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Item
High Court of Admiralty. Captured ship: Commerce (master Samuel Williams). Capture...
Catalogue reference: HCA 32/295/9
What’s it about?
This record is about the High Court of Admiralty. Captured ship: Commerce (master Samuel Williams). Capture... dating from 1777 in the series High Court of Admiralty: Prize Court: Prize Papers. It is held at The National Archives, Kew.
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Full description and record details
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Reference (The unique identifier to the record described, used to order and refer to it)
- HCA 32/295/9
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Date (When the record was created)
- 1777
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Description (What the record is about)
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High Court of Admiralty.
Captured ship: Commerce (master Samuel Williams).
Capture history: an American merchant ship (360 tons, 13 men and 2 boys, passengers) bound from Philadelphia to Amsterdam, laden with rice and indigo; taken on 7 July 1777 about 3 leagues off the Texel by HMS (sloop) Alderney (Anthony Parry commanding) and brought into the River Thames. Five of the crew were Scotsmen, one Welshman, three Americans, one Portuguese, one Englishman, one Irishman and one Dutchman, most were prisoners of war.
Intended voyage: from the United States to the Netherlands.
Court Papers:
- [CP 1]: allegation.
- [CP 2-CP 4]: three examinations.
- [CP5]: attestation and claim of William Bull to 16 casks of indigo, his property. Bull was the British Lieutenant-Governor of South Carolina until expelled by the rebels. He was travelling as a passenger in Commerce with his wife and family.
- [CP 5A-CP 5C]: supporting evidence enclosed with Bull's claim: his appointment as governor, the ordinance requiring officers of the State of South Carolina to swear an oath to the state, and a bill of lading for his 16 casks of indigo.
- [CP 6-CP 7]: commission of appraisement and sale, inventory of the cargo.
- [CP 8]: attestation as to papers.
Ships Papers:
- SP 1: expenses.
- SP 2-SP 5: bills of lading.
- SP 6: invoice.
- SP 7:"An account of the cargo to be discharged from on board the Commerce". Not the most efficient system of accounting, perhaps.
- SP 8-SP 10: mail-in-transit to Amsterdam.
- SP 11: log of the Commerce, March-6 July 1777. Cover marked"The Sloop Hope Logg-Book 1772".
- SP 12: [Samuel Williams's] Journal of the Carpenter (master Williams) 12 August-1 October 1773; and Williams's journal of the voyage of the Commerce 22 May-23 June 1777.
[ SP 11-SP 13 added from HCA 30/715/10 in July 2023.]
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Held by (Who holds the record)
- The National Archives, Kew
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Former department reference (Former identifier given by the originating creator)
- HCA 32/295/9/1-25
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Legal status (A note as to whether the record being described is a Public Record or not)
- Public Record(s)
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Language (The language of the record)
- English
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Closure status (Whether the record is ‘open’ (available to the public) or ‘closed’ (not available due to a legal exemption))
- Open Document, Open Description
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Subjects (Categories and themes found in our collection (our subject list is under development, and some records may have no subjects or fewer than expected))
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Record URL
- https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/id/C13505295/
How to order it
- View this record page in our current catalogue
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- Select an option and follow instructions
Series information
HCA 32
High Court of Admiralty: Prize Court: Prize Papers
See the series level description for more information about this record.
Catalogue hierarchy
Over 27 million records
This record is held at The National Archives, Kew
109,109 records
Within the department: HCA
Records of the High Court of Admiralty and colonial Vice-Admiralty courts
37,247 records
Within the series: HCA 32
High Court of Admiralty: Prize Court: Prize Papers
20 records
Within the piece: HCA 32/295
Captured ships with names beginning with C. (Described at item level)
You are currently looking at the item: HCA 32/295/9
High Court of Admiralty. Captured ship: Commerce (master Samuel Williams). Capture...
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