A previously unknown shipwreck of the 17th century, ‘by extremity of stormes and crossewindes driven uppon the Rockes neere the Lizard uppon the coast of Cornwall’, has been revealed through the work of the Marinelives project, an effort to transcribe High Court of Admiralty (HCA) manuscripts of 1627-77 held in the National Archives at Kew. The following transcription was made by Colin Greenstreet in 2017 from HCA 13/54, a volume of witness statements (depositions) of 1638-9 comprising over 500 folios. The version here retains his transcription of the spelling and punctuation but with some omissions where the text is unclear or in Latin (for his original transcription, go here).
The deposition (HCA 13/54, folios 470-1) was made on 18 February 1638 by Claus Vabreton of Hamburg, ‘nauta’ (sailor), aged about 41, regarding the ship the Hope of Hamburg, and was made on behalf of Michaell de Cassera, one of the merchants concerned with the ship. Vabreton was Master and also had cargo of his own on board. The ship appears to have been outward bound from Hamburg, and heading towards Spain:
The first page (fol. 470) of the deposition in the High Court of Admiralty manuscripts HCA 13/54 regarding the wreck of the Hamburg ship the Hope off the Lizard in Cornwall. The name of the ship can be seen in the margin upper left and the date of the deposition at the top. The scan is reproduced from the Marinelives website, which contains a wealth of similar material on 17th century shipping.
… the arlate (said) shippe the Hope of Hamborough arrived at Haverdegrace in ffraunce, and whilst that shippe remained at Haverdegrace aforesaide with in the tyme aforesaid, the arlate (said) Anthony George and Michaell de Cassera who were the sole freighters of the said shippe for that voyage togeather with some other Merchants who were laders under the said Anthony George and Michaell de Cassera did lade aboard the said shippe certaine Linnen cloth and other goodes to bee transported from Haverdegrace aforesaid to Cadiz in Spaine for the use and accompte of the said Anthony George and Michaell de Cassera and the other Merchants aforesaid And thhis hee affirmeth upon his oath to bee true whoe was Master of the said shipp the voyage aforesaid and llett her to freighte to the said Anthony George and Michaell de Cassera for that voyage and firmed bills of Ladeing uppon the receite of the foods aforesaid into her at Haverdegrace aforesaide …
… That the said shippe with the goodes aforesaide in her followeing her course from Haverdegrace … Cadiz aforesaid was by extremity of stormes and crossewindes driven uppon the Rockes neere the Lizard uppon the coast of Cornwall and there … but this examinate and one and thirty more of his Company came on shore out of her and were saved, and a greate part of the said Linne cloth and other goodes were taken and saved, And this hee affirmeth uppon his oath to be true who was in the said shippe when shee strucke uppon the Rockes aforesaid and gott to shoare out of her uppon a Cable …
… That all the Lading of the said shippe the Hope aswell the Linnen cloth taken upp and saved as aforesaid, as all the rest of that shipps Ladeing did and doe really belonge unto the arlate Anthony George and Michaell de Cassera and severall other Merchants Laders under them, and were Laden for their Accompts onely hee sayeth that hee this examinate did Lade into that shippe for his owne accompte three barrelles of Canvas and fower barells of Linnen cloth, and those fower barrells of Linnen cloth hee saith are saved and Laid by them selves apart from the Merchants goodes which are saved, And this hee affirmeth uppon his oath to bee true …
the Laders of the said goodes were some dutch, some french, Spaniardes ad Portugalls, and as hee thincketh some Englishe …
(National Archives, HCA 13/34 fol. 470-1, trancription by Colin Greenstreet on Marinelives)
The use of ‘aforesaid’ and ‘said’ may indicate the existence of earlier depositions about this ship in the same HCA volume, much of which remains to be transcribed. As yet it has not proved possible to find certain reference to this ship elsewhere, for example in the Calendar of State Papers. However, the Amsterdam Notarial Archive, only in 2020 made accessible online, contains several entries of c. 1635-40 regarding a ship or ships named ‘De (Der) Hope’, one of them - from 25 January 1640 - a judgement in England on the skipper of a ship with that name that may refer to this wreck (Amsterdam, Notarial archives, archive number 5075 , inventory number 523). Although ‘de Hamburg’, the fact that she had consignments from Dutch merchants strongly suggests that she would have taken on cargo in Amsterdam or Tessel on her outward voyage.
What makes this ship particularly interesting is the suggestion that it may have been a richly laden cargo, involving numerous merchants and consignments of valuable textiles. Although the account suggests that much of this was salvaged, the same could be said from the contemporary references to the Santo Christo de Castello (1667), the ‘Pin Wreck’, and yet much remained archaeologically at the wreck site. We know of several sites close inshore off the Lizard peninsula that have produced coins of the 1620s and 1630s, and it is possible that one of these was the Hope.
Note
This vessel is not to be confused with the Hope of 1666 listed in the South Cornwall section of The Shipwreck Index of the British Isles (R. & B. Larn, Lloyd’s, 1995), based on a document in the Cornwall Record Office. That ship is also listed as having been wrecked off Lizard Point. Hope was a common name for ships of the period.