Phineas Pett

Born at Deptford on November 1, 1570, he came from the famous Pett family of shipbuilders and grew up in the world of royal dockyards. After schooling at Rochester and Greenwich, he studied at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, before moving into the naval work that would define his life.

He became one of the most important master shipwrights in England, working at Chatham, Woolwich, and Deptford and later serving as a naval commissioner. His career is closely linked with the growth of the Stuart navy, and he is often noted for overseeing the construction of the Prince Royal, launched in 1610 and celebrated as a major advance in English warship building.

Beyond his practical work, he also left a written record of his world through a memoir that gives a vivid picture of dockyard life, court politics, and the struggles of naval administration in the 17th century. He died in 1647, leaving behind both a family tradition and a personal account that still helps historians understand the making of England's early modern navy.