British New York Vice-Admiralty Court. Captured ship: Le Hardy of Bordeaux (master...

British New York Vice-Admiralty Court.

Captured ship: Le Hardy of Bordeaux (master Pierre Charles Marc).

Capture history: a French merchant ship (brigantine, 180 or 226 tons, 4 guns, 17 men) bound from Virginia to Bordeaux, laden with tobacco; taken on 1 December 1778 about 40 leagues off the Capes of Virginia by HMS Unicorn (John Ford commanding), and brought into New York.

Intended voyage: from the United States to France.

Court papers numbered CP 1-3:-

• [CP 1]: affidavit of papers brought in by Ford, 7 December 1778;
• [CP 2]: libel in Advocate General at the relation of Ford v The brigantine Hardy and her cargo, 9 December 1778;
• [CP 3]: deposition of Pierre Charles Marc, that a box of papers fell overboard when the ship was taken.

Ship's Papers numbered SP 1-4:-

• SP 1: bill of health, Rappahannock River, 13 November 1778;
• SP 2: muster roll, owners Messrs Peyre Père et Fils, Bordeaux, 2 May 1778;
• SP 3: ship's pass from Bordeaux to Saint Domingue, 6 April 1778 ;
• SP 4: list of 60 medical supplies, headed "Catalogus medicamentorum";
• SP 5: duplicate letter from Captain Marc to the owners Messrs Peyre Père et Fils, Bordeaux, 12 September 1778;
• SP 6: duplicate letter from Captain Marc to the owners Messrs Peyre Père et Fils, Bordeaux, 14 September 1778;
• SP 7: duplicate letter from Captain Marc to M Bernau [? Bernarda], Bordeaux, 14 September 1778;
• SP 8: duplicate letter from Captain Marc to Messrs Audibert, Marseilles, 16 September 1778.

Mail in transit, numbered MT 1-7:-

• MT 1: business letter from Thomas Jett, Leedstown, Virginia to his partners Messrs Peyre Père et Fils, Bordeaux, 10 November 1778, about the sale of their cargo from the Hardy, and from their other ship Heron; enclosing MT 1A, bill of exchange for £52 sterling [several other enclosures of e.g. bills of lading, accounts are mentioned, but are not here];
• MT 2: [copy of] business letter in English from Thomas Jett, Leedstown, Virginia to Messrs Peyre Père et Fils, Bordeaux, 17 September 1778, with a postscript of 12 October 1778; safe arrival of the Hardy; expects the Heron; tobacco;
• MT 3: business letter from Thomas Jett, Virginia to John Bondfield, Bordeaux [American Agent], 5 November 1778; wrote on 17 September via Marseilles; expects Bondfield's brig Peggy; price of tobacco.

[Papers previously wrongly identified as Court papers: 1-2; 15; Ship's papers: 3-14 (large pencil numbers): sorted and renumbered in 2025].