Catalogue description Appeal from the Vice-Admiralty Court of Newfoundland. Captured ship: Le Heron of Port...

Appeal from the Vice-Admiralty Court of Newfoundland.

Captured ship: Le Heron of Port Lorient (commander Jean-Baptiste De Lozier Bouvet).

History: a French East India Company ship (500 tons, 24 guns, 95 men, bound from the Isle de France [Mauritius] to Lorient, laden with bales of merchandise, pepper, redwood and other East India goods; taken on 29 July / 8 August 1745 off Louisbourg by HMS Mermaid (Warwick Calmady comanding) and HMS Chester (Philip Durell commanding), [and the boats of the other naval ships under command of Sir Peter Warren, of HMS Sunderland, that remained guarding the newly captured Louisbourg from an hourly-expected French squadron], and brought into Louisbourg.

Documents:

• 1: copy of Newfoundland sentence 4 November 1745, condemning ship and cargo, brought into court February 1746;
• 2-7: copies of letters of attorney from the crews of HMS Princess Mary, HMS Vigilant, HMS Chester and HMS Canterbury, and cross-reference to one from Daniel, captain of HMS Canterbury file with the appeal papers for Notre Dame de la Deliverance, 1746;
• 8: claim for joint capture by the Rhode Island privateer Tartar (Daniel Fones commanding), 1746;
• 9: transcript of process in the Vice-Admiralty Court of Newfoundland, 1745, including 3 examinations of the French crew, made in December 1746;
• 10: libel of appeal by the Tartar (Daniel Fones commanding), 1749;
• 11-14: claims from ships in Warren's squadron, including HMS Hector, HMS Superb and HMS Lark, January 1750;
• 15-16: two allegations, November 1750;
• 17-18: allegation for joint capture by the Tartar (Daniel Fones commanding), present at Louisbourg, and aiding the naval squadron, with a copy of Warren's order, brought into court 1750;
• 19-21: appeal on behalf of the Tartar, and examinations of Benjamin Sherburne, 1751, and interrogatories;
• 22: notarised copy of Fones' commission to support naval forces, from William Green C-in-C Rhode Island;
• 23: release;
• 24-25: two attestations on behalf of HMS Defence;
• 26-37: allegation on behalf of HMS Defence (John Prentis commanding, now deceased) with 11 copies of exhibits of Warren's orders and arrangements and the line of battle at the taking of the Charmante in May 1745, etc, brought into court June 1751;
• 38-45: proxies, July 1751;
• 46: instructions touching HMS Defence, July 1751;
• 47-55: claims from 1749 on behalf of the following ships: the privateers Shirley, Mollineux, and HMS Massachusetts Frigate, HMS Caesar, HMS Fame, and HMS Defence as participants in the capture of Le Heron, exhibited in March 1751;
• 56: draft of an interlocutory decree;
• 57-59: court notes.