1708: Spanischer Erbfolgekrieg in der Emsmündung - von Brantwinskoppen, Konvoiern, Kaper- und Beuteschiffen sowie einer stillen Abschiebung

Abstract

During the seventeenth century, France rose to the ranks of the European nations active overseas and accordingly maintained a significant navy and safeguarded its maritime interests by issuing letters of marque. German seaside towns had nothing equivalent, merely attempting to afford ocean-going trade on their own doorstep a certain degree of protection by means of convoy ships. The maritime museum of Sneek (Dutch province of Friesland) possesses a large silver brandy bowl from Emden in Eastern Friesland. The vessel is typical of the coastal regions; its engraved images and text - dating from the first decade of the eighteenth century - are of great interest with regard to the history of naval warfare. They provide information about a sea battle that took place on June 24, 1708 in the mouth of the River Ems during the Spanish War of Succession. It was fought between two French privateers and two guard ships (stationed convoyers) from Emden. The encounter, of which the article also presents archival evidence, ended with the capture of the two French privateers and their crews, who were deported to the nearby Netherlands. The brandy bowl was a gift of honour and commemoration to one of the two victorious Emden captains; an equivalent bowl for the other captain has disappeared without a trace. 47 The battle was only a maritime episode in the Spanish War of Succession, and nothing more than a marginal note in the history of shipping in the Ems estuary. What makes the engravings on the surviving brandy bowl more significant is the fact that contemporary documentation of naval battles involving Germans from the time of the Old Reich (before 1806) are rare, since at that time Germany was comparatively unimportant as a sea power (with the possible exception of the Hanse). The fact that such a rare documentation took place in the form of a silver engraving on an artistic object increases its historical and rarity value.