Letter (and copy of an earlier report) from the James Adair, Recorder of London,...

Letter (and copy of an earlier report) from the James Adair, Recorder of London, requesting a prisoner, William Tuckey, convicted at the Old Bailey[?], to be produced so that he may join Captain Bell`s crew on board the Mary, now in the river and prepared to sail to Greenland. The prisoner, now 24 years old, had initially been convicted by James Eyre for stealing some coals in May 1780, and now was convicted of returning before his original sentence had been completed. He had initially agreed to transport himself overseas for 7 years. After he was discharged from Newgate he went to Ostend took ship to South Carolina, went to Antigua and then back to England. He then took work on another ship the British Queen to Greenland and back again, and then on the Emmett to the South Seas. On the way home he was wrecked off Ireland and was one of 5 rescued by Captain Jennings of the Lion and brought back to Gravesend in Kent. Then he went on the Mary under Captain Bell to Greenland and back again to London where he heard that his father had died and his mother was in great distress. He went home to give her the money he had earned where he was seen by George Foreister, who found him in a closet at his mothers house. He had had a job on a ship to Guinea before being caught and his arrest stopped him going. His word was supported by Robert Stratton Lighterman who said that the ship was the brig Favourite under Captain Swann and would have been off the African Coast for 3 years. Bell stated he would be willing to employ the prisoner again. Recommendation: mercy, discharged to join the Mary.

Folios 316-320.