Suriname to Jamaica aboard the Henry and Sarah, 1675

In July 1667, the Peace of Breda ended the second Anglo-Dutch war. Under the terms of peace Surinam was ceded to the Dutch (Zeeland). The Articles of Surrender of the Colony of Surinam were agreed, upon the ship Zealand, on 16 March 1667 and confirmed by the Breda treaty. These articles provided for the British subjects’ removal from Surinam, they did not remove. The Treaty of Westminster in 1673 again allowed for the removal of the British subjects and in 1675 commissioners were sent from England to bring away “his Majesty’s subjects, their slaves, goods, and estates.” Removal was voluntary.

Along with the HMS Hercules, two merchant ships were hired for the transportation to Jamaica, the America and the Henry and Sarah. The ships departed Surinam in August 1675 and landed at Jamaica in September 1675.

List of those transported in his Majesty’s hired ship, Henry and Sarah, viz.:

Anne Waller, daughter and a little negro, with 12 negroes and 2 Indians

Charles Graves, wife, 2 children, maid, and 3 little negroes, with 16 negroes and 6 Indians

Austin Gabriell, maid, and 2 little negroes, with 13 negroes and 2 Indians

Will. White, wife, daughter, 3 little negroes with 14 negroes and 1 Indian

Will. Pauer, wife and son

Teag Matemarah and wife, with 1 negro

Alexr. Godding, wife, 2 children, and 4 little negroes, with 10 negroes

Alex. Wilson, wife, child and 1 little negro, with 4 negroes and 4 Indians

Henry Pearson, wife and 2 children

Edwd. Wooton, with 2 little negroes, and 5 negroes and two Indians

Thomas Wright, wife and maid, with 4 negroes

Peter Clerke, wife and sister, with three negroes and 3 Indians

Will. Davis, wife and child, John Smith, John Westwood, and William Fowler, with 19 slaves belonging to Davis

Will. Creek, wife and 4 children

Will. Heath, wife, 3 children, and 2 little negroes, with 4 negroes and 3 Indians

John Morris, 2 little negroes, and 4 negroes

Abrah. Baker

John Chambers, wife and 2 children, with 6 negroes and 1 Indian

Edward Edy, wife, 2 children, 2 whites and 5 negroes

Alex. Simms, 2 little negroes, and 5 negroes

Samuel Pincheon, wife, 2 children, and 1 negro

Thomas Scattergood, a child, and 1 negro

George Mascall, a little negro, 3 negroes and 2 Indians

Samuel When, wife, 1 negro and 1 Indian

Robert Gheste, with one Indian

Stephen Fisher, wife, 1 child, 2 little, 3 negroes and 1 Indian

Leonard Pollard, with 1 negro

Saml. Starling, wife, 2 negroes and 2 Indians

George Carter, Daniel young, Isaac Richardson, Will. Ruddyford, Tho. Foster with 3 negroes, and James Watkins

Total 81 Christians, 31 Indians, and 120 negroes.

Sainsbury, W. Noel, ed., Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series (Volume 9), America and West Indies, 1675-1676, also Addenda, 1574-1674, Preserved in the Public Record Office (Vaduz: Kraus Reprint Ltd., 1964) First Published London: HMSO, 1893. pp. 285-287.

More information about Surinam’s history can be found in the books:

Stedman’s Surinam Life in an Eighteenth-Century Slave Society

and:

The Dutch in the Caribbean and in Surinam, 1791/5-1942

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