After viewing the dry dock, which had been
constructed by Pett, and was one of the first, if not the very
first in England,--his Highness partook of a banquet which the
shipbuilder had hastily prepared for him in his temporary
lodgings.
One of the circumstances which troubled Pett so much at this
time, was the strenuous opposition of the other shipbuilders to
his plans of the great ship. There never had been such a
frightful innovation. The model was all wrong. The lines were
detestable. The man who planned the whole thing was a fool, a
"cozener" of the king, and the ship, suppose it to be made, was
"unfit for any other use but a dung-boat!" This attack upon his
professional character weighed very heavily upon his mind.
He determined to put his case in a staightforward manner before
the Lord High Admiral. He set down in writing in the briefest
manner everything that he had done, and the plots that had been
hatched against him; and beseeched his lordship, for the honour
of the State, and the reputation of his office, to cause the
entire matter to be thoroughly investigated "by judicious and
impartial persons." After a conference with Pett, and an
interview with his Majesty, the Lord High Admiral was authorised
by the latter to invite the Earls of Worcester and Suffolk to
attend with him at Woolwich, and bring all the accusers of Pett's
design of the great ship before them for the purpose of
examination, and to report to him as to the actual state of
affairs.
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