Difference between revisions of "MRP: 10th April 1667, Letter from Thomas Harman junior to Sir GO, London"

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10th April 1667, Letter from Thomas Harman junior to Sir GO, London

BL, Add. MS. XX, XXX, ff. 120-121

Editorial history

02/02/09, CSG: Completed transcription
18/12/11, CSG: Page created

Abstract & context

Thomas Harman Junior was possibly a mariner and captain.^[1] Certainly his letter to Sir George Oxenden, which gives details of his voyage home from Surat via Ascencion island, St Helena, and the channel to the Downs, provides more marine detail than a typical merchant's letter.

Suggested links

To do

(1) Check transcription against physical manuscript at BL

Transcription

This transcription has been completed, but requires checking

BL, Add. MS. XX, XXX, ff. 120-121]

My humble service presented, & to M:r Goodier,^[2] M:r Aungier,^[3] M:r Tayler,^[4] M:r Masters,^[5] and all other friends in Suratt, S:r o:e arrivall ay y:e Island of Assention was y:e ?9:th of December, I missed y:e Island off S:t Hellena through thick weather & y:e sunne neare o:e ???Zenith could not gitt Obsarvation, but at Assention wee gott ???Tortell enough by ye:e helpe of Irons for they did not goe one shore, we allso ?Reacht fifteene Goats but not any water to be had soe was forsed to a quart pman a day all y:e way home, Our departure Assention was y:e 17:th December & arrived in y:e Downes y:e 10:th ffebruary seeing nor meeting w:th any ships in y:e sea nor in o:e owne Chanell, o:e men proved very sickly in o:e passage home y:t buried eight of them, but thanks to God we saw none to oppose us, S:r at my departure Surratt I had not time to examine every part of y:e moodys^[6] acco:tt, & therefore excepted it from him & w:n Came to sea looking over it I found he Charged us w:th Rups: 131:27 for last bringing y:e ship Affrican out of y:e river w:ch os an error & in y:e shipps xong for I paid y:e Murkadam^[7] of Imbra Pollen [OR Pallen] in this manner, forty rup:es aboard of y:e ship & y:e remainer I allwoed Pollen in y:e last accp:tt of 700: rip:es [could be 100 rup:es] w:ch I was to receive & was y:e full ?sow x00 Dollars I was to receive in India, as P:t y:t acco:tt, y:n made w:th yo:e Worp:s at Dumbus Appears, & M:r Stransham Masters^[8] y:n present & may very well remember it, My desire is yo:e worp:s would please to Comand him to allow it to M:r Robert Ward^[9] for I would not be willingly trouble yo:w w:th such things for I have sent his acc:tt where in he Charged us w:th it unto M: Rob:t Ward who I have desired to look e affter it, yo:e Worp:s lres, & Toaken I delivered to yo:e good brother, S:r Henry Oxinden whome I found at London, I heare is little worth yo:e Wors: Noatice only that there are Commissioners goeing for breda for A Treaty of Peace between us & y:e Dutch w:ch pray God make successful, the Newes if y:e Cittie burning I suppose is long since w:th yo:e for bad news flies a pace, as yett Cap:t Lord^[10] not arrived w:ch I very much admire at I wish him heare in safety y:e Dorcas taken y:e beginning of this month some 10 leagues of Sillie by a privatear of 6: Gunns & sixtie men, I have not XXX at present but thanks for yo:e worp:s Civillitys to us at Suratt & should have Indeavoured to have answered in some manner had not this ship Charles beene soe farr distant as plimouth from us soe must write an Opportunity for I am

[LH SIDE]
London y:e 10:th Aprill 1667

[RH SIDE] Yo:e Worsh: Humble Servant
Thomas: Harman: Jun:r

Notes

Captain Thomas Harman, mariner, 1670, Poplar

"[Footnote to a record of a meeting on April 11th, 1653, of the Justices of the Peace within the parish of Stepney, together with the Minister, churchwardens and other officers and parishioners of the parish of Stepney to elect churchwardens for the coming year in whih Thomas Harmon (sic) "for Ratcliff" was one of five men selected] Captain Thomas Harman, mariner, lived at Dolphin Row, Poplar, and married Grace Chick by license on January i, 1628. He died in 1670, and his will, which was proved on January 3 of that year, described him as 'Thomas Harman the elder, of Poplar'; bequests were left to his wile Grace, his three children, Thomas Harman, Mary Browse, and Helen Greenaway, and to numerous grandchildren and cousins. Possibly this son Thomas is the Captain Thomas Harman whose naval exploits in the reign of Charles H. were recorded by a series of small pictures in one of the antechambers of Greenwich Hospital. Lysons mentions an almshouse in Poplar, rebuilt by Captain Thomas Harman in 1676.— Lysons' Environs ; Stepney Court Rolls ; Stepney Registers ; Will at Somerset House."^[11]

Possible primary sources

PROB 11/215 Grey 1-51 Will of Peter Harman, Mariner in the Ship the Merchants Delight 26 February 1651
PROB 11/239 Alchin 303-356 Will of Roger Harman, Mariner of Wapping, Middlesex 04 January 1654
PROB 11/335 Duke 1-53 Will of Thomas Harman, Mariner of Stepney, Middlesex 23 January 1671

1. ↑ Possibly PROB 11/355 Hale 96–141 Will of Thomas Harman, Captain, Mariner 20 October 1677
2. ↑ John Goodyer
3. ↑ Gerard Aungier
4. ↑ Mathew Taylor
5. ↑ Streynsham Masters
6. ↑ Moody was XXXX. See Missing faces
7. ↑ Murkadem was XXXX
8. ↑ Streynsham Masters was
9. ↑ Robert Ward was XXXX. See Missing faces
10. ↑ Captain Robert Lord, commander of the XXXX. Robert Lord wrote to Sir George Oxenden on October 7th, 1657, from Gravesend, explaining that he had put into Ireland on his return from Surat and had received instructions to stay there since the naval war with the Dutch was at its height. He had only now made his way home. See 7th October 1667, Letter from Robert Lord to Sir GO, Gravesend. For an earlier letter from Captain Lord to Sir George Oxenden, see 29th January 1665/66, Letter from Robert Lord to Sir GO;
11. ↑ G.W. Hill, W.H. Frere (eds.), Memorials of Stepney parish that is to say the vestry minutes from 1579 to 1662 (Guilford, 1890-91), p. 198