The Journal of Negro History, Volume 4, 1919

It has seemed to the author as if the English African companies were a very profitable field of historical investigation. Therefore, the present dissertation on the Company of Royal Adventurers will be followed shortly by a history of the Royal African Company, 1672-1752.

For assistance in writing the history of the Royal Adventurers Trading into Africa I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to the librarians, and officials of the British Record Office, the British Museum, the Bodleian Library at Oxford, the Rijks Archief at The Hague, and the Cornell University Library. To Professor R. C. H. Catterall, now deceased, I am greatly indebted for reading the manuscript of this book, and for many valuable suggestions. Above all, I wish to express my deep appreciation to my wife, Susie Zook, for her unfailing inspiration and her constant assistance in the writing of this book.

CHAPTER I

Early Dutch and English Trade to West Africa

In 1581 the seven United Provinces of the Netherlands declared their independence of Spain. As the intrepid Dutch sailors ventured out from their homeland they met not only the ships of their old master, Philip II, but those of the Portuguese as well. Since the government of Portugal had just fallen into the hands of Philip II the Dutch ships could expect no more consideration from Portuguese than from Spanish vessels. Notwithstanding the manifest dangers the prospects of obtaining the coveted products of the Portuguese colonies inspired the Dutch to such a great extent that in 1595 Bernard Ereckson sailed to the west coast of Africa, at that time usually called Guinea. There he and the Dutch who followed him discovered that the Portuguese had long occupied the trading points along the coast, and had erected forts and factories wherever it seemed advisable for the purpose of defense and trade. The Dutch merchants and sailors turned their dangerous situation into an opportunity to despoil the weakened Portuguese of their forts and settlements in Africa.

On August 25, 1611, the Dutch made a treaty with a native prince by which a place called Maurée was ceded to them. In the following year they erected a fort at that place which they named Fort Nassau.92 Shortly after this, in 1617, they bought the island of Goree at Cape Verde from the natives in that region. Four years later the West India Company was formed, its charter including not only the West Indies and New Amsterdam but also the west coast of Africa. This new organization found much in the new world to occupy its attention but it did not neglect the Guinea coast. The Dutch realized that the African trade was indispensable to their West India colonies as a means of supplying slave labor. Hostilities, therefore, were continued against the Portuguese who still had possession of the principal part of the African trade. In 1625 the Dutch made a vigorous attempt to capture the main Portuguese stronghold at St. George d'Elmina which had been founded on the Gold Coast in 1481.93 They were unsuccessful at that time but in 1637 Prince Maurice of Nassau with 1,200 men succeeded in capturing this base of the Portuguese trade.94 In 1641 a ten years' truce was signed between Portugal and the United Provinces, but before the news of the truce had reached the coast of Guinea the Dutch had taken another of the Portuguese strongholds at Axim which, according to the terms of the treaty, they were permitted to retain. From these various places factories were settled along the coast, and treaties made with the native rulers. Furthermore, in the treaty of peace, August 6, 1661, the Dutch retained the forts and factories which they had conquered from the Portuguese on the African coast.95 After the truce of 1641 and the peace of 1661, therefore, the Dutch regarded themselves as having succeeded to the exclusive claims of the Portuguese to a large portion of the west coast of Africa including a monopoly of the trade to the Gold Coast.96

Although it was the Dutch who succeeded in depriving the Portuguese of the most important part of the West African coast, the interest shown by the English in this region can be traced back to a much earlier date. In 1481, when two Englishmen were preparing an expedition to the Guinea coast, John II, king of Portugal, despatched an ambassador to the English king, to announce the overlordship of Guinea which he had recently assumed, and to request that the two Englishmen should refrain from visiting the Guinea coast. Edward IV complied with this request.97 Thereafter no English expedition to Guinea was attempted until 1536 when William Hawkins, father of the famous John Hawkins, made the first of three voyages to Africa during which he also traded to Brazil. Again in 1553 Hawkins sent an expedition to the Gold Coast. Near Elmina the adventurers sold some of their goods for gold, and then proceeded to Benin where they obtained pepper, or "Guinea graines," and elephants' teeth. After losing two-thirds of the crew from sickness the expedition returned to England.98 In the following year another expedition under Hawkins' direction secured several slaves in addition to a large amount of gold and other products.99 Also, in the years 1555, 1556, 1557, William Towrson made three voyages to the Guinea coast in which his ships were harassed by the Portuguese, who attempted to prevent them from trading. English cloth and iron wares were in such demand, however, that notwithstanding this opposition a lucrative trade was obtained.100

Beginning with 1561 Queen Elizabeth lent her influence and assistance to a series of voyages to the African coast. Not only did she permit the use of four royal vessels for the first expedition but she spent five hundred pounds in provisioning them for the voyage. The value of the goods sent to Africa in these vessels was five thousand pounds. According to the arrangement Queen Elizabeth received one-third of the profits, which amounted to one thousand pounds.101 In the year 1563 similar arrangements were made with the queen for another voyage to the Gold Coast, during which there was considerable trouble with the Portuguese. Notwithstanding this opposition the ships succeeded in returning to England with a quantity of elephants' teeth and Guinea grains.102 In 1564, an expedition composed of three ships, one of which belonged to Queen Elizabeth, was particularly unfortunate. One of these ships was blown up, while the other two were attacked by the Portuguese and probably had to return without obtaining any African products.103

In these voyages to Guinea the English trade had been in exchange for gold, elephants' teeth and pepper. Trading for slaves had scarcely occurred to these early adventurers. Nevertheless, as early as 1562, John Hawkins sailed for Sierra Leone with three vessels, and there captured three hundred Negroes whom he sold to the Spaniards in Hispaniola.104 The success of this voyage was so great that in 1564 there was fitted out a second slave raiding expedition in which one of the queen's ships, the Jesus, was employed. As before, Hawkins sold his slaves in the West Indies, this time with some difficulty, because the Spanish officials, who were forbidden to have any trade with foreigners, regarded the Englishmen as pirates.105

Again, in 1567, Hawkins was on his way to Guinea. By playing off one set of natives against another he procured about 450 slaves and once more set out for the Spanish Indies. Although at first the voyage promised to be successful, he was later set upon by a number of Spanish ships and barely escaped with his life and one badly wrecked vessel.106

Hawkins' voyages to Africa are worthy of note because he was the first Englishman to engage in the slave trade. To be sure, his piratical seizure of free Negroes broke all the rules of honorable dealing long recognized on the African coast. As a result of his actions the natives held all Englishmen in great distrust for a number of years.107 The unregulated method of carrying on the African trade, pursued up to this time, ceased to a certain extent when Queen Elizabeth granted the first patent of monopoly to the west coast of Africa, May 3, 1588.

The charter of 1588 gave to certain merchants of Exeter, London and other places in England for ten years an exclusive trade to that portion of West Africa lying between the Senegal and Gambia rivers. The great slave and gold producing country of the Gold Coast remained open to all traders. It was therefore evident that, instead of continuing the slave raiding projects of Hawkins, the company intended to resume the exchange of English manufactures for African products. According to its charter the company was not required to pay duties in England either on imports or exports.108 Although nothing is known of the success of this company, the patent was regarded as of sufficient importance for the earl of Nottingham and others to obtain a continuation of the monopoly.109

Since the charter of these Senegal adventurers did not prevent anyone from resorting to the Gold Coast and the regions to the east thereof, two voyages were made to Benin, one in 1588 and another in 1590.110 In 1592 certain English merchants received a patent from the queen authorizing them to trade to certain specified portions of Africa.111 The trade to Africa continued in this desultory fashion until 1618. At that time a patent comprising the whole explored western coast of Africa south of the territory of the Barbary Company was granted to some thirty persons, among whom the most important was Sir William St. John, who was said to have built the first English fort in Africa.112 The early years of their trade, which consisted in the exchange of English for African products, was especially unfortunate. Vessels were either lost or brought back small returns. After 1621 it was difficult to procure fresh additions of capital. To add to this trying situation, the House of Commons attacked the company's monopoly and, later, voted it to be a grievance. Thereafter, although the company sometimes issued licenses for the African trade, the interlopers who resorted to Africa quite freely, usually did not deem it necessary to obtain them.113

The moving spirit of the next company, which received a patent in 1631, was Sir Nicholas Crispe, who had been a successful interloper during the life of the previous company. In 1624 he had built the first permanent English settlement at Kormentine. Although not incorporated, this company enjoyed for thirty-one years a monopoly of trade to all the region lying between Cape Blanco and the Cape of Good Hope. Just previous to the Civil War Charles I confirmed the charter for twenty years. The company's monopoly was looked on with disfavor by the leaders of the Puritan party, however, and in 1649 the company was summoned before the Council of State, where it was accused of having procured its charter by undue influences. Later, the company's case was considered by the committee of trade, and finally, on April 9, 1651, the Council of State recommended that the company's monopoly to that part of West Africa extending from a point twenty miles north of Kormentine to within twenty miles of the Sierra Leone River be continued for fourteen years.114

This company also suffered numerous misfortunes on the African coast. A factory which the English had set up at Cape Corse in April, 1650, was seized the following year by some Swedes who for several years thereafter made it the seat of their trade in Guinea.115 Notwithstanding this fact the Swedes permitted the English to retain a lodge at Cape Corse with which the agents at Kormentine sometimes traded.116 Even after the place was seized by Hendrik Carloff, a Danish adventurer, in 1658, the English seem to have been allowed to remain at Cape Corse. By this time, however, the English African Company had become unable to support its factories on the coast of Guinea. Therefore they were turned over to the English East India Company, and became occasional stopping places for its vessels on their way to and from the East Indies.

CHAPTER II

The Royal Adventurers in England

On account of the collapse of the king's cause at the death of Charles I, Prince Rupert, with his small fleet of royal vessels, was driven about from one part of the world to another. In 1562 he sought refuge in the Gambia River,117 where he listened to stories told by natives of rich gold mines in that region. For a number of years the Negroes had brought gold from the inland of Africa to the Dutch on the Gold Coast. There seemed every reason to believe that the source of this gold supply was none other than that described by the natives of the Gambia River, and that it might be discovered somewhere in that region. Prince Rupert was so much impressed with the possibility of finding these mines that his voyage to Guinea was still vivid in his memory when Charles II assumed the throne in 1660. In the duke of York and other royal courtiers he found a group of willing listeners who determined to form a company for the purpose of sending an expedition to the Gambia to dig for gold. As early as October 3, 1660, the plans were formulated. Each member was required to invest at least £250 in the undertaking118. On December 18, 1660, the king, who was pleased with the adventurers for having "undertaken so hopeful an enterprise," granted them a charter119 under the name of "The Company of the Royal Adventurers into Africa."120

By this charter the Royal Adventurers received the land and the adjacent islands on the west coast of Africa from Cape Blanco to the Cape of Good Hope, for a period of one thousand years beginning with "the making of these our Letters Patents if the … grant (made to Crispe's company in 1631) be void and determined." If, however, the former charter was still regarded as in force, the grant to the Royal Adventurers was to be effective upon the surrender or the expiration of the former company's privileges.121 A committee of six men, the earl of Pembroke, Lord Craven, Sir George Carteret, William Coventry, Sir Ellis Leighton and Cornelius Vermuyden, was named to have charge of the company's affairs. No mention was made of the office of governor or of any court of directors. Apparently it was thought that the committee of six could direct all of the company's affairs. In Africa, this committee was empowered to appoint the necessary agents and officials and to raise and maintain whatever soldiers were necessary to execute martial law. The company had the right to admit new members if it desired. The king himself reserved the privilege of becoming an adventurer at any time and to invest an amount of money not exceeding one-sixteenth of the company's stock.

Furthermore, it was provided that the king "shall have, take and receive two third parts of all the gold mines which shall be seized possesed and wrought in the parts and places aforesaid, we … paying and bearing two third parts of all the charges incident to the working and transporting of the said gold." The company was to have the other third and bear the remainder of the expense. That this provision was not a matter of mere form, as in so many of the royal charters, is evident from the stimulus which had led to the formation of the company. Indeed in one part of the charter the purpose of the company is presented as "the setting forward and furthering of the trade intended (redwood, hides, elephants' teeth) in the parts aforesaid and the encouragement of the undertakers in discovering the golden mines and setting of plantations there." The trade in slaves was not mentioned in the charter.

Even before they had obtained this charter the organizers of the new company induced the king to lend them five of his Majesty's ships. These vessels, the "Henrietta," "Sophia," "Amity," "Griffin" and "Kingsale," were loaded with goods, tools and chemicals necessary for the working of the projected gold mines. Captain Robert Holmes, who had been with Prince Rupert in 1652, was given charge of the expedition; but the goods and necessities were consigned to William Usticke and two other factors of the company.122 In December, 1660, the five vessels set out on their voyage to the Gambia River, where they arrived in the following March. There Holmes seized the island of St. André, then occupied by a feeble number of the subjects of the duke of Courland. Since the latter place was protected by a small fort the English began preparations to make it the seat of their operations in that region. Not long after they arrived, however, a fire destroyed the fortification and a large part of the goods which had been brought from England. Under these circumstances they chose to abandon that island, and to settle on two others which were better situated for defense and trade. These they named Charles Island and James Island in honor of their royal patrons. The latter was by far the most advantageously situated, and became the main stronghold of the English in the northern part of Africa during all the history of the African companies. Holmes probably remained on the Gambia until about the first of May when he departed with one or two of the ships for England. In July as much of a cargo as possible was loaded on the "Amity" which finally arrived in England, after its crew had been depleted by disease.123

Information regarding the success of the mining project of this expedition is almost totally lacking, but it seems certain that nothing was done to discover the hoped-for gold mines. The climate affected the men so adversely, that it is altogether unlikely that they even attempted to look for the mines. The small cargo carried back by the various ships, most of which seems to have been on the "Amity," probably represents the only tangible results of the expedition. These goods, consisting of elephants' teeth, wax and hides sold for £1,567.8s.,124 whereas the outlay for the expedition was probably between £4,000 and £4,500.125

This sum does not include £2,640.8s.8d. expense which was incurred to send another of the king's ships, the "Blackamoor," to the Gold Coast, in June, 1661.126 The "Blackamoor" was followed in April, 1662, by the "Swallow" which, together with its cargo, cost the Royal Adventurers £1,l01.2s.ld.127 Later in the year the three ships, "Charles," "James" and "Mary," were sent to the Gold Coast at an expense of about £5,000.128 By September, 1662, £17,400 had been subscribed by various persons to obtain the cargoes for the ships which had been dispatched to the coast of Guinea. Of this amount £800 had been promised by the king; £3,600 by the duke of York; £400 by the queen Mother; £400 by the duchess of Orleans; £800 by Prince Rupert; and £800 by the duke of Buckingham. Of the £17,400 subscribed all but about £1,000 had been paid by October 20, 1662. From this investment the company had received no returns except the £1,567.8s. from the first expedition, while the three last vessels, the "Charles," "James" and "Mary" had not yet arrived at the Gold Coast on their ill-fated voyage.129

Up to this time there had been no uniformity about the amounts invested, and no definite times at which the several amounts subscribed, were due. It was assumed that money would be forthcoming from the members whenever it was needed to dispatch ships to the coast. About the middle of September, 1662, it was decided to pursue a more businesslike policy. A list of subscribers for shares at four hundred pounds each was opened, and by the 15th of January, 1663, the amount of this second subscription was £17,000.130 The stimulus for obtaining this added subscription was the fact that, at the same time, the company was agitating for a new charter, which was granted by the king, January 10, 1663.131

Experience had shown that the previous charter was inadequate, not only respecting the means of raising funds to carry on the company's business, but also on account of the lack of any other officers to direct its affairs than the committee of six. By general consent of the patentees, and those who had later subscribed to the stock, it had been decided to surrender the charter of 1660 for one conferring more extensive privileges on the corporation. The charter obtained January 10, 1663, answered these requirements. The name was changed to "The Company of Royal Adventurers of England Trading into Africa." The territory included in the charter reached to the Cape of Good Hope as in the previous patent, but the northern limit was extended from Cape Blanco to Cape Sallee on the coast of Morocco.

The new charter contained the same provisions in regard to the discovery of gold mines as the charter of 1660. By this time, however, the adventurers had discovered that the Negro trade could be made very lucrative. In this charter, therefore, they obtained "the whole, entire and only trade for the buying and selling bartering and exchanging of for or with any Negroes, slaves, goods, wares and merchandises whatsoever to be vented or found at or within any of the Cities" on the west coast of Africa. The charter provided that there should be no trading on the African coast except by the company in its corporate capacity, and that any one guilty of transgressing these rules should be liable to forfeiture of his ship and goods.132

The charter also required the shareholders to elect a governor, subgovernor, deputy governor and a court of assistants; but that the routine business of the company should be conducted by a smaller committee corresponding to the committee of six of the previous company. The duke of York was elected governor, in which capacity he continued to serve during the company's entire existence. Thirty-six men were chosen annually to compose the court of assistants. There was also an executive committee of seven which was responsible to the court of assistants.133

While the company was endeavoring to obtain this new charter an unsuspected difficulty arose. It will be remembered that in 1631 Sir Nicholas Crispe and others had received a patent to a portion of the west coast of Africa for thirty-one years. The first charter of Charles II to the Royal Adventurers in December, 1660, had been granted a year and a half previous to the expiration of Crispe's patent. In recognition of this fact the charter of the Royal Adventurers provided that if the former patent was not void, the new charter was not to be effective until its surrender or expiration. At first Crispe made no complaint about the transgression of his rights, probably because the first expedition under Captain Holmes had gone to the Gambia region in which place Crispe had no interests. When it became apparent that the company intended to carry its activities further south, however, he appeared before the Privy Council on November 22, 1661, and asked to have his interest confirmed in the trade and settlements at Kormentine and in the region of the Sierra Leone and Sherbro rivers.134 On December 20, 1661, his case was heard before the Privy Council, at which time the case was referred to the Lord High Treasurer.135 The matter was neglected and finally dropped.

Crispe found it impossible to prevent the ships of the Royal Company from transgressing the regions mentioned in his charter. About the time at which his charter expired (June 25, 1662), he agreed to transfer all his interests in the fortifications at Kormentine and elsewhere to the Royal Adventurers. Although this agreement has not been found, there was apparently nothing in it which bound the company to remunerate Crispe and his associates, because later, August, 1662, he petitioned the king for compensation for the forts and lodges which had been transferred to the Royal Adventurers. At first the king was favorable to Crispe's request in view of the service which he had rendered in building up the Guinea trade.136 Later, neither the king nor the Royal Adventurers seem to have paid any attention to Crispe's plea for compensation.137

In later years the report was persistently spread that at the time when the agreement was made with Crispe the Privy Council had ordered the Royal Adventurers to pay him £20,000 in lieu of all his interests on the coast, and that the company had "seemed to acquiesce" in the order.138 It does not seem possible that this assertion can be true in view of the foregoing facts, and of the absolute lack of mention of any such thing in the books of the company. Over a year later, August 15, 1664, Crispe presented a paper of an unknown character to which the court of assistants refused to give any notice.139 It seems likely that this paper had nothing to do with the African forts, but that it was submitted in connection with a controversy over some African goods, which were said to belong to the members of Crispe's company140. The entire lack of any other evidence of trouble between Crispe and the company leads one to think that no contract for such compensation was ever made141. Moreover, that he was not averse to the success of the Royal Adventurers is shown by the fact that he himself subscribed £2,000 in 1663 to the stock of the company142.