"Historical Register of Armenian Merchant Ships" (continued) - Yuri BARSEGOV

Yuri Barsegov's article "The Historical Register of Armenian Merchant Ships" (continued) is devoted to the systematization of archival data on merchant vessels belonging to Armenian merchants that were in circulation in the waters of the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia in the late 17th and first third of the 18th centuries.

Introduction and Methodology

The work continues the publication begun in the previous issue of the journal and is built on the analysis of the port registers of Fort St. George (Madras), as well as reports and correspondence of representatives of the French East India Company (in particular, François Martin). The author consistently reconstructs the history of individual vessels from scattered, often fragmentary archival records, restoring the names of nokhudas (ship owners), captains, sailing routes, and the circumstances under which ships passed into the ownership of Armenian merchants.

Key Subjects

The article examines a number of specific vessels and related episodes:

• "Adventure" — a ship recorded in the Madras register from 1685, sailing between India and Bengal;
• an "Armenian ship," chartered by the French East India Company in 1686 to transport people and cargo from Surat to Pondicherry, subsequently captured by the Danes as a "prize";
• a large ship belonging to an anonymous Armenian merchant from Surat, which became the subject of an inheritance dispute with the French Company;
• the vessels "Marchand des Indes," "St. Thoma," "Sta Martha," "Aigle," "St. Louis," and "Sta Marea" ("Santa Maria"), whose history is traced over several decades through fragmentary registration records.

Special attention is given to the ship "Sta Marea," data on which spans the period from 1692 to 1722 and allows one to trace the succession of shipowners (Khoja Frat, Khoja Safar, Khoja Ovannes, Khoja Milton, Khoja Malkaun, Khoja Miirtam) and the transformation of the vessel's type — from a ship to a sloop and a brigantine.

Conclusion

The author demonstrates that, despite the fragmentary nature of the sources and significant chronological gaps, the comparison of scattered registration records makes it possible to reconstruct a continuous history of the functioning of the Armenian merchant fleet over a long period of time. The article's key conclusion is that Armenian merchants not only actively chartered and acquired ships from European companies, but also acted as full-fledged shipowners and captains, conducting independent maritime trade between the ports of India, Bengal, Pegu, Siam, and Manila, which confirms the significant and enduring role of the Armenian trading diaspora in the maritime commerce of the Indian Ocean during the period under study.