Province of Nova-Scotia, Halifax ss

To all whom it may concern, by this public instrument of protest be it known and made manifest, That on the twentieth day of September, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, before me, James Brenton, Notary and Tabellion Public, by Royal authority, admitted and sworn, and now dwelling at Halifax aforesaid, personally came Lemuel Brooks, late master of the Sloop Neptune,² of, and belonging to Connecticut, and made this his protest, in manner and form following, viz:

That, some time in the month of May last, he sailed in said sloop from New-Haven, in the Colony of Connecticut, bound to St. Martins, where he arrived and took on board a lading of sugars and of salt, from Salterudas; that on the sixth of August last he sailed in said sloop from St. Martins with said cargo, bound to New York; that on the sixth of September, being off Montauk-Point, on Long-Island, which bore from north about four leagues distance, he was boarded by two sloops, or tenders, belonging to his Majesty's Ships Rose, James Wallis, Esq., commander, and Glasgow, Captain [Tyringham] Howe, commanded, who took out his mate, and all his hands, which they removed on board the tenders; and the next day carried the said sloop into Newport, Rhode-Island, where this protestor was ordered on board the Rose, and examined in regard to his cargo, of which he gave a full account. That this protestor requested leave of Captain Wallis that he might be permitted to go on shore, which was absolutely refused him, and he was, thereupon, ordered on board his own sloop, where he was detained a prisoner until the eleventh, following, when he was forcibly taken out and put on board a schooner which had been seized, and was ordered to Boston; that, on the 12th of September, being in Boston Bay, in said schooner, the protestor was ordered and taken on board his Majesty's Sloop Hunter, Captain McKenzie, then bound to Halifax, where this protestor arrived on the twentieth instant, and was soon after his arrival allowed his liberty by said Captain McKenzie, and came on shore at Halifax, where the protestor now is; of all which the said Lemuel Brooks, the said protestor, hath desired me to make a publick act.

Wherefore I, the said Notary, at the request aforesaid, have, and do hereby, solemnly protest against the said James Wallis and Howe, Captains of said Ships Rose and Glasgow, and all concerned in the seizing, taking, and detaining the said Sloop Neptune and her cargo, and for all unlawful restraint of the liberty of said protestor, and for all costs, damages, and expenses, that have or may accrue for and by reason thereof.

This done and protested at Halifax aforesaid, the day and year first abovementioned, the said protestor making solemn oath to the truth of the premises.³