Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period Part 81

2. To the second he said that he does not Remember to have heard (but on one occasion about two years and a half agoe) said Ybanes say that he had a Schooner of his Own and that making a Voyage in her he was Robbed by some Englishmen, but did not say where he was bound to nor any other thing particular relating to what is Contained in the Enquiry, for which Reason and not having any knowledge of the said Schooner he cannot give any Acco't of them.

3. To the third he said that he knew Caleb David in this City about the months of March or April in the year 57, having seen him at the House of Elizabeth Berrow the Irish Woman, where he was Informed that he was come with his Wife and some other English People in a Long Boat, having been cast away on the Coast of Campeche,[2] nor does he know that he had ever been in this City before nor what he came about.

[Footnote 2: Yucatan.]

[Transcriber's Note: No 4th item in original.]

5. To the fifth he said that as before mentioned he saw Caleb David with two or three English, but did not know their Names and Consequently is Ignorant if they are the same that are mentioned in the Enquiry and the other particulars thereof.

6. To the sixth he said that he only knew Antonio Correa by sight, by being in Don Phelipe Ybanes's Company, that he has Understood he was a Mariner but can give no particular Account what trade he was Employed in nor the Vessel in which he went at the time Referred to in the Enquiry.

7 and 8. To the seventh and Eighth he said that he has no Interest nor Expects any from the Determination of the Cause; that what he has said and Declared is the truth; that he knows nothing more of these Articles than what he has already Related, of all which he has made Oath and Signed his Name to it, being forty-two years of Age.

JOSEPH DE VEGA.

Before me

JOHNFERN'O DEL VALLE Ny. Pub.

_193. Declaration of Domingo de Armas. November 20, 1759._

In the City of the Havana on the 20th of November 1759, Before his Honour Don Martin de Ulloa, of the Order of St. James, one of His Majestys Council and Auditor Gen'l of said City, Appeared Domingo de Armas, a Native and Inhabitant of this City, and having been sworn according to the usual form by making the Sign of the Cross and therebye promising to declare the Truthe, being Enquired According to the Tenor of the Articles Contained in the Interrogatory inserted in the foregoing Copy, he Answered as follows

1. To the first Article he said that he knows Don Phelipe Ybanes, a Native of the Kingdom of Castele, and settled in this City ever since the loss of the _Flora_, Commanded by Don Rodrigo de Torres, on the Rocks of Florida, and Married here to a Neice of Doc'r Don Ambrosio de Medrano; That he has seen the said Ybanes working in a Dwelling House near the Great Bridges; that he and his Negroes were Employed at the Kills making Charcoal and Lime; That he afterward came to this City where he saw him several times but does not know what Employment he had Excepting that he once heard him say that he had a Schooner in the Coast Trade and that he would discharge the Master for not making so good a Hand of Her as might be Expected, but it is now three Years since he saw him in this City; That he then said he had been Robbed by some English Privateers and that he was thinking to go to Recover the Effects they had taken from him.

2. To the second he said that he has no knowledge of the said Schooner nor of any other particular contained in this Enquiry.

3. To the third he said that there appears nothing from this Enquiry that he can Answer to.

4. To the fourth he said that he knows Caleb David, that He and his Wife lived in the House of Elizabeth the Irish Woman, that he came to this City about three years agoe, as he was Informed, in a Long Boat or Barge, having been cast away on the Coast of Campechy, which is all he can say to this Enquiry.

5. To the fifth he said that he is Ignorant of the Contents of this Enquiry.

6. To the Sixth he said that he only knows Antonio Correa to be a Seafaring Man of middle Stature and brown Complexion, but knows nothing of his making a Voyage at the time mentioned nor of any thing else Contained in this Enquiry.

7. To the seventh can say nothing farther.

8. To the Eighth he said that he has not nor does he Expect any Interest from the Determination of this Cause, That what he has declared is the truth, to which he has made Oath, and is Sixty Years of Age. Signed by him and Rubricated by his Lords.h.i.+p, of which I give Testimony.

DOMINGO DE ARMAS.

Before me

JUAN FERN'O DEL VALLE.

N'y Pub.

_194. Declaration of Elizabeth Berrow. November 22, 1759._

In the Havana on the 22 Novemb'r 1759, Before His Honour Don Martin de Ulloa, of the Order of St. James, one of his Maj'ys Council, Lieut.

Gov'r and Auditor of this City and Jurisdiction, Commissioned by his Majesty in this Cause, Appeared Elizabeth Berrow, a Widow and Inhabit't of this said City, and Swaring by the Sign of the Cross according to Right and Form, promised to declare the Truth, and being Enquired relating to the Tenor of the Articles Inserted in the Interrogatory and Comprehended in the foregoing Copy Declared as follows--

1. To the first she said that she knew Don Phelipe Ybanes in the year 56 by reason of his having been several times at her House, where Caleb David an English Man Lodged, who he went to see; That she knew said Ybanes to be a Spaniard by having heard it so Reported and that he Married in this City; that he went to Sea in a Shooner of which he was entire Owner, as said Caleb David and Ybanes himself Reported.

2. To the second she said that she understood from said Ybanes that the Schooner which he called his own was Named _Our Lady of the Rosary_ though she never saw said Schooner in this Port. That the said Ybanes before he went out in her came to see Caleb David and told him in the presence of this Deponent that he had been thinking to make a Voyage to Jamaica and that if he had any Commands there he would Execute them, telling him that he carried to the Amount of Eight Thousand Dollars in Money and Gold and Silver Trinkets. Upon which said Caleb David gave him Several Letters of Recommendation for Jamaica and desired him to carry two Englishmen that came with him in the Long Boat from Campeche to this Port where the Embarkation in which they arrived had been Confiscated.

3. To the third she said that she Refers to what she Answered in the foregoing and that it does not appear to her that said Schooner carried any other Cargoe beside the Money and Trinkets as aforesaid, nor does she know if she went to Sea with Correspondent papers and Pa.s.sports or not, But when Don Phelipe Ybanes Returned to this City and Related to Caleb David how the English Privateers had taken away what he Carried and that he was minded to go to Jamaica and Reclaim his Effects, said Caleb David offered him New Letters of Recommendation and a Certificate that said Ybanes was not risen up as the English had been pleased to Suppose but was only a Merchant.

4. To the fourth she said that she knew Caleb David very well, that he Lodged three Months and odd Days at her House, by means of which she came to know that his coming to this City was to Reclaim some prises taken from the English Nation after the Cessation of Hostilities, to which End he brought Powers from the Concerned and Dispatches from the Court of Gt. Britain which he shewed to this Deponent.

5. To the fifth she said that she knew the two individuals mentioned, the one of which was a German and the other an Englishman, but both Subjects of the King of G'Brit'n and living in Georgia, who came to this City with Caleb David in the aforesaid Long Boat and are the same Persons that he desired Don Phelipe Ybanes to take with him to Jamaica, and she was informed by said Caleb's Wife that in Effect they did go with him, but does not know if they went away by Day or by Night, as they did not Lodge in the Deponents House but on board the Long Boat and only came there once a Day to carry provision, which was Considered to be for Ybanes's Schooner, which he declared was so when he Returned to this City and said that the English Privateer Carried them on board as being Subjects of G't Britain.

6. To the Sixth she said that she only knows Antonio Correa, whose Employ is that of a Mariner, but is Ignorant what Voyage he made in the year and at the time mentioned or in what Vessel.

7. To this she said that she knows nothing of what is Contained in this Enquiry.

8. To the Eighth she said that she neither Expects nor has any Interest from the Decission of this Cause and that what she has Declared is the Truth of which she has given Oath, being Dated. That she is thirty six years of Age. to which she Signs her Name and His Honour has placed his Rubric.

ISABEL DE VERROA.

Before me

JUANFERN'O DEL VALLE.

Not'y Pub.

_195. Reversal of Sentence by Appellate Court. December 19, 1760._[1]

[Footnote 1: This doc.u.ment appears, substantially the same, in Sir William Burrell's report in Marsden, _op. cit._ (see doc. no. 184, note 1), p. 185. Ybanez having appealed from Judge Morris's decree, the case came at last before the Lords Commissioners for Appeals in Prize Causes. Their names are given in the heading. Granville, earlier known as Carteret, was lord president of the council from 1750 to 1763, Kinnoull chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster 1760-1762, Mansfield chief justice 1756-1788. Cholmondeley and Falmouth were lieutenant-generals. Nugent and Ellis were vice-treasurers for Ireland and members of Parliament. All these commissioners were privy councillors, all were politicians, none but Mansfield was a lawyer, though the wide range of Granville's learning embraced a considerable knowledge of the law.]

Extracted from the Registry of his Majestys high Court of Appeals for Prizes.

_Friday_ the Nineteenth day of December in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and sixty, before the Right Honourable John Earl Granville, Lord President of his Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, George Earl Cholmondeley, Thomas Earl of Kinnoul, Chancellor of the Dutchy of Lancaster, Hugh Viscount Falmouth, John Lord Berkely of Stratton, Samuel Lord Sandys, William Lord Mansfield, Lord Chief Justice of his Majesty's Court of Kings Bench, Robert Neugent Esquire and Wellbore Ellis Esquire, Commissioners (among others) of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council for the Receiving, Hearing and Determining of all Causes of appeals as to Prizes, in the Privy Council Chamber at White hall in the Presence of Nathanuel Bishop, Notary Publick, Deputy Register of the said Court.

_La Virgin del Rosario y el Santo Christo de Buen Viage_ Philip Y Banes Mr.

A Business of Appeal and Complaint of } Nullity promoted by Philip Y Banes Master } For Sentence of the Spanish s.h.i.+p _La Virgin del Rosario_ } on the Second _Y el Santo Christo de Buen Viage_ } a.s.signation against Richard Haddon Commander of } and Informations.

the Schooner _Peggy_ }

Their Lords.h.i.+ps having heard the Proofs and Council on Both Sides declared that it Appears to their Lords.h.i.+ps that upon the Case laid before the Judge below by the Respondent himself the Capture of the Effects in Question ought to have been deemed Piratical, that the Respondent ought to have been prosecuted for the same and the Effects Secured and that the Proceedings were Irregular and Illegal and the Sentence of Condemnation of the Thirty first March 1757 Appeald from Unjust and Warranted by no Collour of Proof. Therefore their Lords.h.i.+ps By their Final Decree or Sentence Reversed the same and Decreed the Ten Doubleoons, five thousand seven hundred and sixty four Dollars, one hundred and five Pistreens, one Bracelet, Twenty Gold Rings, the Silver Buckles and Small Silver, Six Swivel Guns and Shott, one Cask of Powder and Cutla.s.ses and one Bag of Indigo to be Restored or the Value thereof to be paid to the Claimant, and Condemned the Captor in Costs and Damages and their Lords.h.i.+ps are of opinion that the Governor of New York ought to cause the Bond given by the Captain of the Privateer to be put in Suite and apply the Penalty for the Benefit of the Claimant.

G.o.dF'Y LEE FARRAND, Register of his Majesty's high Court of Appeals for Prizes.

_196. Appeal of Miller and Simpson. July 7, 1761._[1]

[Footnote 1: For Miller, see doc. no. 186, note 3; for Simpson, doc.