Captured goods: 30,000 pieces of eight and 6 butts of sherry sack, taken from the...

HCA 32/114/9

1741-1744

Captured goods: 30,000 pieces of eight and 6 butts of sherry sack, taken from the Gothenburg or Götheborg (master Bengt Askebohm or Askboem or Ashomb).

History: a Swedish East India Company ship (800 tons, 34 guns, 140 men) bound from Sweden and lately Cadiz to Canton, China, richly laden, was stopped with shots fired on both sides in late April / early May 1741 by HMS Bideford of 20 guns (George Forrester, Lord Forrester commanding [aged 16]) then cruising off the Canary Islands, and escorted into Madeira (despite a mutiny on the Gothenburg), where the ship was searched; 6 butts of sherry sack, and 5 chests marked ER containing 30,000 pieces of eight of Mexico silver (the property of François Castanier a merchant of Paris [a Director of the French East India Company], in the custody of the Irish or Spanish passenger Edmond Roth of county Wexford, in the employ of Messrs Casaubon y Béhic, French merchants of Cadiz) were removed as Spanish property, together with Roth as a prisoner of war, and were brought into London on HMS Bideford.

Documents:-

Court Papers:

• [Examinations taken in London, see: HCA 13/89, fos 254, 258, 274-275, 282, 286, 298]
• [CP 1: claim of Castanier, 6 August 1741;
• [CP 2-CP 4]: attestation of Lord Forrester, with two papers, 13 August 1741;
• [CP 5]: docket of allegation of 3 September 1741 [this allegation was put un by Crespigny, probably for Forrester, but is no longer here];
• [CP 5A-CP 21]: allegation on behalf of Castanier, 3 September 1741, with 6 sets of attestations or exhibits, affidavits and translations marked A-F [CP 6-CP 17], of receipts and letters from Roth in Cadiz, and from Madeira; and 2 further sets [CP 18-CP 21];
• [CP 22]: commission of appraisement, September 1741;
• [CP 23]: attestation by James Hays merchant of London that he is worth £8,000;
• [CP 24]: attestation by George Fryer merchant of London that he is worth £8,000;
• [CP 25]: attestation of Edmond Roth, 5 October 1741;
• [CP 26]: attestation as to why the silver (kept in the Bank of England) has not been appraised, Lord Forrester having gone into the country, 6 October 1741;
• [CP 27]: allegation on behalf of Forrester, 8 October 1741;
• [CP 28-CP 29]: commission of appraisement, October 1741, and appraisement'
• [CP 30-CP 31]: letter of attorney and translation, appointing Richard Cheslyn as proxy for Chatanier;
• [CP 32-CP 39]: three attestations as to papers, with copies and translations, 14 and 15 October 1741;
• [CP 40-CP 44]: two sets of special interrogatories, with three notes relating to the numbered questions on which deponents are to be examined, April 1742;
• [CP 45]: allegation [to be used in examinations in Paris], 28 May 1742
• [CP 46]: registry certificate, September 1742;
• [CP 47-CP 53]: envelope from Paris to the HCA enclosing a copy of the 28 May 1742 allegations, and of Castanier's answers taken in Paris, in 2 sets (one French, one English), plus a certificate for the due execution of the commission in Paris, October 1742, and a translation;
• [CP 54]: commission for answers at Paris, September 1743;
• [CP 55]: appointment of John Lee as proxy by Hays and Fryer, who had stood surety for Castanier in the sum of £7,028 6s 6d, the value of the 30,000 pieces of eight which had been delivered to Castanier by decree of 23 October 1741, in case it was later adjudged good prize, 20 April 1744;
• [CP 56]: affidavit that George Brisac, lieutenant of HMS Bideford at the time of capture, has been serving abroad since August 1742, 2 May 1744.

[Decision: restored as neutral, with costs and damages, 29 September 1744. Inhibition of appeal, December 1744 at HCA 42/35/3]

Extra information from HCA 30/775/2

See also IND 1/9022, f78v.

Representations by the French SP 78/226/15

Public Record(s)

English, French and Portuguese

Open Document, Open Description