Captured ship: Speedwell of Millbrook [formerly catalogued as name unknown] (master...

Captured ship: Speedwell of Millbrook [formerly catalogued as name unknown] (master Valentine Roberts)

History: an English merchant ship (barge, 20 tons), bound from Penryn near Falmouth to Plymouth, laden with tin and glassware; taken on 7/17 February 1673/1674 off Fowey, Cornwall, by the Dutch privateer Turnip or Raap of Middelburg (Jacobus Michaelson Pitran of Flushing commanding); the privateer took out the tin and left the barge to drift; she was next seen drifting on 12/22 February 1673/1674 about a mile off of Osmington, near Weymouth, being stripped of sails, rigging, and equipment by another, unnamed Dutch privateer of about 100 tons, who holed the barge's hull to sink her. The barge was rescued from sinking by men coming from the shore and then moored in a creek at Osmington, but she was driven from her moorings by bad weather on the night of 12-13 February 1673/1674 and driven aground at Ringstead; she was later refloated and brought into Weymouth. The barge's identity was only established later.

Court Papers, numbered CP 1-4:-

• [CP 1]: two examinations taken at Weymouth, 22 June 1674;
• [CP 2]: affidavit of master and other co-owners, 8 May 1674;
• [CP 3]: affidavit of master, 13 February 1673/4;
• [CP 4]: two examinations taken at Weymouth, 3 March 1673/1674.

• [SP 1]: receipt, 7 February 1673/4.

• See IND 1/9012 f.60v ('navicula nominus ignoti'); ibid, f.80;
• See also HCA 32/1953/19 for the Turnip or Raap of Middelburg.