships of the second or third rank come up with Mucknell fortified as now they are with two Tire of Ordnance doubtlesse Mucknell must have submitted And we do beleeve That if any such Ship had been in view of Mucknell she would have sailed as well as Mucknell's Ship and not been liable to that foule aspersion of being sluggish wherewith Master Burrell brands them In the next place Master Burrell saith There is a want in the Fleet of Pistols Pole-axes Swords and Fire-works Ans To which we Answer It is not the duty of our Places to furnish any Ammunition but belongeth to the Officers of the Ordnance yet we do verily beleeve that for all such Arms as are usefull for service are by them supplied the rather for that we have heard no complaint from any Commander employed in any of the Kings Ships but as for such Merchant-Ships as are taken up by us they are furnished with Pistols Swords Pikes and all other Arms for War fitting for defence and offence In his eighth Article Master Burrell reciteth the new Frigates and would lay an aspersion on the Officers of the Navie That they should give to the Master Ship-wrights Directions in the building of them and that when they were built they would not be so serviceable as they should be the work being destroyed before it be begun Ans What Master Burrell sets down in this Article is false and untrue we having already set forth by whose Directions these Frigates were built and if they prove unserviceable as we beleeve the contrary yet they cannot be so bad as the Mari-rose built by Master Burrell being the most sluggish Ship in the Navie which we have lately had in the Dock and caused to be lengthened Aft with other works done unto her endevouring to make her a serviceable Ship And as for the work being destroyed before it be begun that seems to us a Paradox and carrieth no more truth with it then what else he hath set forth In his ninth Article Master Burrell begins to tell his old Story with a piece of Non-sence in these words Vnlesse the Parliament do thus at an excessive