Folios 269-270: William Charleton, Regulating Captain, North Shields. Reports on...

Folios 269-270: William Charleton, Regulating Captain, North Shields. Reports on the case of Wilkinson Taylor, also known as Taylor Dickinson, whose discharge has been applied for in the enclosed letter. States that Taylor Dickinson was impressed at North Shields in 1 July 1805 and detained on the grounds of having been employed in the keels before being bound to Messrs Hurry [Shipbuilders] and that he was sent to the Nore on HMS Eliza on 22 July 1805. Explains that the quota provided for the keelmen was calculated on the number of impressible men and not on the whole body, but that Dickinson cannot claim exemption of the grounds of the quota as he was not then of competent age.

Folios 271-272: enclosure with folios 269-270. Letter dated 23 July 1805, from Rowland Burdon, Castle Eden, County Durham to the Admiralty. Apologises for troubling them so frequently upon the subject of the Impress Service and encloses the petition of Thomas Hurry.

Folios 273-274: enclosure with folios 272-272. Petition, not dated, of Thomas Hurry, Shipbuilder of Howdon Dock, Northumberland to the Admiralty. Petitions for the release of Wilkinson Taylor, also known as Taylor Dickinson, apprentice shipwright and now on board HMS Eliza at North Shields. Challenges the refusal to discharge explaining that the 2 years the boy spent in the coal keels on the River Tyne before his indenture he was aged only 13 and 14 and that it was common practice amongst the poor to have their children so engaged until they became old enough to be indentured into a trade. States that such a strict application of the liability of Watermen for the impress cause great inconveneince and hardship. Asks for clarification on the quota agreed with the Keelmen and the Royal Navy which he understood would give exemption for the impress for the remainder of the war.