Jacob Martyn
| Jacob Martyn | |
|---|---|
| Person | Jacob Martyn |
| Title | |
| First name | Jacob |
| Middle name(s) | |
| Last name | Martyn |
| Suffix | |
| Spouse of | |
| Widow of | |
| Occupation | Mariner |
| Secondary shorebased occupation | |
| Mariner occupation | |
| Associated with ship(s) | Lyon (Master: John Lambert) |
| Training | Not apprentice |
| Is apprentice of | |
| Was apprentice of | |
| Had apprentice(s) | |
| Citizen | Unknown |
| Literacy | Marke |
| Has opening text | Jacob Martyn |
| Has signoff text | X |
| 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 | Shadwell |
| Res parish | Stepney |
| Res town | |
| Res county | Middlesex |
| Res province | |
| Res country | England |
| Birth year | 1633 |
| Marriage year | |
| Death year | |
| Probate date | |
| First deposition age | 22 |
| Primary sources | |
| Act book start page(s) | |
| Personal answer start page(s) | |
| Allegation start page(s) | |
| Interrogatories page(s) | |
| Deposition start page(s) | HCA 13/70 f.521v 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) | Sep 29 1655 |
| 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 | Possibly a naval ship |
| Silver Ship litigation in 1650s | |
| Role in Silver Ship litigation | None |
Biographical synthesis
Jacob Martyn (b. ca. 1633; d. ?). Mariner.
Member of the crew of the Lyon and partly responsible for saving a derelict French whaling ship at sea.
Resident in 1655 in Shadwell.
Evidence from High Court of Admiralty
Twenty-two year old Jacob Martyn deposed on September 29th 1655 in the High Court of Admiralty.[1] He was examined on interrogatories on behalf of the Lord Protector in the case "On the behalfe of his Highnesse the Lord Protector touching a derelict taken by Captaine Lambert and company in the Lyon."[2]
Jacob Martyn stated that a derelict ship was found sixteen leagues south of Lands End when the ship the Lyon (Commander: Captaine John Lambert) was on her way home from the West Indies. Martyn described her condition, saying "Her hold being then full of water up to the gunne deck, her yardes and riggeing being all shattered and torne and lying upon the deck utterly unserviceable, there being noe person liveing in her." Captaine Lambert ordered thirty-six men to go aboard the derelict to endeavour to save her. Thomas Trippett, former boatswain of the Paragon, was put in charge, but he judged it impossible to save her and made a formal protest.[3]
Jacob Martyn claims that he himself was determined to save the derelict, and requested further help from Captaine Lambert, and a replacement master. Lambert sent a Thomas ffortescue and forty-five men. Martyn describes how " with much hazard of their lives and continuall labour at two pumpes, and by the labour of divers of the Company stood naked and bayled water continually, did at length bring the sayd Rack or derelict on shoare at Bricksham Key within Torbay, where they were forced to put in for preservation of their lives and what goods were on board and might bee saved, they not being able to reach Dartmouth (whether they intended) by reason they had much winde at South." Patchning up her leaks in Torbay, the ship was then towed to Dartmoutgh, where she now remains, her goods having been unloaded.
The ship was evidently a whaling ship. The ship's lading consisted of forty tons of trayne oil, seventy tons of empty casks, thirty bundles of hoops, a great copper, and twenty-four seal skins. Martyn believes that the ship was from Bayon in France, and that her crew had been French.[4] Th e4ship had seemingly been abandoned after being badly damaged in a fight with another ship.[5]
