Captured ship: St Marguerite , alias La Galère de Languedoc of Marseilles (master...

Captured ship: St Marguerite, alias La Galère de Languedoc of Marseilles (master Antoine Bouisson, former master Balthazard Bonnefoux).

History: a French merchant ship (140 tons, 12 guns, 30 men), bound from Fort Royal, Martinique, to Bordeaux, laden with coffee and sugar; taken on 9/20 March 1745 in latitude 44°N, 100 leagues from Cape Finisterre, by the privateer Garland (Robert Taverner commanding) and brought into Lisbon.

The ship was owned by Messrs de Lisle & Co of Marseilles. She had sailed from Marseilles for Martinique on 11/22 February 1744 under Captain Balthazard Bonnefoux, but Bonnefoux died during the crossing and Bouisson, the second captain, took command. They arived at Martinique on 23 April, and left for the return passage 29 January / 9 February 1745. The papers here show that Bonnefoux and Bouisson had each served previously, sometimes together, in several ships in the Mediterranean coasting trade (St Jean Baptiste, L'Immaculée Conception, La Vierge de la Garde, St Marguerite / La Galère de Languedoc) plying between their home port of Île Pomègues off Marseilles, and Toulon, Malta, Tunis, Cyprus, Alexandria, Damietta, Port Said, Salonika and Smyrna. Some papers name Bonnefoux as the captain on these voyages, some Bouisson, and some François Arnaud or Jean Pierre Bompard.

Languages: French, Italian, Arabic, Basque.

Court Papers:

[CP 1]: four examinations taken at Lisbon, commissioners' affidavit;

[CP 2]: allegation;

[CP 3-CP 4]: copy made in Lisbon of cargo manifest, with translation made in London;

[CP 5-CP 6]: attestation as to papers, and abstract and translation of the 79 ships papers numbered for the court;

[CP 7-CP 8]: wrapper and label.

Ships Papers numbered SP 1-SP 79. Note: the muster roll for St Marguerite's outbound voyage to Martinique in 1744 is SP 11 among the papers of St Caetano in HCA 32/101/8, the papers of the two ships having been mixed up by the captors before they were sent to and translated for the court.

Ships Papers not numbered for the court, now numbered SP 80-SP 439, including papers from previous voyages of Bonnefoux and Bouisson in several different ships, mostly in the Mediterranean coasting trade, and now arranged mostly chronologically, inc:

SP 82-89: journals of voyages in several ships, 1725-1745, inc. L'Imaculée Conception, Saint-Jean-Baptiste;

SP 80-81A, SP 90-92 : accounts of sales of cargo at Martinique, 1744-1745. SP 81A is an index to SP 81;

SP 93: metal canister which formerly held some documents;

SP 94: notebook, probably belonging to Bonnefoux, 1716-1719;

SP 95-107: notebook and papers found among its pages, probably belonging to Bouisson, 1732-1744;

SP 108-109: itineraries of voyages via Honfleur, Havre, Gibraltar and around the Mediterranean, 1740-1743;

SP 110-111: almanacs, 1744-1745;

SP 112: Bonnefoux's qualifications as a ship's master, 1716. 'He has made many voyages in the Mediterranean';

SP 113-118: regulations concerning trading in the Mediterranean; several sets, printed and MS, 1716-1725;

SP 119: tariff of export duties on goods from the Levant and North Africa, printed, 1716;

SP 120: tariff of import duties on goods in Levant etc, printed, n.d. Shows signs of having been 'disinfected' by means of many small puncture holes when folded, and therefore may originally have been sent in the post;

SP 123, 363-364, 384-387: books of 'routtes' i.e. distances travelled by the ship each day, 1727-1731, 1744-1745;

SP 125: inventory of the Union (master Jacques Payen, second captain Bouisson) by the French Consul at Cyprus, 1735;

SP 127: Bill of Health from Marseilles for L'Immaculée Conception (master Bonnefoux) 1735;

SP 128-131: individual passports for four named passengers to travel from Smyrna to Malta in L'Immaculée Conception, September 1735;

SP 132-133: two Bills of Lading for the Union alias St Marguerite, Bouisson master, from Cyprus to Port Said and back (endorsed goods received at Cyprus 9 September 1735). Merchant's mark on wax seal featuring Maltese cross (in common with other bills of lading in this collection);

SP 133A: charter agreement for Union alias St Marguerite signed in Cyprus in Arabic with chops, 1735;

SP 136: cargo manifest for L'Immaculée Conception, 1735, (more merchants' marks with Maltese crosses);

SP 138-164: inc. receipts for sums of money being carried by Bonnefoux from Tunis to Smyrna, signed for in Arabic on receipt in Smyrna, 1736. (SP 141 and 142 have impressions in wax of what may be an Arabic merchant's mark; SP 142 and 146 also have Arabic signatures with ink 'chops'. SP 149 is a Bill of Lading in Italian from Tunis, endorsed in English at Smyrna by George Boddington Junior). SP 162 shows Bouisson embarked as second captain in the St Jean Baptiste 10 November 1736;

SP 165: copy of charter agreement for St Jean Baptiste (master Lauge Couttie) Cyprus, 1737;

SP 166: inventory of St Jean Baptiste, 1737;

SP 167-168: two cargo manifests, Marseilles to Constantinople, n.d.;

SP 169-190: mostly Bills of Lading, 1738;

SP 196: Bill of Health, 1741;

SP 197: signals for convoy;

SP 232: inventory of Romone Antoine from Genoa, died 1742;

SP 264-268: relating to quarantine;

SP 269: inventory of La Neptune, 1743;

SP 307: passport (bill of health) for Joseph Marie Castelan;

SP 327: inventory of Gaitan Robobe, died 1744;

SP 329: inventory of Jean Antoine, died at Honfleur;

SP 355: inventory of things 'in my father's chest', going to Martinique (Bonnefoux's?);

SP 395-398: blank Bill of Lading forms;

SP 433: Arabic inscription with chop;

SP 434-436: three playing cards used for notes;

SP 437: piece of French chart of Western Mediterranean used as book cover;

SP 438-439: two paper patterns.

Personal Archives:

SP 440-489: letters to Balthazard Bonnefoux, 1733, 1739, 1742-1744, inventories of his belongings, and draft out-letter;

SP 490-557: letters and papers of Antoine Bouisson, 1733-1745, inc:

SP 490-528: in-letters;

SP 539-546: out-letters and letterbooks;

SP 548: search for heirs of Estienne Marin;

SP 551: principles of shipbuilding;

SP 552-555: hospital bills;

SP 556-557: cures for fevers;

SP 558-561: papers of Dominique Gervais, capitaine en second of St Marguerite, and others;

SP 562-568: misc.

Mail-in-Transit: 1 to 90, inc: 80A and 81A, two copies of a letter written in Basque by Jean Darracq to his wife in Ciboure. Nos. 12, 18, 20-22, 32-51, 57-59, 63, 65, 74-78 and 87 are still sealed; 81A opened March 2025.

[Decision: condemned 9 July 1745]