The gentry did all they could to facilitate the object of Pett.

On his journey homewards (July, 1635), he took Cambridge on his way, where, says he, "I lodged at the Falcon, and visited Emmanuel College, where I had been a scholar in my youth." The Sovereign of the Seas was launched on the 12th of October, 1637, having been about two years in building.

Evelyn in his diary says of the ship (19th July, 1641):--"We rode to Rochester and Chatham to see the Soveraigne, a monstrous vessel so called, being for burthen, defence, and ornament, the richest that ever spread cloth before the wind.

She carried 100 brass cannon, and was 1600 tons, a rare sailer, the work of the famous Phineas Pett." Rear-Admiral Sir William Symonds says that she was afterwards cut down, and was a safe and fast ship.[32] The Sovereign continued for nearly sixty years to be the finest ship in the English service.

Though frequently engaged in the most injurious occupations, she continued fit for any services which the exigencies of the State might require.