British New York Vice-Admiralty Court. Captured ship: Rover (master Joseph Dorothy)....

British New York Vice-Admiralty Court.

Captured ship: Rover (master Joseph Dorothy).

Capture history: an American merchant ship (50 tons, 8 men) bound from Baltimore, Maryland to Cap François, Saint Domingue, laden with flour; taken on 16 January 1783 off Cape Henry, Virginia by the loyalist privateer Digby (John Laughton commanding), and brought into New York.

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

Court papers numbered CP 1-4:-

• [CP 1]: affidavit of papers [numbered 1-9] brought in by the prize master John Brown, 20 January 1783;
• [CP 2]: libel in Laughton v The Rover and her cargo, 20 January 1783;
• [CP 3]: deposition of Andrew Cunningham, born in Scotland, mariner, 20 January 1782 [sic];
• [CP 4]: monition, 20 January 1783.

[Decision: condemned, if no response to the monition by 10 February 1783].

Ship's Papers, and mail in transit, numbered SP 1-9 by the court / captor [some of earlier years]:- (Maryland papers)

• SP 1: personal / political letter (4th duplicate, in French) from John Lewis Gervais, [South Carolina delegate to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia], Fredricksburg, Virginia, to Plombard, Cap François, Saint Domingue, 26 January 1781, with a postscript of 29 July 1782; reports the siege of Charleston; no envelope;
• SP 2: personal / political letter (4th duplicate, in French) from John Lewis Gervais, Fredricksburg, Virginia, to [?], 3 Feb 1781; reports battle of January 1781; Benedict Arnold, [no envelope]
• SP 3: personal / political letter in French from John Lewis Gervais, Philadelphia, to Plombard [of Lory, Plombard & Co], Cap François, Saint Domingue, 19 July 1782; has met with Governor Rutledge;
• SP 4: clearance bond, 4 Jan 1783;
• SP 5: ship's register (owners William Taylor and Daniel Bowley, of Baltimore), 3 Jan 1783;
• SP 6: business letter (4th duplicate, in French) from John Lewis Gervais, Philadelphia, to Plombard & Legris, Nantes, 26 January 1782;
• SP 7: invoice for provisions;
• SP 8: detailed letter from Captain Joseph Dorothy to David Stuard & Co, Baltimore [owners of previous ship?], 25 May 1780; about difficulties of previous voyage to St Eustatius, and asking for money;
• SP 9: crew list and agreement, January 1783.

[Papers previously wrongly identified as Court papers: 1-7; Ship's papers: 8-19 (large pencil numbers): sorted and renumbered in 2025].