The Burgh of Stade and the Maryland 'Court of Admiralty' of 1672

The documents relating to Sweden published in this article provide an interesting puzzle for Maryland historians, especially those expert in admiralty law. The definitive work on courts of admiralty in colonial Maryland is Courts of Admiralty in Colonial America, The Maryland Experience, 1634-1776, by David R. Owen and Michael C. Tolley. They include an appendix of every admiralty case they could find from the Maryland and British records that related to Maryland (appendix A, pp. 237-337), but there is a curious gap between 1671 and 1676 into which the Burgh of Stadt case falls. It suggests the Swedish owners and crew were victims of a corrupt court and the case provides an interesting insight into the workings of the Maryland Admiralty Court.