Folios 201-202: Wilson Rathborne, Regulating Officer, North Shields. Responds to...

Folios 201-202: Wilson Rathborne, Regulating Officer, North Shields. Responds to the letter of 3 October and sends a report on the case of James Roberts, currently on board the tender HMS Lyra. He returns the enclosure with the Affidavit of Roberts as Mate. James Roberts, Ordinary Seaman, was pressed by Lieutenant Liddle, Sunderland, on 12 September and detained as being an Apprentice illegally appointed Mate for the purpose of protecting him from pressing. He acknowledged that he was Apprenticed for 7 years, had served 3 years and his Indentures were lost. the enclosed Affidavit is another example of the contempt of Oaths by these Masters, as John Bell swears that Roberts was pressed on 19 September, whereas he was in fact pressed on 12 September and regulated on 13 September. In addition, Roberts was Mate of a vessel where the Owner was on board, in addition to the Master, and was thus illegally protected. John Roberts is 19 years old, has been at sea for 5 years, and is a healthy young man well suited for service.

Folio 203: enclosure with folios 201-202. Petition to The Admiralty dated 30 September 1811 by Richard Towell, Marchant and Owner of the ship Fortune of Kings Lynn, Master John Bell. James Roberts, Chief Mate of the ship, was pressed on 19 September despite having his Affidavit. Requests his discharge.

Folios 204-205: enclosure with folios 201-202. Affidavit dated 2 October 1811 by John Bell, Kings Lynn, Norfolk, sworn before Lionel Self, Justice of the Peace, Kings Lynn. John Bell is Master of the ship Fortune. He swears that James Roberts, Mate, was pressed on 19 September at Sunderland by David Grant, Midshipman, despite having his Affidavit and an application to the Regulating Captain at the port has been refused.