RUPERT, Prince and George Monck (1619-1682 and 1608-1670). Joint admirals.
Letter signed by the two admirals, addressed to the commissioners of the navy, 1 page folio, Royal Charles in the Nore, 7 May 1666. An important letter written on board ship during the the Second Anglo-Dutch war of 1665-1667. Lightly browned overall and with the address-leaf largely absent and repaired.

'We received yo[u]rs of the first instant and have according to yo[u]r Desires given out orders to the Flagge Officers and the Com'anders to man & victuall the Ketches that belonge to their respective Squadrons and alsoe nott to keepe any supernumeraries above their Complem[en]t. Wee heare nothing yett of any of the Ketches w[hi]ch were to be sent downe ...'

Postscript:

'Since the writing of this wee have spoken with some of the Flagge Officers & they tell us That his Royall Highness promis't them that in regard they had nott their full number of men they should nott man the Ketches, & thefore wee desire you will know his Royall Highn. pleasure before you send downe the Instructions to the pursers & Musterm[aster]s. The Lilly having taken a prize with w[hi]ch shee passed by heere yesterday, & being itt will save his Ma[jes]ty soe much Mony as the hiring of a Ketch wee desire you will gett her to bee sent to ye Fleete instead of a Ketch.'

Prince Rupert and the Duke of Albemarle worked together as joint admirals from March 1666, and appear to have cooperated fully perhaps because they shared some relief at not having the Earl of Sandwich involved in the command. Only a week afte the writing of the present letter the two agreed to divide their forces, and Rupert took twenty ships to seek out and try to destroy the French, whilist Monck was left with sixty ships with which we immediately fell in engagement with a Dutch force of eighty-three. The battle was largely one-sided until Rupert returned, but even so it ended with no clear victor but with heavy losses on both sides.
 This was also a critical period in English history for other reasons. The plague continued in London, and was taking more and more lives. The fire of London began later in this same year. All of this is of course recounted by Samuel Pepys in his Diary, where it is also notable, in the context of the present letter, that he was personally exercised by his neglect of the duty of overseeing the victualling of the fleet.
 See The Rupert and Monck Letter Book 1666, Navy Records Society, Vol. 112, 1969, page 39, where the transcript of the letter is published (in modernised orthography) without the final sentence ('The Lilly having taken a prize ...'), which would appear to have been been added after the transcript was made.
[No: 24178]