High Court of Admiralty. Captured ship: Elizabeth Gunsley (master Matthew White,...

High Court of Admiralty.

Captured ship: Elizabeth Gunsley (master Matthew White, prize master Charles Jacques Guerard).

Capture history: an English merchant ship (140 tons, 10 Frenchmen as prize crew, 1 English boy) bound from London to Quebec, laden with wines, port, beer, and brandy consigned by Mary Parker & Sons of Wapping, and flour by John Milward; taken on 3 June 1780 by the French privateer L'Americaine of Granville (François Monnerie Jourdan commanding), retaken on 10 June 1780 in latitude 48°30'N, longitude 8°W of Paris by the privateers Mars of Jersey (John Tocque commanding) and Greyhound of Bristol (James Neilson commanding) and brought into Penzance.

Intended voyage: from England to North America.

Court papers numbered CP 1-4:-

• [CP 1]: attestation as to papers (numbered 1-82) brought in by the prize masters Amice Gabourel, first lieutenant of the Mars, and John Handen, second lieutenant of the Greyhound, 12 June 1780;
• [CP 2]: two depositions of Charles Jacques Guerard, first lieutenant of L'Americaine and prize master, and of François Duparc Couraye, taken at Penzance, 13-15 June 1780;
• [CP 3]: translations;
• [CP 4]: allegation, 29 July 1780.

Ship's Papers numbered SP 0-85:-

SP 0-48: Mail in transit: commercial correspondence from Mary Parker & Son [son is Fell Parker], Wapping, to Edward Watts and other merchants in Quebec (unless stated), giving details of orders shipped in the Elizabeth Gunsley (to Quebec) or the Ester (master Dobson) (to Quebec and Montreal); many envelopes contain a letter, bill of lading, and an invoice of cargo on a printed price list of 27 kinds of alcohol, dated late March 1780:-

• SP 0 (1-11): 11 copies of the small-size price list of Parker & Son, Wine-Vaults, Wapping, London, perhaps once in SP 12;
• SP 1, A-C: John Bacon;
• SP 2, A-B: Uriah Judah, Montreal;
• SP 3: Jean Charles Chevalier [envelope only];
• SP 4, A-D: John Justus Diehl;
• SP 5, A-B: Messrs Daniel & Dalton;
• SP 6, A-C: Messrs Gregory & Woolsey;
• SP 7: Watts [envelope only];
• SP 8, A-B: Messrs King & McCord, Montreal;
• SP 9, A-D: Andrew Cameron, ship Ester;
• SP 10, A-C: Andrew Cameron, ship Elizabeth Gunsley;
• SP 11, A-B: Isaac Judah, Montreal;
• SP 12, A-M: Watts, letter from Mary Parker about completing and returning certificates to the Customs House and to the Excise Office, enclosing 10 blank printed certificates;
• SP 13: Watts [envelope only];
• SP 14, A-C: Hugh Frazer;
• SP 15, A-E: Messrs Thompson & Shaw;
• SP 16, A-G: Jean Charles Chevalier;
• SP 17, A: Watts, from Pitches & Wilson, ship Chepstow, on recommendation of Mary Parker;
• SP 18, A-B: Messrs Gill & Le Marchant;
• SP 19: Watts [envelope only]; perhaps enclosing SP 19 A, a delivered letter from Lundberry, Bristol, 20 December 1779 addressed to Mrs Watts, Lower Clapton near Hackney, London, but internally to Mr Fell Parker: news from America, Griffith Maskelyn's credit;
• SP 20, A-B: personal letter from Mary Parker to Watts, thanking him for the gift of cranberries and skins , but as the skins were enough to make a cloak but not the hood, she is returning a sample to match for more; thanks him for his encouragement of her son; enclosing SP 20B, a sample of brown fur, with a note pinned to it 'one ell of skin', 22 March 1780;
• SP 21: Watts, 3 November 1779;
• SP 22-SP 23: Watts;
• SP 24: John Salmon, perhaps enclosing SP 24A;
• SP 25, A-C: Messrs Daniel & Dalton;
• SP 26: Watts;
• SP 27, A: Watts;
• SP 28: Watts;
• SP 29, A: Watts;
• SP 30: personal letter from Fell Parker to Watts;
• SP 31, A-B: John Justus Diehl;
• SP 32: Watts, from Herries, 10 December 1779, 'by the Quebec fleet';
• SP 33, A-C: James Parks, Quebec [envelope not numbered, but likely to be 33];
• SP 34-SP 36: Watts;
• SP 37, A-C: Watts;
• SP 38, A: Watts, 9 Dec 1779, 17 Feb 1780, enclosing a list of debts due from people in Quebec;
• SP 39, A: Watts, enclosing a copy of the charter party for the brig Success (master Cheeseman);
• SP 40: Watts;
• SP 41, A-B: Hugh Frazer;
• SP 42, A-B: Messrs Thompson & Shaw;
• SP 43: Watts [envelope only];
• SP 44, A: Thomas Cary or Corry;
• SP 45: Watts
• SP 46, A-B: John Lynd;
• SP 47: Messrs Thompson & Shaw [envelope only];
• SP 48: Watts;
• SP 48U, A-B: unnumbered, William Abbot, Halifax,19 Feb 1780.

Ship's papers, numbered SP 49-SP 85:-

• SP 49: clearance;
• SP 50-SP 54: business papers;
• SP 55-SP 56: Eddystone lighthouse and Ramsgate harbour dues;
• SP 57-SP 59: cockets;
• SP 60: ship's register;
• SP 61-SP 69: bills of lading;
• SP 70-SP 78: parchment slips with merchant marks and EW [Edward Watts], perhaps attached to cargo?;
• SP 79: note for John Parker;
• SP 80: French captor's monthly account of prizes [?];
• SP 81: copy of the French privateer's commission, appointing the prize crew, 3 June 1780;
• SP 82: Parker's detailed record book of their consignments on the Success, the Elizabeth Gunsley and the Ester, for Quebec at one end, and Montreal at the other;
• SP 83, A: Beaufoy, Biddle, Beaufoy account to Parker;
• SP 84-SP 85: receipt of supplies (rhubarb etc) for the surgeon's chest, and instructions for using them as a remedy for gout in the stomach.

[Papers previously wrongly identified as Court papers: 1-7; Ship's papers: 8-55 (large pencil numbers); mail in transit added from HCA 32/493/5, HCA 32/493/6 and HCA 32/493/7, and the letter and sample of fur added from HCA 32/492/16/1-3. All sorted and renumbered in 2025].

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