Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period / Illustrative Documents

THE PRINCE CHARLES OF LORRAINE .

176. Deposition of Benjamin Munro and William Kipp. April 23,
1746.[1]

Benjamin Munro and William Kipp of Lawfull Age Testifieth and Saith that the said Munro was Master of the Sloope Prince Charles of Lorain whereof Simeon Potter was Commander as a Private Man of Warr and that We took and Plundred a Small Place near Cyan[2] called Yopock[3] and then Proceeded to Cyan where said Potters Lieutenant and Thirty Two men Landed took and Plundred a Place called Muekell yeau.[4] We Landed on Cyan with Ten men where We were taken by One hundred and Thirty Soldiers where Three of Our Men were Killed and Four wounded and then We were carried to Cyan Fort where Capt. Potter sent a flagg of Truce on Shoar with a Fryar[5] and some Soldiers that were taken at Yopock whereupon the Governour of Cyan[6] Immediately gave us Our Barge againe to go on board and half an Ox for fresh Provisions and then We went to go on board of Our Vessel but missed of her in the Night and so We Proceeded to Surranam[7] where We were all Put into the Fort and keept untill the Masters of the English Vessels there Petitioned for us to Come out and in a few Dayes after Capt. Potter arrived in the River with his Priveteer and Came up to Surranam to the Governour[8] to Desire Liberty of him to Wood and Water but they gave no Liberty in Ten or Twelve Dayes and then Ordered that the English Men should bring Wood and Water on Board but the Thing was Attended with so much Dificulty that We were Obliged to Sell some small Plunder on board of Our Own Vessell to Defray our Charges and also that while We were at Surranam Three of Our Slaves Ran away from Us and that the Governour keept and Detained them from us then we Sailed for Barbadoes in Order to Carreen and Refitt Our Vessell and that when We came to Sea we found Five Men and no more on Board who talked Dutch and were dressed in Sailors Apparel who did their Duty as Such and Said that they belonged to Dutch Vessells in Surranam and when we arrived at Barbadoes We Landed our Prize Goods and Slaves where they were Condemned and Sold at a Publick Vendue.

Ben Munro.
Wm. Kipp.

Bristol ss:

Bristol Apr. 23d 1746.

Personally appeared the above named Benj'n Munro and Will'm Kipp, (being bound to Sea), and made Oath to the truth of the above written evidence: taken in Perpetuam Rei Memoriam before us two of his Majs. Justices of the peace in and for the County of Bristol:[9] Quorum Unus,

Jona: Woodbury.
Joseph Russell.

[1] Rhode Island Archives, volume lettered "Admiralty Papers, 1746-1750", p. 45. Capt. Simeon Potter of Bristol (a town in Massachusetts till January, 1747, in Rhode Island after that date) was one of the most noted and successful of the privateers of his time. His raid on French Guiana in November, 1744, though not enormously profitable nor of much military importance, makes a very picturesque story, chiefly because of the vivid account we have of it from one of its victims, Father ElzÉar Fauque, an intelligent Jesuit, who was serving the mission at Oyapoc, and was carried away as a prisoner by Potter when he sacked and destroyed that settlement. Father Fauque's narrative, a letter to an officer of his society, dated from Cayenne, Dec. 22, 1744, is in the Lettres Édifiantes et Curieuses, XXVII. 172-250 (Paris 1749), VIII. 387-454 (ed. 1781), IV. 493-533 (ed. 1819), II. 34-50 (ed. 1838). There is an English translation in Bishop W.I. Kip's Historical Scenes from the Old Jesuit Missions (N.Y., 1875), pp. 153-205, reprinted in Professor W.H. Munro's Tales of an Old Sea Port (Princeton, 1917), pp. 48-93, in which Potter's life is also told. The admiralty case arose from questions respecting disposal of the booty. Prince Charles of Lorraine was brother-in-law of Maria Theresa, and commanded her army against Frederick the Great. According to Father Fauque, the privateer so named carried 10 cannon, 12 swivel-guns and 61 men. Lettres Édifiantes (ed. 1819), IV. 494.

[2] Cayenne the chief town of French Guiana. For the pronunciation, see doc. no. 63, note 20.

[3] Oyapoc, on a river of the same name, lies some 80 miles to the southeast of Cayenne, toward the Brazilian boundary.

[4] Macouria, a lady's plantation a little northwest of Cayenne. Father Fauque, ubi sup., pp. 519-520.

[5] Father Fauque was not a friar, but a Jesuit.

[6] M. d'Orvilliers, father of the celebrated admiral of that name. La Condamine, returning by way of the Amazon and of Oyapoc from his celebrated geodetic expedition to Peru, had spent five months with him at Cayenne earlier in this year. Relation AbrÉgÉe, pp. 209-214.

[7] The Dutch then possessed both what is now Dutch and what is now British Guiana. In 1744 their possessions constituted three colonies, Surinam, Berbice, and Essequebo, of which Surinam, the present Dutch Guiana, was the most important. The fort spoken of was at the capital, Paramaribo.

[8] Jan Jacob Mauricius, governor of Surinam 1742-1751; see account of him in Harris and de Villiers, Storm van 's Gravesande, II. 538-539.

[9] At this date a county of Massachusetts. With this narrative we can compare Captain Potter's own brief account of the affair, as given in the Pennsylvania Gazette of Feb. 19, 1745, being an extract from a letter written by him to his owners, sent to that journal from Newport: "We came to an Anchor at Y'opoch River, took a Craft by which we had an Account of a considerable French Settlement up that River, with a Fort of six Carriage Guns and 50 Soldiers, excluding Officers: We went with the Prisoners we took into the Craft (bound) before us as our Guides: At one o'clock in the Morning we landed a small Distance from the Fort, gave three Huzza's and entred the same Sword in Hand, took it without the loss of one Man, kept Possession thereof 8 Days, took in Plunder 9 Indians, 2 Negroes, a Mulatto Wench, 50 Small-Arms, 5 Casks of Powder, and a small Quantity of Plate, and took 10 Prisoners. We then steered for Surinam and sent up for Liberty to refit, but were refused by the Governor thereof: How far this is consistent with the Treaties between England and Holland, I for my part must leave to others to determine."

177. Deposition of Daniel Vaughan. September 1, 1746.[1]

Daniel Vaughan, late Lieutenant the Sloop Prince Charles of Lorain, Capt. Simeon Potter, on a Cruising Voiage Anno 1744, on oath declared that an Indian man Named Jeffery Potter was one of the Hands of said Sloop during her Cruize; that on said Cruize the Sloops Company made an Attack on a French Settlement called Yapoke and took out of said Settlement Seven Indians, three Negroes, twenty large Spoons or Ladles, nine Large Ladles, one Gold and one Silver hilted Sword, one Gold and one Silver Watch, two Bags of Money the Quanty uncertain, a number of Chest and Trunks of Goods and Merchandize and waring apparell, a Number of Gold Rings, Buttons and Buckles, a Number of Silver Candlesticks and Church Plate both Gold and Silver,[2] a Number of Swords, about Sixty small arms for Cannon, Shot of all Sorts, about Fifty halfe Barrals of Powder, a Quantity of Beafe, Flower and other Provisions and Sundry other things wch. this Deponent cannot enumerate; that after the taking of said Goods etc. from Yapoke sd. Sloop and Company sail'd for Surrinam where Capt. Potter put a Quantity of sd. Merchandize up at Vendue on board a Vessel in the Harbour and purchased the most of them himself and ship't them to Rhode Island on his own account; then said Sloop Sailed for Barbadoes on wch. passage the men demanded that Capt. Potter would Share the Money taken, according to the Articles, to which Capt. Potter answered that he would share none until his Return for all the Men were indebted to the Owners more than that amounted to and Swore at and Damn'd them threatning them with his drawn sword at their Breasts, which Treatment Obliged the Men to hold their Peace and when said Sloop arrived at Barbadoes Capt. Potter without consulting the Men put part of the afore mentioned Effects into the Hands of Mr. Charles Bolton and kept the other part in his own Hands and Supply'd the Men only with Rum and Sugar for their own drinking, and further this Deponent saith that Capt. Potter refusing to let the men have their Shares and his Ill Treatment of them by beating them occasioned about twenty-four to leave the Vessel whose Shares Capt. Potter retained in his Hands and further this Deponent saith not. Daniel Vaghn. Sworn to this 1 Day of September A.D. 1746, Capt. Potter not notified living out of the Government, befor Eben'r Richardson Just: apece.[3]

A true Copy as one file in the Case Patd. agst. Potter examd.

by Tho. Ward, Clk.

[1] Rhode Island Archives, volume lettered "Admiralty Papers, 1746-1750", following doc. no. 176.

[2] Father Fauque greatly laments the loss of these. Professor Munro, History of Bristol, p. 180, says that some of the silver which Captain Potter brought home from Oyapoc is still in the possession of descendants of his family.

[3] Bristol had not yet become a part of Rhode Island. Ebenezer Richardson was a justice of the peace in Newport; R.I. Col. Recs., V. 335. Thomas Ward was elected secretary of the colony of Rhode Island in May, 1747 (ibid., V. 215).

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