Page:The history of yachting.djvu/146

 46 great bowle of wine christened the ship and called her by the name of Disdain."

Pett was attached to the court of King James as Keeper and Captain of this craft. The young Prince Henry became fond of him, and before his death—in 1612—he interested himself in Pett's promotion. Nothing further is recorded concerning the Disdain, except that she appears in the Navy List of 1618, and is rated as being of thirty tons burden.

In the early part of the reign of King James I. the mercantile marine of England was much reduced, nearly all the commerce being carried on by foreign vessels. The English East India Company found in the merchants of Holland more formidable rivals than they had found in either the Portuguese or the Spaniards, but the merchants of London were so inspired by the profits of their voyages to India that the East India Company thereupon obtained a new charter in 1609 for fifteen years, and constructed a new vessel of 1200 tons burden, named the Trades Increase—the largest merchant-ship hitherto built in England. When she was launched, the Company gave a grand banquet, at which the dishes were of chinaware, a great novelty then in England, and "the King came down to a banquet on board of it, and put a chain of gold round the neck of the Governor."

The Trades Increase was commanded by Sir Henry Middleton, and had a pinnace attached to her, named the Peppercorn, of 250 tons burden, and a "victualling barque" of 180 tons; also a