Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period / Illustrative Documents

THE LEWIS JOSEPH AND THE ST. ANNE .

173. Deposition of Jacques Piegnon. January 24, 1745.[1]

The Same 24th January 1744.[2] 5 P.M.

Proclamation made a fourth Time, and none appearing to Claim, the Court ordered the Proctor to Proceed to Prove the lawfull Caption of the said Ship Lewis Joseph and Snow St. Ann and their Ladings,[3]

Whereupon the following Depositions being Produced and Read, viz.

Jacques Piegnon of St. Malo in France Mariner being Sworn

Deposeth and Sayeth

To the first Interrogatory

That he this Deponent Knows the Ship called the Lewis Joseph now riding at Anchor in this Port of Philadelphia; That in the Month of August 1743 this Deponent contracted and Agreed with Francis Pienoir late Captain of the said Ship and the owners thereof at St. Malo aforesaid to enter and go as Second Captain on Board the said Ship on a Voyage from St. Malo to Cadiz and from thence to proceed to some port of French or Spanish America as should be agreed and resolved on at Cadiz aforesaid; That agreeable to his said Contract this Deponent sailed in the said Ship in quality of Second Captain to Cadiz and from thence to Port Orient[4] in France and thence returned to Cadiz and from thence proceeded to Cape Francois[5] in the Island of Hispaniola; That the said Francis Pienoir was Captain and Commander of the said Ship during the said Voyage; That from Cape Francois aforesaid this Deponent sailed in the said Ship on an Intended Voyage for Nantz in France and on the 26th day of Decr. last, New Stile, the said Ship [was] attacked upon the High Seas in or near the Latitude of 31 deg. North by two English Privateer Vessels, of one of which Captain Alexander Kattur was Commander[6] and Captain John Dougal was Commander of the other, but does not Know the Names of the said Privateers but has heard that one of them was Called the Warren and the other the George; That the Engagement between the said Two Privateers and the said Ship Lewis Joseph continued for about five or Six Hours; That at the Beginning of the said Engagement there were fifty two Men in and belonging to the said Ship Lewis Joseph but four of them were Killed in the said Engagement vizt. the said Captain Pienoir, another Captain who was a Passenger and two common Sailors, and three of the Men belonging to the said Privateers were also Killed in the said Engagement as this Deponent afterward heard and believes; That at the time of the said Engagement the said Ship Lewis Joseph was mounted with Eighteen Guns; That the said Ship Lewis Joseph was then taken by the said two English Privateers; That the said Captain Pienoir and all the Mariners and Comp'y belonging to the said Ship Lewis Joseph at the Time of her said Caption were Subjects of the French King; That the same Ship Lewis Joseph was then Laden with divers Goods Wares and Merchandizes.

To the Second Interrogatory;

That the said Ship Lewis Joseph at the time of her said Caption wholly belonged to Monrs. John Petel a Merchant then residing at St. Malo and a Subject of the French King; That part of the Goods Wares and Merchandizes wherewith the said Ship was laden at the time of her said Caption belonged to the said Captain and the officers of the said Ship and the residue thereof to divers Merchts. and others at St. Malo's, Nantz and other Ports and Places in France and that such Owners of the said Cargo were all then Subjects of the French King.

To the third Interrogatory,

That before the said Ship Lewis Josephs Departure on the said Voyage from St. Malo, the said Captain Pienoir applyed for and obtained from the proper Officer at the Court of France a Commission which gave Authority to the said Captain with the Marriners and Company belonging to the said Ship as a private Ship of War to Seize and take any Person with their Goods and Effects who then were or should happen to be the Enemies of the French King during the Course of the said Voyage; That it is Customary in France for such Ships when there happens to be an Expectation of War being Declared before their Return from such Voyages to apply for and take out such Commissions before their Departure, And this Deponent with the said Captain Pienoir and the rest of the said Ships Company hearing at Cadiz upon their Return thither from Port Orient that War was declared by the French King against Great Britain,[7] they the said Officers and Company belonging to the said Ship Lewis Joseph looked upon themselves well warranted and authorized by the said Commission to Act with the said Ship as a private Ship of War against the Subjects of the King of Great Britain and to Seize and take their Persons and Effects; That the said Ship did not touch in any Port or Place in France after the time of this Deponents hearing of War being Declared against Great Britain as aforesaid; That after the said Ships Departure from St. Malo and during the said Voyage, the said Captain Pienoir produced and read the said Commission to this Deponent and the Rest of the said Ships company, and that the purport thereof was to authorise the said Captain Pienoir with his said Ships Company to Seize and take any Pirates, Interlopers and any future Enemys of the French King with their Ships, Goods and Effects or to that Effect, and was to Continue in force only for the said Voyage, and that the said Commission had a large Seal affixt to it; but what or whose such Seal was this Deponent knows not.

To the fourth and fifth Interrogatorys,

That he, this Deponent, knows the Vessel or Snow called the St. Anne in the Interrogatory mentioned and now riding in the Port of Philadelphia; That the said Snow being laden with Divers Wares and Merchandizes at Cape Francois Sailed from thence in Company with the said Ship Louis Joseph and was afterwards taken by the said two English Privateers who took the said Ship Lewis Joseph or one of them as this Deponent hath heard and believes, and was brought into the Port of Philadelphia along with the said Ship, as the Prize of and belonging to the said Privateers but when or where the said Snow was Attacked or taken, or who was the Captain and Commander of her this Deponent knows not, but hath heard and believes that the Captain, Mariners and Owners of the said Snow were all Subjects of the French King; and to the Rest of these Interrogatories cannot Depose.

Jacque Piegnon.

[1] Records of the Admiralty Court held in Philadelphia, 1735-1746, in volume preserved in the office of the clerk of the U.S. district court, pp. 213-216. The judge was Thomas Hopkinson, who qualified in January, 1745.

[2] I.e., 1745, N.S.

[3] The story of the capture is also related in Benjamin Franklin's paper, the Pennsylvania Gazette, Jan. 22, 1745: "On Friday [Jan. 18, arrived] a Ship and Snow, from the Warren Privateer, Alexander Kattur, and the Old George Schooner, William Dougall, Commanders, who sailed from this Port about six Weeks ago in Consort. Seven Days after they left the Capes, in the Latitude of 31, they met with the Ship.... She is a Frigate built Ship, of 18 Carriage Guns, belongs to St. Malo's, and was thither bound. She is called the Lewis Joseph. The Captain's Name was Piedsnoirs.... She maintained an obstinate Fight for Five Hours, and did not surrender, till she had received near Fifty Shot in her Hull, and was at last boarded, and the Captain, his second Lieutenant, and four Men killed, and several of the Gentlemen Passengers wounded. The Captain had the Character of a Gallant Man, and, as the Prisoners say, always declared, that he would never part with the Ship but with his Life.... The Snow is called the St. Anne, Pierre Dalheu Master, bound to Bourdeaux, and was taken two Days after the Ship. [The rich cargoes are described.] We are daily expecting the two Privateers in."

[4] Now called Lorient.

[5] Now Cap HaÏtien.

[6] The Warren; see note 3, above, and Pa. Mag. Hist., XXIV. 350.

[7] The king of France (Louis XV.) declared war on Great Britain on Mar. 15, 1744, N.S.

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