Catalogue description Captured ship: Juffrouw Elizabeth Galley or Lady Elizabeth (master Charles Harman)....

Captured ship: Juffrouw Elizabeth Galley or Lady Elizabeth (master Charles Harman).

History: a French ship (100 tons, 6 guns, 11 men and 2 boys, using the pass of the Dutch ship Juffrouw Elizabeth which the master Charles Harman had saved along with his chest of papers, mail in transit and dollars when that Dutch ship, shortly after leaving Tenerife, was abandoned to two Sallee rovers, for fear of capture and slavery in Barbary), bound from Santa Cruz, Tenerife to Port Louis and then to Amsterdam, laden with Canary wine; taken on 28 June / 9 July 1741 in latitude 38° N, by the privateer Frances (Michael Page commanding) and brought into London.

Documents:-

Court Papers:

• [Examinations taken in London, see: HCA 13/89, fos 267, 272];
• [CP 1]: attestation and claim of the master, for the papers saved from his first ship, and the ship's boat in which they escaped;
• [CP 2-CP 2a]: allegation, supporting attestation;
• [CP 3-CP 4b: claim from merchants in the Netherlands, attestation of the master, exhibited ship's roll in Dutch with translation, brought into court 3 September 1741;
• [CP 5-CP 5a]: 2 attestations with translations, brought into court 8 October 1741;
• [CP 6]: allegation, brought into court 3 November 1741;
• [CP 7]: attestation as to papers;
• [CP 8]: abstracts and translations of the papers in packets 1 to 4 (represented as A to D, below);
• [CP 9]: abstracts and translations of the papers in packet 5 (E, below);
• [CP 10]: abstracts and translations of the papers in packets 6 (F, below);
• [CP 11]: abstracts and translations of the papers in packets 7 and 8 (G to H, below);
• [CP 12]: two separate translations of legal agreements in Spanish (corresponding to G 10 and G 13).

Ship's Papers and Mail in Transit:-

Collections of ship's papers, mail in transit and papers intended for foreign courts. Arranged in bundles numbered A 1-H 7, which were originally delivered to the High Court of Admiralty in eight packets numbered 1-8. A note among the court papers says that Packets 3 (C) and 4 (D) were taken out of the Registry in September 1741 [for restoration as neutral] and sent to Amsterdam; only packets 1 to 2 (A and B), and 5 to 8 (E to H) therefore remain.

Packet A: papers sent from Santa Cruz, in Dutch and German:

• A 1: complaint from merchants in Santa Cruz to admiralty commissioners in Denmark;
• A 2-A 5: 4 letters and papers relating to previous voyages in which Charles Harman was captain; probably exhibits for the complaint given in A 1;
• A 6: additional paper in Dutch, wrapper.

Packet B: papers intended for an admiralty court in Amsterdam, all in Dutch; originally intended to be sent to Amsterdam with packets C and D;

• B 1-B 4: protest or declaration (copy of A 4), Mediterranean pass, letter to the admiralty commissioners from Santa Cruz.

Packet E: ship's papers and mail in transit sent from Santa Cruz, in Dutch, English and Spanish;

• E 1-E 9: 9 letters from Spanish men and women, mostly to family members imprisoned in Bristol [as prisoners of war];
• E 10-E 28: personal and commercial letters in Dutch, English and French, 3 bills of lading;
• E 29-E 30: captain's instructions, crew list detailing wages to be paid;
• E 31-E 57: personal and commercial letters in Dutch, Spanish and English addressed to Amsterdam and London, 2 invoices, 2 bills of lading;
• E 58-E 63: 6 papers relating to goods laden at Tenerife;
• E 64-E 67: 4 personal letters in Dutch, intended for Amsterdam;
• E 68: wrapper.

Packet F: ship's papers and mail in transit sent from Santa Cruz, all in French:

• F 1-F 2: note and invoice relating to the journey to Port Louis;
• F 3-F 7: 4 letters (mostly duplicates), 2 envolopes suggesting that they were intended for Paris;

Packet G: ship's papers and mail in transit, sent from Santa Cruz, in Dutch, French and Spanish:

• G 1-G 2: bill of exchange, invoice;
• G 3-G 9: personal and commercial correspondence intended for St Louis, Haarlem, Amsterdam and Hamburg;
• G 10-G 13: legal papers relating to the owners and crew of the ship, including the charterparty;
• G 14: wrapper.

Packet H: allegedly counterfeit ship's papers given to the captors by Harman:

• H 1-H 3: bill of lading, charterparty, bill of health;
• H 4-H 5: 2 ship's passes;
• H 6-H 7: 2 wrappers.

[Decision: ship and part of the cargo condemned, the rest of the cargo restored, 3 November 1741]

See also IND 1/9022, f127.