far as Paul's
Wharf, under both topsails and foresail, and there coming to
anchor, his Highness, in the usual form, baptized the ship
with a great bowl of wine, giving her the name of
_Disdain_.[75]

Mr. Pett, the builder, was on board; and the prince took him at once
into his service, and formed a warm friendship with him.

From this time the boy's interest in the navy grew keen; and we find
constant mention made of visits to the Royal Dockyard at Woolwich,
where, under Mr. Pett's guidance the prince was thoroughly instructed in
questions of ships and shipping. He closely watched the building of a
splendid vessel which the king gave him for his own. She was launched in
1610; and was the largest ship that had then been built in England. "The
keel was an hundred and fourteen feet long, and the cross-beam
forty-four feet. It was able to carry sixty-four pieces of great
ordnance, and the burthen was fourteen hundred tons."[76] On September
24, the King, the Queen, the Duke of York,[77] Princess Elizabeth, and a
large company, went with Prince Henry to see his great ship launched.
But owing to the narrowness of the dock, the launch failed. So the
prince had to return next morning; and in the midst of a terrific
thunderstorm he stood on her deck as she floated out into the river,
giving her the name, _Prince Royal_. Next year Henry determined to
examine personally into the condition of the navy. He therefore made a
private journey to Chatham, and spent three days closely inspecting all
the shipping and storehouses there, and at Queenborough, Stroud, and
Gravesend, making careful notes of the state of each ship in his own
notebook from Mr. Pett's and Sir Robert Mansel's information, "no other
persons being suffered to come near."

In January, 1610, Prince Henry gave a great banquet to his father at
St. James's Palace, where he now kept his separate Court and gathered
round him the most promising young men in the kingdom. The banquet was
preceded by a tourney at Whitehall, in which the prince took part, in
the presence of the king and queen, the foreign ambassadors and all the
greatest personages of the realm. Princess Elizabeth helped her brother
to do the honors of the banquet, and distributed the prizes won at the
tilting match, which were trinkets garnished with diamonds, the king
handing them to her. The banquet was not over till ten at night; by
which time King James, who was easily bored, especially