the Governor by the said Mr. Rowley and notice sent to Paris An Order came to take me from the rest of my Company and put me into a Dungeon but the Governor being a Man of more Conscience than the rest because there was no Dungeon but what was so wet would soon have kill'd me He put me in a Tower the Walls twenty Foot thick Archt above and below and the Windows made up save only a little Light twelve Foot high where I lay a lone very disconsolately three or four Months when Mr. Skelton coming thither got me liberty to walk in the Castle which being known at Paris an Order came to send me to Angiers and then I had Ten-pence a Day paid me for all the time I was at Nantz which was the only Mony I received of the French all the while I was in France At Angiers I lay Close Prisoner in the Castle fifteen Months more under a most Cruel and Tyrannical Governor Monsteur Doteshon formerly one of Cardinal Mazarine's Guard who would receive the Sacrament every Week and yet as soon as he came out of the Chappel and sometimes even within it would beat or abuse the Prisoners or do some wicked thing or other on any the least occasion There were in Prison fourteen The Dutchess de la Force three Years in Prison Mr. de Crosnier five Years Mr. de la Brifardiere two Years Mr. de Malle three Years for Religion Mademoiselle Robert Mademoiselle Voison Me. Katharine le Roy. Me. Manon Soignart Me. du Plessis Me. Paulain Me. Bellefuille Me. Carnay Aged 100 Years Me de la Porte Aged 80 Years In Prison 12 years on suspicion of Poysoning but can have no Tryal or Hearing Persons some for Religion and the rest on other Pretences among whom were People of very good Quality whose Names are in the Margin they have some of them been in Prison ten or twelve Years some more some less and some of them Eighty and an Hundred years of Age who are never permitted to Write or receive any Letters from their Friends and particularly the Dutchess de la Force tho her Husband the Duke by his great Age and Hardship in the Bastile was forced to turn his Religion yet they will not suffer him to Write to his Dutchess nor her to Write to him This Governor by his own contrivance to Punish the Prisoners had a Door made to the outside of each Prison Window which upon every slight occasion he would cause to be Locked up that the Prisoners had no manner of Light sometimes for six or seven Months together so that the neerest comparison I can make of a Prison in France is to that of a man buried Alive for such a time being equally debarr'd of all earthly Comfort by any fort of Intercourse or otherwise While I was at Angiers there was a Protestant Marquess Condemned to the Gallies for breaking out of Prison he was Chained to a Turk that had hardly Rags to cover him in this Manner he was carried to the Galleys and then made to Strip and Row with the rest of the Slaves The Taxes upon the People are so Prodigious that a poâ—â— Shoemaker at Angiers one Mathurine Gainer that had a Wife and three Children and paid but Twenty Shillings a Year Rent was rated a Noble and tho he offered to part with all he bad for five Shillings yet they sent Soldiers to Quarter upon him till he paid which is their usual method of raising Taxes who taking away what he had the poor Man by Charity got enough to pay the Tax but yet for saying he would write to the King about it he was clap'd into a Dangeon in the same Castle where I was and there kept three Weeks and then upon the Supplication of his Wife he was permitted to work in the Passage to the Dungeon to keep his Children from Starving And according to the Ability of the Persons they send Soldiers to Rifle and Tyrannize over them till they pay their Taxes and when I came away they were going to lay a Tax upon Saboes or Wooden Shoes besides four Pence upon a Hat tho it cost but half a Crown and Taxes upon Christnings and Funerals ☞ There was likewise a Prisoner at Angiers one Mr. Goddard an English Gentleman who being in the Academy before the War was at the beginning of the War taken up as a Spy tho then but Fifteen Years of Age and kept so closely that they would neither let me see him when he was Sick nor he see me when I was Sick only when I was coming away with much ado I got to see him where he lay in the Common-Goal in a sad Condition and now I hear he is removed to the Bastile and no Exchange will be allowed for him tho there was a Prisoner sent hence by mutual Agreement for him two Tears since who was kept there and yet he not delivered and thus we see what little regard the French have to their Word in performing either Articles or Treaties At my coming away I went to visit the English Prisoners at Dinan in Brittany where they lay in a most miserable condition two lay Dead at the Door and had so lain four and twenty Hours the Place Stunk so I was not able to go in and with their hard Vsage Seven hundred have been Buried out of that Prison since this War which computed with those Dead at Rochfort and other Places we cannot reckon to have lost less than Two thousand good Seamen by the ill Treatment they have had in France And notwithstanding the General Exchange agreed on they continue their wonted Barbarity to our Seamen as much as ever And yet to the Honor of the English Sailers I never found notwithstanding all their ill Vsage by Hanger Beating and otherwise that any of them went into that Kings Service tho much Sollicited to it by the Duke of Berwick and Sir William Jennings and that Mr. Fitz James who is Stiled Grand Prior of England and Ireland went to Sea the two last years yet there was not Fifty English Seamen in their whole Fleet which may serve to confute a popular Mistake among us that the French have abundance of our Seamen in their Service Indeed there are three Privateers belonging to King James that were set out of Ireland when he was there that are Manned with English and Irish And as they at first gave out I was an English Lord so I found afterwards their Demands were accordingly for my Release for they first refused thirty Seamen in Exchange for me then they refused two Captains Pecarr and Busheen afterwards they demanded Captain St. Maria and four Scotch Captains that lay Condemned in Newgate and when that was consented to then they demanded Lieutenant General Hamilton for me and would not be content to take the Earl of Clancarty or any of the other Prisoners in the Tower and now after all this Value put upon me by my Enemies I
is to be bestowed Gratis on such Men as will go in the Service It is Proposed The Reasons are I. That every Oyster-Cock Fishing-Smack or Hoy for Trawling and Drudging shall find a Man Qualified as before-mentioned and every three Peter-Boats the like to Serve Their Majesties in time of War Because they offered the late King James if they might be Incorporated that they would find him 500 good Men to Serve him at Sea on any occasion and now great part of these People have Protections and Serve not at all tho 't is more Reasonable they should Serve the Present Government than the Late and this way their Quota will hardly amount to more than they Voluntarily offered before II. That each Ballast Lighter find two Men tho they have but two Men work on Board them There are now but Sixty Six Ballast Lighters tho they ought to be Eighty but Sixty Six will find a Hundred thirty Two Men. These Men are Protected by their great Interest and very fit to Serve Their Majesties They will in a Tides time take up twenty or thirty Tun of Ballast which comes to about 30 s. of which the two Men that Labour hard have but one Third between them the other two Thirds are divided between the Ballast-Office and owner of the Lighter who having so great profit for little or nothing the Lighter being not worth above 60 l. and all Foreigners pay 4 d. per Tun more than others ought to contribute toward the Defence of the Sea which their profit comes by III. That each Row-Barge and Tilt-Boat find Two Seamen as above These Men are fit for the King's Service and what they usually give for Protections may be near sufficient to find the Men proposed IV. That each Western Barge carrying 12 or 14 Men may find four or five Men and more or less according to the number of Men they Employ These Barges have a great and certain Profit pay no Custom or other Duty and now when they come for London leave their Men at Kingston at Charge and hire others there that are not liable to be Imprest so that they would willingly contribute to be free and easie V. That each Ware Barge and such like find two Men at the least For the Reason aforesaid VI. That all Coal-Lighters Close-lighters and such like find Men in Proportion to their Tunnage as shall be thought fit They now pay for Protections and by that means have very good Men for 14 s. a Week and get vastly by bringing Coals c. through Bridge having 12 d. for the Carriage of each Chaldron besides the advantage of the Measure if they be Woodmongers VII That all small Craft viz. Ketches Hoys Smacks Coasters Traders c. not exceeding forty Tun each find a Man This they would gladly do that they might not be liable to be Imprest and get by it too in regard they might then make the more Voyages when they have no Interruption VIII That all Colliers for every Fifty Tun they Measure at Ninety Five Foot each Tun shall find a Man The Colliers by this would be much the gainers in saving the extraordinary Charge they are now at for Men sometimes giving 8 l. a Man each voyage which at other times they might have for 30 s. and when their Men are Prest in the Swin or Gun-Fleet they are forced to give 40 s. or 3 l. a Man to be brought up the River I have known some Colliers clear 4 or 500 l. in a Voyage all Charges paid They will make five or six Voyages in a Year now this War time and by this Method may make more IX That all Merchant-Ships Trading beyond Sea or lying at home by the Wall find a Man for each fifty tun they measure and if they are not like to go to Sea that year and thereof give notice to the Office when they bring the Men or pay the Mony that a Memorandum of it may be Enter'd in a Book for that purpose and if after a 12 Months time they come again and make Affidavit that such a Ship has not been at Sea in that time the Office shall repay them two Thirds of the Mony they have given or paid for their Men. When they have made a Voyage and come into Plymouth or other places their Men are Prest their Goods it may be perishable and their Markets lost or to prevent that they are at vast Charge in hiring Men or procuring Protections to bring their Ships about so that it would be their Interest thus to contribute to save them the much greater Expence they are now at as aforesaid some Ships having to my knowledge given four and five Pounds a Man for Hands to bring them up to London from the Downs X. That all Ships or Vessels belonging to Ireland New-England or other Plantations under the Government of England and trading hither be obliged upon their coming to any Port of England to give security to find their Quota of such Men during the War Because being Subjects to the Crown of England and liable to be Imprest as others are they ought for their Freedom to contribute towards the War in regard also that their Safety is concerned in the Publick Good and also many Ships this War for want of Hands being pressed there out have been cast away and taken XI That no hired Ship or Vessel Employ'd in their Majesties Service on any account whatsoever for carrying Provisions Stores Soldiers or otherwise may be exempted from this Contribution Because such Exemption would occasion many Disputes and great trouble to the Office and be made use of as a Pretence whenas these Men receiving their hire which they will take care shall be sufficient they ought as well as others to find their Quota XII As to the Watermen in the River of Thames it is thought reasonable that every three Boats or Wherries should find a Man not exempting the King's Queen's or Noblemens Watermen who have Badges and Coats which usually protect them and abundance others wear Bromagem Coats as if they belonged to Noblemen and Gentlemen tho they do not thereby deceiving the Lieutenants and keeping themselves from being Impressed Suppose there are 6000 Watermen belonging to the Thames one third part of them are at Sea already Prest or Voluntiers so that the rest at home have the benefit now of what maintained them all before and therefore three Wherries may well find one Man more easie than a Hackney-Coachman can pay 5 l. a year when he is at so great charge in keeping of Horses and continual wear of his Coach None of the Servants belonging to the King Queen Noblemen or Gentlemen are exempted from paying the Poll and other Taxes and since they are always paid by their Masters for what they do even beyond what others would and have Coats and Badges given them tho it be allowed that their Persons shall be protected from going to Sea themselves yet they ought to pay their
Quota to find Men as well as their share of other Taxes and the rather in regard of the Encouragement they have always had at Sea where a Waterman's Apprentice that has served him five year is allowed 23 s. a Month when a Captain 's or Warrant Officers Apprentice that hath served five years actually at Sea has but 18 s. a Month and by this Method the King will have always Good Men instead of Boys usually sent by the Watermen XIII That all foreign Built Ships contribute one 3d part proportionable to their Burthen more than Ships Built within their Majesties Dominions or what other Proportion the Parliament shall think fit This hath been done on other occasions for the Encouragement of English Navigation and to put a difference betwixt home Built and foreign Bottoms This Method is intended to comprehend all Vessels and small Craft throughout England as the Sand-barges at Plymouth to find one Man and the Keels at New-Castle one Man or more the Cobles to the Northward and all manner of Fishing-Boats and small Craft to pay proportionable to the Method before proposed Likewise that Ship-Carpenters Calkers and Sail-makers as their employs relate to the Sea shall furnish such a Proportion of Men from their several Yards for their Majesties Service as shall be thought Equitable and Armorours are sent by the Office of Ordnance And to render this Method the more effectual it is thought necessary that the Masters of all Ships Vessels and small Craft that are to find a Man shall bring one qualified Seaman for each Ship or be obliged to go themselves tho they may be excused from bringing the rest of their Quota on paying 5 l. each and this cannot be reckoned hard considering the great Trouble and Charge they are now at for Protections which by this will be saved and that is considerable for sometimes it hath cost Men more in obtaining Protections than would pay their Quota according to this Method for seven Years And to make it the easier upon Masters and Owners of Ships that they may not be at all the charge for finding their Quota if it be not provided that no private Seaman shall have above 30 s. a Month which would make them amends It may be however enacted that all Seamen in Merchant-ships shall pay to their respective Masters and Owners towards their Charge in finding Seamen for their Majesties Ships half a Crown in the Pound for all Mony they shall receive for Wages over and above 23 s. a Month that as they are so great Gainers by the War they may be assisting to the War having now sometimes 3 l. a Month whereas in time of Peace they have but 23 s. and 25 s. a Month and a Seaman in a Collier has now 8 l. a Voyage which used to be but 30 s. So that by this way the Masters and Owners will rather gain than lose and no one will be prejudiced for the Seamen pay only out of their extraordinary Wages And in case a Vessel exceed 50 Tun and amount not ot 100 Tun if she be above the one half of the 50 Tun in dispute she shall find a Man for that as well as if she measured the full number but if she come short of the one half of the 50 Tun in dispute then she shall not find any thing for the odd Tuns she measures over and above even fifties the Measurers to be sworn to do Justice between King and Subject and to be supervised by the Commissioners of this Office as occasion offers this to be understood as relating to Ships going Voyages by Sea and not In-land Vessels And by this Method instead of having 2 or 300 Lieutenants a Pressing and forcing Men to go against their wills we shall now have 5 or 6000 Men going about with mony in their hands to get Men for their Majesties Service who will hereby be encouraged to go willingly which will be a great ease on all sides and more expeditious than before because English-men may be better led than drove and a willing Boy is better than an unwilling Man Perhaps it may be objected that it will be hard for a Ship or a Vessel lying by the Wall to contribute in this manner and others for Covetousness or some sinister Ends of their own to get the Charge taken off themselves may start other Objections It is answered It is no more hard for a Ship lying by the Wall thus to contribute than for an empty House to find a Militia Man c. On the other hand all good Men and well-wishers to the Government so far as I can find by discoursing them are willing to it as knowing that it will save them great trouble and charge in Protections when they may at all times have Men cheap and free from being Impressed to follow their occasions and besides have Convoys more ready to attend them when the Fleet is well Mann'd the Ships clean and all in good Order And I am very well assured there will not be one Ship or Vessel the less on this account but if any Objection be made by those Concerned against any Particular hereof it is humbly desired they may be personally heard themselves by a Committee what they have material to offer as plain matter of fact without Lawyers and we do not doubt but to give good Satisfaction therein This being duly put in Practice all over England Wales c. according to the Method proposed will it 's not doubted with Ease when the Office is Settled furnish Their Majesties Fleet in a Month's time on any Occasion with at least Twenty Thousand Seamen if not more and better Men than now because then the rate of Wages will fall from the present Unreasonableness occasioned by Impressing and People will take them that will Serve the Cheapest and so be content with the worse Men themselves but the King cannot have ill Men because they must be all Qualified as abovementioned and Examined to that Purpose by the Commissioners appointed for this Office who must be such as have been Commanders of Men of War and no other and such men as they approve of shall have some Paper or Attestation under their Hands before they be received on Board any of Their Majesties Ships of War And in case any Person or Persons shall bring one Man to the Office and after Examination and Approbation shall send another in his Room he or they so Offending shall Forfeit to Their Majesties 20 l. for every such Offence to be Recovered as is hereunder mentioned and paid into this Office for the Uses aforementioned in regard the Commissioners are answerable to Their Majesties for all Unqualified Men sent on Board their Majesties Ships of War And if any Master Owner or other concerned refuse or neglect to find such Man or Men to be approved of as aforesaid or to pay the Five Pounds for each Man within the Month Limited by Proclamation he or they shall Forfeit
5 l. a Month while at Sea in lieu of one Seaman each Ship is to find for the King and hereby the Seamen in their Majesties Ships will have Encouragement because they will have Mony given them to go and lose none of the great Wages which now tempts them to lurk and go in Merchant-men It may be Objected that this Reducement of Wages will make Seamen leave their native Country and go into Foreign service To which it is Answered on the contrary that they will not do it because first no Nation Victuals so well as the English and our Sailers love to Eat well I that have Summer'd and winter'd them so often know something of their Tempers Secondly It is as good Wages if not better than any other Country gives and therefore it is not to be thought that English Seamen except some few Scoundrels I have observed good for nothing will leave their Native Country their Friends and their Families to go into Foreign Service for the same or less Wages which may sufficiently Be seen by their refusing the French Service tho they had large offers made them ☞ This done will be a vast Advantage to their Majesties Fleet and the Benefit of Trade 't will be an Ease on all sides and make Seamen plenty And to shew that there are English Seamen sufficient both for publick and private Service we may observe this last Summer that their Majesties Fleet was very well Maned besides great Fleets of Merchant Ships both Abroad and at Home And if Care in the first place be taken of the Grand Fleet which is the main Interest of the Kingdom the Seamen for Merchants Ships may be the least of Our Care for they will not fail of having Men enough If it be questioned whether Seamen will come into their Majesties Service for 5 l. Advance according to this Propsal It is answered That they certainly will for these follwing Reasons I. A Seaman for the sake of two Months Advance in an Eastindia-man in time of Peace which is but between 40 and 50 s. will enter himself to go to the East-Indies for 20 and 23 s. a Month tho that be a hard and sickly Voyage two years out from their Friends and some times three and after all must repay that two Months Advance again II. Since this War it may be seen what effect their Majesties bounty of six weeks Pay has had among the Seamen for this last Summer the Admirals Ship also Sir Ralph Delavalls Colonel Churchill's and several others were very well Mann'd all with Volunteers who came in for the sake of that Bounty as may be seen by the many Thousand pounds paid by their Majesties on that Account And then can it be doubted that if six weeks Bounty which is but 34 s. and 6 d. has so great an effect upon them that 5 l. which is above four Months Bounty can any way fail especially when Seamen are assured of being paid off at the laying up the great Ships for this being ready Mony and so considerable will be the greater encouragement to Seamen to leave with their Wives and Families in their absence And this Mony the Masters and Owners of Ships cannot grudge to pay in Regard of the Equivalent before Proposed of bringing down the Seamens Wages by which not only the Seamen will the readier come into the Kings Service when the temptation of great pay in Merchants Ships is taken off but also the Merchant will gain by thus paying the 5 l. in saving the great Rate he now pays for Wages Advertisement to the Reader ☞ THE following Proposals being humbly offer'd to the furtherance of Their Majesties Service as well in the speedy and easy Manning the Fleet as preventing the great Expence and Cost of Impressing Seamen It is not to be suppos'd that Their Majesties must lose Their Royal Power and Prerogative of Impressing Seamen and others in Cases of Exigencies and when these Methods fail which I have no reason as yet to doubt of But it will be still a further Encouragement for Seamen to come in Voluntiers for the sake of the Reward when they shall still be liable to a Press if they do not come in and the fear of that will make them the more willing to go upon Encouragement rather than be forc'd to go without it and that is also the Reason of the Merchants Owners and Masters of Ships being willing this should go forward in that it will free them of the Charge of Protections and prevent the hindrance of their Voyages by which they are now great losers ☞ If the matter of these ensuing Sheets be not digested into that Method and Order I could wish and that the Stile and Language be not Correct enough to appear in Print I must beg the Reader to consider first That it comes from a Sailer whose Busmess it is rather to speak Truth plain than Neat and Elegant Secondly That the haste I was in to get them Printed early enough for the Parliament to make them Useful for the ensuing Year may be partly the occasion of it and Thirdly That by my ill Usage and Hardships sustain'd in my Imprisonment in France my Memory is prejudic'd but sure I am there is a good Foundation for wiser Heads to work upon and when the Parliament have it under their Consideration it will be at their Election to Enact this for a Year or what time they please and under what Regulations shall be thought fit and according as it shall be found in that time it may either be made use of or not FINIS Books Printed for and Sold by William Miller at the Acorn in St. Paul 's Church-yard where Gentlemen or others may be furnished with the best Collections either in whole or in part taking all the State-Matters Church-Government Sermons Divinity or Humanity In FOLIO ASSemblies Annotations in two Vol. Ainswhorth's Annotations Book of Martyrs in three Vol. Ben. Johnson's Play Bartholomew-Fair His Staple of News Devil is an Ass Boyle's Wall-Flower Charleton's Physiologia or a Fabrick of Science Natural upon the Hypothesis of Atoms Downam of Justification Extravagant Shepherd the Anti-Romance Elton on the Colossians Guzman's Life Goad's Aphorisms and Discourses on the Bodies Celestial Spanish Baud. Herbert's Travels Heylen's Cosmography Heywood of Angels His Love and Revenge a Romance Pryn's History of King John c. In QUARTO Allin's Scripture Chronology Arraignment of the whole Creature Barclay's Argenis with the Cuts Ball against Cam of Separation Behmon's Works Bolton's Pieces Baxter's Works Brisket's Discourse of a Civil Life Blunt's Voyage to the Levant Lord Bacon's Essays Craddock's Knowledge and Practice Clark's Life of William the Conqueror Black Prince Sir Francis Drake Coopers Heaven Opened Rom. 8. Carpenter's pragmatical Jesuit a Comedy Declaration of Nusances in Cities Towns and Corporations by four Famous Sages of the Common-Law Mounson Plowden Manwood with the Resolution of the Judges of Assize Dod on the Commandments On the Sacrament On the Lord's Prayer Dike on the Heart c. 15795. A Collection of State-Matters in all Volumes as ACTS of Parliament Answers for and against one another Advices Apologies Army for and against Appeals Animadversions Articles of War and Peace Allarms Accounts Addresses Agreements Arguments Almanacks Bishops for and against Charges of High-Treason Considerations Collections of Papers Characters Conferences Commissions Cases City Affairs Catalogues of all sorts Decrees Declarations Desires Discourses Discoverers Dialogues England several sorts English Fights divers France Good Old Cause Grand Cases Great Britain Hue and Cries Histories Impeachments Instructions Kings Knights Lists Levellers Letters Majesties Messages and Answers Lilborne's Tracts Mercuries Monarchy Mysteries Memorials Murders News of most Sorts As also to supply Gentlemen that want any New-years-Gifts Needham's Tracts Narratives New England no Protestant Plot all the Gazettes Observations Orders Ordinances Parliament for and against Proclamations Plots Protestations Plain English Proverbs Problems Politick Powers Propositions Pleas. Present States Proceedings Papers Petitions Peace Princes Tracts Questions Queries Relation's Reply Reasons Representations Royalists Defence Resolutions Replications Remonstrances Sedgwiâ—k Stafford States Stubbs Speeches Tryals Travels and Voyages Treatises Transactions Triumphs Treason Tests for and against Votes of Parliament Vox Populi Coeli Regis Dei Civitas Plebis militis Clamantis Vindication Victories War Warnings 3578. Church-Government and Divinity on most Occasions 3472. Sermons on most Occasions as Assizes Artillery Christmas Passion Resurrection Funerls Feasts Fifths of November Consecration Thirtieth of January Twenty Ninth of May Latin Visitation Weddings c. 5693. Humanity of several Sorts as Husbandry Histories Law Lilly L'Estrange Physick and Surgery Plays Poetry Popery for and against Prophesies Schools Sea Trade Usury and Witchcraft Books c. 158. Catechisms of several Sorts 18936. Broad Sheets RIch's Pen's Dexterity in Short-hand Divine Examples of God's severe Judgments upon Sabbath-Breakers in their Unlawful Sports Collected out of several Divine Subjects viz. H. B. Mr. Beard and the Practice of Piety A fit Monument for our present Times A Brief Remembrancer Or the right improvement of Christ's Birth-day A Second Sheet of Old Mr. Dodd's Sayings Or Another Posie gather'd out of Mr. Dodd's Garden Hunting for Mony the First Part. Match for Mony The Second Part. Venning's Allarm to Unconverted Sinners Muses Fire-works upon the Fifth of November or the Protestant Remembrancer Perkins's Whole Duty of Man Mr. Richard Baxter's Serious Sayings concerning the great Duty of Charity Bishop Hall's Sayings concerning Travellers to prevent Popish and Debauched Principles Bacchanalia Caelestia A Poem in Praise of Punch 21459 Other Broad Sheets and Sheets on several Subjects â—12796 As also in Half-sheets FINIS
the Ship or Vessel for which they have not found Men or paid their Mony as aforesaid to be recovered into this Office by Prosecution in the Exchequer or at Common-Law and to be by the Officers thereof Sold and Employed in the Encouraging such Qualified Seamen as shall be fit for Their Majesties Service for which Encouragement or Gratuity many will be willing to come in and poor Seamen that come out of France and want Cloaths and Necessaries or are otherwise Distressed will gladly come to this Office and receive Five Pounds to go to Sea bringing his Landlord or some other Security to be bound for his going accordingly as must likewise all those that are brought on the account of any Ship Vessel or small Craft for when any fails the Vessel they Serve for is to be Accountable and therefore the Master or Owner on giving his Gratuity will be careful what Security he has that his Man or Men shall go And that such Master or Owner may not be put to any great trouble upon the failure of his Men when there is any such failure the Commissioners of this Office will send to the Master or Owner concern'd for the Bonds of the Persons so failing and put the same in Suit for which it is conceived necessary that some quick way may be provided for recovering the forfeiture without long Trouble or unnecessary Charge to the Office And if it shall happen that any of these Men so provided as aforesaid shall receive Preferment the Man so Preferr'd shall be obliged to find another in his room And if any Master shall happen to have his Men Imprest from him after he hath paid his Mony which I scarce believe will be unless upon some emergent occasion In such Case the Master upon complaint made to the Office shall have the Mony he paid return'd him again And now for the regular and effectual Management of this great Affair so much conducing to the ease and benefit of their Majesties and their Kingdoms It is humbly Proposed that there be appointed for the Principal Office in London five Commissioners all Sea Commanders that have well merited in their Majesties Service whereof one to be Superintendant and any three to make a Quorum That there be an Iron Chest in the Office with a Slit on the Top for any Person that brings Mony instead of Men to see their Mony put into that the King nor himself be not wronged That there be five different Locks to this Chest whereof each Commissioner to have a Key and therefore to be opened only when they are all present that there may be no Fraud in the Case That there be also a Secretary Clerks Messengers and other Officers necessary for this Service That there be a Sub-Commissioner for the same purpose at the Ports of Plymouth Bristol Newcastle Yarmouth and elsewhere as thought most convenient with a Comptroller Secretary Clerks Surveyors and such other Officers as shall be necessary That there be a like Iron Chest in each Port with three Locks whereof the Commissioner to keep one Key the Comptroller another and the Mayor of each Town the Third and the Chest to be never opened without the Mayor being present with the Commissioner and Comptroller and seeing what Mony is taken out and for what use and that an Account thereof under their and the Mayor's Hand be from time to time transmitted to the principal Office in London where an exact Register shall be kept That there be a Measurer in each Port and Three for London to measure all Ships and Vessels that they may not be under-rated If it be Objected that the Creating new Officers necessary for this Service will be another Charge upon the Government It is humbly Answered That the Officers employ'd are to be such as have well deserved of the Government that are disabled in the Service and have a Pretence to Pensions or half pay which by this means will be saved as well as the other great Sums before and after mentioned to which this Charge is no way Equivalent Besides it will be an Encouragement to Commanders and Officers in the Sea Service that there are Employments capable of Rewarding them in which also they may yet serve their Majesties and so not be a Charge Unprofitable Now for a Demonstration how to raise the 20000 Seamen proposed In the first Place About this time Twelve Months a Fleet of 470 Colliers Loaded at Newcastle came over the Bar in two days and joined 70 Sail more that came from Sunderland with Coals which I am assured of by Captain Banks that was then their Convoy they were from 60 Tuns to 400 so that one with another they may be allowed to be near 200 Tun apiece And at the same time those that are Light and Repairing and Loading at Newcastle and unloading at other Ports with what Trade from Milford and other parts of Wales for Ireland and some parts of England with a sort of Coal called Culm for Smiths cannot be reckoned at less than as many more making together 1080 Sail which at 200 Tun apiece one with another may find four Men each which in the whole raises 4320 Seamen There are likewise belonging to Newcastle and Sunderland about 300 Vessels call'd Kells constantly employ'd in Lading Coals that carry five and six Men apiece and may very well afford to find among them about 500 Men. So that the Colliery of England modestly computed finds alone 4800 Men and yet cannot be supposed to be one seventh part of the Shipping of England Then for the Watermen there were this year mustered on Board their Majesties Ships of War 1100 good Men that went voluntarily into their Majesties Service who will go again with their respective Commanders besides those that were sent by their Hall And we cannot suppose but that allowing three Boats or Wherries to find a Man without exempting any on account of Privilege That way there will not go less than 1500 or 2000 Men which must be qualified as above and what Apprentices they send that have not been at Sea before are not to be reckoned in this number The Western Barges Ware Barges Row-Barges Tilt-Boats and Ferry-Boats will find 500 Men. The Ballast-Lighters will now find 132 Men and ought to find 160. The Peter-Boats and Oyster-Cocks formerly offer'd 500 Men and cannot now find less if not more The Coal-Lighters and Close-Lighters are so numerous that I know not what their Quota may amount to Thus the River of Thames furnishes 3732 Men without reckoning Merchant-Ships and Coal-Lighters which may be considerable In the next place as to the Fishery about Eight Years since I was Convoy to the Herring Fishery at Yarmouth for two Years and found that the English had then about 700 Vessels employ'd in that Trade carrying from 8 to 20 Men apiece so that allowing them to carry 15 Men each one with another it amounts to 10500 Men and great part of these Vessels belonging
there are Ten drawn off to Sea every Year for these 18 Years past there are not now Ten of them in their Majesties Service tho otherwise there might have been many had they been bound to Commanders or Officers of Men of War ☞ There are a great many People have entertain'd a Notion that those bred up in Merchant-men are better Seamen than those bred up in Men of War but to undeceive them in this Particular it is evident that a Cruising Man of War in two Months time plows more Sea and wanders further between Heaven and Earth than a Merchant-ship does in a Year by reason he Chases every Sail he sees to discover what they are when as a Merchant-ship like a Carrier's-Horse goes only the direct Road to come at his Port the nearest way he can besides he is heavy laden so that a Man of War runs two Foot to his one Then he is oblig'd to stay her for Freight and often for Convoy which taken altogether often keeps him in Port or Harbor nine Months in a Year whereas a Cruising Man of War is out at Sea nine Months in a Year so that it is hereby very plain that in two years there is more to be Learned in a Man of War both as to Action the way of Command and otherwise than by being seven Years in a Merchant-man but many hold this Argument hoping thereby to be thought to understand the Sea The other School shall be for the Sons of Commanders kill'd in their Majesties Service and the Sons of Gentlemen that are willing to be bred up to the Sea where they shall be Taught every thing necessary to qualifie them to make Officers as particularly Navigation Fortification Gunnery Languages the Exercise of Pike and Musket c. They shall be lodged in pretty decent Apartments and have Tutors and good Orders among them sufficient for their Education and Instruction in things of this nature which will be of great Consequence to this Kingdom and then when it is seen that this is well manag'd it may be presumed many well minded People that have got Estates by the Sea and have no Heirs of their own may leave their Estates or good Legacies to the Support and Maintenance of these Schools which may properly be called the Academy for the Sea Encouragement for Commanders and Seamen in Their Majesties Service for Taking the Enemies Ships Goods and Effects I. THat all Privatiers belonging to the Enemy who shall hereafter be taken by any of their Majesties Men of War shall be forthwith Condemned in the Admiralty Court without any account given to the Prize-Office and be shar'd among the ships company which so made her Prize pursuant to the usual Method This was done the last Dutch War when the Swan Privatier being taken by Captain Young his then Majesty King Charles II. bought her of the said Captain and made her a Man of War in the year 1675. As also the Hunter in like manner bought of Sir John Berty AS to Privatiers that great Encouragement ought to be given for the taking of them by reason they are in a state of War and Defence whereby their Majestis Commanders do come to an Engagement with them and oft find them well Man'd whereby they not only destroy those Ships of Prey which greatly disturb the Traffick and Commerce of the Kingdom but kill and lessen the number of their Mariners and consequently destroys the Naval Force of the Enemy and leaves our Merchant-men the better liberty of Trade II. All Ships of Merchandise c. taken out of the Enemies Harbours Ports Creeks or from and under any Castle Fortification or Fort or off or from the Shore or at Anchor under any Head-land by any of their Majesties Men of War together with any Goods Effects and Merchandise that shall be seized by them shall be condemned in the Admiralty and shared as aforesaid That all Commanders that shall take the Enemies Ships by dint of Sword from under their Guns ought to have the Encouragement thereof for that they run an extreme risk hazard and danger of their Lives thereby giving the Enemy constant Allarms making the People uneasie and putting them to a great Charge in Guarding their Coasts besides bringing an advantage to their Majesties in their Customs of such Goods so taken thence And that if the Prize be taken at Anchor it may nevertheless not be disputed for that it is to be supposed all Men during the time of War will Anchor in as great Safety as may be III. All Merchants Ships and Goods belonging to the Enemy and taken as Prize at Sea on Board all Foreigners viz. Swedes Danes Portuguese and other Nations that shall be taken trading with their Majesties Enemies with Contraband Goods shall be Condemned in the Admiralty and one third of her lading so Condemned be given to the Captain Officers and Seamen that so took her as Prize and paid to the Captain as soon as the Commissioners receive the Mony and not according to the former method at ten days after payment of the Man of War which is not sometimes till two or three years after That this Encouragement will put the Commanders to a strict searching of all Foreign Ships for Contraband Goods which otherwise would slightly be view'd or for a small Sum of Mony prevail'd upon to suffer them to pursue their several Voyages to the great Disservice of the Nation but the hopes of this will put them upon the contrary Design IV. That all Salvage adjudged for Retaking any Ship shall be distributed to the Captain and Ships Company according to ancient Custom as likewise one 3d part of the Goods taken and Condemned from Swedes and Danes c. Whereas now if those Ships be not Condemn'd the Capter has no benefit of the Goods that are Condemn'd thro' the want of a Proclamation made full to that purpose which is very hard upon the poor Sailers in their Majesties Service who by that means have got nothing all the War This Encouragement will hinder any Embezelment being made after retaking a Ship and cause the Captain to take more care in seing her brought safe into Port. And by this the poor sailers will be certain of getting something when their Proportion is ascertain'd by Proclamation whereas at present if one of their Majesties Ships weakens her self to send a Swede or Dane into Port he may be in danger by hapning to meet with one of his own rank and besides the Seamen put on Board the Swede or Dane are in danger of having the Ship retaken and being carry'd into France where they suffer great hardship and for all this as the Case now is have no benefit if the Ship as well as the Goods be not Condemn'd V. That all Commanders that shall meet with and Fight the Enemy to the utmost extremity and being over-power'd shall happen to be taken and his Ship sunk burnt or so extremely disabl'd that they cannot carry her off but
should be very glad to be thought Serviceable at Home as I desire to be and hope I may in this They took on Board me one John Denny a French Protestant who was Settled and Married in England him they Condemned to be Hang'd at Raines but afterwards gave him his Life to Serve them Ten Years Now since there is a general Exchange and that we Release all the English and Irish of their Party that we Take I think it my Duty in like manner to plead for his being Demanded and sent for back that he may return to his Family There was likewise taken and Condemned with him at Raines one Fountaine who was Chyrurigon of the Lively but he got his Pardon and is since come to England And here it may not be amiss to let these Honourable Houses know what care the French King took to keep an account of what Expence he was at upon the account of Ireland for that he had a Commissary on purpose to take and keep an Account of all the Charges he was at in all things relating thereto and it may be easily imagined why he did so One time it happened that the Governor of Angiers sent for me and in Discourse told me what it had cost the King his Master on the account of Ireland which amounted to a great many Millions of Livres which I put down for a Memorandum but lost the Paper and the Sum I have forgot but the Governor told me When King James got England again he would pay the French King all the Expences he had been at on his Account or give him Ireland for it And another time a French Gentleman being permitted by the Governor to Discourse me and I not fearing to speak as knowing I could not well be used worse than I was told him They were all Slaves to their King but could not see it like a Dog that never complains for want of a Hat because he never wore one He said If they were Slaves yet their Comfort was they should e'er long have us to be their Slaves Another time the Governor sent for me to tell me Plymouth was Surrendred to them and that it was done by the Deputy-Governor upon which I Smiled at the Conceit he being extraordinarily desirous to know the reason why I would not believe it I told him That Governors here were not so Arbitrary as they in France and that besides a True Englishman had as much an Antipathy to a Frenchman as a Mastiff Dog had to a Bull upon which he very angrily remanded me to Prison Salt is there Ninepence per Pound which all People must take at that rate and what quantity they are allotted and must not dispose of any to a Neighbour or Friend and poor People that are not able to Buy will watch an opportunity when any Salt Fish is laid a Freshening to get the Water to make Pottage but the Goblees which are Officers appointed to look after the Revenue of Salt will throw it down the Kennel to prevent the Poor having that small Advantge If any Person be found Stealing the Custom of Salt though never so small they must pay an Hundred Crowns for the first Offence or go to the Gallies but if they do it a Second time nothing can prevent their being sent to the Gallies and thus the French King breeds Slaves of his own without buying Turks Moors or Negroes for by the help of these and the Protestants that break Prison he finds almost sufficient for that use The manner of his Dragooning his Protestant Subjects is this When any one would not comply with the Priests in matters of Religion Dragoons were sent to Quarter upon them according to their Rank or Degree which Dragoons would not be content with Free Quarters but the Oppressed Host was forced for Quietness to give them a Pistole or two Crowns a Day in that manner wasting their Estates till all was gone then the Poor Men would endeavour to make their Escape out of such Misery But the Dragoons having a strict Eye over them would certainly keep them while any thing was left and then carry them to Prison The French King to decoy those poor People at first assured them by his Officers that if they would comply they should receive the Sacrament in both kinds which prevail'd with many to turn but then according to his wanted Broken Word denied them the Cup and allowed them only the Wafer and abundance are now in Prison that have so been for several Years past on that Account who fail not constantly to Pray for the Success of Their Majesties Arms. And if this be their usage to their own People What may those of our Nation expect if ever they should be so wretchedly Vnhappy which God prevent to fall under their Power which makes me admire that some People here should so lose there Senses as to Applaud or Entertain the least Thoughts of a French Government which I could never imagine till my Return to England and therefore must impute it to the most Stupid sort of Ignorance and Malice and that they have nothing to lose after they have parted with their Brains and that Love for their Country Religion and Posterity which is natural to every true Englishman I am My Lords and Gentlemen Your Honors most Faithful and Obedient Servant George St. LO ENGLAND's SAFETY c. OR A PROPOSAL MADE BY Capt. George St. Lo. FOR THE Raising Twenty Thousand SEAMEN QUALIFIED As here under-mentioned for the Service of Their Majesties and the Kingdom in Manning the Royal Navy on any Occasion without Impressing in a Month's time after setling the Office Hereby humbly proposed for that purpose THE Qualification of each Seaman is That he shall understand the Mechanick part of a Sailer which is to Reef and Furl and take his Trick at Helm and be a Man at all Calls properly called a Haulboling so that half a Ships Complement of such Men before the Mast will be sufficient to well Man any Ship for Masters-Mates Midship-Men Quarter-Masters Quarter-Gunners and other small Officers will go voluntarily with their respective Commanders and several others may be supposed for Preferment which will not be of this number And therefore the said Twenty Thousand able Seamen with the help of the Warrant-Officers Voluntiers Officers Servants small Officers and Water-mens Apprentices who are sent by their Hall together with the Sail-Makers Armores Carpenters-Crew and Chirurigions-Crew will be sufficient to Man Their Majesties whole Fleet. This Method of bringing in Seamen without Impressing will be of vast Advantage to the King and Kingdom 1. In saving the great Charge of Conduct-Mony and Bounty-Mony 2. In saving the Charge of hiring Smacks Keâ—ches and other Vessels for Impressing of Seamen which stand the King in 30 l. a Month each Vessel one with another or thereabouts and of these each first and second Rate Ship hath three or four and a third and fourth Rate Ship hath one or two
besides the Captains of each Ship according to the Rate and Bigness have Imprest Mony some 100 l. some 50 l. some 20 l. Besides bringing in their Bills of Charges and Disbursements which have sometimes amounted to two or three Hundred Pounds a Ship to my knowledge all which by the Method hereafter mentioned may be saved to the Crown and Kingdom which in Conduct Bounty and Imprest-Mony with the hiring of Vessels as aforesaid cannot be reckoned to amount to less than 60000 l. per Annum By this Method the King being assured of having Men ready to Man his Fleet on any occasion in a Month's time will save the vast Charges of keeping the great Ships in Pay all the Winter and besides prevent the Danger of ever being Invaded by any Foreign Enemy as was like to have been this Year for after the Summers Expedition is over and the Fleet come in it would be a great Encouragement to the Seamen to be paid off and their Tickets paid at the same time which would give them Credit at any time prevent the great Abuse of Ticket-buying and enable Seamen to reap the Benefit of their Labour themselves as now they do not and though the King should give 20 l. per Cent. for Mony so to Pay them his Majesty would save vastly by it And upon issuing out his Royal Proclamation at any time have Men sufficient for his Service again And here it may be Objected perhaps from a Book lately set out by one Henry Maydman a Purser That Seamen are discouraged from Their Majesties Service by the Abuses of their Commanders To which it is Answered It is a sign that that Purser hath Sailed with honest Captains that would not let him pinch the Men for the Men never fare better than when a Captain and Purser disagree I observe he carefully conceals his Employ of Purser well knowing that of all Officers such a one in this Case is the least to be Credited for let Commanders see that the Pursers do not wrong the Men and let them be paid their Majesties Allowance and the Tickets at Payment of the Ship or upon tender afterwards they are very well encouraged and care not for hard words from a Captain which break no Bones ☞ But that which discourages Seamen is the want of their due Pay and the lying of their Tickets several Years without Payment unless sold to a Ticket-buyer which occasions the Proverb among them Of going to Sea for a Knife and Sheath This would likewise prevent the Impressing of Land-men altogether unqualified which often breeds Sickness in the Fleet as also Water-men that were never at Sea upon whom it is now very hard For Instance a Water-man is Imprest out of his Boat that has a Wife and four or five Children to maintain in his absence his Boat is unimployed and receives damage his Wife and Children must become burthensom to the Parish or if she has Credit perhaps runs her Husband in debt more than he can get up in a Year or two Likewise when a Ship comes home after a long Voyage the Men are Imprest who perhaps have some of them Ventures on Board which they are snatch'd from without having the liberty of going to their Families and disposing of what they have or even to refresh themselves in which Case their Ventures are lost the Men Dissatisfied and their Families half Ruined Also many Persons have been lost on the Thames and other Places in endeavouring to Escape as particularly Ten or Twelve Persons lately in Boats were Drowned Shot and Died of their Wounds in making off from a Ship that had Prest them and the Sand-Barges at Plymouth when a Press is thereabouts lye wholly unemployed by the Absconding of the Men which hinders the Working of Husband-men for want of that Sand to Manure the Ground so that many Teams of Horses and Yokes of Oxen lye still on that account to the great Damage of the Country This would also prevent the great Abuses by Persons pretending to be Press-Masters who to get Mony often do very ill things sometimes occasion Murder and generally such Disorders as bring an Odium upon Their Majesties Fleet undeserved Besides it is very hard upon Lieutenants who in Pressing cannot but spend more than their Pay and sometimes are turned out for Impressing those that have Protections which by this will be taken off So that no Man as the Case now stands would be a Lieutenant were it not for the Prospect of being advanced to Captain In the next place it is hoped no Man's Private Interest will be thought equivalent to Ballance against so great a Publick Good and Ease as this will be to the King and Kingdom The Reasons that have induced me to undertake this great Work are drawn from my Dear-bought Experience when Prisoner in France where I lay two Years and two Months under great Hardships and Nineteen Months of that time all alone in an uneasie and Disconsolate Condition ☞ When I was first brought Prisoner thither I lay four Months in an Hospital at Brest for Cure of my Wounds and was sent to Nants before half Cured While I was at Brest I was Astonished at the Expedition used in Manning and Fitting out their Ships which till then I thought could be done no where sooner than in England where we have ten times the Shipping and consequently ten times more Seamen than they have in France but there I saw Twenty Sail of Ships of about 60 Guns a piece got ready in Twenty days time they were brought in and the Men Discharged and upon an Order from Paris they were Careen'd Keel'd up Rigg'd Victualled Man'd and out again in the said time with the greatest Ease imaginable I likewise saw a Ship of 100 Guns there had all her Guns taken out in four or five Hours time which I never saw done in England in twenty four Hours and this with greater Ease and less Hazard than here which I saw under the Hospital Window and this I am sure I could do as easie in England I likewise saw on the other side of the River an Imitation of a Ship with a Tire of Guns where the Men were often Exercised and Instructed in the Practice and Use of the Great Gun as if they were at Sea which very much contributed to their Skill and if the same were done and practised near our Sea-Ports it would be of great Use in fitting Men for the Sea-Service in which we need not be ashamed to learn of them for they are ready enough to imitate us in any thing for their Advantage The aforesaid Ships being so soon out again put me upon Enquiry how the Men were got so quickly and I found that the Seamen were all Registred by the Intendant Marine or Commissary of each Province near the Sea which puts that King to vast Charge in paying great Salaries to them their Provosts Marine Arches and other Officers for taking Account of all Maritime Affairs for a
shall be adjudged to them for Retaking any English or Friend's Ship by reason they have often Retaken small Vessels for which they have had but a fifth part amounting to not above the Charge of bringing them in and the Charges of the Law and yet have been obliged to pay Tenths of such Fifths to their great Discouragement the which is so much the more reasonable to be condescended to for that several Ships have been Retaken which have paid his Majesty 2 or 3000 l. each for Custom 4. That whereas many Ships that have lain in Ports Harbors and Roads of this Kingdom without any Seizure or Molestation of the Vice-Admirals or Governors have been found out to be the Enemies Goods and seized by private Men of War and Condemn'd as Prize the said Vice-Admirals or Governors have very much obstructed them in the Condemnation thereof and sometimes after Condemnation have claimed the same to their Use or the Use of their Majesties to the great discouragement of private Men of War without whose Diligence and Intelligence they had never been discover'd or seiz'd Therefore it is proposed that in such Cases they may have no Molestation or Impediment but have their Prizes according to their Commissions which grant them all they shall take as well in Ports or Harbors as upon the Sea 5. That the Tenths of all other Prizes may be remitted to them concern'd in private Men of War for their Encouragement for the Reasons following viz. I. The French King doth at this time do the same which hath so Encouraged their Privatiers that they have fitted out many Ships of good force and much annoy'd and disturb'd our Trade the French Privatiers having taken about 600 of our Ships whereas their Men of War have not taken Sixty II. This Encouragement will enable the Concern'd to fit out better Ships than now they have and get Men to Man them by contracting to take Care of all such Men as shall be Wounded and the Wives and Families of them that shall be Kill'd or Drown'd which at present they cannot afford to do III. There is more Reason to make this Remission of Tenths to the English private Men of War than the French in regard of the Prohibition and the small Trade of France 6. Whereas it may be objected that unless some Officers be put on Board each Prize the private Men of War will be at liberty to do what they please and such Officers cannot be maintain'd without Duties to bear the Charge It is answered That each private Man of War at the taking out of his Commission doth not only oblige his Ship self and Owners but also gives two other sufficient Securities in 3000 or 1500 l. Bond not to abuse their Majesties Subjects or Allies but to make Satisfacton for all Injuries done by them and to pay Customs c. And besides the Custom-House Officers presently put Waiters on Board to look after the Customs which the private Men of War pay themselves without Charge to their Majesties And by this propos'd Encouragement the Customs will be Encreas'd by the Prize-Ships so that it will pay twenty times more than their Majesties have or will receive for Tenths And Besides the Encouragement of English Private Men of War will be very beneficial to this Kingdom not only in the Encreasing of Customs and weakning the Enemy as aforesaid but in breeding of Seamen they being oblig'd by their Bonds to carry two third Landmen and but one third of their Complement Seamen 7. And if it be objected that by thus Remitting the Tenths the Advocate Receiver c. employ'd therein will lose their Salaries the Proposer humbly hopes it will not be thought Reasonable that the private Interest of two or three Persons without advantage to the King or Government should be preferr'd before so great a Publick Good as this Encouragement would be both to the King and Kingdom Lastly It is demonstrable that this Encouragement to Privatiers will prove of no small advantage to his Majesties Customs for Example they frequently Retake rich Ships prevent Ships being taken and one Ship retaken oftentimes brings in more Customs to his Majesty than the Tenth will amount to in a whole Year so that both his Majesty and Subjects well be much the Gainers by this Means Therefore 't is to be hoped these Proposals will meet with their Majesties Compliance for that their Majesties may at first give it only for a Year or what time they shall think fit to see the advantage of it and afterwards to do therein as they please Reasons humbly Offer'd for bringing down the Exorbitant Rates of Seamens Wages from 50 s. and 3 l. a Month to 30 s. and 35 s. a Month. THe Seamen for the lucre of such great Wages in Merchant-Men do lurk and hide themselves from their Majesties Service whereby it comes to be so difficult to get Men for the Kings Ships whereas if their Wages were near alike their Majesties would never want Seamen in their Fleet. A Seamans Wages in a Merchant-man in time of Peace is usually about 25 s. a Month and in a Collier 30 or 40 s. a Voyage which now is come to 6 7 and 8 l. a Voyage and 50 s. and 3 l. a Month in a Merchant-man which while they can have they will leave their Majesties Ships and abscond themselves from being Imprest rather than serve for the usual Rate of the Navy which is 23 s. a Month at 28 days in a Month which is 25 s. a Month at twelve Months in the Year and till such their extraordinary Wages be brought down it is not to be thought it will be otherwise though it is not evident they are ever the Richer at the Years End for any such large Wages As for Instance a Seaman goes to Newcastle and perhaps has 6 or 7 l. for his Voyage while that lasts he never goes to Sea again but lurks about till he is run 30 or 40 s. in debt to his Landlady and then it may be makes another trip to Newcastle and so is not above 3 Months at Sea in a year whereby the Nation loses the benefit of his service all the rest of his time Therefore it is humbly proposed that for their Majesties Service the Rates of Seamens Wages in Merchant-men be reduced to 30 s. per Month going with Convoy and 35 s. per Month running without Convoy and that if any private Sailer shall demand more than the Rates aforesaid that he may be brought to the Office to be erected for Registring of Shipping and small Craft and thence sent on Board one of their Majesties Ships of War there to serve for a Year as a Prest-man ☞ This will be an Equivalent for the Masters and Owners of Ships providing a Seaman according to my Proposal for Example a Ship of 70 Tun hath seven Men to Sail her whereof five are before the Mast and now receive 50 s. a month By this Regulation the Master will save