Captured ship: Die Hoffnung of Hamburg, otherwise L'Ésperance , De Hoop , or The...

Captured ship: Die Hoffnung of Hamburg, otherwise L'Ésperance, De Hoop, or The Hope (master Rieweert Frerecks).

History: a Hamburg merchant ship (English plantation built, 250 tons, 15 guns, previously the English L'Upton or Upton, taken as prize and bought by N G Luetkens in France), bound from Brest to Hamburg, laden with sugar, coffee berries, vinegar, cork, butter, linen, beef and a chest; taken on 25 August/ 3 September 1745 by the privateer Charming Molly (Nicholas Craven commanding) and brought first into Deal, and then into London.

Documents:-

Court Papers:

• [CP 1-CP 10]: standing interrogatories, four drafts and four signed transcripts of examinations of Rieweert Frerecks, Ties Christian Tiet, Daniel Frahm and Samuel Tunis, taken at Deal, 24 and 26 August 1745: CP 3 is annotated that as this is the same [a similar ?] case as the Post of Hamburg [master Herman Andreas Paatz], captured a fortnight before and also owned by Nicolas Gottlieb Luetkens, the proctors in both cases should work together; commissioners' affidavit;
• [CP 11]: attestation and claim of the master, by the interpretation of Anthony Luetkens or Lütkens merchant of London, 2 September 1745;
• [CP 12]: attestation of Anthony Luetkens that his nephew Nicholas Gottlieb Luetkens is a subject of Hamburg, 3 September 1745;
• [CP 13]: release of interest, 9 September 1745;
• [CP 14]: cross reference only to an attestation and letter of attorney exhibited 23 October1745, the actual papers being with the papers of the Post of Hamburg [see HCA 32/143/17];
• [CP 15-CP 20]: 4 sets of eight attestations, affidavits and translations taken and sealed by the ruling authorities of Rotterdam and Hamburg, brought into court in March 1748;
• [CP 21]: claim by Anthony Luetkens on behalf of Peter and John Jacob Van Herzeele, 10 March 1746;
• [CP 22]: allegation by Nicholas Craven, the captor, 11 March 1746;
• [CP 23-CP 24]; two letters of attorney by Nicholas Craven, 15 March 1746;
• [CP 25-CP 26]: commission of appraisal, March 1746, and detailed appraisal of the ship, 11 April 1746, as being worth £1,031 1s 6d [the ship was decreed on 15 March 1746 to be restored as neutral];
• [CP 27-CP 28]: commission of appraisal and sale, March 1746, and detailed appraisal of the cargo, 15 April 1746, as being worth £10,365 10s 3d;
• [CP 29-CP 32]: auction arrangements for the cargo, details of sales by auction at Garraways Coffee House, Exchange Alley, Cornhill, London on 17 April 1746, account of sale, and account of duty on sugar and coffee [part of the cargo was decreed on 15 March 1746 to be restored as neutral];
• [CP 33-CP 37]: allegation for the master, dated 5 August 1746, that the Hoffnung of Hamburg is owned half by Messrs Herzer & Van Bobartt and half by Anthony Luetkens, annexed to which are a copy and translation of the agreement by which Anthony Luetkens let out his share on 2 November 1744 for two years to Nicholas Gottlieb Luetkens (a resident of Hamburg but visiting his correspondents in France), and a schedule listing the goods on the ship belonging to Nicolas Gottlieb Luetkens, Messrs Herzer & Van Bobartt, Messrs Grou, Michel & Libault, and Messrs Peter and John Jacob Van Herzeele;
• [CP 38-CP 40]: commission of 4 September 1746 to take examinations at Amsterdam, with a copy of the master's allegation including the agreement [as in CP 33-CP 37];
• [CP 41-CP 49]: two proxies, interrogatories, five notarised attestations and affidavits taken before the authorities in Amsterdam, of Abraham Oyens, Harmen Toorenburg, Jan van Marsellis, Johannes van der Linde, and Daniel Houlez, and brought into court on 26 January 1747, with a translation of the five attestations;
• [CP 50-CP 52]: commission of 4 September 1746 to take examinations at Hamburg, with a copy of the master's allegation including the agreement [as in CP 33-CP 37];
• [CP 53-CP 55]: two books (one in translation) of notarised attestations and affidavits taken before the authorities in Hamburg, with exhibits attached, and brought into court on 26 February 1747, with a translation dated May 1747;
• [CP 56-CP 57]: attestation of Augustin Michel, taken and sealed by the ruling authorities of Hamburg and translation; and a letter of attorney of Messrs Grou, Michel & Libault of Hamburg with translation, brought into court in February 1747;
• [CP 58]: allegation of the captor Nicholas Craven, 30 May 1747;
• [CP 59]: attestation as to papers by Craven, 28 August 1745, that on 23 August the master Frerecks produced bills of lading and papers now numbered 1-63 and annexed; the next day one of Frerecks' sailors said that there was a chest under the lading in the ship's after hold; after a search this was found and discovered to be a large chest of papers [belongng to Nicholas Gottlieb Luetkens], which were placed into the bag annexed to this attestation;
• [CP 60]: an abstract and translation of the said ship's papers numbered 1-63 [see below, SP 1-63]:
• [CP 61]: an abstract and translation of some of the ship's papers numbered 1-63, and of another sequence including letters from Daragorry at San Sebastian: includes an account of the capture of the ship as L'Upton [see below SP A1-SP A43];
• [CP 62]: an abstract and translation of nine French letters to N G Luetkens [see below SP B1-SP B9];
• [CP 63]: an abstract and translation of eight High Dutch and Low Dutch letters [see below SP C3, SP C4, SP C7].

Ship's Papers: the relationship between the abstracts and translations and the various numbered sequences is very confusing. Some letters apparently missing from sequences here may perhaps be found elsewhere in Luetkens' papers. However, these papers appear to have been the ones selected to prove the case before the court.

• SP 1-SP 63 (but lacking 18, 26, 28-9, 32, 34-6 and 38-41, restored to the master in March 1746): papers in French and Dutch, which include SP 1-SP 42 as a bills of lading, passes, the cargo manifest; SP 43-SP 61 (including 52A and 54A) are a mixture of mail in transit, and letters from the master's archive, with a wrapper [SP 64]. The two pocket books marked 62 and 63 are no longer here [but may be at HCA 30/232/15].
• SP A1-SP A44: papers in French, which include from A17-A43 letters annotated by N G Luetkens from his French correspondents 1744 and 1745, and so taken from his chest of papers [A29 is wanting; A1-A5 were restored on 6 May 1746], with a wrapper [SP A44];
• SP B1-SP B9: nine letters in French to N G Luetkens, March-July 1745, with translations in CP 62;
• SP C3, SP C4, SP C7: three of the eight High Dutch and Low Dutch letters translated in CP 63.

[Decision: the ship and part of the cargo restored on 15 March 1746; the rest of the cargo condemned on 18 January 1748. Appealed]

For the papers found on the ship, see HCA 30/232

More of Frereck's papers are at HCA 30/659 and HCA 30/660