LORD WILLOUGHBY’S COMMISSION as VICE-ADMIRAL OF BARBADOS, ETC.

    26 January, 1666–7

    THE DUKE OF YORK’S COMMISSION214 CONSTITUTING THE LORD WILLIAM WILLOUGHBY VICE-ADMIRAL OF THE BARBADOS AND THE REST OF THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS IN AMERICA215

    James, Duke of York and Albany, Earl of Ulster, Constable of the Castle of Dover, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, Governor of the Town of Portsmouth, Knight of the Illustrious Order of the Garter, Lord High Admiral of England and Ireland and Wales and of the dominions and islands of the same, Captain General of the Town of Calais or the Marches of the same, of Normandy, Gascony, and Aquitaine, and of the fleet and seas of the said Kingdoms of England and Ireland, and likewise Lord High Admiral of the dominions of New England, Jamaica, Virginia, Barbados, Saint Christopher, [and] Antigua, in America, of Guinea, Benin,216 and Angola in Africa, of Tangia or Tangiers, a province of the Kingdom of Fez in Africa aforesaid, and of the islands and dominions of the same, and of all and singular other dominions whatsoever in parts beyond the sea unto our Most Serene Lord and brother Charles the Second, by the Grace of God King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, etc., belonging, and Captain General of the fleets and seas of the said places, — to our beloved William Baron Willoughby of Parham, Captain General and Governor in Chief of the Island of Barbadoes and of the other Caribbee Islands, etc., Greeting:

    1. 1. To take cognizance of and proceed in whatsoever causes civil and maritime, and in complaints, contracts, offences or suspected offences, crimes, pleas, debts, exchanges, accounts, charter parties, agreements, suits, trespasses, injuries, extortions, demands, or businesses civil and maritime whatsoever, commenced or to be commenced between merchants, or between owners and proprietors of ships and all other vessels and merchants, or others whomsoever with such owners and proprietors of ships and all other vessels whatsoever employed and used within the jurisdiction of our Most Serene Lord the King his Admiralty of Barbados and the other Caribbee Islands and of all and singular other islands, colonies, and plantations belonging to our Most Serene Lord the King lying between ten and twenty degrees of North Latitude and extending toward the East from the Island of Saint John of Portorico to three hundred and twenty-seven degrees, or of whatsoever parts of islands and places adjacent to the same, or between any other persons whomsoever had, made, begun, or contracted for any thing, matter, cause, or business, or injury whatsoever, done or to be done as well in, upon, or by the sea or public rivers, fresh waters, ports, streams, or creeks, and places overflowed whatsoever within the flowing and ebbing of the sea and to high-water mark, or upon the shores or banks whatsoever adjacent to the same or to any one of them from whatsoever first bridges toward the sea, throughout217 the Island of Barbados and the other places aforesaid or the dominions of the same or elsewhere beyond the sea or in whatsoever parts beyond the sea, together with all and singular their incidents, emergencies, dependencies, annexed and connexed causes and businesses whatsoever, [wheresoever]218 or howsoever such causes and complaintst contracts and other premises abovesaid, or any one of them, may happen to arise, be celebrated, contracted, or done, to hear and determine according to the laws civil and maritime and the customs received in the Principal Court of our foresaid Lord the King his Admiralty of Barbados and of the other places aforesaid and in whatsoever maritime parts of them and adjacent to every of them:
    2. 2. And moreover in all and singular complaints, contracts, agreements, and causes and businesses civil and maritime to be performed or contracted beyond the sea or to be fulfilled in the foresaid Island of Barbados and the places aforesaid or the adjacent island parts of the same, howsoever arising or happening:
    3. 3. And also in the other causes and matters all and singular which in any manner whatsoever touch or in any way concern, or by right ought to have belonged or ought to belong unto the maritime jurisdiction of our foresaid Lord the King his Admiralty aforesaid in the foresaid Island of Barbados and the other places aforesaid and the insular parts to the same adjacent whatsoever:
    4. 4. And generally in all and singular other causes, suits, crimes, offences, excesses, complaints, injuries, misdemeanors or suspected misdemeanors, regratings, forestallings, and maritime businesses whatsoever throughout the places aforesaid within the maritime jurisdiction of our foresaid Lord the King his Admiralty of Barbados and of other places aforesaid, by sea or water or the banks or shores of the same, howsoever done, committed, perpetrated, or arising:
    5. 5. And also to inquire by the oath of honest and lawful men of the said Island of Barbados and other places aforesaid and the beyond-sea and insular parts of the same and to every of the same adjoining, wheresoever dwelling, as well within liberties and franchises as without, as well concerning all and singular the things [which]219 of right by the statutes, ordinances, and customs of the foresaid Principal Court of Admiralty ought to be inquired after, as concerning wreck of the sea and concerning all and singular the goods and chattels of whatsoever traitors, pirates, manslayers, and felons, howsoever offending within the maritime jurisdiction of our foresaid Lord the King his Admiralty aforesaid, and concerning the goods, debts, and chattels of all and singular their maintainers, accessories, counsellors, abettors, or assistants whomsoever:
    6. 6. And also concerning the goods, debts, and chattels of whatsoever other persons felons of themselves, and of whatsoever person felon of himself, in whatsoever manner or howsoever coming to their death within the maritime jurisdiction aforesaid, wheresoever such goods, debts, and chattels or any parcel of the same, by sea, water, or land in the said Island of Barbados and other places aforesaid and maritime parts of the same and to every of them adjoining whatsoever, as well within liberties and franchises as without, shall be found or to be found, forfeited or to be forfeited, or in being, whatsoever [they may be]:
    7. 7. And also concerning whatsoever goods, debts, and chattels of whatsoever other persons felons of themselves, and of whatsoever other [person] felon of himself, found or to be found or happening within the maritime jurisdiction aforesaid:
    8. 8. And moreover as well concerning the goods, debts, and chattels of whatsoever other traitors, felons, and manslayers, wheresoever offending within the jurisdiction aforesaid, and concerning the goods, debts, and chattels of their maintainers, accessories, counsellors, abettors, or assistants,220 and concerning the goods, debts, and chattels of whatsoever fugitives, persons attainted, convicted, outlawed, or howsoever put or to be put in exigent for treason, felony, manslaughter, or murder, or any other offence whatsoever, or crime
    9. 9. And also concerning goods waving, flotsam, jetsam, lagan, shares, treasure found or to be found, deodands, and concerning the goods of [all] others whomsoever had or to be had as derelict or by chance found221 or to be found, or howsoever due or to be due, and concerning all other casualties, as well in, upon, or by the sea and shores, creeks, or coasts of the sea, or maritime parts, as in, upon, or by fresh waters, ports, public rivers, streams, or creeks whatsoever, or places overflowed within the flowing and ebbing of the sea, or to high-water mark, or upon the shores or banks of any one of the same, from whatsoever first bridges toward the sea, howsoever, whensoever, or in what manner soever arising, happening, or proceeding, whatsoever [they may be], or wheresoever the goods, debts, chattels, or other the premises or any parcel of the same may be found or shall happen to be found within the maritime jurisdiction of the Island of Barbados and of other places aforesaid or insular parts aforesaid adjoining to the same:
    10. 10. And further concerning anchorages and lastages or sand ballast of ships, and concerning fishes royal (to wit, sturgeons, baleens,222 whales, porpoises, dolphins, rigs, and grampuses) and generally concerning particular fishes whatsoever having in themselves great or huge bulk or fatness by right or custom to our abovesaid Lord the King in the said office of his Admiralty of Barbados aforesaid and of other places aforesaid appertaining or in any way belonging:
    11. 11. To ask, require, levy, take, collect, receive, and obtain, and to the use of [our] foresaid Lord the King and of the office of his High Admiral aforesaid for the time being to keep and preserve the same wreck of the sea and goods, debts, and chattels and all and singular other the premises, together with all and all manner of fines, mulcts, issues, forfeitures, amercements, ransoms, and recognizances whatsoever, forfeited223 or to be forfeited, and pecuniary punishments for trespasses, crimes, injuries, extortions, contempts, and other misdemeanors whatsoever, or for any other thing, matter, or cause whatsoever imposed or inflicted, to be imposed or inflicted, — howsoever, in the said Island of Barbados and other islands, colonies, and plantations aforesaid or maritime parts of the same and to every of them adjacent whatsoever, presented or to be presented, assessed, brought, forfeited, or adjudged in the Court of Admiralty of Barbados and of other places aforesaid held or to be held, and also together with [all] amercements, issues, fines, perquisites, mulcts, and pecuniary punishments whatsoever and forfeitures of [all] recognizances whatsoever before you or your deputy or deputies or other justices of our foresaid Lord the King or his heirs and successors their Admiralty of Barbados aforesaid and of other places aforesaid, or before three of the same, appointed or to be appointed by commissional letters patent of our said Lord the King, his heirs or successors, according to the statutes thereupon made and provided and the customs received in the Principal Court of our said Lord the King his Admiralty aforesaid made224 and to be made under the Great Seal of England, for225 hearing and determining (in the said Island of Barbados and other places aforesaid and maritime parts of the same or to any of them adjacent whatsoever) all and singular treasons, robberies, felonies, murders, manslaughters, confederacies, and other offences, trespasses, contempts, misprisions, spoils, and misdemeanors committed or to be committed within the maritime jurisdiction aforesaid, happening,226 imposed or to be imposed or to be inflicted or in any other manner by reason of the premises howsoever due or to be due to our Lord the King or his heirs or successors:
    12. 12. And further to take all manner of recognizances, cautions, obligations, and stipulations, as well to the use of our foresaid Lord the King as to our use, or at the instance of whatsoever parties, for agreements or debts and other causes whatsoever, and to put them in execution and to cause and command them to be executed:
    13. 13. And also actually to arrest or cause and command to be arrested, according to the civil and maritime laws and the customs received and used in the Court of Admiralty of our Lord the King, ships, persons, things, goods, wares and merchandises whatsoever, for the premises and every of them and for [all] other causes whatsoever concerning them,227 wheresoever they shall be met with or found in the said Island of Barbados and other places aforesaid or maritime parts of the same or to every of them adjoining whatsoever, within liberties and franchises or without, and also for [all] other agreements, causes, or offences whatsoever, howsoever contracted or arising, provided that the goods and persons of the debtors may be found within the jurisdiction aforesaid, and to hear, examine, discuss, and finally determine the same with their emergencies, dependencies, incidents, annexed and connexed causes and businesses whatsoever, together with all other causes civil and maritime and complaints, contracts, and all and every the other premises whatsoever above respectively expressed, according to the laws and customs aforesaid and by other lawful ways, manners, and means according to the best of your knowledge and ability:
    14. 14. And to compel all manner of persons in that behalf, as the case shall require, to answer, with power of any temporal coercion and of any other penalty and mulct, according to the laws and customs aforesaid, in order to do and administer justice, and also to proceed, not observing the regular order of law, or openly and plainly, without judicial technicalities and formalities, looking only into the truth of the fact and thing,228 and to fine, correct, punish, chastise, and reform, imprison and cause and command to be imprisoned in any jails being229 within the Island of Barbados and other places aforesaid and maritime places of the same or to every of them adjacent, the parties guilty and contemners and violators of the law or jurisdiction of our foresaid Lord the King his Admiralty of Barbados and other places aforesaid, usurpers, delinquents, and contumacious absenters, masters of ships, mariners, rowers, fishermen, shipwrights, and other workmen and artificers whatsoever exercising any kind of maritime affairs, as well according to the said civil and maritime laws and the customs and ordinances aforesaid and their demerits as according to the laws and in conformity with the statutes and ordinances of our above-said Lord the King and of his kingdom of England aforesaid in that behalf made and provided and by the power to us in this behalf granted, and to deliver and absolutely discharge and cause and command to be discharged whatsover persons imprisoned in that behalf are to be discharged:
    15. 15. And [to preserve and cause to be preserved]230 the public rivers, ports, streams, and fresh waters and creeks whatsoever within the maritime jurisdiction aforesaid, wheresoever they are in the foresaid Island of Barbados and other places aforesaid and maritime parts of the same and to every of them adjacent whatsoever, for the preservation as well of the fleet of his Royal Majesty and of the fleets and vessels of his kingdoms and dominions as of whatsoever fishes increasing in the same rivers and places aforesaid:
    16. 16. And also to keep and cause and command to be executed and kept, in the said Island of Barbados and other islands, colonies, and plantations aforesaid and maritime and insular parts of the same and to every of them adjacent whatsoever, the ordinances and statutes whatsoever of our foresaid Lord the King and of his kingdom of England aforesaid in that behalf made and provided, in conformity with and according to the power to us in that behalf granted,231 and to do, exercise, expedite, and execute all and singular other things in the premises and in every of them, as they by right and according to the laws, statutes, and ordinances aforesaid should be done:
    17. 17. And moreover to punish, correct, and reform nets too close and other unlawful contrivances or instruments whatsoever for the catching of fishes wheresoever, by sea or public rivers, ports, streams, fresh waters, or creeks, throughout the foresaid Island of Barbados and other places aforesaid and maritime parts of the same or to any of the same adjacent whatsoever, used or exercised by water within the jurisdiction aforesaid wheresoever, and the exercisers or occupiers of them, according to the said statutes and ordinances of our foresaid Lord the King and of his kingdom of England aforesaid to the contrary made and provided, and to pronounce, promulgate, and interpose all manner of sentences and decrees and to put them232 in execution, with cognizance and jurisdiction of whatsoever other causes civil and maritime relate to the sea or in any manner of ways concern or respect the transit or passage of the sea, or naval or maritime voyage, or the maritime jurisdiction abovesaid, or the places or limits of the foresaid Admiralty of our Lord the King aforesaid and233 cognizance aforementioned, and [all] other things whatsoever done or to be done, with power also to proceed in the same according to the civil and maritime laws and the customs received and used in the court aforesaid, as well of mere office, mixed and promoted,234 as at the instance of any party, as the case shall require235 and it shall seem expedient:
    18. 18. Also with cognizance and decision concerning wreck of the sea, great or small, and concerning the death, drowning, and view of dead bodies of [all] persons whatsoever, howsoever killed or drowned or to be killed or drowned, or murdered or to be murdered, or in any other manner coming to their death in the sea or public rivers, ports, fresh waters, or creeks whatsoever within the flowing and ebbing of the sea and to high water mark [throughout]236 the foresaid Island of Barbados and other places aforesaid and maritime parts of the same and to any one of them adjacent whatsoever, or elsewhere within the jurisdiction aforesaid, also together with the keeping and preserving of the statutes of this Kingdom of England concerning wreck of the sea and concerning the office of coroner in the third and fourth years of Edward the First, and of the statute concerning goods robbed on the sea, etc., in the twenty-seventh year of Edward the Third, sometime Kings of England, respectively made and provided:237
    19. 19. And together with the cognizance of mayhem in the places aforesaid within the jurisdiction and the flowing and ebbing of the sea and water, there happening,238 with power also of punishing [all] delinquents in that kind whomsoever according to the exigency of the law and the custom of our Principal Court of Admiralty aforesaid, and to do, exercise, and execute all and singular the other things which in the premises only and about them shall be necessary or in any way soever fitting, by and according to the laws civil and maritime and the statutes and ordinances aforesaid and the style, manner, and custom of the Principal Court of our foresaid Lord the King his Admiralty of Barbados and of other places aforesaid, and according to the tenor of the letters patent of our foresaid Lord the King to us thereupon granted, so far as they concern the office of Vice-Admiral and not otherwise (of which letters patent a copy is annexed to [these] presents):
    20. 20. To you, in whose fidelity and circumspection [and] zeal we confide very much in this behalf, we do commit by [these] presents and grant our place and authority in the said Island of Barbados and in other islands, colonies, and plantations aforesaid and maritime and insular parts of the same and to every of them adjacent whatsoever, and also throughout all and every the shores of the sea, public rivers, ports, streams, fresh waters, creeks, and arms as well of the sea as of rivers, and coasts whatsoever, of the same Island of Barbados and of other places aforesaid and maritime and insular parts of the same and to every of the same adjacent whatsoever, within liberties and franchises and without, with power of deputing and surrogating in your place in the premises one or more others as deputy or deputies as often as shall seem to you fitting, and also with power from time to time of naming, appointing, ordaining, assigning, and constituting whatsoever necessary, fit, and convenient officers and ministers (judge, register, and marshal always excepted) under you for the said office and exercise of the same in the said Island of Barbados and in other places aforesaid and maritime and insular parts of the same and to every of the same adjacent whatsoever, saving always our right of supreme admiralty of the said Island of Barbados and of other islands, colonies, and plantations aforesaid, from which we do not wish in anything to derogate by [these] presents, and saving the right of every one who shall be wronged or grieved by any definitive sentence or interlocutory decree in the Court of Admiralty aforesaid, to appeal to us or our Lieutenant, the Commissary General or Special239 by us constituted or to be constituted:
    21. 21. And you, the foresaid William Baron Willoughby, we do by these presents, which are to continue during our good pleasure only, ordain, appoint, and depute our Vice-Admiral, Commissary, and Deputy in the office of Vice-Admiralty in and throughout the whole Island of Barbados and other islands, colonies, and plantations aforesaid and maritime and insular parts of the same and to every of them adjacent whatsoever, and also together with all and every the fees, profits, advantages, emoluments, commodities, and appurtenances whatsoever due and belonging to the same office of
    22. Vice-Admiral, Commissary, or Deputy in the said Island of Barbados and other places aforesaid and maritime and insular parts of the same and to every of them adjacent whatsoever, according to the ordinances and statutes of the said High Court of our Lord the King his Admiralty of England:
    23. 22. Always provided, nevertheless, and under this stipulation and condition, that if you, the foresaid William Baron Willoughby, shall not yearly (to wit, at the end of every year between the feasts of Saint Michael the Archangel and All Saints or thereabout and as speedily as by reason of the distance of place and the uncertainty of the sea and winds it may conveniently be done) duly certify and cause to be effectually certified to us or our Lieutenant and our Commissary General or Special, by us appointed or to be appointed, concerning all that which from time to time by virtue of [these] presents you shall do, execute, collect, or receive in the premises or any of the premises, with your full and faithful account thereupon to be made under authentic form and to be sealed with the seal of the office aforesaid remaining in your custody, — from thence and after such default in that kind, our letters patent of the office of Vice-Admiralty to you (as is aforesaid) granted shall be null and void and of no force or effect:
    24. 23. Commanding further (on behalf of our Most Serene Lord the King and by his authority to us by his Highness in the premises for the due execution of the same granted) all and singular his governors, justices, mayors, sheriffs, captains, marshals, bailiffs, and keepers of [all] jails and prisons whatsoever of our said Lord the King, or constables and all other his officers and faithful subjects and lieges whomsoever, and every of them, as well within liberties and franchises as without, that, about the execution of the premises and of every of them, they be assiduous, favoring, assisting, submissive and, in such manner as is fitting, obedient in all things to you and to your deputy whomsoever and other officers (by you appointed or to be appointed) of our said Lord the King his Admiralty in the said Island of Barbados and other places aforesaid and maritime and insular parts of the same and to every of them adjacent whatsoever, under pain of contempt of the letters patent of our Lord the King himself and of his Royal Majesty and of the premises all and singular to us by the same letters patent made and granted and under the peril falling thereon.

    Given at Whitehall under our seal of Admiralty, representing an anchor, which we use in this behalf, on the 26th day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand, six hundred and sixty-six and in the year of the reign of our Most Serene Lord Charles the Second, by the Grace of God King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc., the eighteenth.

    JAMES

    By command of his Royal Highness

    William Coventry