Captured ship: Les Deux Couronnes or Two Crowns of St Malo (commander Jacques Blondela)....

Captured ship: Les Deux Couronnes or Two Crowns of St Malo (commander Jacques Blondela).

History: a French privateer (500 tons, 24 carriage guns, 260 men), bound from St Malo on a cruise; taken without resistance on 5 /16 May 1747 in 49°N, 20 leagues south of the Isles of Scilly by HMS Gloucester (Philip Durell commanding), and brought into Plymouth.

Documents:-

Court Papers:

• [CP 1-CP 5]: standing interrogatories, three examinations, commissioners' affidavit;
• [CP 6]: allegation;
• [CP 7-CP 8]: attestation as to papers, and abstract and translations of five of the 13 ship's papers.

Ship's Papers, numbered SP 1-SP 13:

• SP 1-SP 5: papers of Les Deux Couronnes, in French;
• SP 6-SP 13: papers of three English ships found on board Les Deux Couronnes at the time of her capture, and presumably taken from the English ships when they were captured by Les Deux Couronnes. The papers include Certificates of Freedom from the Customs House, exempting them from the duties payable by foreign-built ships. The ships are:
  • Mary of London (master William Bird), formerly captured from the French by HMS Lyon (Peircy Brett commanding) and condemned in the High Court of Admiralty on 8 August 1745;
  • Ann (master William Manby), formerly La Nayade also captured from the French by HMS Lyon (Peircy Brett commanding) and condemned in the High Court of Admiralty on 8 August 1745;
  • Rushout privateer (master Hugh Couch) formerly La Perla Viscaya captured from the Spanish (master Juan Florencio de Miranda) and condemned in the High Court of Admiralty on 3 March 1742, and now called the Nathaniel and William.

[Decision: condemned as prize, 15 June 1747]