‘To the seventh interrogatory this deponent saith that . . . the said ship or vessell Concordia was bound to Cork in Ireland and from thence to Saint Eustatius aforesaid in the West Indies and from thence to Amsterdam in Holland and to no other port or places in her voyage and that . . . she carried from Bremen a cargo of linnen and pipe staves and delivered the same at Cadix in Spain from where she sailed in ballast to Saint Lucar in Spain and carried from thence a cargo of Lemons and Oranges and delivered the same in London aforesaid from whence she sailed in Ballast to Cork aforesaid and carried from thence a cargo of beef butter salmon candles soap and other goods . . . and delivered the same to Saint Eustatius aforesaid from whence she carried her present Cargo of Coffee and Cotton and no other goods.’1
This was the route and cargo of the Bremen three-master Concordia before its voyage came to an abrupt end in April 1758. On that day, the Concordia was captured by the John and Stephen, an English privateer ship, off the south coast of England at Beachy Head, which in those days was a notorious hotspot for privateering. The words quoted are excerpts from a witness statement by the Concordia’s captain, Arendt Buck, who was suspected of transporting French goods or even contraband—that is, military equipment—for the enemy. The ship had come from Sint Eustatius in the Caribbean, which was known for such goods at the time. In this period, France and England were bitter enemies, fighting against one another in the Seven Years War and the French and Indian War, which meant that almost every ship sailing by the coast of England at this time was captured. Privateering was a legitimate means of tactical warfare at sea in the early modern period, with the only condition being that the captured ship had to be an enemy vessel. This legitimacy was tested in court, with documents taken from the captured ships as evidence. If conclusive proof was found that the ship belonged to the enemy, it was declared a ‘prize’—legitimate booty—and was put up for auction with its cargo.
Continue reading The Concordia: A Global Microhistory of a Bremen Ship- Examination of Arendt Buck, master of the ship Concordia, 8 April, 1758, TNA, HCA 32/176. [↩]