the _Apollo_ now rideing at Anchor in this Port of Philadelphia; That
he first Knew the said Ship At the aforesaid Port about Seven Years
ago, but the Particular Time does not now remember; That he was hired
by Alexander McMullen the Commander of the said Ship on or about the
Nineteenth Day of March last past at Larn[3] in the Kingdom of Ireland
aforesaid to proceed with the said Ship as Chief Mate thereof from
thence to Virginia; That the said Ship at her Departure from Larn
aforesaid was not Laden with any Goods, Wares or Merchandizes but in
her Ballast; That the said Ship _Apollo_ in the prosecution of the
said Intended Voyage was taken as a Prize on the Sixteenth day of June
last past upon the High Seas near the Capes of Virginia by a Spanish
Privateer Snow; That the Commander of the said Privateer after he had
taken Possession of the Ship _Apollo_ brought over board her into his
own Vessel the Master and all the Men belonging to the said Ship
except this Deponent and one Boy, and at the same time put on Board
her Sixteen Mariners belonging to the said Spanish Privateer Snow;
That on or about the twentieth Day of the said Month of June the
Commander of the said Spanish Privateer caused to be laden on Board
the said Ship _Apollo_ several Goods, Wares and Merchandizes the Cargo
of a Certain British Snow which the said Privateer had taken a few
Days before; That soon after the said Goods, Wares and Merchandizes
were put on Board the said Ship _Apollo_ she was seperated from the
said Spanish Privateer; That he this Deponant was on Board the said
Ship _Apollo_ at the Time of such her seperation and saith that she
remained under the Conduct of the said Sixteen Spanish Mariners who
were put on Board her on her being first taken as aforesaid (in order
to carry her to Laguira[4] as they informed this Deponant) untill the
twelfth day of July last past when the said Ship _Apollo_ was attacked
and Retaken as a Prize on the High Seas by an English Privateer Sloop
called the _Trembluer_[5] whereof Captain Obadiah Bowne was
Commander;[6] That upon the Recaption of the said Ship _Apollo_ by the
said Sloop the said Captain Obadiah Bowne put on Board her twelve or
Thirteen Mariners in order to navigate and carry her to this Port of
Philadelphia where she arrived the first day of this Instant Month of
August and till which Time the said Deponent Continued on Board her
from the Time of her being Retaken as aforesaid.
[Footnote 3: Larne lies on the northeast coast of Ireland, some twenty
miles north of Belfast.]
[Footnote 4: La Guayra on the Venezuelan coast, the port of Caracas.]
[Footnote 5: _Trembleur_, _i.e._, Quaker. Her first appearance is in
the journal of William Black, under date of May 30, 1744: "a fine
Bermudas Sloop bought the other day for 800 pounds Sterling, and is
called the _le Trembleur_, to carry 14 Carriage and 20 Swivel Guns,
and 100 Men". _Pa. Mag. Hist._, I. 247.]
[Footnote 6: After the war was over, Bowne settled down to the keeping
of a public-house "at the sign of the _Trembleur_", at the corner of
Market and Water streets, hence long called "Bowne's corner".
_Memorial Hist. Phila._, I. 263.]
_2d._ To the second Interrogatory this Deponent saith that the said
Ship _apollo_ at the Time of his being Shipped as Chief Mate of her as
aforesaid did belong to Richard Oswald[7] and Company Merchants
residing in Glascow in Scotland and subjects of the King of Great
Britain as this Deponent was informed by the said Alexander McMullen
then Master of the said Ship _Apollo_. And this Deponent further says
that he does no[t] Know to whom the Goods, Wares and Merchandizes
taken from on Board the said Ship _Apollo_ did belong, but says that
he Knew and was well acquainted with James Bowne the Commander of the
said British Snow at the Time of her being Taken as aforesaid.
JOHN BROWN.
[Footnote 7: This was that Richard Oswald (1705-1784), Franklin's
friend, who signed for Great Britain the preliminary articles of peace
with the United States, Nov. 30, 1782.]
_175. Deposition of Diego de Prada y Nieto. August 2, 1745._[1]
[Footnote 1: From the same volume as the preceding, pp. 264-266.]
Diego De Prada y Nieto of Sevilla in the Kingdom of Spain being Sworn
3d. To the third Interrogatory Saith That he Knows the Ship called the
_Apollo_ now riding at Anchor in this Port of Philadelphia; That he
first saw the said Ship _Apollo_ on the High Seas on the Twenty
seventh or Twenty eight day of June last, New stile,[2] about the
distance of Twelve or thirteen leagues from the Capes of Virginia;
That the Persons then on Board the said Ship were Subjects of the King
of Great Britain; That the said Ship _Apollo_ at or about the place
and Time aforesaid was Attacked and Taken Prize [by] a Spanish
Privateer Snow called the _Neustra Senora De los Dellores y Animas_[3]
Commanded by Don Carlos Francisco de Bissava and Navigated by Eighty
Mariners all Subjects of the King of Spain; That immediately upon the
said Ship _Apollo_ being taken as aforesaid this Deponant with fifteen
or Sixteen Spanish Mariners belonging to the Said Spanish Snow were
sent by the said Capt. Don Carlos Francisco de Bissava on Board the
said Ship _Apollo_ whereof they took possession; That the Command of
the said Ship _Apollo_ was given to this Deponent with orders to carry
her to Laguira on the Coast of Caraccas in new Spain;[4] That on or
about the thirty first day of June last N.S.[5] the said Capt. De
Bissava caused to be put on Board the said Ship _Apollo_ sundry Goods,
Wares and Merchandizes being the Cargo of a Certain Snow taken by a
Spainish Privateer about five days before, two legues from the Coast
of Virginia, but the Names of the Owners or Commander of the said Snow
this Deponent Knows not but has heard and believes tha[t] she belonged
to the Subjects of the King of Great Britain; That the said Depont.
with the said fifteen or Sixteen other Spanish Mariners Continued in
Possession and had the Care and Conduct of the said Ship _Apollo_
untill the 23d day of July last, New Stile,[6] when she was attacked
and Retaken by an English Privateer Sloop called the _Trembleur_
whereof Capt. Obidiah Bowne was Commander; That the said Captain Bowne
immediately upon his retaken the said Ship _Apollo_ put on Board her
thirteen Men who Conducted and brought the said Ship to this Port of
Philadelphia.
[Footnote 2: A Spanish sailor would date by new style; June 27, N.S.,
was June 16, O.S., the date given in the previous deposition.]
[Footnote 3: _Nuestra Senora de los Dolores y [de las] Animas_, "Our
Lady of Sorrows and of Souls".]
[Footnote 4: Rather, in the viceroyalty of New Granada.]
[Footnote 5: June 20, O.S., according to John Brown's deposition.]
[Footnote 6: July 12, O.S. (Brown).]
4th. To the fourth Interrogatory This Deponent Saith That among the
People who were put on board the said Ship _Apollo_ by the Spaniards
there was one Mullato man who was called Limena whom this Deponent
says is a free man, and that he, this Deponent had been informed by
several and by the said Mullato himself that since the Commencement of
the War between England and Spain he was Taken and Carred in to
Jamaica and there sold as a Slave and that he run away from the
English and got among the Spaniard And this Deponent further heard
that he belonged to a Privateer Commanded by Don Pedro De Parieveck
and that having quarreld with one of the Officers on board the same,
the said Commander by a Letter desired the said Captain Don Carlos
Francisco de Bissava Commander of the said Spanish Privateer Snow
called the _Neustra Senora de los Dellores y Animas_ to receive the
said Mullato on board the same and that he was received aboard
accordingly and was to draw an equall share with the Whitemen and did
receive ten pieces of Eight Advance money being the sum the Whitemen
also receivd and the said Mullato was looked upon by the People on
Board the said Privateer as a freeman and by some of them was well
known.
DIEGO D PRADA
LONE NIETO.
THE _PRINCE CHARLES OF LORRAINE_.
_176. Deposition of Benjamin Munro and William Kipp. April 23,
1746._[1]
[Footnote 1: Rhode Island Archives, volume lettered "Admiralty Papers,
1746-1750", p. 45. Capt. Simeon Potter of Bristol (a town in
Massachusetts till January, 1747, in Rhode Island after that date) was
one of the most noted and successful of the privateers of his time.
His raid on French Guiana in November, 1744, though not enormously
profitable nor of much military importance, makes a very picturesque
story, chiefly because of the vivid account we have of it from one of
its victims, Father Elzear Fauque, an intelligent Jesuit, who was
serving the mission at Oyapoc, and was carried away as a prisoner by
Potter when he sacked and destroyed that settlement. Father Fauque's
narrative, a letter to an officer of his society, dated from Cayenne,
Dec. 22, 1744, is in the _Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses_, XXVII.
172-250 (Paris 1749), VIII. 387-454 (ed. 1781), IV. 493-533 (ed.
1819), II. 34-50 (ed. 1838). There is an English translation in Bishop
W.I. Kip's _Historical Scenes from the Old Jesuit Missions_ (N.Y.,
1875), pp. 153-205, reprinted in Professor W.H. Munro's _Tales of an
Old Sea Port_ (Princeton, 1917), pp. 48-93, in which Potter's life is
also told. The admiralty case arose from questions respecting disposal
of the booty. Prince Charles of Lorraine was brother-in-law of Maria
Theresa, and commanded her army against Frederick the Great. According
to Father Fauque, the privateer so named carried 10 cannon, 12
swivel-guns and 61 men. _Lettres Edifiantes_ (ed. 1819), IV. 494.]
Benjamin Munro and William Kipp of Lawfull Age Testifieth and Saith
that the said Munro was Master of the Sloope _Prince Charles of
Lorain_ whereof Simeon Potter was Commander as a Private Man of Warr
and that We took and Plundred a Small Place near Cyan[2] called
Yopock[3] and then Proceeded to Cyan where said Potters Lieutenant and
Thirty Two men Landed took and Plundred a Place called Muekell
yeau.[4] We Landed on Cyan with Ten men where We were taken by One
hundred and Thirty Soldiers where Three of Our Men were Killed and
Four wounded and then We were carried to Cyan Fort where Capt. Potter
sent a flagg of Truce on Shoar with a Fryar[5] and some Soldiers that
were taken at Yopock whereupon the Governour of Cyan[6] Immediately
gave us Our Barge againe to go on board and half an Ox for fresh
Provisions and then We went to go on board of Our Vessel but missed of
her in the Night and so We Proceeded to Surranam[7] where We were all
Put into the Fort and keept untill the Masters of the English Vessels
there Petitioned for us to Come out and in a few Dayes after Capt.
Potter arrived in the River with his Priveteer and Came up to Surranam
to the Governour[8] to Desire Liberty of him to Wood and Water but
they gave no Liberty in Ten or Twelve Dayes and then Ordered that the
English Men should bring Wood and Water on Board but the Thing was
Attended with so much Dificulty that We were Obliged to Sell some
small Plunder on board of Our Own Vessell to Defray our Charges and
also that while We were at Surranam Three of Our Slaves Ran away from
Us and that the Governour keept and Detained them from us then we
Sailed for Barbadoes in Order to Carreen and Refitt Our Vessell and
that when We came to Sea we found Five Men and no more on Board who
talked Dutch and were dressed in Sailors Apparel who did their Duty as
Such and Said that they belonged to Dutch Vessells in Surranam and
when we arrived at Barbadoes We Landed our Prize Goods and Slaves
where they were Condemned and Sold at a Publick Vendue.
BEN MUNRO.
WM. KIPP.
Bristol ss: BRISTOL Apr. 23d 1746.
[Footnote 2: Cayenne the chief town of French Guiana. For the
pronunciation, see doc. no. 63, note 20.]
[Footnote 3: Oyapoc, on a river of the same name, lies some 80 miles
to the southeast of Cayenne, toward the Brazilian boundary.]
[Footnote 4: Macouria, a lady's plantation a little northwest of
Cayenne. Father Fauque, _ubi sup._, pp. 519-520.]
[Footnote 5: Father Fauque was not a friar, but a Jesuit.]
[Footnote 6: M. d'Orvilliers, father of the celebrated admiral of that
name. La Condamine, returning by way of the Amazon and of Oyapoc from
his celebrated geodetic expedition to Peru, had spent five months with
him at Cayenne earlier in this year. _Relation Abregee_, pp. 209-214.]
[Footnote 7: The Dutch then possessed both what is now Dutch and what
is now British Guiana. In 1744 their possessions constituted three
colonies, Surinam, Berbice, and Essequebo, of which Surinam, the
present Dutch Guiana, was the most important. The fort spoken of was
at the capital, Paramaribo.]
[Footnote 8: Jan Jacob Mauricius, governor of Surinam 1742-1751; see
account of him in Harris and de Villiers, _Storm van 's Gravesande_,
II. 538-539.]
Personally appeared the above named Benj'n Munro and Will'm Kipp,
(being bound to Sea), and made Oath to the truth of the above written
evidence: taken in Perpetuam Rei Memoriam before us two of his Majs.
Justices of the peace in and for the County of Bristol:[9] Quorum
Unus,
JONA: WOODBURY.
JOSEPH RUSSELL.
[Footnote 9: At this date a county of Massachusetts. With this
narrative we can compare Captain Potter's own brief account of the
affair, as given in the _Pennsylvania Gazette_ of Feb. 19, 1745, being
an extract from a letter written by him to his owners, sent to that
journal from Newport: "We came to an Anchor at Y'opoch River, took a
Craft by which we had an Account of a considerable French Settlement
up that River, with a Fort of six Carriage Guns and 50 Soldiers,
excluding Officers: We went with the Prisoners we took into the Craft
(bound) before us as our Guides: At one o'clock in the Morning we
landed a small Distance from the Fort, gave three Huzza's and entred
the same Sword in Hand, took it without the loss of one Man, kept
Possession thereof 8 Days, took in Plunder 9 Indians, 2 Negroes, a
Mulatto Wench, 50 Small-Arms, 5 Casks of Powder, and a small Quantity
of Plate, and took 10 Prisoners. We then steered for Surinam and sent
up for Liberty to refit, but were refused by the Governor thereof: How
far this is consistent with the Treaties between England and Holland,
I for my part must leave to others to determine."]
_177. Deposition of Daniel Vaughan. September 1, 1746._[1]
[Footnote 1: Rhode Island Archives, volume lettered "Admiralty Papers,
1746-1750", following doc. no. 176.]
Daniel Vaughan, late Lieutenant the Sloop _Prince Charles of Lorain_,
Capt. Simeon Potter, on a Cruising Voiage Anno 1744, on oath declared
that an Indian man Named Jeffery Potter was one of the Hands of said
Sloop during her Cruize; that on said Cruize the Sloops Company made
an Attack on a French Settlement called Yapoke and took out of said
Settlement Seven Indians, three Negroes, twenty large Spoons or
Ladles, nine Large Ladles, one Gold and one Silver hilted Sword, one
Gold and one Silver Watch, two Bags of Money the Quanty uncertain, a
number of Chest and Trunks of Goods and Merchandize and waring
apparell, a Number of Gold Rings, Buttons and Buckles, a Number of
Silver Candlesticks and Church Plate both Gold and Silver,[2] a Number
of Swords, about Sixty small arms for Cannon, Shot of all Sorts, about
Fifty halfe Barrals of Powder, a Quantity of Beafe, Flower and other
Provisions and Sundry other things wch. this Deponent cannot
enumerate; that after the taking of said Goods etc. from Yapoke sd.
Sloop and Company sail'd for Surrinam where Capt. Potter put a
Quantity of sd. Merchandize up at Vendue on board a Vessel in the
Harbour and purchased the most of them himself and ship't them to
Rhode Island on his own account; then said Sloop Sailed for Barbadoes
on wch. passage the men demanded that Capt. Potter would Share the
Money taken, according to the Articles, to which Capt. Potter
answered that he would share none until his Return for all the Men
were indebted to the Owners more than that amounted to and Swore at
and Damn'd them threatning them with his drawn sword at their Breasts,
which Treatment Obliged the Men to hold their Peace and when said
Sloop arrived at Barbadoes Capt. Potter without consulting the Men put
part of the afore mentioned Effects into the Hands of Mr. Charles
Bolton and kept the other part in his own Hands and Supply'd the Men
only with Rum and Sugar for their own drinking, and further this
Deponent saith that Capt. Potter refusing to let the men have their
Shares and his Ill Treatment of them by beating them occasioned about
twenty-four to leave the Vessel whose Shares Capt. Potter retained in
his Hands and further this Deponent saith not. DANIEL VAGHN. Sworn to
this 1 Day of September A.D. 1746, Capt. Potter not notified living
out of the Government, befor EBEN'R RICHARDSON Just: apece.[3]
[Footnote 2: Father Fauque greatly laments the loss of these.
Professor Munro, _History of Bristol_, p. 180, says that some of the
silver which Captain Potter brought home from Oyapoc is still in the
possession of descendants of his family.]
[Footnote 3: Bristol had not yet become a part of Rhode Island.
Ebenezer Richardson was a justice of the peace in Newport; _R.I. Col.
Recs._, V. 335. Thomas Ward was elected secretary of the colony of
Rhode Island in May, 1747 (_ibid._, V. 215).]
A true Copy as one file in the Case Patd. agst. Potter examd.
by THO. WARD, Clk.
THE _ELIZABETH_.
_178. Deposition of William Dunbar. May 7, 1747._[1]
[Footnote 1: Rhode Island Archives, same volume as the preceding, p.
15. This deposition follows in that volume the libel of John Sweet of
Newport, commander of the privateer _Defiance_, against Paas's sloop,
captured by him.]
Novemb'r 26th 1746 Being at the Island Orcheilla[2] in Company with
Captn. Rous in the _Trelawney Galley_ of Jamaica, Saw a Sloop coming
from the Eastward, at 9 P.M. took her, they Informed us it was the
Sloop _Elizabeth_, John Paas Mastr. from Martinico, were Bound and
belonged to Curacoa, Cargoe Sugar and Coffea. when John Paas came on
board the Privateer all the Papers he Could produce was a Sea Brief[3]
and a Paper containing an accot. of the Cargoe he then had on Board,
we Inquired for the rest of his Papers, he answered he had left them
in Martinico, we told him such mistakes were not at all likely, and
therefore must Send him into Port. he made Use of many horrid
Imprecations, and many times offered to Swear, his Vessell and Cargoe
was a Dutch Property and that neither french nor Spaniards were anyway
Concerned in either. when we Told him he must go in his Sloop for
Rhode Island, his answer Generally was, what Signifies my going with
the Sloop without my papers, do but first lett me go to Curacoa and
furnish myself w'th papers and then I will follow my Sloop. and his
Sloop being Leaky we Concluded to heave her down and stop her leaks
before we Sent her homeward. after we had Cleaned her and got the
Cargoe on Board, found Concealed in the under part of the Boats
Chock,[4] a Sett of french Papers Expressing who the Cargoe belonged
to. John Paas Imediately retracted what he had formerly Said,
Acknowledged that Vessell and Cargoe did belong to the french. Some
time afterwards we had Some discourse Concerning the Illicit Trade
that is Carried on by the Inhabitants of Curacoa. John Paas Told me a
Sure way of knowing a real dutch Vessell and Cargoe from a Counterfeit
one, which is by a paper Carried by all Dutch Vessells (but wanted
where french or Spainards are Concerned) expressing the Owners and
Master Name, where bound to, a Particular account of all the Cargoe on
Board.[5] this Paper is Sworn to by the Owners, afterwards Signed by
the Governour and other Officers, with the Island Seal affixed to it.
WILL. DUNBAR.
[Footnote 2: Orchilla, a small island in the Caribbean, north of
Venezuela and 200 miles east of Curacao.]
[Footnote 3: See doc. no. 129.]
[Footnote 4: Blocks of wood, shaped to the under side of a boat, on
which a boat rested when on the deck of a ship.]
[Footnote 5: See doc. no. 128, note 12.]
The above Eviden[ce] was sworn to in Court
the 7th Day of May 1747.
* * * * *
_179. Petition of Edward Winter. May, 1749._[1]
[Footnote 1: Mass. Archives, vol. 64, pp. 333-335.]
Province of the } To his Excellency William Shirley
Massachusetts Bay } Esqr. Govr: and Commander in
chief in and over sd. Province[2] the
Hon'ble the Council and House of
Rep'ves in General Court Assembled
May ---- 1749.
[Footnote 2: Shirley was governor of Massachusetts from 1741 to 1756.
His correspondence, edited by Charles H. Lincoln, has been published
in two volumes by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of
America.]
The Petition of Edward Winter of Boston Blacksmith Humbly Sheweth,
That in the Year 1744 there were nine persons committed to the County
Goal[3] in Boston, being charged with committing divers acts of
Piracy, Hostility etc. on the high Seas and soon after they were put
into Goal, they attempted to get off their Irons and make their Escape
but being discovered were prevented, and thereupon your Petr: was
ordered to Search and Examine their Irons several times in a week,
which he accordingly did from the 12th day of January 1744 to the 23d
of July 1746, 253 times, and charged the Province for the same the
small price of one shilling a time, amounting in the whole to L12. 13.
0 bills of the last tenor,[4] and put in his Bill to the Committee
appointed by the special Court of Admiralty who try'd said Prisoners,
to Examine the Acco'ts of Charges that had arisen on said Prisoners,
but the same was not allowed by them, they apprehending the Pet'rs
Bill sho'd be paid by the County (tho' all other charges upon 'em the
Province paid) and said Committee accordingly recommended it to the
Court of Sessions to pay the same, to whom your Petr. has since appl'd
but they absolutely refused paying it, so that your Petr. unless that
he is relieved by this Hon: Court is like to suffer greatly.
[Footnote 3: Gaol.]
[Footnote 4: Massachusetts began the issue of provincial paper money
in 1690, and continued it till 1748. Its bills of credit were
distinguished, according to the form of these promises to pay, into
three varieties: old tenor (issues of 1690-1737), middle tenor
(1737-1740), and new tenor (1740-1748). New tenor bills, here spoken
of, were at this date valued at about one-tenth of the corresponding
sum in specie.]
Your Petr. therefore prays your Excellency and Honours will be pleased
to take the premises into Consideration, and as all the other charges
were paid by the Province, he prays he mayn't be the only sufferer,
but that you'l be pleas'd to order Payment of his Acco't out of the
Treasury accordingly.
And as in Duty Bound he shall pray etc.
EDWARD WINTER.
In the House of Rep'tives June 28: 1749.
Read and ordered That there be granted and allowed to be payd to the
Petitioner Edw'd Winter out of the Province Treasury the Sum of Twelve
pounds Thirteen shillings In full for his Services In Sd. Petition
mentioned.
J. DWIGHT, Spkr.
In Council June 29 1749 Read and Concurr'd.
SAM HOLBROOK, D'ty Sec'ry.
Consented to.
W. SHIRLEY.[5]
[Footnote 5: The order is printed in _Acts and Resolves_, XIV. 285.]
_180. Commission of a Vice-Admiralty Judge. September 23, 1752._[1]
[Footnote 1: From the volume in the clerk's office of the United
States district court at Charleston, S.C. called "Admiralty Records of
South Carolina, Book E-F", p. 1. A commission issued to a
vice-admiralty judge, Lucas Santen, New York, 1683, has already been
inserted in this volume, as doc. no. 51, but that, besides being
issued under a proprietary, and so not wholly typical, was not a
commission to Santen _as_ admiralty judge but a special commission for
the trial of piracy. Another typical specimen, to Richard Morris, New
York, Oct. 16, 1762, may be seen in E.C. Benedict, _The American
Admiralty_, third ed., pp. 79-84; fourth ed., pp. 76-80. Benedict
states that he has also seen the commissions of Roger Mompesson, Apr.
1, 1703, of Francis Harrison, Feb. 13, 1721, and of Lewis Morris, Jan.
16, 1738, who served as judge in New York till 1762. All three were
destroyed in the fire at the Albany Capitol.]
South Carolina.
George the Second by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France and
Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, and so forth
To James Michie, Esquire.[2]
[Footnote 2: James Michie, a South Carolina lawyer, was admiralty
judge from 1752 to 1758, speaker of the assembly 1752-1754, and
chief-justice for a brief period in 1759. He died July 16, 1760. _S.C.
Hist. Mag._, X. 160. His predecessor James Graeme (also chief justice)
had died in late August, 1752.]