British New York Vice-Admiralty Court. Captured ship: Clinton of New York (master...

British New York Vice-Admiralty Court.

Captured ship: Clinton of New York (master James Park).

Capture history: a Loyalist American ship (sloop) originally bound from New York under orders to sail in ballast to Tortola and Providence [in the Bahamas] to seek a cargo and return to New York, now bound from Providence to New York, laden with molasses, limes, coffee, pineapples, and three turtles, for the use of HM Army and Navy at New York; taken on 24 June 1779 by the pretended loyalist privateers of New York Hammond (Warren Lisle commanding) and Germaine (James Hanna commanding). Action brought by the owners of the Clinton against the owners of the Hammond and Germaine for damages of £5000, for alleged unlawful seizure.

Intended voyage: from the Caribbean Islands to Loyalist New York.

Court papers numbered CP 1-35:-

• [CP 1]: libel in William Kenyon and others, owners of the sloop Clinton, her apparel, furniture and cargo v Warren Lisle Nicholl and James Hanna, commander, and Bridger Goodrich and others, owners of the two schooners Hammond and Germaine, 5 July 1779;
• [CP 2]: attachment, for damages of £5,000: libellants William Kenyon, William Backhouse, Charles Eddy, Richard Hartshorne, Joseph Lindley, Lawrence Hartshorne, Willet Weeks and James Park; Defendants: Warren Lisle Nicholl, James Hanna, Bridger Goodrich, William Goodrich, Robert Campbell, Bartlet Goodrich and Robert Sheddon; 5 July 1779;
• [CP 3]: summons, 5 July 1779;
• [CP 4]: answer of Bartlet Goodrich, 27 July 1779;
• [CP 5]: replication of William Kenyon and others;
• [CP 6]: rejoinder of Bartlet Goodrich and others;
• [CP 7]: interrogatories on the part of the libellant [Kenyon] (for CP 8-CP 18);
• [CP 8]: deposition of Thomas Wilson, common seaman on the Clinton, 7 Sept 1779;
• [CP 9]: affirmation of William B Delaplaine, passenger, 7 Sept 1779;
• [CP 10]: deposition of Robert White, 13 Sept 1779;
• [CP 11-CP 15]: depositions of William Pagan, James Dole, William Branthwaite, Samuel Pearce and Francis Savage, 14 Sept 1779;
• [CP 16-CP 18]: depositions of John Hamilton, Simon Tufts and Thomas Hodgson, 15 Sept 1779;
• [CP 19]: sworn statement by Robert Sheddon that John Royall, David Christian and Geoge Lush are at sea, 24 Sept 1779;
• [CP 20]: interrogatories on the part of the defendant [Goodrich] (for CP 21-CP 25);
• [CP 21-CP 25]: depositions of David Christian, David Dickie, John O'Brien, John Royall and William Newby, 16, 19, 21 and 28 Oct, and 15 Nov 1779;
• [CP 26]: cross-interrogatories on the part of the libellant [Kenyon] (for CP 27-CP 31);
• [CP 26-CP 31]: depositions of David Christian, David Dickie, John O'Brien, John Royall and William Newby, 16, 19, 21, 28 Oct and 4 Nov 1779;
• [CP 32]: libellants' prayer of leave to appeal, 16 February 1780;
• [CP 33]: [draft] apostille issued by the court, recording process from 5 July 1779 to 16 February 1780;
• [CP 34]: a copy of the Royal Gazette of New York, no 356, 26 February 1780 (which prints extracts of an intercepted letter of 31 January 1780 from Mr Lynch, St Eustatius, to Garret Cottinger, Philadelphia, reporting news of the Comte D'Estaing);
• [CP 35]: archival note [possibly used in the evacuation of the records from New York], Box No 2. Kenyon & others against Bartlet Goodrich & others. Papers.

Ship's Papers numbered SP 1-3:-

• SP 1: receipt by Cicely Bunch of $181 from Captain Park, for 60,500 limes etc, 8 June 1779;
• SP 2: receipt by Thomas Duncome of $2041 from Captain Park, for 74 hogsheads of molasses, 3 June 1779; endorsed with list of people [potential passengers from the Bahamas to New York?] (Mrs Elizabeth Kerney, James Hooper, Eizabeth Yong a lady from Philadelphia with sons for New York, Sarah Ross and servant)
• SP 3: small notebook of accounts for the Clinton, May-June.

Appealed: see HCA 42/115/7 for manuscript appeal papers. A printed appeal was produced: although our copy (at HCA 45/8/14) is wanting, another copy may exist elsewhere.

[Moved here from HCA 32/492/2/1-100 in 2025. Papers previously wrongly identified as Court Papers: 1-95; ship's papers, 96-100. sorted and renumbered in 2025].

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