British New York Vice-Admiralty Court. Captured ship: Commerce (master Paul Cox)....

British New York Vice-Admiralty Court.

Captured ship: Commerce (master Paul Cox).

Capture history: an American merchant ship (ship, 150 tons, 12 guns, 35 men, formerly the English ship John, bound from Barbados to New York, taken by the American privateer Nolker and others, and sent in to Pennsylvania), now bound from Philadelphia, laden with lumber; retaken on 13 September 1780 in latitude 35°N, longitude 72°W by the loyalist privateers Delight (Jacob Stout commanding) and Retaliation (Archibald Cameron commanding), and brought into New York.

Intended voyage: from the United States to [unknown].

Court papers numbered CP 1-4:-

• [CP 1]: affidavit of papers brought in by the prize master William Whalon (of the Delight), 16 September 1780;
• [CP 2]: libel in Stout v The ship Commerce, 16 October 1780;
• [CP 3]: monition, 16 October 1780;
• [CP 4]: answer and claim of James Langton of New York on behalf of John Coleman & Co of Liverpool, owners of the John.

[Decision: condemned, if no response to the monition by 8 November 1780].

Ship's Papers numbered SP 1-2 (Pennsylvania papers):-

• SP 1: ship's register;
• SP 2: clearance

[Papers previously wrongly identified as Court papers: 1-4; Ship's papers: 5-6 (large pencil numbers): sorted and renumbered in 2025].

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