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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
77
It
is
curious
to
take
a
glimpse
of
the
conditions
under
which
the
early
packets
sailed,
when
they
were
often
in
danger
of
having
to
fight
or
fly.
The
instructions
to
the
captains
were
to
run
while
they
could,
fight
when
they
could
no
longer
run,
and
to
throw
the
mails
overboard
when
fighting
would
no
longer
avail.
In
1693,
such
a
ship
as
then
performed
the
service
was
described
as
one
of
"eighty-five
tons
and
fourteen
guns,
with
powder,
shot,
and
firearms,
and
all
other
munitions
of
war."
A
poor
captain,
whose
ship
the
'Grace
Dogger'
was
lying
in
Dublin
Bay
awaiting
the
tide,
fell
into
the
hands
of
the
enemy,
a
French
privateer
having
seized
his
ship
and
stripped
her
of
rigging,
sails,
spars,
and
yards,
and
of
all
the
furniture
"wherewith
she
had
been
provided
for
the
due
accommodation
of
passengers,
leaving
not
so
much
as
a
spoone
or
a
naile-hooke
to
hang
anything
on."
The
unfortunate
ship
in
its
denuded
state
was
ransomed
from
its
captors
for
fifty
guineas.
If
we
may
judge
from
this
case,
the
fighting
of
the
packets
does
not
seem
always
to
have
been
satisfactory;
and
the
Postmasters-General
of
the
day,
deeming
discretion
the
better
part
of
valour,
set
about
building
packets
that
should
escape
the
enemy.
They
did
build
new
vessels,
but
so
low
did
they
rest
in
the
water
that
the
Postmasters-General
wrote
of
them
thus:
"Wee
doe
find
that
in
blowing
weather
they
take
in
soe
much
water
that
the
men
are
constantly
wet
all
through,
and
can
noe
ways
goe
below
to
change
themselves,
being
obliged
to
keep
the
hatches
shut
to
save
the
vessel
from
sinking,
which
is
such
a
discouragement
of
the
sailors,
that
it
will
be
of
the
greatest
difficulty
to
get
any
to
endure
such
hardshipps
in
the
winter
weather."
These
flying
ships
not
proving
a
success,
the
Postmasters-General
then
determined
to
build
"boats
of
force
to
withstand
the
enemy,"
adopting
the
bull-dog
policy
as
the
only
course
open
in
the
circumstances.
It
may
be
interesting
to
recall
how
these
packets
were
manned.
In
May
1695
the
crews
of
the
packets
between
Harwich
and
Holland
were
placed
on
the
following
footing:--
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
