In the Admiralty Court of the Cinque Ports on 05-JAN-1705 (1706 New Style) the claim was heard for the cargo saved from the ship PEST OF SARANAM, of Amsterdam. The cargo included linen, silks, flannels, calicoes and perfumes. She was lost in Sandwich Bay. (1)

NB: the name of the ship appears to have been PEST OF SARANAM, but the word 'PEST' did not have an initial capital letter in the manuscript. [original compiler's note.] It is possible, but unlikely, that the name of the vessel may have been something like "PEST VAN SARANAM", or a variant thereof. In Dutch the word "pest" means "plague", as it did in 17th century English; however, "Saranam" clearly appears to be a variant of Suriname, then a Dutch colony. This indicates that whatever her name was the vessel may well have come from Suriname, which appears to be borne out by her cargoes, which could conceivably have come from the known cotton plantations there, and that there was plague on board. The name of the vessel therefore remains unknown, but her departure point appears clear and she may therefore be a Dutch West Indiaman; Amsterdam had a chamber of the Dutch West India Company [Geoctroyeerde Westindische Compagnie, or GWC], giving a potential homeward-bound voyage to Amsterdam. Finally no Dutch East Indiaman with a name similar to "Pest" or "Pest van Saranam" has been located, in Dutch East India Company websites, giving some credence to the suggestion that the vessel may have been a West Indiaman. The name has therefore been indexed as a sobriquet only. (2)

Prior to the introduction of the Gregorian ("New Style") Calendar in England in 1752, the Julian ("Old Style") Calendar was in use, with the New Year additionally beginning on 25th March. Thus dates between 1st January and 24th March inclusive, according to Old Style, were one year behind the modern New Style reckoning, still in use; in this case the New Style year is 1706, the Old Style 1705. However, since the court case was held on 5th January, there is every possibility that the vessel was in fact lost towards the end of the year 1705. (2)

Date of Loss Qualifier: Reporting date of loss

Historic England archive material: 969665 Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. Admiralty Court in Session. Centre for Kentish Studies. Reference records created for RCHME Maritime Section, 5/6/95.

<1> Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. Admiralty Court in Session. Centre for Kentish Studies., CPW/AS.2 1663-1741, Page Nos. N/a (Bibliographic reference). SKE6424.