Captaine Abraham Mootham
| Captaine Abraham Mootham | |
|---|---|
| Person | Captaine Abraham Mootham |
| Title | Captaine |
| First name | Abraham |
| Middle name(s) | |
| Last name | Mootham |
| Suffix | |
| Spouse of | |
| Widow of | |
| Occupation | Mariner |
| Secondary shorebased occupation | |
| Mariner occupation | Commander |
| Associated with ship(s) | Unnamed ship (Master: Captaine Abraham Mootham), Pelican ffrigott (Master: Captaine Abraham Mootham) |
| Training | Not apprentice |
| Is apprentice of | |
| Was apprentice of | |
| Had apprentice(s) | |
| Citizen | Unknown |
| Literacy | Signature |
| Has opening text | Captaine Abraham Mootham |
| Has signoff text | Abraham Mootham |
| Signoff image | (Invalid transcription image) |
| Language skills | English language |
| Has interpreter | |
| Birth street | |
| Birth parish | |
| Birth town | |
| Birth county | |
| Birth province | |
| Birth country | |
| Res street | |
| Res parish | |
| Res town | Redriff |
| Res county | Surrey |
| Res province | |
| Res country | England |
| Birth year | 1610 |
| Marriage year | |
| Death year | |
| Probate date | |
| First deposition age | 41 |
| Primary sources | |
| Act book start page(s) | |
| Personal answer start page(s) | |
| Allegation start page(s) | |
| Interrogatories page(s) | |
| Deposition start page(s) | HCA 13/65 f.48v Annotate |
| Chancery start page(s) | |
| Letter start page(s) | |
| Miscellaneous start page(s) | |
| Act book date(s) | |
| Personal answer date(s) | |
| Allegation date(s) | |
| Interrogatories date(s) | |
| Deposition date(s) | Aug 27 1651 |
| How complete is this biography? | |
| Has infobox completed | Yes |
| Has synthesis completed | No |
| Has HCA evidence completed | No |
| Has source comment completed | No |
| Ship classification | |
| Type of ship | Naval ship |
| Silver Ship litigation in 1650s | |
| Role in Silver Ship litigation | None |
Biographical synthesis
Captaine Abraham Mootham (b. ca. 1610; d. ?). Mariner.
Master of unnamed ship in 1651.
Master of the Pelican ffrigott around 1653.
Resident in Redriff in Surrey in 1651.
There was another naval captain with the surname Mootham, Captaine Peter Mootham, who was a social acquaintance of Samuel Pepys. According to Pepys, Mootham had been a slave at one time in Algiers.
Evidence from High Court of Admiralty
Forty-one year old Captaine Abraham Mootham deposed on Aug 27th 1651 in the High Court of Admiralty. He was examined on interrogatories on behalf of Espinoza and company in the case of "Michaell da Espinosa and others against Captaine Mootham".[1]
Abraham Mootham stated that he seized the ship the ffortuna, and found a box of papers which he brought from Portsmouth to London, and which were returned to Portsmouth by his Proctor Mr. Smith for use in the examination of witnesses in Portsmouth.[2]
The same Captaine Mootham is identified in a separate High Court of Admiralty case in October 1653, when he was master of the ship the Pelican ffrigott/ The case was known as "The clayme of George Bell Andrew Glen James Crawford Lewis Mounteth Thomas henderson George Wilson David Longlands David Mitchell Thomas Edwards Peter Steene and Richard ffalconer of Borestone in Scotland for the shipp the Noahs Arke otherwuse the Arke of which the sayd Richard ffalconer was Master and the tackle apparrell and furniture lately seized by the Pelican ffrigott whereof Captaine ?Mootham was Master".[3]
Comment on sources
1628
PROB 11/153/347 Will of Barnard Mootham, Mariner of Saint Katherine by the Tower of London 22 March 1628
1645
"(Letter) James Franklyn and Abraham Mootham to William Smith, 9 Mar. 1645, TCD, MS 818, fo.155r; History of the Irish confederation, iv.177."[4]
1660
"17. SAMUEL PEPYS TO CAPTAIN MOOTHAM
To Captain Mootheam, commander of the Foresight...Whitehall, 27 June 1660
SIR
I am to advise you in your passage into the Bay of Biscay that you are to forbear to surprise, block or molest any of the Spanish boats or vessels which you shall meet there. It is not thought proper to insert this in your instructions, wherefore you are desired to observe it as if it had. I am directed to give you private advice hereof and rest,
Your loving friend and humble servant
S.Pepys SECRETARY"[5]
1661
"1661. Feb. 8th. Captain Cuttle and Curtis, and Mootham, and I, went to the Fleeece Tavern to drink, and there we spent till four o'clock, telling stories of Algiers, and the manner of life of slaves there,. And truly Captain Mootham and Mr. Dawes, (who have been both slaves there) did make me fully acquainted with their condition there, as how they eat nothing but bread and water..." [6]- ↑ HCA 13/65 f.48v
- ↑ HCA 13/65 f.48v
- ↑ HCA 13/68 f.287v
- ↑ Elaine Murphy, Ireland and the War at Sea, 1641-1653 (Woodbridge, 2013), p.43
- ↑ Guy De la Bédoyère (ed.), The Letters of Samuel Pepys, 1656-1703 (Woodbridge, 2006), p.30
- ↑ Henry Morley (ed.), The Diary of Samuel Pepys , 1660-1661 (New York, XXXX), p.146
