repairing naval galleys). The first ship to be built at the dockyard, a 10-gun pinnace named HMS Merlin (or Merlyon), was launched in 1579. The dockyard received its first royal visit, from Elizabeth I, in 1573; later, in 1606, James I used Chatham dockyard for a meeting with Christian IV of Denmark. Relocation In the early 17th century the government resolved to invest in a new specialised facility for refitting and repairing warships. By 1611 Chatham had been chosen as its location (in preference to Deptford, which at the time was the nation's principal naval shipbuilding yard; this led to speculation that Deptford was going to be sold off). The decision established Chatham as the country's premier naval industrial complex; nevertheless, concerns were already being raised over its river being prone to silting. The decision required the dockyard to move from its original location, which was too constricted, to a new (adjacent) site to the north. (The old site was in due course transferred to the Ordnance Board, who established the gun wharf there.) By 1619, the new dockyard consisted of a new dry dock and wharf with storehouses, all enclosed within a brick perimeter wall. The growing importance of the dockyard was illustrated with the addition soon afterwards of a mast pond, and the granting of additional land on which a second (double) dry dock was constructed, along with a sail loft, a ropery and residences for the dockyard officers: all of which were completed by 1624. Peter Pett, of the family of shipwrights whose history is closely connected to the Chatham dockyard, became commissioner in 1649. In 1686 two new dry docks were built, in addition to the old single and double dry docks; all four were rebuilt and expanded at various points in subsequent centuries (the double dock having been converted into a single dock in 1703). Although the yard focused mainly on refitting and repairs, some shipbuilding continued to take place. It made do with a single shipbuilding slip for much of the 17th century (a second slip, dating from the same period, had fallen out of use; it was replaced in the 1730s). Also in 1686 a 'Great Long Store-house' was built, alongside the ropery on what is now Anchor Wharf; and two new mast ponds were constructed, in what was then the northernmost part of the yard, in 1697 and 1702. Sheerness One of