great ordnance. She was the largest ship that
had yet been constructed in England.

The Prince Royal was, at the time she was built, considered one of the
most wonderful efforts of human genius. Mr. Charnock, in his 'Treatise
on Marine Architecture,' speaks of her as abounding in striking
peculiarities. Previous to the construction of this ship, vessels were
built in the style of the Venetian galley, which although well adapted
for the quiet Mediterranean, were not suited for the stormy northern
ocean. The fighting ships also of the time of Henry VIII. and
Elizabeth were too full of "top-hamper" for modern navigation. They
were oppressed by high forecastles and poops. Pett struck out entirely
new ideas in the build and lines of his new ship; and the course which
he adopted had its effect upon all future marine structures. The ship
was more handy, more wieldy, and more convenient. She was
unquestionably the first effort of English ingenuity in the direction
of manageableness and simplicity. "The vessel in question," says
Charnock, "may be considered the parent of the class of shipping which
continues in practice even to the present moment."

It is scarcely necessary to pursue in detail the further history of
Phineas Pett. We may briefly mention the principal points. In 1612,
the Prince Royal was appointed to convey the Princess Elizabeth and her
husband, The Palsgrave, to the Continent. Pett was on board the ship,
and found that "it wrought exceedingly well, and was so yare of conduct
that a foot of helm would steer her." While at Flushing, "such a
multitude of people, men, women, and children, came from all places in
Holland to see the ship, that we could scarce have room to go up and
down till very night."

About the 27th of March, 1616, Pett bargained with Sir Waiter Raleigh
to build a vessel of 500 tons,[28] and received 500L. from him on
account. The King, through the interposition of the Lord Admiral,
allowed Pett to lay her keel on the galley dock at Woolwich. In the
same year he was commissioned by the Lord Zouche, now Lord Warden of
the Cinque Ports, to construct a pinnace of 40 tons, in respect of
which Pett remarks, "towards the whole of the hull of the pinnace, and
all her rigging, I received only 100L. from the Lord Zouche, the rest
Sir Henry Mainwaring (half-brother to Raleigh) cunningly received on my
behalf, without my knowledge, which I never got from him but by
piecemeal, so that by th