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Captured ship: La Marie Esther otherwise Marie Ester or Marie Hester of Bordeaux...

Catalogue reference: HCA 32/131/9

What’s it about?

This record is about the Captured ship: La Marie Esther otherwise Marie Ester or Marie Hester of Bordeaux... dating from 1745 in the series High Court of Admiralty: Prize Court: Prize Papers. It is held at The National Archives, Kew.

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Full description and record details

Reference
HCA 32/131/9
Date
1745
Description

Captured ship: La Marie Esther otherwise Marie Ester or Marie Hester of Bordeaux (master Bertrand Berthomieu, Bertoumieu or Berthoumieu).

History: a French merchant [provision] ship (250 tons, 8 guns, 38 men), bound from Saint Domingue to Bordeaux laden with sugar, indigo, cotton and tortoise shell; taken on 28 March / 7 April 1745 in latitude 47°N by the privateer Falcon (George Stonehouse commanding) and brought into Bristol.

Documents:-

Court Papers:

  • [CP 1-CP 3]: standing interrogatories, three examinations, commissioners' affidavit;
  • [CP 4-CP 5]: letter from Bristol and attestation as to the danger of damage to the cargo by leaking;
  • [CP 6]: allegation;
  • [CP 7-CP 8]: attestation as to papers (including a parcel of papers wrapped in brown paper and marked No 1), and abstract and translation of 25 of the other ship's papers.

Ship’s Papers:- numbered SP 1-SP 25: bills of lading, pass, muster;

Parcel 1, now numbered P1- P112.

  • P1: the brown paper wrapping, part stuck to P2 and part detached;
  • P2: bound account book of sales in Saint Domingue in 1744, with an index at the back;
  • P3: account book of sales in Saint Domingue in 1744, arranged by place and purchaser;
  • P4: navigation journal of Guillaume Delribal, second captain of La Marie Esther ;
  • P5: navigation journal of Bertrand Berthomieu, as pilot of La Renommee of Bordeaux, 1737;
  • P6: navigation journal of Bertrand Berthomieu, as second captain of Le Roi Salomon, 1739, with small doodles;
  • P7-P10: small account books of the ship;
  • P11-P64: a mixture of ship papers, trading papers and letters on Saint Domingue and some personal papers of Bertrand Berthomieu the master, and of Guillaume Delribal the second captain, 1743-1745;
  • P65, 65A-P88: trading letters to Lieutenant Chauvin of La Marie Esther , at Petit Gouave etc, Saint Domingue, 1744; and navigational exercises of Chauvin and Dumarell, 1745;
  • P89-P94: letters and papers of Dufoy, the surgeon of La Marie Esther including two death certificates from Saint Domingue;
  • P95-P105: further trading papers etc, 1743-1745;
  • P106-P112: mail in transit, Saint Domingue to France, October-December 1744.

[A duplicate certified copy of the examinations and the abstract of papers is in HCA 13/272 ff.371-380]

[Decision: condemned as prize, 29 April 1745]

Note
Extra information from HCA 30/775/1 and HCA 30/775/4; papers added from HCA 30/669 in the 1950s
Held by
The National Archives, Kew
Former reference
HCA 30/669
Legal status
Public Record(s)
Language
Miscellaneous
Closure status
Open Document, Open Description
Record URL
https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/id/C14513450/

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Series information

HCA 32

High Court of Admiralty: Prize Court: Prize Papers

See the series level description for more information about this record.

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Catalogue hierarchy

Over 27 million records

This record is held at The National Archives, Kew

109,109 records

Within the department: HCA

Records of the High Court of Admiralty and colonial Vice-Admiralty courts

37,247 records

Within the series: HCA 32

High Court of Admiralty: Prize Court: Prize Papers

22 records

Within the piece: HCA 32/131

Ships captured as prizes, with names beginning M. (Described at item level)

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Captured ship: La Marie Esther otherwise Marie Ester or Marie Hester of Bordeaux...

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