Captured ship: Enterprize of Maryland (master Thomas Jones, or as a French prize,...

HCA 32/186/27

1756-1757

Captured ship: Enterprize of Maryland (master Thomas Jones, or as a French prize, Pierre Harixague).

History: an English merchant ship (snow) (100 tons; no guns; 11 men and 1 woman when taken by the French, 10 Frenchmen and 4 of the English sailors and the woman when retaken) bound from Annapolis to London laden with 240 hogsheads of tobacco, fifteen tons of pig-iron and 7000 staves; taken on Wednesday 8 December 1756 at 8am in 49° 20'N 1°E from the meridian of Faro by the French (Basque) privateer L'Aurore of Bayonne (Jean Lavernis commanding) and retaken on Friday 17 December 1756 at 4pm about 50 leagues from Ushant by the Guernsey privateer Blakeney (William Soleby commanding) and brought into Guernsey on 20 December.

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Court Papers:

• [CP 1]: examinations of Pierre Harixague 30 years (prize master) born in Béarn in Navarre, now residing at Bayonne; Basqou de Hayet 45 years (prize boatswain) born in and resides at Bidart near Bayonne; and Pierre Barsibos 34 years (prize crew) born in and residing at Aues [Arès ?] 8 leagues from Bordeaux; commissioners' affidavit and attestation as to papers.
• [CP 2]: cover letter from commissioner at Guernsey to High Court of Admiralty of England.
• [CP 3]: attestation as to papers.
• [CP 4]: attestation and claim for the ship and cargo on behalf of Thomas Jones, master, now at"Saint Sebastians," for the owners Nathaniel Chapman &co.

Ship's Papers and Mail-in-Transit (originally numbered for the court 1 to 302, only those detailed below have been found as of 13 December 2024):

• 9, 23, 26, 32, 33, 40, 48, 50, 52, 64, 68, 69, 77, 90, 93, 101, 102 (originally enclosed in 153), 106, 111, 127, 128, 129, 136, 143, 150, 153, 184, 192, 195, 198, 202, 209, 211, 215, 221, 222, 224, 230 per Cap Dare, 235, 236, 238, 241, 249, 256, 257, 259, 267, 268, 281, 285, 292 by Capt Richardson: all Mail-in-Transit.
• 294, 296: table of vessels arriving at Annapolis July to October 1756.
• 295, 297, 301: table of vessels departing Annapolis July to October 1756.
• 298, 300: Mail-in-Transit: concerning a deed in trust in favour of the creditors of Richard Graham, defaulter on his debts.
• 299: Mail-in-Transit.
• 301A: certificate of origin for bar and pig iron on board the Concord (master John Dare). (Two papers were numbered 301 by the court (in error) now 301 and 301A).
• 302: cargo manifest, and certificate of bond to sail only to a port in Great Britain.

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The Mail-in-Transit is mostly from Annapolis to England, and includes a letter from David Bisset of Bush River, Baltimore County, Maryland, to his brother Dr Charles Bisset, of Skelton-in-Cleveland, Yorkshire, 25 October 1756, discussing family matters and enclosing issue no.1442 of the Pennsylvania Gazette, 12 August 1756, containing items of news and details of the curriculum of the Philadelphia College and Academy (Robert has gained the promotion he deserves, Thomas has been promoted to master of a 60-gun ship (will make up for his bad luck hitherto), Brother James's misconduct he foresaw seven years ago ... arrived in Maryland in June 1753 with a cargo badly bought and entirely improper for this country, and useless letters of introduction). Correspondents of other letters include Dr Nicholas Munckley [physician and astronomer, 1721-1770], Daniel Wolstenholme, William Hall of Elk Ridge, several letters mention John Buchanan (shipowner and merchant), several concern the war with the French and Indians, and how it affected the tobacco crop and trade; there are some letters from indentured servants, including (no. 106) from Elizabeth Sprigs to her father John Sprigs complaining about her treatment as an indentured labourer. Nos. 238 and 268 are two letters written by Clementina Jane Grierson, later Rind, subsequently a significant publisher in Virginia.

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Re-catalogued and HCA 30/258/2 incorporated December 2024. Minor corrections November 2025.

Public Record(s)

English

Open Document, Open Description

Topics

International

Litigation

Trade and commerce

Piracy and privateering

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Debt

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Operations, battles and campaigns