target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="#ulink_711ea6d3-5e3b-5106-b12e-2bc578b760bd">[2] Book-keeper under Director van Twiller (from 1633), provincial secretary under Kieft, schout fiscaal under Stuyvesant till 1656.
[3] Director-general 1637–1646. Of the other partners, Jan Jansen Damen, Jacob Wolfertsz van Couwenhoven, and Martin Cregier were among the leading citizens of New Amsterdam. The total venture seems to have been about 14,000 gulden, say $5600 (worth much more then).
[4] Two Blauvelts or Blawfelts, Albertus and Wyllem, apparently father and son, appear in the records of the Providence Island Company (document 1, note 1). The former discovered the inlet on the Mosquito Shore, excellent for buccaneers, which is still called by his name, Blewfields Bay, in Nicaragua. After the Spanish conquest of Providence in 1641, Wyllem Blawfelt took to privateering, and, as will be seen, pursued it too long.
4. Articles of Copartnership between Augustin Herrman and Wyllem Blawfelt. December 4 (N.S.), 1646. [1]
Wy ondergeschreven bekennen geaccordeert ende verdragen te wesen inde fregat de la Garce op Winst ende verlies te hirrideeren, de somma van seventien hondert drie ende t'seventich gulden waer van Sr Augustyn een rechte seste [substituted for sestiende, erased] part Hirrideert onder den naem van Willem Aelbertsen Blauvelt, die bekent de voornoemde Somma uyt handen van Augustyn Heerman ontfangen te hebben ende belooft, soo Godt de heere hem Capitain Willem Albertsen een ofte meer prysen t'sy groot ofte cleen verleent van dese reyse, aende voornoemde Sr. Augustyn off syn Ordre uyt te keeren een gerechte seste [clerk wrote first sestiende] part vande veroverde Goederen uyt syn een achtste part. Ende soo t gebeurde, dat Godt verhoede, dat de barcque verlooren wiert, sal den voornoemden Sr. Augustyn niets op Capitain Blauvelt te pretenderen hebben. Aldus gedaen ende getekent de 4e desember a'o 1646. In nieu Amst.
| Augustin Herrman. |
| Wyllem Blawfelt. |
| In kennise van my |
| Cornelis van Tienhoven, Secret's. |
Translation.
We the undersigned acknowledge that we have consented and agreed to invest in the frigate La Garce, for profit or loss, the sum of 1773 gulden, of which the Sieur Augustyn[2] ventures the sixth [substituted for sixteenth, erased] part in the name of Willem Aelbertsen Blauvelt, who acknowledges that he has received the aforesaid sum from the hands of Augustyn Heerman and promises, if God the Lord grants to him, Captain Willem Albertsen, on this voyage one or more prizes, whether great or small, to turn over to the aforesaid Sieur Augustyn or his order a sixth [the clerk wrote first sixteenth] part of the captured goods out of his own eighth part. And if it shall happen, which God forbid, that the bark should be lost, the aforesaid Sieur Augustyn shall have nothing to claim from Captain Blauvelt. Done and signed December 4, 1646, in New Amsterdam.
| Augustin Herrman. |
| Wyllem Blawfelt. |
| Acknowledged before me, |
| Cornelis van Tienhoven, Secretary. |
[1] New York State Archives, Dutch Manuscripts, vol. II., p. 153.
[2] Augustin Herrman was a Bohemian of Prague, who had served in Wallenstein's army, had come out to New Netherland in 1633 as agent of a mercantile house of Amsterdam, and had become an influential merchant. A man of varied accomplishments, he made for Lord Baltimore a fine map of Maryland, and received as his reward the grant of Bohemia Manor.
5. Affidavit: the Capture of the Tabasco. July 25 (N.S.), 1649. [1]
Wy ondergeschreven (alle t'samen gevaren hebbende met d'fregat de la garce daer Capetain op is Willem Albertsz Blaeuvelt, gecruyst hebbende inde West Indisch) attesteeren, getuigen ende verclaren in plaets ende belofte van Solemneelen Eede, des noots synde, hoe dat waer ende waerachtich is, dat wy verovert hebben inde reviere van Tabasko een bercke genaemt Tabasko vande Spanjaerde, welcke spanjaerden ons niet vermaende van eenige vreede noch treves die tusschen den Coninck van Spanje ende haere H. Mo. gemaeckt soude syn geweest, noch dat wy van geene vreede geweeten noch gehoort hebben. Alle t'welcke wy ondergeschreven verclaren alsoo waer ende waerachtich te weesen, presenteerende t'selve, des noots synde, altoos met Eede te verifieeren. Ady desen 25en July a'o 1649. N. Amst.
| dit ist X marck van Hendrick Arentsz, Luytenant. Kempo Sybada. Raiph Clarck. dit merc eeſe is gestelt by Antony de Moedes, Spaenjaert. |
Translation.
We the undersigned, having all voyaged together in the frigate La Garce, of which Willem Albertsz Blaeuvelt is captain, having cruised in the West Indies, testify, witness, and declare, in place and under promise of solemn oath if need be, that it is true and certain, that we captured from the Spaniard, in the river of Tabasko,[2] the bark named Tabasko, which Spaniard did not notify us of any peace or truce concluded between the King of Spain and their High Mightinesses, nor had we known or heard of any peace.[3] All which we the undersigned declare to be true and certain, offering also if need be to verify it under oath. This 25th of July, 1649, in New Amsterdam.
| This is the X mark of Hendrick Arentsz, Lieutenant. Kempo Sybada.[4] Raiph Clarck. This mark eeſe is made by Antony de Moedes, Spaniard. |
[1] New York State Archives, Dutch Manuscripts, vol. III., p. 44.
[2] A river of southern Mexico, flowing into the Gulf of Campeche; in all but its lower portion it is now called the Grijalva.
[3] The deposition of William Nobel, surgeon of the La Garce (N.Y. Col. Docs., I. 398), shows that the Tabasco, "laden with grains of paradise", was captured on April 22, 1649, and that another prize was taken on July 5, and confirms the narrative given in the next document. Yet peace had been concluded January 30 (N.S.), 1648. Roger Williams writes to John Winthrop, jr., October 25, 1649, referring no doubt to the prize mentioned in the next document, "Blufield is come to Newport and is carrying the ship (his prize) to Munnadoes [Manhattan], having promised the Governor to answer it to the Spaniard if demaunded, because she is taken against the Treves" (truce, peace); Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., fourth ser., VI. 272, 274.
[4] The pilot of the privateer. The Records of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts, I. 314–319, show Captain Kempo Sybada as dwelling in the next ensuing
