Captured mail in transit: 128 letters addressed to the men of Michiel De Ruyter's...

HCA 30/1050

1664-1665

Captured mail in transit: 128 letters addressed to the men of Michiel De Ruyter's squadron, before the outbreak of the Second Dutch War, found on unknown ships taken by English naval ships or privateers in 1664 or 1665. Because it has been impossible to identify the ships (other than one, Roode Leeuw of Vlieland) from which these letters were taken, they have been catalogued together.

This is therefore a curated collection of letters to officers and men serving aboard the Dutch warships of De Ruyter's overseas naval squadron in late 1664 (September-December; 1 item dated January 1665). The squadron was initially sent to the Mediterranean in May 1664, then ordered to West Africa (at first in secret, August 1664, arriving October). Accordingly, some of the early letters are addressed to the ships as being located in the Mediterranean, and some of the later letters are addressed to the ships off the Guinea coast. The squadron left Guinea (March 1665) to cross the Atlantic for Barbados and Newfoundland, before returning to the Dutch Republic in August 1665.

This collection comprises for the most part material captured with various unidentified ships. The only exception is one letter sent on Roode Leeuw or Red Lion of Vlieland, master Meinert Arnessen, bound from Königsberg via the Vlie for Bordeaux, laden with boards. This ship was taken on 22 November 1664 by HMS Revenge (Thomas Teddeman commanding) and brought into Dover.

The letters therefore are organised according to the warship aboard which the addressee served. Many of the letters have previously been reproduced and transcribed in Adri P. van Vliet, ‘Een vriendelijcke groetenisse’. Brieven van het thuisfront aan de vloot van De Ruyter (1664-1665) (Franeker, 2007). This, however, was before their cleaning and conservation and the curation of this collection. An additional 29 letters have since been identified and added here, as well as a small number of delivery notes that were enclosed and which concerned some accompanying packages.

As well as the single De Ruyter letter captured aboard Roode Leeuw of Vlieland, all the other papers captured with this ship have also been included here (see Folder 10 below).

Documents: Folders 1-10: the contents of folders 1-9 are arranged by addressee surname/patronymic:-

Mail to Amsterdam admiralty warships:

• Folder 1 (1/1-1/39): Letters to Spiegel [Looking Glass or Mirror], Michiel Adriaansz de Ruyter.
• Folder 2 (2/1-2/8): Letters to Provincie van Utrecht [Province of Utrecht], Gideon de Wildt.
• Folder 3 (3/1-3/16): Letters to Geloof [Faith], Willem van der Zaan.
• Folder 4 (4/1-4/5): Letters to Middelburg, Isaack Sweers.
• Folder 5 (5/1-5/4): Letters to Damiaten, Hendrick Adriaansz.
• Folder 6 (6/1-6/3): Letters to Edam, Jacob Cornelisz Swart.

Mail to Rotterdam admiralty warships:

• 7 (7/1-7/15): Letters to Prinses Louise, Aert Jansz van Nes.
• 8 (8/1-8/25): Letters to Rotterdam, Leendert Ariensz Haexwant (8/25 is the facsimile mentioned above, 16 October 1664).
• 9 (9/1-9/7): Letters to Harderwijk, Jan Jansz van Nes.

Letters and papers captured aboard Roode Leeuw of Vlieland.

• 10 (10/1-10/40): In one of the two bundles on thongs was a letter for delivery to a crewman aboard Middelburg (10/1).
• The other items are mostly ship's papers but include a small number of letters (10/23-10/27, 10/32)

New material not included not in Van Vliet's book:-

• Folder 1 Spiegel, contains 7 new letters : 1/3 (2 letters), 1/4, 1/11, 1/27A, 1/37, 1/39A;
• Folder 2 Provincie van Utrecht, contains 2 new letters: 2/2AI, 2/3;
• Folder 3 Geloof, contains 2 new letters: 3/5, 3/10;
• Folder 4 Middelburg, contains 2 new letters: 4/3, 4/5;
• Folder 5 Damiaten, contains 1 new letter: 5/2;
• Folder 7 Prinses Louise, contains 7 new letters: 7/1, 7/3, 7/5, 7/6, 7/9, 7/12, 7/13;
• Folder 8 Rotterdam, contains 5 new letters: 8/3A, 8/7, 8/9A, 8/14, 8/18;
• Folder 9 Harderwijk, contains 2 new letters: 9/1, 9/5;
• Folder 10 Roode Leeuw of Vlieland, contains 1 new letter: 10/1.

Public Record(s)

Dutch and English

Open Document, Open Description

Topics

Caribbean

Air Force

Piracy and privateering

Americas

Armed Forces (General Administration)

Africa