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Sir/

On the 31st of August last I was favored with your Letter of the 5th of July by his Majesty's Ship the Badger, wherein you mention, that it is the pleasure of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that I should defend Admiral Young against the Action brought by the Owners of the Private Armed Sloop called the Hammond against the Admiral, for seizing and detaining that Sloop for having been found Cruising upon the high Seas without any Commission or proper Authority so to do;² In Answer to which give me leave to inform you, that the Owners of that Sloop Arrested the Admiral for such Seizure and detention of their Sloop, And in Consequence of the Writ that issued against the Admiral an Action of Trover was brought against him for the Sloop her Tackle, Apparel, and Furniture, and the particular things that were found on board her, to which Action I pleaded not Guilty, and the same came on to be heard at an Adjourned Court of the Court of Common Pleas of this Island upon the 17th day of June Last, when the Jury found the Admiral Guilty and gave Damages against him to the Amount of £1201 . . 7 . . 3½ Currency which in Sterling Money at the Rate of 175 this Currency for £100 Sterling is £686 . . 9 . . 10½ And although Rowland Burton Esqr and my self who were of Council for the Admiral pressed the Judges to give directions to the Jury to find a Special Verdict and used every endeavor to prevail upon the Jury for that purpose Yet we proved unsuccessful, but if a Special Verdict had been found, I really think in my Conscience, that the Admiral could not have been Justified in what he did, And I am extremely happy to think that my Opinion to the Admiral is Sanctified by the Opinions of the Attorney and Solicitor General, Signified by Lord George Germain in his Letter to the Commander in Chief of these Islands, and I have only to Lament, that the Admiral would not take my Opinion and advice upon the Application he made to me upon the Seizure of the Sloop Hammond, for if he had, and the Non-Commissioned Vessels, or rather the Owners thereof, had been looked upon as Pirates and Robbers upon the High Seas according to the Admirals Conceptions, the Commander in Chief of these Islands would have been the only person blameable for suffering such Vessels to go to Sea; but happy for these Islands that no other restraint was laid upon those Vessels, but what the Admiral was pleased to exert, for the prizes that they took relieved the distresses of the Inhabitants thereof, and when those prizes were Condemned, they were Adjudged to His Majesty as rights and Perquisites of the Admiralty; However the Judge of our Vice Admiralty Court thought proper to give the Captors the Prizes, as a Reward for their Zeal for His Majesty's Service and for Annoying the Rebels in the manner they did, upon their giving such Security as was approved of by the Judge of the Admiralty to refund the Value of the Prizes, in Case His Majesty should not approve of the Judges Sentences, and from the late Letters which His Excellency General [W. Matthew] Burt has received from Lord George Germain, and from the Owners of the Hammond having enter'd up Satisfaction upon the Judge­ ment obtained by them against the Admiral and that against Captain Dumaresq I imagine His Majesty will be graciously pleased to give the Owners of Non-Commissioned Vessels the prizes they have taken. However I have appealed from all the Sentences of the Judge as far as he has thought proper to give the Captors any part of the Prizes.

I will by the next opportunity that Offers from this Island send you an Account of what the Admiral has expended in defence of himself, and also in defence of the Action brought against Captain Dumaresq and will draw upon you for that sum. And am with all due Regard Sir [&c.]

[Endorsed] In Lords of the Admiralty's Letter of 31st Decr 1777.