Bill of lading kept by Captain Bartholomew Ketcher (alias Kitcher).

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Administrative / biographical background
Captain Bartholomew Ketcher (alias Kitcher) was active in trade between London, Leghorne (Livorno), and the Canary Islands in the late 1650's according to English Admiralty Court depositions dated December 1659. Ketcher was captain of the LISBONE ffrigot (?1656 - 1658+?; crew: 11 men and a boy, including the Master (HCA 13/73 f.21r). In July 1658, the LISBONE ffrigot arrived in Oratava Road on Tenerife from Leghorne (Livorno), with a cargo of "Oyle, Rice, Silke Stockings, and Rope, and some other Comodityes" (HCA 13/73 f.23v), but failed to get a licence or "prattick" from the Spanish authorities, due to Spanish anger at alleged English massacres of Spaniards in Dunkirk.The ship was forced to sail on to Madeira to sell some of its goods, and then, at the recommendation of Richard Pickford, a leading Madeira merchant, to go on to the Barbary coast (HCA 13/73 f.28v). The same Bartholomew Ketcher probably fought at the battle of Scheveningen in the HALF MOON (30 guns), which he commanded from 1653 to 1654 (R.C.Anderson, 1938). The same source reports that Ketcher commanded the GREAT CHARITY in 1659. Both were Dutch prizes.