and Ability of you the said James Michie, and your skill and knowledge
in our Laws Civil and Maritime of our Kingdom of Great Britain as well
as of our province of South Carolina in America, have constituted and
appoint you to be Judge of our Court of Vice Admiralty in our province
of South Carolina in America aforesaid, with full Power and Authority
to sit, hear and Determine all Causes whatsoever competent to the
Jurisdiction of the said Court, To have and to hold, use, exercise and
enjoy the said Office of the Judge of the Vice Admiralty in our
province of South Carolina in America aforesaid, with all the Fees,
profits, Perquisites, Privileges, Advantages and Emoluments incident
thereto, in as full and ample manner as any of your Predecessors
Judges of the said court have holden the same.
This Commission to continue during Pleasure.
Given under the great Seal of the said Province at CharlesTown in the
Council Chamber the twenty third Day of September and in the
twenty-sixth year of our Reign 1752.
Witness our Trusty and Well beloved James Glen, Esq: Governor in Chief
and Captain General in and over our said Province.[3]
[Footnote 3: James Glen, a Scot, was appointed governor of South
Carolina in 1738, commissioned in 1739, came out to the colony in
1743, and was governor till 1756.]
By his Excellency's Command.
WILLIAM PINCKNEY, Dept. Secry.[4]
[Footnote 4: Maj. William Pinckney (1703-1766), deputy secretary and
afterward commissary general of the province; grandfather of Governor
Charles Pinckney. In the volume in which this commission is found, it
is indexed as James Michie's commission from Governor Glen, the
document which follows (no. 181) as his commission from England.
Sometimes, especially in the earlier period, admiralty judges in the
colonies were commissioned by the respective governors acting under
warrants from the lords of the admiralty empowering them so to do
(_e.g._, doc. no. 69); more often they were commissioned directly by
those lords, under the great seal of the admiralty. Docs. nos. 180 and
181 illustrate the two forms.]
Recorded in the Secretary's Office in
Book II, folio 286.
_181. Commission of a Vice-Admiralty Judge. June 16, 1753._[1]
[Footnote 1: South Carolina Admiralty Records, vol. E-F, p. 55. See
doc. no. 180, note 4.]
George the Second by the grace of God of great Britain, France and
Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, To our beloved James Michie
Esquire, Greeting. We do by these Presents make, Ordaine, nominate and
appoint You the said James Michie Esquire to be our Commissary[2] in
our Province of South Carolina and Territories thereunto belonging in
the room of the former deceased, hereby granting unto you full Power
to take Cognizance of and proceed in all Causes Civil and Maritime and
in Complaints, Contracts, Offences or suspected Offences, Crimes,
Pleas, Debts, Exchanges, Policies of Assurance, Accounts,
Chartreparties, Bills of Lading of Ships and all Matters and Contracts
which [in] any Manner whatsoever relates to Freights due for Ships
hired and let out, Transport Money or maritime Usery (otherwise
Bottomary) or which do any Ways concern Suits, Trespasses, Injuries,
Extortions, demands and affairs Civil and maritime whatsoever, between
Merchants, or between Owners and Proprietors of Ships and all other
Vessells whatsoever imployed or used or between any other Persons
howsoever had, made, began or contracted, or [any] Matter, Cause or
Thing, Business or Injury whatsoever done or to be done as well in,
upon or by the Sea or public Streams, or fresh Water, Ponds, Rivers,
Creeks and Places Over flowed whatsoever within the Ebbing and flowing
of the Sea or high Water Mark as upon any of the Shores or Banks
adjoining to them or either of them, together with all and singular
their Incidents, emergencies, Dependencies, annexed and Connexed
causes whatsoever, and such Causes, Complaints, Contracts and other
the Premises abovesaid or any of them howsoever the same may happen to
arise, be contracted, had or done, To hear and determine (according to
the civil and maritime Laws and Customs of Our High Court of Admiralty
of England) in our said Province of South Carolina and Territories
thereunto belonging whatsoever, and also with Power to Sit and Hold
Courts in any Cities, Towns and Places in our Province of South
Carolina aforesaid, for the hearing and determining of all such causes
and Businesses together with all and singular their Incidents,
Emergencies, Dependencies, annexed and connexed Causes whatsoever, and
to proceed judicially and according to Law in administring Justice
therein, And moreover to compell the Witnesses in case they withdraw
themselves for Intrest, Fear, Favour or ill Will or any other Cause
whatsoever, to give Evidence to the Truth in all and every the Causes
above mentioned according to the Exegencies of the Law, And further to
take all manner of Recognizances, Cautions, Obligations and
Stipulations as well to our use, as at the Instance of any parties for
Agreements or Debts and other Causes and Businesses whatsoever, and to
put the same in execution and to cause and command them to be
executed. Also duly to search and inquire of and concerning all Goods
of Traitors, Pirates, Manslayers, Felons, Fugitives and Felons of
themselves[3] and concerning the Bodies of Persons drowned, killed or
by any other means coming to their Death in the Sea or in any Port,
Rivers, Public Streams or Creeks and Places overflowed. And also
concerning Mayhem happening in the aforesaid Places, and Engines,
Toyls and Nets prohibited and unlawful and the Occupiers thereof, And
Moreover concerning Fishes Royal, namely Whales, Hoggs, Grampusses,
Dolphins, Sturgeon and all other Fishes whatsoever which are of a
great or very large Bulk or Fatness, by Right or Custom any Ways used
belonging to us and to the Office of our High Admiral of England, and
also of and Concerning all Casualties at Sea, Goods wrecked, Flotson
and Jetzon, Lagen, Thares [?], Things cast overboard and wreck of the
Sea, and all Goods taken or to be taken as Derelicts[4] or by chance
[found or] to be found, And all other Trespasses, Misdemeanors,
Offenses, Enormities and maritime Crimes whatsoever done and committed
or to be done and committed as well in and upon the high Sea as all
Ports, Rivers, Fresh Waters and Creeks and Shores of the Sea to high
Water Mark, from all first Bridges towards the Sea, in and throughout
our said Province of South Carolina, and Maratime Coasts thereunto
belonging, howsoever, wheresoever or by what Means so ever arising or
happening, and all such Things as are discovered and found out as
allso all fines, Mulcts, amercements and Compositions due and to be
due in that Behalf To tax, moderate, demand and collect and levy and
to cause the same to be demanded, levied and collected, and according
to Law to compose and command them to be paid, and also to proceed in
all and every the Causes and Business above recited, and in all other
Contracts, Causes, Contempts and Offences whatsoever, howsoever
contracted or arising (so that the Goods or Persons of the Debtors may
be found within the Jurisdiction of our Vice Admiralty in our Province
of South Carolina aforesaid) according to the Civil and Maritime Laws
and Customs of our said high Court of Admiralty of England anciently
used, and by all other lawful Ways, Means and Methods according to the
best of your Skill and Knowledge, And all such Causes and Contracts to
hear, examine, discuss and finally determine (saving nevertheless the
Right of appealing to our aforesaid High Court of Admiralty of
England, and to the Judge or President of the said Court for the time
being, and saving always the Right of our said high Court of Admiralty
of England, and also of the Judge and Register of the same Court, from
whom or either of them it is not our Intention in any thing to
derogate, by these Presents) and also to arrest and cause and command
to be arrested all Ships, Persons, Things, Goods, Wares and
Merchandizes for the Premisses and every of them and for other Causes
whatsoever concerning the same wheresoever they shall be met with or
found within our Province of South Carolina aforesaid and the
Territories thereof, either within Liberties or without, And to compel
all manner of Persons in that behalf, as the Case shall require, to
appear and to answer, with Power of using any temporal Coertion and of
inflicting any other Penalty or Mulct according to the right Order and
Courses of the Law, summarily and plainly, looking only unto the Truth
of the fact. And we impower you in this Behalf to fine, correct,
punish, chastise and reform and imprison and cause and command to be
imprisoned, in any Gaols being within our Province of South Carolina
aforesaid and maritime places of the same, the Parties guilty and
Violators of the Laws and Jurisdiction of our Admiralty aforesaid and
Usurpers, Delinquents, and contumacious Absenters, Masters of Ships,
Mariners, Rowers, Fisher men, Shipwrights and other Workmen and
Artificers whomsoever exercising any kind of maritime Affairs as well
according to the aforesaidmentioned civil and maritime Laws and
Ordinances and Customs aforesaid and their Demerits As According to
the Statutes and Ordinances aforesaid and those of our Kingdom of
Great Britain for the Admiralty of England in that behalf made and
Provided, And to deliver and absolve, to discharge and Cause and
Command to be discharged, whatsoever Persons imprisoned in such cases,
Who are to be delivered, and to promulge and interpose all manner of
Sentences and Decrees and to put the same in Execution, with
Cognizance and Jurisdiction of whatsoever other Causes, Civil and
Maritime, which relate to the Sea or which any Manner of ways respect
or Concern the Sea or passage over the Same or Naval or Maritime
Voyage performed or to be performed or the Maritime Jurisdiction above
said, with power also to proceed in the same According to the Civil
and Maritime Laws and Customs of aforesaid Court anciently used, as
well those of meer Office Mix'd or promoted[5] as at the Instance of
any Party, as the Case shall require and seem Convenient. And we do by
these presents, which are to continue during our Royal Will and
pleasure only, Further give and grant unto you James Michie Esq., Our
said Commissary, the Power of taking and receiving all and every the
wages, fees, Profits, Advantages and Commodities whatsoever in any
manner due and anciently belonging to the said Office, According to
the Custom of our High Court of Admiralty of England, Committing unto
you our Power and Authority Concerning all and Singular the Premises
in the several places above Expressed (Saving in all the Prerogative
of our said High Court of Admiralty of England aforesaid) together
with power of Deputing and Surrogating in your place for and
Concerning the premisses one or more Deputy or Deputies as often as
you shall think fit. Further we do in Our Name Command and firmly and
Strictly Charge all and Singular Our Governors, Commanders, Justices
of the Peace, Mayors, Sheriffs, Marshalls, keepers of all our Goals
and Prisons, Bailiffs, Constables and all other our officers and
Ministers and faithful and Leige Subjects in and throughout our
aforesaid Province of South Carolina And Territories thereuntobelonging
That in the Execution of this our Commission they be from time to time
Aiding, Assisting and yield due Obedience in all things as is fitting,
unto you and your Deputy Whomsoever, under pain of the Law and the
Peril which will fall thereon. Given at London in the High Court of
Our Admiralty of England aforesaid under the Great Seal thereof the
Sixteenth Day of June in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Seven and
fifty three and of our Reign the twenty sixth.
SAML. HILL, Register.[6]
[Footnote 2: Civil law judge.]
[Footnote 3: Suicides.]
[Footnote 4: Flotsam, goods found floating on the water from a wreck;
jetsam, goods thrown overboard from a ship which has perished; legan,
heavy goods thrown overboard with a line and buoy to mark where they
have sunk; derelicts, vessels abandoned on the seas.]
[Footnote 5: _I.e._, cases where there was no one corresponding to the
plaintiff in a suit at common law, but where the judge proceeded, as
an exercise of his own duty (mere office) or on being promoted
(incited) thereto by an informer.]
[Footnote 6: Register of the High Court of Admiralty.]
_182. Warrant to try Prizes. June 5, 1756._[1]
[Footnote 1: South Carolina Admiralty Records, vol. E-F, p. 115. This
warrant is there entered in the records of the admiralty court for
Nov. 22, 1756, the judge, James Michie (see the two preceding
documents), presiding. Great Britain had declared war against France
on May 18, 1756. A similar warrant is in Anthony Stokes's _View of the
Constitution of the British Colonies_ (London, 1783), p. 280.]
By the Commissrs. for Executing the Office of Lord High Admiral of
Great Britain and Ireland etc.
Whereas his Majesty had declared Warr agt. France we do in Pursuance
of His Majesty's Commissn. under the great Seal of Great Britain dated
fourth day of this instant June (a Copy whereof is hereunto Annexed)
hereby will and require the Vice Admiralty Court of South Carolina,
and the vice Admirall, or his Deputy, or Judge of the said Court, or
his Deputy, now, and for the time being, to take Cognizance of, and
Judicially to proceed upon all and all manner of Captures, Seizures,
Prizes and reprizals of all Ships and goods already Seized and taken,
and which hereafter may be seized and taken, and hear and determine
the same and according to the Course of Admiralty and Law of Nations,
to adjudge and Condemn all such Ships, Vessels and Goods as shall
belong to France or the Vessels and subjects of the French King, or to
any other inhabiting within any of his Countries, Territories or
Dominions, and all such other Ships, Vessels and Goods as are or shall
be liable to Confiscation pursuant to the respective Treaties between
his Majesty and other Princes, States and Potentates which shall be
brought before them for Trial and Condemnation, And for so doing this
Shall be their sufficient Warrant. Given under Our Hands and Seal of
the Office of the Admiralty this fifth day of June 1756 and in the
twenty ninth year of His Majestys Reign.
ANSON.[2]
BATEMAN.
R. EDGCUMBE.
[Footnote 2: Lord Anson, the celebrated admiral, was at this time
first lord of the admiralty. The other commissioners signing were
John, second viscount Bateman, an Irish courtier, and Richard
Edgcumbe, afterward the second Baron Edgcumbe, celebrated as a
dissipated wit.]
To the Vice Admiralty Court of
South Carolina and the Vice Admiral
or his Deputy or the Judge of the said
Court or his Deputy, now, and for the
time being.
By Command of their Lordships
J. CLEVLAND.[3]
[Footnote 3: John Clevland, secretary to the Admiralty 1751-1763.]
_183. Standing Interrogatories. 1756._[1]
[Footnote 1: From Anthony Stokes's _View of the Constitution of the
British Colonies_ (London, 1783), pp. 284-288; already in print, but
inasmuch as the most learned of American admiralty judges told the
editor of this volume that he had never seen a set of the standing
interrogatories, that were used at this period, it seems not
superfluous to print one here. Later sets, more elaborate, as used in
1798, may be found in Christopher Robinson's _Admiralty Reports_, I.
381-389, and in Marriott, _Formulare Instrumentorum_ (London, 1802),
pp. 130-148. Since in civil-law procedure witnesses were not examined
orally in open court, but all testimony was obtained in the form of
written depositions, it was advisable in prize proceedings, in order
that examinations might be thorough and searching, to employ standard
sets of questions, ready-made. Anthony Stokes (1735-1799), from whose
book the present specimen is taken, was an English or Welsh lawyer,
practised law in Antigua and St. Christopher 1763-1769, and was
chief-justice of Georgia, 1769-1776, 1779-1782, then retired to
England as a loyalist. His book contains many specimens of documents
used in proceedings before the vice-admiralty courts in the colonies.]
_Antigua._ _Interrogatories_ administered to
witnesses _in preparatorio_, touching
In the Court of Vice and concerning the seisure and taking
Admiralty. of a certain Schooner, named
_Princess of Orange_, alias _Flying
Fish_, whereof Casparus Wyneburgh
was Master, by the private
Schooner of War _Mary_, whereof Edward Richards
is Commander.
1. Where was you born, and where do you now live, and how long have
you lived there, and where have you lived for seven years last past?
are you subject to the Crown of Great Britain, or of what Prince or
State are you a subject?
2. When, where, and by whom was the schooner and lading, goods and
merchandises, concerning which you are now examined, taken and seised,
and into what place or port were the same carried? whether was there
any resistance made, or any guns fired against the said schooner, or
persons who seised and took the same, and what and how many, and by
whom?
3. Whether was you present at the time of the taking or seizing the
schooner and her lading, goods and merchandises, concerning which you
are now examined, or how and when was you first made acquainted
thereof? whether was the said schooner and goods taken by a man of
war, or a private man of war, and to whom did such man of war, or
private man of war belong? had they any commissions to act as such,
and from and by whom, and by what particular vessel, or by whom was or
were the said schooner seized and taken? to what kingdom, country, or
nation did the said schooner so seized and taken belong, and under the
colours of what kingdom, country, or nation did she sail at the time
she was so seized and taken? was the said schooner, which was taken, a
man of war, privateer, or merchantman?
4. Upon what pretence was the said schooner seized and taken? to what
port or place was she afterwards carried? whether was she condemned,
and upon what account, and for what reason was she condemned, and by
whom, and by what authority was she so condemned?
5. Who by name was the master of the vessel concerning which you are
now examined, at the time she was taken and seized? how long have you
known the said master? who first appointed him to be master of the
said schooner, and when did he take possession thereof, and who by
name delivered the same to him? where is the said master's fixed place
of habitation with his wife and family, and how long has he lived
there? what countryman[2] is he by birth, and to what Prince or State
subject?
[Footnote 2: _I.e._, of what country.]
6. What number of mariners belonged to the said schooner at the time
she was taken and seized? what countrymen are they, and where did they
all come on board? whether had you, or any of the officers or company,
or mariners, belonging to the said schooner or vessel, any part,
share, or interest in the said schooner concerning which you are now
examined, and what in particular, and the value thereof, at the time
the said schooner was so taken, or the said goods seised?
7. Whether did you belong to the schooner or vessel concerning which
you are now examined, at the time she was taken and seized? how long
had you known her? when and where did you first see her? of what
burthen was she? how many guns did she carry? and how many or what
number of men did belong to, or were on board the said schooner at the
time she was taken, or at the beginning of the engagement before she
was taken? and of what country building was she? what was her name,
and how long had she been so called? whether do you know of any other
name she was called by? and what were such names, as you know or have
heard?
8. To what ports and places was the said schooner or vessel concerning
which you are now examined bound, the voyage wherein she was taken and
seized? to and from what ports or places did she sail the said voyage
before she was taken and seized? where did the voyage begin, and where
was the voyage to have ended? what sort of lading did she carry at the
time of her first setting out on the said voyage, and what particular
sort of lading and goods had she on board at the time she was taken
and seized, proceeding upon a lawful trade? had she at that time any,
and what prohibited goods on board her?
9. Who were the owners of the said schooner and vessel and goods
concerning which you are now examined, at the time she was taken and
seized? how do you know they were the owners of the said schooner and
goods at that time? of what nation are they by birth, and where do
they live with their wives and families? and to what Prince or State
are they subjects?
10. Was there any bill of sale made to the owners of the said
schooner? in what month or year, and where and before what witnesses
was the same made, and when did you last see it, and what is become
thereof?
11. In what port or place was the lading, which was on board the
schooner at the time she was taken and seized, first put on board the
said schooner? in what month and year was the lading so put on board?
what were the several qualities and quantities, and particulars
thereof? whether were the same laden and put on board the said
schooner in one port, or at one time, or in several ports and places,
and how many by name, and at how many several times, and what
particulars and what quantity at each port? who by name were the
several laders or owners thereof, and what countrymen are they? where
were the said goods to be delivered, and for whose account, and to
whom by name did they then really belong?
12. How many bills of lading were signed for the goods seized on board
the said schooner? whether were the same colourable, and whether were
any bills of lading signed, which were of a different tenor with those
which were on board the said schooner at the time she was seized and
taken? and what were the contents of such other bills of lading, and
what are become thereof?
13. What bills of lading, invoices, letters, or any instruments in
writing, or papers, have you to prove your own property, or the
property of any other person, and of whom in the schooner and goods,
concerning which you are now examined? produce the same, and set forth
the particular times when, and how, and in what manner, and upon what
account, and for what consideration you became possessed thereof?
14. In what particular port or place, and in what degree of
latitude[3] were or was the schooner, concerning which you are now
examined, taken and seized? at what time, and upon what day of the
month, and in what year, was or were the said schooner so taken and
seized?
[Footnote 3: A statement of the longitude, it will be observed, is not
required. Any navigator of that time could easily determine his
latitude, but there was no accurate method of determining longitude at
sea till John Harrison made his trial voyage to Jamaica with his
chronometer in 1761-1762.]
15. Whether was there any charter party signed for the voyage, wherein
the schooner, concerning which you are now examined, was taken and
seized? what is become thereof? when, where, and between whom was the
same made? what were the contents thereof?
16. What papers, bills of lading, letters, or other writings, any way
concerning or relating to the schooner concerning which you are now
examined, were on board the said schooner at the time of the seizure
of the said schooner? were any of the papers thrown overboard by any
person, and whom, and when, and by whose orders?
17. What loss or damage have you sustained, by reason of the seizing
and taking of the said schooner concerning which you are now examined?
to what value does such loss or damages amount? and how and after what
manner do you compute such loss and damage? have you received any and
what satisfaction for such the loss and damage which you have
sustained, and when and from whom did you receive the same?
_LA VIRGEN DEL ROSARIO Y EL SANTO CRISTO DE BUEN VIAGE._
_184. Libel of Richard Haddon. March 9, 1757._[1]