[Extract]

Port of Philadelphia
in the Province
of Pennsylvania ss

On the twenty fifth Day of May in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy six Before the honorable George Ross Esquire Judge of the Court of Admiralty lately instituted in the Province of Pennsylvania by the General Assembly thereof pursuant to the Recommendation of the honorable the Continental Congress Came George Campbell Esquire Proctor for the Libellant and exhibited to the said Judge the Bill of Charles Alexander Commander of the armed Schooner called the Waspwho as well for himself as for the Officers Marines and Seamen belonging to the said Schooner and all others concerned as for the thirteen united Colonies of North America in this behalf prosecuteth against the Brigantine or Schooner called the Betsey with her Tackle Apparel and Furniture and prayed that the same might be read and filed and it is read in the Words following that is to say ー

To the honorable George Ross Esquire Judge of the Court erected by the honorable the House of Representatives of the Province of Pennsylvania to take Cognizance of and try the Justice of Captures of Vessels made in pursuance of the Resolves of the honorable the Continental Congress and brought into the Port of Philadelphia. The Bill of Charles Alexander Commander of the armed Schooner called the Wasp in the Service of the thirteen United Colonies of North America fitted out for the Defence of American Liberty and for repelling every hostile Invasion thereof who as well for himself as for the Officers Marines and Seamen belonging to the said Schooner and others concerned as for the United Colonies aforesaid in this behalf prosecuteth in all humble Manner sheweth that the said Schooner was equipped victualled armed and fitted out at the Continental Eharge and the said Charles Alexander duly commissioned authorized and licensed by the Delegates of the united Colonies aforesaid in Congress Assembled to command the said Schooner and set her forth as a Vessel of War in the Service aforesaid and being so commissioned authorized and licensed he the said Charles Alexander with his Officers Marines and Seamen on board the said Schooner sailing on the high Seas between the first Day of May in the present Year and the Day of exhibiting this Bill within the Jurisdiction of this Court did discover pursue apprehend and as lawful Prize take the Brigantine or Schooner called the Betsey commanded by Thomas Slater Burthen about ninety Tons Together with her Tackle Apparel and Furniture the Property of his Majesty George the third King of Great Britain &c and before and at the Time of the Capture thereof employed in the present cruel and unjust War against these united Colonies Wherefore the said Charles Alexander prays this honorable Court that the said Brigantine or Schooner with her Tackle Apparel Furniture and Cargo may be adjudged and condemned as lawful Prize and forfeited to the Use of the Captors thereof and the united Colonies...Inventory of the Goods Chattels and Effects found on board the Schooner Betsey...60 Galls Rum. 10 Water Casks

And thereupon his honor the Judge on the prayer of the said George Campbell Esqr did issue his Warrant commanding the Marshall of this Court that he should summon twelve honest and lawful Men of the County of Philadelphia so that they should be and appear before the said Judge on the Eleventh Day of June next at the Court House in the City of Philadelphia at a Court then and there to be held upon their respective Oath or solemn Affirmation to try the Truth of the Facts alledged in the aforesaid Bill And did order the Registrar of the said Court to give publick Notice of the Time place and Cause of holding the said Court...²

And thereupon cometh the Marshall of the said Court namely Matthew Clarkson Esquire and maketh return to the Warrant aforesaid in Manner following to wit ー I do hereby certify that by Virtue of the within Writ to me directed I have summoned the Jury in the Pannel... The Jurors in the Panel to the aforesaid Warrant annexed named were severally called when Frederick Kuhl James Budden James Millegan Cornelius Schweres George Bartram William Barrell John Mease William Ball Philip Moore Anthony Morris the Younger and Thomas Pryor being the first twelve appearing were severally and respectively sworn and affirmed to try the Truth of the Facts alledged in the said Bill and give a true Verdict according to their Evidence...

The Deposition of Thomas Slater...To the first Interrogatory deposeth and saith that he doth know the Schooner Betesy above mentioned and did sail in her as Master or Commander of her. That on the fifteenth Day of February last she was taken by a Tender Sloop belonging to his Majesty's Ship of War called the King Fisher and commanded by one [blank] Jones and carried into the Port of Norfolk in Virginia  That after getting into the said Port he was ordered on board his Majesty's Ship of War called the Roebuck the Captain whereof told him this Deponent that he must impress all the Men belonging to the said Schooner and inquired of him this Deponent what he would have done with the said Schooner as she must not be permitted to go out to Sea  That this Deponent desired the said Schooner might be carried a little further up the River of Norfolk in which the said Schooner then lay and moored which was done accordingly  After which the Seamen belonging to the said Schooner were taken out of her and the said Deponent together with his Schooner left by the Man of War's Men  That on the twenty third Day of March last the Roebuck Sailed for the Capes of Delaware leaving the said Schooner moored at Anchor as aforesd with this Deponent on board her untill the second or third Day of May last when a certain Congleton Master Mate of the Roebuck with four Seamen and two Negroes came on board the said Schooner  that the said Congleton told this Deponent on coming on board that he was come to take charge of his this Deponent's Vessel That this Deponent thereupon asked if he was come to make a Seizure of her to which the said Congleton replied that he did not know but believed not  That when they got to Sea he the said Congleton would inform this Deponent what the said Schooner was taken for and immediately put out to Sea with this Deponent on board and against the Will of this Deponent That after the said Schooner had got to Sea the said Congleton told this Deponent that the Roebuck had got aground in Delaware Bay and that the said Schooner was intended to take out her Guns and other things in order to lighten the Roebuck Bay (the and get her off That the said Schooner on her Arrival at Delaware Roebuck having got off and riding at Anchor) was ordered to come too under the Stern of the Roebuck which the next Morning weighed Anchor and sailed with the said Schooner up the Delaware Bay & River as high as the Mouth of Christiana Creek That the said Schooner at the. Time of her Capture belonged to Robert Slater of Baltimore Town in the Province of Maryland That the last place she sailed from was the Island of Grenada in the English West Indies and was bound for Baltimore aforesaid in the Course of which Voyage she was taken off Cape Henry by the Sloop Tender as aforesaid That the said Schooner was then returning home after a trading Voyage and was not equip'd for War  That in the Course of the said order to prevent a Seizure of the said Schooner by any of Voyage being at the Port of Cork in Ireland he this Deponent in his Majesty's Ships of War in the West Indies or on the Coast of America did procure a Register for the said Schooner in the Name of a certain Patrick Comerford of Cork aforesaid... That the said Schooner on Wednesday the eighth Day ofandMay last lying off Christiana Creek in Delaware River in Company with possession of the Roebuck and Liverpool Men of War was boarded and retaken by an armed Schooner called the Wasp...That the said Schooner was not (to the Deponent's Knowledge) condemned in any Court of Admiralty belonging to his Majesty King George the third... That the said Robert Slater of Baltimore was the Owner of the said Schooner Betsey...That about two hours before the said Recaption the aforesaid Congleton thentofore acting as Master or Commander of the said Schooner Betsey left her together with all the Seamen belonging to the Men of War and went on board the Roebuck leaving no Orders or Instructions to stay by go from or assist the said Men of War That this Deponent upon the Men of War's Men leaving the said Schooner sailed with her down the River from the said Men of War about two Miles where she was boarded and taken by the Wasp Schooner as aforesaid That the said Schooner at the Time of her Recapture aforesaid was not laden with any Goods Wares or Merchandizes (excepting some Water Casks) That there were on board her at the Time of the said Recaption two Negroes who had come on board her with the said Congleton at Norfolk as aforesaid but that he this Deponent knoweth not to whom they belong...

And the aforesaid Thomas Slater being present here in Court was (by order of the Judge) duly sworn to make true Answers to all such Questions as should be asked him touching the Matter now before the Court And thereupon the Advocate for the Libellant produced to the Court a written Book purporting to be the Logg Book...on board the said Schooner Betsey...Remarks on Fryday February 24th...at Meredien got the King Fisher's Boat and People and run the Vessel up a little higher and moored....Saturday February 25th 1776...I went on board the Commodore's Ship  at 12 returned on board unbent the Mainsail and unreeved some of the fore running Rigging put it down the Hold  at Night put some more Service on the Cables ー Remarks on Thursday March 8. 1776...came several Vessels supposed to be prizes... Remarks on Thursday March 22d 1776...went up to Portsmouth returned immediately on board Lord Dumore and several other Gentlemen came on board and examined the Vessel for a Tender ー Remarks on Thursday April 12 1776...got along Side the Wharf and discharged our Ballast at Night hauled off...Remarks on Fryday April 13 1776...finished getting the Ballast out of the Vessel and cleared out the Limbers [Timbers]...Remarks on Wednesday April 18. 1776...got a Flat alongside...Remarks on Thursday April 19. 1776...sat up the Main Shrouds Got the Sailmakers to Work mending the Sails ー Remarks on Fryday April 24 1776...got the Vessel alongside Capt: Chizam's Wharf and hove down caulked her Bottom and payed it with Turpentine Lampblack and Oil  at Night hauled off to single Anchor ー Remarks on Wednesday April 25 1776...hauled alongside the Wharf and cleaned the other side of the Vessels Bottom and payed it...Remarks on Thursday May 2d 1776...got under Way and beat down the River as low as Willoughby's Point and anchored in Company with a Brig and Sloop of 10 Guns-Remarks on Sunday May 5 1776...at Noon Saw a Sail to the Northward supposed to be the Liverpoole at 4 saw the Roebuck laying at Anchor 3 or 4 Miles to the N.E. of Cape Henlopen  at Night came to anchor astern of the Roebuck the Liverpool astern of Us At 8 A M got under Way in Company with the Roebuck & Liverpool & steering up the Bay... Remarks on Monday May 6. 1776...at 6 came to anchor in the Mouth of Delaware River at 8 AM got under Way...Went on Shore on the Easternmost Shore and brought off some fresh Beef returned on board and got under Way and got up the River 10 Miles from Reedy Island... Remarks on Tuesday May 7. 1776...got a breast of Christeen Creek let go Anchor  2 prizes in sight...

[Exhibit Register] ー Port Cork Patrick Comeford of Cork Mercht that the Ship Betsey of Cork whereof Thomas Slater is at present Master being a square sterned Schooner of about forty Tons was built at Hyde County in the province of North Carolina in the Year one thousand seven hundred and seventy four as appears by a former Register...this Deponent is at present sole Owner...this twenty first Day of August 1775 ー P: Comerford...

I Patrick Comerford of the City of Cork in the Kingdom of Ireld Mercht do hereby give up all right in and Title to the Schooner Betsey unto Mr Thomas Slater Mariner now Master of the same he having paid me a sufficient Consideration for the said Vessel which I declare to be his property  Witnesss my Hand Cork 21st Day of August 1775 Seventy five ー P: Comeford...

And now James Budden one of the Jurors aforesaid being duly sworn in open Court did deposeth and saith that he was present and did see the engagement between the Men of War and Gallies aforesd that he saw the said Schooner Betsey directly opposite the Mouth of Christiana Creek's Mouth when Captain Alexander was rowing the Wasp Schooner down the Creek that the said Schooner was out of reach of the firing from the Men of War and, thinks, might have got into the said Creek that when Captain Alexander got out of the Creek the Betsey hauld her Wind and madeaway from him that the Wasp followed and fired at and took her took out the Prisoners sent the said Schooner down the River and then beat up and got the Wasp again into the sd Creek That he heard Captain Slater declare when he landed that if he had had Guns and Men he would not have been taken that he looked upon himself as a prisoner and would give them no Intelligence

And thereupon Thomas Pryor another of the said Jury (being one of the people conscientiously scrupulous of taking on Oath) on his solemn Affirmation in open Court did declare and affirm that he saw the Engagement above mentioned and saw the Betsey and a Pilot Boat standing down the River when the Wasp got out Cristiana Creek aforesaid that the Pilot Boat and Wasp kept their Wind but that the Betsey hauled her Wind that the Wasp followed fired at and took the Betsey That at the Time the Wasptook her she might easily have fetched the Creek's Mouth and have got in more easily than down the River That the whole Conduct of the said Slater showed a determination by every Method in his Power to avoid the Americans ー And now the said Thomas Slater...deposeth and saith that the purpose for which he went on board the Commodore at Norfolk Feby 25. was to get back his Mate who was impressed  That not Lord Dumore but a Boatman told him that his Lordship came to examine the said Vessel for a Tender  That he hath sail'd out of Christiana Creek and knew the Water to be deep enough for his Vessel but could not have got up the Creek during the Engagement on Account of the Wind  that the Pilot Boat abovementioned being an armed Vessel might have followed and brought him back That he bore away from the Wasp on Account of the firing from the Ships of War  That he did intend to have left the Ships and was steering down the River for that Purpose when taken by the Wasp  That as to the Expression mentioned by Mr Budden "that he would not have been taken had he had Guns and Men" and a Commission he said the same Words when taken by the King Fisher's Tender as aforesaid.

And now the Jurors aforesaid having heard all the said Exhibits and Proofs upon their Oaths and Affirmations aforesaid respectively do say That they find the Facts set forth in the Bill aforesaid are true except as to the property of the said Vessel that as to that fact they find the property of the said Schooner to have been in some American [port] and that she was employed with the Consent of the Master and Owner in the Service of his Britanic Majesty...

And thereupon his Honor the Judge did pronounce and publish his definitive Sentence and Decree in the Words following to wit ー It appearing to me by the Verdict of the Jury impanneled sworn and affirmed in this Cause upon the Evidence produced to them That the Schooner Betsey with her Tackle Apparel Furniture and Cargo...be condemned as Prize And I do order the Marshall of this Court to sell the same at publick Vendue and after deducting the Costs and Charges of this Tryal and Condemnation out of the Monies arising from the said Sale to pay the Residue thereof to the said Charles Alexander his Agent or Attorney the one third part thereof for the Use of himself his Officers and Crew...two third parts thereof for the Use of the said thirteen united Colonies  And I do order the said Marshall to pay the whole Costs and Charges of this Tryal and Condemnation into the Hands of Michael Hillegas Esquire Treasurer of this Province according to the Resolves of the honorable the Continental Congress and of the honorable House of Representatives of this Province ー

Geo: Ross, June 11. 1776