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British New York Vice-Admiralty Court. Captured ship: Molly (master Lawrence Furlong,...
Catalogue reference: HCA 32/403/14
What’s it about?
This record is about the British New York Vice-Admiralty Court. Captured ship: Molly (master Lawrence Furlong,... dating from 1779 Jan 22 in the series High Court of Admiralty: Prize Court: Prize Papers. It is held at The National Archives, Kew.
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Full description and record details
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Reference (The unique identifier to the record described, used to order and refer to it)
- HCA 32/403/14
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Date (When the record was created)
- 1779 Jan 22
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Description (What the record is about)
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British New York Vice-Admiralty Court.
Captured ship: Molly (master Lawrence Furlong, British prize master James Gibson).
Capture history: an American merchant ship (schooner, 70 tons, 4 men) bound from Newburyport to Philadelphia, in ballast; taken about 11 January 1779 by the loyalist privateer General Mathew; on 18 January 1779 took the French sloop Bonetta (master James Hanna [or Jacques Hanna]) [later taken again: see HCA 32/283/14]; the Molly with Hanna on board as a prisoner was taken again on 22 January 1779 off the Chincoteague, Virginia by a tender to HMS Nautilus (John Becher commanding), with HMS Strombolo (Peter Aplin commanding), and brought into New York.
Intended voyage: within the United States.
Court papers numbered CP 1-6:-
- [CP 1]: libel in Advocate General at the relation of Becher v The schooner Molly, 1 February 1779;
- [CP 2]: monition, 1 February 1779 ;
- [CP 3]: deposition of James Hanna, born in Ireland, the master of the sloop Bonetta bound from Dominica to Philadelphia, who discovered a snow run ashore at Cape Henry, and sent a boat and 3 of his 4 men to help, until the Molly appeared, took the Bonetta as prize, and took Hanna on board the Molly; [the deposition is very complicated: Hanna soon became a loyalist privateer captain], 4 February 1779;
- [CP 4]: deposition of Joseph Gillay, one of the original crew of the Molly 4 February 1779;
- [CP 3]: depositions of ;
- [CP 5]: affidavit of papers brought in by Samuel Brocking, lieutenant of HMS Strombolo, 5 February 1779 ;
- [CP 6]: deposition of Thomas Keating, of the tender to HMS Strombolo, present at the capture on 22 January, when Gibson and Hanna were plotting to take the Molly to Philadelphia.
[Decision: condemned, if no response to the monition by 22 February 1779].
Ship's Papers numbered SP 1-3:-
- SP 1: [copy of privateer commission of the General Mathew, now HCA 32/283/14, SP 1 - perhaps wrongly];
- SP 2: clearance bond, Newburyport, 19 November 1778;
- SP 3: ship's register, Newburyport, owner Tristram Dalton, 19 November 1778.
[Papers previously wrongly identified as Court papers: 1-5; Ship's papers: 6-8 (large pencil numbers): sorted and renumbered in 2025. Papers from the Bonetta taken on board the Molly were added to the Bonetta at HCA 32/283/14 in 2022].
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Related material (A cross-reference to other related records)
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See also HCA 32/283/14
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Held by (Who holds the record)
- The National Archives, Kew
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Legal status (A note as to whether the record being described is a Public Record or not)
- Public Record(s)
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Language (The language of the record)
- English
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Closure status (Whether the record is ‘open’ (available to the public) or ‘closed’ (not available due to a legal exemption))
- Open Document, Open Description
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Subjects (Categories and themes found in our collection (our subject list is under development, and some records may have no subjects or fewer than expected))
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Record URL
- https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/id/C13506979/
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Series information
HCA 32
High Court of Admiralty: Prize Court: Prize Papers
See the series level description for more information about this record.
Catalogue hierarchy
Over 27 million records
This record is held at The National Archives, Kew
109,109 records
Within the department: HCA
Records of the High Court of Admiralty and colonial Vice-Admiralty courts
37,247 records
Within the series: HCA 32
High Court of Admiralty: Prize Court: Prize Papers
26 records
Within the piece: HCA 32/403
Captured ships with names beginning with M. (Described at item level)
You are currently looking at the item: HCA 32/403/14
British New York Vice-Admiralty Court. Captured ship: Molly (master Lawrence Furlong,...
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