A set of twenty-eight fabric samples sent from Surinam with small annotations in...

A set of twenty-eight fabric samples sent from Surinam with small annotations in Dutch, all taken from the ship Illustrious President, (master and sole owner Dennis Butler).

History: American merchant ship with largely Danish and Swedish crew bound from Paramaribo (Surinam) to Amsterdam laden with sugar, coffee, cocoa, cotton and Madeira wine, captured on 20 April 1795 when lying off Dover by a boat from the Flora privateer (Allan Peake commanding) and taken into the Port of London.

The samples were extracted from letters in the main boxes of papers from this ship, which are in HCA 30/374-HCA 30/379, although no indication survives of which of these letters each sample came from; each of the samples are numbered and the material, design, colours, and size for each of the samples are as follows:

• 1: cotton (coarse weave), large flower and leaves set against red background, wide lobed shape with small red and black flowers against white background, width 240mm, height 170mm;
• 2: cotton (medium coarse weave), red flowers and leaves on undyed cloth, width 215mm, height 135mm;
• 3: cotton (coarse weave), repeated pattern of six leaves joined together like a medallion inside a diamond shape, black and red on undyed cloth background, width 150mm, height 90mm;
• 4: cotton (coarse weave), blue and white flowers and leaves on stems on a blue background, width 165mm, height 65mm;
• 5: cotton (fine weave), repeated pattern of stylised leaves and stylised flowers, red and black on undyed white cloth, width 130mm, height 70mm;
• 6: cotton (coarse weave), white diamond shapes and a few white lines, dark blue background, width 105mm, height 90mm;
• 7: cotton (medium coarse weave), red stripes of three different widths, on undyed cloth, width 145mm, height 55mm;
• 8: cotton (medium coarse weave), small flowers with leaves on a red and white striped background, colours include red, black, blue, pink, mustard yellow, green, grey, width 185mm, height 90mm;
• 9: cotton (medium coarse weave), stylised flowers and leaves on a stem against a red and white striped background, colours include red, black, blue, pink, mustard yellow, green, width 205mm, height 85mm;
• 10: cotton (medium coarse weave) stylised flowers and leaves on a stem against a red background, colours include red, black, blue, pink, mustard yellow, green, grey, light brown, width 255mm, height 160mm;
• 11: cotton (medium coarse weave), geometic shapes resembling arrow heads, ikat style but made up of parallel black lines drawn close to each other, black on undyed cloth, width 265mm, height 145mm;
• 12: cotton (medium coarse weave), geometic shapes like arrow heads, ikat style but made up of parallel red lines drawn close to each other, red on undyed cloth, width 135mm, height 105mm;
• 13: cotton (medium coarse weave), geometic shapes like arrow heads, ikat style but made up of parallel black lines drawn close to each other, black on undyed cloth, width 120mm, height 70mm;
• 14: cotton (coarse weave), repeated pattern of stylised leaf with black outline with red fill and black pattern on the red fill red on undyed cloth, width 90mm, height 70mm;
• 15: cotton (fine weave), flowers and leaves on stems on a mid-blue background, includes red, black, blue, pink, mustard yellow, green, grey, light brown, width 290mm, height 165mm;
• 16: cotton (fine weave), stylised flowers and leaves on a stem against a red background that has bands made up of stripes of white, light blue and brown red, black, blue, pink, mustard yellow, green, grey, light brown, width 265mm, height 105mm;
• 17: cotton (coarse weave), repeated pattern of stylised flowers and leaves within squares with sides in red and white on undyed cloth, width 255mm, height 115mm;
• 18: cotton (fine weave), repeated geometric pattern with various sized squares, alternating with floral motif inside geometric shapes, colours include dark blue, mid blue and cream, width 125mm, height 110mm;
• 19: cotton (medium coarse weave), repeated pattern of 3x3 white square shapes on dark blue background, width 115mm, height 70mm;
• 20: cotton (coarse weave), red stripes and zigzag patterns on undyed white cloth, width 190mm, height 135mm;
• 21: cotton (fine weave), stylised flowers on a striped background, colours include red, black, blue, pink, light brown, width 1565mm, height 75mm;
• 22: cotton (medium coarse weave), stylised flowers, leaves, seed pods and roots on undyed background, colours include red, black, blue, pink, mustard yellow, brown/mauve, light brown, width 410mm, height 200mm;
• 23: cotton (medium coarse weave), repeated pattern of pointed leaves with dark brown fill and black striations on undyed cloth, width 195mm, height 190mm;
• 24: cotton (medium coarse weave), small flowers and leaves on undyed background, colours include red, black, blue, pink, green, width 95mm, height 90mm;
• 25: cotton (fine weave), yellow and white stripes with dark red/brown stripes crossing at intervals, colours include yellow, dark red/brown, width 80mm, height 30mm;
• 26: cotton (medium coarse weave), blue and black stripes, width 80mm, height 50mm;
• 27: cotton (fine weave), yellow stripes on undyed cloth, width 30mm, height 35mm;
• 28: cotton (coarse weave), blue and red and dark red/brown stripes, width 120mm, height 65mm;
• 29: cotton (fine weave), red flowers and leaves on undyed cloth, width 160mm, height 75mm;
• 30: cotton (fine weave), red stripes on pink background, width 115mm, height 25mm;
• 31: cotton (coarse weave), flowers, foliage, a duck in flight and two other birds, perhaps cockatoos sitting on a branch and a basket filled with flowers on the ground, black on undyed cloth, width 510mm, height 295mm.

Further samples taken from the same ship can be found in HCA 65/10.

Topics

Navy

Armed Forces (General Administration)