V5942. Contested cause. Captured ship: Vrouw Anna Catharina of Hamburg, master Conrad...

V5942. Contested cause.

Captured ship: Vrouw Anna Catharina of Hamburg, master Conrad Matthias Mahts.

History: a Hamburg ship, bound from Batavia on 23 March 1803 to Amsterdam, laden with coffee; taken on 1 August 1803 while in process of anchoring at the island of Sao Miguel in the Azores (St Michael in the Western Isles) because of a dangerous shortage of water, and not on the high seas as alleged by the captor, the privateer Victory (Alexander Morrison commanding); and brought into Liverpool.

Documents:

[CP 1] - [CP 39]: Court Papers:-

• [CP 1] - [CP 4] relate to a previous capture of the same ship: an appeal of April 1802 from the Vice-Admiralty Court of Montserrat: cargo of the Vrouw Anna Catharina, bound from Hamburg to St Thomas [Virgin Islands], taken by the privateer Peggy (John McGuire commanding) and brought into Montserrat, 1801; for process in the appeal, see HCA 44/39, ff162v-163, f169.
• [CP 5] - [CP 37C] relate to the current capture by the Victory, including a protest at Liverpool as to the legality of the Victory's action;
• [CP 38] a notarised deposition from Hamburg, with translation, of Hieronymus Gottlieb Bostelman and others, merchants of Hamburg [8 folios], with original papers and letters from Hamburg provided as exhibits in support of their claims in the contested cause: comprising A) purchase of the cargo of coffee; B) insurance policy; C) 52 original letters from J H Jutting and Sons, Amsterdam, to Messrs H G Bostelman of Hamburg, 26 January 1802- 17 August 1802; D) invoices; E) extracts from H G Bostelman's letter book, of letters to Jan Hendrikz Jutting, 2 February 1802-20 July 1802.
• [CP 39] translations of the letters and papers in [CP 38], identified as A-E but also paginated 1-346.

1-74: Ship's Papers.

75-87: Mail in transit:-

• No 75: Letter-book 'Register der Papieren relatie het voorgevallene op de rheede alhier tusshen den nacht van den 14: en den morgen stand van den 15: October des jaars 1801' [Register of papers relating to what happened in the road here between the night of the 14th and the morning of 15th October 1801]. A large letter-book containing copies of letters, resolutions, reports, examinations, etc, relating to the attack by a British warship on Dutch shipping off Semarang, north coast of Java, on 14-15 October 1801, during which were captured the Dutch ship Johanna Margaretha otherwise Anna Margaretha (the private property of the district governor), the ship Holstein (Danish, hired by the Dutch East India Company) as well as other smaller vessels. Consists of a highly detailed investigation into the circumstances of the attack, the dispositions and failure of the Dutch local defences, including the galley Postilion, and into the conduct of the local Dutch commanders. Many witness statements including those given by indigenous Javanese personnel serving on the galley Postilion, as well as the private sloop Goede Hoop. This volume is unfoliated, but the contents (numbered 1-109) are briefly described at start (over 16 pages) and the first page of each item is numbered accordingly. Dates covered: 14 October 1801-11 December 1802. Principal actors: Hooge Indische Regering (Colonial Government) at Batavia; Governor General Johannes Siberg; Gouverneur en Directeur (district governor) at Serambang, Nicolaus Engelhard; Raad van Politie (district council) at Serambang; Commander of galley Postilion, Captain Dirk Varkevisser Dirksen; and the Master attendant at Serambang, Captain Joseph Bossottiel. Front Cover: annotated no 755 by the court or captor: three packets of letters forwarded by your Most Obedient Servant, Alexander Morison. Back cover endorsed: Vrouw Anna Catharina, C M Mahts. N. 75 of these papers; 5 Sep 1803; Abstracted by Mr Slade.
• No 76 a-vvv: 74 envelopes and letters from Batavia to the Amsterdam merchant Johan Lubbert Umbgrove, late 1802.
• No 77 [a-h missing], i-v: 14 envelopes and official letters from Batavia to the Netherlands, March 1803.
• No 78 a-n: 14 envelopes and letters from Batavia to the Amsterdam merchants Jan Hendrik Jutting and Son, March 1803.
• No 79 a-f: 6 papers concerning the Dutch private ship Neptunus, 1803.
• Nos 80, 81 and 82: three copies of theNaamboek van de Regeering van Batavia, published in Batavia, 1802, with covering notes.
• No 83: An envelope only, to F H Moorries advocate and to Jan Jacobus Van De Pol, Amsterdam, endorsed by the captor 'Four Packages of Letters'.
• No 84 a-ll: 38 envelopes and letters from Batavia to the Netherlands and other places [no covering envelope 84], March 1803.
• No 85 a-s: 19 envelopes and letters from Batavia to the Netherlands and other places [no covering envelope 85], February and March 1803.
• No 86 a-p: 16 envelopes and letters from Batavia to the Netherlands and other places [no covering envelope 85], March 1803.
• No 87 a-ddd: 56 envelopes, ship's papers and letters from Batavia and Samarang to the Netherlands and other places [no covering envelope 87], early 1803.

Topics

International

Litigation

Public disorder

Trade and commerce

Asia

Caribbean

Europe and Russia

Food and drink

Navy

Armed Forces (General Administration)