Captured ships: St Philippe (master Jean Meur otherwise John Muir), La Reine de France...

HCA 30/237

1715-1745

Captured ships: St Philippe (master Jean Meur otherwise John Muir), La Reine de France (master Pierre Lasserre), La Toison d'Or (master Jean Dufourcq), L'Union of Bordeaux (master Élie Fardie), and Le Vigilant (master Robert Godefroy).

History: five French merchant ships of Bordeaux, proceeding in company from Bordeaux to Saint Domingue and Martinique, taken in fight on 12 April 1745, 25-30 leagues off Cape Finisterre, by the privateers Shoreham (Robert Milligen commanding), Lowestoff (Charles Fielding commanding), and Townshend (Nicholas Lewis commanding), and brought into Lisbon. A sixth ship, a brigantine, escaped capture.

Documents:- mail in transit. Except for a few that were missed, those letters identified on the envelope as being consigned to the St Philippe , La Reine de France and L'Unionwere removed in 1955 and placed in HCA 32 with the court records and ships papers of these ships. It is not now possible to determine which letters in this piece were carried in which of the five ships, although there may be further internal evidence within the letters.

Approximately 325 personal and business letters (in French) for onward delivery from Bordeaux and other parts of France to Saint Domingue, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Grenada and other islands in the West Indies, and other papers :-

• many business letters from Étienne Rigaud and from Clock & Compagnie;
• two to a missionary of La Compagnie de Jesus (nos. 190A and 190B);
• three letters (in Spanish) to the Governor of Santo Domingo (nos. 323 to 325);
• list of prayers for Catholics and Protestants with rhyming equivalents (nos. 8A and 8B);
• prices of commodities at Bordeaux (nos. 27, 76D, 151C, 152C, 156C, 200C, 212C, 234C, 244C, 252 and others);
• certificate of pilgrimage to the Church of Compostela, 13 August 1744 (no. 1);
• orders and signals for merchant ships convoyed by the Chevalier D'Epinay [Nicolas-Hercule, chevalier d'Espinay, comte de Rosendael] (no. 42);
• Toulouse Gazette, 24 October 1744 (no. 233);
• 'Nouvelles Historiques pour le siecle courant', February 1745 (no. 292C, enclosed in a letter);
• Amsterdam courants, February and March 1745 (nos. 296A to 296D);

• navigation log of L'Unique on a voyage from Bordeaux to Saint Domingue in 1715, with later entries for a voyage from Martinique in 1719 to 1720, and in the back of the same volume, a cargo manifest for L'Elizabet of Bordeaux, 1732, owned by M. André Quin, Elie Ecubard master (no. 2);
• petition of Michel Tual, commander of Le Cheine Vert of Bordeaux, to the Lieutenant-General of the Admiralty at Cap Français, concerning a crewman, René Carroff, 9 March 1744 (no. 48);
• cargo manifest of La Princesse of Bordeaux (no. 54);
• 'Ode sur la Campagne de Monseigneur Le Prince de Conti' par M. de Bethizy, printed at Paris 7 January 1745 (no. 57).

Note: nos. 225 and 228 appear to be undeliverable letters being returned to France, and therefore cannot have been captured with these outbound ships.

Extra information from HCA 30/775/1

See HCA 30/238, HCA 30/239, HCA 30/240, and HCA 30/241/1 for more papers and mail; and HCA 32/147/10, HCA 32/148/4, HCA 32/155/15, HCA 32/156/5 and HCA 32/156/13 for more letters and the main collection of ship's papers and court process etc

Public Record(s)

French and Spanish

Open Document, Open Description

Topics

Shipping

Trade and commerce

Caribbean

Europe and Russia

Piracy and privateering

Armed Forces (General Administration)