rd 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. The Resistance was hired by the
Government as a transport, and Pett was put in command. He seems to
have been married at this time, as he mentions in his memoir that he
parted with his wife and children at Chatham on the 24th of March,
1605, and that he sailed from Queenborough on Easter Sunday.

During the voyage to Lisbon the Resistance became separated from the
Ambassador's squadron, and took refuge in Corunna. She then set sail
for Lisbon, which she reached on the 24th of April; and afterwards for
St. Lucar, on the Guadalquiver, near Seville, which she reached on the
11th of May following. After revisiting Corunna, "according to
instructions," on the homeward voyage, Pett directed his course for
England, and reached Rye on the 26th of June, "amidst much rain,
thunder, and lightning." In the course of the same year, his brother
Joseph died, and Phineas succeeded to his post as master shipbuilder at
Chatham. He was permitted, in conjunction with one Henry Farvey and
three others, to receive the usual reward of 5s. per ton for building
five new merchant ships,[21] most probably for East Indian commerce,
now assuming large dimensions. He was despatched by the Government to
Bearwood, in Hampshire, to make a selection of timber from the estate
of the Earl of Worcester for the use of the navy, and on presenting his
report 3000 tons were purchased. What with his building of ships, his
attendance on the Lord Admiral to Spain, and his selection of timber
for the Government, his hands seem to have been kept very full during
the whole of 1605.

In July, 1606, Pett received private instructions from the Lord High
Admiral to have all the King's ships "put into comely readiness" for
the reception of the King of Denmark, who was expected on a Royal
visit. "Wherein," he says, "I strove extraordinarily to express my
service for the honour of the kingdom; but by reason the time limited
was short, and the business great, we laboured