Two rare survivors from the world of 18th-century merchant shipping and Bottomry contracts / marine finance

1) 1779 Georgian maritime manuscript concerning a £50 loan “on the Bottom of your Ship”.

Dated Sunderland, 14 October 1779, this is a highly collectable working maritime paper - handwritten, commercial, ship-related, legally charged, and full of period character. A highly displayable original document with strong appeal for collectors of maritime ephemera, bottomry bonds, Georgian trade, Sunderland shipping, naval history and early British commercial law.

Bottomry was a specialised maritime financing arrangement in which a shipowner or master borrowed money for a voyage using the vessel’s hull ("bottom") as collateral. If the ship is lost at sea, the lender forfeited the loan; if it completes the voyage safely, the borrower repays the principal plus high interest.

Transcription

“Sir,

you are hereby Required to pay me the sum of fifty pounds Lent on the Bottom of your Ship at the end of two months from this day together with all the Interest to be then due pursuant to proviso contained in the Deed for that purpose”

Yours Ann Forster

Addressed to: Mr Samuel Burleigh

Dated: October ye 14th day 1779

Place: Sunderland

2) Receipt for Nine Pounds in full for half year's interest ... on security of the Ship Providence by way of Bottomry

Signed by Alice Meadley

Condition

Original antique manuscript documents with age toning, edge wear, and small losses including bill spike holes.