High Court of Admiralty. Captured ship: Betsey (master John Gale). Capture history:...

High Court of Admiralty.

Captured ship: Betsey (master John Gale).

Capture history: an American merchant ship (90 tons, 7 men) bound from Nantes to Edenton, North Carolina, laden with gunpowder, muskets, sailcloth, cloths, woollens, jesuits' bark, flints, salt, claret, burgundy, tea and cotton goods; taken on 12 October 1777 in latitude 46°13'N by HMS Centaur (Richard Hughes commanding), and brought into Plymouth.

Intended voyage: from France to the United States.

Court papers numbered CP 1-4:-

• [CP 1]: attestation as to papers (numbered 1-8) brought in by the prize master John Reynolds, first lieutenant of HMS Centaur, Plymouth, 20 October 1777;
• [CP 2]: standing and additional interogatories;
• [CP 3]: two depositions of John Gale and Demsey Leary mariner, and commissioners affidavit, 21 October 1777;
• [CP 4]: allegation, 22 November 1777
• [CP 5]: translation of ship's papers.

Ship's Papers numbered SP 1-8 (North Carolina papers):-

• SP 1: register, Roanoke, 2 June 1777;
• SP 2: clearance, Roanoke, listing cargo for Nantes, 2 June 1777;
• SP 3: bill of health, Roanoke, 2 June 1777;
• SP 4-SP 6: bills of lading, Nantes to Edenton, 20 Septmeber 1777;
• SP 7: register, Nantes;
• SP 8: ship's pass, Nantes, to Curaçao, August 1777.

[Papers previously wrongly identified as Court papers: 1-8; Ship's papers: 9-16 (large pencil numbers): sorted and renumbered in 2024].

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