Treasurer (privateer)

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Treasurer
Abduction of Pocahontas cropped to Argall ship.jpg
1618 The Abduction of Pocahontas, depicting ship Treasurer and Captain Samuel Argall
NameTreasurer
Owner
Port of registry Vlissingen, Netherlands [1] [2]
Nickname(s)Trier[ sic ], [3] Treasorour[ sic ] [4]
FateSunk in Bermuda
General characteristics
Tons burthen130 tons [5]
Complement60 [6]
Armament14 guns [7]

Treasurer was a sailing ship operating in the Atlantic Ocean in the early 1600s. Captained by Samuel Argall and then Daniel Elfrith, it is notable for its dealings with the Colony of Virginia, notably encounters with Pocahontas, and (along with the White Lion ) delivering the first Africans to Virginia and to Bermuda. [8]

Contents

Early history (1610s)

Co-owned by Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick, Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, and Samuel Argall, Treasurer was described as an "English man of war". [9] [7] Intended as an attack vessel for plundering non-English ships in and around the Spanish Main and Caribbean, the ship used Flushing, Netherlands, as a base of privateering. [1]

In records, Treasurer was commissioned by the Virginia Company of London to transport English colonists, protect settlements, and provide relief for settlements in the 1610s. [7] At least 17 surviving colonists claimed in the Muster of 1625 (N.S.) to have traveled on Treasurer to Virginia between 1613 and 1618. [10] [11]

Virginia and Pocahontas' capture (1612-1613)

Depiction of Pocahontas and Samuel Argall Capture of Pocahontas 1880historyofuniteds00wats 0083.jpg
Depiction of Pocahontas and Samuel Argall

In July, 1612, Samuel Argall took command of the Treasurer in England. Argall reached Virginia in September, after a 57-day direct route west--the fastest Transatlantic crossing recorded in the 1610s. [5]

In March, 1613 (N.S.), Argall sailed Treasurer up the Rappahannock River to explore, then up the Potomac River. [12] He was informed by natives that "Pokerhuntas" was with the Patawomeck people at Passapatanzy, Virginia. [12]

At a village run by "Japazaws" (Iapassus), he invited a few of the Patawomeck leadership and Pocahontas to tour the ship and to spend the night aboard. [13] The next morning, Argall absconded with Pocahontas to deliver her to the English at Jamestown.

Some time before May, 1613, Samuel Argall manned a different ship (a frigate) to explore the Chesapeake and Eastern Shore. Treasurer was left with an unnamed master at Old Point Comfort, to be overhauled for a long-term "fishing voyage". [14]

Raiding French settlements (1613)

Samuel Argall returned from Chesapeake exploration in May, 1613, to retake command of the Treasurer. [15] This planned "fishing voyage" was actually a military action--Argall had instructions to stamp out French Jesuit colonization in "North Virginia" (present-day Maine). [16] [15] Aboard the Treasurer, Argall sacked French Acadian settlements of Saint-Saveur (on Mount Desert Island), Saint Croix Island, Maine, and Port-Royal. [17] [18] The raids lasted until November, 1613. [19]

Transporting the Rolfes to England (1616)

Treasurer—the same vessel that captured Pocahontas and led her to become "Rebecca Rolfe"—transported Rebecca, husband John Rolfe, son Thomas Rolfe, Sir Thomas Dale, and a native entourage to London, England, to promote the Virginia Company's progress in the New World. [6] [20] [21]

Captain Elfrith, the Neptune, and the White Lion (1618-1619)

In 1618, Samuel Argall had a private commission with the Treasurer with a letter of marque from Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy. [6] He was commissioned to plunder the West Indies.

In March, 1618, Samuel Argall commanded Neptune out of London, by a charter from the Virginia Company, with Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr as a passenger. [22] Treasurer then captained by Daniel Elfrith, met up with Neptune in the Azores and traded passengers. Treasurer stopped in Bermuda, while the Neptune had a difficult journey Virginia. Lord De La Warr became ill and died on the Neptune. [23] An investigation occurred in 1622 to discover the relationship of Neptune and Treasurer, and where Thomas West was interred, no definitive conclusions occurred.[ citation needed ]

In 1618, a faction of the Virginia Company of London desired to recall then acting-governor Samuel Argall to initiate an investigation of "privateering history" (acts of piracy) with the Treasurer. [1]

In 1619, a refitted Treasurer was captained by Daniel Elfrith and piloted by a "Master Gray". [2] In its travels around the Caribbean, Elfrith met up with the 160-ton White Lion (privateer) captained by a Calvinist minister John Colyn Jope. [24] [3] [2] Jope took command and, using a letter of marque from the Prince of Orange, attacked Portuguese [25] fluyt São João Batista[ sic ] (sometimes written in Spanish form, San Juan Bautista [1] ), captained by Manuel Mendes da Cunha. [2] Elfrith still bore Argall's letter of marque from Duke of Savoy, a duchy which had recently made peace with the Spanish Empire and was united with Portugal. [1] Somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico, the crew of the White Lion and Treasurer plundered the Portuguese cargo: grain, tallow, and about 60 Angolans. [1]

First enslaved Africans in the Colony of Virginia. Image from page 72 of Our colonial history from the discovery of America to the close of the revolution (1915).jpg
First enslaved Africans in the Colony of Virginia.

In August, 1619, with cargo split between them both ships sailed for Virginia, but were separated along the voyage. [3] [26] Treasurer arrived a few days after the White Lion, The latter ship sold between 20-30 Angolan slaves to the James River plantations near Jamestown. [3] Treasurer arrived at Old Point Comfort, badly needing resupply. Elfrith's privateering letter of marque was scrutinized by the inhabitants, alleging illegal piracy, thus the Angolans were considered "illicit goods". [1] Treasurer absconded to Bermuda. [1]

Final stop in Bermuda (1619-1620)

About 28 Angolans arrived in Bermuda, of which only one was later named: "Angela". [27] The Angolans were unloaded and given to work on land owned by the Earl of Warwick. [1] These were the first Africans in Bermuda. In 1620, governor Nathaniel Butler wrote to Nathaniel Rich: "...these slaves are the most proper and cheap instruments for this plantation that can be". [1]

The Treasurer was described as "extremely poore[ sic ] [condition], having all her upper works so rotten as she was utterly unable [to go to sea again]". [4]

According to records, Angela and up to six other Angolans were re-boarded on the Treasurer to depart for Virginia in February 1620. [27] [ additional citation(s) needed ] Either the Treasurer sunk off a creek in the James River, [27] [ additional citation(s) needed ] or it was as intentionally sunk near St. George's Harbour, Bermuda. [25] [ additional citation(s) needed ]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Austin, Beth (2019). "1619: Virginia's First Africans" . Retrieved 2025-02-20.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Virginia's First Africans". Encyclopedia Virginia.
  3. 1 2 3 4 McCartney, Martha W. Documentary History of Jamestown Island: Narrative history. United States, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 2000. pp 49.
  4. 1 2 Neill, Edward D., and Nath. Butler. Virginia Carolorum: The Colony during the Days of Charles the First and Second. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 9, no. 2, 1885, pp. 134–66. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20084699. Accessed 20 Feb. 2025.
  5. 1 2 Fausz, J. Frederick. "Samuel Argall (bap. 1580–1626)". Encyclopedia Virginia.
  6. 1 2 3 Barbour, Philip L. (February 23, 1970). "Pocahontas and her world; a chronicle of America's first settlement in which is related the story of the Indians and the Englishmen, particularly Captain John Smith, Captain Samuel Argall, and Master John Rolfe". Boston, Houghton Mifflin – via Internet Archive.
  7. 1 2 3 "History of Colonial Virginia-11 – New River Notes".
  8. ↑ "The First Africans | Historic Jamestowne".
  9. ↑ "Chapter 1"  . The American Slave Trade (Spears)– via Wikisource.
  10. ↑ Neill, Edward D., and Nath. Butler. Virginia Carolorum: The Colony during the Days of Charles the First and Second. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 9, no. 2, 1885, pp. 134–66. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20084699. Accessed 21 Feb. 2025.
  11. ↑ "Treasurer / Treasuror 1613 - 1618". packrat-pro.com.
  12. 1 2 Brown, Alexander (February 21, 1898). "The first republic in America; an account of the origin of this Nation, written from the records then (1624) concealed by the Council, rather than from the histories then licensed by the Crown". Boston and New York, Houghton. p. 174 – via Internet Archive.
  13. ↑ Ness, Robert Van (June 22, 2017). "How Pocahontas Became Rebecca Rolfe".
  14. ↑ Brown, Alexander. The First Republic in America: An Account of the Origin of this Nation, Written from the Records Then (1624) Concealed by the Council, Rather Than from the Histories Then Licensed by the Crown. United States, Houghton, 1898. pp 175
  15. 1 2 Brown, Alexander. The First Republic in America: An Account of the Origin of this Nation, Written from the Records Then (1624) Concealed by the Council, Rather Than from the Histories Then Licensed by the Crown. United States, Houghton, 1898. pp176
  16. ↑ Connor, Seymour V. "Sir Samuel Argall: A Biographical Sketch." The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 59, no. 2, 1951, pp. 162–75. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4245766. Accessed 21 Feb. 2025.
  17. ↑ "Argall, Samuel"  . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography– via Wikisource.
  18. ↑ "Argall, Sir Samuel"  . The Biographical Dictionary of America– via Wikisource.
  19. ↑ Griffiths, N.E.S. From Migrant To Acadian: A North American Border People, 1604-1755. Montreal, MQUP, 2005. pp24
  20. ↑ Johnson, Caleb (2007). Here Shall I Die Ashore: Stephen Hopkins--Bermuda Castaway, Jamestown Survivor, and Mayflower Pilgrim. ISBN   9781425796389.
  21. ↑ "Pocahontas Remembered… An Ocean Away". Virginia Museum of History & Culture.
  22. ↑ Coldham, Peter Wilson. "The Voyage of the Neptune to Virginia, 1618-1619, and the Disposition of Its Cargo." The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 87, no. 1, 1979, pp. 30–67. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4248277. Accessed 25 Feb. 2025.
  23. ↑ Brown, Alexander (1898). The First Republic in America: An Account of the Origin of this Nation, Written from the Records Then (1624) Concealed by the Council, Rather Than from the Histories Then Licensed by the Crown. Houghton. p. 282. ISBN   978-0-7222-6545-1.
  24. ↑ John C. Coombs. “The Phases of Conversion: A New Chronology for the Rise of Slavery in Early Virginia.” The William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 68, no. 3, 2011, pp. 332–60. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.5309/willmaryquar.68.3.0332. Accessed 20 Feb. 2025.
  25. 1 2 "New Light On Virginia's First Documented Africans". Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation.
  26. ↑ Smith, Nichelle. "She was captured, enslaved and she survived. Meet Angela, the first named African woman in Jamestown". USA TODAY.
  27. 1 2 3 "Linda M. Heywood and John K. Thornton. Excerpt: "Central Africans, Atlantic Creoles, and the Foundation of the Americas, 1585-1660". 2007. Cambridge University Press. 978-0-521-77922-7" (PDF).
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