Admty Office 14 Aug. 1777
Gent
Having laid before my Lords Comissrs of the Admiralty your Letter of the 28t May last, enclosing one which you had received from Mr Chas Moulton, late Master of the Ship True Love, and the Papers which accompanied it, representing that having been taken by the Rebels,2 he procured the release of himself and her Crew, upon condition of his using his endeavors to procure the release of other Persons here of the same quality; praying that he may be enabled to comply with the terms of his Parole; and offering the Ship he purchased to bring him to England, to return to North America as a Cartel Ship;3 I am commanded by their Lordships to return you the said Letter, and Papers herewith, and to acquaint you that they have no occasion for a Cartel Vessel, nor do they know of any Prisoners confined in England under the circumstances in which the Petition and the Persons he mentions, were confined in North America.4 I am, Gentn [&c.]
PhP Stephens
1. Letters to Commissioners for taking care of Sick & Hurt Seamen, Adm/M/404, NMM.
2. See Volume 8, 262.
3. Moulton petitioned the Massachusetts Council for parole on February 22, 1777, and it was granted February 24. See Volume 7, 1256-57. In his letter to the Commissioners for Sick and Hurt Seamen asking permission to return to America with a cartel to fulfill the terms of his parole, Moulton noted that should his request be refused and "if I ever Should have the missfortune to fall into their hands again, I never Shall be Able to Obtain my Liberty again," Letters to Commissioners for taking care of Sick & Hurt Seamen, Adm/M/404, NMM.
4. The Admiralty's negative decision was based on British policy. Masters and crews taken in unarmed merchantmen not carrying munitions, the True Love for example, were not imprisoned. Thus, as Stephens states, no prisoners in Moulton's category were in English prisons.
