British New York Vice-Admiralty Court. Captured ship: Fanny (commander John Young)....

British New York Vice-Admiralty Court.

Captured ship: Fanny (commander John Young).

Capture history: an American merchant ship with a letter of marque (brigantine, 80 tons, 8 guns, 36 men) bound from York River, Virginia to Nantes, laden with tobacco; taken between 23 May and 12 June 1779 by the loyalist privateers Tryon (George Sibbles commanding) and Experiment (Alexander MacPherson commanding), and brought into New York.

Intended voyage: from the United States to France.

Court papers numbered CP 1-2:-

• [CP 1]: affidavit of papers brought in by MacPherson, 13 June 1779;
• [CP 2]: monition, 14 June 1779.

[Decision: condemned, if no response to the monition by 5 July 1779].

Ship's Papers numbered SP 1-23 (mail in transit from Virginia, and personal archive of Dr Walter King Cole, a passenger):-

• SP 1: printed privateer commission, 4 November 1778;
• SP 2: printed instructions of Congress, 3 April 1776;
• SP 3-SP 4: two clearances;
• SP 5-SP 7: personal accounts and receipts (for clothes) of Dr Walter King Cole;
• SP 8: note to Dr Cole from the Governor [of Virginia];
• SP 8A: note to [Dr Cole] from William Rickman, Williamsburg, 19 January 1779, offering him an appointment as Senior Surgeon for the militia under General Nelson;
• SP 8B: note to [Dr Cole], 10 November 1778; asking payment for a piece of cloth supplied before he left camp;
• SP 8C: note from Mr Dobson to Mr Mayo, Saturday morning, unsigned: Mayo to provide 1600 dollars in bills or hard money;
• SP 9: personal letter from John Boush, Williamsburg to his brother Dr William Boush, at Mr Norton's, Tower Hill, London, 8 May 1779; sent via Dr Cole, who is to visit his brother in Bristol;
• SP 10 and SP 10A: envelope and personal letter in French from Louis Curot, Williamsburg to his brother [Jacques] Curot, house of M Alouard, Marais, Paris, 26 April 1779;
• SP 11 and SP 11A: envelope and personal letter from Elizabeth Eyre, Virginia to Mrs Fairfax, Bath [sent via Mr Mayo], 6 May 1779;
• SP 12: envelope and personal letter with business and political news from W Frazer, Frazer's Ferry, to his brother Major John G Frazer, c/o Messrs S & J H Delap, Bordeaux, 10 May 1779; originally enclosed [news]papers;
• SP 13: personal letter in German from Johann Ludwig Fulwell to Mr Fulwell, surgeon-major in the cavalry of the Landgrave of Hesse, Cassell in Hessen, 21 February 1779; reply to Dr John Lewis Fullwell, Northampton, Virginia;
• SP 14: personal letter in French from Jume [?] Andersen, Williamsburg to his friend Etienne St Martin, Hotel Des Gardes du Roi, Versailles, 28 April 1779;
• SP 15: business letter from Thomas Jett, Williamsburg, to John Bondfield, Bordeaux, 23 May 1779; news of prizes taken by the British, and a PS of the removal of their fleet from the bay on 31 May;
• SP 16: business letter from Thomas Jett, Williamsburg, to Messrs Peire Père et Fils, Bordeaux, 23 May 1779;
• SP 17: business letter from Hans Fleitman, Williamsburg to Messrs Benjamin Dixon & Son, merchants, King Edward Stairs, Wapping, London, 3 May 1779;
• SP 18-SP 19: two business letters in Danish or Norwegian from Hans Fleitman, to Jens Edsleff, and to Peter Fleitman, Christiania, Norway, 3 May 1779;
• SP 20: personal letter in French from Jean Jacques Tasedery, Williamsburg, to his father Gaspard, Hotel Des Gardes du Roi, Versailles, 28 April 1779;
• SP 21: a personal letter (no envelope) from George Wilson, York, Virginia to George Norton (via Dr Cole); has received his letter of 28 February 1775 announcing the death of his father; their long friendship; wishes to set up a new correspondence and encloses SP 22 to that end, 1 April 1779; post script: had intended to send this letter by Norton's brother Mr Halley at Williamsburg, but he had sealed up his letters for London via St Eustatius already, 14 May 1779;
• SP 22: very long and detailed list written by George Wilson of commodities to be supplied, including a small sample of blue cloth, and a rhyme to be engraved on a watch;
• SP 23: personal letter from Henry Lee, Williamsburg, to His Excellency Arthur Lee, in France, introducing Dr Walter King Cole, a very amiable character who has taken a very active part in our army and is now on a visit to his father in England, and asks him to introduce Dr Cole to Dr Franklin; news of Richard Henry Lee and other Lees, but for political and military news refers him to Dr Cole, 10 May 1779.

[Papers previously wrongly identified as Court papers: 1-2; Ship's papers: 3-11 (large pencil numbers). Mail in transit, previously flattened and bound in a volume at HCA 32/493 part 2, folios 267-297, and a further letter (SP 23) from HCA 32/492/19, added here in 2025. All sorted and renumbered in 2025]

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