Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period Part 77

_183. Standing Interrogatories. 1756._[1]

[Footnote 1: From Anthony Stokes's _View of the Const.i.tution 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 doc.u.ments 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 quant.i.ties, 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 quant.i.ty 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 lat.i.tude[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 lat.i.tude, 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]

[Footnote 1: This doc.u.ment, and all that follow relating to this case, nos. 184-196, are derived from the files of the vice-admiralty court which during the colonial period sat in New York. They are preserved in the offices of the United States district court in that city. In the case of the colonial admiralty courts which sat in Boston, Philadelphia, and Charleston, only the record-books of those courts, from which several of our doc.u.ments were obtained, have survived, and of the other courts apparently nothing; but from the New York admiralty court we have, besides records, a copious ma.s.s of papers relating to the cases, preserved by an exceptionally careful a.s.sistant register. By the care of Hon. Charles M. Hough, U.S. circuit judge, these papers have been arranged, mounted, and bound in model fas.h.i.+on.

In interpreting the papers here printed, the editor has been much a.s.sisted by an opportunity to read a ma.n.u.script of Judge Hough's concerning them.

The case of the _Virgen del Rosario_, more exactly the cases of Richard Haddon _v._ 10 Doubloons, etc., of Ybanez _v._ 2409, and of the King _v._ Thomas Miller and Sampson Simpson, give excellent ill.u.s.trations of the chicanery with which prize cases could be conducted and of the manner in which through admiralty courts the ends of justice could be defeated. The materials are copious. The history of the capture is sufficiently set forth in docs. no. 187 and no. 188.

The legal history of the case may be summarized as follows. Sept. 20, 1756, Nathaniel Marston and Jasper Farmar pet.i.tion governor and council for a privateer's commission for the _Peggy_ or _Charming Peggy_, whereof Richard Haddon was to be commander, Christopher Miller lieutenant; _Cal. N.Y. Hist. MSS._, II. 659. Sept. 29, 1756, the commission is granted. Dec. 7, 1756, the _Peggy_ captures the schooner _La Virgen del Rosario y el Santo Christo de Buen Viage_, plunders her, and lets her go. (It will be remembered that Great Britain was not at war with Spain at this time, but only with France.) Mar. 5, 1757, the _Peggy_ arrives at New York, "having taken as many Prizes during her Cruize as she could well man"; _Pennsylvania Gazette_, Mar.

10. Mar. 9, Haddon libels the plunder (doc. no. 184). Mar. 31, the admiralty judge decrees that it shall be his, provided no better claimant arises within a year and a day, and provided he furnishes sureties to the register of the court to the value of 2409. 4s. 11d.; notes of Sir William Burrell on this case in _Reports of Cases determined by the High Court of Admiralty and upon Appeal therefrom, temp. Sir Thomas Saulsbury and Sir George Hay_, ed. R.G. Marsden (London, 1885), pp. 185-186. July 26, 1757, the sureties present their account of sales (doc. no. 186). Feb. 17, 1758, and Mar. 10, on pressure from London, where Captain Ybanez has made his complaint, the advocate general in New York files a claim for money and goods, in the king's name, to restore them to the Spaniards. Apr. 5, the sureties demur. Apr. 19, the judge dismisses the advocate general's claim.

Sept. 27, 1758, Ybanez files his own claim or libel (doc. no. 188), but the judge rules Feb. 10, 1759, that his time had expired (Marsden, _loc. cit._). Dec. 19, 1760, the Lords Commissioners of Appeals in Prize Causes reverse the colonial court, and condemn the captor in costs and damages (_ibid._, and doc. no. 195). July 4 and 26, 1761, the New York judge declares that, while the Lords of Appeal had apparently reversed his decree of Mar. 31, 1757, on Haddon's libel, they had not reversed his decree of Feb. 10, 1759, on that of Ybanez, the decree actually appealed from (court papers). But so the matter had been dragged on until, Jan. 4, 1762, Great Britain declared war against Spain, and it may be considered certain that Ybanez never recovered anything; perhaps he did not deserve to, for pretty clearly he had been violating or evading the laws of his own country.

Meanwhile, July 14, 1758, the advocate general, on account of irregularities on Haddon's part violating his commission as a privateer, had sued his bondsmen (King _v._ Miller and Simpson). Their counsel moved for a commission to take evidence in Havana, which was granted by the court, Sept. 2, 1758; hence docs. nos. 189, 191-194.

June 27, 1761, on all the evidence now collected, the court decreed forfeiture of the bond. July 7, 1761, the sureties appealed (doc. no.

196), but there is no record evidence that their appeal was ever perfected, or that they ever paid. See doc. 196, note 1.]

Province of New York } To the Honourable Lewis Court of Vice Admiralty } Morris Esqr[2] Commissary and Judge of the Court of Vice Admiralty for the province of New York.

[Footnote 2: Lewis Morris (1698-1762)--son of Lewis Morris the governor of New Jersey and father of Lewis Morris the signer of the Declaration of Independence, of Richard Morris the judge, and of Gouverneur Morris--was admiralty judge in New York from 1738 to 1762.

His own record of his life, from his family Bible, is in _N.Y. Gen.

and Biog. Record_, VII. 16-18.]

The Lybell of Richard Haddon of the City of New York Marriner[3]

Commander of the private vessell of Warr called the _Peggy_ in behalf of himself and the Owners and Company of the said Schooner _Peggy_ in all Humble Manner Sheweth unto your honor that his most Gracious Majesty George the Second, by the Grace of G.o.d of Great Brittain france and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, Vfd. by his Commission under the seal of the Court of Vice Admiralty of New York Bearing date the Twenty Ninth Day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand Seven hundred and fifty Six writeing as is therein Recited did thereby Grant Commission to and Lycence and Authorize Jasper Farmer[4] and Nathaniell Marston[5] of the City of New York Merchants to Sett forth in warr Like manner the said Schooner called the _peggy_ under the Command of the said Richard Haddon, therewith by force of Arms to Attack, Surprize, Seize and take by and with the said Schooner and the crew thereof any place or fortress upon the Land or any s.h.i.+p or Vessell, Goods, Amunition, Arms, Stores of Warr or Merchandize belonging to or possessed by any of his said Majesties Enemies in any Sea, Creek, Haven or River and Such other s.h.i.+ps, Vessells and Goods which are or shall be Lyable to Confiscation pursuant to the treaties between his Said Majesty and Other princes, States and potentates and to bring the same to such port as should be most convenient in Order to have them Legally Adjudged in his said Majesties high Court of Admiralty of England or before the Judges of such other Admiralty Court as Shall be Lawfully Authorized within his Majesties Dominions, which being Condemned it Should and might be Lawfull for the said Richard Haddon to sell and Dispose of Such s.h.i.+ps, Vessells, and Goods, Amunition, Arms, Stores of Warr or Merchandise so Adjudged and Condemned in Such sort and Manner as by the Course of the Admiralty hath been Accustomed as by the said Commission may more fully Appear, and the said Richard Haddon Doth further Show unto your Honour that in pursuance of his Said Commission on or About the Seventh Day of December Last past being on the High Seas within the Jurisdiction of this Court in the said Schooner _Peggy_ with his Company and Crew on Board the Same in or About the Lat.i.tude of twenty-one Degrees and Eighteen Minutes North Longitude Eighty Seven[6] Degrees fifty Seven Minutes West from London he did meet with, sett upon and take a Certain Schooner Belonging to the Subjects of the french King Enemies of our Said Lord King George the Second, having on Board ten Doubleloons,[7] five thousand seven hundred and Sixty four Dollars, one hundred and five pistereens,[8] and Some Small Silver as also one Bracelett, twenty Gold rings, Some Silver Buckells, six Swivell Guns, Some Shott, one Cask of Powder, Some Cutla.s.ses and one Kegg of Indigo being the Money, Chattles, Goods and Effects of the Subjects of the french King, Enemies of our Said Lord King George the Second, which money, Bracelett, Rings, Buckells, Swivell Guns, Shott, powder, Cutla.s.ses and Indigo Belonging to the Subjects of the french King and Enemies of our Said Lord King George the Second the said Richard Haddon hath brought into this his Majesties port of New York in the said Schooner _Peggy_ in Order to have the Same Legally Condemned by the Sentence and Decree of this Honourable Court (But the said Schooner being unfitt to Come upon a Winters Coast and he the said Richard Haddon having a Great Number of prisoners Delivered her to a Number of them to Carry them to some french port After takeing out of her the Money, Goods and Chattles aforesaid) Wherefore the said Richard Haddon Humbly prays your Honour that the said Money, Bracelett, Rings, Buckells, Swivell Guns, Shott, Powder, Cutla.s.ses and Indigo Aforesaid belonging to the Subjects of the french King and Enemies of our Said Lord the King may by the Sentence and Adjudication of this Honourable Court be Condemned as Lawfull prize to the Use of the said Richard Haddon and the Owners and Company of the said Schooner _Peggy_ According to the Common Right of Nations and the Law of Arms in Such Case used.

RICHD. MORRIS Pr.[9] for the Lybellent.

[Footnote 3: Richard Haddon, mariner, was a New Jersey man, but became a freeman of New York City in 1749; _N.Y. Hist. Soc. Fund Pubs._, 1885, p. 167. An extract from a letter of his, written during this same cruise, Dec. 29, 1756, and conveying valuable information he had picked up respecting the proposed expedition of the French up the Mississippi to the Illinois country, is printed in _N.Y. Col. Docs._, VII. 219; it was an enclosure in a letter from Governor Hardy of New York to Secretary Pitt, Feb. 26, 1757, printed in Miss Kimball's _Correspondence of William Pitt_, I. 12; _cf._ p. 31.]

[Footnote 4: Jasper Farmer, merchant, owner in several privateers of the time, and militia captain, was killed a few months later, Apr. 23, 1758, by one whom he was trying to impress.]

[Footnote 5: Also an owner in several privateers; will (1778) in _N.Y.

Hist. Soc. Fund Pubs._, 1900, p. 50.]

[Footnote 6: A scribe must have misread the figure 81, which appears in other doc.u.ments, into 87. In reality, 87 57' W., in the lat.i.tude named, would locate the capture on dry land, in Yucatan. It took place near the Isle of Pines, south of the western part of Cuba.]

[Footnote 7: A doubloon was a Spanish gold coin, equal to $8.24.]

[Footnote 8: A pistareen or peseta was equal to about 19 cents.]

[Footnote 9: Proctor. Richard Morris (1730-1810), son of the judge (note 2, above), and at this time practising in the court, succeeded his father as admiralty judge in 1762 (commission Oct. 16, see doc.

no. 180, note 1), and served as such till 1776, when he took the American side. From 1779 to 1790 he was chief justice of the Supreme Court of New York.]

[_Endors.e.m.e.nts:_] New York Court of Vice Admiralty.--

Richd. Haddon in Behalf of himself the Owners and Comp'y of the Schooner _Peggy_ _v._ 10 Doubleloons, 5764 Dollars, 105 Pisterreens, one Bracelett, 20 Gold rings, Some Silver Buckells, Some Small Silver, six Swivell Guns, Some Shott, one Cask of Powder, Some Cutla.s.ses and one Bagg of Indigo.--Read and filed Wednesday the 9th of March 1757.

Proclamations Wednesday the 9th, Thursday the 10th and Fryday 11th March. Sentence Thursday 31st of March.