Captured ship: Franciscus Primus Imperator or Der Kaiser François der Erste or Emperor...

Captured ship: Franciscus Primus Imperator or Der Kaiser François der Erste or Emperor Francis of Lubeck (master Peter Witt).

History: a Lubeck ship (70 lasts, 6 men and 2 boys), bound from Bordeaux to Flensburg, laden with wine, brandy, vinegar, coffee, indigo, prunes and rosin; taken on 23 April/4 May 1748 at Folkestone by the privateer Hawk (Richard King commanding), and brought into the Downs.

Court Papers:

• [CP 1-CP 4]: three examinations, commissioners' affidavit;
• [CP 5]: claim of the master;
• [CP 6-CP 16]: ten sets of attestations, affidavits and translations laying claim to the ship's cargo, taken and sealed by the ruling authorities of Flensburg, Schleswig, Aabenraa and Sonderborg, brought into court, 9 June 1748;
• [CP 17-CP 18]: attestation as to papers, abstract and translations of 48 of the 49 ship's papers;
• [CP 19]: wrapper used for SP 47 and SP 48.

Ship's Papers:

• SP 1-SP 37: three receipts and thirty four bills of lading, all from Bordeaux;
• SP 38-SP 39: cargo manifest, customs permits;
• SP 40-SP 41: attestations as to cargo;
• SP 42-SP 45: French pass, customs declaration, muster roll;
• SP 46: a red pocket book owned by Peter Witt with notes;
• SP 47: a ship journal or log kept by Peter Witt;
• SP 48, includng SP 48/1 - SP 48/65: Peter Witt's parchment wallet containg his personal archive, including sixty five papers, mostly letters, but also notes, receipts and a bill of credit, all from or pertaining to Lubeck, St Martin and Bordeaux.
• SP 49: the journal book or log for the current voyage belonging to the mate Peter Heinrich Witt; originally covered with old sea charts from about 1710 [which were removed in 1980 and are now at MPI 1/654, where they are fully described] showing
  • the North Sea, also showing the English coast between Middleton-on-Sea (Sussex) and Whitby (Yorkshire), and the north-east coast of Europe between Gravelines and the Weser estuary... ;
  • the Kattegat, Denmark, and part of the coast of Jutland and Zealand ... .

[Decision: restored as neutral, 9 July 1748: the case went to appeal, which may explain why the papers are still here and were not restored.]

Appeal papers are in HCA 42/28/7

Sea charts have been extracted and are now at

MPI 1/654