South Seas Captain John Clipperton certificate for one share in the expedition of the ships `Suc

South Seas Captain John Clipperton certificate for one share in the expedition of the ships `Success` and `Speedwell` 18th June 1720 no.433 signed by Alexander Strachan E. Hughes Andrew Drummond and R. Winder as managers and directors scrollwork at left black printing some tears at folds but professionally rebacked and repaired fine and very rare. Only 2 known.

Interestingly the share was issued sixteen months after the expedition had sailed presumably one of the original shareholders wishing to spread his risks by selling on a rising market - South Sea Company stock was bubbling at 750 and would peak at 1050 six days later. At the end of May Speedwell had been wrecked and its captain and crew marooned for five months but the dealers in London could not have known that when this share was traded.

Clipperton was born in Great Yarmouth in 1676 and made a career in piracy. In 1704 he joined the pirate/explorer/naturalist/diarist William Dampier but fell out with him and abandoned him off the South American coast. In 1718 a consortium put together the plan to send two vessels around the globe to explore trade and plunder any Spanish ships and settlements they came across. Had the country not been at war this would have been a breach of the South Sea Company`s monopoly.

Initially a former Royal Navy officer George Shelvocke on the Speedwell was to be in overall command but before they sailed in February 1719 Clipperton captain of the Success was put in charge and Shelvocke`s anger led to problems with the voyage. The ships were soon separated in the Atlantic and only met again briefly in the Pacific off Mexico. Both captains took many prizes and made their separate ways across the Pacific to China and the East Indies losing their ships and switching to prize vessels en route. Clipperton eventually returned to his family in Galway in Ireland in June 1722 but died within a week from the privations of his 3½-year journey. Shelvocke reached Dover a month later and was arrested for allegedly hiding some of his prizes from the shareholders but managed to do a deal with them. The next year he published A Voyage Round the World by Way of the Great South Sea said to have inspired Coleridge to write The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. He lived on to 1742 his tombstone saying he was "a gentleman of great abilities in his profession".

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