Witnesses in Court, 1657-1658

Posted on May 9, 2013 by ColinGreenstreet

Witnesses deposed in the English Admiralty Court vary greatly in age, occupation and statehood. The MarineLives annotation project, which kicks off in July, will explore and annotate the lives of roughly two hundred such men and women from the years 1657 and 1658 (HCA 13/72).

The Court’s records provide the testimony of common seamen, shipwrights, and brewers’ clerks, as well as the words of merchants and ship captains. They document litigation by seamens’ widows to recover their deceased husband’s wages, and the commercial battles of women continuing their husband’s marine supply businesses, long after their husband’s deaths.

The records

Take a look at some of the witness statements by clicking on the links below.

You can search the records for topics of interest using the search box in the top right hand corner of every Annotate HCA 13/72 wiki page.

Each wiki page provides a transcription, together with the opportunity to add notes on people, places, ships, materials and miscellaneous, and to suggest relevant primary and secondary sources.

A high definition digital image of the original manuscript page can be compared with the latest version of the transcription by accessing our transcription software from the wiki page.

If you like what you see, and wish to join us in the collective annotation of these records, please contact us, and we will provide you with a username and password.

These will enable you to add your own annotations and to share research tips with others.

Extract: Alphabetical index of deponents in the High Court of Admiralty, 1656-58

A

Haniball Allen of London Merchant aged thirty two yeares
Manoel Alverez of the New Market neere Covent Garden Steward of the Portugal Ambassadour, aged 36 yeares

B

John Barnett of Ratcliff in the parish of Stepney and County of Middlesex Mariner Steward of the shipp Elizabeth and Mary aged sixtie yeares
Thomas Barnes of Ratcliff Mariner aged twenty six yeares
Adrian Bastianson of Schernmer Horne neere Amsterdam Mariner one of the company of the said shipp Morning Starr aged 25 yeares
Leonard Bates of the parish of Saint Michael Cornehill London Scrivener, aged 34 yeares
Marke Bennett of Greenwich in the County of Kent Mariner, aged about 25 yeares
Henry Berry of Redriff in the County of Surrey Shipwright, aged 28 yeeres
Richard Beswick of Hull mariner, aged 27 yeares
Jonathan Bigland of Redriff Shipwright, aged 28 yeares
Charles Bradick Master of the Maidstone frigot aged 53 yeeres
Thomas Browning of Wapping Mariner, aged 35 yeares
John Bryson of the parish of Saint Katherines Coleman in ffanchurch streete London Merchant aged 24 yeeres
Edward Buckley of the parish of Saint Olave in Southwarke Mariner aged twenty nyne yeares
John Bushell of the parish of Saint Andrew Undershaft London Merchant aged 39. yeares

C

Henry Carter servant and Apprentice to Richard Brian of the parish of Saint Mary at hill London Wine Cooper aged 20 yeares
Samuell Church of Writtle in Essex Mariner aged twenty sixe yeares
ffrederick Claeson of Amsterdam mariner, boatswaine of the said shipp the Morning starr aged 30 yeeres
Abraham Clarke of Debtford in Kent shipwright Carpenter of the shipp Unitie the voyage in question aged twenty five yeare
Thomas Clarke of Redriff in the County of Surrie Mariner, aged 42 yeeres
John Cobb of Rederiffe in the County of Surry Mate in the shipp the Gilbert
Thomas Constant of the parish of Saint Nicholas in the Citty of Bristoll Mariner, aged about 25 yeares
John Cooke of the parish of White Chappell London Merchant, aged 36 yeeres
Stephen Cranbrooke of Deale in the County of Kent Mariner aged 36 yeares

D

John Daniel of the citie of London Notary publique aged fourtie yeeres
Anthony Deane of Greenwich Shipwright aged 25 yeeres
Israel Dennis of Bristol Mariner late masters mate of the shipp the Recovery of Bristoll, aged 33 yeeres
Bertrand diX Dibarbore of London Merchant aged nine and twenty yeares
Bertrand dibarbore of London Merchant aged 29 yeeres
Bertrand Dibarbone of London Merchant aged nine and twenty yeares
Francis Dickinson of Horsedowne in the parish of Saint Olaves Southwarke Mariner aged 25 yeares

E

Daniel Edwards of London Merchant, aged 42 yeeres

F

John ffenner of the parish of White Chappell Turner aged 30 yeeres
Nicholas de Ferrari of London Merchant aged 56. yeares
Richard fford of London Marchant aged 43 yeeres

G

George Gosyde of Amsterdam Mariner, aged 30 yeares
Thomas Gowen of Disert in Scotland Mariner aged thirty yeares
Thomas Grant of London Mariner aged fifty yeares
Thomas Gray of Wapping Boat=swaine of the shipp the Golden ffleece, being produced by Captaine Seaman Captaine of the said Golden ffleece,

H

Haie Haies of Marquera in ffreezland Mariner, Schipper of the shipp the Sampson of London, aged 26 yeares
Thomas Hanson of the same Mariner, Stiersman of the same vessell aged 24 yeares or thereabouts
John Harris of Rie in the County of Sussex Mariner, aged 60 yeeres
John Harris of Wapping in the County of Middlesex mariner late Boatswaine of the Christopher the voyage in question aged thirty one yeares
William Harris servant of Mr Monger Water Bayliff of the citie of London, aged 48 yeeres
Robert Hartley of Bright Hamson in the County of Sussex Mariner, aged 31 yeares
Samuell Haughton of the parish of Allhallowes Lombarde streete London Scriverner. aged twenty one yeares
Paul Heyn of Christiansand in Norway Mariner Master of the shipp called the Little Lyon now of London, aged 43 yeares
Thomas Hicks of London ffishmonger, aged 39 yeeres
John Humphreys of Bright Hampson in the County of Sussex Mariner, aged 27 yeares
John Hunt of Colchester, Mariner, a foremast man of the Ketch the Bachelor, aged 21: yeeres
Richard Hussy of Lymehouse in the parish of Stepney Mariner late Master of the Saint Lucar Marchant aged sixty yeares
Robert Hyde of Rederith in the County of Surry Marriner aged 23 yeeres

I

Esiah Isbell now of Wapping but late of Kerrey in Ireland Mariner aged 30 yeares
Frederick Ixem of London Notary publique

J

John Johnson of Madenblick in holland Mariner aged 24 yeares
Thomas Johnson of Rotterdam Mariner, aged 40 yeeres
Robert Jones of the parish of Saint Mary Maldalen in Surry Marriner, Master of the ship Providence aged 40 yeeres

K

Richard Keate of the parish of Saint Mary Overy in Southwarke Mariner aged twenty one yeares
Henry Kyne of Wapping in the parishe of Stepney and County of Middlesex Mariner aged nynteene yeares

L

William Lee of London Merchant aged 28 yeeres
Luke Lilly now of the parish of Saint Austin by Pauls London gentleman late Passenger in the shipp the Gilbert from the Barbados (whereof the sayd William Croford was Master)
Abraham da Lima of London Merchant servant of the producent Isaac da Andrada Andrada, aged 24 yeeres
Nicholas Lorson of Timsborough in Norway Marchant aged 31 yeeres

M

Edward Makkettuer of Wapping in the parish of Stepney Lighterman aged fifty three yeares
Henry Man of Enchusen in holland Mariner Carpenter mate of the Negro the voyage in question aged thirty one yeares
Baldwin Mathewes of Middleborowe Merchant aged 37 yeares
John Maxfeild of the parish of Saint Edmunds the Kinge and Martyr in Lombard Streete London Scrivener aged twenty seaven yeares
Richard Megin of Ratcliff in the parish of Stepney Mariner aged thirty two yeares
Antonio Martinis da Mesa of Sevile Merchant aged thirtie two
Thomas Middleton of Poplar in the parish of Stepney and county of Middlesex Esquire aged 48 yeeres
John Moore of the parish of Saint Mary Magdalen Bermondsea Mariner, aged 32 yeares
Thomas Morgan of Rederiff in the County of Surrey Mariner Boatswaine of the sayd Shipp the Negro the voyage in question aged thirty fower yeares
Richard Morris late of the Barbadoes and now of London Chirurgion aged thirty eight
Henry Mudde of Wapping in the parish of Stepney and County of Middlesex Mariner Masters Mate of the Welcombe aged twenty two yeares
Captaine Christofer Myngs commander of the Marston Moore frigot in the immediate service of this Commonwealth, aged 32 yeeres

N

Thomas Norton of London Packer, aged 37 yeares
James Nuthall of the precinct of Saint Katherine neere the Tower of London gentleman aged thirty two yeares

O

John Orton of Wapping Wall, Cooke, aged fourtie two yeares

P

Mathew Paine of Wapping in the County of Middlesex Mariner, late master of the shipp the Martin ffrigot of Waterford, aged 29 yeeres
Francis Pardini of London Merchant aged 36. yeares
John Peterson of Amsterdám Marriner Stiersman of the shipp the Morning Starr, aged 27 yeeres
John Peterson of the citie of Bristoll Merchant aged 43 yeares
Edward Phillips of Debtford Sailer, one of the Company of the Maidstone frigot in the immediate service of this Commonwealth, aged 24 yeeres
Hugh Powell of Dukes Place London Merchant aged 49 yeares
George Prince of London Merchant Mariner, aged 30 yeeres
Peter Proby
John Pryenaer of Ostend Mariner aged 44 yeares
Charles Pullen of East Cowes in the Ile of Wight Marriner, aged 34 yeeres

Q

R

Robert Richbell of Southampton Merchant aged fifty yeeres
William Ricks of Shadwell in the parish of Stepney aged about 40ty yeeres
Francis Robinson of the parish of Saint Buttolph without Bishopsgate London Merchant, aged 36 yeares
Richard Roch of the parish of Saint Trinitie in the Minories London citizen and Merchant tailor of London, aged 60 yeeres
Richard Rudstone of Colchester in the County of Essex Mariner Master of the ship Bachelor aged 30 yeeres
Edward Ryder of Shadwell in the parish if Stepney and County of Middlesex Long Cutler aged thirty one yeares

S

Nicholas Saunders of Truroe in Cornewall Merchant, aged 28 yeeres
Rowland Serchfeild of London Merchant
Peter Silvester of London Merchant, aged 27 yeeres
Thomas Sinnet of the parish of Saint Buttolphs Algate Mariner, aged 40 yeares
Peter Smith of BrightHampton in the County of Sussex Sailor, aged 23 yeeres
George Steward now of Shadwell but late of Invernesse in Scotland Mariner and Carpenter of the Elizabeth and Mary
Cuthbert Stone of Powderam neere Exeter in the County of devon Mariner Gunner of the Elizabeth and Mary aged thirty eight yeares

T

Thomas Thompson of Wapping Mariner, aged 35 yeeres
Albert Tompson of Delft haven mariner, aged 23 yeeres

U

William Venus of the parish of Saint Mary Magdalen Bermondsea Shipwright, aged 42 yeeres
Samuel Vernon of the same citite Merchant aged 44 yeeres

W

George Webber of London Merchant, áged 29 yeeres
John Weekes of the same citie servant of Laurence Martel of the citie afore said Merchant aged twenty yeeres
George Whillers of Lisbone Merchant, aged about 28 yeeres
George Whitlers of Lisbone Merchant aged 28 yeeres
Richard Wilde of London merchant, aged 19 yeeres
George Wilkinson of Ipswich in Suffolk Marriner late fforemast man of the said ship King David aged 18 yeeres
Claes Williams of Amsterdam master of the said shipp Morningstarr, aged 38 yeares
Claes Williams of Amsterdám mariner, aged 38 yeeres
John Wills of Ratcliff in the parish of Stepney and County of Middlesex Mariner Captaine of the Successe of London aged fifty two yeares
Henry Wilson of Greenwich labourer, aged 40 yeeres
Captaine Isaac Woodgreene of Wapping Mariner aged 40 yeares
Rogert Worthley of XXell in Norfolke Mariner Gunners mate of the Negro the voyage in question aged forty five yeares

X

Y

Z

Adding value to primary records

Posted on May 7, 2013 by ColinGreenstreet

We recently announced a new proof of concept to be launched this July.

Our goal is collaboratively to annotate Admiralty Court records from the years 1657 and 1658 (HCA 13/72).

See ‘Annotating Marine Lives‘, The Shipping News, May 1st 2013.

Early volunteer responders to our announcement include Mathew Barrett, a Sheffield lawyer with an undergraduate degree in history (Hertford College, Oxford, 2010), and David Pashley, one of our existing transcribers, who is a retired NHS administrator and Cambridge classicist. They are now helping organise the launch of the annotation project, and look forward to hearing from further potential volunteers.

Working on the MarineLives annotation project this summer would be a great way for you to hone your research techniques, whether for a term paper or a dissertation for your BA or MA degree. Or simply for the fun of learning and developing new skills.

If you would like to learn more, please contact us using our contact form. If you know someone who might be interested, please forward this blog link.

Today’s Shipping News article provides a few examples of different types of annotation – but your imagination and sleuthing within the data will no doubt yield many other ways to comment on, and link, the Admiralty Court records.

Footnotes

Linking records: The Constant Ruth

Short profiles

- People: Beniamine Morewood, merchant

- Places: Smyrna

- Materials: Glossary – Coales to Coniak wines

Longer profile: Sir George Smith, merchant

Suggested primary sources: Sir George Smith, merchant

Suggested secondary sources: Admiralty Court of England

Annotating Marine Lives

Posted on May 1, 2013 by ColinGreenstreet

We are celebrating an important milestone this week – the completion of our transcription of one volume of High Court of Admiralty records for the years 1655-1656 (HCA 13/71). That’s 1358 pages and roughly 750,000 words, transcribed by a team of twenty volunteers. Editing is well under way, and we plan to have a fully edited online edition freely available by this autumn. together with a thematic commentary.

New Proof of Concept: Annotation

We are also announcing a new proof of concept to be run this summer, leading, we hope, to a successful academic/public funding application by the end of this year.

The goal of this proof of concept is to explore the collaborative annotation of Admiralty Court records, using simple wiki technology.

Over the last eight months we have tested the use of a project wiki to support our volunteer transcribers and to share information between transcribers. We wish now to apply the same technology and approach to collaborative annotation.

We will use what we learn this summer to shape the user requirements and technology specification for the next stage of the MarineLives annotation project.

We are running the trial using roughly 300 records from a second volume of Admiralty Court records (HCA 13/72, covering 1657-1658). We have already transcribed and edited these records, and are now loading them onto the trial wiki.

Our trial is intended to be exactly that – a chance to experiment – we want to see the type of primary and secondary sources our volunteers use to annotate these records, and to see how they approach the material and collaborate together to produce new knowledge.

We will provide electronic access to further transcriptions of HCA documents, including the Act Books for the late 1650s, and samples of instance papers from the same period. But is up to our volunteers to explore the records and see what they can discover, link, and think worth annotating.

Contact us

Please contact us if you would like to discuss working with us on this proof of concept this July and August.

We are interested in talking to individual volunteers (academics, teachers, students at universities and schools, family historians, and pure enthusiasts)

And to academic institutions which may wish to participate in our planned academic/public funding application.

Ideally, we would collaborate with two institutions, or two academic groups at one institution, with our partners contributing technical knowledge in terms of digital platforms and annotation software as well as Early Modern content expertise.

We would be delighted to work with one or two post-doctoral academics with a digital and/or Early Modern background and would aim through our funding application to provide some funding for a year’s participation in the project on a part-time basis.

Participating in the MarineLives annotation project should provide academic and other publication opportunities, both around content and methodology, and is one specific aim for the project.

The wiki

If you would like to participate in our proof of concept this summer tell us, and we will issue you with a username and password.

Tools for the job

Your user name and password will also give you access to our companion wiki, MarineLives-Tools.

Resources include:

- A guide to the High Court of Admiralty

- Hearth tax and inventory look up tables

- Glossaries covering Early Modern geography, trade goods, and marine terms.

MarineLives Project Background

The MarineLives project is co-directed by Colin Greenstreet and Jill Wilcox. Colin is a former pharmaceutical executive and entrepreneur, and Jill is an experienced teacher and head of department. They divide up roles fairly informally, with Colin acting as chief editor and Jill organising operations and training.

The project has its genesis in a hackathon at the National Archives in early 2012, organised by Jo Pugh, and attended by Colin Greenstreet.

The project is run by a leadership team consisting of Colin, Jill and a number of team facilitators – Philip Hnakovitch (Penn State), William Tullet (Kings College, London), and Alex Jackson (graduate of Sheffield University). It benefits from the advice of a number of academics, including Dr Charlene Eska (Virginia Tech) and Dr Richard Blakemore (Exeter). Giovanni Colavizza (University Ca’ Foscari of Venice) designed and implemented the MarineLives transcription platform, which makes use of SCRIPTO, an open source software programme developed by George Mason University, Virginia.

Most importantly the MarineLives project depends on the enthusiasm, skills and creativity of its volunteers.

Associates, facilitators and advisors who have contributed to the now completed transcription of HCA 13/71 and more generally to the project are:

Deborah Ashby (graduate, Keele)

Rachel Bates (masters graduate, Portsmouth)

Katie Broke (year 13 student, Westminster School)

Dr Catherine Buchanan (teacher, Westminster School)

Elio Calcagno (Nottingham)

Giovanni Colavizza (University Ca’ Foscari of Venice)

Vikki Corker (National Archives, Kew)

Dr Stuart Dunn (King’s College, London)

Dr Charlene Eska (Virginia Tech)

Dr Janet Few (community historian)

Jamie LeAnne Hager Goodall (Ohio State)

Guy Grannum (National Archives, Kew)

Colin Greenstreet (founder of MarineLives)

Karen Gunnell (archivist)

Dr Liam Haydon (Manchester)

Philip Hnatkovich (Penn State)

Alex Jackson (masters graduate, University of Sheffield; museum educationalist)

William Kellett (GAP year student, prior to study at Cambridge)

Gordon O’Sullivan (masters graduate, Trinity College, Dublin; professional project manager)

David Pashley (retired NHS administrator and classicist)

Dr Cathryn Pearce (maritime historian)

Jo Pugh (National Archives, Kew)

Patrizia Rebulla (masters graduate, Trinity College, Dublin; music business consultant)

Daniel Richards (year 13 student, London Oratory)

Margaret Schotte (Princeton)

Laura Seymour (Birkbeck)

Ida Sjoberg (year 13 student, Westminster School)

Alexis Harasemovitch Truax (University of Texas, Austin)

William Tullett (King’s College, London)

Jill Wilcox (teacher and head of department)

Progress review two

Posted on January 21, 2013 by ColinGreenstreet

MarineLives is an innovative academic project for the collaborative transcription, linkage and enrichment of primary manuscripts, which were originated in the High Court of Admiralty, London, 1650-1669. The end product will be a publicly and freely available online academic edition of the 1656-1657 volume (HCA 13/71).

TRANSCRIPTION AND EDITING

Our volunteer transcribers are back at work after the Christmas break, and we are celebrating the transcription of one thousand pages since the start of the project. That’s around five hundred and fifty thousand words in four and a half months, one third of which have now been edited. We are on track to complete the transcription and text editing of HCA 13/71 by the end of March this year.

A huge thank you to all our volunteer transcribers, who committed to the fourteen weeks of Phase One of the project, which finished on December 14th. In alphabetical order our transcribing associates have been Deborah Ashby, Rachel Bates, Katie Broke, Elio Calcagno, Dr Janet Few, Jamie LeAnne Hager Goodall, Karen Gunnell, Dr Liam Haydon, William Kellett, John Miller, David Pashley, Dr Cathryn Pearce, Andrew Richens, Daniel Richards, Laura Seymour, Ida Sjoberg, and Alexis Harasemovitch Truax.

Likewise in alphabetical order, our transcription team facilitators have been Colin Greenstreet, Philip Hnatkovich, Alex Jackson, William Tullett and Jill Wilcox.

Giovanni Colavizza and Patrizia Rebulla have led our semantic markup efforts, with Giovanni creating the technical platform used by the transcribing teams, based upon the open source software package SCRIPTO. Gordon O’Sullivan project managed the establishment of our PhD Forum.

Our project advisors have been Dr Richard Blakemore (Exeter), Dr Catherine Buchanan (Westminster School), Dr Stuart Dunn (King’s College London), Dr Charlene Eska (Virginia Tech), Margaret Schotte (PhD Candidate, Princeton), Jo Pugh (National Archives), and Vikki Corker (National Archives).

We must be doing something right, since half of our team have revolunteered to continue transcribing till the end of March and to finish the volume.

Since Christmas we have reduced our transcription teams from five to two in number.

These are led by two of our team facilitators, William Tullett, a masters student at King’s College, London, and Alex Jackson, a recent masters graduate from the University of Sheffield.

Working with William and Alex are Dr Janet Few, Karen Gunnell, Jamie LeAnne Hager, Dr Liam Haydon, Philip Hnatkovich, Dr Cathryn Pearce, David Pashley, and Laura Seymour.

We are down to the tougher pages, written by two High Court of Admiralty clerks who would have benefited from advanced handwriting lessons. If you are an experienced and enthusiastic transcriber who likes challenging texts, you would be very welcome to join us for these last two and a half months of transcription. You can get in touch with our transcription teams using this contact form.

PHD FORUM

Two successful online PhD forum sessions took place in January – the first on geography, trade, commerce and law, convened by Philip Hnatkovich (Penn State) and Dr Richard Blakemore (Exeter); the second on material culture and language, convened by Dr Liam Haydon (Manchester) and Laura Seymour (Birkbeck College, London).

Participating in the two sessions, in addition to the convenors, were Dr Charlene Eska (Virginia Tech), Colin Greenstreet (MarineLives project leader), Jamie LeAnne Hager Goodall (Ohio State), Sue Jones (Birkbeck College, London), Katherine Parker (Pittsburgh), Dr Cathryn Pearce (Greenwich Maritime Institute), (Margaret Schotte (Princeton), Steven Schrum (Washington University, Saint Louis), and Royline Williams-Fontenelle (Oklahoma).

We plan to hold further online forum sessions and are open to new members, both PhD candidates and early career researchers. You can get in touch with our PhD Forum convenors using this contact form.

PHASE TWO AND CALL FOR PARTNERS

Our leadership team is working with our project advisors and our PhD Forum members to develop our goals, project plan and financing for Phase Two of the MarineLives project.

We have identified four potential modules for Phase Two, starting between June and October 2013.

Possible Phase Two Modules

(1) Module: Semantic markup of transcribed text of HCA 13/71

Our aspiration is to develop a TEI-compliant semantically marked up text for HCA 13/71 which will enable us to perform sophisticated searches, and to display data directly as text, and indirectly accessible through a GIS supported environment. We know broadly what we want to do, and have commenced semantic coding, but we need to partner with a university department with strong TEI expertise to ensure we have a robust conceptual plan, and that this module is successfully delivered. We believe that this module could form the basis for a small scale academic grant application.

(2) Module: GIS enablement of HCA 13/71

We wish to display HCA 13/71 text and data in a GIS-enabled environment. This has been mentioned in a recent blog posting, Mapping Marine Lives.

We have taken a look at existing software, and have thought about conceptual frameworks, but we are not GIS experts, and would benefit greatly from partnering with an institution with GIS interests and expertise.

We are currently working with our newly formed PhD Forum to develop a more detailed set of user requirements for GIS capability.

(3) Module: Linkage and annotation

We are interested in linking the data in HCA 13/71 to other primary and secondary sources, both digitally and non-digitally. We have started this process, but are now exploring how we might do this more systematically, both by theme and by source type. We are also exploring possible annotation software which we might integrate into our digital edition on our planned production server. There is the potential to develop a module around this activity, involving both a technical partner and one or more content partners.

(4) Module: Integration of HCA 13/71 digital edition with innovative search engines

We have started discussions with the Discovery search engine team at the National Archives about the potential to integrate our future production server and its associated data and software with the new Discovery search engine.

We are also interested in integrating our metadata into federated and other search engines.

We have a number of innovative ideas about historical search and linkage, and would welcome contact with academics and institutions who share our ambitious vision for search and linkage of primary documents and archival metadata. You can contact us to discuss search and linkage using the following contact form.

GRANT APPLICATIONS

Fingers crossed for MarineLives editorial advisor Dr Charlene Eska (Virginia Tech), who has submitted a grant application to the National Endowment for the Humanities, Washington D.C.

Dr Eska plans, if successful, to employ a PhD candidate to work on textual and semantic editing connected to the MarineLives project.

PUBLISHING PROJECTS

We are interested in hearing from academic publishers who take in an integrative approach to seventeenth century marine and social history.

Potential publication projects include a guide to the High Court of Admiralty, in print and electronic formats, linked to a production server supporting the MarineLives project.

You can get in touch with our publication coordinator using this contact form.

A penny for your thoughts

Posted on January 9, 2013 by ColinGreenstreet

The first online session of the MarineLives PhD forum takes place today. Philip Hnatkovich (Penn State) will be leading the discussion of geography and trade. Richard Blakemore (Exeter) will be leading the discussion of commerce and law.

Marine Lives PhD forum members study and teach at the universities or colleges of Birkbeck, London; Cambridge; Exeter; Greenwich Maritime Institute; Manchester; Ohio State; Oxford; Oklahoma; Pennsylvania State; Pittsburgh; Princeton; Queen Marys, London; Washington, St Louis.

We are taking the admiralty court volume HCA 13/71 as our starting point, and will be exploring its potential, and that of admiralty court records more generally, to assist researchers and readers in deepening their understanding of these topics.

PhD candidates and early career researchers who wish to discuss joining our established PhD forum should contact us using our contact form.

The Shipping News blog is the project’s principal means of communicating with a wider audience, and we would like some direction from you, our readers. We are developing synthesised and annotated material on a range of themes, some of which we have already shared with you in this blog. We would like to know which topics interest you so that we can prioritise our blog publication plans.

Below is a list of themes on which we are working, all of which could form the basis of a blog article. Please let us know which of these themes interest you and which you would like to see in print, using our contact form.

We are also exploring the mapping of data from HCA 13/71 and would welcome your suggestions as to data you would like to see mapped. Contact us using our contact form telling us the data you would like to see mapped and we will do our best to turn it into a Google Map, providing access to relevant depositions and cases within HCA 13/71 which make reference to the data. See our experimental map of some of our French data contained within HCA 13/71. If your are a GIS expert and would like to work with us to create some powerful functionality, we would love to hear from you.

If you would like to participate in the synthesise and annotation of any of these themes, we would be delighted to have you join our annotation team, which we are in the process of forming for Phase Two of the MarineLives project

WHICH BLOG THEMES DO YOU WANT TO READ ABOUT?

Admiralty and marine related commercial law

Bound for Barbary

Brest men of war

Credit

Currants and raisins trade

Customs and excise

Discipline

Dover

Dunkirk men of war

English coastal trading

Factors and agents

Female involvement in marine activities

Fish

French merchants

High Court of Admiralty process

Injury and death

Interpretation

Language

Literacy

London taverns

Market conditions

Masquerade

Merchant accounts

Metals trade

Oranges and lemons trade

Ostend men of war

Privateering and piracy

Ports

Portuguese merchants in London

Swedish and Norwegian merchants

Thames estuary

Thames shipyards in the 1650s

The Exchange in the City of London

Timber trade

Violence

Wine trade

TELL US WHAT MAPS WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE

The MarineLives project team is exploring the use of maps to display data from the Admiralty Court. We would like to hear from you our readers as to what categories of data you would like to see mapped.

Below is an example of what can be produced using some (though not all) of the French related merchant and mariner data in HCA 13/7111.

View larger map

Contact us using our contact form and we will produce a bespoke map for you (and our readership) in Google Map and publish it on the Shipping News blog.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

(1) The Coast of Barbary & the Maroc to Quibriche Caravan Route, Manesson, A. (1719), sourced from Internet Archive

(2) Stettin, Hollandische Merkur (Haerlem, 1660), sourced from Internet Archive

(3) Tower Street , Thames Street and the Legal Quays, Roque, 1746, sourced from Wikimedia commons

ABOUT US

The MarineLives project is run by volunteers. New associates, facilitators and advisors are most welcome. If you would like to learn more about the project and wish to explore how you might contribute to making the Admiralty Court records available to a wider academic and general public please contact us now, using our contact form. You can also follow us on Twitter and on Facebook.

Since the start of the project in September 2012, the project team has transcribed 980 pages containing approximately 540,000 words of HCA 13/71 (1656-1657). The original manuscript volume is held at the National Archives in Kew. We expect to complete transcription and editing of the entire volume by the end of March 2013.

The transcriptions referenced in our Shipping News blog are work in progress. We encourage our readers to compare the transcriptions with the digital images of the transcribed pages. If you see an error, or can fill in blanks in our transcriptions, we would be delighted to hear from you and we will incorporate your improvements.

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