author
Phineas Pett
1570–1647
A leading English shipwright of the early Stuart era, he helped shape royal naval construction and left behind a vivid memoir of life in the dockyards. His story opens a window onto the craft, ambition, and politics behind seventeenth-century shipbuilding.
1 Audiobook
The Autobiography of Phineas Pett
by Phineas Pett
About the author
Born at Deptford on November 1, 1570, Phineas Pett came from the remarkable Pett family of shipbuilders. He trained in the world of royal dockyards and went on to become one of the most important English shipwrights of his time, working during the reigns of James I and Charles I.
Pett is closely associated with the growth of English naval shipbuilding and with Chatham Dockyard, where he served as First Resident Commissioner. He was known not only for practical skill in design and construction, but also for navigating the constant pressures of court politics, administration, and the demands of the navy.
He is remembered in part because he left a memoir of his career, now preserved in the British Library and later published as The Autobiography of Phineas Pett. That account gives modern readers a rare first-hand look at dockyard life, professional rivalries, and the making of ships in seventeenth-century England.