Samuell Birdsey
| Title | Firstname | Lastname |
|---|---|---|
| Samuel | Birdsey | |
 Samuell Birdseiy signature (1654), HCA 13/70 f.33r | ||
 John Birdsey, master of Samuell Birdsey, signature (1652), HCA 13/124 f.185v | ||
| Signature | ||
| Name variants | ||
| Samuell Birdsey Samuell Birdseiy (signature, 1654) | ||
| Person | Occupation | Citizen | Birth year | Birth place | Res parish | Res town | Res county |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Samuell Birdsey | Fishmonger | Citizen | 1632 | Unknown | Wapping Wall |
| Volume | Date | Deponent | Deposition start |
|---|---|---|---|
| HCA 13/70 | Dec 5 1654 | Samuell Birdsey | HCA 13/70 f.32v Annotate |
Other information
Samuell Birdsey was an apprentice of John Birdsey, to whom he was presumably related. Samuell describes John Birdsey as a ship chandler, with a shop on Wapping Wall.[1] Samuell Birdsey was deposed in the High Court of Admiralty in 1654 in the case of Beale and Company against the shipp Expectation and Birdsey and others. In his deposition he confirmed that goods were delivered in August 1648 from the shop to the ship the Expectation, which was then lying near Ratcliffe Cross. He also stated that Captain John Ramsey, the ship's master, had acknowledged that the ship was indebted to the amount of £106-16-00 when the accounts were drawn up at Birdsey's house.[2]
A further deponent in the same case, a twenty-five year old fishmonger, Josias Harrison of the parish of Saint Michael Crooked Lane, London, stated that Captain John Ramsey had also received goods from the shop of John Cooke, a fishmonger at the sign of the three Pigeons in Thames Street. Joasias was an apprentice of Cooke. The value of the fish delivered came to £30-00-10, including a charge of eight shillings and ten pence "for matts and porters and other charges about the conveying of the said provisions aboard the said shipp Expectation", and consisted of half a hundred North Sea cod, three hundred dried new North Sea cod, and five and a half hundred stockfish.[3]
Both John Birdsey and John Cooke had made personal answers to the allegation brought by Edward Beale and Company, together with their co-defendants William Startute, George ?CXXXX, William Hardinge, Thomas Williams, Robert Smith and William Greene. The answers had been made on May 28 1652 more than two years prior to the depositions of their apprentices, and referred to the supplies all men had delivered to the ship in 1648. Their answers make clear that Captain Ramsey had been unable to pay his suppliers prior to departing London for the Straights, and had made pro forma bills of sale on portions of his ship to provide better security. John Cooke had received a bill for the sale of one thirty second of Ramsey's ship against a debt of approximately £30. Birdsey had received no such security.[4] However, all the suppliers had received the personal bond of Ramsey, who had undertaken to repay not only their debts, but the cost of them assuring Ramsey's ship against its potential loss, the return of the ship being essential for the satisfaction of their debts. Ramsey had died within two months of his departure, and the suppliers had remained unsatisfied.[5]
