High Court of Admiralty. Captured ship: Friends Adventure (master Thomas Fossey)....

High Court of Admiralty.

Captured ship: Friends Adventure (master Thomas Fossey).

Capture history: an American merchant ship (brigantine, 180 lasts, 15 men, 3 passengers) bound from Surinam to Boston, Massachusetts, laden with sugar, sailcloth, ropes, linen, osnabrucks, cocoa, molasses; taken on 1 February 1782 in latitude 35°48'N east of Boston, Massachusetts by the privateer (with a commission against France but not against America) Admiral Barrington of London (George Passmore commanding), but was presumed lost at sea with all hands en route to England after developing leaks in a storm; the Admiral Barrington was unable to stop and assist as she was carrying despatches from South Carolina.

Intended voyage: from the Caribbean mainland to the United States.

Court papers numbered CP 1-10:-

• [CP 1]: attestation as to papers [numbered 1-5] by George Passmore, who desposed that he had taken out of the prize 10 crew and 3 passengers, and some bags of cocoa and bolts of canvas, and put 10 of his own crew on board; that on arrival he asked the Sick and Hurt Board to take them as prisoners of war, but was told no, so the master and passengers were released and the other 9 crew were sent to the prison ship at the Tower [of London], and from thence impressed into the Navy, 13 June 1782;
• [CP 2]: deposition of the passenger Eli Levyn, dealer in old clothes of Hill Alley, Houndsditch, London but late of Breslau, Prussia and for seven years at the Dutch settlement of Surinam but trading with the West Indies, and brought aboard the Admiral Barrington on capture, examined by interpretation of Gabriel Abrahams watchmaker of Whitechapel at London, 8 July 1782;
• [CP 3]: commission of appraisment and sale, 1 August 1782;
• [CP 4]: appraisal of the cocoa and canvas, 21 August 1782;
• [CP 5-CP 6]: two accounts for sale of the cocoa and canvas, 21 August 1782;
• [CP 7]: the Marshal's bill of fees etc for appraisal etc;
• [CP 8]: affidavit of George Passmore that he was charged with dispatches form Colonel Balfour at Charleston and from Captain Peacocke senior captain on that station, to deliver immediately to the Admiralty Board, 24 December 1782;
• [CP 9]: affidavit of George Passmore, that one of the passengers having informed him that the French had sailed to take St Kitts, he left the prize (estimated value £5000) to make all haste to deliver this news and his despatches on 24 February 1782 at Dover, 30 December 1782;
• [CP 10]: bill of expenses of Mr Gostling, HM Procurator General [for droits of the Admiralty], for £73 10s 11d, 3 March 1783.

Ship's Papers numbered SP 1-5:-

• SP 1: [wanting];
• SP 2: Dutch ship's pass, Surinam, 24 December 1781;
• SP 3-SP 4: details of passengers;
• SP 5: cargo manifest.

[Papers previously wrongly identified as Court papers: 1-15; Ship's papers: 16-20 (large pencil numbers): sorted and renumbered in 2025].

Topics

Shipping

Clothing

Internment

International

Litigation

Trade and commerce

Caribbean

Europe and Russia

Conflict

Piracy and privateering

Food and drink

Navy

Americas

Armed Forces (General Administration)

Operations, battles and campaigns

Prisons