Folios 249-252. Affidavit of Henry Myerhoffer of St George's Southwark formerly steward...

Folios 249-252. Affidavit of Henry Myerhoffer of St George's Southwark formerly steward of the sloop 'Saint Antonio de Padua' in support of William Bradley's petition to the King. The sloop, Caleb Davis commander, left London towards the end of October 1752 on a voyage to Jamaica, the Trinidada, the Havannah and St Augustine de la Florida but did not reach Jamaica until June 1754. Myerhoffer relates in great detail the events following arrival in Jamaica; their subsequent ill-treatment by the Spanish authorities when they arrived at St Jago de Cuba to retrieve 32 'negro slaves belonging to the island of Jamaica who had fled from their respective owners'; their attempted voyage to Trinidad without a pilot and the damage sustained in 'a violent gale' off Cape Cruze; their subsequent voyage to Trinidad from Jamaica; the conduct of Francis Joseph Guttereze the Lieutenant-Governor of Trinidad who ordered them to sail to the Havannah even though their ship 'was very leaky and in a very bad condition'; events on that voyage when they and a sloop, Pedro Robarrow master, bound for New York from the Bay of Honduras were caught in a hurricane and made landfall at 'Sieboa' six leagues west of Campeachy [Campeche, Yucatan, southern Mexico]; the trickery of Robarrow and the actions of the Lieutenant-Governor of Sieboa including claiming the 'St Anthony de Padua' as a legal prize; the release of the sloop ordered by Don Melcher de Naberale, Governor of Yucatan, Don Romualdo Commandant with Don Joseph Araos ?Counlerdor of Campeachy; the 45 days' journey from Compeachy to the Havannah made by Myerhoffer, Davis and nine others in a small open boat; and events when they arrived back in Jamaica having taken passage from the Havannah on HMS Shoreham. The sloop 'Elizabeth' and her cargo belonging to William Bradley is mentioned as being the subject of a trial in Trinidad.