High Court of Admiralty. Captured ship: Le Gorée (commander Lieutenant Joseph Allary)....

High Court of Admiralty.

Captured ship: Le Gorée (commander Lieutenant Joseph Allary).

History: a French naval cartel ship (schooner, 80 tons, 22 guns, 36 men), bound from the island of Goree, and Fort St Louis, Senegal, to France, laden with 5 elephants teeth, 8 French passengers, and 38 English prisoners of war (William Lacy, late governor of Senegambia, 26 English soldiers of the garrison of the slave-trading Fort James, Gambia River, 1 woman, 6 ship masters and 5 other masters from captured ships); taken on 16 May 1779 about 2 leagues SW of Isle Dieu [Ile d'Yeu] by the privateer Active of Poole (John Broom commanding), and brought into Poole.

Intended voyage: from West Africa to England (as a cartel after the French capture of Fort St Louis, Senegal and Fort James in Gambia).

Court papers numbered CP 1-13:-

• [CP 1]: attestation of John Broom as to the chase; on being stopped, Allary produced his orders as a cartel ship (SP 6) to proceed from Senegal to England to discharge the prisoners, but Broome suspected him of steering for Rochefort (although not short of provisions except firewood and with a fair wind for England); Allary refused help; Broome thought the papers were false and (after discussions with the English prisoners and crew) decided to take over the Gorée, and was physically attacked by Allary, in a furious passion, 20 May 1779;
• [CP 2]: depositions of Joseph Allary; Robert Dann late of Fort James; William Lacy and 11 named British masters; Charles Lambert first lieutenant of the Gorée; and Jacques Le Fray, boatswain of the Gorée, with commissioners' affidavits, taken at Poole, 20 May 1779;
• [CP 3]: attestation as to papers (numbered 1-153 [sic]) brought in by Broom, 22 May 1779;
• [CP 4]: allegation;
• [CP 5]: translations of SP 1 and SP 148, 16 June 1779;
• [CP 6]: translation of SP 6, 1780.

Ship's papers, personal archive of Joseph Allary and mail in transit from Gorée and Senegal, numbered SP 1-201 by the captors, in random order. Being too numerous to list individually, descriptions are grouped thus:-

• France, 57 naval papers either relating to Allary's career or to Le Gorée's mission from Bordeaux to Gorée and Senegal, escorting the storeship La Félicité de Fécamp, 1769-1778: numbered SP 1-SP 2, SP 13-SP18, SP 21, SP 23, SP 27, SP 29-SP 33, SP 36, SP 40-SP 41, SP 43-SP 44, SP 48, SP 53-SP 55, SP 62, SP 82-SP 83, SP 85, SP 89, SP 91-SP 92, SP 94, SP 103-SP 104, SP 108-SP 111, SP 114, SP 114, SP 118-SP 121, SP 123-SP 124, SP 126, SP 128-SP 130, SP 134, SP 139, SP 141, SP 147-SP 148, SP 150 and SP 152; Allary had previously served under Joannis-Galand d’Olabaratz, who in SP 83 advised him against going on the Gorée expedition.
  • SP 1: Allary's commission;
  • SP 21: log book;
  • SP 148: orders from Bordeaux to Gorée;
  • SP 150: muster roll.
• France, 8 personal papers relating to Allary, 1778: numbered SP 19-SP 20, SP 24-SP 25, SP 37, SP 42, SP 87, SP 127;
• France, 13 letters to Allary from his widowed mother Marie Anne Lange, la veuve Allary, Rochefort, with requests for a parakeet and a slave boy, 1778 Feb-Aug: numbered SP 26, SP 28, SP 34, SP 38, SP 50, SP 84, SP 86, SP 88, SP 90, SP 97, SP 100-SP 101, SP 117;
• France and Africa, 7 draft letters from Allary to his mother, undated: numbered SP 93, SP 98-SP 99, SP 102, SP 106-SP 107, SP 125;
• Africa, 57 naval papers relating to Allary or Le Gorée, 1778-1779, and especially to the successful attack on Fort James on 12 February 1779: numbered SP 3-SP 12, SP 22, SP 46-SP 47, SP 49, SP 51, SP 56- SP 59, SP 61, SP 63, SP 64- SP 70, SP 72-SP 73, SP 75- SP 81, SP 95-SP 96, SP 105, SP 112-SP 113, SP 116, SP 122, SP 132-SP 133, SP 135, SP 137-SP 138, SP 140, SP 142- SP 146, SP 149, SP 153;
  • SP 143, SP 73: orders of Captain Pontevès-Gien for the attack on Fort James;
  • SP 76: Allary's account of operations at Fort James;
  • SP 6: orders to take the prisoners to England, 31 March 1779;
• Africa, 4 personal papers of Allary, 1779: SP 60, SP 71, SP 74, SP 131;
  • SP 60: letter from Caty Jacques, Gorée, to Allary, Senegal, 25 Mar 1779; rumours the king is abandoning Gorée; there are no more soldiers to guard the enslaved people and she worries the slaves might turn against them;
• Africa, mail in transit from Gorée (14 letters - five from women, 3 envelopes, a bill of exchange), 1779: numbered SP 164A, SP 168-SP 169, SP 170A, SP 178-SP 179, SP 181- SP 184, SP 188, SP 193, SP 194A, SP 201;
  • SP 169, SP 170A Laporte. Half the Europeans died from disease over the last season, as well as many of the local population; speaking of friends who died is too painful;
  • SP 184: Caty Louet. There are only a few people remaining in Gorée. Her two daughters died from disease: asks for the masses for their souls as there is no priest in Gorée;
  • SP 188: Anne Pepin. The European population is deserting the island which puts them in misery; her two brothers and her daughter recently died.
• Africa, mail in transit from Fort St Louis, Senegal (34 letters), 1778-1779: numbered SP 151, SP 154- SP 158, SP 159A, SP 160-SP 162, SP 165-SP 167, SP 171- SP 177, SP 180A, SP 185-SP 187, SP 189-SP 192, SP 195-SP 200;
  • SP 154: Arnaud Bordenave. There is not a lot of food and he finds it hard to deal with the local population not speaking French;
  • SP 162: Chaumontel. Some English prisoners are currently on board his ship La Lunette which pleases him as he was a prisoner of the English himself;
  • SP 167: J Gillard. Was supposed to go to Gorée for the slave trade, but he is in Senegal instead; hopes to get further up the river to trade enslaved people and gum;
  • SP 171, SP 172: Francois Lemerle. Hopes to go to Cayenne as they have 60 enslaved people to trade. Doodle of a parakeet carrying a heart, intended for his cousin;
  • SP 173-SP 176, SP 151: Longee. 5 letters about his love for his wife;
  • SP 177: C Maploy. Is getting used to living in this place with"blacks and mulattos." He slept with a local woman. They are reinforcing the fort. Tell his sister he will try to send her a parakeet;
  • SP 190: Francois Perrot, soldier. They took English prisoners during the siege in January. They are seeing all sorts of animals;
  • SP 196: L Vignault. The local king Damuel came to take some merchandise, but the Duc de Lauzon told him that he would not permit it;
  • SP 198: Mme Dauteuil. News of the capture of Senegal, Gambia and the River in February. She has two enslaved people in her service, a boy and a girl, both 15 years old.
• Miscellanea: numbered SP 35, SP 39 [wanting], SP 115 and SP 136 (recipe for a febrifuge and purgative medicine).

[Previous reference HCA 32/344/9. Papers previously wrongly identified as Court papers: 1-13; Ship's papers: 14-217 (large pencil numbers): moved, sorted and renumbered in 2025].

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