At the accession of James I. in 1603, Pett was commanded by the
Lord High Admiral with all possible speed to build a little
vessel for the young Prince Henry, eldest son of His Majesty. It
was to be a sort of copy of the Ark Royal, which was the flagship
of the Lord High Admiral when he defeated the Spanish Armada.
Pett proceeded to accomplish the order with all dispatch. The
little ship was in length by the keel 28 feet, in breadth 12
feet, and very curiously garnished within and without with
painting and carving. After working by torch and candle light,
night and day, the ship was launched, and set sail for the
Thames, with the noise of drums, trumpets, and cannon, at the
beginning of March, 1604. After passing through a great storm at
the Nore, the vessel reached the Tower, where the King and the
young Prince inspected her with delight. She was christened
Disdain by the Lord High Admiral, and Pett was appointed captain
of the ship.
After his return to Chatham, Pett, at his own charge, built a
small ship at Gillingham, of 300 tons, which he launched in the
same year, and named the Resistance. The ship was scarcely out
of hand, when Pett was ordered to Woolwich, to prepare the Bear
and other vessels for conveying his patron, the Lord High
Admiral, as an Ambassador Extraordinary to Spain, for the purpose
of concluding peace, after a strife of more than forty years.
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