British New York Vice-Admiralty Court. Captured ship: Friendship (master Humphrey...

British New York Vice-Admiralty Court.

Captured ship: Friendship (master Humphrey Crary).

Capture history: an American merchant ship (sloop, 40 or 60 tons, 7 men) bound from Stonington, Connecticut to Charleston, South Carolina, laden with cider, cheese, onions, potatoes, apples; taken on 28 April 1778 off Ocracoke Bay, North Carolina in latitude 34°30' N, longitude 75°W by the loyalist privateer George and Elizabeth (Pendock Neale commanding), and brought into New York.

Intended voyage: within the United States.

Court papers numbered CP 1-3:-

• [CP 1]: affidavit of papers brought in by the prize master Thomas Muir, 13 May 1778;
• [CP 2]: libel in Neale v The sloop Friendship and her cargo, 13 May 1778;
• [CP 3]: deposition of Nathan Cheeseborough common seaman of New London County, Connecticut, 13 May 1778.

Ship's Papers, incluidn mail in transit, numbered SP 1-9 (Connecticut papers):-

• SP 1: ship's register, 9 March 1778;
• SP 2: customs certificate, 9 March 1778;
• SP 3: clearance, 1 April 1778;
• SP 4: permission to transport 500cwt of Rhode Island cheese despite the embargo, 17 April 1778;
• SP 5: owners instructions of James Harris and Adam Babcock;
• SP 6-SP 7: invoice of cargo, and list of small trades by the crew, 9 March 1778;
• SP 8: business letter from Thomas Grant, Stonington, Connecticut to John Fine, of Fine & Lott merchants, Charleston, 23 February 1778.

[Papers previously wrongly identified as Court papers: 1-3; Ship's papers: 4-11 (large pencil numbers): sorted and renumbered in 2025].