pers respecting his said vessel and her lading and expressed no doubt that the ship was an American, but insisted the cargo to be English property, and assured him, if he would acknowledge it to be so, his full freight should be paid, and he have a present of one thousand pounds, which overtures the said master would not pay any other attention to than declaring the whole property to belong solely to Aquilla Brown, of Baltimore aforesaid, merchant-Whereupon the French officers thumbscrewed the said master in the cabin of their said brig, kept him in torture to extort a declaration that the said cargo was English property, for nearly four hours, but without having its desired effect; when a vessel heaving in sight he was liberated from the barbarous punishment he had undergone, and shortly afterwards the last mentioned vessel was captured by the said brig, and proved to be the Diana of Lancaster, captain Derbyshire, from St. Thomas bound to Lancaster, and on the eighth about five o'clock in the evening, the said master with the said five of his crew, together with fourteen of the crew of the said captured vessel were put on board the said appearer's vessel, which was permitted to proceed, but the said master, on being sent from the said brig, requested the captain to give him some provisions to supply the said fourteen men with, but he would allow them only about forty pounds of bread, saying they would soon have a fair wind: the said appearer's vessel was then in latitude 50, longitude 14, 27, and they accordingly proceeded with the wind southwardly. And the said Eugene Sweeney, mate, for himself, now saith, that while the said master was so detained on board the said French brig, the captain and first lieutenant thereof, with some of their crew came on board the said appearer's vessel, broke open and plundered the captain's chest of a purse containing several guineas, a gold watch, sextant, great part of his wearing apparel, stole a spying glass, speaking trumpet, eleven bags of coffee, broke open two boxes of sugar, and stole therefrom several bags, and robbed them also of their boat. And further, that the said French captain and lieut. showed the now attestant a note, as under the hand of the master of his said ship, signifying that he the said master acknowAN ledged the cargo to be English property, and that he the

said mate was to do the same, but this he whe

by no

LIBRARY

means comply with; and at the same time perceived the note to be forged, and violent threats were made use of towards him the said mate to produce such acknowledgment, which he persisted in not doing, as contrary to the truth, and the said Robert Jackson for himself now saith, that while on board the said brig, twenty pieces of gold (which he supposed to be joes) were offered to one of the crew to declare the said vessel's cargo was English property. And all the said appearers again declare that they still prosecuted their voyage, and on the eleventh being in latitude 49, in consequence of the number of men on board they were reduced to a buiscuit a man per day. That on the twelfth it was dark and squally weather, and at two o'clock in the afternoon in a sudden squall their said vessel was hove down on her beam ends, and the bowsprit carried away, when they were obliged, for the safety of their lives, and preservation of the said vessel, and cargo, to cut away the rigging belonging to the bowsprit jib boom, and the top sail sheets, by which she fortunately righted, and then to clear the wreck and secure the foremast, they were obliged to bear away before the wind, which being accomplished, they to avoid further damage were obliged to cut away the bowsprit (the same beating against the said vessel's bows) with all the rigging of their bowsprit and jib boom, and the jib and foretopmast stay sail and sprit sail yard, and in endeavouring to secure the foremast, they found the foretopmast and main yard were sprung in consequence of her having been laid down on her beam ends as foresaid, when they immediately used every exertion possible to get down the foretopmast to rig up a jury one in its stead, and also in rigging out a jury bowsprit, the weather then continuing boisterous. That on the thirteenth it blew a gale of wind at east by north, when they finished a temporary bowsprit out of a spare topmast, and a fore topmast out of a spare mizzen topmast, and proceeded the voyage. That on the fourteenth they had a hard gale of wind at the last mentioned quarter, attended with a heavy sea which broke over the said vessel incessantly, and they were obliged to pump every quarter of an hour, and were then still under short allowance. That on the fifteenth they spoke a Swedish brig, which supplied them with a bag of bread, two pieces of beef, and a few stock fish,

and had then the wind eastwardly, which was contrary; and on the sixteenth they were supplied from another brig with two bags of bread, some pease and wine, on payment, and proceeded their voyage with variable winds and weather, without any particular circumstances happening, until the twenty-second, when being in latitude 48, 23, they were boarded by his Britannick majesty's ship Galatea, the officers of which pressed from the said appearer's vessel the said fourteen men, three passengers, and one of their own crew, and supplied the said appearers with provisions, when they continued the pursuit of the voyage with the wind southwardly. And on the twentythird had sounding in seventy-five fathoms, and proceeded the channel course with the wind continuing southwardly, with hazy weather. And on the twenty-fourth in the evening, the Lizard lights, bore north north east, distant about five leagues. That on the twenty-fifth in the morning, Portland lights bore northeast by east, distant three leagues. And on the same day it began to blow hard, which increased to a gale, and in the afternoon, being off Beachy head, with the weather continuing very thick and hazy, they, upon consultation on the state and condition of the said vessel, adjudged it most expedient for the safety of their lives, and preservation of her and her cargo, to put into the first port of safety to refit, that they might be enabled safely to proceed to their place of destination, and accordingly hoisted a signal for a pilot and assistance to take charge of the said vessel, for the purpose of conducting her to such said port of safety; and about 4 o'clock they procured a pilot and assistance from a cutter which came alongside, whom the said master employed for the purpose aforesaid; but the weather being hazy, and night time coming on, they laid off and on until the said twenty-sixth at 5 o'clock in the morning, when they bore away for Dover harbour, and at ten o'clock in the forenoon, on arriving at the entrance of the same, the said vessel was, by the strong tide and swell forced against the north Pier Head, whereby the figure head, rails, cutwater and bow, were damaged; and the anchor hooking the head, and having a long range of the cable, the same run out nearly thirty fathom, which stopping the said vessel, and she then touching the ground, they were obliged, for the purpose of preventing her laying thereon, to cut

the cable the length it had so run out, by doing of which,. and with the utmost exertions on board, and assistance on shore, she was hove from the dangerous place she was likely to lay on, and into safety, and also the said appearers declare, that they have used their utmost endeavours for the preservation of the said vessel and cargo; that whatever damage or loss the same have already sustained, or may hereafter sustain, was not occasioned by or through any neglect or default of them, or any of the crew, or by reason of any defect or default in the said vessel or her tackling, but merely by means of the circumstances before stated. Therefore the said master hath desired a protest; wherefore I, the said notary, at his request, have solemnly protested, and by these presents do protest against the wind, weather and sea, the officers and crew of the said French brig (whose names, together with the name of their said vessel is unknown to these appearers or to their belief to any of their crew) and every other person and cause occasioning the said vessel's damage and loss of, and for all losses, costs, charges, damages, and expenses already and hereafter to be suffered and sustained, to be allowed and recovered in time and place convenient. Thus done and protested in Dover aforesaid, in the presence of Robert Steriker and Thomas Pain, witnesses thereto called and requested. In testimony of the truth whereof, the said appearers and witnesses subscribed their names in the registry of me, the said notary. And I the said notary have hereunto set my hand, and affixed my notarial seal, dated the day and year second above written. JAMEŠ GRAVENER, [L. s.]

And I, James Gravener, a master extraordinary in his majesty's high court of chancery, do hereby certify, that the said William Martin, Eugene Sweeney, and Robert Jackson, were duly sworn on the Holy Evangelists to the truth of the aforegoing protest, at Dover aforesaid, the said 3d day of April, 1797, before me,

JAMES GRAVENER.

MESSAGE

FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES RELATIVE TO

ALGIERS. JUNE 23, 1797.

[See Vol. Confidential Documents.]

MESSAGE

FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO CONGRESS. JULY 3, 1797.

THE whole of the intelligence which has for some time past been received from abroad, the correspondences between this government and the ministers of the belligerent powers residing here, and the advices from the officers of the United States, civil and military, upon the frontiers, all conspire to show in a very strong light the critical situation of our country. That Congress might be enabled to form a more perfect judgment of it, and of the measures necessary to be taken, I have directed the proper officers to prepare such collections of extracts. from the publick correspondences as might afford the clearest information. The reports made to me, from the Secretary of State, and the Secretary at War, with a collection of documents from each of them, are now communicated to both houses of Congress; I have desired that the message, reports and documents may be considered as confidential, merely that the members of both houses of Congress may be apprized of their contents before they should be made publick. As soon as the houses shall have heard them, I shall submit to their discretion, the publication of the whole, or any such parts of them, as they shall judge necessary or expedient for the publick good. JOHN ADAMS.