John Weddell (1583–1642) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

sea captain who served for both the

Muscovy Company The Muscovy Company (also called the Russia Company or the Muscovy Trading Company russian: Московская компания, Moskovskaya kompaniya) was an English trading company chartered in 1555. It was the first major chartered joint s ...

and the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

(EIC).

Career

From May to August 1617 he was master or master’s mate of the Muscovy Company’s ship ''Dragon'', which was vice-admiral of the

whaling Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industr ...

fleet sent to Spitsbergen. In July the ''Dragon'' sailed into

Hornsund Hornsund is a fjord on the western side of the southernmost tip of Spitsbergen island. The fjord's mouth faces west to the Greenland Sea, and is wide. The length is , the mean depth is , and the maximal depth is . Hornsund cuts different geol ...

, where it seized the cargo of the

Vlissingen Vlissingen (; zea, label= Zeelandic, Vlissienge), historically known in English as Flushing, is a municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the former island of Walcheren. With its strategic location between the Scheldt river ...

ship ''de Arcke Noë'' ("Noah's Ark"), under Jan Verelle, before driving it away ballasted with stones. In the depositions given of the voyage in January of the following year he was described as "John Weddell, ''alias'' Duke, of Lymehorst, mariner". In October 1617 Weddell was named as being one of the master’s mates of the EIC’s ship ''Dragon'', but in December he was promoted to commander or master of the ''Lion''. He left in the spring of 1618 and returned to England in September 1620. In April 1621, he was captain of the ''Jonas'' and given command of three other EIC ships. As joint-admiral of an English fleet of five ships and four

pinnaces Pinnace may refer to: * Pinnace (ship's boat), a small vessel used as a tender to larger vessels among other things * Full-rigged pinnace The full-rigged pinnace was the larger of two types of vessel called a pinnace in use from the sixteenth c ...

, he participated in the Anglo-Persian attack on Kishm and siege of

Ormuz The Kingdom of Ormus (also known as Hormoz; fa, هرمز; pt, Ormuz) was located in the eastern side of the Persian Gulf and extended as far as Bahrain in the west at its zenith. The Kingdom was established in 11th century initially as a depe ...

early in 1622. In giving a detailed account of the voyage and plunder to the high court of admiralty in December 1623, he was described as "of Ratcliffe, in

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

, gent., aged 40 or thereabouts". Given command of the ''Royal James'', Weddell again sailed as commander of the EIC’s fleet to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

in March 1624. Soon after reaching Surat in September, he was sent to Gombroon (

Bandar-Abbas Bandar Abbas or Bandar-e ‘Abbās ( fa, , , ), is a port city and capital of Hormozgān Province on the southern coast of Iran, on the Persian Gulf. The city occupies a strategic position on the narrow Strait of Hormuz (just across from Musan ...

) to combine with a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

squadron to fight the

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

. In a hard-fought three-day battle they were able to defeat the Portuguese fleet, which fled to

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

. After his return to England in 1626 he came under the Company's scrutiny for irregular or illegal private trading. The suit against him was later "privately arranged". In 1627 and 1628 he commanded the king's ship ''Rainbow''. By December of the latter year he had returned to the service of the EIC, being given command of the ''Charles''. Despite again being censured for private trading on his return to England in April 1631, he was given command of the same vessel in 1632. From the carelessness of the master of the ''Swallow'', the ''Charles'' was burnt at Surat in January 1633. Weddell lost his entire estate aboard the vessel, while the master of the ''Swallow'' returned to England in irons. The court refused to give him another commission and ship, instead ordering him to return in the ''Jonas''. Weddell carried home the news of

William Methwold William Methwold (sometimes spelled Methold), (baptised 1590 in South Pickenham, near Swaffham, Norfolk; died 5 March 1653, Kensington), was an English merchant and colonial administrator in India. He is credited with identifying the site of Bom ...

's Goa Convention, which ceased hostilities with the Portuguese and allowed the English access to their Indian resources; he now sought revenge for his treatment at the hands of the EIC. As a result, in early in 1636 Weddell was given command of six ships sent by the interloper Sir

William Courten Sir William Courten or Curteen (1572–1636) was a wealthy 17th century merchant, operating from London. He financed the colonisation of Barbados, but lost his investment and interest in the islands to the Earl of Carlisle. Birth and upbringing ...

of the Courteen association, who had received a patent from the king in December 1635 to trade in the East Indies. After failing to establish trade in Canton owing to Portuguese intrigues, he went back to India, where he succeeded in establishing a trade at Rajapur. He apparently returned to England in 1640; two years later he again sailed to India as an interloper. There he died.Stephen et al (1921), pp. 1041-1043.

Footnotes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Weddell, John 1583 births 1642 deaths Sailors from the Kingdom of England British people in whaling British East India Company people 17th-century English people History of the Arctic History of Svalbard People of the Muscovy Company