Tools: Three Silver Ships

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The three silver ships


Editorial history

Created 28/06/2015 by CSG




Background


Three large ships (The Salvador, the Sampson and the Saint George) of supposedly Lubeck and Hamburg build and ownership were captured by the English in 1652 with highly valuable cargos of bullion. The ships were on their way from Cadiz with bullion from the Spanish West Indies going northwards. It was disputed in court as to whether the ships were bound legally for the Spanish Netherlands, or illegally for Amsterdam.

The case was endowed with political as well as commercial weight - the Protectorate was keen to have the bullion declared lawfull prize, but the Spanish government contested this. The many and varied court depositions and other English Admiralty (and English State Paper) records give very granular and highly colourful accounts of Seville and Cadiz, Hamburg and Lubeck, the Spanish Netherlands, the by-ways between the Spanish Netherlands and Amsterdam by which bullion could be smuggled overland and by canal, and the River Thames, where the ships and sailors were held following seizure. Thomas Violet, a rather dodgy goldsmith, was involved as an agitator on benhalf of the protectorate, and published a pamphlet pleading for reimbursement of his efforts, which supplements the HCA material on the MarineLives wiki.

You will find more than one Admiralty Court case mentioning the three Silver ships. In addition to the three main cases brought by the Commonwealth against each of the three ships and their owners to have them declared lawful prize, you will find cases brought by Spanish, English and Dutch merchants, demanding restitution of goods they claimed to have onboard on or more of the three ships.

You will also find information about the silver ships in other primary sources, including, but not limited to, the English State Papers (which you can access through British History Online).

A key printed primary source is a pamphlet by the goldsmith Thomas Violet, titled: "A true narrative of the proceedings in the Court of Admiraltie against the ships Sampson, Salvador, and George, their silver and lading and an accompt presented what silver was taken out of the said ships and coined in the Tower (being above two hundred seventy eight thousand pounds,) all which silver the Common-wealth got by the chargeable prosecution and discovery of Tho. Violet, who saved the Common-wealth this silver, Dec. 16. 1652", and published in 1659.

You can find some secondary material on the conversion of the seized bullion into English coinage in Henry William Henfrey's Numismata Cromwelliana.[1]

Timeline


Please enter below all events relating to the Admiralty court case of three Silver ships. Be as specific as possible in terms of day, month, and year.

Please note whether the dates you enter are New or Old style (typically non-English witnesses will use New Style dates, and English witnesses will use Old style dates. In the 1650s the same day in New style was ten days ahead in terms of date compared with Old style.[2]


1646


The ship the Sampson was built and completed in Lubeck in 1646.[3]

1647


Month unspecified: The ship the Salvadore was built at Hamburg[4]


1648


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1649


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1650


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1651


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1652


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1653


Possibly early 1653: Petition of Juan de lossa Barrona, a Spaniard born in Segovia, Spain, regarding the seizure of his goods in the ship the Saint George of Hamburg (master: John Martin), leading to he himself being detained in London hoping that the ship with her lading would be released "to finish her voyage to Ostend". The ship not being released, the petitioners business affairs pressed for him to depart to Flanders.[5]

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1654


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1655


April 3rd: Petition to the English Admiralty Court judges of Christian Cloppenburgh, master of the ship the Sampson, on behalf of himself and the rest of the owners of the ship. States his ship has been detained for more than two years depending on a suit in the Admiralty Court about proving her to be prize and that a sentence had recently been passed by the Court setting the ship and her freight free. However, Thomas Violet had put in information that some silver had been purloyned or embeazled out of a different ship (the Salvadore (Master: Otto George)), and that under this pretence the ship had been further detained. Asked the Court that his ship be speedily discharged to save him and it from utter ruin.[6]

April 3rd: Petition to the English Admiralty Court judges of John Martindorp, master of the ship the Saint George, on behalf of himself and the rest of the owners of the ship. Similar plea to the petition of the same date made by Christian Cloppenburgh.[7]

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1656


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1657


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1658


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1659


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Witness list


Please add witness details and linked references in alphabetical order of witness.

William Astell of the parish of Allhallows Barking London Chirurgeon aged 60 yeares[8]
William Astell of the parish of All Hallowes Barking London Chirurgeon, aged 60 yeares[9]
Beniamin Bathurst of London Merchant aged 19 yeares
Albert ?Becher?e of the free Citie of Lubeck Mariner at present Master or Commander of the shipp the King David of London aged 47. yeares[10]
Joachim Beene of hamborough Mariner aged 35. yeares[11]
Joachim Beene of hamborough Mariner aged 35. yeares[12]
Antonio Fernandez Caravashall of London Merchant aged 54 yeares[13]
Antonio Fernandez Caravashell of London Merchant aged 54 yeares[14]
Christian Cloppenburgh of hamborough Mariner aged 43. yeares[15]
Christian Cloppenburgh of Hamborough Mariner Master of the shipp the Salvadore aged 44 yeares[16]
Christian Cloppenburgh of hamborough Mariner aged 43 yeares[17]
Antonio da Ponte of Teneriffa in the Canary Islands merchant aged twenty eight yeares,ref>|HCA 13/68 f.61v</ref>
Antonio Estevan de Balderas of Limma in the West Indies merchant aged 38 yeares[18]
Carsten Franck of Lubeck Shipwright aged 32. yeares[19]
Carsten Franck of Lubeck shipwright aged 32. yeares[20]
Abraham Johnson of the precinct of Saint Catherins neere the Tower of London Sailemaker aged 35 yeares[21]
Magdalena Hendricks the wife of Abraham Johnson living in the Minories neere London aged thirty two yeares[22]
Magdalena Hendrickes the wife of Abraham Johnson living in the Minneries nere London wall saylemaker, aged thirtie two yeares[23]
Robert Kilvert of London Merchant aged 67. yeares[24]
John Lowers of Masterland in Norway Mariner aged 26. yeares[25]
John Lowers of Masterland in Norway Mariner aged 26. yeares[26]
John Martenson-Dorp of hamborough Mariner aged 53. yeares[27]
Jurian Martinson of fflintzbourgh in Holsteinland Mariner, aged 34 yeares[28]
William Pembridge of the Parrish of Saint Magnus London Habberdasher aged 42 yeares[29]
William Pembridge of the parish of Saint Magnus London haberdasher, aged 48 yeares[30]
Stephen Puckle of Eastsmithfeild neere London Merchant aged fifty nine yeares[31]
Stephen Puckle of East Smithfeild neere London Merchant aged fifty nyne yeares[32]
Hance Ramke of Hamborough Mariner aged 40 yeares[33]
Hans Ramkey of hamborough Mariner aged 40 yeares[34]
Peter Rokes of Lubeck in Germania Mariner Steeresman of the shipp the Goulden Grape of dantsick aged 43. yeares[35]
Henry Slegar of hamborough Saylor aged 23. yeares[36]
Henry Slucker of hamborough Mariner aged 23 yeares[37]
ffrancis Thoris of London Merchant aged forty eight
Giles Vandeputt of the parish of Saint Martins Orgers in the City of London Merchant aged 32 yeares[38]
Henrick Vett of hamborough Mariner aged 36. yeares[39]

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Primary source material other than depositions


HCA 15/6 Box 2


Item: Petition of Christian Cloppenburgh: Date: April 3rd 1655[40]

Item: Petition of John Martindorp: Date: April 3rd 1655[41]


Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Interregnum


"1652: 26. The Committee for Foreign Affairs to sit on Monday. The Admiralty Judges and Dr. Walker to attend, and report what has been done in that court about the ships Samson, Salvador, and George. 27. Orders for regulating Council's proceedings to be considered on Monday. 28-30. Serjeant Dendy, Mr. Scutt..."[42]

"Jun 1653: ...Admiralty Court, and deliver in on oath after the usual manner the papers now sealed up, which were taken out of the Samson, Salvadore, and George. 10, 11. Mr. Perrott and Mr. Throckmorton, prisoners with the Serjeant-at-arms for being engaged in a challenge, to be dismissed on bonds in 1,000 l . and two..."[43]

"Dec. 1654: Warrants of the Council of State, Generals of the Fleet, &c ...Bristol, to transport 40 draugh t nags to Barbadoes, for the use of the sugar mills, on the same terms as others. 120 — — " 21 " Pass For Eliz. Meutis to Flanders 127 — — " " " Comrs. for Sale of Dutch Prizes. To seize and secure some gold and silver embezzled from the Samson, Salvador, and George in the..."[44]

"1654: the Admiralty Committee to request the Protector and Council for an order to dispose of the Samson, Salvadore, and George, which had the great quantity of silver on board, to the best advantage of the State, the Prize Goods' Commissioners reporting that they are much injured by having lain 2 years in..."[45]

"Sep 1653: the Samson, Salvadore, and George, and to take down in writing all the preparations of evidence and proofs thereupon, and draw a full plea by his advice for the protection for the State's interest, and to give in the names of all the material witnesses they know of, that the points may be proved by..."
[46]

"Nov 1653: consideration of a paper from the Spanish ambassador presented this day to the council, concerning certain bags of wooll, taken out of the Samson, Salvador, and George, and to examine the matter of fact, and for their better information to send for doctor Walker, and such other persons, papers, and witnesses as..."
[47]


NEED TO COMPLETE LINKING OF TEXT BELOW

Volume 32 - January 1653

Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Interregnum, 1652-3

send an account to Mr. Thurloe tomorrow of their proceedings against the Samson, Salvador, and George, and the whole state of that business. 3. The petition of Col. Ryley to be considered on Wednesday, and he to be here. 4. Mr. Thurloe to draw up a paper to be offered to Council, to be sent to foreign

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=53415


Volume 34 - March 1653

Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Interregnum, 1652-3

referred to the Committee for Foreign Affairs. 15. Mr. Thurloe to declare to Dr. Walker that he may give such answers as he thinks fit to the paper published by the advocate of Flanders, upon the proceedings in the Admiralty Court upon the Samson, Salvadore, and George, and publish the same if he see

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=53417


Volume 33 - February 1653

Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Interregnum, 1652-3

February 1653 Feb. 1. 4. Order in the Council for Trade and Foreign Affairs, that the account brought in by the Admiralty Judges of their proceedings in the Admiralty Court, on the Samson, Salvador, and George, be presented to Council. [ I . 132, p . 61.] Feb. 1. 1, 2. Petition of Thomas Jennings

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=53416


Volume 76 - September 1654

Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Interregnum, 1654

into one treasury. [ Excise Coll. pp . 149–154, Vol . 98, June 1655.] [Sept. 2.] 12. Dr. Walter Walker to Sec. Thurloe. It appears by yours that the Hamburg agent urges a judgment on the Samson, Salvador, and George. I waited on you yesterday at Whitehall about it, but could not see you. The matter of

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=53456


State Papers, 1654 - March (5 of 5)

A collection of the State Papers of John Thurloe, volume 2

ships the Samson, Salvadore, and St. George, in the port of Cadiz, being his own port, several bags of wools, to be transported to another port of his own in Flanders, for his own account, there to be delivered to his assistants, for his own account, towards the payment of his armies. That these ships

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=55311


Volume 36 - May 1653

Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Interregnum, 1652-3

of Otho George and others interested in the three silver ships, Salvador, Samson, and George. That they made the purser alter his book, taking out the names of all Hollanders and Zealanders, and inserting others. That they threw letters overboard tied to an iron bar, on coming into the Downs. That

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=53419


Volume 130 - October 1656

Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Interregnum, 1656-7

the next post after I have received the value. I am surprised your friends do not put another address on your letters. [1 page, French .] Oct. 20. 63. Shorthand notes of proceedings in the Committee upon the case of the [silver] ships Samson, Salvador, and George. [3¼ pages, undecyphered .] Oct. 21.

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=54487

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List of individuals


Peter Eleston/Eleson, innkeeper of the Goulden Posthorne on the sea dike in Amsterdam
John Martindorp (Master: The Saint George)
Tam (Master: The Goulden Sunn)
Hanse Younger (Master: The Mercurius)



Cast of Characters


Please add key characters in the affair of the silver ships, together with short referenced profiles of the characters.


Christian Cloppenburgh


Master of the ship the Salvadore of Hamburg. Aged forty-four in June 1655.[48]


Antonio Estevan de Balderas


Spanish merchant, resident in Lima in the Spanish West Indies.[49]


Otto George


Master of the ship the Sampson of Lubeck (December 1646-November 1654). According to the Hamburg mariner Joachim Beene, Otto George was earlier the comander of the ship the Saint Lucar de Barrameda, and sailed her in 1646 from Cadiz to Hamburg, where in December 1646 Otto George left the ship and went on to Lubeck "expressely (as hee the said Otto then declared to this examinate) to buy the said ship the Sampson.[50] Joachim Beene suggests that Otto George was "first made skipper of her about December 1646, or in the beginning of the ensueing yeare 1647, in which yeare this deponent saw her in Spaine under the conduct of the said Otto George." Beene states that the very first voyage of the Sampson was made from Lubeck to Spain in 1647.[51]

Born in Hamburg, Otto George died in 1654 a married man, keeping his wife in Lubeck from at least 1647.[52] Despite his birth in Hamburg, Otto George was "a citizen and inhabitant of Lubeck".[53]

According to the steeresman of the Danzig ship the Goulden Grape, Otto George left the city of London in roughly November 1653 "sick and weake" and returned to Lubeck where he "shortly after did depart this life", and was buried in Lubeck.[54] The Hamburg mariner Joachim Beene adds the detail that Otto George "being sick and diseased" imbarqued himself on the ship the Neptune of Hamburg (Master: Martin Holst) bound for Hamburg "with an intention to goe to Lubeck."[55]

Jaspar Lorenzo


Spanish merchant claiming to have lost three cerons of cutchineele in the ship the Salvadore.[56]


John Martindorp


Master of the ship the Saint George of Hamburg


Ferdinando Nunez


Spanish merchant.[57]


Ships


Please create profile of ships named in the case of the three silver ships.


Golden Sunn


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Crew and passengers


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Mercurius


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Crew and passengers


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Saint George


The Saint George of Hamburg (Master: John Martindorp)

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Crew and passengers


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Salvadore


The Salvadore of Hamburg (Master: Christian Cloppenburg)

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Crew and passengers


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Sampson


The Sampson of Lubeck (Master: Otto George)

Built by the shipwright Jurian Steeckman, a burger and inhabitant of Lubeck, in 1646.[58]

Crew and passengers


Antonio da Ponte of Teneriffa in the Canary Islands merchant aged twenty eight yeares,ref>|HCA 13/68 f.61v</ref>

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  1. ↑ Henry William Henfrey, Numismata Cromwelliana: or, The medallic history of Oliver Cromwell, illustrated by his coins, medals, and seals (London, 1877), pp.31-33
  2. ↑ Add reference
  3. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.135r
  4. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.387v
  5. ↑ HCA 15/6 Box 2 no fol.
  6. ↑ HCA 15/6 Box 2 no fol.
  7. ↑ HCA 15/6 Box 2 no fol.
  8. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.712v
  9. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.731v
  10. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.134r
  11. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.137r
  12. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.753r
  13. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.714v
  14. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.733v
  15. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.142v
  16. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.387v
  17. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.725v
  18. ↑ HCA 13/68 f.175r
  19. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.140v
  20. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.755r
  21. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.709r
  22. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.720r
  23. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.724r
  24. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.733r
  25. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.139v
  26. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.754v
  27. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.145v
  28. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.728r
  29. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.713r
  30. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.732r
  31. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.717v
  32. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.749r
  33. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.734v
  34. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.754r
  35. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.136r
  36. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.141v
  37. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.756r
  38. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.148v
  39. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.751v
  40. ↑ HCA 15/6 Box 2 no fol.
  41. ↑ HCA 15/6 Box 2 no fol.
  42. ↑ CSPD:Interregnum: Volume 26 - December and Undated, 1652. 1652
  43. ↑ CSPD:Interregnum: Volume 37 - June 1653
  44. ↑ CSPD:Interregnum: Volume 77 - December 1654
  45. ↑ CSPD:Interregnum: Volume 77 - December 1654
  46. ↑ CSPD:Interregnum: Volume 40 - September 1653
  47. ↑ A collection of the State Papers of John Thurloe, volume 1: State Papers, 1653 - November (2 of 5)
  48. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.387v
  49. ↑ HCA 13/68 f.175r
  50. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.137v
  51. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.138r
  52. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.135v
  53. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.136r
  54. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.136r
  55. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.138r
  56. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.387v
  57. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.387v
  58. ↑ HCA 13/70 f.135r

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