The Prize Papers Project

Join us Monday, 23rd February at 1 PM for Lunch Talks: Kings of Privateering, where we’ll explore how Spanish privateers in the 18th-century Caribbean were vital instruments of imperial power—driving war, trade, smuggling, and the trade with enslaved people with remarkable agency.

Next Monday (February 9th), Hielke van Nieuwenhuize talks about the role Dutch Seamen played in Sweden's expansion beyond the Baltic Sea during the Swedish "Stormaktstiden". Sign up here www.eventbrite.com/e/ships-seaf... #skystorians #earlymodern #maritimehistory

Check out the link below for more information and the registration for Alejandro Salamanca Rodríguez's (@desvelandooriente.com) book presentation and the workshop on Early Modern Transatlantic Migration here: www.eui.eu/events?id=58...

Next week (26/01 @ 1PM), the Ships & Seafaring Talks - a Prize Papers Talks Special Edition with the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven welcomes a very special guest: underwater archaeologist Felix Rösch from the Hanseatic city of Lübeck, who is excavating a very special Hanseatic merchant ship!

For the first talk of the second half of our Ships & Seafaring 1500-1800 series - A Prize Papers Talks Special Edition, Milagrosa Romero Samper is taking us to Honduras to tell a tale about dye-ing feud! Sign up here: www.eventbrite.com/e/ships-seaf...
#earlymodern #maritimehistory #skystorians

A new take on European expansion Historian Dagmar Freist recently presented the Prize Papers Project at the Spanish Embassy in London. In this interview, she talks about captured galleons, secret trade networks, slavery, and moving l...

“A new take on European expansion”
Just before Christmas project director @dagmarfreist.bsky.social gave an interview on the project and her recent trip to the Spanish embassy. Check it out here: uol.de/en/news/arti...

The text and metadata were produced by Alejandro Salamanca -
@desvelandooriente.com
. Prize Papers Project, National Archives, ref. HCA 32/111D/16/CRA152. Images reproduced by permission of The National Archives, UK. Photographer: Maria Cardamone

Selected Documents:
CRA5C: A printed theatre play from Calderón de la Barca.
CRA152: A beautiful calligraphy book. See Discovery for details about it.

drafts for letters and culinary notes. His archive offers us a glimpse of how a passenger might have spent time on board (practising calligraphy or reading a play by Calderón de la Barca, for instance).

The text and metadata were produced by Alejandro Salamanca - @desvelandooriente.com . Prize Papers Project, National Archives, ref. HCA 32/111D/16/CRA152. Images reproduced by permission of The National Archives, UK. Photographer: Maria Cardamone

Nicolás Cranisbro (or Cranisbrough) was a passenger on the Fort de Nantes. He belonged to an Anglo-Spanish family from El Puerto de Santa María . His personal archive contains many letters, some of them entrusted to him for his delivery, He also had calligraphy exercises, prayers...

Our hosts @lhaasis.bsky.social and @neleppp.bsky.social want to thank all the contributors and listeners for an amazing first half of the series, and we hope you will return in the new year! We wish you a joyful season and a great start to the new year!

The first half of "Ships and Seafaring 1500–1800" has wrapped up! Last Monday’s talk closed this year’s program, and we’ll be back with more in 2026. We wish you all a well-deserved Christmas break. We’ll be back on January 12 with our next talk—until then, you can check out the whole program below

The text and metadata were produced by Alejandro Salamanca - @desvelandooriente.com. Prize Papers Project, National Archives, ref. HCA 32/111D/22/HM2. Images reproduced by permission of The National Archives, UK. Photographer: Maria Cardamone

HM8: From a young migrant in Mexico to his parents in Cádiz; the father is a mason/builder.
HM11: From a mother in Havana (!) to her son in Cádiz, there is another letter enclosed inside

HM2: Advice for a teenager in the family: He must learn any instrument except the guitar
HM5: Description of how a young girl behaves, very funny in Spanish

We do not know much about who sent or carried the letters, but these documents offer a small peek into the daily life of Atlantic families in 1747.

The text and metadata were produced by Alejandro Salamanca. Prize Papers Project, National Archives, ref.

This week we release some letters that were on board the Fort de Nantes. These were not delivered to the official mail circuit but were instead entrusted to passengers who would deliver them personally. #earlymodern #maritimehistory

#earlymodern #maritimehistory #skystorians

Next Monday, the Prize Papers Talk is hitting new waters, as Eleonora Rohland's talk dives into climate history: The Doldrums is a belt-shaped weather phenomenon near the equator, where winds are very weak, trapping sailing ships inside. Sign up here: www.eventbrite.com/e/ships-seaf...

The text and metadata were produced by Alejandro Salamanca - @desvelandooriente.com. Prize Papers Project, National Archives, ref. HCA 32/111D/21/AJR7. Images reproduced by permission of The National Archives, UK. Photographer: Maria Cardamone

AJR 73: A passenger’s license. Interesting document, because this is the form that passengers carried on them. It specifies that Ruiz needed to return to his wife after three years; and also that he was allowed to carry a servant.

AJR27-30: Several religious certificates showing the commitment of Ruiz with certain devotions. [Note: These are printed forms and they look stunning]

Selected documents:
AJR7: A letter of recommendation in English (picture)
AJR12: A handwritten prayer written as a letter to Saint Joseph in which Ruiz professes his “slavery” and “servitude” to him.

but perhaps his network prevented him from suffering significant losses when the Fort de Nantes was captured by the British. Ruiz seems to have been also a devout man, he carried with him a handwritten prayer (in the form of a letter written to Saint Joseph) and three religious certificates.

The text and metadata were produced by Alejandro Salamanca. Prize Papers Project, National Archives, ref. HCA 32/111D/21/AJR7. Images reproduced by permission of The National Archives, UK. Photographer: Maria Cardamone

Antonio José Ruiz was a merchant travelling on the Fort de Nantes. He had connections with English trading houses and carried some recommendation letters. In times of war, trade between Spain and England was not allowed... #earlymodern #maritimehistory #skystorians

www.eventbrite.com/e/ships-seaf...

Next week, Séverine Angers will present her research on women's patriotism during the American Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic Wars, based on letters from military families. Sign up for the Prize Papers Talks Special Edition with the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven with the link below!

The text and metadata were produced by Alejandro Salamanca - @desvelandooriente.com. Prize Papers Project, National Archives, ref. HCA 32/111D/20/AJP1. Images reproduced by permission of The National Archives, UK. Photographer: Maria Cardamone
#earlymodern #maritimehistory

In one of the letters, a certain Calero José de Heredia tells him about “returning to Egypt” and their “exile”. Do you know more about Roma history? Check out HCA32/111D/20/AJP1 and AJP2 and let us know what you think!