| More information : Prior History:
The following catalogue entry for this record, in its date within four years of the loss, and the connection with Virginia, may suggest documentary evidence for the prior history of the lost vessel, but, given that there were other contemporary GOLDEN LYONs, this may not necessarily be conclusive.
'B. St Michel, muster master, Deal. List of named soldiers of Captain Meoles' company bound to Virginia mustered 28 November 1676, the Downs, on board the GOLDEN LYON, John Webber master.' (6)
Secondary Sources:
Sources (1) and (3) give date of loss as 1681, source (2) as December 1680, followed by source (5), specifying 28 December 1680; source (9) states 14 November 1680, based on primary sources and is therefore the preferred source for the account of the loss.
Secondary sources derived from, and citing, primary sources:
The wreck of the GOLDEN LYON from Virginia took place on 14 November 1680. The second mate, Ralph Bromwell, complained to Trinity House comparing the state of the light from St. Agnes' lighthouse 'hardly to be discerned' as they approached, and it being 'very clear' as they fired their distress guns. (Guildhall Library, Corporation of Trinity House, Select Entries, Vol.2, 20 November 1680, p145)
This led to suspicions of the lighthouse keeper Hockin plundering the wreck:
'Further information is given [by Bromwell] that you took of the Seamens Cloths & Goods of the Ship as Soap & Serge & hid them in the Coals denying them until they were found by an Officer upon Search . . . ' (Guildhall Library, Corporation of Trinity House, Select Entries, Vol.2, Veagleman to Hockin, 28 December 1680).
The matter was settled on further investigation and Hockin cleared, with a letter from Thomas Ekins:
' . . . though he denyed them to the said Bromhall [sic] & others yet he owned and delivered them to the Captaine M'chant & others concerned who gratified him for his Paines.' (Guildhall Library, Corporation of Trinity House, MS 30004, Court Minutes, Vol.5, 1676-1681, 8 February 1680/81 [Old/New Style], p199) (9)
Secondary Sources not citing primary sources:
A Virginian trading vessel lost on rocks off St. Agnes. The warning beacon fire in the then recently completed St. Agnes lighthouse was not lit until after the ship struck. The lighthouse keeper was subsequently found guilty of negligence and of stealing part of the cargo. (1)(2)(3)
Source (2) also gives an account for December 1680:
'The Virginian GOLDEN LION was wrecked. The keeper of St. Agnes lighthouse, which had been lit for the first time on 30 October that year, was stated to have been inattentive to the light and to have plundered some of the cargo.' (2)
Referenced to the Royal Commission on Ancient Manuscripts [sic], 1907, suggesting that the date was 28-DEC-1680. (4)
Commentary and Interpretive Detail:
Nationality and Characterisation of Vessel:
Source (6) suggests a plausible antecedent for this vessel in its date four years prior to the loss event and in its connection with Virginia, particularly because the vessel in that instance was clearly intended to voyage direct to Virginia. The transport of troops suggests that the vessel was English and the loss of the vessel as described in all sources, but particularly in source (9), based on primary sources, suggests that she was homeward-bound at the time of loss. However, see comments on the cargo below. (8)
Her status as a 'Virginiaman' as these vessels were known in contemporary parlance, trading direct between England and Virginia, suggests that this vessel was not implicated in the Middle Passage from Africa to the American colonies with slaves, although she would undoubtedly have traded the products of slave labour directly between Virginia and England. (5)(8)
Name and Identification of Vessel:
In its connection with Virginia, and closeness in date to the lost vessel, the vessel referred to in (6) may be the same vessel as the lost vessel, but the identification cannot be confirmed since the name GOLDEN LION or LYON is attested in at least four other records in the present database between 1579 and 1783, one of which is near contemporary, 1690. However, by the same token, the name occurs infrequently.
There are two records in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database (7) for a GOLDEN LYON which set out from London for slaving voyages in 1667 and 1678, respectively belonging to the Company of Royal Adventurers of England and the Royal African Company, different successive names for the same company, so may reference the same vessel in that trade, but these vessels respectively landed slaves in Barbados (1667) and Barbados and Nevis (1678) so do not seem to be identifiable with a Virginiaman.
However, again, they illustrate that the name GOLDEN LYON was used for more than one contemporary vessel.
There are no entries for a GOLDEN LION in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database. (8)
Date of Loss:
Regarding the date, source (9) is based on primary sources and is therefore the preferred source for the date of loss on 14 November 1680.
It seems clear that a common primary source relating to the activities of the lighthouse has been accessed by all the secondary sources, but that some detail interpretable as December 1680 has been accessed or transcribed and is common to (2) and (4), whereas (1) and (3) offer an interpretation of the year of 1681. The sources whence these details came remains unclear but is secondary to the examination of the wreck event in (9). (8)
Direction of Voyage:
Sources (1) to (4) inclusive characterise the vessel solely as a Virginia trader, without specifying the direction of the voyage. Source (9) states that the vessel was 'from Virginia', which must derive from the primary accounts, but the primary account of the vessel's voyage is not given in (9) as this is not the focus of the article.
Contemporary cargo exports of soap and serge, as described in the primary source cited in (9) can be found in records of vessels from Bristol, which sailed to Meriland (Maryland) and Virginia with serge in 1679, and also carried soap to Virginia in the same year. (10) Soap was a significant export from the 'British Continental Colonies' by 1770 but was largely exported to the West Indies and not back to England, while tobacco was the primary export from Virginia, as evidenced in (11) and by other wrecks in the present database from Virginia. This may suggest that the vessel was, in fact outward- rather than homeward-bound. (8)
Sources:
Source (9) is the only secondary source providing citations for the primary source material used, principally from Guildhall Library, Corporation of Trinity House sources, and is therefore the preferred account of the wreck event.
The source or sources common to (1)(2) and (3) are not identified but may derive from some of the secondary sources cited in (9) as romanticising the wreck event.
Source (4) cites the Royal Commission on Ancient Manuscripts, 1907. This is presumed to have been either the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, 17th Report, which was published 1907; the report on the Manuscripts of the Earl of Ancaster, also 1907, published by the same Commission; or the Report on American Manuscripts in the Royal Institution of Great Britain, published 1904 but presented to Parliament in 1907 according to Hansard, 7 August 1907. The keywords 'Agnes', 'Lion', 'Lyon', 'Scilly' and 'Virginia' were not found in any of these texts, or at least not in the context of a GOLDEN LION or GOLDEN LYON being lost. As at May 2023, this source is therefore untraced. (8)
As at May 2023, no records for this vessel traced in the following resources by keyword search: Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Charles II, 1680-1; in Dutch newspapers accessed on Delpher.nl (potentially preserving news from English-language sources no longer extant); and in the London Gazette. (8)
Master: Rich (9)
Date of Loss Qualifier: Approximate date of loss
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