- HR-DADU-59-HR-DADU-59.3
- Series
- 1765-1812
Part of Officium navigationis; Officio della navigazione (Office for Maritime Affairs; Maritime Court)
The series contains civil lawsuits, investigations and judgments related to maritime affairs, and covers the period from the 60s of the 18th centuries to the early 19th century. The topics of these of lawsuits are diverse: various types of debts (most often irregular repayments or terminations of maritime loan repayment), disagreements over the payment of crew salaries, damage to merchandise, loss of shipping books, suspicions of misrepresentation of ship maintenance costs, avoidance of maritime insurance payment after shipwreck, etc.
The series contains a considerable amount of information about Jews, which is deemed relevant for researching the involvement of Ragusan Jews in maritime affairs during the 18th century. Most references indicate Jews who were members of some Ragusan Jewish families such as Ambonetti, Cittanova, Levi Mandolfo, Luzzena, Pardo, Terni, Tolentino, Venturra. These Jews are in most cases referenced as providers of so-called maritime loans who filed a lawsuit against those who had borrowed the money from them (e.g., vol. 3, f. 259c). The loans referenced in the series were usually taken by sea captains who wanted to purchase various equipment for their ships. In such a case, and as a guarantee for the regular payment of the loan, the sea captains would sign a bill of exchange by pledging the ship, equipment or shares in that ship (if they owned any of them). Agreements on maritime loans are registered in the fonds Diversa Notariae Fund (HR-DADU-9) and in the series Diversa de Foris (HR-DADU-30.1) and Diversa navigationis (HR-DADU-56.9). In this series, Ragusan Jews sometimes appear as legal representatives of defendants and sometimes as members of insurance companies. The series also records the text of an oath that was taken by the Jews during their testimonies. This specific oath was taken at the request of the French authorities in 1810 by Sabato Vita Levi Mandolfo (vol. 11, ff. 294v-295v).