To the Honourable President and other members of the Provincial Congress of the Province of New-York, met in Congress, at the City of New-York.

The Petition of Samuel Massey, Charles Massey, and Joseph Wood, the younger, of the City of Philadelphia, merchants, humbly sheweth:

That your Petitioners, in the beginning of the month of January last past, purchased a sloop or vessel called the Joseph, whereof William Raddon was late master, and loaded on board the said vessel a cargo of provisions to proceed with the same from the city of Philadelphia to Savannah in the Province of Georgia, as appears by an invoice and bill of lading herewith exhibited.

That the said sloop Joseph proceeded on her intended Voyage, and on the 13th day of February last past, was taken by an armed vessel, called the General Gage, whereof one George Sibles was commander, and carried into Cape-Fear, in the province of North-Carolina, where the said sloop Joseph was detained, and the cargo on board of her embezzled, particularly by Josiah Martin, late Governour and Commander-in-Chief of that province as fully appears by the protest of the aforesaid William Raddon, herewith also exhibited.²

That the said sloop Joseph, with her cargo, were illegally confiscated by the said George Sibles and the said Josiah Martin, without libel or condemnation, whereby your Petitioners are sufferers to near the amount of fifteen hundred Pounds, current money of the province of Pennsylvania.

That your Petitioners, immediately after the capture of the said sloop Joseph, made application to the Provincial Congress of the said province of North-Carolina, who appointed a committee to consider the facts as stated by your Petitioners, which said Committee reported thereon, as appears by the copy of the same likewise exhibited.³

Your Petitioners therefore pray that your honourable House will take their unhappy case into particular consideration, and grant them an order to seize the effects of the aforesaid Josiah Martin within the province of NewYork, to reimburse the loss your Petitioners have sustained by the capture and detention of the said sloop Joseph and her cargo, or such other relief as your honourable House shall seem meet.

[New York, May 9, 1776]

[Enclosure]

An estimate of the loss sustained by the capture of the sloop Joseph, William Raddon, late master