Captured ship: Les Aimables Marthes of Bordeaux (master Jacques Réau or Rieau or...

Captured ship: Les Aimables Marthes of Bordeaux (master Jacques Réau or Rieau or Réaud).

History: a French merchant ship (40 men, 12 guns), having brought provisions from Bordeaux, now bound from Saint Domingue to Bordeaux, laden with sugar, coffee and indigo for owners La Veuve Charretie et Fils; taken in fight on 21 October/1 November 1744 in 46º40 by the privateers Terrible of Liverpool (Daniel Cole commanding), and Queen of Hungary of London (William Monat commanding), with the Tryall (William Woods commanding) in sight, and brought first into Cork, and then into Liverpool. Michel Bariteau (the second captain) and the bosun were taken on board the Queen of Hungary, which was then taken by a Spanish privateer.

Documents: [an exceptional set of papers, giving detailed evidence on the joint capture and aftermath, and a remarkable set of master's letters from trade ashore in Saint Domingue.]

Court Papers:-

• [CP 1]: special interrogatories, four examinations (of Jaccques Réau, Bertran Chicard, Jean Bedourett and Antoine Elie of Aimables Marthes) taken at Cork on 3 January 1745, with commissioners' affidavit;
• [CP 2]: standing interrogatories, three examinations (of Jean Jacques Sauret, Gabriel Feuilherade and Louis Fornachou of Aimables Marthes taken at Liverpool on 12 January1745, with commissioners' affidavit;
• [CP 3-CP 4]; two attestations as to papers;
• [CP 5]: special interrogatories, three examinations (of Antoine Frenon, James Roborell and Joseph Sorbettes the surgeon of Aimables Marthes) taken at Kinsale on 29 January 1745, with commissioners' affidavit;
• [CP 6]: standing interrogatories, examination of Jacques Réau at Liverpool on 1 February 1745, with commissioners' affidavit;
• [CP 7]: attestations of the captors Daniel Cole and William Monat, with a translation, and a signed list in French of the cargo and the captain's possessions (sword, watch, guns, money etc) looted by two members of the crew of the Terrible;
• [CP 8]: allegation for the Terrible, 15 February 1745;
• [CP 9]: allegation for the Queen of Hungary, 15 February 1745;
• [CP 10]: allegation for the Terrible, 12 March 1745;
• [CP 11]: allegation for the Queen of Hungary, 12 March 1745;
• [CP 12]: allegation for the Queen of Hungary 2 April 1745;
• [CP 13-CP 18]; special interrogatories on the capture to be administered on behalf of the Queen of Hungary, the Tryall, and the Terrible privateers, with a list of the owners of the Terrible, and 2 lists of witnesses to be questioned;
• [CP 19-CP 21]: three releases;
• [CP 22]: copy of a letter from Admiral Proctor not to obstruct the condemnation of this and another ship;
• [CP 23]: three letters of attorney;
• [CP 24]: proceedings of commission to examine witnesses on special interrogatories in Liverpool, with examinations of Daniel Cole, John Sullivan, James Hornby surgeon, Michael Bagnall , John Mulray, Thomas Ellis, all of the Terrible, returned 18 July 1745;
• [CP 25]: proceedings of commission to examine witnesses on special interrogatories in Cork, with examinations of Joseph Sorbettes the surgeon, François Lafaure cook, Jean D'Anee, and Antoine Elie of Aimables Marthes, returned 8 August 1745;
• [CP 26]: proceedings of commission to examine witnesses on special interrogatories in Bristol, with examinations of George Hanna, David Ross, Richard Bettesworth, Joseph Scammell apothecary and surgeon, Herbert Bedford, Samuel Crosby and Richard Hodges, of Tryall, returned 4 November 1745;
• [CP 27]: commision of appraisement at Liverpool, with detailed accounts of the value of the ship and cargo, conducted in April 1745 and returned to the court in November 1745;
• [CP 28]: abstract and translation of 40 ship's papers.

Ship's Papers: three numbered sequences:

• [SP 1-SP 40]: the 40 documents described in [CP 28];
• [SPA]: a second incomplete sequence, of 35 documents, with [SPA 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 17, 34, 37, 40, 46, not found] to [SPA 47];
• [SPB]: a third incomplete sequence of 5 documents only [SPB 10, 17, 22, 38 and 39].

Master's Archive: Jacques Réau had a large archive of letters and some business papers, having been captain of Aimables Marthes since September 1743, trading provisions from Bordeaux and sugar etc from Saint Domingue. He ran a warehouse and took on cargo at Cap François, Saint Domingue from March to September 1744, with other crew members working across the north of Saint Domingue. His own interest was worth 24,000 livres. These papers were filed apparently randomly in 16 bundles: they were rearranged in new bundles in November 2017.

Bundle 1: 1/1-1/32: letters received by Jacques Réau, mostly addressed to Bordeaux, as captain of Le Marquis de la Fite, and from September 1743 of Les Aimables Marthes: dated 1742-September 1743.

Bundle 2: 2/1-2/50: letters received by Jacques Réau, addressed to Le Cap, Saint Domingue: dated October-December 1743.

Bundle 3: 3/1-3/90: letters received by Jacques Réau, addressed to Le Cap, Saint Domingue: dated January-February 1744.

Bundle 4: 4/1-4/88: letters received by Jacques Réau, addressed to Le Cap, Saint Domingue: dated March-April 1744.

Bundle 5: 5/1-5/90: letters received by Jacques Réau, addressed to Le Cap, Saint Domingue: dated May-September 1744, with the last six undated [and number 5/14 not used].

Bundle 6: 6/1-6/76: letters to or from, and papers of, other members of the crew or company, particularly Bariteau, Sauret, Duvigneau, Cansein, Feuilherade and others, with three so far unidenitfiable.

Bundle 7: 7/1-7/7: draft accounts for Veuve Charettie:-

• 7/1: 1743;
• 7/2: 1744;
• 7/3: Bariteau's account for the ship Le Dauphin, 1734;
• 7/4: Bariteau's account for the ship Aimable Marthes, 1743-1744;
• 7/5: Bariteau's account for the ship Aimable Marthes, 1743-1744;
• 7/6: Book of sales, 1743-1744;
• 7/7: A large volume with marbled papers covers, starting with the orders of Veuve Charretie, Fils Ainé et Compagnie, and containing fair-copy accounts.

Bundle 8: 8/1-8/42: personal orders of goods by people within Saint Domingue;

Bundle 9: 9/1-9/20: notes of purchases of sugar by Bariteau and others;

Bundle 10: 10/1-10/32: other purchases and payments;

Bundle 11: 11/1-11/24: various papers, including some bills of lading;

Bundel 12: 12/1-12/42: receipts for purchases.

Bundle 13: 13/1-13/8: expenses;

Bundle 14: 14/1-14/17: playing cards used for orders [10-17 returned from HCA 65/23].

Bundle 15: 15/1-15/12: mail in transit.

[Decision: condemned as prize, 2 March 1745]

8 examinations are in HCA 13/90