High Court of Admiralty. Captured ship: Bantam (master Robert Whyte). Capture history:...

High Court of Admiralty.

Captured ship: Bantam (master Robert Whyte).

Capture history: an American merchant ship (sloop or schooner, 40 tons, 4 men and 3 boys, 3 of whom were prisoners, named as Owen Humphreys, John Henderson and James Spencer) bound from Corunna to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, laden with dry goods consisting of Russia linens, sail cloth, blankets, etc; taken on 5 February 1777 in latitude 28°N, longitude 60°W by the English ships without commissions Laurel (master Samuel White), King of Prussia (master John Smeale) and Betsey (master Dawson) and brought into Liverpool.

Intended voyage: from Spain to the United States.

Court papers numbered CP 1-16, plus V1-14:-

• [CP 1]: deposition of Robert Whyte of Philadelphia, 19 March 1777;
• [CP 2]: deposition of Owen Humphreys, chief mate, 21 March 1777;
• [CP 3]: deposition of James Spencer, late of HM service, a prisoner of war of the Americans, 22 March 1777;
• [CP 4]: attestation as to papers (numbered 1-12) brought in by Samuel White, 24 March 1777;
• [CP 5]: commissioners' affidavit, Liverpool, 24 March 1777;
• [CP 6-CP 8]: three receipts, Liverpool, 18-24 March 1777;
• [CP 9]: allegation, 21 April 1777;
• [CP 10]: commission of appraisement and sale, 21 April 1777;
• [CP 11]: inventory and apprasiement of the ship, 17 May 1777;
• [CP 12]: acount of sale of the cargo, net proceeds £340 3s 1d, 30 May 1777;
• [CP 13]: bill of expenses incurred in Liverpool on behalf of HM Procurator General, as droits of the Admiralty;
• [CP 14]: bill of costs of Thomas Gildart for examining the witnesses;
• [CP 15]: packet of 14 vouchers, now numbered V1-V14, for payments in Liverpool;
• [CP 16]: wrapper for ship's paprs, brought into court 29 March 1777.

Ship's Papers numbered SP 1-12:-

• SP 1: official ship's paper, of the colony of Pennsylavania, 14 August 1776;
• SP 2: invoice of cargo, Corunna, 19 December 1776;
• SP 3: clearance from Philadelphia for Corunna, 16 September 1776;
• SP 4: receipt for Greenwich Hospital sixpences;
• SP 5: register of the sloop, 1769-1775;
• SP 6-SP 10: letters with news of the war, success of American privateers off Spain, news of Russian soldiers etc, from Matthias Aspden, at Corunna or Ferrol but on his way to London, 16-21 November 1776, addressed to (6) James Duinker; (7) Thomas Wharton senior: (8) Joshua Fisher & Sons; (9) Mrs Mary Harrsion; (10) Isaac Wharton; all in Philadalphia;
• SP 11: a hard-bound log book, mostly empty, with pp 1-50 written up, and 50A, half a bill of lading used as a bookmark.
• SP 12: a canvas-bound log book and journal, with pp1-40 written up, and the cover endorsed with details of capture and addressed to Sir George Hay, Judge of the High Court of Admiralty.

[Papers previously wrongly identified as Court papers: 1-18; Ship's papers: 19-48 (large pencil numbers): sorted and renumbered in 2024. SP 11 added from HCA 30/734 in 2024.]

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