At the sharp bend lower down here the Duke
found the Admiral, and they held a long consultation together. It was
agreed that the chain should be placed somewhat higher up, where a
lightly-armed battery on either side would afford some assistance,
that behind the chain the three ships, the _Matthias_, the _Unity_,
and the _Charles V._, all prizes taken from the Dutch, should be
moored, and that the _Jonathan_ and _Fort of Honinggen_--also a
Dutch prize--should be also posted there.
Having arranged this, the Duke was rowed back to Chatham, there to
see about getting some of the great ships removed from their moorings
off Gillingham, up the river. To his fury, he found that, of all the
eighteen hundred men employed in the yard, not more than half a dozen
had remained at their work, the rest being, like all the townsmen,
occupied in removing their goods in great haste. Even the frigates
that were armed had but a third, at most, of their crews on board, so
many having deserted owing to the backwardness of their pay.
That night, Sir W. Coventry, Sir W. Penn, Lord Brounker, and other
officers and officials of the Admiralty, came down from London. Some
of these, especially Lord Brounker, had a hot time of it with the
Duke, who rated them roundly for the state of things which prevailed,
telling the latter that he was the main cause of all the misfortunes
that might occur, owing to his having dismantled and disarmed all the
great ships. In spite of the efforts of all these officers, but
little could be done, owing to the want of hands, and to the refusal
of the dockyard men, and most of the sailors, to do anything.
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