British New York Vice-Admiralty Court. Captured ship: Morris (master Thomas Gibbons)....

British New York Vice-Admiralty Court.

Captured ship: Morris (master Thomas Gibbons).

Capture history: an American merchant ship (schooner 70 tons, 14 men) bound first from Baltimore, Maryland to Curaçao and back, but diverted to Les Cayes, Saint Domingue to refit, and now bound from Les Cayes to Baltimore, laden with sugar (and perhaps in convoy with the Marquis de Lafayette); taken on 28 March 1782 off the Chesapeake by HMS Orpheus (John Colpoys commanding) and HMS Lion (William Fooks commanding), and brought into New York.

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

Court papers numbered CP 1-3:-

• [CP 1]: affidavit of papers brought in by the prize master William Calder, midshipman of HMS Orpheus, 9 April 1782;
• [CP 2]: libel in Advocate General at the relation of Colpoys and Fooks v The schooner Morris and her cargo, 10 April 1792;
• [CP 3]: monition, 10 April 1792.

[Decision: condemned, if no response to the monition by 1 May 1782].

Ship's Papers and mail in transit numbered SP 1-18:-

• SP 1: crew list and agreement;
• SP 2: owner's instructions, of Messrs Ridley & Pringle, Baltimore, 31 October 1781;
• SP 3-SP 4: letter from Abeille & Olivier to Ridley & Pringle requesting payment for replacing the mast and refitting the schooner; and enclosed account, Cayenne, March 1782;
• SP 5-SP 7: Gibbons' account etc with Messrs Abeille & Olivier, Les Cayes, March 1782;
• SP 8: settlement of account with Webb & Colston, Curaçao, 12 February 1782;
• SP 9: facture or invoice of cargo, Les Cayes, 7 March 1782;
• SP 10: full inventory of the schooner;
• SP 11: signals for the schooners Morris and Polly, in convoy;
• SP 12: a manuscript copy of [Thomas Sheridan's humorous poem] "A true and faithful inventory of the goods belonging to Dr Swift, Vicar of Lara Cor upon lending his House to the Bishop of - till his own was built" [1726];
• SP 13: account in French of payments on behalf of the brigantine Marquis de Lafayette), Aux Cayes, [Saint Domingue], 7 March 1782;
• SP 14: facture or invoice of cargo on board the Marquis de Lafayette), 7 March 1782;
• SP 15: receipt for train oil and blubber, Newburyport, 7 February 1782;
• SP 16: personal letter in French from John Aubinois, Boston, to R Averly, Paimboeuf, 28 February 1782;
• SP 17: personal letter from Mrs Elizabeth Pusley, Taunton, Massachusetts to Captain Benjamin Wickes, Chester Town, Maryland, 22 February 1782: about money in his hands due to her son Benjamin Harris who is now a prisoner of war in England; please reply via Captain Benjamin Sayer, Newport, Rhode Island, or Mr William Foster, Boston;
• SP 18: personal letter from Mrs Elizabeth Pusley, Taunton, Massachusetts to Josiah Hewes, Philadelphia, 22 February 1782: about money in Wickes' hands due to her son Benjamin Harris who is now a prisoner of war in England; please reply via Captain Benjamin Sayer, Newport Rhode Island, or Mr William Foster, Boston.

[Papers previously wrongly identified as Court papers: 1-3; Ship's papers: 4-19 (large pencil numbers): sorted and renumbered in 2025].

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