Transcription from ‘Petitions in the State Papers: 1690s’, in Petitions in the State Papers, 1600-1699, ed. Brodie Waddell, British History Online, Samuel Shepheard, Gilbert Heathcote and Henry Tate on behalf of themselves and other owners of the Adventure. SP 32/11 f. 257 (1699).
To the Kings most excellent majesty
The humble petition of Samuel Shepheard, Gilbert Heathcote and Henry Tate in behalf of themselves and others, owners of the ship Adventure and cargo whereof Thomas Gullock was commander.
Sheweth.
That the 16th of March 1697/8 your petitioners did send the said ship Adventure on a voyage to Borneo in India which with her cargo cost above thirteen thousand pounds
That on the 17th of September last, when the captaine with 14 of the men were ashoare on the island of Nayas on the coast of Sumatra to take in some fresh water the major part of the seamen on board seized upon the chief mate and some others whom they sent ashoare, and then cutt the cable and rann away with the ship as by the affidavites hereunto annexed doth more fully appeare. And your petitioners haveing some hopes to find the said ship in the West Indies doe intend immediately to dispatch the said Captain Gullock to your majestys plantations there, and being informed that your majesty has already ordered a sixth rate friggatt to saile for New England.
Your petitioners doe humbly pray your majesty that the said Thomas Gullock may have your majestys orders to all your majestys governors deputy governors commanders of men of warr and all other your majestys officers and subjects to assist the said Thomas Gullock in the recovery of the said ship and cargo and apprehending the men
That the said sixth rate friggatt, which your majesty has ordered for New England may be hastened away and that the said Gullock with 5 or 6 men may have leave to goe in her.
And your petitioners as in duty bound shall ever pray etc
Report by Aelwyn Taylor
The petitioners were wealthy and influential merchants and traders whose ship named Adventure and its valuable cargo had been stolen by some of the crew while on a voyage to Borneo. When the captain and other members of the crew had gone ashore to get water, other crew members sailed the ship away. The petitioners believed that the ship might have been sailed by the mutineers to the West Indies and were requesting assistance from the monarch to help them recover their possessions. Specifically, they were requesting permission for Thomas Gullock, who had been the captain of the Adventure, to sail on a navy ship that would be leaving shortly for New England and also that the King would allow British officials in America to help find and arrest the criminals.
Samuel Shepheard or Shepherd (1648-1719)
According to the biography on the History of Parliament website, there is uncertainty about Samuel Shepheard’s background and early life.[1] He was married on 23 September 1673 to Mary, daughter of Edward Chamberlain and died on 4 January 1719 survived by his wife and two sons, Samuel, and Francis.[2]
He was a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Vinters and amassed an immense fortune through his success in the Mediterranean wine trade. Subsequently he diversified into other commodities and became renowned for his success as a merchant for shipping and foreign trade, especially to the East Indies. He was well-known as an ‘interloper merchant’ campaigning against the monopoly of the East India Company and had a prominent role in the founding of the New East India Company in 1698.
Samuel Shepheard also had political ambitions. He was a common councilman in the City of London representing Bridge in 1688-89 and then sought to provide seats for himself and his two sons in Parliament in the general election of 1701.[3] However, he was accused in the House of Commons of electoral corruption and it was resolved that he had practised ‘notorious bribery’ and he was sent to the Tower although it is uncertain how long he was imprisoned for. Shepheard resumed his career as a common councilman in 1702 representing Bishopsgate and continued to campaign for him and his sons to win seats in Parliament. Samuel was successful in 1705 and represented the City until 1708. His sons also became MPs.[4]
In 1708 Shepheard appeared before the Treasury to discuss the merger of the two East India Companies and the following year was elected one of the first directors of the united company. He was also a prominent figure in the new South Sea Company becoming its deputy governor in 1713. He maintained an influential position in commercial circles in London until his death.
Gilbert Heathcote (1652-1733)
Gilbert Heathcote was born on 2 January 1652, married on 30 May 1682 to Hester and died on 25 January 1733.[5] Heathcote and Shepheard were often linked in business activities.
Heathcote was the eldest son of an ironmonger in Chesterfield, Derbyshire where his father had achieved the status of a local alderman. Gilbert began his apprenticeship as a merchant overseas in 1671 and did not return to England to set himself up as a City trader until 1680. He became a Freeman of the Vinters Company in 1681 and Master in 1700. He became a Baltic merchant but soon diversified into the Mediterranean wine trade and Caribbean commerce. The breadth and scale of his trading activities quickly brought him prominence.
He also traded extensively in the East Indies. In 1693 a ship, of which he was part owner, was detained by the East India Company, which claimed a monopoly of the trade with India. He asserted at the bar of the House of Commons his right to trade wherever he pleased, unless restrained by Parliament, and the house declared by resolution against the company’s monopoly. In 1698 Heathcote was one of the first directors for the New East India company.
Heathcote and other interloper traders also proposed the establishment of a Bank of England and as one of the chief promoters of the scheme, he became one of the founding directors and remained a prominent figure in the Bank for the rest of his life.
In a long political life, Heathcote was first elected in London as a common councilman for Walbrook ward in 1689.[6] He stood for Parliament in 1698 but was defeated. He was returned as a Member of Parliament for the City of London at the first general election of 1701 but was expelled for his share in the circulation of some exchequer bills. However, he was returned at the second general election of 1701. He enjoyed much success under Queen Anne and was knighted by the Queen in October 1702, when she attended the mayor’s banquet at the Guildhall. At the 1705 election he was returned as MP for the City of London but lost his seat in 1710.
He became an alderman for Walbrook on 30 June 1702. He was elected Sheriff of London and served for the year 1703 to 1704.[7] Heathcote had made many enemies in his career so when in 1710 he was next in seniority for election as Lord Mayor of London, he was strongly opposed by the Tories but the court of aldermen finally elected him and he served in that position from 1710 to 1711. His unpopularity was the reason his Lord Mayor’s procession to Westminster was cut short but he was the last Lord Mayor to ride on horseback in the Mayoral procession.[8] In 1725 he changed wards and became Alderman for Bridge Without ward, for the rest of his life.
Gilbert Heathcote returned to Parliament in 1715 having won the seat for Helston, from 1722-1727 he sat for Lymington and then from 1727 until his death represented St Germans. He was created a baronet in 1733, eight days before his death in London on 25 January 1733 and was buried at Normanton Hall in Rutland, a residence which he had purchased in 1729.
Heathcote was one of the most successful merchants of his time and held many important roles in the City. When he died, he was called ‘the richest commoner in Great Britain’.[9]
Henry Tate
Henry Tate was a brewer ‘who kept a brewhouse in Thames Street,’ in London in partnership John Hammond.[10] He belonged to the Brewers’ Company and records show he took on apprentices in 1689 and 1693.[11]
Thomas Gullock
An account of Thomas Gullock’s seafaring and trading activities was written by Andrew Smith and states that Gullock was wealthy enough to be accepted as a merchant by the East India Company in 1691 and sailed to Madras, India where he was then based.[12] Various voyages including one to Borneo are described and also misfortunes which resulted in Gullock being imprisoned in India, but he managed to escape. He succeeded in returning to England so was available to take command of the Adventure when it sailed from England for Borneo in 1698.
The fateful journey
There are accounts of what happened to the Adventure in sources from official papers to family history websites, sometimes differing in detail but overall presenting a consistent story.
On 16 March 1698 the Adventure left Gravesend as an interloper trader to Borneo with a cargo said to be valued at more than £13,000 including opium, cloth, iron and lead and Spanish dollars (pieces of eight).[13] They sailed to the island of Polonis to take on water. While Captain Gullock and other men were ashore there was a mutiny on board, the anchor rope was cut and the ship sailed away. The mutineers were led by Joseph Bradish, the boatswain’s mate, who was a native of Massachusetts. He set a course stopping at Mauritius and Ascension Island for supplies before heading to New England.
After the mutineers shared out the silver and other valuable items, the ship was sunk off Rhode Island and the men dispersed among the New England colonies where many of them had originated.[14] Meanwhile, Captain Gullock eventually managed to return to England.
Outcome of the petition
The owners of the ship successfully petitioned the King. On 1 April 1699, the Minutes of Council of Massachusetts records a ‘Proclamation ordered for apprehending Joseph Bradish and his accomplices’.[15] Captain Gullock sailed to New England and made contact on arrival with the Earl of Bellomont, the Governor of New York and began the task of recovering the stolen cargo. Although many of the pirates were arrested and some of the money was found, there were disputes about how much of it should be returned to England.[16]
Bradish was captured, escaped and then recaptured. In 1700 he was sent back to England aboard HMS Advice along with fellow pirate Captain William Kidd and Thomas Gullock was also on board. On arrival Bradish was tried, convicted and hanged at Execution Dock, Wapping in London, aged 27 years. He became notorious for this mutiny.[17]
References
[1] SHEPHEARD, Samuel (c1648-1719) of St Magnus the Martyr, and Bishopsgate Street, London The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1690-1715 edited by D Hayton, E Cruickshanks, S Handley: https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1690-1715/member/shepheard-samuel-i-1648-1719
[2] ‘Find My Past’: https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=GBOR%2FBIL%2FSOG37%2F0266&parentid=GBPRS%2FBIL%2F00217104.
[3] J. R. Woodhead, ‘Salmon – Sykes’, in The Rulers of London 1660-1689 A Biographical Record of the Aldermen and Common Councilmen of the City of London (London, 1966), pp. 143-159. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/london-rulers/1660-89/pp143-159.
[4] SHEPHEARD, Samuel II (1671-1739) of London and Exning Suff. The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1690-1715 edited by D Hayton, E Cruickshanks, S Handley (2002)https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1690-1715/member/shepheard-samuel-ii-1677-1748; SHEPHEARD, Francis (1676-1748) of London and Exning Suff. The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1690-1715 edited by D Hayton, E Cruickshanks, S Handley(2002) https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1690-1715/member/shepheard-francis-1676-1739.
[5] HEATHCOTE, Gilbert (1652-1733) of St Swithin’s Lane; Leyton Essex, and Normanton, Rutland https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1690-1715/member/heathcote-gilbert-1652-1733.
[6] ‘HEATHCOTE, Gilbert’: https://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/london-rulers/1660-89/pp81-95#h3-0064.
[7] ‘Sir Gilbert Heathcote’: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Gilbert_Heathcote,_1st_Baronet.
[8] ‘London Aldermen’: https://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/london-aldermen/hen3-1912/pp195-211.
[9] HEATHCOTE, Gilbert (1652-1733) of St Swithin’s Lane; Leyton Essex, and Normanton, Rutland https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1690-1715/member/heathcote-gilbert-1652-1733; ‘London Aldermen’: https://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/london-aldermen/hen3-1912/pp195-211.
[10] T. Hutchinson, (Governor of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay.), The History of the Colony (Province) of Massachusetts Bay, Etc …, Vol. 2, p. 117 https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ZTZTgo97apAC&pg=PA117&lpg=PA117&dq=henry+tate+merchant+1699&source=bl&ots=t17CvySFzM&sig=ACfU3U222u-d-gdjs43Ypq3VKUxyWJTieQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjCnPPWuK7lAhVGQ8AKHS2IC_QQ6AEwD3oECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=henry%20tate%20merchant%201699&f=false.
[11] ‘Find My Past’: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=ORIGINS%2FLONDONAPPRENTICE%2F38293%2F93772
[12] A. Smith, ‘Misfortunes of English Trade with Sukadana at the end of the 17th Century’ (2015): https://arussungai.wordpress.com/2018/01/06/sukadana/.
[13] T. Hutchinson, (Governor of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay.), The History of the Colony (Province) of Massachusetts Bay, Etc …, Vol. 2, p. 117 https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ZTZTgo97apAC&pg=PA117&lpg=PA117&dq=henry+tate+merchant+1699&source=bl&ots=t17CvySFzM&sig=ACfU3U222u-d-gdjs43Ypq3VKUxyWJTieQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjCnPPWuK7lAhVGQ8AKHS2IC_QQ6AEwD3oECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=henry%20tate%20merchant%201699&f=false.
[14] Calendar of State Papers, Colonial series America and West Indies 1699, edited by Cecil Headlam https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=aPMVAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA124&lpg=PA124&dq=thomas+gullock+1699+america&source=bl&ots=IOdK42I6AQ&sig=ACfU3U1z2lCE2us-ZRkPd4lXhbSd4w15MQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiR7ZWbvsflAhXBmFwKHfXaDTcQ6AEwBXoECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=thomas%20gullock%201699%20america&f=false.
[15] ‘America and West Indies: April 1699, 1-4’, in Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies: Volume 17, 1699 and Addenda 1621-1698, ed. Cecil Headlam (London, 1908), pp. 124-130. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/colonial/america-west-indies/vol17/pp124-130.
[16] ‘America and West Indies: October 1699, 22-25’, in Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies: Volume 17, 1699 and Addenda 1621-1698, ed. Cecil Headlam (London, 1908), pp. 482-500. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/colonial/america-west-indies/vol17/pp482-500 Oct 24
[17] ‘Joseph Bradish’: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Bradish; E. Rowe Snow, Pirates and Buccaneers of the Atlantic Coast (1994): https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=JHI5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT3&lpg=PT3&dq=joseph+bradish+hanged&source=bl&ots=.
This report is part of a series on ‘Petitioners in the reigns of James II, William III and Mary II, 1685-1699’, created through a U3A Shared Learning Project on ‘Investigating the Lives of Seventeenth-Century Petitioners’.