High Court of Admiralty. Captured ship: Hooper (master William Knapp). Capture history:...

High Court of Admiralty.

Captured ship: Hooper (master William Knapp).

Capture history: an American merchant ship (brig) bound from Newburyport via Virginia to Bilbao, laden with tobacco, but was dismasted on 24 December 1777 and went into Santander for repair; seized on 11 January 1778 (the crew all having gone ashore in one of her boats) about 3 miles off Mount Saint Antonia [Santoña] near Bilbao by the privateer Active (Peter Agnew commanding), and brought into Jersey.

Intended voyage: from the United States to Spain.

Court papers numbered CP 1-3:-

• [CP 1]: letter from [Peter] Mallet, [commissioner], Jersey to Sir George Hay [judge of the HCA], about the prize Chebeck [see HCA 32/292/21] , and sending the papers of the Hooper , 24 Jan 1778;
• [CP 2]: attestation as to papers (numbered 1-17, and described in some detail), brought in by Amos Carrel of Guernsey, first lieutenant, 24 Jan 1778;
• [CP 3]: allegation, 3 March 1778.

Ship's Papers numbered SP 1-17 [the circumstances of capture may indicate the captain had taken the formal Massachusetts papers ashore with him]:-

• SP 1: bill of lading, for tobacco (on account of Stephen Hooper [of Newburyport, Massachusetts] consigned to Messrs Joseph Gardoqui & Sons of Bilbao) from Machipongo, Northampton, Virginia, to San Sebastian, 17 Aug 1777;
• SP 2: business letter from Samuel & Robert Purviance, Baltimore, Maryland, to Captain Knapp, 15 and 15 July 1777;
• SP 3-SP 4: two draft letters from [John Knowlton the mate], Northampton, to the owners, 12 July 1777, complaining about the absence of Captain Knapp for over a month with no news of him; the vessel is lying exposed to the worm and at great expense;
• SP 5: [draft] personal letter from John Knowlton, Northampton, to his mother Mrs Jonathan Herrick, Manchester, [Massachusetts], 19 July 1777;
• SP 6: [draft] personal letter from John Knowlton, Northampton, to his mother, 22 September 1777; news of war, hopes if Ezekiel and Robert, if no longer alive, 'lost thare lives like Sons of Liberty'; asks her to write to him in Bilbao;
• SP 7: personal letter from Hannah Cavender, Newburyport, to her husband James Cavender, Baltimore, c/o William Knapp, 12 January 1775; after her letter, in the same writing, a letter from Susanna Treadwell to her husband, presumably also one of the crew;
• SP 8: receipt from William Knapp to Isaac Avery, for entering and clearing his brig, 2 October 1777;
• SP 9: letter from Hezekiah Brickhouse to William Knapp, 3 November 1777; desires him to get Branson Dolby to pilot the ship out, 3 Nov 1777;
• SP 10: invoice of cargo for 11 barrels of flour shipped by Samuel & Robert Purviance, on William Knapp's vessel, 14 March 1775;
• SP 11: account book, barely used;
• SP 12: memorandum from Susannah Johnson to buy her cloth, with 5 fabric samples attached;
• SP 13: business letter from Nathaniel Swasey, Corunna, to Messrs Gardoqui, Bilbao, 18 December 1777, concerning SP 13A and SP 13B, two draughts on them, and SP 13C, memorandum of things to be bought for Fanny Sturges;
• SP 14: a log book or journal (now foliated 1-6v, and A1-A13v); the sailcoth cover is marked William Knapp's book, but on fo 5 is written 'John Knowlton, his hand, wrought on board the brig Hooper the 16th December in the first year of American Independence and the year of our Lord 1777 [sic];
  • [Knapp's] log (fo A1) starts in the Newbury River, 8 July 1774-4 Jan 1775 and ends at f13v, at this point many pages were removed;
  • from the other end, fos 1-6v contain pencil drawings of an imaginary privateer, 14 guns, called the ship Nonsuch, Captain Anebody, 23 Oct 1777; several different versions of the American flag, involving stars and stripes in different combinations; a patriotic song based on Come Cheer Up My Lads; several drawings of [Spanish ?] women, clothed and naked, and a sexually explicit drawing of [Knowlton] and a woman; the words 'Senore Maria Roos... Bilbao' appear frequently throughout this book and SP 15;
• SP 15: John Knowlton's journal, with a sailcloth cover;
  • starting on the brig Elizabeth (James Babson master ), from Bilbao, August 1776; then on the brig Pluto (Cabot Garrot [?] master), Cadiz to Bilbao, 26 Nov 1776, then on the brig Sally (William Steward master) from Bilbao to Beverly, 16 Jan 1777, then on the Hooper, 4 April 1777, from Newbury to Virginia, and last on the Hooper from Northampton, Virginia, to San Sebastian, 4 Nov 1777: kept to 28 December 1777;
  • includes at p 24 the song Come All You Jack Tars That Takes Delight in Whoring and Drinking Day and Night,
  • at p 46 a sketch of a flag, and at p 50 the song As I Walked Out To Farandro;
  • at p 70, a draft letter to Mrs Polley, about the dismasting, 1 January 1778; p 74, a draft generic letter to a wife or sweetheart, about missing her sweet company, apparently written by Knowlton as a model for five crew, named;
  • pp 75-82 further short drafts, mentions of Nathaniel Swasey and Maria Roos, calculations, a list of proverbs and another song Come Cheer Up My Lads To Your Country Be Firm;
• SP 16: official log book of the brig Hooper from April 1777 to 11 January 1778; includes transactions in Virginia;
• SP 17: a letter from Matthew Scott to Captain Knapp, 9 July 1777; about tobacco.

[Papers previously wrongly identified as Court papers: 1-3; Ship's papers: 1-18 (large pencil numbers): SP 14-SP 16 added from HCA 30/715 in 2021. All sorted and renumbered in 2026].