Letter from Hoofman Friedson,
an officer on the Brandenburg frigate Dorothea,
lying off Whydah

21 June 1688

     . . .Captain Lovis de Visser was ordered by His Honour the General at Gross-Friedrichsburg to go to Whydah and take his slaves there. The General gave him a letter of recommendation to hand to the head person stationed there at Whijda for the Royal English Company, in which the General kindly requested the aforementioned head person or Captain Petlie Wijborne [Petley Wyburne, an English trader at Whydah]. . .to furnish us, as soon as might be possible, with 600 slaves, in exchange for a cargo brought expressly for this purpose. Thereupon Capt. Lovis set sail from Gross-Friedrichsburg on 6 April and on 14 April he arrived at Whijda, where he found six ships--two French and four belonging to the English Company, all destined for slaves. He was told that several of these ships had already been lying here for nearly three months, having been unable to depart because they could obtain few slaves at Whyda. Capt. Louis. . .made a contract with Capt. Petlie Wijborne, whereby the latter was to deliver the slaves to Capt. Louis within a period of three months, in return for certain merchandize which was delivered to the said Wijborne. The period fixed was from 22 April to 31 July 1688. Also, should Wijborne fail to deliver, he was to be obliged to pay Capt. Lowis £50 sterling for every day; if, on the other hand, Wijborne delivered us the slaves before our time had elapsed, Capt. Louis was to be obliged to pay the aforementioned Wijborne £1 sterling for each additional day. . . .The very most we were able to obtain in this contract was 300 man-slaves and 245 woman-slaves; but I hope that once these have been delivered on board, it may be possible to exchange the remaining merchandize for 50 men, or at least to change 45 women into 50 man-slaves. . . .On 16 May . . . Capt. Louis died; on 13 June Capt. Lourents Boone, who was in command of the Littauer Boer as a result of the death of Capt. Michael Tesmer, arrived at Whijda, bringing with him 27 pieces [slaves]--ten men, fourteen women and three boys. He reported that at Laij, Lampe and Poupou they [slaves] were very scarce and few were to be obtained. Following his instructions from Your Honours, Capt. Boone has taken Capt. Louis's place as commander of the Dorothea.

[Jones, ed. Brandenburg Sources for West African History, 164-5.]