At the time of Queen Elizabeth I, Richard Chapman (born 1520, and died c.1592) was the owner of a private shipyard at Deptford, had the title of 'Queen's Master Shipwright,' and had been involved in the construction of river defences along the Thames, along with Peter Pett and Mathew Baker, two other important shipwrights of the time. Chapman was Master Shipwright of Woolwich and Deptford and built the first Ark Royal (initially ordered as a private venture as the Ark Ralegh, but taken over for the Queen while still on the stocks).
Chapman's father, John, was also a Master Shipwright and he also had strong ties to the important shipbuilding family, the Petts as his mother was Ann Pett and he was raised in the Pett household. The Chapman family itself, however, included several mariners whose origins appear to be in Devon and shipwrights who lived at Greenwich, working at this craft since the reign of the King Edward Ist (1239–1307).
Richard's son, Edmund Chapman, became 'Chief Joiner' to the Queen and owned significant property in Greenwich. Edmund provided land for the almshouses named 'Queen Elizabeth College', founded in 1574, and himself lived at 'Swanne House.'
Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home to Deptford Dockyard, the first of the Royal Dockyards. This was a major shipbuilding dock and attracted Peter the Great to come and study shipbuilding. Deptford and the docks are associated with the knighting of Sir Francis Drake by Queen Elizabeth I aboard the Golden Hind, the legend of Sir Walter Raleigh laying down his cape for Elizabeth, Captain James Cook's third voyage aboard HMS Resolution, and the mysterious apparent murder of Christopher Marlowe in a house along Deptford Strand.
Greenwich is a town in south-east London, England, located in the historic county of Kent and the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated 5.5 miles (8.9 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross.
Woolwich Dockyard was an English naval dockyard along the river Thames at Woolwich in north-west Kent, where many ships were built from the early 16th century until the late 19th century. William Camden called it 'the Mother Dock of all England'. By virtue of the size and quantity of vessels built there, Woolwich Dockyard is described as having been 'among the most important shipyards of seventeenth-century Europe'. During the Age of Sail, the yard continued to be used for shipbuilding and repair work more or less consistently; in the 1830s a specialist factory within the dockyard oversaw the introduction of steam power for ships of the Royal Navy. At its largest extent it filled a 56-acre site north of Woolwich Church Street, between Warspite Road and New Ferry Approach; 19th-century naval vessels were fast outgrowing the yard, however, and it eventually closed in 1869. The former dockyard area is now partly residential, partly industrial, with remnants of its historic past having been restored.
The Worshipful Company of Shipwrights is one of the ancient livery companies of the City of London. Although the Shipwrights' Company is no longer a shipbuilding trade association representing solely London-based industry, through its membership it retains strong links with global trade, and maritime and shipping professions.
The River Ravensbourne is a tributary of the River Thames in south London, England. It flows into the tidal River Thames at Deptford, where its tidal reach is known as Deptford Creek.
Peter Pett, was an English Master Shipwright and Second Resident Commissioner of Chatham Dockyard. He protected of his scale models and drawings of the King's Fleet during the Dutch Raid on the Medway, in Kent in June 1667, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
The so-called Pett Dynasty was a family of shipwrights who prospered in England between the 15th and 17th centuries. It was once said of the family that they were "so knit together that the Devil himself could not discover them". This saying refers to the era during which Samuel Pepys was much involved in getting royal aid for Ann Pett, widow of Christopher Pett.The Petts Wood district of south-east London is named for the family.
Phineas Pett was a shipwright and First Resident Commissioner of Chatham Dockyard and a member of the Pett dynasty. Phineas left a memoir of his activities which is preserved in the British Library and was published in 1918.
The family of Robert Holborne of Harwich have, with a few exceptions, been involved in shipbuilding for centuries, continuing up until the 1930s. The earliest chronological reference found for any shipwright bearing the name ‘Holb(o/u)rn(e)’ is that of Robert Holborn who was granted Letters Patent in 1543, along with Peter Pett and others skillful in shipbuilding. The authority for these letters patent was not by the usual Writ of Privy Seal, but Per Ipsum Regent, i.e., by "direct motion of the King," Henry VIII.
Mathew Baker (1530–1613) was one of the most renowned Tudor shipwrights, and the first to put the practice of shipbuilding down on paper.
HMY Fubbs was a Royal Yacht of the Royal Navy of the Kingdom of Great Britain. She was scrapped towards the end of the eighteenth century after having been in service for 99 years.
Ark Royal was an English galleon, originally ordered for Sir Walter Raleigh and later purchased by the crown for service in the Tudor navy. She was used as the English flagship in a number of engagements, including the battles that resulted in the defeat of the Spanish Armada, and had a long career spanning over 50 years. Her fame led to a number of later warships of the Royal Navy being named Ark Royal in her honour, including a number of flagships of the fleet.
Sir Anthony Deane FRS (1633–1721) was a 17th-century mayor of Harwich, naval architect, Master Shipwright and commercial shipbuilder, and Member of Parliament.
Eleanor Bull was an English woman who is known for owning the establishment in which Christopher Marlowe, the Elizabethan playwright and poet, was killed in 1593.
Deptford Dockyard was an important naval dockyard and base at Deptford on the River Thames, operated by the Royal Navy from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. It built and maintained warships for 350 years, and many significant events and ships have been associated with it.
Reverend Walter Rosewell was the Vicar of Doulting, Somerset and later became a Presbyterian Minister at Chatham, Kent. He was sequestered and imprisoned in 1649 for refusing to take the oath of Engagement and for sedition.
HMS Mary was an 8-gun yacht of the Royal Navy. She was built by master shipwright Phineas Pett and launched at Chatham Dockyard in 1677. She experienced a very long career of naval service spanning 139 years, having been rebuilt in 1727.
The race-built galleon was a type of war ship built in England from 1570 until about 1590.
Peter Pett was an English master-shipwright at Deptford.
Sir Peter Pett was an English lawyer and author.
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