HUMBLE PROPOSALS FOR THE Relief, Encouragement, Security and Happiness of the Loyal, Courageous Seamen of England, in their Lives and Payment, in the Service of our Most Gracious King William, and the Defence of these Nations.  
Humbly Presented to the Two Most Honourable Houses, the Lords and Commons of England, in Parliament Assembled.  
By a Faithful Subject of his Majesty, and Servant to the Parliament and Nation, and the Seamen of England; in order for Safety and Security of all aforesaid, W. Hodges.  
To which is added, A DIALOGUE concerning the Art of Ticket-buying.  
In a Discourse between Honesty, Poverty, Cruelty and Villainy. concerning that Mystery of Iniquity, and Ruin of the Loyal Seamen.  
Printed in the Year 1695.   

To the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons in Parliament Assembled, Humbly showeth,  
THAT the Providence of our most gracious God, having stirred me up to see, and consider, and lament the most dreadful Ruin and Destruction of the Loyal Seamen of England, in their Lives and Pay, that ever these Nations did behold, and to Represent the same in all Humility to your Honours; and considering also, that some of their Miseries were, in my Judgement, against Grace, and Reason and Common Sense; and also sometimes against those other Four Things that used to be esteemed of as Jewels in England; that is, Religion, Liberty, Property, and their Lives: To say nothing of the Fifth, without Law, made me to dread the Consequent; and I did observe that it was hidden from his Majesty and your Honours so long, until there was the Loss, as I represented to you, of the Lives of above Forty Thousand, and of the Pay of above Sixty Thousand of them; and if there had been occasion to question the Truth of it, I would have proved at any time by the King's Books, in twenty Four Days time, without Two Pence Charge to the King or Nation; and considering that his Majesty has spoken for their Relief, and your Honours, who had raised money enough before to have kept them from Ruin, and to have spared a Million or Two of it by Capt. St. Lo's Rule.  
Besides, if they had been but managed as the English Seamen were in former days, and as the Dutch and the French do at this day, to save near half their money, and most of their Seamens Lives. But I say, Your Honours being now also Resolved to study their Relief, I presume, in all Humility, to cast in my Mite also. Now, in order to the same, which I would entreat your Honours to accept of, as Rough and Unframed Timber, to be squared and fitted to what part your Honours please; and one thing is, many crooked pieces are made use of in the building of Shipping, that when placed aright not only serve to strengthen the Ship, and help to preserve the Lives of the Seamen, but formally use to help tohold the Ships together, while they daily beat their Enemies; and though these Pieces may not be always so readily known to all Landmen, I will presume some may serve now, and some another time.  
And I do assure your Honours, if I had better at hand, I would present them to you: But they are my own, and so saved me the trouble of begging, borrowing, or which is worse, stealing; and I entreat your Honour's Patience; for their Miseries being so dreadful, and so many years a growing, and so many times Ten Thousands, as they could not have been easily represented, except one should have said, their Case was almost all together Miserable: But blessed be God that it is not: They have a good King and good Country for their Friends, if their Cases are not blinded from them: And as to their Remedies, it requires a great deal of Care and Inquiry: And when I look back to what I represented before; and forward, to what strange need there is of them now, and when I hear that a great many there is that are in Droves, travelling in other Countries without Shoes or Stockings, seeking to enter into the Service of the Merchants of England there, or to serve other Nations, and Run away from che Merchant-Ships also, and lose their Pay, some of them not being willing to come home, for fear of the Press; This makes my Heart dread the Effects of it, and do suppose these Two Things would be worth while to be inquired into by the Parliament, to know how the Case stands with them in these respects.  
First, Let every Man of War's Book, that hath been in the straits, or Spain, or Portugal, be searched, to see what Numbers Run away out of any Ship, or every Ship, at any Port or Place.  
And, Secondly, To have an Account of the Men of War and Merchant-Ships lost this Eighteen Months to the French, with the whole Number of Men taken in each Ship, and in the whole Shipping lost; and then have also the Number of Men returned from France in that time, that did belong to those Ships, and what is wanting may be supposed to be entered into the French Service, if not dead; and if of the East-India Ships taken, there be come home short, near an Hundred of those men that were taken; it is to be feared, the rest will stay until warm weather, and then get some Money and , if our Press is so great this Winter, that they meet the poor Captive Wretches when they Return home in their Lousy  from France, and beg their way near an Hundred and Fifty Miles; then before they come to London, catch them, and carry them on Board, Rags and Lice, as they Run; put them down in the Hold of the Vessel, to lie on the Board's or Ballast, or what they please, if they be without Bedding; and as Queen Esther said, if they perish, they perish.  
This is a Notable Age to tame Prodigals in, if they be ordinary Seamen; but if they be Double-Pay Officers, than it may be they Run up and down, and be as bad or worse than before; and so it may be will not be worth, some of them, a Groat a Dozen, when the War is over; though they most time's Live; For the Officers that have Liberty to come on Shore, die very few of them. But this by the way. But I am too large in the Introduction.  
I did think to say something more as to the Seamen's Encouragement, in this Preface; as that without the Seamen be paid off yearly on Shore, and have a Fortnight's or Month's Liberty to Recruit their Healths, I am afraid they will never be encouraged to come into the Service, neither stay there; and if they do, and die, it is as bad as Running; for if they Run away in England, and the Merchants get them, it is an help to Trade, and the King may have them again; and I could never know the Reason of that pretence of keeping the Seamen in such slavery in their payments, in this Age more than any other, to be paid on Board; as if his Majesty's Service was not as good as in any Age of the World. For my part, I say, according to the money raised, there could never have been better Pay for the Seamen in the world. And indeed I would not have the Seamen of England say Justly, That God and the King sent good Meat, but the Devil sent them Cooks that spoiled it half in dressing.  
But in short, I cannot see how the Nation, in the general, can answer the Seamen's being left to Ruin:  
For, First, as I said, it is against Grace, against the gracious Law of Christ, not to do to them as we would others should do to us; which is taught the Children in their Catechisms.  
2. It is against the gracious Providence of God to these Nations, who did, by a Miracle, send over our gracious King William, to be a means to secure our Religion, Liberties and Properties; and if the Nation, who enjoys all these in Peace at home, should let the Seamen be Ruined, and lose all together, and their Lives into the bargain; I am afraid Christ will tell us another word in our Ears, That the Scripture shall not fail; and the same measure men meet, shall be meted to them again.  
And so much to their being managed contrary to Grace.  
2. Contrary to Reason; for Reason tells us, other Ages encouraged their Seamen, and paid them on Shore; and other Nations do so now. And Reason may tell those who have understood the Nature of the paying on Board, That the Seamen's Families and Relations have not enjoyed the Benefit of little more than half their Pay, to their family's Comfort.  
3. It is contrary to common sense, to think that if Seamen do usually die, great part, where they are kept 2 or 3 years on board, that they should have any Policy to keep them until they die, rather than to pay them off, to Recruit their Health and Lives.  
And indeed, who could be ever imagined to come freely into that Service where nothing but Death can part again, and then the Widow denied their Money ofttimes at last. And besides the Loss of the Seamen's Lives, there is extraordinary Charge to the Nation, and no benefit to the public; but it may be the Commanders that had abused the Seamen all the War, could not get more, and would want a Ship to get Money in, and so might want bread, while our brave Commanders would have Men enough But those who have driven away the Seamen from their Ships, and could have a supply by turning over men from other Ships, these might be at a Loss for Men next Year. But my Skill in Sea Affairs is too small: Did it but attain to the height of my Faithulness to his Majesty, and Love to my Native Country, I would, if the Lord assisted me with Life and Health, writ such an History of the Knavery, Folly, Cowardice, Treachery, Ruin and Destruction of this War; in the Sea-Affairs, the Land would admire at; and would write every Line, to the best of my Judgement, what would be found true, not only in another Age, where they will speak plainly, how his Majesty, and the Parliament, and Nation, and Merchants are cheated and abused. But I would write what I believe will be found true in the Day of Judgement, where all Cloaks will be thrown off; and than it will be known, that God did not send Mankind into the world to be like Fishes, the great ones to devour the little ones; and I bless the Lord, who kept me from being one of the Devourers of the Age; for I have had an opportunity with ease to be a Monster, when I laid out an hundred Pound a week, or two, in Seamen's Pay, if I had bought at half Profit, or Twelve Shillings in the Pound Profit, as some Monsters did, I should have doubled my Money so often, to have been able to have swallowed up 3 or 4 Seamen's Pay for a Breakfast, besides what I had for Dinner and Supper; and then I should never have said a word of the Ruin of the Seamen, but should have been forced to have kept all Counsel, if the King had been cheated of a quarter of his Money, and the Seamen of above half their pay.  
But I presume it will be well to look back to the most happy state of our Ships of War, when we did most effectually beat our Enemies, and encourage our Seamen, and see if we do not find the neglect of their method hath been the Loss of half our Seamen, and many of our Ships.  
And, Secondly, Whether their way was not to go out in the Summer, and take all Opportunities to sight and destroy their Enemies, and come in again with the greatest part of the Fleet, and pay off the Seamen, and save their Lives and Pay.  
Whether if this had been done, the Seamen would not have been encouraged to come freely into the King's Service, as in other Ages, as into a place where there was Money, and Liberty, and Release, and not perpetual Bondage. And if at last discharged by reason of Sickness, and had Tickets signed by all the signing Officers, for the same to be deprived, otherwise cheated publicly of their money, to the shame of the Pay, and the Ruin of the discharged; and whether any can now, on the last Terms, be safe to serve their King and Country: and it may be questioned, whether it be not a shameful thing, when poor Seamen have had their Pay received by false Powers, they should be denied the sight of the Ship's Books, to see who received it; and therefore whether also this, and the denying them otherwise the knowledge of their Case, be not an unjust and unreasonable thing to let poor Creatures be Cheated and Ruined, and hid it from them. And what advantage it is to the Government, to let their poor Seamen be so managed, besides the King's being at extraordinary Charge to pay them so far from London, and the City deprived of the benefit of taking their money, as in other Ages, wherein the City of London was not used to be so slighted, neither the Seamen so Ruined.  
But I shall presume to say more in the Body of my Book; for whoever pleaseth to read it at their leisure, what my Thoughts are; and if the Honourable Houses pardon me, I shall not need much to trouble myself with the Offences any others may take at it; for I writ for good, and not to please, but to hinder Cheating the King, and Ruining the Seamen; and not to flatter those that would have it all smuggled up in silence; which makes me think of one lately, that because he could not find any thing false in my book, had this supposition, and that was, That he supposed if I had Represented so much in France, the French King would have hanged me.  
Now to that, being only a Supposition, I will answer it with other Suppositions: As,  
1. I must have been a Fool or a Knave to have writ it, if I did not consult before I writ it, whether I could, with a good Conscience, have suffered Death for the same; and if I could, that might have been an easier Death than the Stone or the Gout. And,  
2. I suppose, by his Leave, if the French King's Subjects are Ruined and Destroyed, it is by his Knowledge and Appointment; and not Ruined and destroyed without his knowledge, and the knowledge of his Nobles, as I presume our Seamen's Ruin are hid from the King and Parliament, and the blame must at last lie somewhere; and it may be the next Age will wonder at she History of it; therefore I take pains to inform the King and Parliament, that they may let the blame and shame be laid on those who have been Unjust, and Cruel, and Barbarous in the management of the Ruined Seamen and their Families: And indeed I suppose also,  
3. That the French King, though he plague's almost all Mankind, yet he incourages his Seamen, let's them come on shore every Year, and money in their Pocket; lends them his Men of War to Privateer in, gives them his Tenths; and in short, if they have gotten Three Millions of Riches this Year from us, his Seamen's Share is more Hundreds of Thousands of Pounds than would pay our Ruined Seamen all their Q's and R's.  
4. I suppose if he had seen his Seamen had been half dead, or frighted away, or Cheated of their Pay, and he not known it beforehand, I protest I do not only suppose, but really conclude they would have been more likely to have hanged some that ruined his Seamen, for being Knaves to do it; and those that seemed honest, for being Tools to consent to it; and that might have escaped well next time, or at least had as good Quarter for telling as they for acting.  
And suppose one Supposition more, That if the French King did know that his Admiralty, and Navy-Board, and Commanders of Ships did Ruin and destroy his Seamen's Lives and Pay, the Seamen would not so constantly go home to France again as they do; neither would he have Men enough to man his Fleet; neither would any other means secure his Seamen's Lives and Pay, without Managers that were as merciful to them as good men are to their Beasts, who do not let them groan and cry, and languish away for want of that Provender that is due to them for their Labour, for that day's work wherein they fell sick under their Burden, which is too sad, and too tedious to enlarge on.  
And if your Honours think it to be too tedious, it may be considered, That the Miseries of the Seamen in England, have been of more various Kind's, and peradventure various Numbers than the Miseries of all the Corporations of England, and cannot be Represented in a few Words; besides all their other Miseries of their Families that they are subject to, equal with the lost of Mankind; And as their Diseases are many, they require honest faithful Doctors, in order to their Cure, and not leave them in the hands of hard hearted Wretches, to Ruin them. But I could write until I tyre your Honours and myself. But I beg your Honour's Gracious Pardon, and do lay myself at your Honour's Feet, and beg of God to give his Majesty Wisdom, as an Angel of God; and that God would fill your Honours with all Wisdom, and that in his and your Prosperity the Nation may be happy and blessed; and then I hope I shall in mercy enjoy a share of the same; Who subscribe myself a faithful Lover and Servant to his most Gracious Majesty King William, and all your Honours, and all good men, while I remain,  
Hermitage-Bridge, Jan. 44. 1695. W. Hodges.   

Proposals, etc.  
THE Subject of Encouraging and Increasing of our English Seamen, is of greater Consequence than abundance of Mankind doth readily apprehend; and we being an Island, cannot be safe or happy in Peace or War without them; which makes me admire what senseless Stuff the Brains of those are, or what hardened metal their Hearts are, that have so greatly Ruined and Oppressed many of them and their Families; and I have admired and lamented with Tears, to understand their Ruin: And if God himself commanded the Jews so strictly, That if they saw their enemy's Ox or Ass fall down under their Burden, they should help them up; Then God forbidden I should have my Heart harder than a Jew, that when I see not my enemy's Asses, but my most gracious Sovereign King William's, and my dear Country's Seamen, many dead under their burdens, and others in Ditches of misery, if I should not endeavour to help them up, I should be worse than a Jew. And I considering, and seeing their miseries thrown on them, and endeavouring some Years to help them out, until I did almost fall in myself, I cried out for help to their Master and Dame, who immediately sent a large supply of Money to their Managers and Drivers, to assist them and help them up; and at first they had help. But the poor Cattle being kept travelling so long, until they fell sick by Droves; and when they that drove them saw they were sick, and could be driven no farther, either let them die with the Load on their backs, but if others let them out to Pasture, than there was an Order, That if they could not be well, to come into the same Drove in 28 Days, they must then run the hazard to lose all the Hay and Corn due to them and their Young; although it may be many of them died within a few Days after they were in Pasture; or it may be the Drove, they belonged to, was gone 300 miles before they were well; and it may be they went into the next Drove of their Masters they met with, if they lived, and were well; or it may be they continued sick, and were sent into some Stable for Cure, and there did continue long after their Drivers had ruined the Rest of their Father: And I considering what a Scarcity of others to bear the Burdens, and so Extraordinary Charge to buy more, that I thought it better to keep them there was, and prevent that hazard and Charge, especially considering besides, That it was a sign of men's being wicked, whose tender mercies were cruel; And also, that the young ones they bought, did many times die before they were a Year used to the Packsaddle.  
And to conclude, I dreamt, That without there were honest, faithful Managers, Drivers and Ostlers, the poor Cattle would be ruined at last.  
But I had need to beg pardon for telling so much of my Dream: I will forbear the rest; for perhaps it would be an hour longer, and they that understand the interpretation, find it all true.  
But now for the Seamen's Encouragement to serve his Majesty, I will propose some few things, always provided, That if I propose such and such honest ways and means, it may not be misunderstood: As for Example, if I say, that there must be good Commanders, and honest Pursers, or they will be miserable at last, and run away indeed, many of them. This must not be understood as if I were so uncharitable as to reflect on all in those Places; for we have some Worthy Admirals and Commanders, whose Names I honour, and who will neither abuse the Seamen themselves, neither suffer their Officers to abuse them; and for every honest Purser I love them.  
But my Head being so like a Land-Flood, overflowing with the last Stormy Times of Misery and Knavery, that some of it will overflow the Banks before I can get any Materials ready to secure the Country from a further inundation.  
And now I will begin to propose some Materials that I do suppose will be useful, in order for security for time to come; and that which is useful may be made use of now or hereafter, as Times mend: How long they have been bad, God knows. But I remember, many Years past, it was said, Bad Men made Bad Times: how it is now, must be left to the Learned to Judge. And it was said, Bad Times caused Good Laws; God send the Seamen some Token of the Truth of that before they are all ruined.  
And now as to the first Consideration of the Seamen's Relief, it is to be considered of the Admiralty and Navy-Board: if they be the most Excellent Men in England for Loyalty to his present Majesty, and Care of his Men of War and Merchant-Ships, and to preserve the Seamen's Lives and Pay, that will, it may be, be half a Cure. But if ever there should be in England, for time to come, an Admiralty and Navy-board that should be one part false and Treacherous, and the other soft, and easy, and foolish, to be led into ignorance and madness, it might perhaps lie in their power to put in several Cowardly, Sorry, Damning Officers, that would Ruin and Drive away Thousands of Seamen, and never fight One Enemy; and if there were abundance of good Commanders and Officers that loved the Seamen, and would fight their Enemies, and protect their Friends, they might be tied up as so many Cats, some in one Room, and some in another; and the Mice might play up and down in all the rest of the Rooms, and also devour half the Victuals and  in some Rooms, and be never hurt hardly; Or indeed, in plain English, there might be Ships of War have Orders to lie in the Downs, and their enemy's Ships might come within TwoLeagues of them, and it may be snatch away a Merchantman, and be gone: And if the others say, Their Orders is to lie there, and they must not break their Orders; that may serve; or if there should be a Spuadron ordered to lie before Dunkirk, to keep their Ships from coming out, and the French did start out, and ours had no Orders to follow them, than it may be they might take some more Russia Ships; I think they took Four Russia Ships last time, the next day, as near as I can remember; And I deal plainly, because I writ not either for Profit, Praise, or Preferment; and so would do as a Lawyer or Physician, that giveth Law or Physic to a Friend freely, giveth the best Advice and Help they can possible, to have done the sooner, and perfect the Cure effectually.  
And now having said, it may be, too much to the first, I conclude, only observing, by the way, how it is possible we Citizens of London may be served when we put our Children to Nurse; We may pay the best prices in the World to the Nurses, and if they be not honest, the Children may be starved at last, if we do not go, or send to see how they are used; and if there be good Milk provided for them, it may fall out, that the Nurse, or her Children, or Servant, yea the very Mongril Dog of the House may devour it three quarters up, with as much greediness as ever a Ticket-Buyer bought a Seaman's Pay, Seven Pound Ten Shillings for Forty Shillings, and as much honesty as ever a poor Seaman was made Run basely and shamefully out of his Pay at the Office, or at Payday.  
2. Therefore if the Seamen should, or would be ever encouraged, we should look back to the Justice, Policy and Honesty of our Forefathers, who used to pay their Seamen their Money on Shore; and the Commanders, and Seamen, and Ships, used to be agreed together to fight and Ruin, and destroy their Enemies at Sea; and God blessed their honest Courage, and their honest Pay; and every Seaman's Life then lost at Sea, was as a Poisonous Arrow to their Enemies: They killed their Enemies, and destroyed their Fleets and Seamen; and they that lived came in and were paid; and those that died, had their money, paid their Friends, and Bounty-money sometimes also; and this did business.  
And there is these Two Things to be considered of, which of them shown most Courage, most Policy, most Profit or most Loss, our English Fleet neglecting or refusing to fall upon the French Fleet, when God from Heaven turned the Wind fair for our Fleet to fall on the French, when they were in Fresh-Water-Bay, on our own Coast; When, in all likelihood, God that gave us the Wind to fall on them, would have given us the Victory, and then we might have Ruined their Fleet on our own Coast, if we had fought as our English Ships used to do when I was a Boy, and it may be not lost 4 Ships, neither Two Thousand Seamen in the Fight, because God seemed to turn the Wind for our Fleet to fight, as he did for our gracious King William to Land at first, and Crowned his Industry and Courage: And whether if our most Gracious and Valiant King William had been afraid to have fallen on his Enemies at the Boyn, because of danger to have saved some hundred Men's Lives, than he might not have lost the Victory, and had forty Thousand Men's Lives dwindled away by Sickness and Skambling Fights in Ireland since, and it may be, the War continued there until this day, as it doth at Sea; but blessed be God, who gave him Courage and Victory, and to every Man he lost there, he Ruined ten Enemies, and Ruined their whole Cause in the Conclusion in that Nation; and had our Fleet done so, what Mercy had England enjoyed, to have seen the French Fleet Ruined.  
But now as to our Ships and Men, and the two Questions before, Whether it was greater Profit to the Nation and Seamen to save their Ships and Men, as aforesaid, and of losing four Ships, than in Fight our Enemies Yard-Arm, and Yard-Arm, with all our Fleet, after the old English way of Fight, as old Blake, and old Dean, and old Albemarle used to do, if their Enemies were twice their Number. But now instead of that, we saved our Ships and Men then, and lost twenty times four Ships since, and twenty times two thousand Seamen since, and great part of them destroyed not their Enemies by the Bargain; and which is best or worst I leave to those who have more Skill than I to Judge. But in short, if the Seamen of England be ever truly encouraged and preserved for time to come, they must be paid on Shore, and it must be so contrived as near as possible, that every Man may be paid off once in a Year, or tw● at farthest, and have then a little security against the Press, that they may Recruit their Healths, and then they will be encouraged to come into the Service again, and their Friends glad to send them; and without that, I am afraid other encouragements will be but like a few Oats shown a Horse to tempt him to come and take up a Pack, who remembers the last time he could never get it off before he fell sick, and was thrown in the Hedge: And lastly, although he saw a great part of his Companions Dyed under their Burdens, none would be so merciful to them as to give them a Fortnight's Rest in several Years. This may seem a foolish Comparison, but Children and Fools are said to tell truth. and so much to that, if there be no certain time when Seamen shall be discharged, I fear there will be no certainty of their coming in for time to come freely: And so much to that.  
3ly, If His Majesty, and the two most Honourable Houses would advance all able Seamen's Pay four or five Shillings the Month, this might be the way to encourage the Seamen of England to serve more cheerfully and freely.  
4thly, All ordinary Seamen's Pay, but two Shillings the Month, that they might all strive to be Able Seamen.  
5thly, That all Apprentices might be encouraged when they are Honest, and Punished when they are not; that is, their Masters to have twelve Shillings the Month, and they themselves the remainder; that is, if they are such as deserve but Eighteen Shillings the Month, to have Four Shillings themselves to buy them ; if Men, to be Paid Nine Shillings; and if an Able Seaman, to be Paid the Remainder of the Pay, as Able Seamen are; and this I Propose. because I have known several Apprentices shifting, and running to and fro from Ships, have Beggared their Masters and Dames, and the King loseth their Service at last, it may be, as their Masters and Dames do their Pay. But if they had Encouragement themselves, it may be they would stay in their Ships; and if they did not, to be liable to serve their Time over again, or pay for it; and also by this means it would be certain who should have their Pay; and that hath not been this War; Sometimes the Prentices shall have all, and the Masters none; and sometimes their Masters all, and the Prentices may starve for Bread or , their Masters, it may be, some of them, taking little care where they shall be provided for when sick and almost naked.  
6. See all Seamen to be encouraged to be able Seamen, and Midship-men and Officers, as they are capable of; and not let any Captain's Boys receive Midship-men's Pay for their Masters, and the Brave, Courageous, Loyal Seamen, that served indeed for Midship-men to be paid but as Able, or to be split their Pay, one Midship-man's Pay between Two Men; and this would encourage all Seamen that have Brains and Art, to strive for Preferment, and not have Lieutenants put over them, that never saw a Gun fired in anger, it may be, this War.  
7. As few Seamen as possible to be turned from Ship to Ship; and if they are, to have Tickets given them for their former Ships, and these to be as Landmarks for their Pay, and not to be made Run afterwards; but sent up to the Office for their Wives, or Friends, or Parents to receive their money; and these turned over Tickets to be Registered, and paid in course, and that within three months at farthest, after the turning over; and none to buy any of them at above 3 s at most, in the Pound Profit, on Pain of Forfeiture of thrice the value to the party grieved or oppressed; and if those who have extorted before, of the Seamen, out of their Tickets, above 4 s or at most, 5 s in the Pound Profit, might Pay to the Party grieved and oppressed 2 s back for every shilling more profit; and that would not be so great a punishment as some may imagine; For if they extorted 10 s profit, and five being for time passed winked at, the other five paid back double, is but 10 s So that the poor extorted ruined Seaman, would have but 20 s at last for 20 s And if any say, there was no Law against these Extortioning Villains for time past: To that I answer, I do suppose, unless the Extortioners are worse than Heathens, there is the Law of Nature and of Christ, to do as they would be done unto.  
And Secondly. unless those Extortioners are worse than Turks, I have been often informed, that the Turks will severely correct a Jew if he takes more than a moderate profit of a Christian; they will beat the Jew severely. And I do suppose that such dreadful cursed wretched Extortioners, as have bought some Seamens Pay at near a quarter of the value, were never heard of among Turks or Indians, or the most Savage and Barbarous Nations in the World; And those very Seamen who are so Ruined, to lose their Health and Lives in the defence of that very Nation where these Extortioners must live, or be Slaves themselves, and lose all at last.  
And I consider, That if David would not drink of the Water of Bethlehem, when the Three Mighty Men had ventured their Lives to fetch it, but said, God forbidden: is it not their Blood? Then how can these Nations expect to thrive, that put by the poor miserable Seamens Widows from their Pay; that was earned not only with the peril of their Husband's Lives, but even fell sick, and actually die on shore by reason thereof; or whether it be not very like injustice, or unmercifulness, and Cruelty, to cause so great multitudes to be deprived of their Pay, who have not been one Day or Month hardly out of the Service for several Years, as by the Ship's Books will appear, except by sickness or death, that can be proved; and if those, who have helped to throw more misery on them, be the only men that are in this Nation to Relieve them; the Lord, for Chrift's sake, preserve all Landmen from falling into such Distress; for if Christ should say to these Nations in Judgement, The same measure you meet, shall be measured to you again, it would be sad; but what he will do is known only to himself; and what his good will and pleasure is to stir me up to write this, he only knoweth.  
And 8thly, Therefore there ought to be care taken what Seamen must do for time to come, if they are set sick on shore, and the Ships go away before they are well to secure their Pay; for I would appeal to all mankind, that hath Grace or Reason, yea, or Common Sense, whether it can be thought, that when there is several sick Men in Ships, and they set on Shoar, some in one Port, and some in another; Whether the Ships must wait until they are well, and how the same Men can get to their own Ships again when they are gone? And if they continue sick or die, or go on board of other Ships, or be sent to the Hospitals, and Run out of their Pay; whether this be not Injustice, Cruelty, Opression, Discouragement to the King's Service, and that whereby no Man in England can be safe to Serve his King and Country for time to come; nor no Man safe to trust a Seaman, or Seaman's Wife and Family, one Groat that is in the King's Service on those terms, since the Stoutest Man and Honestest Man in England, by keeping long on Board, may fall Sick and Die, or continue Sick, and that a Year or two, and if not go on Board, or be Pressed on board another Ship, and so lose his Pay: I do protest in the presence of the Lord, before whom I Writ this, I fear if there be none in these Nations to be found to consider these dreadful Cases, but suffer Cruelty and injustice to be smugled up, that God will Chastise these Nations, until they Learn what it is to Ruin Men and Families in their Lives or Pay, thousands and ten thousands, as by the King's Pay-books and Muster-books will appear; and they I appeal to; they are such a Register the Nation never saw in the Sea Affairs, and the blame must lie somewhere; and I suppose some hardened Hearts will say the Running them out of their Pay, is right enough; but it may be they will not consider that their turning from Ship to Ship, until Sickness or Death came, was the Cause of a great part, and I hope they will not be so Case-hardened as to say they were served well enough to be Run out of their Lives, so many ten thousands; also I remember the English Nation, in some former times, was mighty industrious to find out, and Punish the Instruments that Ruined the King's Liege-People in their Lives and Estates; and had we had but the tenth part of Landmen's Poor Families Stripped of all they had in the World, as there hath been Seamen stripped of their Pay, it would have made a dreadful outcry in England: And indeed if our Poor in England had been forced to be turned from Master to Master, without a Penny of Money for some Years, as many Seamen have from Ship to Ship, and their miserable Wives and Children Live on Credit, or Starve; and if at last they should, under the burden of all by discouragements, fall sick, and be Run out of their Money, they had worked for several Years, as many have been out of their Pay in several Ships; it would look dreadfully bad. And some well-meaning men would have nothing said of it to acquaint the Government, for fear our Enemies should know it; as if the French, who hath taken so many hundred Ships from us, and near twenty thousand Men Captive, this War, and hath so many Spies, and Treacherous Villains here, and doth, to outward appearance, know a great deal better where to meet our India Ships, and Berbado's Ships, in several places to take them Home to France, than ours did to send Convoys to take them Home to England; and yet some seeming Honest Men are afraid the French, that take our Ships and Men, should know our Case, and in short, I fear he knows it a great deal more exactly than some do, or will do in England, for I do think some in England seem to do, like what is said of the Woodcocks, to hid their Heads in a Bush, and think none can see them; and so if they let the King, Country and Seamen be all Cheated, it will continue to be all smuggled up; but my Pen runs thirteen to the Dozen, and yet the knavery of the Bakers is such, that if care be not taken, I am afraid some of our Seamens Families will be ready to starve: but to that, I should propose a Remedy, that Seamen may not be Cheated of their Health, Lives and Pay altogether.  
First, if as many as is possible, might be Paid off every year, and that, it may be, would save most of their Lives, most of their Healths, and all their Pay besides, and we might have Ships enough for a Winter Squadron besides; and if any did fall Sick, then if the Ship goeth away and leaves him set on shore, then if he cannot come on Board to set him in the Ships Book dis-sick at such a place and time, and the Man, if well to go on Board another Man of War, and to have the Captain of the Man of War send up a Certificate to the Office, That such a man that was in such a Ship, is now in his Ship, and this to be Entered in the other Ships Book in the Office to save the Poor Seamens Pay; and if the other Ships Book be not there, to have a Register Book to enter it in the mean time; and if the Man continues Sick or Die, the Surgeon of the place, he is sent to, to be Bound to give a Certificate of his Case to save his Pay, since it must needs seem to me to be a barbarous thing towards any, for time past, to be turned from Ship to Ship, for several Years; until they fall sick and die, and then be Run out of their Pay; and it may be their poor Ruined Wives, who hardly have seen their Husbands this War, it may be they must come 100 or 200 Miles, to show cause why they must have any money, and why their Husbands went not on Board their own Ships again; and it may be the Ships Journal, if looked into at the Office, would show the Ship went away in 24 hours: And if God will bring every work to Judgement, I doubt our Ships Books and Ships Journals will be sad Witnesses against the Cruelty of some in those Offices, to Run poor Wretches out of their Pay, that the men are, as the Sentence is against those that are to be hanged, Dead, Dead, Dead. And therefore if I find not any Remedy against Ruining the Fatherless and the Widow, I will not expect any great Security of our Ships and Merchandise.  
And so much to that: God is a Jealous God: If we Ruin the Poor of Thirty Thousand Pounds the Year, by some sort of Tools, and God suffers the Nation to lose so many Hundred Thousand Pounds in Riches, and the King his Custom, by the Ignorance, Carelessness, and Treachery of others; if our own Folly be not too hard for us, I fear the Judgements of God will: and therefore I advise some way for these Nations to break off their sins by Repentance, and their Iniquities, by showing mercy to the Poor: and Mercy and Justice both, will teach ways to secure Ruined Seamens Pay, when wounded, or dead, or in the Hospitals.  
9 It is a miserable thing, that when men are turned over, or dead, or sick, that their poor Wives cannot be informed whether their poor Ruined Husbands are Run out of their Pay, without Petitioning; Which, if there be Twenty Thousand Turn over in a Year, may make work for the Clerk of the Petitions, and his Masters. If they all Petition at 12 d the Piece to him, it is a Thousand Pound the Year, and 6 d to his Boy, is five hundred Pound the Year: And will not this be brave Times for him? But I remember, in all Calamities, some dreadful Wretches get money; in the time of the Plague of London, in the time of the Fire, and in the time of War, many are Raised from the Dunghill on the Ruins of others; but why poor Seamen themselves, or their poor Wives, should not have Liberty to get a Clerk to search the Book, to see if they are cheated of their Pay or no, before Payday, is sad. But I confess it is a good way to hid Knavery: For if money be said to be paid the Party, and was not, and he appears himself, it is a timely notice to get another book to show him, that it was only ordered to be paid him. But if he be dead, or gone, and never come himself, than it may stand paid the party until Doomsday; and if he comes, it was a mistake: And besides this, having a sight of the Books, may be a great help to Extortioners and Ticket-buyers, if they get the Books searched privately, they may buy as they please; And whether this be not turning the blind out of their way, seeing the Seamens Wives have most time nothing but the Books to know what is due; and if they be Run at Payday, it may be are forced to petition, and stay for their money another year; and this is misery to misery.  
10. Therefore I think they ought, for time to come, to have no Seamen discharged without a Ticket, and no Officer keep his Ticket on pain of Felony; For in plain English, which is worst, a Pickpocket stealing a Guinea or Two from a Gentleman, or a Captain of a Man of War to take a Seaman's Ticket from him of Ten Pound, and it may be the poor Seaman, nor his Wife and Family, hath not a Groat in the World to buy a bit of bread? Therefore if there be not Relief to poor Ruined Seamen, I will never more wonder we fool away, knock on the Head, betray and destroy so many Men of War and Merchant Ships. But,  
11. And none to wait above One Payment for One Ticket also, for time to come; and not wait 3 years for 30 s at Two Payments of a Ticket, as hath been common this War: And whether this was not Misery to Misery? And to prevent that,  
12. As few as possible to be turned from Ship to Ship; but when Ships come in, pay them off as they come in, some one time, and some another; and the Men have a Month's Liberty to come on shore; and gather health and strength, and spend their Money; and when their Money is gone, their Friends will quickly send them to Sea again, without pressing; and that would be good for King and Country: And if Men see they are not shifted from Ship to Ship, like Slaves, they will, when paid off on shore, as in other Ages, have Encouragement to come into the Service again, and bring their Children, Servants and Friends with them. But if they find they are deprived of their Liberty all their Days, when once they come, and of their Property, when sick and die, no marvel if they are glad to get away: And I would ask all Mankind, and would appeal to the King and Parliament what should be the Cause the King's Service now should be more a Prison than in other Ages? and why so Gracious a King's Service should be made such a Bugbear now; and such Loss of Liberty, Property and Lives to the Seamen now more than in any Age of the World; and whether it be not an unmerciful, unjust, and an unreasonable Argument to pretend the Seamen cannot be admitted to come on shore to be paid now, as in other Ages, because they will Run away: Whereas, in the mean time, they are kept turned and tossed from Ship to Ship, until more die than would Man the Fleet; and in the mean time also, more Run away from the Service than would Man it all and half over again: And if they are Run out of their Pay wrongfully, it is shameful and cruel; and if Justly, their New Management has frighted more Seamen out of the Service, to the appearance of the Ship's Books, this Seven Years last, than hath Run away in this Nation, I do verily suppose, this fifty years, if all the Old Books and New Books were searched. So that I say, Experience shows the Misery of that Argument of paying them on board Ship, by the Loss of near Forty Thousand Lives, and sixty or seventy Thousand Men's Pay: Whereas, had their Lives been preserved, and their Pay encouraged on shore, in all likelihood Seamen would have been so increased, and thereby their Pay in Merchant Ships near half jess: That considering the hazard of Lost Voyages in Merchant Ships, they would there have Thousands of them proved my Words good, that I used to say to them at first, That the King's Service was the best in England; No half Pay, no Damage, no Lost Voyage; and if pinched of their Diet, the King pays the Pinch-gut-mony also honestly.  
And thus I would by the way consider, that we cannot expect to be in safety for time to come, without we do by Humility, Justice and Mercy, engage God to stand by us, and give us Wisdom, and his Blessing in the first place.  
And 2dly, As to outward means, in a visible way, we cannot be safe and happy in times of Peace or War, without an hundred and fifty Thousand Seamen in England. My Reason is this, That though now we have the Dutch united with us, and it may be save 20 or 30 Ships, and 10000 Men, the time may fall out we may stand alone; and 2dly, What hath been, may be; and the French and another Nation have Joined against us; and then we need double the Strength and Number of Men we have now; and that to maintain a War and Merchant Trade both; and if we do not that we are Ruined for want of Trade; therefore this I would say, Tho our Losses have been dreadful this War, and God knows, many of them blindfold, and scandalous and ignorant; yet it was a great mercy we traded; Our poor had been Ruined, if we had not Traded; all our Manufactory-workers would have been ready to perish, and commit, it may be, any mischief; for it hath been with the Nation as it may be, in some part, with myself; There are some that have by the Providence of God a Subsistence from me; I trade, and trust, and lose much; I pay them, blessed be God, they live by their Labour, and some might starve, if they had not that, or the Parishes must keep them; others, it may be, get Money, more than I, under me, because I stand to all hazards, and they to none, but take my Mony. So it is in a Nation; if we had not Traded this War, we had been Ruined; and if we lose not more than we get clear Profit, we shall live at last; though, by the way, the World may admire at us, that have near twice the Number of Men of War employed that the Dutch have, and yet that they should have so many Millions of Riches come home from the Indies, and other parts, this year, and other years, and hardly lose any almost to speak of, except what they have lost in our Company; for where they take care of their own Concerns themselves, for the most part they go and come well. But in conclusion, I do suppose, besides their preservation of their Shipping, if I am not under a misapprehension, they save a Million of Money a year more than we in their Ships of War, and men's Wages, and it may be half a Million more in the very Wages of Seamen in their Merchant's Service; and if they spend less by half, and lose less by Eight Parts in Ten, they will outdo us in Trade; and it is not our making a Noise, and keeping our Seamen on Board of Ship until they die, will save our Trade alive; but first the blessing of God; 2. The increase and Encouragement of our Seamen, and our preserving them alive; and having enough to supply the Merchantmen with Seamen cheap, and then having Men to order our Convoys, at least with as much common sense to preserve our Merchant Ships, and meet them as soon, and take them home to England, for time to come, as the French use to do; to meet them to take them home to France, that we may not be a Grief to our Friends, and a Joy to our Enemies, and a byword to the World. I bless God I love my Native Country well, and our gracious King William well; and if I did not, I would not be so plain hearted. And as to what I said before, we must, for time to come, employ at least half as many Seamen more in times of Peace, than ever we did; and to do it in time of Peace, if we would, when ever God in Mercy sends us peace; then mind the very Fishing Trade at our own Doors, as others do. I find it computed by one Sir John Burrows, Keeper of the Records in the Tower, and printed with Gerard Malines Lex Mercatoriae, which I have by me, That the Dutch do employ in our British Sea, which he saith is a continual Harvest, and doth employ 6400 Ships and Busses, and 120000 Men at Sea; whereby he saith, That Holland itself being but 28 Miles in length, and a few in breadth, employs in all their Sea-Trade 10000 Sail of Shipping; and he saith, That Lubeck hath 700 Sail of Ships, Hamborough 600, Emden more, besides Freemen, and other Nations that Fish and Trade in our Seas: And he saith, That the very Customs of their Fishing Trade of Holland came to 500000 l the Year, including the Tenth Fish, and Cask paid for Waftage. And this, if thought of by England, when ever God shall send Peace, would be the way to employ and increase our Seamen, and to have a sufficient Number always ready to serve the King and Country at 2 Months Warning; and not suffer our Seamen, in Peace, to rove all over the world for employment to get bread, yea to go some Thousands into the West Indies a Buckaneering, for want of bread at home. This is by the way. It may be something of this may be minded some Years hence. And this I would leave as a Memorandum, That since France is grown so prodigious Great, if we double not our Diligence, they will endeavour to out-wit us in Peace or War: and it may be they may be to England as the Philistines were to Israel, when we fall deeply to sinning, they may be raised up to scourge us; and the Lord prevent the Cause, and if it be his holy Will, enable us to bring them under.  
11. And I would say, That all possible care ought to be taken, that those, who have the Command and Offices in the Ships of War, should be Men of true Courage in fight, and true Kindness to the Seamen at other times: And I would appeal to all our Brave Commanders, if the Seamen, with good usage, will not be led with a twined Thread, up to the Muzzles of their Enemy's Guns, at any time, by Stout, good Natured Commanders: But hate to be abused like Dogs. And I am consulting my Memory, and do not remember any one Commander that was an Hectoring, and Swearing, Damning, Cruel Wretch to his Men, that ever had the Heart to fight an Enemy: And therefore it were in this Age well, if there were a Law made. Tha● no extraordinary Correction should be given to Seamen in Passion; but to have Three, or at least Two Officers advise in any Correction more than ordinary.  
12. That no Seaman be kept above 2 Years out, either in the Straits or West Indies before they come home, and be paid off; it having been often found, Ships staying long there, have had their Number of Men 6 times over, to the Seamen's Ruin. And I never heard of a Penny Profit to King and Country, by their Ruining of so many.  
13. None be so turned over above once before his first money be paid, and that to prevent the Ruin of their Pay and Families.  
14. None to forfeit a Penny of the other Ship's Pay, after he is 3 Months in the Ship.  
15. No Officer to detain a Seaman's Ticket on any pretence whatever, except his Covenant-Servant, on pain of Felony.  
16. None to set a Q. or R. on any Seaman's Pay, but to show Cause, and set his Name that did it, that Seamen may not be rumed in Life, and Death and Pay and All, by they know not who, nor wherefore.  
17. None to receive a Seaman's Pay without a true Power; and if Counterfeited, to have the Middle Joint of each Little Finger cut off, and be sold to the West-Indies for perpetual Servitude all their Days.  
18. No Officer to detain a Seaman's Certificate, or Sick-Ticket, on any pretence whatever.  
19 No Officer to keep Men open on the Books a Voyage after they are gone, neither to make out Tickets for them, or to enter Men in the Ship's Books, that never saw the Ship in their Lives. And to prevent this and the other, and the Cheating the King; and Loss of Ships, and Ruin of Seamen for time to come, there might be,  
20. One man in 20 that can write and Cast Account, to be as Seamen extra, to keep a Journal signed by them all, of the daily motion of the Ship, in what place, what Wind, and what Friends or Enemies met with, or run away from; and also to take an Exact Account of all the Ship's Victuals and Stores coming on Beard, to see that it is the full Quantity, and that no Embellishment might be in the Stores, nor no Victuals short, since the King allows enough of all these things, if men shuffle it not away; and also to see the men mustered every week all the Voyage on board, to prevent their being entered that never come on board; neither they kept open that Run away: And that also the Seamen extra might be Learning to carry a Ship to Sea in any part of the World, and consulted with in case of Danger, that Ships might not be knocked on the head, or fooled away, for time to come, so madly as in some times past; and these men to have six shillings the Month more than Able Seamen; and to be preferred, if deserving.  
21. In regard that the Boatswains, Gunners and Carpenters are Places of great Care and Trust, and some Expenses in the getting in, and taking care of, and accounting for their Stores, and their Wages being, it may be, undervalved, in respect of those who have double Pay, if his Majesty, and the Honourable Houses, would advance their Pay half as much more as they have now, and this would be the way to encourage them to be honest, faithful and cheery in the Service; and they that are not honest, to be punished: if they are found to steal the King's Store, than they and the Parties who are the Receivers, which are as bad as the Thiefs, to be every man that is found guilty, marked on the Little Fingers, and transported for Servants to the West-Indies, all their Days, as those that would infect others if they stayed here: And to find out all Theft, if there were this Encouragement, That whatever Seamen 2 or 3 could prove the same, to have their discharge from the Ship, on the Conviction of the Offender, and Tickets for their own money, to be paid presently at the Payoffice, and a Protection for One Year from the Press, except they can be preferred in the time to some place, into some other Ship. And this would be the way to have almost all the Thiefs in the Fleet, and in the Yards discovered, and without Charge or Loss to the King. But if men who discover Cheating be abused, browbeaten and back-beaten, and confined to endure it all their days, no marvel if there is seldom any Thievery found out, if never so much committed.  
22. No Pursers, or Captains Clerks, or any Officers, to give a List of Names to others, to forge Powers, or to deliver out Tickets to any, but publicly; and to those who have Powers, that are Lawful to take the same; and none to sell or receive any Seaman's Pay or Ticket, except their own Indenture-Servants, on Pain of Felony, as being worse than Highwaymen.  
23. There to be a Committee to hear the Complaints of ●hose who have been oppressed, cheated, or ruined in their Pay; and to hear all Complaints freely, and to restore Justice to the oppressed, as those who would not have the hand of God go out against our Navigation any more, to the suffering either our own Folly or the Enemy's Subtlety to ruin us.  
24. That whenever Ships are put up for Re-calls at Broadstreet, for Pay, there be a certain time appointed for each Ship, and public notice given at least 6 days beforehand, for all parties to appear, that have Money due, that they may not lose their Pay, or come at such uncertainties for small sums, that the trouble and charge, and loss of time, is worth more than the Money received.  
25. That there may be also an appointment of some of the Commissioners, that state the public Accounts, to hear and receive all Informations, wherein the King and Nation have been cheated, and liberty to grant a safe Conduct to any one to come and appear before them, to make a full and free discovery, and to let them departed home without molestation again; and if their Information be worthy of a Pardon, that it might be interceded for; if not, that they might be left open to the Law, as before: And that, if any one, that hath been guilty of Cheating, and forging of Powers, can discover two others as bad as themselves, so as they may be convicted, than the first to be pardoned, and the other two punished: And if the other two can either of them discover two more, that is four as bad as themselves, the two to be excused, and the four corrected, unless any of them could double their Information, as aforesaid; and this would be one way, perhaps, to find out how the King, and the Nation, and the Seamen may be modestly Judged to be cheated of 100 or 150000 l a year this War.  
And now I having proposed this, it may be I shall meet with some Enemies that will envy me ten times worse than the Thiefs envied him that wrote the Book that is called, The English Rogue; and yet if they were so wise, as to keep their own Counsel, none would know I meant them; for indeed, I bless God I aim not against persons, but Villainy; and if I meet with any that is offended at me for discovering the Method of the Navy-Cheats, I shall think it is some body that is galled and scabbed; and that I touched them, though I did not see them, and therefore they kick and by't, as some Horses will do. And so much to that. I would advise them to keep their own Counsel, that others may not laugh at them; and if they laugh themselves, and are pleased, the World will be ready to judge they are glad if I can hunt out the Scabby Sheep out of their Flock. But I would propose concerning those many thousands that are taken captive into France, if it were in English Ships.  
26. That they that are taken may have their several miseries considered of, how they are used in France; and if their sufferings be so great, that they are ready to perish there for want, it would be well if some Relief were ordered them, that they might not die, and perish there, or be forced to enter into the French Service for Liberty, Bread and , and therefore to be sent for away, also so soon as possible they can conveniently.  
27. When come to Plymouth, or any Seaport Town in England, to have at least a penny a mile allowed every Seaman for Travelling Charges to London, if in Men of War, and to where their Friends live, if in Merchant Ships, that they may not be forced to beg or starve for near 200 miles, and at last be forced away into other Ships, without one penny of money to buy them Clothes for to shift them: And it may be considered, if it be not a barbarous thing to meet men as far as Kingston, coming home out of France, with nothing but their Lousy Old  the French give them, and when they have begged 150 miles, to carry them away, lay them in the Hold in Press-Ketches, without Bedding, or any thing to lie under or over them; and it may be the poor Wretches sickly and weak, some of them: And this is now at this time one Fruit of our keeping Seamen on board, and paying them there, that they should not Run away, until there is so many dead and gone, that there is dreadful Tearing ann Halling in City and Country, and the very Watermen out of the Tiltboats, that they are afraid to work on their Trades, some of them now, while our great Ships are so many laid up: And by the way, this pressing, when Men were paid lately, frighted away some Hundreds or Thousands of Seamen: Whereas if they had but had liberty to have spent their money freely in one month, they would have been glad to have gone again. I have heard a Friend of mine declare solemnly, He had above 20 Lodgers that belonged to his House, went away to their own Countries, not daring to come up to London to spend their money here, or return it home to their Friends; and if so many be seared away in one house, how many in all the houses that keep Lodgers in City and Suburbs? Therefore men must be taken care of for time to come, to have their Lives preserved, and their persons encouraged; or if not, I fear it will produce greater Loss and Damage than is yet foreseen; And all mankind that knows the Sea-Affairs; knows that 2 or 3 Years keeping on board of Ship, commonly 3 fourth's of the men die: whereas if they had liberty, and fresh provisions, and Land-Air, one month often recruits them again.  
28. Therefore the Seamen to be encouraged, and preserved, and paid off at London, as formerly, and the City would not be Ruined by the War. And if it be objected, The Seamen would then go in Merchant-Ships, many of them. To that I do answer, if their Lives were preserved, they would increase as fast or faster in Men of War than in Merchant-Ships: and if there were plenty, Wages would fall in Merchant-Ships. And had our Fleet increased Seamen, as it was expected, the Wages would have been so low in Merchant-Ships, and what with Lost Voyages, Seamen would have strived to have gone into the King's Ships, if they had been paid off in every Ship, and had Liberty. But when they have no hopes of Release, but Death, or the End of the War, and cannot have opportunity to fight to end the War, this is a melancholy Case: many of them have complained they wanted to fight it out for to end the War. And,  
29. This paying the Seamen off on Shore yearly, that is, one half one Year, and another half another Year, would many times save the King near as much charge in small Ships Victuals and Wages, while as our Ship is in the Dock, as the charge of mending the Ship comes to. And indeed this War hath been, it may be, such a Disappointment to Seamen, as the World never knew, some Commanders having had so much Love and Reputation, and Care, as to have Men to Man a Ship; and it may be in some months after, either the men turned great part into other Ships, or the Commanders removed into other Ships; so that if a Thousand Seamen would be freely willing to serve under such brave Commanders, as I know some, they are not sure, but in a month they may exchange their Drivers. And by the way, I would observe, That though the Double-Pay Officers have had Pay suitable to buy Two Canes to beat the poor Seamen, instead of one; whereas before, they sometimes did tie a Rope-yarn at the end of their Cleft Sticks, but now may buy new; but the poor Seamen had not 1 s the month more all this War, to buy one course Coat or Waistcoat to keep off a blow. Which brings me to another Paragraph, that is,  
30. That the poor Seamen may have their 40 s a piece for , used to be allowed them if the Ship was lost; and this they had before they beat the French; and before that, they enjoyed some Comforts now and then. But to go on,  
31. No Seamen to be forced to go out of a Man of War into a Merchant-Ship, although the Captain should have several pounds for the same. But if Necessity requires the Lending of a Seaman or Two to a Merchant, the Seaman may have all the Pay in the Merchant-Ship, and the Captain and Purser to have the Benefit of his Victuals only in the Man of War, that the King and the Seamen be not both cheated at one time. And,  
32. The Seaman to have a Certificate to come again in a certain time, and to be kept from the Press until then.  
33. No Seaman to be made wait above ten days at the Navy-Office, to petition for to have a Q or R. taken off. But if whenever paid-off, as formerly, and encouraged, there would be an end almost to that dreadful wretched Ruining and Destruction to themselves and Families, of losing their money, for those Letters being set on by any wrongfully; and therefore would serve the King cheerfully.  
34. That those, who are discharged fair, by Reason of Sickness, and have Tickets signed by all the Officers for their Pay, may not be cheated of it, for the word of one hard hearted wretche's pleasure, the Seamen's Ruin being too great already.  
35. If Seamen are pressed away when on Shore, the Captain that commands the Ship he is in, to be obliged to send a Certificate to the Ticket-Office, to be Registered in the other Ship's book, or in a Register-Book, as in the Case before of Sickness, to secure the Seaman's Pay from being ruined, because he lost his Liberty.  
36. That it may be considered there are 3 things Englishmen do value highly, that is, Liberty, Property and Life, and all these have the Seamen lost some share of this War, and the Histories of all these Nations cannot parallel; and therefore double Care ought to be taken of them for time to come, seeing it is to be feared there is some gone to inquire after the preserving of those things in other Nations already, as by the King's Books of Ships come home this Year, may be seen something.  
37. Seamen pressed out of Merchant-Ships, to be under the penalty of half their Pay, to go on board of such a Man of War, at such a time, and then to have liberty to bring up the Merchant-Ship, and to take half their Pay, and sell their Ventures, and recruit themselves a few days, to recover their health, that they may not, after long Voyages, infect the men of War by sickness; and when they are gone on board, that man of War to have a Certificate sent up to the Office, That such a man is come on board such a Man of War; and then his other half of his Pay to be paid to his Attorney: And if he goeth not on board the Man of War, or if she be ordered away sooner, than on board another; then the other half of his Pay to be forfeit to the Hospital of Greenwich, if he goeth not in a Man of War. And by this means most of the Seamen might be in the King's Service once in 2 Years, and the others that have been there discharged, and paid off, would please the Seamen, increase them, save their Lives and Pay. And if so, there might be a Law made, to cause all Masters to register them that come home for the King's use, before they are paid, and all other Registers will be too short, there being, it may be, 40000 Seamen Bachelors, or such as cannot be found to be registered, but lodge 40 or 50 in a house; and if registered there, can be gone 100 miles next week. But good Pay, their Lives preserved, and good loving Commnaders, that will fight with their Enemies, and be as kind to the Seamen as Lambs, would set almost all to Rights again in a Year or Two, if they be not ruined at the new way of management in the Offices afterward.  
38. And therefore they that are sent to the Hospitals, or continue a Year or 2 sick, must not be cheated out of their pay, or have that barbarous word told to a perishing Wife, That her Husband should not have been sick; when if he had been sick two Years, and before quite well, crawled into a Man of War again, and there continued, might deserve, more especially if the Wife and Children have Relief of the Parishes, and the man still in the Service also.  
And indeed I find our Poor's Book in the Suburbs, below the Tower, smell very strong of the Ruin of the Seamen's Families; our Taxes for the Poor being doubled: And it may be some that would grudge to give a poor ruined Seaman's Family 2 d to buy them bread, if they were ready to starve, may yet blame me for troubling my head with their Cases, and Ruins, and miseries: but however, my Conscience beareth me Witness, that I serve God and King William, and the good Old English. Interest, in what I do: And so long as I have sweet peace within, I cannot so much as fear any thing of trouble can hurt me; for, I bless God, I have learned in part, as a Christian, to be content with what God allotteth me; And I have also learned this Principle, That an honest man is not subject to injury; a man may kill him, but cannot hurt him. And now I speak of that, makes me think of some that threatened to sacrifice me last Year; and when the News was brought my dear Wife, she was frighted: But I bless God I feared it not: For as God carrieth me on, that I cannot let the Ruin, and Destruction, and Cruelty, and Injustice, that is exercised on our English Seamen, more than ever the World saw, to be hid from the King and Parliament; so by the Grace of God, he carrieth me above fear of any sufferings, so long as I have Truth on my side, and those Two Graces of my side, Justice and Mercy, that will bear me up. But if all the Reason and Understanding I have left, do not fail me, I have all the common Policy of my side that can be imagined. And now I speak to that, I will be plain hearted and declare my Opinion, That I do verily think, if there were no Policy on my side, that if the Seamen were oppressed and ruined, they and their Families, as multitudes have been, the Justice of God would awake against the Nation.  
And 2. I do also verily judge if there were no provoking Evil in their Ruin, they are ruined so madly, and dead, and run away so shamefully, that it would be the way to spoil ourselves at last, if it proceeds much farther; for their Ruin doth increase the pretence of keeping them turned from Ship to Ship, or catching them next day, or the same they are paid: And if there be not liberty of fresh Air and fresh Provisions, Experience shows the salt Seas and salt Victuals, in staying long in Ships, kills ten times more than the Sword: And God forbidden, that the French should have cause to rejoice, and say, as long as this War lasts, he need not fight to kill our men; for they die faster without his fight. And in short, if this War had been a Game at Cards, I should have feared some Gamesters played booty; if it had been a Suit of Law, I should have verily Judged there were some took double Fees. But my wand'ring, roving Brains do rather think our Sea-Affairs look more like that Rude Play, called, Blind man's Buff; for we have had several scurvy hard blows, that we could not well tell who it was that did hit us: But however it is, my Wisdom is too small to unriddle the whole, although I have Abundance of secret Notions that at present serve for my own instruction: And this that I writ is something that bubbles over; And if any should go farther, and say, Whatever the Game was, some that were either to hold or decide some of the Stakes, have gotten great Estates, let as many Gamesters as will, be ruined. Now that I would leave to those, who have more skill to determine. I am almost ashamed of this rambling discourse, and will now say what comes next to hand; and that is, That we had need to secure our Walls; and if the Seamen are called our Walls, they had need to be repaired all that is possible; And if any say, Great part of them are new ones, and so should last well; To that I answer, it may fall out the newer they are, the more apt to fall; whereas those which are old and seasoned, if preserved any thing like, would do better: And to that I might say, Perhaps it is so indeed; for in England we need never want men for the Sea; but Seamen are men seasoned to the Sea. And by the way I would observe, That our brave Seamen that have been 7 Years in the Service, they never had a penny Bounty-mony in the Spring; it is they that come in afterwards get Bounty-mony: And I have wondered, those that managed the Seamen did not think of some encouragement for those who stood all the time, as well as for those who come in the last week. It is an old saying in England, The Eye of the Master makes the Horse fat; And indeed, if our most gracious King William had been Rightly informed, to have seen the Case of his Loyal Seamen, they would have been in better plight. And this brings me to consider, That the Victualling of our English Navy, is the best in the World; that is allowed them, if they have what the King allows: And therefore,  
39 It were well for the Seamen, if the Pursers were bound, and made to take all the Sea-stores on board of Ship, and neither to receive any short at the Office at first, neither to sell any away before they come as far as my House, and that is not a mile from the Victualling-Office; and then Ships need not go to shortallowance often in 14 days after they are at Sea; and if that were prevented, it were well. But it may be they may plead, They can answer it, because if they are found out, they must pay for it: Now to that I would say, it is well for all the Nobility's, and Gentry's, and Yeoman's Horses in England, that they have not Pursers to feed them; that if their Masters allow them 10 or 20 Quarters of Oats for a Stable, the Grooms, that should feed them, take a third of them, and sell them, and drink away the money between the Drivers and the Grooms; and reckon so many Pecks a day; and if the Horses are abroad at work, and come not in time, charge their Oats to the Master's Account, though they are sold away, and they eat none in 2 or 3 days, or a week: And indeed, bad Drivers and bad Feeders is enough to spoil any Team of Horse in the World. I have heard among Countrymen, in Kent, some say, There is half in half difference in driving Cattle; some will beat them, and whip them, and knock them over the Pate, and swear and damn like Devils at the Cattle, and spoil them, that they will hardly drive at all, or it may be break their Traces, and run away, and spoil the Team at last; whereas, if another, that knows how to manage them with care, and cheereth them up, clappeth them on the back with his hand, and chirups lovingly to them, they will draw like Lions. And in short, I will appeal to all the Yeomen in Kent, many of whom are my Relations, if ever they knew a Team of Horse get a Groat clear Gains for their Masters, at 7 Years End, whose Drivers and Ostlers had ruined them half, and near starved some of the rest, and cheated their Masters in the mean time of more a great deal than their Provender came to. But I had need entreat pardon for my rambling; but sometimes there may be Abundance of homely Truths spoken in Jest; and it may be too true to make a Jest of.  
But however, now to the Seamen of England; They are Really as true to the Interest of King William, to the last, as any sort of men whatever; and many of those, who have stood in the King's Books as Runaways, are either dead in his Service, and that is the last they can do for him; and others are still in his Service to this hour, though Run out of their Pay in other Ships; And in short, it looks very miserable also, to be Run out of their Pay in other Ships, and cannot obtain leave once in 3 or 4 Years to come to show Cause, or hear Reason why they should have their money. I remember the Heathen Romans are said to take care not to condemn men without being heard speak for themselves, and also seeing their Accusers. Now if it be objected, that it cannot be expected all that are made Run should see their Accusers, yet for the 2d, they might have this privilege Heathens allowed of, speaking for themselves: And therefore I think in the next place,  
40. It is but Reason and Justice the Seamen that are made Run, should be protected 14 days, to petition to get off their R. S. But I am much afraid that it will be found Cruelty at last, to make men lose their Pay that are dead ashore, or sick in the Hospitals, or not a month out of the King's Service these several Years, or discharged fair by Tickets signed by all the Officers. And this I would ask, Whether the King's Service be a perpetual bondage? That though a man be Really sick, and have a Ticket given him to discharge him sick, signed by all the Officers, to clear him, and get his Pay, whether it be not Oppression and Cruelty in those that should pay the money, to deprive these men of their money, because they, that they left their Powers with, do not know presently where the man is, or whether living or dead, or in what Ship; and it may be, it is some Years past since he was discharged, and whether this way of management be like to encourage the Seamen, or any that trust them, or the like? In plain English, Such managers would fright away the Seamen, and fright others from trusting them. And now I have said this, it may be some will think I writ this for interest, and am concerned with such a Case. To that I answer, No; for I left off buying 3 Years past, and now write only to serve God, and my King and Country; And if I were in another Country, and should hear these things, it may be I might be ashamed of those kind of Actions, and Abundance more, that I fear are against Law and Gospel; and Honesty and Policy, yea, and I fear against good Heathen Morality; and seems to be all Arbitrary. But now I hope our Gracious King and Loyal Parliament have espoused the Seamen's Cause, they will, as an honest Gentleman of the House of Commons said, endeavour to do them Right. And this short Prayer I will put up for the Seamen for time to come, That the King and Parliament would not leave them and their Families to the tender mercies of the wicked; for the Scripture that cannot lie, saith, That the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. And it may be some that have been a year a getting a Petition for Justice Answered, may understand something of the meaning of that, when they come to beg nothing but their own that was due to them, by plain Justice, bare and threadbare, and stark naked Justice and Honesty: Therefore if there be not some way to secure poor Seamen's Pay for time to come, it is passed my skill to warrant our Seaport Towns will send their Men, Children or Servants into the Service so freely as before; and it may be they that have been so served, as aforesaid, if they are not dead, yet will not come without good words. And,  
41. Therefore if I might humbly presume to give my thought, I would suppose it requisite not only to take all care imaginable to secure the Seamen's Lives, and Pay, and Health, but also to have the Act for their Encouragement read in every Ship once a quarter, and an Abstract of the Encouragement set up in the Seaport Towns of England; or at least the Heads of it put in the Gazette, that the Nation may see, for time to come, that they do not pay their many, and the Seamen ruined; but that the Seamen shall be encouraged, and also honestly paid.  
42. That they might be paid in London, that the City of London, that is always ready to assist his Majesty with money, may have some again from the Seamen; and not let those who manage the Seamen, put the King to extraordinary charge to pay the Seamen several miles off, to the depriving the City of their Trade, and the spoiling of near half the Seamens Pay besides; For in short, in London the Seamen can buy all things at best hand, can send home their money to their Families, to any part of England or Scotland; And if they but spend their money here, or send it home to their Families, and enjoy a month's Liberty, and fresh Air, and fresh Victuals, the Sea will be the next thing they will be for; And Seamen will live and increase, as in other Ages of the World they used to do in times of War, although Thousands were killed: And of the most fight War the Seamen ever saw in England this 100 Years, it can only be said, the Sword or Guns killed Thousands. But this War, without fight, hath been the Death of several Ten Thousands. And indeed this makes me think of their Complaints to me, some years past, that they could not Fight it out, as in former Ages: And indeed, in my mind, the Fight like Men, and being Killed an Hundred in a Ship, is nothing; such a loss to themselves, their Families, the King, and the Nation, as being kept on Board of Ship, until three or four Hundred in a Ship Die before the Voyage is done, and sometimes a quarter of their Men Sick together; and how melancholy that must be, and at last be served as the Mary's Men that brought home about forty of those Men they carried out, and Buried about six or seven Hundred Men, and these forty men not suffered to have a Penny of Money one Shore to Refresh themselves, and tell their Friends that some escaped alive. I am afraid that some hard Hearted wretches makes as if our Seamen's Miseries were a Comedy, but God knows whether the next Age will not call it a Tragedy, seeing such dreadful Numbers of Lives have been lost; but however it be, His Majesty and the Parliament may now inquire of the Actors; how it is, and why it was so contrived, and the Charge of the whole seem so great, and show no better; but my Wits run a Woolgathering: instead of Writing a few Heads I make so great Bodies, they will require an Hour's time to undress by the Fireside at Night before Bedtime, and the Discourse may seem tedious: But if so, how tedious must that misery be, when it may be a few Lives Represent forty Thousand Miseries; and I would have put in a pretty deal of Discourse of Knavery also, as how, it may be, the King and Country may be Cheated shamefully: But if it be to be heard only at the Navy-Office or Admiralty-Office, as one great Cheat was, that I went about last Year, and Forger of Powers. And another that I went to the Commissioners that Stated the Public Accounts this year, about; but they having not leisure, I suppose the party's peace was made up another way. But I would have had the method of Cheating to be found out above, and prevented by Law for time to come, for the advantage of the King and the Country; for I suppose there hath been so many Informations of the King's being cheated, and the Seamen cheated, that have been brought before the Admiralty and Navy-board, that they know the method of Knavery ten times more than I; and it may be as carrying Coals to Newcastle, to tell them. But I wonder they have not made an outcry to the Parliament against all the cheating and Knavery they have been informed of; for if their Skill be only in the Running and Ruining of Seamen out of their Pay when they are sick or dead, I am sorry; and especially seeing I cannot find it weareth well, we have lost so much this Year, our Accounts will not come even, besides the loss of the Hope, the Brave Hope: O that England should lose their Hope at Sea to the French this Year. And now I think of the Hope, there was five Ships of the English, as I understand, and 2 went away, and 2 run away; and there was 5 Ships of the French, and they, like cunning Knaves, kept together, and so got away the Hope, though she fought well. And now our brave Sovereign is burned, which is to be lamented, and for that she was so brave a Ship, and named the Sovereign; And as for the Vulgar Name, some called her the Sufferance; As to that Name, the Sufferance, if all the Seamen's Calamities be redressed, I suppose they will never see such a Sufferance again in haste. But I wish we may see a brave New Hope, and as good a Ship as the other, for our Gracious King to go on board of, and name her, The New Sovereign. And so much to that. But,  
43. It might be considered of, that seeing we have lost near 100 Ships of War these last 7 Years, to a prodigious charge to the Nation; And many people admire what is done with all the Money raised, never considering, that since we saved our Ships from being lost by fight at first, we have lost and fooled away near as many since as will cost Two Millions of Money to build more, besides the Millions of Money extraordinary to keep an heap of Ships always in pay, though a great many of them seldom send word home what good they do abroad. And I have sometimes thought it is possible to act like boys in the street, that meet before Processioning-Days, great heaps and numbers, as if they would drive the Town before them; and, poor Wretches, it may be, not one in 6 hath the heart to strike a stroke, only run about and dirt their clothes, and put their parents to charge. But this by the way.  
As to our Ships lost; for time to come, it may be useful for the Commissioners that state the public. Accounts, to have the case of our Ships lost, brought before them, that if any body be in fault, they may not be all excused. And indeed, so long as the Seamen are sent away in other Ships, and the Commanders are their own Accusers, and their Friends the Judges, they will do well enough. I have sometimes thought how mischievous a Fellow No Body is grown since I was a Child; Then he used to be accused for stealing Apples, and eating up odd things, or drinking up the Wine or Strong Drink in a house; but now, if there be Ships murdered, or fooled away, or betrayed to the Enemies, or Fleets miscarry, as bad as our Smirna Fleet, No Body is most times called to Account, and punished for the same: And when as the Seamen of England are ruined and destroyed, and dead, or frighted out of the Service of our Gracious King William, multitudes of them, and then still No Body must be blamed and shamed for the same. And indeed, had not our most Gracious King William spoken for them, and the Loyal Parliament espoused their Cause, to relieve them, no body would perhaps have regarded their Ruin and Destruction so long until they and their Families might have been some of the most miserable ruined Creatures on the Face of the Earth, and no body would have gotten by their Ruin in this Nation; And yet it may be no body would have considered that they had been some of them like the poor men that traveled from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among Thiefs, who did not only rob them, and wound them, but did actually leave them half dead; And yet I suppose no body will be called to account at last for all this Ruin and destruction of them and their Families, although it may be the next Age will cry out shame of it, and say, the blame must lie somewhere: And it may be they will inquire then, who were those at the Admiralty, or Navy-board, or in any other places, that directed and managed our Sea-Affairs in those days wherein the Seamen of England were more ruined than ever the World saw, and more Men of War and Merchant Ships lost than ever the Sea groaned under, in so few Years of English Concerns; and if they understand the true History of this Age, they must know that our Gracious King William is the Justest and Mercifullest King in the World; but is concerned in the management of the whole Confederacy against that common plague of the Christian World, the French King; And is forced to be be abroad, beyond Sea every Summer, to manage the Army; And that it will be known that he left the management of the Sea-Affairs unto Englishmen, and that to such as are qualified by Law; and if there be any that wanteth any Qualifications of Grace, or Reason, or Common Sense, or Common Honesty or Loyalty to him, it should be best known to themselves; for I do not meddle with Names of Men; but the Ruins of the Seamen stick in my stomach, and I cannot digest it; for I am sick of it; and had I been a Merchant, it may be I should have been sick of our Ships and Merchandise also. But however, it may be observed, That whatever miseries or ruins come in the management of things, there is this to be considered of; The Managers of it must be men truly qualified; and that is something. But I wish, for time to come, there may be men qualified with Grace, and Wisdom, and Loyalty to the present Government, and that may have an entire Love to his Majesty, and the good old English Interest, that we may not be, any of the inhabitants of these Nations, forced to roar like Bears, or to mourn sore, like Doves. But I had forgot going on concerning particular encouragement for Seamen; as that they,  
44. Might never have sour Beveridge Wine forced on them in the Straits, that One Hogshead will mix with 12 Hogsheads of Water; as is sometimes done in the straits, for the advantage of the Pursers, though to the hazard of Seamens Health or Lives.  
45. And that all Seamen might be encouraged to look out for their Enemy's Ships, and that they that did spy them first, might be rewarded; And they that entered the Ships on board that are taken, might have encouragement, and not to be forced to deliver every little thing they get to their Lieutenants, or Officers; And also it were well if there were given an Account at the Prize-Office, of the Value of Money that hath been paid to Seamen this. War, to see if they have had any thing to speak of, or whether the Officers got all to themselves.  
46. And that no Officer, on pressing, do take any Bribes in pressing, to exense the Able Seamen, and in the mean time take Boys, and infirm persons, or Landmen for the Service of his Majesty; And that all Press-Katche's Accounts be examined for time to come, to see if they do not put the King to 30 or 40 l charge to press 2 or 3 men; And that no Katches bring Coals for the Officers, from Newcastle, instead of Seamen for the King.  
47. That if Ships are in Harbour, the Purser to give the Seamen their Allowance, as much as possible, in fresh provision, it being all on charge to his Majesty; and the way for Seamen to recover of the Scurvy, or other Sea-Distempers.  
48. That when the Seamen have been fed in the Winter, and clothed in London, and they that have Families been supported a Year or 2 on Credit, they may not be extorted on at Chatham, or Deal, or Portsmouth, to run in debt 18 or 20 l a piece, as many have been in a fortnight, or 3 week's time, to the Ruin of the Seamen; but that none should trust them above Half a Crown in a week, except for Clothes, or where they lodge. And that in case at any of those Seaport Towns they do trust them above that sum, except in sickness; or if they lodge there 10 s the week, to prevent many thousands of Seamen running out of the Land; and that many must do, or hid when the War is over; For where there is a Seaman owes 30 l at one house, and 20 at another, and 10 at another, they must run away, and do usually do so; And I have known in former time, above half those who did madly trust them, to be broken also: Therefore that extravagant expense is the Ruin of the Seamen, and those who encourage them in it, and hath caused many Seamen to leave the Land, and go a Buckaneering in the West Indies; That is, to turn Pirates, or Sea-Robbers. And now in time of War, the Parishes near London, are forced to relieve many Families of those who so basely spend their money in the Seaport Towns; And his Majesty's Service is often neglected thereby. Whereas those who are good Husbands, save money, and send it up to their Friends or Families: And these honest Seamen are such as will he able to show their Faces any where, if they live until time of Peace. And now I come to speak of peace, I desire the Lord in mercy to send a good one, if we wait a Year longer or two before it comes; and our Seamen will need help in Merchant-Ships. And indeed some of our Merchant-Ships, the Masters are shamelessly scandalously Villains, in going the way to cheat and oppress the Seamen: And these may be reputed among the cursed Ticket-buyers, and barbarous Villains that ruin the Seamen in Men of War; For many of the Masters in Merchant Ships stop what they please out of their pay, or do make them go to Law for their Wages, and keep them out oftentimes also 2 or 3 months, though the poor Seamen are pressed away; And one in particular lately did sell his Seaman's Venture, and kept his pay, and the Seaman pressed away; and the Master did promise me his money from day to day, until he cunningly, in the Night, carried his Ship to Gravesend, and got her cleared. But I heard of it in the morning, and sent away an Officer to the Ship, and got him arrested to make him honest; and got the money from the scandalous Villain. But if Merchant Seamen were encouraged as follows:  
49. First, That there might be a Law made, That all Seamen might have as good and large allowance of all Provisions and Beer, as in his majesty's Ships; and in case of falling short, on any occasion, to be paid short allowance money also.  
50. That none might pay any damage, except for their own Neglect or Fault. And this would be the way for Masters and Owners to take care to send better Ships to Sea, and not oppress the Seamen for their Rotten Leaky Ships Fault.  
51. No Seamen to have undue Correction, nor indeed no extraordinary Correction, without the Approbation of the Master, and 2 of the Officers, that so men might not be barbarously killed in the Ships, as some have been, and others dreadfully abused.  
52. That the Masters who stop 2 or 3 months pay a piece from the Seamen, when they pay them, unjustly, may be punished as Villains, that do go the way to discourage, and bring a Curse on our English Navigation, if it lay in their power. Whereas those honest Masters, that Victual well, and pay well, are such as go the way to encourage our English Navigation, and to procure a blessing on the same; and these Masters I love; but I hate all sorts of Villainy and Knavery wherever I meet with it in any: And do therefore expect to hear of some Knaves find Fault with this, as some Thiefs and Cheats did when they heard I did discover to the Parliament how the King and Nation was cheated. But I wonder they should be such Fools to complain, seeing I named no body; And if they had laughed at it, no body had need to have known they had been guilty themselves: And so I wish them to be wiser next time; And though there are Abundance of Cheats and Villains to Cheat the King and Country, I know their methods, and am ashamed that so brave and excellent a King, and so famous and fine a Country, and such Stout, Loyal, brave Seamen, the best in the Universal World, should be all cheated and abused, and that many times by those who drink it away, or whore it away, or game it away. Again, and if one Devil helps them to get it, there is so many Devils to help to spend it, that some of them will not be worth one Groat a Dozen, in a Years time after the War is over, and nothing stirring but Honesty and Industry.  
But 53. There aught to be some care taken that Masters of Ships might not abuse, and cheat, and beat, and starve their Seamen beyond Sea; for that hath caused multitudes of Englishmen to run away in the Straits, and other Voyages, to the great discouragement of our brave English Seamen, who will do anything, if encouraged; but will be mad, and run away to serve any Nation, yea even the Turks themselves, if they are Abused.  
54. It is pity there is not more liberal encouragement for Seamen to carry Ventures, and to be extraordinary well provided with provisions in their Voyages to the East Indies, since many Ships have in that Voyage, of those they carried out, buried 4 men to One of those which they did bring home: And that is bad, to lose all to a fifth part. And many men have in that Voyage been supposed to die for want. And the Company suffereth by it in the danger of their Goods, if Ships miscarry. Whereas those Brave Worthy Commanders, who Victual extraordinary well, and take great care of their men, do come home well, and their men love them, and I love them also for their Honesty and love to the Seamen. But it is a shame that any Ship's Commanders should be so unnatural as to want water almost so soon as they come out of the Harbour: And if there were a Law made, That all Seamen in Merchant Ships should be paid the full for their short Allowance and Water-mony, as the King doth; And that would be the Way to encourage the Seamen to keep their Ships, and not run away to serve other Nations for want of better usage. And the Commanders of all Ships, for time to come, aught at least to be made to provide Water for their Ship's Company, and not neglect it, or fraught their Ships so full that they have no room for Water, that so the poor Seamen may not be whipped at the Jeers for drinking the Water that is allowed for the Hogs. This seems to be worse than the poor prodigal Son was served: And indeed I have observed, That the Interlopers Ships to India, that their men had liberty to carry good Ventures, have gone well, and their men come home as fat as Pigs almost; as if they had not only had enough of Water, but had eaten half the Hogs also. And indeed it is also,  
55. Great pity that so many poor miserable people were forced to come and wait, and wait and come 20 times for their money after it is due, for 4 months' pay, at the East India-House. The loss of time to many, and their labour, and waiting sometimes 3 or 4 hours in a day, is worth to some, I fear, if they reckon their Time, above half the money. But this Age seems to play with misery. I meet with so many Objects of this Age's being hardened against the Groans of the poor, in some places, and Cries of the Poor, that truly I must needs fear that the most merciful God will arise to plead the Cause of the Poor, the Oppressed, the Fatherless and the Widow, seeing many men seem to lose moral pity. And indeed I am afraid it is gone to look after moral honesty, many men's very Consciences seeming to be even as it is said of some Firelocks, Case-hardened: And as it is said, That a good man is merciful to his beast; so I will say, that even the tender mercies of many wicked men in this Age, are cruel. But certainly God did not send men into this World to be like Devils, to plague and afflict mankind. And therefore it were well and convenient;  
56. That no Seamen in any Merchant Ship whatever, to be forced to wait above four Weeks after the Ship is in Harbour, for their Money, it being a very great oppression on the Seamen, after a long and tedious Voyage, to have no Money to buy any thing for themselves or Families in three months' time, and thereby Live on Credit, take up their  and Provisions, at what Prices any will set on them, to the great Loss of many Families.  
57 But if there were a Law made for the Hearing of the Seamen's being abused or cheated of their Pay; and either the Masters of the Trinity-House, or some other men, to be as a Court of Conscience to hear the Seamen's Cause, without Charge, it would save the poor Seamen's being forced to go to Law for their Wages after any Voyage, or for money to be paid in the time of any Voyage, it might save a multitude of Charges at Law, or loss to poor miserable Seamen, or their Families being often forced to give one half to get the other Recovered, after it is Earned.  
58. Another method for the true management of our English Navigation, is to labour to have both the Commanders and Officers and Seamen, to be brought to a moral Reformation, and also to a Religious Worship, and fear of the God of Heaven and Earth, and Sea, at whose Command are both Winds and Seas, and indeed if God be not sought unto, but instead thereof, daily Blasphemed all other ways and means will be too short to Expect a real Blessing, and comfortable Encouragement, as we might wish; but that the Seamen will be so much oppresed, and the Ships Ruined and Spoilt, more and more, until there be some outward Reformation at least, if not a true and sound Reformation of Life and Manners. And if the general instructions printed and given to the Captains and Lieutenants of Ships by the Admiralty, were minded aright, it would mend many things, and therefore deserves to be inquired into, in drawing up the method of the Well-Government of our Ships and men; And the first Paragraph of it is, That God be duly worshipped, and that twice a day, and all Profaneness, Drunkenness, Swearing and Cursing be discountenanced and punished; and the Commanders that allow it, turned out. And we should meet the Lord by Repentance both by Sea and Land; and cry to the Lord, that he would meet us with his mercy, that we may, by Righteousness, be an exalted Nation, and not for our sins be a ruined people: And therefore,  
59 It were well if every Ship in England that carrieth but ten men were bound to carry that excellent Book of the Church of England's Doctrine, the Book of Homilies, to read 2 Homilies every Sunday. And it hath the 39 Articles bound up with it, that all Seafaring men might see the excellent Doctrine of the Old Church of England to be for sound Piety and Holiness: And that it may be said of the Profaneness of this Age, That it is such a thing as the Fundamental Doctrine of the Church of England abhors: And as it was said of Old, of some that knew not Joseph, so it may be said of the great Wickedness of this Age, That it is from such as know not God, neither do they truly know, and believe, and practice that true fundamental Doctrine of the Church of England; And it were well if the Reverend Bishops would consult the great need there is of such Laws as may in some measure at least bring men to as near a Conformity to the substantial, Fundamental Holiness, Sobriety, Charity, Justice, and all Christian, Fundamental Duties of Grace and Holiness that are contained in so holy a Doctrine.  
60. And that every Ship that doth carry 120 men, or more, do carry an able, sober Minister, to instruct the Seamen in their Duty towards God, and to reprove the Vices of any one in the Ship; And by their Doctrine and Conversation, to show to them that the fundamental Doctrine of the Church of England, is for the Real Service of God and Holiness, and against all sin; And that they that profess the Doctrine, and live in Wickedness, are false pretenders to so holy Doctrine.  
61. And therefore that Excellent Act against Cursing and Swearing, if well executed, will be a good beginning, and a good help towards a moral Reformation. So if the great Debauchery of this Age could be suppressed, it would be a good help towards men's coming to consider of a future state, and to think, that whatever they are themselves at present, yet mankind was created to live to the Glory of God, and to honour him; and not to live like beasts, and worse than beasts. And the more excellent the fundamental Doctrine of Christianity is in any Church or Nation, the greater the condemnation of those must be that do sin against the Light of the same, and will not regard to walk according unto it.  
And now having said this, I will return again to another encouragement I think there is great need of, although the Seamen in all Merchant Ships, that go well and come well, in the Merchant's service, pay something towards the same; And that is,  
62. That all Fleets of Merchant Ships should, as much as possible, keep company, and stand by one the other, except much overpowered; And for want of this there was 6 or 7 Ships taken out of 12 in One Fleet, by 2 Privateers. Therefore those Ships that would not fight, the Commanders ought to be made public Examples.  
63. And those that fight stoutly, as brave Englishmen, to be encouraged and preferred.  
64. And that those Seamen that lose their Lives or Limbs in Merchant ships, should be encouraged, and have Bounty-mony, as in his Majesty's service they that are Wounded or Killed there have.  
But now I would not be mistaken, to think that his Majesty should pay it; although if a Merchant Ship be lost, it may fall out that his Majesty may lose 4000 l Custom: And were it so they did fight and save the Ship and Goods, if there were 20 killed, and 10 wounded, if his Majesty paid each of them, or their Families, 20 l it were 200 l and his Majesty would save 3600 l by the saving the Ship at last, and the Merchants, it may be, 30000 l by the bargain also: And therefore it would be of great use to the King and to the Merchants, and to the Nation in general, to save our Ships as much as possible, and ruin our Enemies as much as possible, and encourage our Seamen and Masters to fight, to save the Ships as much as possible. But I have often wondered that any Merchants should be so barbarous, or Masters so uncharitable, as not to give the Seamens Families one penny of Eucouragement, who laid down their Lives, and saved their Ships. And sometimes I have heard of some that have been forced to go to Law for their Wages after the Ship was saved▪ And as I remember, a Customer of mine was forced to pay the Chirurgeon 3 or 4 l to cure him of his Wounds. Now I did look on this as barbarous: And I do say, in this respect, the service of his Majesty is much better than the Merchantmen; And would be in many others also, if it were not for the Fault of Officers, and Officers of divers sorts. But this by the way; for I think we should be the most happy people under the Face of Heaven, if it were not for the Sins, and Follies, and Bribery, and Knavery and Villainy of the Age we live in; Whereby men are Ruined, and plagued and Afflicted more than ever, in several Kind's, both in Men of War and Merchant Ships, and the King and Country lose by the same at last, many Seamen serving, as is to be feared, other Nations, by being so much discouraged in their own: But I leave that, and would to God that all would indeed leave it in good earnest, and set themselves to study to serve God and his Majesty, and the common good of all these Nations; and in order to it, I think this is one, to encourage all Seamen, as much as possible, to preserve our Shipping; and one way was, that, as I said, Whoever lost their Limbs or Lives in defending a Merchant Ship, should have Pensions, or Bounty-mony: And I suppose, that if there were a Law made, That every one should be so rewarded, every Seaman would be more willing to venture their Lives to save their Ships: and the very Seamen in Merchant Ships, that went well and came well, would pay 12 d out of every pound towards a Chest to be kept for that purpose at Greenwich Hospital, as there is a Chest for the Cripples at Chatham: And there might be a Commissioner, or 2 or 3, appointed to manage it in time of War and Peace: And in time of War, they that are in Merchant Ships could afford to pay that cheerfully, because their Wages is near double; and in time of Peace it might be but 6 d in the pound towards the Pensions; and a Clerk or 2 appointed at the said Hospital, to keep all accounts of every man's months pay in England, and to receive the money, and to pay it out again to the Widow or Aged Parents of all that are killed in the defence of Merchant Ships, 20 l and to all that lose a Limb, or the total use of a Limb, in the defence of a Merchant Ship, 6 l the year during their Lives; for their Relief; and this to be paid them constantly: And not to have any Ticket-buyers suffered to extort half of it from them: And if the said shilling in the pound paid by others, did amount to more, as it might, if gathered faithfully all over the Nation, than the rest to go to the Widows of poor Seamen, or to aged Seamen that were past their labour. And it is as great pity, but all industrious Seamen should be encouraged in England, seeing I do not remember that ever in all my Life I heard of one Ship, either Merchant Man, or Man of War lost, because the Seamen would not fight; but so many because the Commanders would not fight, that I have been ofter grieved and ashamed to hear of it. And if there were a Law made to encourage the Seamen, I wish there were also another, That if the Commander● would not fight, they should lose, as aforesaid, 2 of their singers, and be sold for saves all their days; and if they did ever return, to be hanged, that so there may not be so many to disgrace this brave Island with Cowardice, which hath been, and in some measure is, at this day the Terror of their Enemies, the French Fleet; which were pretended to be such Monsters before; having run to their Harbours with shame and disgrace, since they see we have an Admiral who with less than half our Ships did beat them before; and for that we have cause to bless God, and live to his Praise.  
And now to say something to save his Majesty's money, and the poor Seamens also, for time to come, I do suppose it will be needful for time to come, to make it Felony to commit these Transgressions, viz.  
1. To enter 40 men's Names in a Ship's book, that never were in the Ship, nor in the World, and that is bigger; This to be Felony. And this is a Trick of the Devil's Masterpiece.  
2. That no Purser, or Captain's Clerk, or any other, do give a List of 40 or 50 men at a time, that are dead, or run away; that so, though the King hath been cheated of their Victuals, he may not be cheated of their Pay; and though the Purser might afford their Pay cheap, yet I wondered when I heard One Purser gave as many Names as there was 3 or 400 l worth received for in a Ship, and the foolish Knave had but 8 or 10 l for all. Now this Purser, and they that did find Powers, aught to be transported on of this Nation, that the Climate may not be infected with their Villainy.  
3. That no man in the Office be suffered to change the Christian Name of a Seaman in any Ships books, to cheat the man's Friends of his money, if occasion be: This Exploit looks like the Art of Juggling, if it should be practised; therefore should, if discovered, be punished.  
4. That none be suffered to keep men open upon the book a whole Voyage after they are run away, since this Trick, and those , and some Captains, as I here discovered to have many hundred pounds worth of Seamens Tickets, and some other Tricks I know may be played, if not prevented, may cost his Majesty it may be 80000 l the Year, and cheat the Seamen Twenty Thousand Pounds to make it up an Hundred Thousand Pounds the Year; and it being hard Times, as I find it is, a penny saved will be as good as a peuny got; And if others do study to raise so much, it is their Ingenuity; and if I do study how to save his Majesty and the Nation 100000 l the year, it may be a service for the Nation, although it may be no great ingenuity in me for myself, because I am not like to get any profit to myself by it in this world: but I bless God who enableth me in some measure to be willing to serve his Majesty and these Nations; as cheerfully, and hearty, and faithfully, for Love, as any man alive can do for Money; And if the Representing these last, or any other Knavery, should cause any to be offended at me, I should wonder at their folly and madness to betray themselves, since I love and respect every honest loyal Commander and Officer in his Majesty's service, and every honest good Commander in Merchantmen; and they that are such will no doubt love me, and delight in me, as one that is willing that every man of their Professions and Offices should be an honour to the same, and to get praise to the whole Fraternity of them. But I expect that those who are sore, and scabbed, and galled, will, as we use to say, be ready, when their sore is touched, to winch and kick, although I name no person; I wish their person well, and their Knavery and Villainy punished, and they made better. And I only represent the Knavery, and if they will be so foolish when they hear it, by their Anger to let others know they are the men, that is their fault; and a guilty conscience needs no accuser. And so I leave them to their serious considerations, to think if they have souls, how they that are Cheats and Villains here, must answer it hereafter.  
And I wish all mankind well, and know no man alive but I would do a kindness to, if it lay in my way; and know not any man alive but would do the same by me. And now being come to a conclusion of this, I give up this and my soul, spirit, body, and all my Family, and all my affairs, all into the hands of the Eternal Love and Mercy of our most gracious God and loving Father in Jesus Christ our only Saviour, for all time, and all Eternity. Amen.   

The Art of Ticket-buying, or the way to help to Ruin the Seamen and their Families in their Service and Pay. In a Discourse between Honesty, Poverty, Cruelty and Villainy, as follows.  Hsnesty. 
THIS Trade of Ticket-buying doth seem to have its Rise between Misery and Cruelty, or between cheating the King and Country, and Ruining the Seamen in their Pay; and as times grow worse, either in manners or misery, this Trade grows and increases as Misleto doth on a decaying Appletree; as the Tree decays the Misle increaseth: at first Cruelty used to buy at 5 s profit in the pound, from the Seamen; but that was near 30 years past, and they were cried out upon as extortioning Villains then, that have passed as modest men since: but since the times are grown more impudent in cheating the King, and ruining the Seamen, there be many have bought the Seamens pay at half loss; and not only content with that, but like inhuman Beasts, that were worse than all other sort of Beasts, except Swine, in devouring their own Kind, there have been some that have bought at near Two Thirds Loss, and others, worst of all, have many of them swallowed up the poor Seamens Pay altogether, for nothing, except the charge of an Oath, and false Power, if dead, or a false Power, if out of the way, as hath of late been often proved: And this Villainy and Extortion, and cheating the Loyal Seamen out of their Pay, hath been an unknown loss to the King, and unknown Ruin to the Seamens Families, and unknown Loss to those who did friendly and honestly trust the Seamen, who by reason of their losing 7 or 8 l at a time, out of a Ticket bought by Cruelty, or being shamelessly deprived of it all by ●●llany, have not been able to pay their Debts, neither buy bread for themselves and Families as they ought to do. And indeed what say you Poverty, is it not so?  Pou. 
Indeed we have found it so, for while we have been shuffled from Ship to Ship, until our Friends knew not where to find us, it hath been an Opportunity for Villainy to get Powers to cheat us of all our Pay: or if we fell sick and died, for others to Q or R us; living, out of our Pay, if dead, to deprive our Wives and poor ruined Children. But, Honesty, it seems, knows not what Names to call those by that Ruin the Living, and fright many of them away; and Run the Dead, and let their Families cry for Justice or Vengeance; and he knows not whether the next Age will call them barbarous Villains, or hard hearted Wretches, or Fools, or Knaves, or Jacobites, and Friends to French, or a mixture of all together, and Ruiners of their Country into the bargain.  Hon. 
Do not say what I think; for if so, you will say the last Age the Devil and the Jesuits debauched many people out of Religion and Morality, and now they would, if they could, cheat us out of our common Senses, and out of all our money into the bargain, this next year or two; and there is too much cause of fear of this. But you must say little of it for the fear of puzzling. But as to the Loss of senses, you may tell our Enemies of it; for it may be they know not how they have lost them, neither where to find them again, they are so dwindled away; or washed away. And as to the Loss of our Money, you may let your Friends know of it; for your Enemies know it is worth more, our milled money, to melt down, or carry to France or Sweedland, and some other parts, b●● Ten in the Hundred, some places, and near Twenty in other places; and they begin to laugh and say, Where is your money? And that is too sad to make a Jest of.  Villainy. 
What a noise here is of money: If I can buy Tickets at Ten shillings in the pound, I will buy; have you any?  Pou. 
I have a small Ticket to sell; I am in great distress. I was in such a Ship, and fell sick, and was Run out of my money: but I crawled into the King's service again, and now I have a Ticket of 6 or 8 l and we have not a penny to buy a bit of Bread for my Family, neither a Rag of  for myself, and yet I have been in the service all this War; what will you give me for my Ticket, Cruelty?  Cruelty. 
You say you were Run out of your Pay before, for being sick; and who knows, though you are discharged fair now, and have a Ticket, but you may go into another Ship, and continue there until you fall sick, and be Run out of your Pay there, and for this also? However I will give you 40 s for your Ticket, Poverty, if you please: What say you, Poverty, will you take it?  Poverty's Wife. 
That is very hard, and our Case is miserable, however, money we must have; my poor Husband has not a penny to buy him a Shirt, or a pair of Shoes or Stockings to shift him, and I do not see what we can do; pray give me 3 l for it, and that is dreadful Loss.  Cruelty. 
No, I will give you 50 s I do not know whether my brother Cruelty, or my sister Villainy would give so much; therefore do what pou will.  Pou. 
Wife, take the money: who shall make the Writings? Pray what Writings must you have?  Cruelty. 
I must have a Bill of Sale, will cost you 18 d and a Letter of Attorney, will cost you 1 s My brother Cruelty does use to have a Bond too, which would cost 1 s or 18 d more; and my sister Cruelty does use to have a small piece of meat, and some good drink also when she payeth the money: but I would have you see I am kind to you: and if any of your Ship's Company hath any more Tickets, I will buy them; for I have some money lies by me that I received at the Office lately; and if they will sell them, I will help them to money for them, if they be good; send them.  Pou. 
I have some money due in such a Ship; it stands open on the book, and they are not to let me see the book without petitioning the Navy-board, and I have not a penny of money in all the World to get the Petition written, and I know not what to do: I spend my time in the waiting for the payment of the Ship; will you buy it, Cruelty, what say you?  Cruelty. 
If I get the books searched, you must pay the charge, and if we agree, and must give me Bond, if I buy it, to make it good to me, if it be made Run in the Office, as many have been.  Pou. 
How should it be made Run in the Office, when I am discharged fair, and have been in so many Ships since, and not had a penny of money for any of them, and my Family not had a penny of the King's Pay to buy them one bit of bread, neither myself a penny to buy a Rag of  to cover my Nakedness this 2 or 3 Years: And I have been in 2 or 3 Ships more besides: Pray what will the books cost searching privately? Pray be as kind as you can.  Cruelty. 
I will not Undertake to get them searched under half a Crown.  Pou. 
Pray get it done, and I will abate it out of the money, if we agree.  Cruelty. 
I have got the books searched, and I find there is 6 l 10 s due to you, if it be paid at last.  Pou. 
I did reckon I had been 8 months in the Ship, and my money had come to 9 l But I must take your word: What will you give me for the money?  Cruelty. 
I will give you 30 s for it; and I know not if it will be ever paid: There is an Order, That if a man fall sick in the last Ship, and be run of his Pay in that, they do make him run out of his Pay in other Ships: Therefore do what you please with it, and I have been at charge to get the books searched, and do expect you shall pay me that.  Pou. 
I have not one Groat, if it were to save myself and Family from Ruin and starving: Therefore if you do not buy it, I cannot pay you: take it for 40 s anp pay the charges besides.  Cruelty. 
No, I will allow you 34 s and abate you all charges for Writings, and all will be about 6 s more, and that is 40 s in all together, though you have but 34 s. you self.  Poverty. 
Take it: I cannot wait: and my poor Wife is forced to work hard for bread for our Children, to keep them from starving, or being kept by the Parishes: And we own money to the Baker, and to the poor Chandler-woman, and that for a little Bread, or Cheese, or now and then a quartern of Butter, to help to keep my poor Family: And I own for the  and Bedding I had to sit me out to Sea, or I might have perished for Cold, and not been able to serve the King, and this poor little money cannot pay one Groat of those Debts to either: And I being turned from Ship to Ship, if I am forced to sell the rest so, none knows what I and my poor Family must do to live. This will not hardly buy me Shirts and Drawers, and a Waistcoat and Coat, and Shoes, to fit me to Sea again: and I shall hardly be able to let my Wife add Children have 5 s of this money: And for the money I own Honesty, he must stay, and that is pity, because he is a man hath been very ready to trust the Seamen to serve the King, and that as cheap as for ready money, and hath lost abundance by the same, and is forced to hold his hand before it be too late, and he ruin himself to help them.  Villainy. 
As to him you call Honesty, I hate the Name of him, and intent never to have to do with him, he is so much a Fool● He had for a Year or 2 half spoiled this Trade of Ticket-buying; for he bought up almost all the Tickets that came near him, at 2 s in the Pound Profit to himself, and we could get but a few of those, who did not know where to find such a one of the Trade: And at last he bought at Three Shillings in the Pound Profit: And finding himself then to have now and then a Delay, he began to be weary of the Trade: and since, he and many of his Friends left off buying Cruelty can come in, for some business by Wholesale.  Pou. 
The more is the pity that so few of his Friends will now buy any poor Seaman's Pay: And it is sad for the poor Ruined Seamen. But it seems he was served worse at the Office than the Heathen Romans used to do in point of Justice: for he bought One Ticket in a Ship called the Rose, from New England, of Fifty Pound, and paid Forty Five Pound for it: and it was clear of all encumbrances when he bought it: and signed by the Last Captain, and Purser Swain, and all the signing Officers, clear of all Debt. But some of the Commissioners laid a stop on it for the Use of the former Captain's Mother: and w●●n petitioned about it, could neither tell wherefore, nor where 〈◊〉 find her, and yet continued the stop: made Poor Pil●arlick wait near Two Years, and lose the interest of the money, aboot six Pound, be at the charge to go and send into City and Country, to find out the Captain's Mother: and one of their Officers gave them under his Hand, he had enquired, and she could not be found: And after waiting so long, and the party that earned the money appearing, who was preferred to a Lieutenant's Place, and demanding his money to be paid to Honesty, his Attorney; and said, None other ever had power from him: And yet they would not let it be paid, until a Lawyer appeared, and claimed some money due to the Captain, but had nothing to show for it; and then the stop was taken off lamely; that is to be paid to them that had the best Power, when there was never any Power they could find or hear of, ever to appear for it, besides poor  Honesty: and he was Kept out of his money until the books were made up, and then had it paid by a List: and then Purser Swain, that was Purser of the Ship, had five Pound stopped out of it for Tobacco, although there was none due, and doth detain the money still, although he hath heard of it so much: and poor Nonesty knows not whether he did not lose twice as much by his money being stopped so unjustly from him by the Commissioners, or by the 5 l stopped for the Purser, neither which of them all will be the honestest men when they come to die, or look blackest in the face Living or Dying.  Cruelty. 
You have told some part how Honesty was served in that Case, that he never would speak of; but you have not told how many Tickets he hath by him, or his Friends, that the money is said to be paid the parties, and they know not where to find the parties; and Honesty never told the Riddle of that Trick, That if poor Seamens Wives have their Husband's Tickets detained by the Captains, they may cry their Eyes out before they get a penny of Money without Tickets: But when Tickets are in some hands, than money can be said to be paid the parties, or to Jack-a-Noaks, or Joan-a-Styles; and the Tickets may serve for the Ages to come, to wonder why there should not be a certain Rule, a certain Payment, and a certain Law in the Seamens Payment; and not lay all the blame on Cruelty, in buying; for he commonly gives something for what he buyeth of the Seamen, although but little; but Villainy cheats them of all: And his brother Villainy used to give something for what he buys of the Officers, though they all cheat the King, or the Seamen, shamefully.  Pou. 
Now I think of it, pray Honesty, I do hear, since you made such a Noise this 2 Years, of some Officers cheating the King, and the Seamen of their Tickets and Pay, there is an Order, they must receive no man's Pay but their own; and I hear some of them are vexed sadly at You: What must they do now with such Tickets, pray, to get a penny for them?  Honesty. 
I will not say what they must do, but I will say, if they be not prevented; they that please to give their mind to it, and have Tickets at their command, I fear can get Powers filled up, and witnessed by themselves, or other Officers, and leave Blanks for such Names to receive them, as may serve to be put in afterwards: And therefore it was my Advice, That if the Parliament pleased, they should make it Felony and Transportation to receive a Seaman's Pay by a wrong power, for time to come: And if they had been Seamen, and cheated of their Pay, ten times as often as men have Rob on the Highway, or had their Pockets picked at Land, they would have strived to make a Law against cheating, for time tu come, and not left it to will and pleasure, to hinder small Officers from receiving money by a Lawful Power, although they fed them and clothed them several Years before, to assist them whsle they served the King, and in the mean time leave so many ways open to cheat the King and the Seamen by other Officers still in private ways, instead of those Hundreds of Pounds in a Ship received for the Captains, of Seamens Pay publicly, in former Years.  Poverty. 
It is a Wonder that you will meddle with such Diseases as are Noli me tangeries; that though they are heard of publicly now and then, as the Noli me tangere is in the Weekly Bill, yet hardly One in an Hundred knows what a dreadful Distemper it is, although some die of the same: And therefore, pray if you meet with any Offices that are infected with the Ruining and Plaguing of the Seamen, as the Houses of some were of Old in Israel, with the Leprosy, that they could never be cleansed until the very Walls were scraped; And although the whole Priesthood should by the Law of God Judge them Unclean, pray Honesty say no more of it. And when you hear I have been sick a Year or Two, or in the Hospitals, and Run out of my Pay, to the Ruin of my Family; and I and my Family cry and groan to Heaven for Relief or Vengeance; and others of my Poor Poverty Brethren be crying to Heaven and Hell for Damnation against them that Ruin them, and Run away to other Nations, to see if there be Mercy and Justice there; pray hold your Peace for time to come; Let things sink or swim, you have done your Duty; and you being sensible every Leaf you writ, must be such as must be true before God and man, as to the substance of it. And now you may admire at the mercy of God in keeping you hitherro, as in mercy you have been hitherto.  Honesty. 
That is true, and that I only trust to the infinite Free Grace, and Free Love and Rich mercy of God to me and all mine, in Christ Jesus our Lord and only Saviour, for all Time and all Eternity, desiring the Eternal God to be our Refuge and Portion for ever: And that underneath us may be his Everlasting Arms of Love and mercy, for all Time and all Eternity, to us and all ours. Amen.  Poverty. 
You have chosen well: but do not you consider, That there was an Age wherein it was said, Hold thy peace, for we may not mention the Name of our God? But do not you think, that those sad and barbarous Villains, who do Cheat, and Ruin, and Destroy the Seamens Pay and Families in this Age, do neither fear God, nor Regard man, but are as Ungodly, Hardhearted, Case-hardned Brutes, that seem as the Boy said by his Learning the primer, some of them to be past the Graces, and to be come almost as far as the Devil and all his Works: And as it was said of the Gentleman by his Jackanapes, An Ill Life may Expect an Ill End. Therefore pray be wary how you Discourse about those sort of men.  Honesty. 
I bless God I have no prejudice against the Persons of any men in England; and know not any man in England but I would show him a civil kindness; and it may be there is hardly a man but would do the like by me, if occasion were; and I find Anger is often Folly, but malice is the Devil, and a dreadful burden certainly for any man to carry: and I bless God who keeps me clear of that hitherto, as I desire to be kept from flattery, and that makes me write such plain honest homely English, to serve my King and Country, without much minding who are pleased or displeased: and that makes me labour as hearty to endeavour the preserving of our Lives and Liberties, and encouragement of our English Seamen, with as much earnestness as ever I heard of any did to secure a Wall or Bank that was to keep out the Sea from drowning the Country: And therefore having said it may be too much, I may pass over a great part of the Art of Ticket-buying in silence, for want of Time and Patience, and so say little of the Buyers Skill in getting the poor Wretches in that are not in the greatest of miseries, making them drunk, and getting their Pay as they please: Or of any buying at Five Shillings, and paying them part of their money, and then afterwards will have them at Ten Shillings Profit, or demand their money again, and extort money for. Extortioning Interest, besides Trouble, if they cannot pay the money. Neither mind I to represent how there have been some Hundreds of Pounds worth of Tickets offered without Powers at a time in One Ship: Neither the making out of Twenty Hogs, alias, Seamens Tickets in One Ship, allowed about Fifty men: Neither the very great multitudes of Tickets Captains Clerks have made out privately for Seamens Pay: Neither need I trouble my Head for time to come, much more than other men, if the King and the Nation should ever be found to be cheated of a sixth part of their money: for if I pay about Twelve Pound the Year this War: Taxes, as I have done, it is but Forty shillings Charge Extraordinary the Year: And I suppose I have printed as many Thousand sheets of Paper, freely to inform the most Honourable Houses of Parliament, and these Nations this Last Three Years, as hath cost me about Ten Years Purchase, for my sixth part of the said Twelve Pound: And I bless God I was never employed by any to do it, but as the good will and pleasure of God stirred me up out of a true design to serve God, and my King and Country: and I never had, to my knowledge, Ten shillings advantage from all others for the same. And I am of no Club, nor of no Faction; neither am I any men's Instrument or Tool: so that if I do any service, the glory will be to God, and the benefit to these Nations: And if I mistake, and suffer for it, I must submit with Humility, Love and Patience. And so entreating the pardon of his most gracious Majesty, and the Two most Honourable Houses of Parliament, for what is amiss: and begging of the Eternal Jehovah for his Grace and Blessing on his Majesty, our most gracious King William, and on the Parliament and People of these Nations: and on me and all my Family, I subscribe myself a faithful Subject to his Majesty, and Servant to him and all good men, while I remain to be,  
W. HODGES. Hermitage-Bridge, Feb. 20th. 1695.   

POSTSCRIPT.  
SInce I writ my first book of the Seamens miseries, and presented 500 of them to the 2 most Honourable Houses of Parliament, who were graciously pleased to pass by my infirmities, in representing the fame; for which I am in all humble duty obliged to be thankful to them. And I have presumed to attempt the foregoing rough Peice, being hearty willing any that can represent better Rules for the safety and encouragement of the Seamen, to serve his gracious Majesty King William, and the Nation, I shall rejoice. But if any say, some did by my other book, they could have represented it in fewer as words, and yet never had themselves neither wit, or sense, or heart for to represent it at all, I shall look on their words as idle prate, and to try their skill, if they are excellent at any thing, I will recommend the miserable Case of our Trading People, and the poor in these Nations, in respect of our money, which I fear the loss of will be fatal to both: And I wish it may not be miserable in respect of the raising the Taxes for his Majesty: for I fear that as our Milled Money was bought up to carry away, or melted down, above 20 years, when it was worth but a Groat in the pound to make it away; then I fear it will be ten times more in danger to be all melted down or carried away, or both, now it is worth ten Groats in the pound to make it away either way. Neither do I see how Tradesmen can escape Ruin for want of Trade, if there be not money to Trade, and Exchange, and pay the poor. And the Loss of Trade already to some I fear hath been, and is like to be ten times worse than their Taxes; and unless there be a new Coinage, that is about 3 Ounces to 20 s or the Milled money raised to 6 s and 8 d the Crown Peice, I fear whoever lives 9 months, will see hardly any of it passing about; and for Guinea's, they are at present a perfect Plague and Trick to mankind, and a means for men to prey upon one another; and if they fall, will be carried away; but if settled at but 28 s the Guinea certain, would pay in Taxes, and out again; and there might be One per Cent. allowed for profit of those who carried Silver and Gold to Coin; and the rest to go towards the Calling in the Fragments of our Old Money at last; And there would never want Silver nor Coiners; and we should be in a few Years full of money, to the Joy of the King and Country, and Landlord and Tenant: And this I would represent, that our Seamen at Sea, and the common people at Land, though called the Mobilly, have been entirely in the Interest of our gracious King William, and this Nation. And I fear our Enemies would rejoice it they could find the Ordinary people to be Ruined at Land for want of money; and then they would say, as they begin already, Where is your money? and I fear, if possible, will make the worst use they could of the same. And, if I mistake not, our Case in the Suburbs of London, is so bad already, that One may go to ten Tradesmen before One meet with a man can change a Guinea: So that here is Work for the Wits to propose a help that is past my skill to think or understand how ever the common people of England shall keep Silver money any more, if there be none but what is worth a great deal more to melt down, or carry away: They may kiss it at parting, as Friends that do never expect to see One the Other more, I fear; and have not sense to get over my fears, but rest in them this 27th of Feb. 169●.  
W. H.   

By reason of the Author's great distance from the Press, there is divers Errata 's, which the Courteois Reader is desired to correct.  
ERRATA.  
PAge 4. line 6. read formerly. p. 9 l. 14. r. he would. p. 9 1. 16. r. I might. p. 10. r. 14. January. p. 15. l. 28. r. Once a year or two. p. 21. l. 29. r. not having. p. 25. l. 6. r. Breamen. p. 26. l. 35. r. Imbezzlement. Ibid. l. 11. r. in the last Ship. p. 45. l. 15. for 4 months' r. a month. p. 50. l. 24. r. Out of this Nation. Ibid. l. 15. r. Arts Masterpiece. p. 53. l. 33. r. and sad, if it do ruin us. p. 56. l. 23. r. A loss