That the condition of the sick and wounded was deplorable is proved by the testimony of many witnesses. Thus Dr. Daniel Whistler, who was sent down to Portsmouth in March to attend on General Blake, gives a terrible picture of the state of those who, after being wounded in the "Three days' battle," were landed at Portsmouth. There was no hospital. The wounded men were left for hours in the streets before the Navy Commissioners could find lodgings for them in private houses. When they were lodged, the surgeons very often did not know where to find them, there was a want of linen and medicines, of wholesome food and good nursing. The houses were overcrowded, and nothing was done to protect men against the temptation to drink ardent spirits, which was especially strong at Portsmouth, where the water was brackish. Four months later, Monk himself drew a hardly less dismal picture of the condition of the wounded at Ipswich, Aldeborough, Southwold, and Dunwich. The payments due for their support were irregularly made, and the inhabitants, we are told, were weary of them. Monk was compelled to stand security at his own personal risk in order to raise money for the purpose of helping his unfortunate sailors, lying sick and wounded in the houses of people who in some cases were as poor as themselves, and in others were mere harpies. These evils were no doubt primarily due to want of money, but they can also be accounted for by the utter want of any organisation capable of dealing with the demands of war on an unprecedented scale. The Council of State fought hard to meet the necessities of the times, and when it had been swept out of the way by Cromwell's expulsion of the Long Parliament on the 19th of April, the Council of the Protector continued these efforts. Thus, in December 1652, a number of proposals for the encouragement of seamen had been made and accepted. They were divided into three sections. The first dealt with the sick and wounded men. They were promised that their pay should be continued until their health was restored, and it was decided that a general hospital should be erected at Deal. Some hospitals in London were to be given up wholly to sick and wounded seamen, and so were half the other hospitals in other parts of England. It was at this date that the wages of able seamen "fit for the helm and lead, top and yard," were raised from 19s. to 24s. a month, with a deduction of 1s. for the chaplain and surgeon, according to the ancient custom. This substantial benefit was accompanied by profuse promises of fairer treatment in future. Another section of the propositions was devoted to the shares in prizes. A bonus of a month's salary was offered to every man who, having served six months, or upwards, since the beginning of the war, would volunteer for the coming year. In order to remove "the many and great disappointments caused by the present way of sharing prizes," it was provided that in future 10s. per ton should be paid for every