Materials handling

Materials handling

Editorial history

08/11/12: CSG, created page

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Purpose of page

Materials handling is greatly neglected in C17th historiography. HCA 13/71 cases and depositions provide extensive examples of uses of cranes, stevadores, porters, labourers, lighters, hoys and generally of processes and technologies. There is probably an article to be written on this subject, and HCA 13/71 would be a good starting point.

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Suggested links

PhD Forum
PhD Forum Themes

Port trades
Thames docks and wharves
Thames lighters
Thames shipyards in 1650s

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Handling properties of commodities

Copperis

Twelve hogsheads of Copperis were laded on board the already fully laden ship the Julian, at the insistence of the lightermen and in the absence of the ship's captain. When the tide rose, the ship, which was lying by the Hermitage stairs in Wapping, failed to float, and water flooded into her hold. The Copperis was badly damaged, dissolving away in the water of the Thames. Little could be recovered.

• "1. To the 6th hee saith hee knoweth not the price of a hogshead of Copperis

2. and therefore cannot answere otherwise than before hee hath deposed videlicet that
3. most of the sayd 12 hogsheads of Coppers was as hee beleeveth wetted
4. and consumed by the wett as soe receaved./"

- HCA 13/71 f.266r Case: Tether against Bryan "Examined upon the allegation on behalfe of the sayd Bryan"); Deposition: 4. William Euans of Newcastle upon Tine in the County of Northumberland Mariner Carpenter of the shipp the Julian aged sixtie yeares and upwards (The marke of the sayd William Evans at the end of the deposition) ; Date: 26/06/1656. Transcribed by Colin Greenstreet.

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Salt

• "1. salt is of a melting nature if it take wett and that the paper

2. was not stowed thereon but before and abaft as aforesayd and therefore ˹was˺
3. ˹not˺ damnified by lying up on it."

- HCA 13/71 f.219r Case: To the Interrogatories given on behalfe of Culling, Kirby and Arthur; Deposition: 3. John Vincent of Ratcliff Mariner aged twenty five yeares (Signature of "John Vincent" at end of deposition); Date: XX/XX/XXXX. Transcribed by Colin Greenstreet.

• ADD EXAMPLE OF PAPER DAMAGED BY SALT

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Sugar

Sugar was stored on board ship in wooden casks, but was easily damaged by water ingress

• "30. To the 6th hee saith hee knoweth that the sayd shipp the Edward and

31. John with her ˹homeward˺ ladeing being come to Greenwich articulate,
32. and a lighter lying ready by her side to bee laden with goods
33. from on board her, the sayd Tolty Commanded the Company to
34. lade her with goods, and they in obedience to his Command did lade
35. divers goods into her, and at length romageing among the goods
36. on shipp board, found some Caskes of sugar which had receaved
37. dammage by wett by reason whereof a great part of it was consumed
38. whereupon the Mates came and told the sayd Toltie thereof and in
39. behalfe of them selves and the shippes company desyred that before
40. any more ladeing were delivered from on board the shipp shee
41. and her ladeing might bee surveyed by the Trinity Masters or whome the Trinity
42. Masters should appointe that it might bee knowne by what meanes
43. the dammage came, and who was to beare it, or to that effect..."

- HCA 13/71 f.359r Case: huggerly and others against Tolty ("Examined upon the sayd allegation"); Deposition: 5. John Adams of Ratcliff in the parish of Stepney and County of Middlesex Gunner of the Edward and John aged twenty fower yeares; Date: XXXX. Transcribed by Laura Seymour

The cask heads could work loose, if not tightly fastened, causing sugar to be damaged by water.

• "25. To the fourth article of the sayd allegation This deponent saith that the said shipp

26. Susan and Anne when she began the sayd voyage from the Barbadaos
27. for the sayd Port and before the sayd Hurricano and disasters befell
28. her as aforesayd, was a stanch and able shipp and sufficiently provided
29. for such a voyage. And the goods he saith were all well stowed and
30. dennaged, but the water came in in so extraordinary a manner when the
31. mayne mast was cutt downe that it rann downe into the hold and wasted
32. much of the sugars, and the heads of many of the Caske, being as should seeme
33. not so well fastned as they might have beene, became loose and fell out,
34. which losse and dammage he saith he could not be avoyded. And hee
35. saith that the lossening and falling out of the topps ˹or heads˺ of the sayd Caske
36. and the dammage and losse that before the sayd sugars was caused by the
37. violence of the sayd stormes, and disasters aforesayd. and not by any fault
38. or neglect of the sayd master and Company of Mariners or any of
39. them, which he knoweth being masters mate of the sayd shipp the sayd
40. voyage, and saving the premisses so fall out as hee hath declared
41. And otherwise hee cánnot depose, saving that hee likewise further
42. saith that ˹neither˺ the sayd Master or Mariners nor any of them did strike
43. out the heads of the sayd Caske, or embezall any of the sayd sugars
44. so farr as he knoweth beleiveth or hath heard"

- HCA 13/71 f.122r Case: XXXX; Deposition: XXXXX (Signature of "Stephen Allon (OR, Allen)" at end of deposition; Date: 18/03/1655 ("same day"). Transcribed by Colin Greenstreet.

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Tobacco

The annual tobacco crop idid not store well in warehouses in heat of a Virginian summer. It was the custom to ship tobacco to England by the middle of March each year. If no shipping were available, then the tobacco was shipped to New England.

Thomas Potter, a thirty-nine year old London merchant, had direct experience of the spoiling of tobaccoes by warehousing them through the summer after default of shipping for London.

• "12. To the twelfth article of the sayd allegation hee saith that hee hath bin a

13. trader for tobaccoe to Virginia these fifteene yeares last or upwards
14. and thereby knoweth that if shipps came not thither to receave their ladeing
15. of tobacco ˹by or˺ before the middle of March in any yeare the Inhabitants of
16. Virginia and such as have tobaccoe to send from thense for England doe
17. usually then give over any expectation of shipps ˹their˺ arrival there from
18. England that yeare, and therefore usually after the middle of
19. March is once past send their tobaccoes for England by any ship after that,
20. and if noe shipps
21. bee present then they doe usually barter away for a quantitie of
22. tobaccoe to be given them the next harvest, or else for other Commodities,
23. or else send it for New England or other places, which they soe doe in
24. regard that tobaccoe is in (SIC) Virginia a very perishing Commoditie by
25. reason of the heat{e} of that Country in summer tyme in soe much that
26. of this deponents knowledge it will not keepe from one harvest to an
27. other and is therefore usually disposed of if possible by the middle
28. of March at furthest next after the growth thereof And hee this deponent
29. having some yeares tobaccoes (which for want of
30. shipping Comming in convenient tyme have not bin sent for England but
31. kept in Virginia till the next yeare after their growth, well knoweth that the
32. sayd Tobaccoes have by being soe kept bin rendered of little of
33. or noe value And further to this article hee cannot depose/

- HCA 13/71 f.560r Case: Carr against Watts; Deposition: 8. Thomas Potter of London marchant aged 39 yeares; Date: 13/02/1656. Transcribed by Alex Jackson

The transportation of tobacco required a well caulked water tight ship.

• "22. To the 8 ˹and 9th˺ articles of the sayd allegation hee saith hee being carpenter

23. as a foresayd well knoweth that the sayd shipp the sayd shipp the
24. King of Poland was a strong stanny and sufficient shipp at the
25. severall tymes when shee laded the Tobacco predeposed of both
26. at the Bermudas and Virginia and well caulked and fitt to carrie
27. the sayd tobaccos or any other Merchandize of like nature..."

- HCA 13/71 f.250r Case: A Busines of Examination of wittnesses on the behalfe of Thomas Allen Anthony Peniston and Company Owners of the shipp the King of Poland whereof ffrederick Johnson is Master) against John Wright Jasper White Perient Trott Thomas Tomlinson John Butts Richard Chandler and George Watermann ("Examined upon an allegation given in and admitted the Eleaventh day of June 1656 on behalfe of the sayd Thomas Allen Anthony Peniston and Company"); Deposition: William Welch of Shadwell in the parish of Stepney and County of Middlesex Mariner Shipwright aged twenty two yeares; Date: XXXX. Transcribed by Jill Wilcox

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Timber

Clapboard and wainscot

The Dantsicke sailor Jurian Maes provided detail in his testimony of the stowing of a cargo of clapboard and wainscot, which has been lade in tiers, with mats between the wood

• "21. To the third hee saith that the wood ˹namely the clapboard and wainscot were˺ laid and stowed upon the

22. said matts over the wood and then mattes very carefully laid over the said
23. pack goods againe, whereby they were sufficiently and well dennaged and
24. found against dammage, which they would undoubtedly have avoided
25. had it not bin for the said extraordinary fowle weather."

- HCA 13/71 f.51r Case: John Baker and Company owners of the shipp the ffortune (Jacob ?ast her Master) against Thomas ?Cooke; Deposition: 1. Jurian Maes of dantsicke sailor, aged ?37 yeares (Signature of ?"Jurgan ?Wanss" at end of deposition) ; Date: 06/02/1655(56). Transcribed by Colin Greenstreet

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Wheat

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Packaging

Baggs

Baskets

Barrells

Caskes

Etc.

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Packers

• See:

- HCA 13/71 f.221v Case: On the behalfe of the foresaid Meyenbergh and others touching a losse of goods in the Hare in the feild; Deposition: 6. Henry Briggs of the parish of Saint Dunstans in the East London Packer aged 35 yeeres; Date: 15/05/1656

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Stevadores

The fifty-six year old Southwark mariner Thomas Ashley was deposed about the working practices of steevadores in Cyprus, who had to deal with particularly bulky sacks of cotton woolls.

• "1. ánd further saith that fourtie foure men making workeing sixteene howers

2. in twenty foure houres daily for twelve howres ˹dayes˺ may lay
3. and steeve within that time 160 bagges, and may within the said
4. twelve dayes (winde and weather permitting) receive 50 baggs
5. more aboard and steeve them afterwards, if there be soe much
6. roome in the shipp as to lay and steeve 30 baggs more ever and
7. above 308 baggs of cotten woolls and 400 sacks of galls and
8. there being left about 30 tonnes of emptie tonnage in the said
9. shipp. All which hee knoweth having often received and steeved
10. woolls aboard at Cyprus, ˹and other places˺ and bin present at the steeveing of
11. greate quantities and assisted therein, and otherwise hee
12. cannot depose."

- HCA 13/71 f.33v Case: XXXX "Exámined upon the foresaid allegation"; Deposition: 4. Thomas Ashley of the parish of Saint Olaves in Southwarke mariner aged 56 yeeres ; Date: 06/03/1655. Transcribed by Laura Seymour

Ashley was was highly experienced in steveing, having been "at Cyprus six times or more steeving of cotton woolls." He went on to detail the burden and manning of three of the ships he had travelled on.

• "20. To the second hee saith hee hath bin at Cyprus six times or

21. more steeving of cotton woolls, cometh first in the
22. London of the burthen of 500 tonnes and upwards, and carrying
23. 550 sacks ˹of wooll˺, and upwards, besides many other goods; secondly in the
24. Mary of the burthen of 400 tonnes, and carrying 370 sacks of
25. wooll besides other goods, the third time in the
26. Imployment of the burthen of 360 tonnes. and carrying
27. 340 sacks and much other
28. goods. And hath bin often ˹both˺ there and at other places steeving of
29. Cotton wolls. And saith the London had 3 decks and 75 men
30. the Mary 3 decks and 52 men and boyes, and the Imployment 50
31. men and two decks, and that this deponent was last ˹at Cyprus˺ in
32. the yeere 1650 or 1651, and saith that Cyprus baggs are
33. of greater bulk then other baggs."

- HCA 13/71 f.33v Case: XXXX "Exámined upon the foresaid allegation" ; Deposition: 4. Thomas Ashley of the parish of Saint Olaves in Southwarke mariner aged 56 yeeres ; Date: 06/03/1655. Transcribed by Laura Seymour

The ship in dispute was the Thomas Bonadventure, and was by comparison with the London, the Mary, and the Imployment, a somewhat smaller ship, of the burden of 280 tonnes, with two, rather than three decks. Ashley estimated that a ship of this burden would require a crew of forty-four men.

Equipment set up and dismantlement took a significant amount of time, as did the making fast and waterproofing the hatches prior to the departure of a ship. Henry Hughes, a twenty-four year old rope merchant, who had travelled on the Thomas Bonadventure as its purser, testified to the requisite time to move, set up, and dissasemble steeving instruments, as well as to caulk and fit the ship at Cyprus.

• "1. To the xith article he saith that in ćarrying the sayd steeving Instruments on

2. shore, and bringing them back agayne on board to steive the sayd 37 baggs
3. two dayes were necessarily spent. and that two däyes were likewise spent in
4. caulking and fitting the sayd shipp for her voyage after the sayd 37.
5. baggs were laden; And in lesse tyme the same could not have bene done
6. as he beleiveth."

XXXX

The expert witness produced in the case was Samuel Dun, who described himself as "late cheife masters mate and steevador on board the shipp the Thomas Bonadventure".

- HCA 13/71 f.24r Case: Keats Jennings and others against ffredericke Chowne and others ; Deposition: 5. Samuel Dun(e?) of Limehouse in the County of middl mariner late cheife masters mate and steevador on board the shipp the Thomas Bonadventure. Captaine Hughes commander of the voyage in question aged 36 yeares; Date: 24/02/1655 (1656)

Samuel Dun describe in detail the building of a tier of bags, and the subsequent steeving of further bags into this perimeter wall of bags:

• "52. To the 12th. he saith that in the steeving of woolls it is the usuall Course first to

53. lay a Tier of baggs and then to steeve in as many more baggs as
54. are teired, and sometymes more. And the same course was observed
55. by this deponent, and his mates in the steeving the woolls interrate. And
56. otherwise he ćannot depose."

• "65. To the 14th. he saith that the order and method of lading wools is thus. first a

66. Tier of baggs is Layd which in a shipp of the burthen interrate may conteyne
67. about 13 baggs, and this may be done in about two houres tyme. then the
68. steeving beames are to be placed, bolted and fixed which worke will
69. ordinarily require a dayes tyme, afterward, it is proceeded to steeving
70. in doeing whereof the number of men interrate may to some dayes steive halfe
71. a dozen or more baggs, and some dayes not above three, and some tymes
72. not above one by reason of the very great difficulty of steeving the uppermost
73. sackes whereof by the violence of the worke sometymes the great ropes..."

- HCA 13/71 f.25r Case: Keats Jennings and others against ffredericke Chowne and others ; Deposition: 5. Samuel Dun(e?) of Limehouse in the County of middl mariner late cheife masters mate and steevador on board the shipp the Thomas Bonadventure. Captaine Hughes commander of the voyage in question aged 36 yeares; Date: 24/02/1655 (1656)

The Thomas Bonadventure was not in a port when the steeving of the cotton wooll took place. According to Samuel Dun it was two miles from shore, necessitating the transportation of the bags of cotton wooll from shore to the ship:

• "1. To the 3d. he saith that the sayd shipp the tyme interrate lay about two miles from the

2. shoare, and about a league from the place where the woolls were to bee taken in
3. And saith that the numbers of baggs interrate might be brought aboard in
4. ten dayes or lesse, in ćase there were roome enough aboard to dispose of them.
5. but there was not roome enough in the sayd shipp to recyve so many without
6. steeving. And otherwise he cannot answer."

- HCA 13/71 f.25r Case: Keats Jennings and others against ffredericke Chowne and others ; Deposition: 5. Samuel Dun(e?) of Limehouse in the County of middl mariner late cheife masters mate and steevador on board the shipp the Thomas Bonadventure. Captaine Hughes commander of the voyage in question aged 36 yeares; Date: 24/02/1655 (1656)

Take not weight

Galls were handled completely differently from bags of cotton wooll. They were shot loosely into the hold of the ship, rather than weighed and placed carefully in the hold. Thomas Chinn, Master of the XXXX, described the loading of galls by "take" not "weight":

• "28. To the 13th he saith that the galls as they come from Aleppo are sound, but by being

29. shott loose, or by dammage happening to them in the shipp many tymes became
30. rotten, and the sayd merchandize of galls is commonly taken in att Smirna
31. unweigh'd, this Rendent never seeing any weighed so farr as he remembreth
32. but how wolls are taken in att Ciprus he knoweth not. And he saith that when
33. a master of a shipp takes in galls without weight ˹he˺ is not bound as he ćoncey=
34. veth to deliver them by weight. And for making or not making satisfaction
35. for such weight as falls short of the entries made by the factories for such goods
36. receyved in by take and not by weight, he conceyveth that a master of a shipp
37. is not in such case lyable to make satisfaction unlesse it appeare he hath embezled
38. the same. And otherwise refering himselfe to the law in the sayd question
39. propounded he cannot depose.
40. To the 14th he saith that the baggs of galls are sübject to breake, and in such
41. cases the baggs breaking are to be mended or the galls putt in other sacks
42. by which meanes some small dammage but not to any considerable value
43. doth often happen, and saith inconveniencies ćannot allwayes be avoyded. And
44. he beleiveth that Cotton Sackes are subiect to the like. And otherwise he
45. cannot depose."

- HCA 13/71 f.30v Case: XXX; Deposition: 2. Captaine Thomas Chinn of Shadwell in the County of Middlesex Mariner aged 40; Date: 24/02/1655 (1656). Transcription: Colin Greenstreet

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Storage conditions on board ship

Certain bulk commodities could be carried in a leaky ship, but not fish, which quickly rotted if damp

• "a leakie shipp may carry tarr, deales and balkes without any dammage to them, but noe fish, for that must or ought to be put into a drie shipp"

- HCA 13/71 f.213r Case: XXXX ('Examined upon the fore said allegation0): Deposition: 2. Peter Johnson of Christian haven in Denmarke Merchant, aged 47 yeeres; Date. XX/XX/XXXX ('Same day')

• "the said fish was laden in rainy weather and received dammage in the transportation by meanes of very fowle weather and greate stormes"

- HCA 13/71 f.213v Case: XXXX ('Examined upon the fore said allegation'): Deposition: 2. Peter Johnson of Christian haven in Denmarke Merchant, aged 47 yeeres; Date. XX/XX/XXXX ('Same day')

Leakages inevitably took place onboard ship

Thirty year old Ratcliff Mariner John Hoppell remembered seeing and smelling brandy wine and vinegar when he was working the pumps on the Willing Mynde, and gave this as evidence of a leaking cargo whilst at sea.

• "28. To the 3 hee saith that some of the ladeing of the sayd shipp is dammified

29. and some wasted, for hee remembreth there came up brandy wine and alsoe
30. viniger at the pump when shee was pumped at sea which was plainely
31. perceived by this deponent and others by the smell thereof which hee beleeveth
32. and saith bee there was alsoe some damage happened to the salt on
33. board her but the quantitie or value of the sayd damage or losses her knoweth
34. not and th the rest of the interrogatorie hee answereth negatively for that
35. hee knoweth the paper on board the sayd shipp was all stowed before
36. and abaft the salt and not any of it upon it./"

- HCA 13/71 f.217v Case: Robert Pearson partowner and Master, and Company part Owners of the shipp Willing Mynde against Thomas Cullen Tho: Richardson Andrew Kirby and others touching damage of goods supposed to be susteyned in the sayd shipp in their transportation from Rochell in ffrance to London ("Examined on the sayd allegation"; Deposition: 2. John Hoppell of Ratcliff Mariner aged thirty yeares or thereabouts ; Date: XX/XX/XXXX. Transcribed by Jill Wilcox.

Financial responsibility of crew members for damage due to poor lading of goods on a ship

John Vincent deposed in the same case as John Hoppell, and immediately after him. Vincent was also a mariner from Ratcliff, though five years younger than Hoppell. Vincent accepted that crew members were financially responsible for damage to goods, should they have been negligent in the loading and stowing of goods.

• "43. To the first hee saith if the goods bee adiudged to be dammified by

44. default of goods stowage hee beleveeth hee ought to board his share
45. the of the damage and saith further saving his foregoeing depostion hee
46. cannot more fully answere and hee saith/"

- HCA 13/71 f.218v Case: Robert Pearson partowner and Master, and Company part Owners of the shipp Willing Mynde against Thomas Cullen Tho: Richardson Andrew Kirby and others touching damage of goods supposed to be susteyned in the sayd shipp in their transportation from Rochell in ffrance to London ("Examined on the sayd allegation"; Deposition: 3. John Vincent of Ratcliff Mariner aged twenty five yeares ; Date: XX/XX/XXXX. Transcribed by Liam Hayden.

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Use of hoists

Horses hoisted from the XXXX at Barbados

The transportation of horses to Barbados is mentioned in several unrelated cases in HCA 13/71.

In the case of the XXX, captained by John Tolty, twenty six horses and geldings, together with two mares, were shipped from London to Barbados. Two horses or geldings died in the passage, and the remainder arrived safely at Barbados.

The ship's copper, thirty year old John Watson, described the hoisting of the horses from the ship into a boat so that the animals could be carried to land.

• "15. and saith the sayd Chamberlaine came on board the sayd shipp at

16. the Barbadoes after severall horses had bin delivered to other persons,
17. and openly upon the deck
18. in hearing of this deponent and of William Huggerey the Masters mate
19. and others of the shipps company sayd that if his horses were not
20. that night put on shoare hee would protest against the Master and
21. shipp, or words to that effect, whereupon hee saith that a mare
22. and three or fower horses or gueldings (which were all that then
23. remayned on board (undelivered) were that evening hoysted out
24. out of the shipp into a boate to bee carried on shoare, this deponent
25. helpeing to hoiste them into the boate,..."

- HCA 13/71 f.352r Case: Huggerey and others against Totty ("Examined upon the sayd allegation"); Deposition: 2. John Watson of the parish of Saint Buttolphes Algate Cooper aged thirty fower; Date: 21/08/1656 ("same day"). Transcribed by Jill Wilcox

Barrell of skins hoisted from the Johns Adventure at the Port of London

A hoist was used at the port of London to unlade a barrel of beaver, otter and mink skins which had been sent in the Johns Adventure from the port of Boston.

• "34. To the 5:th hee saith, That the said barrill of goods Laden marked and numbred

35. as aforesaid arrived and came in the said shipp Johns adventure in safety
36. to this Port of London, which hee knoweth being Masters mate in and
37. aboard the said shipp the voiage aforesaid, and saw the same hoisted out
38. of the said shipp into a Lighter in the said Port of London."

- HCA 13/71 f.46r Case: XXXX; Deposition: 4. Richard Browne of the parish of Saint Olave in the County of Surrey Mariner aged 25; Date: XXXX. Transcribed by Colin Greenstreet

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Water damage

Materials handling on board ship was of as much importance as at the wharf or keyside, or in port.

It was the responsibility of the ship's carpenter and his mate to caulke the cargo hatches to ensure they were water tight, and to preserve the ship's lading from water damage.

The purser of the George Bonadventure alleged that Christian Bickley (his ship's carpenter) and Bickley's mate had been negligent, and that a cargo of corn bound for Zant has consequently been damaged by the ingress of water.

• "25. To the second third and fowerth articles of the sayd allegation

26. hee saith that hee being Purser as a foresayd knoweth
27. the sayd shipp the George Bonadventure having taken in at
28. London (among other ladeing) seaven hundred quarters of wheate
29. did arrive with
30. the same on board her the voyage in question
31. at Zant upon or about the three and twentieth day of Aprill 1655 and
32. was there to deliver the same And saith the sayd Corne of this
33. deponents sight and knowledge was in the transportation to Zant much
34. damnified by water taken in through the hatches of the sayd
35. shipp which was occasioned by the negligence of the Carpenter
36. of the sayd shipp Christian Bickley and his Mate their negligence
37. to calke and keepe the sayd hatches tight, which they omitted to
38. doe though this deponent (observing the sayd hatches to bee faulty
39. and want calkeing) did seuerall tymes speake to them to amend
40. the same..."

- HCA 13/71 f.266v Case: Beniamin dimmock John Godden Christopher Knecke Richard Brooke and henry denbe against George ffarington; Deposition: 1. Robert Thompson the parish of Saint Martin in the Vintrey London Cittizen and Merchantaylor of London late Purser of the shipp the George Bonadventure of London aged forty sixe yeares; Date: 02/07/1656. Transcribed by XXXX

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Wharfinger

Henry Harling Wharfinger of Ralphs key London, aged 27 yeares

- HCA 13/71 f.300v Case: On the behalf of the XXXX; Deposition: Henry Harling Wharfinger of Ralphs key London, aged 27 yeares; Date: 14/07/1656