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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 December 2009
Introduction V
A. Sir John Eliot's personal accounts, 1622-25
B. Sir John Eliot's accounts in the Admiralty records, 1622-26
C. Depositions taken in 1627
D. Brief of evidence against Sir John Eliot, 1627
Index
page v note 1 Public Record Office, High Court of Admiralty (hereafter referred to as H.C.A.), 30, Miscellanea Warrants for Appointments, bundle 820, no. 11. See also below, p. 13.
page v note 2 25 October. A.P.C., 1626 (June-Dec), pp. 328–9.
page v note 3 Furthermore, Selden believed that the patent was also voided because Eliot had failed to render his account at Michaelmas 1627 for the preceding year, as his sequestration had made that impossible. Grosart, A. B., Letter book of Sir John Eliot (1882), p. 28Google Scholar.
page v note 4 Port Eliot, muniment room, Port Eliot Title Deeds, no. 46. They are in Eliot's own hand.
page v note 5 Port Eliot, bookery, bound vol. of MSS. headed ‘Collections by and concerning Sir John Eliot, 1622–1629 ’, fos. 139r–1641v. These notes are not in Eliot's hand.
page vi note 1 John Forster, Sir John Eliot, a biography (1st edn. 1864), ii. 43–6.
page vi note 2 Forster says (ii. 43 and n., 46 n.) that a copy of the ‘breif ’ exists at Port Eliot. I have been unable to find it. Hastily glancing at the depositions themselves, he probably mistook them for the ‘breif ’. He makes no change in his 2nd edition (1872), i. 376, 378 n.
page vi note 3 Forster (1864), ii. 46.
page vi note 4 Oppenheim, M., editorial note in Naval tracts of Sir William Monson (Navy Records Society), vol. iii (1913), pp. 428–9Google Scholar. Cf. Crump, Helen J., Colonial admiralty jurisdiction in the seventeenth century (1931)Google Scholar, chap. 1, where mention is made of the profits of Eliot's administration, ‘It was the duty of the vice-admirals of the coast to take possession of and to preserve shipwrecked goods, and the salvage payable by the owners was one of their perquisites. It does not appear how the amount of salvage was adjusted. Probably the vice-admirals refused to give up possession of the salved property until their claims were satisfied.’ Marsden, R. G., ed., Select pleas in the court of admiralty (Selden Society), vol. ii (1897), P xxxviiGoogle Scholar.
page vii note 1 Infra, p. 2, n. 5.
page vii note 2 July 7. A.P.C., 1623–1625, p. 51.
page vii note 3 Ibid., p. 88.
page vii note 4 Infra, p. 15.
page vii note 5 A.P.C, 1623–1625, p. 90.
page vii note 6 Ibid., p. 156.
page vii note 7 S.P.D., James I, cl, no. 24.
page vii note 8 H.C.A., 1, Oyer et Term. vol. 49, fo. 21v.
page vii note 9 Ibid., 30, Miscellanea, Warrants for Appointments, bundle 820, no. 10. He was appointed 26 August 1622.
page viii note 1 S.P.D., James I, clii, no. 66.
page viii note 2 Infra, p. 10.
page viii note 3 For West Looe.
page viii note 4 He sat in all the parliaments of the ‘twenties. Return of the name of every member (1878), i. 450, 456, 463, 468, 475.
page viii note 6 C.J., i. 698.
page ix note 1 A.P.C., 1623–1625, p. 24. Eliot's refusal is related to the council in a letter of 4 July 1623, written by the mayor of Dartmouth and others, S.P.D., James I, cxlviii, no. 27. Infra, p. 41.
page ix note 2 Infra, p. 6.
page ix note 3 H.C.A., Act Book, vol. 30, fo. 226r
page ix note 4 Infra, p. 2.
page ix note 5 Infra, p. 6.
page ix note 6 Infra, p. 10.
page ix note 7 Infra, p. 15.
page x note 1 Hulme, Harold, ‘The leadership of Sir John Eliot in the parliament of 1626 ’, Journal of Modern History, iv. 361–86Google Scholar.
page x note 2 S.P.D., Charles I, xxxi, no. 2.
page x note 3 Port Eliot, bookery, bound vol. of MSS. : ‘Collections by and concerning Sir John Eliot, 1622–1629 ’. A copy of the commission, in Latin, occupies fos. 131r to 134r. The following are to conduct the investigation :—Sir Edward Seymor, Bt., Sir George Chudleigh, Bt., Sir Bernard Grenville, Sir Robert Chichester, Sir William Stroude, Sir James Bagg, John Mohan, John Drake, William Carye, Walter Young and William Kifte. Eight ‘Articuli sive Interria ’ follow (fos. 135r to 137r) setting out the lines the investigation was to pursue.
page xi note 1 5 June, 1627. Hist. MSS. Comm., 10th Report, pt. ii, app., p. 125. Court and Times of Charles I (1849), i. 236, 239.
page xi note 2 2 Jan. 1628. P.C. Register, I, vol. iii, fo. 249r; cf. S. R. Gardiner, History, 1603–1642, vi. 225.
page xii note 1 S.P.D., James I, clxxxv, no. 45.
page xii note 2 Infra, p. 14.
page xii note 3 Infra, p. 7.
page xii note 4 Infra, p. 15. The only exception to this statement is Nutt's prize, the Edward and John, laden with sugar, which he restored, as is recorded on p. 14.
page xiii note 1 Bailiff to Eliot. C.J., i, 900.
page xiii note 2 Infra, p. 43.
page xiii note 3 Infra, p. 3.
page xiii note 4 Infra, p. 7.
page xiii note 5 Infra, p. 7.
page xiii note 6 Infra, p. 7.
page xiii note 7 Infra, p. 12.
page xiii note 8 Compare the findings of the commission, infra, p. 49.
page xiii note 9 R. G. Marsden, ‘The vice-admirals of the coast’, English Historical Review, xxii. 474, says : ‘How much the vice-admirals themselves made by their office is not so clear; it is certain that some made far more than the share (usually one half) of wreck and droits which was their legitimate profit.’ Bagg writing to Buckingham on 21 March 1625, speaks strongly, too strongly, about his own honesty in contrast to the implied dishonesty of other viceadmirals. S.P.D., James I, clxxxv, no. 89.
page xiv note 1 S.P.D., Charles I, ccviii, no. 11 : ‘Statutes and ordinances for all viceadmirals and under officers of the admiralty within the realm’. .This document (p. 462) states that one-third of the vice-admiral's moiety ‘shalbe due and remaine unto the Nottary Register or Clarke and under-marshall or Serjeant serving under every such vice-admirall equally to be devided betweene them …’ This document comes from a time somewhat later in the reign of Charles I, but undoubtedly its regulations applied to the time of Eliot. There is some question as to whether the officials under Eliot always received the one-third which was their due. Infra, pp. 33–35 and 42–43, depositions of Hardwen and Randall, two of his officials.
page 1 note 2 Inkle, ‘A kind of linen tape ’, O.E.D.
page 1 note 3 Hamoaze, the name given to the mouth of the Tamar river as it flows into Plymouth Sound between Torpoint and Devonport.
page 1 note 4 Sylvester, ‘an inferior kind of cochineal ’. O.E.D.
page 1 note 5 Causon, Canson, Cawson, or Cawsand Bay, at the entrance of Plymouth Sound on the Cornish side just after passing Penlee Point.
page 1 note 6 By pirates of whom the chief was Michael Rowe. Infra, p. 32.
page 2 note 1 Tapnet, ‘a basket made of rushes, in which figs are imported ; also a conventional measure of quantity ’. O.E.D.
page 2 note 2 Lagan, ‘goods or wreckage lying on the bed of the sea ’. O.E.D.
page 2 note 3 Picot, ‘one of a series of small loops of twisted thread forming an ornamental edging to lace, ribbon, or braid ’. O.E.D.
page 2 note 4 Possibly a nap, ‘a cloth having a nap on it ’ . O.E.D.
page 2 note 5 Capt. John Nutt was induced by Eliot to surrender by means of a pardon for which Nutt agreed to pay £500. The pardon was out-dated and therefore worthless, but Nutt did not realise this when he surrendered. Cf. Fuller, Mary B., In the time of Sir John Eliot, (1) ‘Eliot and the case of John Nutt, a pirate’ (Smith College Studies in History, vol. iv, no. 2, 1919)Google Scholar ; also Forster (1864), i. 41–59.
page 2 note 6 Supra, pp. viii-ix.
page 2 note 7 i.e., woad.
page 3 note 1 Cognac ?
page 3 note 2 William Kifte was judge of the admiralty in Devon. Supra, p. x, n. 3 ; infra, p. 39.
page 4 note 1 Registrar to the judge of the admiralty in Devon, S.P.D., Charles I, lxxx., no. 58.
page 4 note 2 Probably a contraction and abbreviation for poenam, meaning penalty. According to a proclamation of 10 July, 1621, ‘The export of iron ordnance is prohibited.’ Robert Steele, Tudor and Stuart Proclamations, 1485–1714, i, no. 1314. For transportation of ordnance see A.P.C., 1619–1621, p. 287 and passim.
page 5 note 1 Deputy vice-admiral at Plymouth. Infra, p. 35.
page 6 note 1 Richard Gedy.
page 6 note 2 Marshal to the vice-admiral at Dartmouth. H.C.A., 30 Miscellanea, bundle 857, and loc. cit., 1, Oyer et Term., vol. 40, fo. 21v.
page 7 note 1 Panele, ‘Brown unpurified sugar from the Antilles’. O.E.D.
page 7 note 2 Richard Lumly or Lumley(e) of Dartmouth, an official of the vice-admiral. Infra, pp. 11, 41, 42.
page 8 note 1 Making Sir John Eliot vice-admiral of Devon.
page 8 note 2 Supra, p. 1, n. 6.
page 8 note 3 Maurice Hill was the trusted confidential servant of Sir John Eliot. He was more than his steward. See ‘A probate inventory of the goods and chattels of Sir John Eliot, late prisoner in the Tower, 1633 ’ (ed. H. Hulme), p. vi, in Camden Miscellany, xvi (1936) ; cf. also infra, pp. 23, 45.
page 10 note 1 Supra, p. ix.
page 10 note 2 This is Humfrie Cross of Dartmouth (infra, p. 15) rather than Henry Crosse or Cross, deputy vice-admiral at Barnstaple
page 12 note 1 Thomas Aylesbury, secretary to the lord admiral. See S.P.D., James I, cxlix, no. 78.
page 12 note 2 Because complete figures are missing for 8 items where the page has been torn the actual total is £1 19s. 5d. short of £710 0s. 2d. The totals have been checked throughout this account and are found to be correct.
1 H.C.A., Miscellanea, bundle 158.
page 13 note 2 Written obliquely in the right-hand margin ‘sould to Scoble for 120 ’. Cf. infra, p. 33.
page 14 note 1 The lords of the privy council.
page 15 note 1 Written obliquely in the left-hand margin : ‘sold for 73li. to Mr. Spurwaye ’. Cf. infra, pp. 47–8.
page 15 note 2 The total is incorrect. It should be £1136 9 s.6d.
page 16 note 1 This figure should be 5s.
page 16 note 2 According to the corrected totals there would remain £460 3s. 10 d.
page 17 note 1 Cf. infra, p. 34, ‘apothecary druggs called macoacum ’.
page 17 note 2 Should read £1844 17s. 6 d.
page 18 note 1 Should read £ 866 2s. 1d.
page 19 note 1 If the ‘charge’ is £1844 17s. 6d. and the ‘discharge and respites ’ £860 2 S. 1d., there remains £984 15s. 5 d.
page 19 note 2 The moiety of the indicated balance should be £492 10 s. 5½d. The corrected figures give £492 7s. 8½d.
page 19 note 3 Correct if the moiety is read as £492 10s. 5½d.
page 21 note 1 The total should be £673 12 s.10 d.
page 23 note 1 The total should be £39 14s. 5 d.
page 23 note 2 This total should be £10 10s.
page 24 note 1 Marshal of the admiralty in London. C.J., i. 828.
page 24 note 2 The Due de Soubise ; in command of the Huguenot naval forces.
page 26 note 1 Should read £169 5s.
page 26 note 2 Should read £29 5s.
page 26 note 1 The total should be £21 7s. 11 d.
1 Port Eliot, bookery, bound vol. of MSS. : ‘Collections by and concerning Sir John Eliot, 1622–1629 ’, fos. 139r–164V.
2 Cf. supra, p. x, n. 3. The commissioners were provided with eight interria or subjects for interrogation. The depositions are concerned with the first three interria only, which are worded as follows :—
‘Imprimis what piratts or men of warr or their prizes within these three years last past have arrived or beene broughte unto or neere any porte or harbor within the vice-admiralty of the county of Devon. Sett downe the names of the captaines, masters and shippes of what country or nation they and their severall companies were …
‘Item what shippes, barkes or other vessells ; Jewells, monyes, goods, wares, merchandises or other goods belonging to pyratts or piratically taken at sea by pyratts or men of warr within the time aforesaid, have been sente or broughte into or neere any partes of the said vice-admiralty of the county of Devon ; what were the qualities, quantities and values thereof ; who sent or broughte them and to whose hands or possession came all, every or any parte thereof …
‘Item whoe within the said vice-admiralty have bine usuall victuallers, relevers and traders with pyratts and men of warr, whether are there any within that vice-admiralty that are knowen or comonly reported to have benefitted and maintained themselves, or increased their estates by that meanes. Sett downe the common estimate of what they have gotten by such means. …’
1 P.R.O., S.P.D., Charles I, xc, no. 85. The date given on the verso is 18 Jan. 1627(/8), but the editor has entered 11 Jan. with a query in pencil.