Captured ship: Fortune or White Fortune of Bergen (master Siffner Hansen). History:...

Captured ship: Fortune or White Fortune of Bergen (master Siffner Hansen).

History: a Danish (Norwegian) merchant ship (64 tons) bound from Bergen to Ostend, laden with tallow, butter, deals, stockfish, tar, wire, whale oil and beef; taken during March 1692 off Calais by the privateer Wheel of Fortune (Samuel Roberts commanding) and brought into Rye.

Documents:-

Court Papers:

• [CP 1-CP 3]: interrogatories, three examinations, commission;
• [CP 4]: claim to the ship and cargo on behalf of merchants in Bergen;
• [CP 5-CP 6]: allegation, interrogatories;
• [CP 7-CP 8]: inventory, commission of appraisement;
• [CP 9]: docket for the ship's papers.

Ships Papers numbered SP 2-SP 42 [SP 1 missing], including receipts, songs or psalms, letters, accounts, an almanac, a table book, ships' passes, cargo lists and bills of lading. These papers belonged to the captain (a master's archive) and presumably to other members of the crew:

• SP 2: short note from Borll Samuelson;
• SP 3: account of goods, including silver;
• SP 4: note in Swedish;
• SP 5: booklet. Front contains psalm or poem/song mentioning 40 days in the desert, inside has an account of events by month;
• SP 6: accounts;
• SP 7: commercial letter to Bergen, 1692;
• SP 8: short commercial note with accounts addressed to merchant Andre Mossen, signed Siffner Hansen and 22 April in Bergen;
• SP 9: commercial letter to Sivert Hanssen [possibly Siffner Hansen] in Hamburg, mentioning merchant Arendt Meyer and trading via Bergen and Hamburg, signed Albert Meyer, 17 August 1691 in Bremen;
• SP 10: short commercial note, 26 August 1691;
• SP 11: commercial letter to Sivert Hansen from Albert Meyer in Bremen, mentioning trade with Rouen, 1 October 1691;
• SP 12: short commercial letter from Lauritz [last name unclear], discussing trade via Bergen, 2 October 1691 in Bremen;
• SP 13: short commercial note, 17 November 1691 in Bremen;
• SP 14: short commercial note, signed Mr Müller in 1691;
• SP 15: receipt of customs payment to captain Sivert Hansen for a journey from Bremen to Bergen, 1691;
• SP 16: receipt 1691 in Bergen, signed Jacob Boid;
• SP 17: short note 4 February 1692, attesting that ships Commer and Cloveet can pass to Bergen;
• SP 18: short note to skipper Sivert, asking to make a purchase on the sender’s behalf, 6 February;
• SP 19: note belonging to captain Johannes Basern;
• SP 20: German-language certificate from the abbey of St Germain, promising blessings in the name of Archangel Michael [possibly certificate of pilgrimage], 1689;
• SP 21: printed German-langue bible verse (Ruth 4:11);
• SP 22: almanac for the year 1691, designed by Studio Bagge in Copenhagen. The first page contains a prayer in the name of the king; a list of the years since the creation of the world (5658), the reformation (174), the victory of the tribe of Oldenburg (242), and the birth of the King (45); all the signs of the Zodiac, the planets, and the number of days between Christmas and the Fat Tuesday (8 weeks and 3 days); The next 12 double pages contain the important days for each respective month. Further pages contain printed remarks about the year in Denmark and Norway, followed by pages of psalms for morning and afternoon, and then prayers for night and repentance;
• SP 23: leather-bound table book with pencilled and chalk notes, mainly accounts, starting late 1691 into 1692;
• SP 24: commercial letter to Cornelis Lummersen from Hans Lummersen in Copenhagen;
• SP 25: Latin ship’s paper in the name of the King of Denmark-Norway, 8 March 1689;
• SP 26: copy of SP 25 in Danish;
• SP 27: short commercial note in Danish, with scribbles on the back;
• SP 28: short commercial note signed Siffner Hansen;
• SP 29: reminder [possibly shopping list] of trees, listing four species of apple trees and five species of pear tries, as well as one pot of rosemary tree, one pot of myrtle, and two pots of bay trees, all for Jacob Christensen;
• SP 30; list containing bills of lading for Siffner Hansen, Geert Meyer, and Daniel Wolfmann;
• SP 31: Danish certificate of completed taxation and safe passage for skipper Sivert Hansen and Fortuna of Bergen, with age and dimensions of the ship, signed Henrich Rye and 18 April 1689 in Bergen;
• SP 32: accounts, 1691;
• SP 33: accounts;
• SP 34: bill of lading, 29 January 1691;
• SP 35: commercial letter to Sivert Hansen in Hamburg from Albert Meyer, discussing a journey to Bremen, 13 August 1691 in Bremen;
• SP 36: reminder for Skipper Sivert Hansen, containing sailing instructions and who to contact in different ports, for a journey via Ostende and Niepoort;
• SP 37: receipt for Siver Hansen [possibly for supplies for the ship], for goods including butter, fish and train oil from the royal cold store, signed Henrich Rye in Bergen on 29 January 1692;
• SP 38: letter to merchant Jacobus Hautmann in Brügge from Jeronimus Wienbasch in Bergen, describing dealings with Skipper Niells Sörensen [also mentioning in SP 36], 20 February 1692;
• SP 39: Dutch commercial letter to merchant Johan Bourett in Ostende from Jeronimus Wienbasch in Bergen, 20 February 1692;
• SP 40: letter to merchant Fransiscus Schonamile in Ostende from Jeronimus Wienbasch in Bergen, describing goods sent with skipper Sivert Hansen and dealings with Arendt Meyer, 20 February 1692;
• SP 41: bill of lading for goods received by Sivert Hansen of Fortune, detailing goods (train oil, butter, fish, hazelnuts) sent from Arendt Meyer to Franciscus Schonamile in Ostende, 1 February 1692 in Bergen;
• SP 42: bill of lading for goods received by Sivert Hansen of Fortune, detailing goods (train oil, butter, meat, fish, hazelnuts) sent from Arendt Meyer to Franciscus Schonamile in Ostende, 1 February 1692 in Bergen,

[Decision: ship and cargo condemned, 7 June 1692].