British New York Vice-Admiralty Court. Captured ship: Hope (master David Huntington)....

HCA 32/358/3

1783 Mar 22

British New York Vice-Admiralty Court.

Captured ship: Hope (master David Huntington).

Capture history: an American merchant ship (sloop, 75 tons, 11 men) bound from Cap François, Saint Domingue to Swansea, Massachusetts, laden with rum, molasses, sugar, coffee, and cocoa; taken on 6 March 1783 near Turks Island by HMS Resistance (James King commanding) and the privateer Eagle (George Bennison commanding), and sent in for Jamaica, with two of the original crew and a prize crew of nine men (named) including two prize masters Robert Aitchison and John Dunbar, when the combined crew conspired and rose against Aitchison and Dunbar and sailed instead for Charleston, but were taken again by the Eagle on 22 March 1783 off Charleston Bar.

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

Court papers numbered CP 1-5:-

• [CP 1]: affidavit of papers (1 paper) brought in by William Watson of the Eagle, 2 April 1783;
• [CP 2]: libel in Bennison v The sloop Hope and her cargo, 2 April 1783, naming the two original crew left on the Hope as Henry Davis and John Davis;
• [CP 3]: deposition of Joseph Gibbs of Swansea, Massachusetts, 10 March 1783 [sic - April ?], that he and his brother Henry Gibbs had been left on the Hope when all the rest of the original crew were taken off, and that the prize crew decided to rise while he was sick;
• [CP 4]: affidavit of Robert Aitchison master's mate, and of John Durban misdhipman, both of HMS Resistance, as to the risign against them, 26 April 1783;
• [CP 5]: account of sales of the Hope and her cargo, New York, 1 May 1783, net proceeds £3397 9s 2d.

Ship's Papers numbered SP 1:-

• SP 1: a scrappy log book or journal for 1783, made up from re-used papers, now marked SP 1A-SP 1D;
• SP 1A: a letter from David Bowen [a Quaker], mate of the schooner Tryall, at Swansea, 22 May 1782 to John Arnold, relating the capture of the Tryall [see HCA 32/465/11];
• SP 1B: part of a journal for a voyage ending in Baltimore, January 1782;
• SP 1C: part of a journal of a voyage in the brig L'Actif, starting February 1782;
• SP 1D: a song with the refrain good WASHINGTON, brave WASHINGTON etc, 3 February 1782;

[Papers previously wrongly identified as Court papers: 1-5; Ship's papers: 6 (large pencil numbers): sorted and renumbered in 2025].

Public Record(s)

English

Open Document, Open Description

Topics

International

Litigation

Trade and commerce

Caribbean

Conflict

Piracy and privateering

Food and drink

Navy

Crime

Americas

Armed Forces (General Administration)

Operations, battles and campaigns