PROTEST

By this Public Instrument of Protest be it known and made manifest unto all whom it doth or may concern, That on this sixth day of December 1775, Before me, John Wendell of Portsmouth, in the Colony of New Hampshire, Esq. Notary & Tabellion public admitted sworn & registered personally appeared Samuel Stacy master, Thomas Mead, mate, William Dixon mariner, all late belonging to the Brigantine Sally, of which Samuel Cutts of Portsmouth Esq. was sole owner, who being all sworn upon the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God, Solemly depose & declare that they sailed in and with the said Brige from the Island of Tortola in the West Indies to Portsmouth, on the 24th day of June last, having on board Rum, Sugar and Cotton on Cargo, at which time the said Brig. was tight, staunch and strong, and in every Respect fitted for said voiage, That they sailed in Safety until Tuesday the 11th of July, When the wind being fresh at South West and hazy Weather at 3 o'clock, p.m. they saw a schooner bearing East South East, laying by; as soon as they perceived we discovered them, they made all the sail they could after us & came up with us very fast; we tack'd ship & stood to the southward, & they made after us, & then we discovered a large topsail schooner standing right across us, we being then in Campa with a Briga commanded by John Kendricks called the Undutied Tea, the Deponents then tack'd ship again and stood to the Northward, and Capt. Stacy being sick, the Deponent Mead spoke with Capt. Kendricks, who told him that he took these schooners to be Cutters cruising after inward bound vessels, and that he intended to stand close in to the land, & if they followed him, he would run the vessel ashore, sooner than be taken by them; we soon perceived they were two Tenders belonging to the English Navy, and Deponents then made all possible sail for the land; abt 5 o'clock p.m. they made the Vineyard, the Tenders still chasing them, about 7 o'clock p.m. the water being shoal the Tenders were afraid to venture, & stood off again, Capt. Kendrick's being so close that he came to an anchor, but these Deponents taking a Pilot from him, they beat off all night with the wind still at South West, & finding the Tenders waiting for their getting off into the sound, they, abt 5 o'clock a.m. bore away to go thro' Marthas Vineyard and Miseket, so called, by which they expected to clear the Enemy; abt 8 o'clock the Brige struck upon a Shoal called Hoses Shoal? and there continued until 7 o'clock p.m. Just after they struck, their Brige sprang a leak, & a Boat came from the shore to their assistance, and they attempted to lighten her, by throwing over the Ballast, and carried out an anchor to heave her off the shoal, & kept both Pumps working; they having got her off, & weighed the anchor made sail, but the wind became quite calm, and it came on thick weather, and the water rose to that degree, notwithstanding both Pumps going, that it overflowed the Cargo, they kept her above water until the morning of the next day July 12th when they were obliged to run her ashore on the vineyard to save their lives and what of the Cargo they could, which was 6 Bales of Cotton, ten Hogsheads of Rum, but lost all the Sugar; wherefore these Deponents protest against the said English cruisers or Tenders as the sole & only cause of the said misfortune & further these Deponents say not; and I the said Notary at the Request of these Deponents did & do hereby protest against the said Cruisers or Tenders by whomsoever they may be commanded in behalf of these Deponents & the Insurers, Passengers or Freighters, owner or Interested in the said Brigantine and her Cargo or any part thereof, for all costs, losses, Damages or Expences already sustained or which may hereafcer be sustained by these Deponents or the interested aforesaid by or on account of the said misfortune as the sole means thereof.

Thus done & protested the day & date aforesaid ー
In Testimonium cujus presens Instrumentum
manu ac sigillo officii attestor rogatus.