High Court of Admiralty. Captured ship: Active (master John Osborne). Capture history:...

High Court of Admiralty.

Captured ship: Active (master John Osborne).

Capture history: an American merchant ship with a privateer commission (sloop, 135 tons, 6 guns, 14 men of which 6 were Irish, 2 Dutch and 5 Spanish) bound from Charleston to Nantes, laden with rice, tobacco and indigo, in order to be converted and equipped for war at Nantes; taken on 2 May 1777 in latitude 36°32'N, longitude 51°44'W by a rising in the name of King George (planned in Charleston) of seven mariners (Joseph Ring second mate, Samuel Montgomery, Hans Christian, Magnus Hallefeldt, Daniel Scott, John McKan or Hill, and the boy Paul Kelting), and by them brought into Liverpool.

Intended voyage: from the United States to France.

Court papers numbered CP 1-81:-

• [CP 1]: standing interrogatories;
• [CP 2]: deposition taken at the Golden Lion, Dale Street, Liverpool of Joseph Ring, now of Liverpool but late of Charleston, South Carolina, mariner, 27 May 1777;
• [CP 3]: deposition of Samuel Montgomery, of Londonderry, mariner, 28 May 1777;
• [CP 4]: deposition of Diego de la Bagus, of Port St Mary, Cadiz, mariner, 29 May 1777;
• [CP 5]: deposition of Blas Dunmalso, of Cadiz, mariner, 30 May 1777;
• [CP 6]: deposition of Paul Kelting, aged 16, of Belfast and Liverpool, indentured to John Osborne (whom he accused of piracy in diverting the schooner Betsy from New York to Charleston, then in arms against Britain; [is this the Elizabeth of London: see SP 7]), 31 May 1777;
• [CP 7]: commissioners affidavit, 2 June 1777;
• [CP 8]: attestation as to papers (letters numbered 1-7 [sic] now MT 1-8], and some other papers) brought in by Joseph Ring, who through misinformation and want of knowing better, gave them to Benjamin Heywood merchant of Liverpool, who has since delivered them to the commissioners [misdated in the text to April 1777, but many of these Liverpool papers were misdated by the clerk];
• [CP 9]: a second attestation as to papers (numbered 1-12 [now SP 1-12] in addition to the previous 8 sealed letters) by Ring, 2 June 1777;
• [CP 10]: a very detailed account of Gostling's expenses as King's Proctor in this case, Trinity Term 1777, mentioning CP 10A;
• [CP 10A]: very detailed bill of costs for work supporting Ring and the commissioners in Liverpool, submitted by [Gildart];
• [CP 11]: allegation, June 1777;
• [CP 12]: commission of appraisement and sale of the ship and cargo, 28 June 1777, with endorsed return;
• [CP 13]: inventory of the ship and cargo, 6 August 1777;
• [CP 14]: sale of the cargo, and itemised list of 24 receipted charges plus others; net proceeds £2991 18s 8¾d, 30 August 1777;
• [CP 15-CP 38]: vouchers or receipts for the 24 charges;
• [CP 39]: schedule of £278 10s advanced in 37 [numbered] payments by the appraisement commissioners to the seven captors;
• [CP 40-CP 71]: 37 numbered receipts or assignments by the captors or their wives, etc [some are more than one to a page; endorsed], 2 August 177-30 March 1778;
• [CP 72]: receipt for repayment of the £278 10s, to the commissioners, 9 May 1778;
• [CP 73-CP 77]: letter of attorney for the seven captors, and later separate letters of attorney for Christian and Hallefeldt, and for Scott, with an affidavit that Scott is now a seaman on the American Trader, a tender in HM service];
• [CP 78-CP 81]: four attachments for debt in the Sheriff's Court, Poultry Compter, for the captors, all endorsed that the debts to John Boore have been settled, May 1778.

[Decision: condemned as droits of the Admiralty, as the crew had no commission].

Ship's Papers numbered SP 1-12 (South Carolina papers):-

• SP 1: clearance;
• SP 2: crew list and agreement;
• SP 3: [missing];
• SP 4: the Active's ship's log, 21 April-26 May 1777;
• SP 5: Joseph Ring's journal or log, 12 December 1776-22 May 1777;
• SP 6: [missing];
• SP 7: English pass for the Elizabeth of London (master William Bond) for Quebec and the West Indies, 15 May 1776;
• SP 8: owners' instructions from William Logan, John Lewis Gervais and Jonathan Sarrazin, to Osborne, detailing the planned conversion of the sloop to a brigantine in Nantes by Babut & Labouchere, Charleston, 9 April 1777;
• SP 9: incomplete record of distance covered;
• SP 10: certificate of 23 May by Ring, signed by Price and Osborne, that they were landed in Cork with no life destroyed;
• SP 11: certificate by Ring of the taking of the sloop and the putting ashore of Osborne and Price;
• SP 12: a sheet of calculations.

Mail in transit, numbered MT 1-8, from Charleston, many via Babut & Labouchere:-

• MT 1: letter from Logan, Gervais and Sarrazin to Madame Babut and M Labouchere, Nantes, 9 April 1777; enclosing MT1A-1D, invoice, bill of lading, a very detailed order for blankets, negro cloth, and much more (including deathhead buttons), and a detailed order for medicines, drugs etc;
• MT 2: personal letter from George and Honoria Logan, Charleston, to Muldrup, Danish consul at Leith, Scotland, enclosing MT 2A a letter from Honoria to Mrs Muldrup, her mother;
• MT 3: envelope to Babut & Labouchere, enclosing MT 3A, a letter from Henry Laurens, Charleston, 22 March 1777, to the same, recommending Jean Louis Gervais, and MT 3B, a letter from Gervais;
• MT 4: personal letter from [George Logan] to Samuel Lawford, London, enclosing MT 4A, a letter from Honoria Logan to her friend Miss C Lawford;
• MT 5: letter from George Logan to Miss Sarah Palmer, Manley Green near Newcastle under Lyme, Staffordshire, England, 5 April 1777, enclosing MT 5A, a letter from Honoria Logan to Miss Palmer, 'my dear friend Sally';
• MT 6: letter from Henry Laurens to Jacob Sandilands, Bordeaux, recommending Jean Louis Gervais, and reporting the losses of his ships, 22 March 1777;
• MT 7: personal letter from Robert Steele, an Irish prisoner of war, to 'my dear dear dearest wife', Belfast, reporting good treatment by Americans, and sending MT 7A, a bill of exchange;
• MT 8: letter from Henry Laurens to Messrs Noodingh & Alaret, La Rochelle, in support of Jean Louis Gervais, 22 March 1777;

[Papers previously wrongly identified as Court papers: 1-44; Ship's papers: 45-131 (large pencil numbers): sorted and renumbered in 2024].

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