[Regency London: maritime history.] Bill of Sale of the ship Maria (Deptford) by Richard Gardner for £830 to merchant John Ladd and mariner Gabriel Ford, printed on parchment paper, and completed in manuscript with signatures.

An interesting artefact of maritime London in the Regency period. The bill is printed on one side of 34 x 47 cm piece of mock-parchment paper, and has been completed in manuscript, with signatures. Folded three times into a packet, with ‘Bill of Sale / Gardner to Ladd & Ford’ written on the blank reverse. Aged and discoloured, with 8.5 cm closed tear from one edge and nicking to others. The document declares that ‘Richard Gardner of the Minories in the City of London Ship Owner’ has sold ‘all that Ship or Vessel called the Maria’ for £830 to ‘John Ladd of Rotherhithe in the County of Surry Merchant and Gabriel Ford of Cannon Street Road in the County of Middlesex Mariner’. (The printed form states the ship is sold together with ‘all and singular the Masts, Sails, Sail-Yards, Anchors, Cables, Ropes, Cords, Guns, Gunpowder, Ammunition, Small Arms, Tackle, Apparel, Boats, Oars, and Appertenances whatsoever to the said Ship or Vessel, belonging, or in any wise appertaining’.) The Maria is stated to have been ‘built at Deptford in the Year One thousand eight hundred and three as appears by a Certificate of Registry No 16 granted at Colchester 30 September 1809 and delivered up and cancelled’. The ship’s specifications are given, and the document is signed by ‘Richd Gardner’ and witnessed by ‘James Stanes’ and ‘Joseph Nichols’, there are other signatures, and the details of the solicitors who drew up the document are at bottom left: ‘Noy & Hardstone / Mincing Lane’.