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 is he by birth, and to what Prince or State subject? 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 I. e., of what country. 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 instru ments 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? 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 there 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. of? 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 184. Libel of Richard Haddon. March 9, 1757.1 Province of New York To the Honourable Lewis Morris Esqr 2 Commissary and Judge of the Court of Vice Admiralty for the province of New York. The Lybell of Richard Haddon of the City of New York Marriner Commander of the private vessell of Warr This document, and all that follow relating to this case, nos. 184-196, are derived from the files of the vice-admiralty court which during the 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. 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. 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 God of Great 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 documents were obtained, have survived, and of the other courts apparently nothing; but from the New York admiralty court we have, besides records, a copious mass of papers relating to the cases, preserved by an exceptionally careful assistant register. By the care of Hon. Charles M. Hough, U. S. circuit judge, these papers have been arranged, mounted, and bound in model fashion. In interpreting the papers here printed, the editor has been much assisted by an opportunity to read a manuscript of Judge Hough's concerning them. The case of the Virgen del Rosario, more exactly the cases of Richard Haddon v. 1o Doubloons, etc., of Ybañez v. £2409, and of the King v. Thomas Miller and Sampson Simpson, give excellent illustrations 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 petition 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 Ybañez 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, Ybañez 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 Ybañez, 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 Ybañez never recovered |