Document: BILL OF LADING for forty slaves loaded at Curacao for New Netherland

I, the undersigned Dirck Jansen van Oldenborgh, skipper, next to God, of my ship named Den Nieuw Nederlantsen Indiaan, presently lying within the harbor of the island of Curacao ready to sail to Nieuw Neederlant, hereby acknowledge to have received from the honorable lord vice-director Matthias Beck, for the honorable Companys account, forty healthy slaves or Negroes; consisting of fifteen men, fourteen women, six boys and five girls, whom I have agreed to deliver, after the safe arrival of my aforesaid ship in Nieuw Neederlant, to the honorable lords Petrus Stuyvesant, director-general, and councillors there. In testimony thereof three identical receipts were issued of which the others are invalid when one is satisfied. Curacao in Fort Amsterdam, the 21st of July 1661.

Skipper Dierck Jansz

Rights: This translation is provided for education and research purposes, courtesy of the  New York State Library Manuscripts and Special Collections], Mutual Cultural Heritage Project. Rights may be reserved. Responsibility for securing permissions to distribute, publish, reproduce or other use rest with the user. For additional information see our Copyright and Use Statement]