High Court of Admiralty. Captured ship: Friendship (master William Coombes). Capture...

High Court of Admiralty.

Captured ship: Friendship (master William Coombes).

Capture history: an American merchant ship (brigantine, 110 tons, 2 guns, 14 men, 2 passengers - the master's wife and Francis Forsen) bound from Charleston, South Carolina to Nantes, laden with rice, indigo, tobacco; seized on 12 April 1778 in latitude 46°N, longitude 23°W by seven of her crew when the mate, William Hill of Bristol rose in 'revolt against the enemy', and was brought by them into Bristol). [Droits of the Admiralty].

Intended voyage: from the United States to France.

Court papers numbered CP 1-24 (total 46):-

• [CP 1]: appointment of Roger Williams of Doctors Commons as proctor for the seven seizors William Hill, John Forster second mate, Richard Fitzgerald, John Turnbull, William Moore, Evan Richard and Goodmund Lyn, Bristol, 24 April 1778;
• [CP 2]: attestation as to papers (numbered 1-8) brought in by William Hill, late chief mate of the Friendship, and delivered to Daniel Harson, Collector of Customs at Bristol, who sent them to the Commissioners of Customs in London, Bristol, 1 May 1778;
• [CP 3]: separate detailed depositions of William Coombs of Charleston, born at Poole, Dorset; Daniel Russell carpenter of South Carolina; William Hill mariner of Bristol, John Forster mariner of London, and Emanuel Newnis [Nunez] of Cape St Mary, Portugal, taken at Bristol, 25 April-11 May 1778;
• [CP 4]: power of attorney by Messrs Forster, Turnbull, Richards, Lynn, Fitzgerald and Moore, appointing William Hamilton of Bristol as their attorney, 5 May 1778;
• [CP 5]: joint affidavit of William Hill, John Foster, William Moore, Richard Fitzgerald, John Turnbull, Evan Richard and Goodman Llyn (Gudmand Lynn). William Hill was mate of the Bristol privateer Maesgwyn (commander William Roome, 39 men), taken in fight over 29-30 September 1777 by the American privateer Lyon of Salem (commander Ishmael Hardy, with 125 men) in latitude 49°W, longitude 59°N, and brought into Salem. Hill (who had directed the fighting) and others were offered commissions by Hardy, but refused, and were marched as prisoners of war to Boston and imprisoned on the guard ship Raising Empire; Hill escaped, hid in Boston, and persuaded Moore and two others to escape. They worked their passage from Boston to Charleston, where experienced seamen were scarce, in order to sign on for a merchant voyage to France, and thence to return to England. Hill refused the command of the American privateer Notre Dame, but conceived the plan of signing on a merchant ship, seizing her and sailing home. Less detailed experiences of the others. Taken at Bristol, 11 May 1778;
• [CP 6]: allegation, 16 June 1778; [condemned the same day as droits; CP 10/16]
• [CP 7]: commission of appraisement and sale for John Jackson, Samuel Martin and James Jones, 16 June 1778, returned April 1779;
• [CP 8]: inventory and appraisement of the ship and cargo, Bristol, 27 July 1778;
• [CP 9]: printed sale particulars of the cargo and ship as droits, at auction, Exchange Coffee House, Bristol, 27 July 1778, marked up with purchasers and prices paid, total £7,019 4s 6d, 27 July 1778;
• [CP 10]: vouchers of the commissioners for payments made for the appraisement and sale, May-July 1778: receipts etc numbered 1-16, and other unnumbered receipts, now 17-23:-
  • [CP 10/1-CP 10/2: cooper;
  • [CP 10/3]: Society of Merchants;
  • [CP 10/4]: printer;
  • [CP 10/5-CP 10/7]: broker and appraiser;
  • [CP 10/8]: Exchange Coffee House;
  • [CP 10/9]: pilotage;
  • [CP 10/10]: advertising;
  • [CP 10/11]: wanting;
  • [CP 10/12]: Daltera & Roche;
  • [CP 10/13]: breakfasts and dinners;
  • [CP 10/14]: reporting fees, habour dues;
  • [CP 10/15]: boarding;
  • [CP 10/16]: entry of tobacco;
  • [CP 10/17]: mayor's dues;
  • [CP 10/18]: pilotage;
  • [CP 10/19]: indigo;
  • [CP 10/20-CP 10/22]: tobacco;
  • [CP 10/23]: rice;
• [CP 11]: accounts of sale of the ship and cargo, net proceeds £4671, 17s, Bristol, 3 August 1778;
• [CP 12]: Captain William Hill: power of attorney to Thomas Jones to receive prize money as compensation [or salvage], 6 August 1778 ;
• [CP 13]: Gudmund Lynn; power of attorney to Hugh Sutherland, victualler, 26 March 1779;
• [CP 14]: Gudmund Lynn; change of notary, 13 April 1779;
• [CP 15]: act of court on petition of all proctors; the interlocutory decree had given 2/3 of the proceeds to be divided thus: 2 shares each to Hill, Moore, Turnbull and Richards; 1 share each to Forster, Fitzgerald and Lynn; one shilling in the pound of these shares to be allowed to Nunes - their advances from Lieutenant William Hamilton to be deducted; the other 1/3 to the Receiver General of Droits of the Admiralty (deducting the proctor's bill) to cover the expense of maintaining the prisoners [the American crew]; a decision now needed onthe commissioners claim of an extra £300, they having been at significant trouble and expense to defeat 'a strong combination of the buyers to have the tobacco and other goods at their own prices'; etc; 12 May 1779;
• [CP 16]: William Hamilton: power of attorney to William Robertson, 29 May 1779
• [CP 17-CP 18]: attestation of Edward Cooper, proctor, that he lent Emanuel Nunes £3 3s out of his proportion of salvage, and is also owed by Nunes £12 4s 4d for drawing up the necessary papers; with detailed account; 1 July 1779;
• [CP 19]: bill of expenses of Mr Gostling, HM Procurator General [for droits of the Admiralty], for £310 12s 1d [includes costs in CP 20];
• [CP 20]: cost of taking very long depositions and affidavit in Bristol, submitted by Gostling, for £111 13s 6d;
• [CP 21]: attestation of Prudence Hill, widow and executrix of William Hill, that he had lodged Captain Coombes and the two passengers in his own house at Bristol for 8 weeks, at the cost of £14 8s; that he spent £13 13s providing clothes and other necessities for them and others of the crew; and that he paid John Farrell victualler of Bristol £29 17s for lodging the crew while the examinations were being drawn up; 19 July 1779;
• [CP 22]: letter in French from Emanuel Nunes, Ostend to George Messervy, Wapping, 5 June 1780: is engaged on a voyage to Hamburg so cannot come to London;
• [CP 23]: Ostend power of attorney for Messervy to receive Nunes' wages and any reward due to him, 5 June 1780;
• [CP 24]: translation of Nunes' power of attorney, 29 June 1780.

Ship's Papers numbered SP 1-8 (South Carolina papers):-

• SP 1: cargo manifest;
• SP 2: clearance from Charleston, 21 March 1778;
• SP 3: invoice of cargo of tobacco and rice, consigned by John Dawson and Andrew Lord to George Readhead or in his absence to Messrs Babut & Labouchere, Nantes;
• SP 4: ship's register, being a prize legally condemned in South Carolina in 1777; owners William Greenwood, Peter Leger, Andrew Lord and John Dawson of Charleston, 24 April 1777;
• SP 5-SP 8: bills of lading for indigo, consigned by (respectively) Roger Smith; John Rutledge; De Saussure, Smith & Daniell; and Theodore Gaillard.

[Papers previously wrongly identified as Court papers: 1-32; Ship's papers: 33-64 (large pencil numbers): sorted and renumbered in 2025].