thumb|upright|Portrait by [[Sir Peter Lely, ]]
Peter Pett (6 August 1610 – 1672) was an English shipwright who worked for the Royal Navy and served as the second resident commissioner at Chatham Dockyard. He designed several ships for the English navy, including Sovereign of the Seas. During the Second Anglo-Dutch War, Pett was blamed for the major English defeat at the raid on the Medway, although he protected his scale models and drawings from being captured or destroyed by Dutch forces.
Life
Peter Pett was the son of the English shipwright Phineas Pett. He was introduced to Charles I of England in 1634 and was ordered to construct a new third-rate ship of 500 tons at Woolwich Dockyard, to be named Leopard. With the construction of the Leopard underway, Charles decided that he would have a ship built larger and more ornate than any of her predecessors. In June 1634 while at Woolwich and on the Leopard with the king, Phineas Pett, Peter's father, related: "His Highness, calling me aside, privately acquainted me of his princely resolution for the building of a great new ship, which he would have me undertake...."
He designed and oversaw the construction of Sovereign of the Seas at Woolwich Dockyard, from the plans made by his father. One of the largest in the world at that time, the Sovereign was a ship of 1,637 tons and was launched on 12 October 1637, after about two years in construction. John Evelyn wrote in his Diary on 19 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 1,600 tons, a rare sailer, the work of the famous Phineas Pett."
Pett became Commissioner of Chatham Dockyard in 1648. Despite his contracts from the King, Peter Pett sided with Parliament during the English Civil War and was consequently retained as Commissioner at Chatham Dockyard during the Commonwealth (1649–60). He was the only member of the group of Commonwealth Commissioners who governed the Navy with any technical knowledge of shipbuilding, and responsibility for the designs of most new ships rested principally upon him. He became a Justice of the Peace by 1649. In 1659 he was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Rochester in the Third Protectorate Parliament. He was re-elected MP for Rochester in 1660 for the Convention Parliament. first did this mad war beget?
Who all commands sold through the navy? Pett.
Who would not follow when the Dutch were beat?
Who treated out the time at Bergen? Pett.
Who the Dutch fleet with storms disabled met,
And rifling prizes, them neglected? Pett.
Who with false news prevented the Gazette,
The fleet divided, writ for Rupert? Pett.
Who all our seamen cheated of their debt,
And all our prizes who did swallow? Pett.
Who did advise no navy out to set,
And who the forts left unrepairèd? Pett.
Who to supply with powder did forget
Languard, Sheerness, Gravesend and Upnor? Pett.
Who should it be but the Fanatic Pett?
Pett, the sea-architect, in making ships
Was the first cause of all these naval slips:
Had he not built, none of these faults had been;
If no creation, there had been no sin.
But his great crime, one boat away he sent,
That lost our fleet and did our flight prevent.
Pett's will was proved on 2 December 1672, and it revealed that he had enough worldly goods to be able to live in comfort after his dismissal as Commissioner. For example, in his will there was mentioned a necklace containing over 270 pearls. Being Lord of the Manors of Woodbridge Ufford and Kettle Ufford in Suffolk indicates that he remained possessed of some wealth.
Pett dynasty
Some confusion may arise between the identities of Peter Pett and his many relatives; even the Navy Board had difficulty in keeping its records straight on this matter.
From probably before the time that John Pett, (son of Thomas) was paid for caulking the Regent in 1499, the Petts have been mistaken, one for the other. Often this was the case with Peter Pett. The first of that name was a Master Shipwright at Deptford in the late 16th century, who built a number of English warships and other vessels from the 1570s onwards. The next Peter Pett, two generations later, was also a Master Shipwright at Deptford, who died in 1652. That Peter had two sons, Sir Peter, the Advocate General for Ireland and Sir Phineas Pett, Master Shipwright at Chatham, who was knighted in 1680, and who was the Comptroller of Stores, and resident Commissioner at Chatham, and who is further to be distinguished from the Commissioner Peter Pett's brother Phineas, a clerk of the check at Chatham.
Three other Petts named Phineas were at the same time in the Naval Service at Chatham or in the Thames, one of whom was killed in action in 1666 whilst in command of the Tyger, this being a brother of the 2nd Commissioner at Chatham.