The first Germans, in any sizeable quantity, came to Pennsylvania in a locality that, surprisingly, became known as Germantown, just outside Philadelphia in the 1680's. There were additions to this group of urban Germans. A small group of rural Germans, led by Hans Herr, came in 1709 on their own and they settled to the west of Philadelphia, in what is now known, incorrectly, as Pennsylvania Dutch country. Of the great numbers that emigrated in 1709, Pennsylvania and Virginia got none, except as noted just now. Emigration slowed to a trickle for a few years with the group from Nassau-Siegen in 1713 being the largest. Then in 1717, about one thousand Germans decided to emigrate. Most of these went to Pennsylvania. A group of about eighty odd Germans who wanted to go to Pennsylvania was highjacked and taken to Virginia by Capt. Tarbett on the ship Scott.
Through all of this period, and for a few years thereafter, the Germans would go to Rotterdam or Amsterdam in Holland and find a ship to take them to London. In London, they would look for a ship to take them to America. Only British ships could take them on to America. The owners of these ships soon realized that if they were to get a load of "freights", it would be best to meet the Germans in Holland. The English laws required that a ship to America had to leave from an English port so the ships would stop at the southern English ports like Cowes, South Hampton, or Plymouth, which was much more convenient than London, which would have been out of the way. This also afforded them the opportunity of stocking up on food and water from an English source.
Members or descendants of the Second Germanna Colony made a statement which implied that they took a ship to London and in London they found another ship, the Scott. This is what we would expect from the practices of that day. So the first place that the Germans encountered Andrew Tarbett was in London.
Since he had lost a ship to the pirates off the coast of Virginia, he had, first, to give testimony to Alexander Spotswood concerning the conditions of this. Spotswood was very eager to stamp out piracy, especially just of the coast of Virginia. So the testimony of victims of pirates was taken and sent to England to get a more active response there to combat piracy. Spotswood was so active in this that the Admiralty, who regarded everything that happened on the seas as their field, became disturbed.
Andrew Tarbett had to return to England and find another ship there. Probably he was limited in his choice to smaller ships, especially this late in the season. Perhaps some of the shippers on his lost ship were upset. I am not sure about maritime law, but on the basis of the lost goods he may have been committed to Debtors’ Prison.
(05 Jan 06)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.