Captured ship: Juffrouw Maria , Pieter van der Velde, master. Details: Dutch merchant...

Captured ship: Juffrouw Maria, Pieter van der Velde, master.

Details: Dutch merchant ship, on a voyage from Rotterdam to Curaçao via Nantes, was captured by two French privateers and carried to St Domingue where the governor obliged the master to sell his cargo. With the proceeds, the master bought a cargo of sugar, indigo and cotton and set out for home, and was captured on 30 March 1758 near the Bristol Channel by the St Andrew privateer, Captain William Olave commander, and taken into Bristol. Suspected of carrying French-owned produce of the French West Indies; condemned in the prize court but appealed.

Documents (in Dutch, unless specified):

• 1) Papers on thong: Nos. 1 to 133 being the papers referred to as concealed in a cask of coffee and printed in the Prize Appeals (HCA 45/2/17); plus papers concerning the custody of the cargo after capture, etc. ([134] to [138]).
• 2) Handwritten catechism.
• 3) Handwritten copy of 'Schat Kamer, of De Kunst der Stuer Leiden' ('The Art of Navigation').
• 4) Boek van de Uytgeving.
• 5) Account book.
• 6) Journal of Juffrouw Maria, 1756.
• 7) Journal.
• 8) 23 personal letters to Pieter van der Velde on his ship De Juffrouw Maria, and to other crew members.
• 9) 62 Daily log sheets, most on a thong, with remains of quill pen.
• 10) Pages from a journal.
• 11) Booklet of medical remedies: 'Common Remedies for Pain' (in Dutch).
• 12) Other assorted papers.
• 13) Indenture of entail (in English) dated 1752 used to wrap the papers.
• 14) 16 papers found loose among the pages of 'De Kunst der Stuer Leiden' (item 3).

Printed Appeals: HCA 45/1/13 ff.93-102 Appeal 14, HCA 45/2/17 ff.170-177 Appeal 14.

Topics

Art, architecture and design

International

Litigation

Trade and commerce

Caribbean

Piracy and privateering

Food and drink

Armed Forces (General Administration)

Personal and family papers