High Court of Admiralty. Captured ship: Adolphus Fredericus Rex (master Mathias Forsberg)....

High Court of Admiralty.

Captured ship: Adolphus Fredericus Rex (master Mathias Forsberg).

Capture history: a Swedish merchant ship of the same name, bound from Stockholm to Lisbon, laden with deals, iron, tar and pitch, was forced into Brest by severe damage in the North Sea in 1778, and there the master sold the cargo and (because no repairs could be done as all the shipwrights were engaged in readying the French fleet) bought the former French naval frigate La Sincère (440 tons) in September 1778, renamed her Adolphus Fredericus Rex, and engaged in the Mediterranean trade; now bound from Marseilles and Cette (on 28 March 1779) to Stettin, Prussia, laden with wine, brandy, provisions, olives, and anchovies; taken on 16 April 1779 about 40 Dutch miles from Cape Finisterre by the privateer Portsmouth of Portsmouth (James Bett commanding), and brought into Falmouth.

Intended voyage: from France to Prussia.

Court papers numbered CP 1-49:-

• [CP 1]: standing interrogatories;
• [CP 2]: four depositions of Matthias Forsberg, Johan Jacob Lind, Johan Wilhelm Dietz and Joachim Gross, taken at Penryn, 10-15 May 1779;
• [CP 3]: commissioners' affidavit;
• [CP 4]: attestation as to papers by Lieutenant John Southward (a muster roll and 2 other papers, belonging to a previous ship of the same name, put for safety by the prize master Thomas Townson in his quadrant case, but no longer to be found), 15 May 1779;
• [CP 5 -CP 7]: attestation of Forsberg, with 2 translated certificates from Brest, of the purchase of La Sincère, and of the severe damage to the first Adolphus Fredericus Rex, September 1778;
• [CP 8]: claim of Forsberg;
• [CP 9-CP 10]: attestations and claims of Frederick Rasch merchant of London, of Messrs Molling, Rasch and Co, agents for Balthasar Daniel Nofock, senator of Old Stettin, Prussian Pomerania, for part of the cargo, 11 June 1779;
• [CP 11]: translations from French and Swedish of most of 73 ships papers [all these papers were restored];
• [CP 12]: detailed schedule of the cargo, listing shippers, consignees, account and risk, claimants, marked A, 7 July 1779;
• [CP 13-CP 17]: five attestations on behalf of the captor that there had been no embezzlement or theft, 7 August -25 September 1779;
• [CP 18-CP 19]: attestation by the crew and the chief mate of Adolphus Fredericus Rex, of the ill-conduct, mismanagement and negligence of the prize crew, and embezzlement and theft, 19 August 1779;
• [CP 20]: similar attestation by Forsberg, the master, alleging also the loss of some of the ship's papers, 26 August 1779;
• [CP 21]: schedule of goods claimed by Frederick Rasch, 4 September 1779;
• [CP 22]: attestation by Forsberg that if the ship is detained beyond 10 October, he will not be able to enter the harbour of Stettin, and will run the risk of damage to or even loss of the ship by wintering in the Roads of Stettin, 18 September 1779;
• [CP 23]: detailed schedule of damage suffered by the crew;
• [CP 24]: attested copy of the original ship's paper no 71 (instrument of sale of the first Adolphus Fredericus Rex);
• [CP 25-CP 47]: attested claims (with seals) and translations, marked A-L from merchants in Swinemünd, Old Stettin, Breslau, Berlin, Frankfurt an der Oder, Kolberg, Glogau, Stolpe and Prezel [Prerow ?];
• [CP 48]: legal and other expenses submitted by Frederick Rasch, covering claims A-L etc, May 1780;
• [CP 49]: memorial to Sir James Marriott of Messrs Molling, Rasch and Co, 14 November 1780.

[Papers previously wrongly identified as Court papers: 1-80; Ship's papers: 81-92 (large pencil numbers): sorted and renumbered in 2024].

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