Captured ship: Margaret of New York (master Samuel Burgess). History: an English...

Captured ship: Margaret of New York (master Samuel Burgess).

History: an English slave trade ship (60 tons, 6 guns, 12 men, 25-28 passengers reputed to be pirates) bound from Ile-Sainte-Marie (Nosy Boraha) and St Augustine Bay, Madagascar, via Barbados, to New York City, carrying 115 enslaved people (Malagasy) along with allegedly stolen goods concealed aboard, including Arabian gold, jewellery, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, saffron, cochineal, tin, dragon's blood, and myrrh, plus cloth from Surat, Coromandel, Sind, Bengal and China; taken on 18/28 December 1699 off the Dutch Fort de Goede Hoop [at the Cape of Good Hope] by the English East India Company ship Loyal Merchant (Matthew Louth commanding), and brought into Bombay. The enslaved people aboard were sold at the Fort de Goede Hoop, before Louth carried the ship, its passengers and their cargo to Bombay.

After the Margaret was sold at Bombay, Burgess and the ship's passengers were sent to England, where some faced criminal charges for piracy. The papers from the Margaret were then used in an instance case in which Burgess was the defendant.

Examinations arising from the instance case can be found in HCA 13/82, folios 338-476.

Documents:

Court Papers numbered CP A/1-CP A/10 and CP B/1-CP B/7:

• [CP A/1-CP A/10]: declarations and examinations taken aboard the Loyal Merchant immediately after capture, comprising nine declarations of passengers and sailors relating to the Margaret's earlier voyage from New York and to the activities of pirates in the Indian Ocean, plus a booklet containing a copy of a ship's pass issued to Burgess at New York and the examinations of four men, one of whom was the formerly enslaved man Francisco Domingo;
• [CP B/1-CP B/7]: papers in Samuel Burgess' hand given to Matthew Louth after capture, six statements about his activities dating back to 1689, which may be copies of journal entries, with 'a True Relation of what I have h[e]ard ye pirates say of ye hostilities by them commetad in ye East India';
• [CP C]: letter from the Admiralty Office enclosing the ship's papers.

Further Papers numbered A 2-A 89 and B 1-B 50:

Bundle A, numbered A 2-A 89 [A 1 wanting]: a mixture of ship's papers, part of the masters' archive, mail-in-transit and papers belonging to the reputed pirates:

• A 2-A 15: letters from men and women, addressed to Giles Shelley, Adam Baldridge, Samuel Burgess; ship's passes issued at Jamaica and New York dating back to 1693; bill of lading; instruction issued by Governor Benjamin Fletcher to Samuel Burgess; letters of marque;
• A 16-A 20: letter of manumission by Frederick Philipse for the formerly enslaved man Nicholas Cartagena; agreement for prize shares given at Newport, Rhode Island; letter from Frederick Philipse asking the recipient to find the enslaved man Jack who had escaped to Madagascar and turned to piracy; receipt for payment of customs at St Helena for which Philipse gave an enslaved man; statement relating to enslaved people given at St Helena;
• A 21-A 34: letters to the Governor and Fiscal at the Cape of Good Hope and from the owner (Philipse) to Burgess; accounts including some for Christian and Arabian gold laden on the ship; the will of Cornelius Dorrington, an alleged pirate; memorandum about men left at Madagascar; letters and a power of attorney from Ann Canterell, whose husband previously died at Madagascar;
• A 35-A 41: extract of a register stating the ownership of the ships Margaret and the Peter; letter of attorney for Judy Demasse; will of Joseph Jones; letter from Elizabeth Beeho seeking her late husband's 400 pieces of eight; receipt for Arabian gold laden aboard;
• A 42-A 51: letters sent from New York to Captain William Kidd attempting to lure him back to North America for arrest; letters from women to their husbands who had gone with Kidd to the Indian Ocean; ship's passes;
• A 52-A 57: letter from New York merchants ordering goods from Madagascar; bill of lading; accounts and invoices for weapons, tools, neck collars and other goods laden at New York; orders issued to Samuel Burgess by Frederick Philipse;
• A 58-A 65: invoices and lists of prices and goods bought and sold at Ile-Sainte-Marie (Nosy Boraha); further orders for Burgess; letter from Henry Crosley at New York seeking the return of his brother from Madagascar;
• A 66-A 76: letter of attorney for Richard Lawrence; ships' passes; letters to Captain George Revelly and the merchant John Rensselaer both of the Peter and Giles Shelley of the Nassau concerning the Madagascar slave trade; letter from pirates at Ile-Sainte-Marie;
• A 77-A 89: letter from Abraham Samuel (signed Tolinor Rex) at Fort-Dauphin (Taolagnaro); letter from Elias Rose concerning Elizabeth Beeho's money; declaration concerning piracy by Thomas Warren and further letters concerning piracy around Madagascar, one from Thomas Pringle to his wife.

Bundle B, numbered B 1-B 50: copies of selected papers belonging to Samuel Burgess and his passengers, with legal proceedings (all or most of which were selected from bundle A); legal proceedings taken aboard the Loyal Merchant.

C1, Samuel Burgess's notebook, detailing his three voyages between Madagascar and New York across the 1690s; the notebook provides details of his slaving activities on the coast of Madagascar as he traded with Malagasy kings, along with agreements concluded with his crew and with merchants, as well as notes concerning the day-to-day administration of the Margaret.

[Decision: ship and cargo condemned, 1700].