Pirates, Treasure, and other Good Stuff

Captain Matthew Martin (1676-1749)

7^th Great-Grandfather of Jennifer Greet

I have chosen to write this story about my ancestor Captain Matthew Martin because I know my grand-sons think he must have had a pretty adventurous life, sailing the seven seas, fighting pirates, saving treasure, and reaping rich rewards. But was it really so? Possibly...yes!

Matthew Martin was one of three sons born to Samuel Martin and his wife Mary (Parker) in Wivenhoe, Essex. The three boys were Samuel (1674), Matthew (1676) and George (1678). Samuel, the father, was a mariner, and like many in his family his career was centred around ships and ship-building. (If you look at the map of England, you will see that Wivenhoe is situated on the

River Colne, a few miles from Colchester. Since the 16th century, the town has been a ship building and fishing port.)

Samuel Martin Senior made his Will in 1689, apparently as he was about to embark on a sea voyage. He states that he is 'at present outward bound for sea, and knowing the uncertainty of this Transitory life’ he commits his body ‘to the sea or earth wherewith it shall please God to dispose of it’. Wherever or however he died, his Will was proved at Canterbury in 1694, and in it he leaves his dwelling-house to his eldest son, Samuel, another property in Wivenhoe to second son Matthew, and a house in Stratford, Essex, to youngest son George. Samuel, the eldest son, died as a young man, but both Matthew and George went on to have sea-faring careers.

Matthew Martin joined the East India Company, and eventually became a captain (Commander) in their maritime service. On 17 May 1699 he married Sarah Jones, the daughter of another East India Commander, Samuel Jones, and his wife Amy (Potts) ,who lived at Stepney in London. This wedding took place by Licence at All Saints, Edmonton.

It appears that in the early years of their marriage Matthew and Sarah maintained a home in London, so that while Matthew was at sea Sarah would be near her parents. There were to eventually be eight children in the family; Sarah (1700), Samuel (1702), Matthew (1703), Thomas (1705), Mary (1712), George (1714, who died aged 2), another George (1718) and Ann (1719, who also died as an infant). The first four children were born in London, and were all baptised on the same day, 15 February 1708, at St John of Wapping. Luckily for future family historians, the Baptismal Register gives their dates of birth also! The next son, George, was baptised at St Dunstan and All Saints Stepney on 27 May 1715, and in that Baptismal Register his parents are noted as "Capt. Mathew and Sarah Martin of Wapping" so it appears that to 1715 at least the family were still living in London.

Those years of the first two decades of the eighteenth century were probably the most adventurous and dangerous years for Captain Martin. In 1703 we know that Matthew Martin was Captain of the East India ship "Tavistock". Some time after 1708 he became Captain of the ship "Marlborough" which was a 480-ton merchant ship, one of the company’s largest ships with 96 crew and thirty-two guns He made a number of voyages between Madras, Bengal, and on one occasion at least to China.

The “Marlborough” had originally been commissioned to combat any pirates who might have attacked the Company's ships in order to take their lucrative cargo. It was reported in “The Gentleman's Magazine” in later years that Captain Martin “had fought Angria, the famous pirate, several hours and beat him off”. Now, in those days the so-called pirate Sumbhajee Angria, “Lord of the Indian Ocean and Terror of the Arabian Sea”, was at the height of his powers in India, harassing and preying on ships of the East India Company, so this report is quite possible. My grandsons love to think so – Sumbhajee Angria and Captain Jack Sparrow have several adventures together in “Pirates of the Caribbean” so this gives Captain Matthew Martin quite some glamour as an ancestor.

For Captain Matthew Martin, however, his greatest adventure occurred in 1712, when on behalf of the East India Company he sailed to India with a cargo of specie valued at 200,000 pounds sterling (presumably payment for soldiers and servants of the Company). Can you imagine the value in today's monetary terms! He had travelled round Cape Comorin up the east coast of India to Madras and Calcutta, and was sailing inshore just north of Madras when he encountered three French enemy ships of war. Then followed three days of “cat and mouse” engagement and subterfuge. Finally, the crafty Captain tricked his enemies by setting a cask adrift in the dark with a lantern at its peak. The French ships followed the cask, believing it was the “Marlborough”, giving Captain Martin and his crew a chance to escape, and bring their ship safely into Fort St George. This cunning ploy has been recreated in the modern film ‘Master and Commander’ starring Russell

Crowe!

Naturally, the East India Company were very grateful that their ship and its cargo had been saved, and rewarded Captain Martin with a prize of 1,000 pounds and a gold medal set around with 24 diamonds, supposedly worth 100 guineas at the time. Some years later Captain Martin had his portrait painted, showing his ship “Marlborough” in the background, and his precious jewell near his right hand.

 Captain Matthew Martin (1676-1749)

Following his service with the Company Captain Martin and his family retired to Wivenhoe where he had inherited the family home following the death of his mother in 1710. With his prize money and his income as a company trader he was now a wealthy man. In 1720 he purchased a large mansion house, Alresford Hall, from Benjamin Field, a goldsmith, of Lombard Street, London. In 1722 he had a patent of arms granted.

He was described as being ‘much esteemed for his affability, integrity and generosity’. Like many country gentleman of the age he entered politics and stood as a Whig MP from 1722-7, becoming Mayor of Colchester in 1726. He was also made a Director of the East India Company. As well as these, his name appears in connection with the Wivenhoe workhouse, as a governor at St Thomas’s Hospital, London from 1732-44, and as a member of Trinity House. He owned a portfolio of property holdings which are itemised in his Will made in 1727/8. In 1730, he owned a farm of about 300 acres called "The Fenne". This is recorded on a cartouche map now held by the Essex Record Office.

Of the children, Samuel, the eldest son and heir, succeeded to his father’s estates. He died without issue on 16th May, 1765, and the property descended to his brother Thomas, who had become a King's Counsel (KC) at Chelsea in London. Matthew died young, the first George died at the age of 2 years, and the second George followed his father's career as a mariner but is thought to have died about 1741 as a young man in his twenties.

The eldest daughter, Sarah (our ancestor) married Major General John Price, who died at the Battle of Breda in Holland in December 1747, The other surviving daughter, Mary, married Isaac Lemying Rebow, M.P. for Colchester, who died in 1734, leaving a son Isaac Martin Rebow. This son assumed the name of Martin, under the will of his maternal grandfather, Captain Martin. Isaac Martin Rebow married his cousin Mary, daughter and heiress of Thomas Martin, of Alresford Hall, which property thus passed to the Martin Rebows.

In 1738 Matthew Martin had a family vault constructed at St Peter's, Alresford, presumably for the burial of his wife Sarah who died in January of that year. The stone which marked the entrance to the vault is still visible today in the ruins of the old church. It bears the inscription "THIS VAULT WAS BUILT BY / MATHEW MARTIN / OF WIVENHOE IN / MDCCXXXVIII ". Sarah Martin died 6th January, 1738, and in Alresford Church there was a monument to her memory, with the following inscription: “Near this place lieth the body of Sarah Martin,wife of Matthew Martin of Wivenhoe, Esq, Lord of the Manor, a Member in Parliament, High Steward and Alderman for ye Borough of Colchester,a Governor of St. Thomas’s Hospital, and an Elder Brother of Ye Trinity House etc.,who died much lamented, as she lived much beloved and esteemed for her Conjugal, Maternal, and Social Virtues. She departed this life the VI. of Jan. Anno Domini MDXX VIII. Ætat LVI.”

Sarah's Will makes no reference to a desired place of burial. Matthew's will, however, does mention the vault: "my Soul I commit to almighty God who gave it, and my Body to the Earth to be decently buried in the Vault erected by me in the Chancel of the Parish Church of Alresford, in the said County of Essex, at the Discretion of my Executors hereinafter named..." Matthew Martin died at Wivenhoe 20^th July 1749. It is believed, however, that he was never buried in Alresford at all, but in the nearby village of Great Holland.