Difference between revisions of "HCA 13/73 f.194r Annotate"

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HCA 13/73 f.194r: Right click on image for full size image in separate window

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To the 17th hee saith that
John Lopez hath lived here in this City for theise six yeeres last
saving such time as hee hath bin in voyages upon the Account of English
men, which hee knoweth having frequented his Company in this City for that time

To the 18th and 19th hee saith that while the said ship hope was at
Comana the said voyage the arlate Simon To[?n]son Bleau came on board to
the said Mr Lopez, and desired him for Gods sake to take him

on board the said ship for hee was almost starved, and eaten up
with mosquitoes, and lice, and Promised to doe what hee could; And
the said Mr Lopez seeing him in such a Condition did for pitty
Take him on board, but soone after hee was received on board
hee became a very Lewd, wicked swearing fellowe, and given
much to lying stealing and pilfering and the like, and saith that noe Credit
was or is to be given to him, and further that hee was much given to quarreling
and Put him in minde of his swearing and wickednes, the said
To[?n]ison Bleau oftentimes threaten that hee would be the Death of them that
Corrected him, And saith that after the arrivall of the said ship at
Milford haven, the said Tonison went on shore, and there bought
him a great knife, and meeting this deponent in Milford, he pulled
out his knife, and held it in his hand, and told this deponent in the
Dutch Language (which this deponent well understandeth) that that
knife should be the Death of three of the ships Company
though the next tree was his Gallowes, and about a fortnight
after this deponent Goeing on shore, met with the said Tonison Bleau
who told this deponent that in regard hee could not kill those rougues
(meaning three of the said ships Company) hee would bee
revenged of them in another Kind, for hee would Informe
and sweare that the ship and goods belonged to Spaniards though
the Divell fetched him for it, and doe them all the mischeife
that ever hee could to be revenged of them, or to that effect, And
further hee cannot depose, saving the said Tonison Bleau would
Bragg and say in the voyage that hee had robbed his ffather and mother
of all their monyes, and came away from them, and sold himselfe
to the west India Company of Zealand to goe to the west Indias,/

To the 20th hee saith that, hee verily beleeveth that neither the said
John Lopez nor any of the said ships during the said voyage did Teare Throwe
over board, or make away any papers or writings Concerning
the said ship or voyage, And saith that as the ship the hope
was sailing by the Island of Lundee the said Lopez and
this Deponent and Company Espying two ships and thinking them to be Spanish men
of warr the said Mr Lopez hid the factory of the outwards
and homeward Cargo And further hee cannot depose./.

To the 21th hee saith that the said Mr Lopez giving out at the said Spanish west
Indias that the ship was bound for Spaine, (which hee did meerely to Carry on the
foresaid designe) there were a packet of Letters given him (the said Lopez)
from on board another shpip there riding which were to be sent into Spaine, which the said Lopez durst not refuse to accept
lest hee should thereby bee discovered, and after hee had received them being
loath to throwe them over board left them at Matansa where the sais ship
touched in her course homewards./.

To the 22th hee saith that there were not any weapons or ammunition carried
out in the said ship the said voyage more then for the said ships use, neither did the
said Mr Lopez dispose or barter away any weapons or armes whatsoever in
the said Indyes saving two Pistolls which hee gave, as Presents there, for to Procure
License and Trade there, And further cannot depose./:

(To

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People

File:Historia Insectorum Generalis J Swammerdam 1669 Mosquito Wikipedia 200114.jpg, thumbnail, 450, "Mosquito, from Historia Insectorum Generalis, J Swammerdam, 1669")

[Simon] Tonison Bleau [Spelling of "Tonison" is unclear]

A Dutch boy, purportedly from Amsterdam. His identity and character were highly disputed amongst deponents in the English Admiralty Court case concerning the ship the Hope (1659).

A generous interpretation of the data suggests that Simon Tonison Bleau was a seventeen year old Dutch boy, at the time of the Admiralty Court case (early 1659) which dealt with the Dutch built, and Anglo-Dutch owned ship, the Hope, on an illegal trading voyage to the Spanish West Indies.

Tonison Bleau himself claimed to have been duped by a Scotchman in Amsterdam, who took him to a tavern, at the age of twelve, where he allegedly got him drunk and whisked him off to the Spanish West Indies.

A real sob story:

"somewhat
above five yeeres since, a Scotch man at Amsterdam enquiring for
a house which this deponent knew, got this deponent upon promise of rewarding
him to show it him, which this deponent did, and therein (being a victualling
house) the said Scotchman made much of this deponent and gave him soe
much brandewine, wine and beere that hee made this deponent quite drunck,
and being soe, caused this deponent to be carried aboard a shipp, wherein
hee saith hee was carried first to Tobago neere Barbados, thence this deponent was carried to
Trinidad, and thence to Margarita, thence to Comanagat[XC], and soe
to Comana, where at last hee met with the said shipp hope, and cannot
write or reade"

[Deposition of Simon To[?m]son Bleau of Amsterdam Sailor, aged seaventeene
yeares, [[HCA 13/73 f.139r Annotate#head-7792b396c165940a2ef3372031f6dbb64b71233e|HCA 13/73 f.139r]

Patrick Betts, the Irish born Master of the Hope, gave an alternative characterisation in his own deposition to the English Admiralty Court. Betts described the transformation from a desperate boy, "almost starved, and eaten up with mosquitoes, and lice", to one who "became a very Lewd, wicked swearing fellowe", who was "given much to lying stealing and pilfering and the like."

Betts advised the Court that Bleau's testimony was of no credit, and that "the said To[?n]ison Bleau oftentimes [would] threaten that hee would be the Death of them that Corrected him". Betts reported a conversation between himself and Bleau in Dutch, that Bleau intended to kill three of the Hope's company, who had corrected him on board ship for alleged misdemeanours. Betts reported Bleau to have told him, that:

"In regard hee could not kill those rougues
(meaning three of the said ships Company) hee would bee
revenged of them in another Kind, for hee would Informe
and sweare that the ship and goods belonged to Spaniards though
the Divell fetched him for it, and doe them all the mischeife
that ever hee could to be revenged of them, or to that effect, And
further hee cannot depose, saving the said Tonison Bleau would
Bragg and say in the voyage that hee had robbed his ffather and mother
of all their monyes, and came away from them, and sold himselfe
to the west India Company of Zealand to goe to the west Indias"

[HCA 13/72 f.194r]

A lively Twitter discussion took place in response to the Twitter postings of the transcriber of this case [Colin Greenstreet].

The characterisation by the the transcriber of Tonison Bleau as "a poor Dutch boy", who had been abducted by a malevolent Scotchman, met with some (in retrospect) rightful questioning from Dr Joane Bailey of Oxford Brookes University, who suggested that Tonison Bleau was more likely a disaffected indentured servant.

John Paige [alt. Page]

Born c.1627; married. pre-1652; died. c.1690

London merchant, but born in Stoke Fleming in Devon. Married Katherin Painter, the daghter of his Master, Gowen Painter.

G.F. Steckley states that Paige served as an aprentice to Painter in Tenerife, from circa 1642. By late 1648 Paige was resident in London, where he acted as London wholesaler for Painter's Canary wine exports to London.

G.F. Steckley has published John Paige's commercial correspondence for the years 1648 to 1658.^[1]

Gowen Painter [alt. Paynter]

Born c. ?; married. ?; died c.1661

London merchant, formerly resident in Teneriff, but expelled due to Anglo-Spanish war in 1650s and returned to London. Living with his son-in-law, the London merchant, John Paige [alt. Page]. Like John Paige, Gowen Painter was born in the West Country in England.

Gowen Painter and John Paige are frequently mentioned in English Admiralty Court records in the 1657-59 period, both for trade from London to the Canary Islands, and form London to the Spanish West Indies.^[2]

Places

Comana

Simon Tonison Bleau boarded the Hope at the port of Comana, on what is now the Venezuelan coast.

Click here for Google Interactive Map: Spanish West Indies, 1650s

English ventures in the Spanish West Indies, late 1650s, mentioned in English Admiralty Court

Matansa

Mantansa [alt. Matanza, Matanzas] was one of two towns founded by the Spanish in the C17th on what is now Cuba, the other being Santa Clara.^[4] Mantanzas was built on the San Juan river, and lies on the northwestern shore of Cuba, on the Bahia de Matanzas.^[5]

West India Company of Zealand

Het West Indisch Huys Amsterdam, 1655

Text of the Charter of the Dutch West India Company : 1621

Sources

Primary sources

TNA

PROB 11/306/348 Will of Gowen Paynter, Merchant of London 26 November 1661
- SEE: Ancestry Digital Image [requires membership]

PROB 11/397/549 Will of John Paige of London 30 December 1689
- SEE Ancestry Digital Image [requires membership]

Web resources

Web resources recommended by Dr Joanne Bailey, Oxford Brookes University:

First person writings in European context

Center for the study of Egodocuments and History

- Inventory of egodocuments up to 1814, pts 1-4

• • List of Dutch archives and links to these archives
  • Rudolf Dekker, Egodocuments in the Netherlands (PDF)

- Travel journals up to 1814, pts 1-4

Archival material

UNESCO Memory of the World Register: Dutch West India Company (Westindische Compagnie) Archives, Sec 3.1, p.3

UNESCO Memory of the World Register: Dutch West India Company (Westindische Compagnie) Archives
- Netherlands, Brazil, Ghana, Guyana, Netherlands Antilles, Suriname, United Kingdom, United States
- PDF viewer: Archival description and location

UNESCO Memory of the World Register: Dutch West India Company (Westindische Compagnie) Archives, Sec 3:2 Extract, p.3

Secondary sources

Leland O. Howard, Harrison G. Dyar, Frederick Knab, The mosquitoes of North and Central America and the West Indies, vol. 2, plates (Washington D.C., 1912)

Richard Mount and Page, A New and Correct Draught of the Bay of Matanzas. On ye North side of ye Island Cuba, done from a Survey by Robt. Pearson; 12 x 9.5 inches. London (1732)
- From the the English Pilot, Fourth Book, published by Mount and Page
- Image available from Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps Inc., California, USA

G.F. Steckley (ed.), The letters of John Paige, London merchant, 1648-58 (London, 1984)

1. ↑ G.F. Steckley (ed.), The letters of John Paige, London merchant, 1648-58 (London, 1984)
2. ↑ See, for example, the deposition of Peter Browne, Grocer, aged twenty-three yeares, who gave tesimony on behalf of John Page in the case of Blake against Page. The testimony refers to the year 1654, when Gowen Painter was still in the Canaries as "an Agent or ffactor to the Interrogate John Page" HCA 13/72 f.335v
3. ↑ G.F. Steckley (ed.), 'Introduction', The letters of John Paige, London merchant, 1648-58: London Record Society 21 (1984), pp. IX-XXXIX
4. ↑ Victor H. Olmsted, Henry Gannett, Cuba: Population, history and resources, 1907 (Washington D.C., 1909), p.29, viewed 20/01/14
5. ↑ Wikipedia article: Matanzas, viewed 20/01/14