Prizes
Privateering action in the 18th century.
Maritime
Ship movements, 1762
A selection from the London Chronicle, 1762.
A melancholy pleasure: Nicolas Dobree and the heroes of Cobo
'But oh! what a tragic story we have to relate.' The bravery of a group of men from the Castel and their untimely deaths on the Gros Rock, March 9th, 1818; Nicolas Dobree, R.N., the two brothers Henry and George Le Tissier, Daniel Nicolle, and Captain Collenette. The photograph above shows the rock. 'Ils ont peri, meme en accomplissant un oeuvre de charite.'
John Williams
John Williams, seaman, aged 25 years, five feet five inches high, dark complexion, black hair, slender made; has a scar on the back part of his head; is tatowed, and a native of Guernsey; speaks French.
L'Invention: fastest ship of her day
From an unknown newspaper [Guernsey Press?] of January 10th, 1939, in Carol Toms' scrapbook I., 'Famous L'Invention of Guernsey.' 'Fastest ship of her day, probably the first four master to carry yards on all her masts, the famous Guernsey ship L'Invention is picturised in the Guernsey Museum and a similar picture was used as Christmas cards by 'The Cachalot's' Club,' of Southampton.'
Richard de Jersey's Book of Navigation
'A thing of exquisite beauty and great interest.' One of the LIbrary's treasures, the award-winning Book of Navigation, handwritten and illustrated by Richard de Jersey in 1737.
Southampton port
Trade with Southampton, 1428 and 1430, from Studer, Paul, The Port Books of Southampton, 1913. 27 merchants and ship-owners from the Channel Islands are mentioned in these books, and there are others whose names indicate a strong connection. Copies of these and similar volumes are available at the Library, as well as a comprehensive file of extracts. Please contact the Library for further information.
Indentures
Sample form for Louage d'un apprentif, from the Supplement to Thomas Le Frocq's Nouveau Precepteur, 1818, and actual indenture of 1711 from our collection.
Attempted Murder at Sea
From The Terrific Record and Chronicle of Remarkable and Interesting Events , 1849. I was bound for Liverpool, says an American Captain, in a fine stout ship, of about four hundred tons burden, with a valuable cargo on board, and about ninety thousand dollars in specie. When we were about to sail, the mate informed me that he had shipped two foreigners as seamen, one a native of Guernsey, and the other a Frenchman from Brittany. I was pleased, however, with the appearance of the crew generally, and particularly with the foreigners. They were both stout and able-bodied men, and alert and…
Communication with England, 85 years ago
Guernsey & Jersey Magazine, June 1836.