Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period Part 52

At two yesterday afternoon We see Cape Clear and the fastnie[2]

bearing of us n.e. about two Leagues, at 4 Do. it bore of us N.E.B.E.[3] about 5 Leagues. Tacked and stood to the Eastward. We lay up S.E.B.E. till 8 in the Evening, from 8 to 12 m.n. E.S.E. We had a very hard Gale at S. with a very great Sea. at half an hour past three this morning a sea broke over us and carry'd away our Boom and Mainsail. We layed the Helm to Lee and kept to w't the Jib but the Gale increasing We Try'd Hull to. at 5 in the morning the Breakers seemed close under our Lee and ahead. We hoisted the Jib to try if possible to clear the Danger, but our Endeavours were fruitless, the Jib gave way so that We had no Sail left but the Fore Sail, and nothing appeared in our View but Unavoidable Death. We had the Breakers on each side and an Opening seemed to be ahead. We bore up for it and drop't an anchor, which did not hold, the Rocks and Breakers being all round us and the Night excessive Dark added Dread to the Terrours of Death, But the Mercifull G.o.d opened a Door of Safety for us when We were in the utmost Distress, for as We were going Right in among the Rocks We see a small opening on the Larboard hand. We hoisted the Fore Sail and Cut the Cable and Looft[4] into the Opening and were Immediately aground in a very smooth sandy Cove. at seven in the Morning when it cleared for Day We see some People on the Sh.o.r.e. We got the Boat out and brought two of them on Board. They directed Me to Apply to one Col. Townsend of Castle Haven,[5] which is four Miles from Finis Cove,[6] the Place where We are on Sh.o.r.e, etc.

[Footnote 2: Cape Clear and the Fastnet Rock form the southernmost extremity of Ireland.]

[Footnote 3: Northeast by east.]

[Footnote 4: Luffed.]

[Footnote 5: The Townshends were the leading people of Castlehaven, living at Castletownshend, from Cromwell's time to ours. This was Col.

Richard Townshend. Richard and Dorothea Townshend, _An Officer of the Long Parliament and his Descendants_, pp. 150-151, with portrait.]

[Footnote 6: Between Castlehaven and Baltimore, and four miles south of Skibbereen. The rocky coast in just this region inspired Swift's once celebrated poem, _Carberiae Rupes_ (1723).]

_136. Protest of Capt. Mackay. November 15, 1739._

To all Christian People unto whom this Publick Instrum't of Protest doth come or may Concern, Be it known and Manifest that this Day there came and Personally appeared before me, Thomas Lucas, Gent'm, Notary and Tabellion Publick in and throughout the Kingdom of Ireland by Regal Authority, Lawfully Admitted and sworn at Skibbereen[1] in the County of Cork and Kingdom aforesd, George Johnston, Mate, Joseph Hall, Boatswain, William Cromie, Mariner, belonging to the good Ship or Vessell called the _Amsterdam Post_, burthen Forty Tuns, whereof aeneas Mackay is Master, and Voluntary made oath on the Holy Evangelist That on the Twenty eighth Day of Octo. last they sailed with said Vessell from the Canaries bound to Corke, and met with very bad Weather on their Voyage; that on Thursday the Fifteenth of this Inst.

Novemb'r,[2] ab't three of the Clock in the Morning, the Weather being very desperate, they lost their Main Boom and anchor and one third of a Cable of[f] the Stage of Castle Haven, and all the Sails much Damaged; and that about five of the Clock in the morning the Vessell was stranded at Finins Cove near Castle Haven Harbour, where the Vessell now lyes; that by the Violence of the Weather they have reason to Suspect they have Received great Damage. Wherefore the Notary, at the Special Instance and Request of aeneas Mackay, Master, George Johnston, Mate, Joseph Hall, Boatswain, and Wm. Cromie, Mariner, have Protested, as by these Presents I Do Protest against the Seas and Winds for all Losses, Damages, Prejudices or hindrances whatsoever known or as yet unknown which the Ship or Vessell, or the Owners, Freighters or Insurers, or any other Person or Persons has Sustain'd or Received or hereafter may Sustain or receive. In Testimony of which I the Notary aforesaid have hereunto sett my Hand and Seal of Office this Fifteenth Day of November One thousand seven hundred and Thirty nine.

aeNEAS MACKAY. THOS. LUCAS, GEORGE JOHNSTON. Notar. Public.

JOSEPH HALL.

WILLIAM CROMIE.

[Footnote 1: "Skibbereen is a small market town, where the Collector, Surveyor, and other Officers of the port of Baltimore reside", (_i.e._, since the destruction of Baltimore by the Barbary corsairs in 1631). Ch. Smith, _Antient and Present State of the County and City of Cork_ (Dublin, 1750), I. 280. Hence Mackay would go there to make this declaration of damage by storm, called in maritime law a protest.]

[Footnote 2: See doc. no. 135, note 1.]

_137. Extract from Capt. Mackay's Journal. November 16, 1739._[1]

[Footnote 1: The heading which the doc.u.ment bears in the admiralty court records.]

From Yesterday at 6 in the Evening to this Morning at 8 a Clock I have been in continual Dread by reason of some Shabby Gent'n who staid on Board at Night and frequently seem'd to hint Concerning Money, of which I had indeed a large quant.i.ty but pleaded Poverty to them, but to my great Surprize at One in the Morning I found my own People Deserting of Me and had already sent one Chest on Sh.o.r.e, thereupon I immediately threatnd to Kill the first that would attempt to leave Me in that Distress. Fear kept them Aboard.

_138. Certificate of Clearance. December 4, 1739._

PORT CORK,

Know Ye, That Will'm Winthrop[1] enter'd on the _Amsterdam Post_ of Amsterdam, aeneas Mackay Master, for Madera, Sixty Bar'ls Beef,[2] One hundred and ten F'kins cont[aining] Fifty seven hundred wt b.u.t.ter, Seventy Boxes cont[aining] Thirty five hundred wt Candles, One hundred eighty Tann'd Hides and Forty Ters[3] Pilchers. Custom paid. Witness our Hands and Seals of Office the 4th of Decemb'r 1739.

RICH'D FENTON, Coll.

WILL. DOBBIN, Dep'y [Cudr?] and Coll'r.

Endorsed 1739 Xbr[4] 7th Exam'd per Ben Roberts, Ld. Wt.,[5]

Cove Dec'r 11, 1739 Exam'd per Rich'd Toler, [Scr.][6]

[Footnote 1: Sheriff of the city of Cork in 1741, mayor in 1744. He was descended from an uncle of Governor John Winthrop.]

[Footnote 2: "For packing, salting, and barreling beef, this city gives place to no other in Europe." Exports in 1743, 86951 barrels of beef, and similar amounts of b.u.t.ter, hides, and tallow. It was a place of 70,000 inhabitants, and the customs revenues were 50,000. Smith, _Cork_, I. 412, 410, 407.]

[Footnote 3: Tierces; the libel (doc. no. 128) says forty barrels.]

[Footnote 4: December.]

[Footnote 5: Landwaiter.]

[Footnote 6: Qu. Sur., for surveyor?]

_139. Declarations of Sailors. 1740._

I Do Declare that I am a Servant to the Captain of the Sloop _Amsterdam_ and has been about Twenty Months, and in the Mean time has been four Voyages betwixt Canaries and Amsterdam, and the last Voyage We went to Cork and from thence I always thought We was going to Teneriffe, hearing all our Men Say the was Shipped for that Place, and am willing to give my oath if occasion. As Witness my Hand

WILLIAM YOUNGER.

I Do Declare that I was Shipped in the City of Corke by Capt. Aeneas Mackay in the Sloop _Amsterdam Packett_, bound to Teneriffe and from thence if the Captain thought proper to Cork and Amsterdam, and to receive Thirty three shillings per month Irish Money, which I will give my oath if occasion, which I have here sett my Hand.

his DARBY [wavy line] SHE.

mark

I Do declare that I was Shipt by Capt. aeneas Mackay in the Sloop _Amsterdam_ to the Island of Teneriffe and to receive fourteen Gilders per month. We proceed[ed] our Voyage, but before We Sailed from thence he told us he was bound to Cork, which I consented to go with him, and at our Departure from Corke he told us he was bound again to Teneriffe, St. Cruize, where We came from, which if occasion I will give my Oath and has sett my Hand.

his mark JOHN [X] GORDING.

_140. Certificate of British Consul in Madeira. March 9, 1740 (N.S.)_[1]

[Footnote 1: It is to be presumed that all these doc.u.ments originating in the Madeira or Canary Islands are dated according to new style.]

These are to Certify all whom it may Concern that upon the arrival of the Sloop _Amsterdam Post_ at this Island the Judge of the Poor applyed to Capt. Philip Dumaresq to have her Unloaded, there being no Salt Beef in the Place at that Time for Sale, to which the said Dumaresq answer'd that he could not consent to it till it was first Condemn'd by some English Admiral as good Prize, upon which the said Judge Applyed to the officers of the Chamber at their respective Houses and came back and told him that he should be obliged to it whether he wou'd or no, for that the Island was in great want thereof, and that he would give him a Certificate that they forced him to it, but to this day the said Dumaresq has not been able to obtain it, notwithstanding the said Judge has in my hearing several Times promised to give it to him.

As Witness my Hand in Funchal, Island of Madera, 9th March 1740.

RICHARD BAKER, Consul.

_141. Receipt for Mediterranean Pa.s.s. May 29, 1740 (N.S.)._

Receiv'd from Capt. Philip Dumaresq Command[er] of the Private Man of War Sloop _Young Eagle_, a Mediterranean Pa.s.s No. 2533,[1] Granted by the Hono'ble the Commissioners of the Admiralty of Great Britain the Eleventh Day of July, One thousand seven hundred and thirty eight, to aeneas Mackay, then Master of the Sloop _Amsterdam Post_, now taken as Prize by the abovesd Capt. Ph. Dumaresq. In Witness hereof I have Signed two Receipts, both of this tenour and Date, in the Island of Madera, the 29th May, 1740.

RICHARD BAKER, Consul.

[Footnote 1: See doc. no. 128, note 12.]

The Claimant in Court acknowledged the Certificate signed by the Consul touching the Delivery of the English Mediterranean Pa.s.s to him by Capt. Dumaresq to be the proper hand writing of Richard Baker, Esq., Consul at Madera, as also the Certificate of the Judge of the Poor's obliging Capt. Dumaresq to Unload.