Captured ship: L'Amphitrion , formerly Le Marquis de la Fite (master Jean Baptiste...

Captured ship: L'Amphitrion, formerly Le Marquis de la Fite (master Jean Baptiste Laborde).

History: a French merchant ship (150 tons, 24 men) bound from Martinique to Bordeaux, laden with sugar, coffee, sweetmeats, fine drams; taken on 15/26 June 1744 by the privateer Young Ceres (James Soper commanding), and brought into Dartmouth.

Documents:

Court papers:- [CP 1-CP 3] commisioners' affidavit, translators, examinations taken at Dartmouth; [CP 4] returned monition; [CP 5] allegation.

Bundles A-C: Ship's papers in: -

• Bundle A: wrapper marked A, and receipts now numbered A1-A22;
• Bundle B: bills of lading and similar papers, originally comprising 126 papers and [now] numbered B1-B126, but papers B 24, B89-B99 and B101-B126 are missing.
• Bundle C: [a master's archive of] ten manuscript books belonging to Laborde, 1741-1744:-
  • C1: missing;
  • C2: Etat des consommations;
  • C3: parchment covered book of accounts;
  • C4: index book;
  • C5: printed booklet of an appeal before the Conseil Superieur of Martinique, 'Pour Le Sr Bessolde Castillon négociant appellant contre Les Srs Eymer et Petit de Julienne aussi Négociants, Intimés';
  • C6: Livre Darimetique; a ms arithmetic instruction book made for Laborde in 1741;
  • C7: Copie des Lettres; Laborde's out-letter book, 1741-1744;
  • C8: account book;
  • C9: journal;
  • C10: accounts.

Bundle D: Mail in transit:-

• 68 letters and enclosures (including bills of lading), numbered D1-D68, written from Martinique in April and May 1744 to Bordeaux and other places in France;
• [These were originally several packets of letters.]

[Decision: condemned as prize, 2 August 1744]

See also IND 1/9023, f2v