Captured ship: Juffrouw Maria Catherina of Altona (master Hendrich Busch). History:...

Captured ship: Juffrouw Maria Catherina of Altona (master Hendrich Busch).

History: a Danish ship (9 men and 2 boys), bound from Santa Cruz, Tenerife to Hamburg laden with bags of Spanish dollars, wine and logwood; taken on 27 September / 8 October 1747 off Dungeness by the privateer Prince of Orange (John Stevenson commanding) and brought into Dover.

Documents:-

Court Papers:

• [CP 1-CP 5]: standing interrogatories, three examinations, commissioner's affidavit;
• [CP 6]: attestation and claim of the master, brought into court 9 October 1747;
• [CP 7]: attestation, brought into court 17 November 1747;
• [CP 8]: certificate relating to exhibited Spanish papers, brought into court 25 February 1748;
• [CP 9]: allegation, brought into court 17 March 1747;
• [CP 10-CP 19]: 10 sets of attestations, affidavits and translations taken and sealed by the ruling authorities of Altona, Bremen, Hamburg and Amsterdam, brought into court 3 May 1748;
• [CP 20-CP 22]: 3 schedules of cargo, exhibited 3 May 1748;
• [CP 23-CP 27a]: letter, 4 sets of attestations, affidavits and translations taken and sealed by the ruling authorities of Altona, Hamburg and Palma, Tenerife, brought into court 16 June 1752;
• [CP 28-CP 29]: 2 schedules of cargo, exhibited 16 June 1752;
• [CP 30-CP 32]: commission of appraisement, appraisement, acount of sale, brought into court 5 June 1753;
• [CP 33-CP 32]: letter or attorney, letter or agency, brought into court 5 June 1753;
• [CP 35-CP 38]: attestation as to papers, and abstracts and translations of the ship's papers in Spanish, 2 separate abstracts and translations of the ship's papers in Dutch, [most of these papers were restored].

Ship’s Papers numbered SP 1-SP 57, missing SPs 1, 5, 15-34, 36, 39-40, 42-56; the court had separate numbering systems for packets brought in a different times and in different languages, and a docket mentions in addition loose papers:

• SP 2-SP 57 (with gaps): 17 bills of lading issued at various ports in the Canary Islands, paper in Spanish relating to cargo aboard the ship.

[Decision: ship restored, 3 May 1748, part of cargo restored, 17 March 1748]