On the 25th of March, 1763, the following persons presented themselves to me, Marinus Smijtegeld, public notary employed by the Noble Court of Holland, Zeeland, and West-Friesland, residing in Middelburg, Zeeland:

• Jan Minkenveld, captain;
• Daniël Prumelaar, chief mate;
• Johan Frantz Schutz, second mate;
• Adriaan de Puijt, third mate;
• Pieter Pietersen, boatswain;
• Otto Westman, boatswain’s mate;
• Isaäck de Vos, cooper’s mate;
• Pieter Gerol, main carpenter; and
• Jacobus Ranken and
• Cornelis the Hond, sailors.

All of them were sailing on the ship D’Eenigheijd, employed by the directors of the Commercie Compagnie.

We declare that the ship and its cargo were in perfect condition when we left Demerara RiverGuyanaRio Demerarij on the 18th of December, 1762 to sail back to the Netherlands. During this journey back, we experienced bad weather. From the 27th until the 31th of December 1762, the sea was very high, which led them to sail with double reefed topsails and sometimes with fixed topsails. Furthermore, a lot of water entered the ship.

From the 4th until the 9th of January 1763, the weather was as before. On the 11th and the 12th of January, the wind was between a double reefed topsail breeze and a lower sail breeze. On the 20th and the 21st of January the wind was a stiff double reefed topsail breeze. We experienced a lot of heavy wind with heavy showers and a high sea. We attached the topsails.

On the 23rd and the 24th the wind was a double reefed topsail breeze with heavy showers, and also sometimes a lower sail breeze. The sea was high. The 25th and 26th we pumped water out of the ship before the foresail, since there were heavy showers and storm. On the 30th of January we experienced a heavy storm with a wind that was between a double reefed topsail breeze and a lower sail breeze. A lot of water streamed to the pumps, which led us to pump throughout the night. We managed to get the water out before the wind, but not to get the ship running downwind. We put down the main staysail and were navigating with completely furled sails. We experienced a heavy storm from between the NNW and the NW, with a high sea, which caused one of the three cannons to fall overboard.

On the 31st of January we had their lower sails set with heavy showers of rain, wind, and hail, and a strong lightning. The 1st and the 2nd of February we pumped water out of the ship before the foresail, and there was a heavy storm.

From the 6th until the 13th of February we sometimes had their lower sail put up, also we had double reefed topsails. in the night from the 14th to the 15th of February, while being in The English Channelthe Canal, we started to become trapped along a lee shore. At first light we found themselves between the harbor of Plymouth and the lighthouse named near the roadstead of PlymouthEddystone. We managed to enter the harbor of Plymouth, while the storm was raging on. Also all the other ships that had been sailing around them, managed to enter the harbor.

The 2nd of March, we left the harbor of Plymouth, but were forced to re-enter it immediately and to stay their until the 20th of March, the day that they left again. On the 23rd of March, before the entering of Deurloo, they bumped into the a sandbank south of WestkapelleRassen due to a miscalculation or recklessness of the pilot named Thomas Broad. We had 10 inches of water at the pumps. The rudder was saved, but had still become unusable.

We managed to remove the sloop and the boat out of the ship to make it less heavy. However, in doing this, the sloop reversed, which caused the death of three people: the cook Thomas Dithmas, the main cooper Adriaan Hillebrand, and a certain Jacobus van de Putte, who sailed as a passenger while helping out as a sailor. The boat drifted away.

Thanks to good steering of the captain the ship gained some speed and reached a depth of water of 7 fathoms. We dropped the anchor and fired some cannon shots. A A steigerschuit (‘prance vessel’) was a Dutch riverboat steigerschuit came from Flushing around 2 o’clock.

We broke the rope of the anchor and got it out of the water. At 6 o’clock in the evening the ship anchored in Vlissingen. In the night we got southern of the Plaat. On the 24th we stayed there. A few carpenters came on board to repair the rudder and fix it again.

At 3 o’clock in the morning of the 25th of March, we raised anchor. At 5 o’clock they arrived in The roadstead of Rammekens near Flushing, Western Scheldt, the NetherlandsRammekens. We had between ten and twelve inches water at the pumps.

Furthermore, all the persons present declare that all disasters that occurred to them were caused by weather and wind, and thus not by the captain or any of his colleagues. All of  them have used proper seaman’s skills, with the exception of the pilot as mentioned before.

Passed at the roadstead of Rammekens in the ship D’Eenigheijd, in the presence of Pieter Both and Marinus Smijtegelt junior as witnesses.

These minutes are properly noted on a stamp worthy of 8 nickels.

Quod attestor

Marinus Smijtegelt, notaris publicus