Prize-taking and hierarchical discipline were the keys to British naval effectiveness. A great many fortunes were made through prize-taking and became the stuff of legend and the financial foundations of dynasties. This chapter addresses prize-taking in the European theatre, primarily the Atlantic and Mediterranean, in the early course of the war; there are other actions reported in the newspaper during later years which appear in Chapter18.
The Admiralty philosophy for the management of the Royal Navy was simple. The officers and men must be kept in such fear of the certainty and viciousness of punishment that the alternative of following orders and risking death was always preferable. This rather bleak philosophy overlooks the close community of a ship at sea when a Captain must work hard to maintain the loneliness of command. It is also true that a minority of seamen volunteered for the job and formed a core of professionalism to lead the impressed men however it is my belief that the mortar of solidarity on British warships was the income from prize-taking.
Prize-taking gave an important support to the British war-time economy. Its effects have not yet, so far as I know, been quantified although Hill in ‘The Prizes of War’, 1998, provides useful information and Green’s ‘The Royal Navy and Anglo-Jewry’, 1989 is very worthwhile reading. Bullion or specie was preferred for its fixed value; goods and ships tended to return less than expected in the forced sales of the Prize Courts. Throughout most of the wars, the fund was distributed one eighth to the Admiral, one quarter to the Captains and the rest to other officers, leading hands and ordinary crew in fractions. As recipients were often cruising in distant seas, an Agency system developed in the ports which skimmed-off a handsome income from the sailors.
Sat 20th April 1793
The total registered tonnage of British-flag merchant shipping in 1792 is 1,365,000 tons. It is generally valued at £8 per ton. There are 80,000 seamen regularly employed. After deducting the expected costs of maintenance, the shipping fleet returns about 18% nett per annum to its owners.
Sat 21st Sept 1793
HMS Edgar (Bentley) captured the French privateer Dumourier which had earlier captured the Spanish ship Sta Jago. HMS Edgar is in Admiral Gell’s fleet of four ships-of-the-line and a frigate. A large amount of treasure was found on the Dumourier valued at over £½ million. It has been sent to London. Prize money will be substantial - Admiral Gell will get about £70,000, the captains (Foley, Molloy, Bertie, Dixon and Sir A Douglas) £23,000 each and even crewmen should get about £35 per head.
Sat 12th Oct 1793
Indian news – French privateers from Mauritius seem to sail faster than English frigates. Several British ships have been taken on the Cochin and Pedier coasts. The Dumourier, a French privateer has been fortuitously captured. Its officers say there are 22 privateers based at Mauritius - six work the Bay of Bengal, four the Sunda Straits, four the Malacca Straits and the rest are deployed in the Persian Gulf, Red Sea and on the Malabar Coast. A couple are 40 gun ships but the majority are designed for coming alongside and boarding. The crews of English ships taken as prizes report on return to India that the French are inquisitive about navigation in the Far East, particularly the anchorages east of the Ladrones.
Sat 12th Oct 1793
Several country ships were on the Pedier coast (the north and east coast of Aceh) including the Eagle (Lindsay) from Madras. Lindsay learned of the presence of the French frigate Sybil (44) and two privateers on the coast. The former was said to be chasing the Indiaman Scott. It was said the privateers had taken two country ships - the snow Industry from Bencoolen and the Floyer of Madras. Most of the country ships then left the coast for Penang. The Danish snow Hope, en route to Madras, was stopped and searched by the two privateers and British cargo removed. The Hope was later lost escaping privateers, the crew saved.
Sat 12th Oct 1793
The Spanish treasure galleon (England is not at war with Spain) was adjudged by the Admiralty Court to have been legally taken and the Spanish ambassador has consented to the judgment. Lord Hood’s share, as Admiral, is estimated at £60,000.
The captors of the other Spanish treasure ship (Santa Jago – see above) have resolved to not sell the prize, once the cargo has been removed, but to dismantle her. They believe the Spanish Customs duty on imported gold is high enough to encourage the ship’s officers and supercargo to hid valuables around the vessel.
Many bars of fine pewter on the ship’s manifest have turned out to be thinly painted bars of gold and this has stirred the captors’ interest.
Spanish treasure ships are always attractive prize - the Hermione which was seized in 1762 (during the Seven Years War) contained £519,705 of treasure.
Sat 2nd Nov 1793
Local News - The officers of the French privateer we have captured are volunteering interesting information. When they seized the Polly, they held a council on L’Egalite into the means available to dispose of their prize – whether to take her with them or sent her to Mauritius under a prize crew. Several seamen, the cook and his mate all had opinions. The distinction of rank on board has more or less disappeared. The officers’ sole remaining perk was a dining table to themselves.
Sat 2nd Nov 1793
Two Dutch cruisers off Batticalao, Ceylon have taken a French Snow La Fidelle loaded with cannon, ammunition and stores for Pondicherry. There are 8 cannon, 80,000 lbs of powder, 13,000 round shot, siege implements and some wine and brandy.
Sat 9th Nov 1793
The French have seized an Arab ship off Muscat on or about 10th October. She was formerly British and still had some English papers on board.
Sat 16th Nov 1793
Indian news – at Madras on 18th October was reported the recapture of a French prize. M/s Thomas Rea of the Fly and John Williams of the Lucy were both taken with their ships by the privateer Egalite and sent in the Prince of Wales, another French prize, to Mauritius. The prize crew comprised Captain Gardy of the Egalite, another officer, 4 Frenchmen and 10 - 12 Lascars. A Malay sailor was persuaded to provide the prisoners with pistols and cutlasses and, whilst most of the French were asleep at night, they captured the watch officer. Unfortunately he was able to raise the alarm and a fight ensued in which four of the Prize crew were killed before the other two submitted. The Lascars did not involve themselves. The Prince of Wales has just arrived at Madras.
In Feb 1794 the Editor publishes a correction:
Rea was the gunner of the Danish ship Denmark but was discharged on the Pedier coast for mutiny. He got a job on the Fly, bound for Prince of Wales Island, but his ship was taken by the Breton Cheri (Lampierre). Rea immediately joined the privateer’s crew for reward.
Soon afterwards the Breton Cheri met the Denmark which was said (apparently by Rea) to have English goods on board. None were found. Rea said he could prove the ship and cargo was English. Lampierre was disinclined to believe him but his crew, operating on principles of equality, differed. Rea led a gang in the ship’s boat to seize the Denmark. They plundered the officers’ chests.
The next day they captured the snow Prince of Wales and it was resolved to send both ships to Mauritius. Rea and Williams were put on the Prince of Wales as part of the prize crew. They resolved to murder the French crew, put into Coringa and dispose of ship and cargo to their own benefit. Three other non-French crew joined the conspiracy. Having murdered the crew, a dispute arose over their next destination. The majority favoured Madras. On arrival there a storm arose and they had to put out to sea again. They put into Pondicherry where Rea sold the betel nut cargo. The gang then fell out over the division of the spoils and one turned informer at Madras.
Sat 23rd Nov 1793
A 600 ton Arab dhow has been taken by two French privateers off Muscat. She had a valuable cargo worth ½ million rupees, of which 350,000 rupees was treasure. The ship was under the guns of the fort and the captain saw the two small French brigs approaching but had no suspicions of them. One got alongside, the crew boarded and they carried her. The dhow’s sailors arrived in Muscat the next morning and immediately a fleet of five armed ships sailed to give chase but returned empty-handed after a cruise of four days. It is supposed the value of the prize was sufficient for the privateer to return direct to Mauritius. The mate of the dhow was an American named Savage. His wife is French. They were both taken prisoner.
On 22nd Oct, the Phoenix (Moore) arrived at Calcutta from Rangoon, which she left on 25th Sept. At that time the British ships Hunter (Galloway) and Helen (Anderson) were in that port. Rangoon is full of Frenchmen who comprised the crew of a ship that was lost on the nearby coast and whom no-one will repatriate. The Captain is in charge of them and, having recovered a good part of his cargo, is obliged by the Pegu government to maintain the men. All British ships are warned to take care and secure their vessels from surprise.
Sat 30th Nov 1793
Letter from Bengal – the French privateers that have been cruising in the vicinity of the Andamans and Penang at the mouth of the Malacca Straits are expected to shift their attentions to the Bay of Bengal as the winter monsoon sets in. Concern is so great that several laden ships, although well armed, are detained in the river (Hoogly) and insurance premiums rise in proportion to our fears.
Letter from Penang – scarcely a ship dares to venture out of port such is the supposed swarm of French privateers outside. They have already caught many ships on the Pedier coast. These privateers rendezvous at Aceh and are well manned and armed.
The Carnatic (Scott) has arrived at Calcutta from Penang. Scott says 15 French privateers are reportedly active in the Malacca and Sunda Straits.
Sat 7th Dec 1793
India news - A 32-gun frigate The Bombay has been built by the Bombay Presidency for the Company’s service. It will be commanded by Capt Pruin.
The Governor-General has chartered the Fort William, the Nonsuch and another country ship as privateers to be armed for cruising in the Sunda Straits for the protection of our shipping.
Sat 7th Dec 1793
HMS Phoenix (Sir Richard Strachan) has captured the French East Indiaman La Pauline, valued at £30,000, and brought her into Portsmouth.
Sat 28th Dec 1793
Bombay Notice - HMS Minerva’s prize, the French brig Bonne Foy that was taken off Diego Garcia, will be sold here by public outcry on 30th Dec if not first sold privately. (it was bought-in unsold)
Sat 11th Jan 1794
The Company has refitted and armed several ships to form an escort service for the merchant shipping. Commodore Mitchell is in command in the William Pitt. The other ships are Brittania (Cheap), Pigot (Ballantyne), Houghton (Hudson), Nonsuch (Canning) and the cruiser Viper (Roper). The ships are expected to cruise the Malacca and Sunda Straits and the Bay of Bengal when not convoying.
The Company’s ship Cornwallis which sailed from Portsmouth on 8th July, has captured a French brig bound from Negrais to Mauritius and sent it as prize to Vizagapatam. The Cornwallis’ prizemaster is on board. The ship has since been sent to Madras to be condemned (no Admiralty Court at Vizagapatam)
Sat 11th Jan 1794
From Cox’s Island, down-river of Calcutta, 4th Dec we hear the following:
The brig Venus has arrived from Batavia via Penang and reports the taking of a Dutch Indiaman in Sunda Straits by a French privateer of 20 guns. The prize has a rich cargo of spices and gold dust valued at £100,000 (the production and money of the Celebes).
The Recovery (Greenway) of Calcutta was captured in the China Sea en route to China by the Dumourier and ransomed for $30,000. She then put into Malacca and landed her uninsured cargo of tin and pepper, the property of one Sidney Meadows.
The Recovery also reports the loss of the Pearl of Bombay which was taken by a French privateer near Penang. She says a French force has attacked the pepper godowns of the Company’s Bencoolen factory on nearby Rat Island.
The American ship Canton has also been captured by the Dumourier. The Canton sailed for China from Madras in August with a British merchant Leany on board who took a cargo of silver and goods with him. She missed the summer monsoon and was intending to winter at Malacca but met the Dumourier whereafter there are two versions of events – either they invited Captain La Forgue on board for dinner, someone revealed the presence of British cargo and he immediately seized the ship and sent her to Mauritius; or one of the French-speaking officers, sent over in a boat, deserted and reported the Canton was English. He brought back a boarding party and led them to a bag of pepper inside which were the real invoices.
Sat 18th Jan 1794
The Nerbudda was taken by a privateer off Pulo Aor and was sailed away to the East (presumably for the Sunda Straits).
The Governor of Macau has seized a French ship that put into his port. His act has irritated the Chinese officials responsible for Macau who require an explanation.
Editorial - The spate of seizures of our shipping has alarmed merchants all over India. We require either peace or the means to protect ourselves.
Sat 1st Feb 1794
Shipping news - The Dutch Governor of Malacca, H. Couperus, wrote the following to English ship captains in his port on 14th Dec 1793:
A long low French ship with yellow sides and mouldings, full of Europeans, and mounting a full deck of heavy cannon, has been seen in the Banka Straits on 18th Nov 1793. She was seen off the Palembang River on 20th Nov. Several Javan and Sumatran ships have been captured by her.
The following day he added:
A letter from Batavia dated 29th Sept says the English East Indiaman Princess Royal was attacked by three French warships and quickly taken. The French ships mounted about 120 guns.
The news has been confirmed by Capt Bampton of the Hormazeer, who has just arrived with sugar from Batavia after making a delivery to Botany Bay. He saw two 50-gun ships and one 44-gun at Batavia, which latter had brought the new political Commissioners from Holland.
Sat 1st Feb 1794
The Company’s ships in China were to have sailed for home in mid-December but the order was countermanded by Lord Macartney, who requires they await him at Canton.
Meanwhile the Carron (Simpson) has arrived Madras from China and the Captain reports three French warships are cruising off the Canton coast. They are a 64-, a 44- and a 20-gun ship and they are supposed to have come from France direct. They have a large body of troops on board and are said to be responsible for the recent capture of the Indiaman Princess Royal.
On enquiry Simpson’s information comes from the same fleet of Bugis proa’s that previously reported at Malacca.
Sat 8th Feb 1794
The 12 English passengers of the Winterton who were taken as prisoners to Mauritius have been delivered to Madras on 16th Jan by the American ship Henry (Crowninshield). He also brought 7 other English people who had been caught on one or other of the French prizes.
Capt Crowninshield reported he was told the French have 13 privateers cruising East of which some five are expected back at Port Louis soon for refitting and provisions. The frigates Sybil and Prudence and the prize Indiaman Princess Royal (44), with 500 European seamen, are being prepared for a cruise in the Bay of Bengal with the Dumourier. Three other privateers are being prepared. One, the Ville de Bordeaux, has 480 men and is well armed. She will patrol the Sunda Straits. M. St Felix, the governor of Mauritius has been removed from office by the newly arrived Commissioners for suspected disaffection and we hear he has escaped to Bourbon (Reunion) where the residents still wear the white cockade and are well known for their devotion to the Royalist cause.
News of the war arrived at Mauritius on 3rd June and a partial embargo of foreign ships was commenced until 25th Nov for ships to America and Europe and until 1st Dec for ships to Indian ports. 17 American ships were caught by the embargo and English property on board them was seized and sold. The proceeds were kept in the Treasury in accordance with the FrancoAmerican treaty. Then a copy of an English Order-in-Council was discovered on the Princess Royal indicating that French property on American ships was lawful prize to British privateers. The Mauritians are absolutely likely to reciprocate.
We nevertheless hope we can get our money back as the ships involved arrived at Mauritius before the outbreak of war. Prize-taking has become so lucrative on Mauritius that bidding for the fast-sailing Princess Royal was fierce and she sold for 2,400,000 livres. A larger Dutch Indiaman obtained only 600,000 livres although its cargo sold for 800,000 livres. The Faza Rabani (Savage) is Arab property, both hull and cargo, but the taste for prizes is so strong, she is likely to be condemned as well. One privateer brought back $100,000 from a country ship off the Malabar coast, apparently Parsee.
The Mauritian privateers are a cooperative venture of the entire mercantile population. The ship’s value and fitting-out cost is divided into 100 assignable shares which are negotiable. The shareholders thus fund the expedition. The return on many of the voyages has exceeded five times cost and some voyages have exceeded ten times.
7,000 – 8,000 men are engaged in the trade. 30% of the crews are Creoles or free blacks who act as marines. The profitability of privateering has aroused the jealousy of the uninvolved merchants. Monopolies and cartels flourish, and the costs of necessaries has increased substantially.
The Commissioners from Paris have allowed the mob to erect a gallows in front of Government House at Port Louis with the inscription ‘accapareurs, voila votre recompense’ which has alarmed the monopolists.
Sat 22nd Feb 1794
Two armed Dutch ships have taken a French frigate or privateer of 26 guns off Batavia.
Sat 8th Mar 1794
Madras news 14th Feb – Capt MacIver, who commands a merchant ship named Swallow belonging to the Sultan of Aceh, was stopped and searched by the French privateer Elize when off Aceh head. The French were satisfied that the ship and cargo belonged to the Sultan and let MacIver’s ship go but before they did so he had some conversation with the officers.
The Elize has 20 guns and a crew of 250 tough-looking seamen. They said three frigates had departed Mauritius to cruise the Malabar coast looking for Admiral Cornwallis’ fleet.
The Elize at that time had not made a single capture but she has grapnels at the yard arms and 45 volunteers act as marines. Everyone has a cutlass and a brace of pistols. The crew dine at the Captain’s table by rotation, 35 each day.
Sat 22nd March 1794
Before the commencement of the winter monsoon, a small French brig from Africa, which was storm-damaged, put into Damaun for repair. She was seized by the Portuguese officer there, the ship hauled ashore where she still lies today, the Captain and officers were detained and the crew sent to Goa.1
Contrast this Portuguese act with the case of the English ship Polly (Taylor) which put into Pondicherry under distress last year whilst the port was still in the control of the French. It was supplied and repaired and allowed to depart unmolested although the outbreak of war was known.
Also note the Spanish attitude to maritime distress. In the last war with Spain an English ship in imminent risk of foundering put into Havana expecting to be made prize. The Governor permitted the necessary repairs, provided provisions and then ordered them away saying ‘we are not at war with the weather’.
Sat 22nd March 1794
The Asiatic Mirror (a Calcutta paper) of 19th Feb 1794 reports a rumour that French privateers off Sumatra are active. The Indiaman Pigot is said to have been taken, according to Captain Scott of the Carnatic, just arrived at Madras. Scott says he left Prince of Wales Island on 12th Feb for Padang but was chased into Soosa roads by a French privateer. He stayed in the shallows until the privateer left. Whilst there he met a Malay proa from the coast of Sumatra that said both Padang and Tapanuli had been captured by the French, the Pigot taken and 12 privateers were on the coast. Scott decided to steer south for Madras rather than go direct to Calcutta. He was chased by another privateer and, whilst trying to escape, came up on and passed a slow-moving grab, to which the privateer transferred its attentions. He supposes it to have been caught. This occurred two days out of Madras.
Editor – the Pigot left Penang on 24th Dec with a large supply of military stores for Bencoolen, and would have been off the west coast of Sumatra by early Jan which is the time and place of her reported capture. Her cargo of shot and powder would be very attractive to privateers. It is supposed the French have increased their coverage of Eastern seas to intercept the Company’s fleet returning from China. The Indiamen just arrived from China have postponed their departure from Madras for the time being. We hope the government will deploy the Fort William on convoy duty, for which task she is eminently suited. Our Bengal squadron was at Malacca on 1st Jan under Commodore Mitchell and believed that the various French privateers had returned to Mauritius. This appears to be untrue.
Sat 29th March 1794
It is beginning to appear that the Company’s Directors have accepted responsibility with the home government for protecting maritime trade in India. There has been some Company compliance with mercantile requests so far as prudence and policy permits. The merchants are now making a petition to the Supreme Government at Calcutta and we suppose they will be accommodated.
Sat 29th March 1794
The American ship Cleopatra that was seized at Mauritius for carrying English cargo is said, in the Oriental Star newspaper, to have been released. This must be wrong. We know from an irreproachable authority that the cargo was found to be indubitably English and preparations for its sale were well advanced in December 1793.
The only doubt in the Mauritian Commissioners’ minds is whether English property in a neutral ship can be confiscated. Under the old rules of international law (free ships make free goods) they could not but under the new British Orders-in-Council they can.
The Commissioners have collected another £40,000 of property under similar circumstances and have applied to National Convention for instructions.
Sat 29th March 1794
Asiatic Mirror 29th Feb 1794 - The Success (Smith) arrived at Madras from here in late February and reports a Dutch ship-of-the-line of 60 guns and three Portuguese frigates are cruising the Malabar coast. The Arabs have armed six vessels to protect their own trade in the Gulf of Cambay. They have taken a French privateer that had previously taken one of their treasure ships and recovered all their missing loot.
The merchants and underwriters of Calcutta (about 40 proprietors) met at the Le Gallais Tavern to agree the wording of an Address to government on the dangers to which Indian trade is exposed and to request convoy for their ships.
A committee of M/s Fairlie, Colvin, Gardner and Perreau was chosen to draft the Address. They delivered it to the Governor-General and he called them to a meeting a few days later. They will relay the Governor-General’s advice to their associates tomorrow. (see further entry below)
Sat 5th April 1794
Commercial news - The meeting of merchants and underwriters in Calcutta (reported last week) has resulted in a decision to arm two ships to co-operate with government against French privateers. One underwriter donated 25,000 rupees. Some well-known naval officers are mentioned for command and the captains and officers of many country ships have volunteered.
Sat 12th April 1794
Editorial - There is a rumour circulating that French privateers based at Mauritius will soon run out of ammunition. We accordingly remind readers that they recently took an immense shipment of sulphur from an Arab ship and confiscated a huge amount of saltpetre from several American ships. As they have an endless supply of charcoal on the island, there can be no shortage of the means to make gunpowder.
Sat 12th April 1794
A letter from Milan of 8th Oct quotes letters from Genoa which report four English and Spanish warships and a French warship from Toulon (flying the white Bourbon flag) entered this port and seized a French frigate flying the Republican colours. They killed some officers and forced a French surrender.2
The fleet then called on the Genoese officials to abandon their neutrality and join the allies. The town council was assembled to debate the request.
Sat 26th April 1794
Philadelphia Federal Gazette, 31st August – The Committee of Merchants yesterday resolved to publish in the local newspaper a letter they have received from Thomas Jefferson and their answer to it:
“The Government has received your complaint of spoliation committed on your merchant ships by privateers of the warring European powers. The President has asked me to assure all merchants involved in foreign trade and navigation that we will seek redress for all injuries they sustain on the high seas or in foreign countries contrary to the Law of Nations or to our existing treaties.
“Forward your authenticated evidence to us and we will institute the proper proceedings for your relief. The just and friendly disposition of the belligerents persuade us that they will take effectual measures to restrain their armed vessels from committing aggression on our citizens or their property. Please publish this to whoever is a victim of such spoliation. You may send your complaints as individuals or associations.”
The merchants replied:
We have been strictly neutral and friendly to everyone and we ought to be exempt from these depredations. Sgd John Nixton.
Sat 26th April 1794
A list of French captures of 19 British Indian ships, made in August and September 1793, is shown together with a list of the names of French privateers and their supposed armament. The list appears to have originated in Mauritius.
Sat 3rd May 1794
Hailes, the British ambassador to Copenhagen, has delivered a note to the Danes with copy to the Prussians, laying down a new interpretation of international law in respect of neutral countries:
“This present war with France differs from all previous wars. In the current hostilities the established Law of Nations and the rights of countries affected by war differ from before. France’s government is unrecognised by both neutrals and belligerents. Denmark has had no diplomatic relations with France since the death of Louis XVI. It is difficult for Denmark to remain neutral.
“The general rule, when a neutral maintains trade with both sides in a war, has been to enforce strict neutrality from both powers towards itself. The belligerents have assurance that the neutrality will not favour one side over the other. If the trade between a neutral and either belligerent is unsatisfactory, they have means, by amicable negotiations, of resolving all differences.
“In the present case Denmark retains all a neutral’s legal rights with respect to England but this cannot be assured with respect to France. In France, Danish neutrality has already been violated. You have no minister there to protect your trade and there is no French judicial authority that can guarantee your rights. Everything is settled democratically by the people.
“We believe the Danish King will find it impossible with France to introduce those measures that ensure that neutral trade, particularly grain trade, is not abused. In fact, it is notorious that the grain trade of France is not a private trade at all but is controlled by the French legislature (presently the National Convention) and the municipalities. It is not a trade of private speculations like ours but a government trade. It is trade with a Government that has declared war upon us.
“An essential tool in war is the embargo. To compel peace, we prevent our enemy importing those things it requires to alleviate need. If we fail to prevent French imports of grain, we sustain French people in their war against all Europe. It is established law that starving one’s opponent is a reasonable means of achieving victory. In this new kind of war against an ungoverned country, we cannot apply rules that were designed for use between countries that agreed to be bound by international law and treaties.
“If the Danish King admits French privateers with their prizes into his ports, he cannot obtain security under international law for the validity of their Letters-of-Marque or for the regularity of their conduct. If your courts acknowledge the legality of French Letters-of-Marque, they acknowledge a government which the King himself does not acknowledge. This is contradictory.
“Danish courts can neither condemn prizes for sale not condemn British subjects and goods to arrest or confiscation. Those seized ships, subjects and goods, belong to a friendly power. They are entitled to protection under treaties and international law. It is particularly impossible to assert impartial neutrality since there is no French authority which can give French privateers the proper instructions for their conduct that distinguish privateering from piracy.”
(a similar note was submitted to the Danish Court by Count Goltz on behalf of the King of Prussia)
The King of Denmark replied through His minister A P von Bernstorff, dated 28th July 1793:
“We are strictly neutral and conscientiously observe the terms of our treaties. We are displeased by the notes of Britain and Prussia. We explain our reasons for acting as we have below.
“Our most important consideration, as desired by our subjects, is the preservation of peace. In this matter the rights of Denmark are not in question. We appeal to our friends, the Kings of Britain and Prussia, that the performance of our treaties with them should be sufficient. We believe that the particular nature of a war cannot diminish the treaties we have earlier made with you.
“We agree that you may make regulations at our expense. We do not agree that, to lighten the burden of the war you have engaged in, you may call our trade into contribution.
“You may disagree but, now I have frankly told you my views, I expect you will withdraw your Notes and not resort to violence to enforce your unjust demands. We have not corresponded with the other Neutrals and are unaware of their sentiments but we suspect that they will be unanimously opposed to your novel idea. You may reprehend our conduct but we ask nothing of you except that you perform your agreements with us as we will towards you; and that you respect the institution of neutrality.
“We feel oppressed by you. We cannot believe that the British King has given unprecedented instructions to his ship commanders that are opposed to the sense of the existing agreements between our countries without any prior discussion or advice to us.
“We confirm it is our intention to comply with any of your requests that are not contrary to the rules of strict neutrality or to the interests of this country. We are willing to consider all French ports that you blockade as blockaded ports. We will not enter into contracts with the French government to provision its armies or navies. No sales of prizes taken by French warships will be permitted in Denmark. We have earned your friendship and will continue to strengthen the ties of friendship and alliance between our countries.”
The attached memorial:
The Law of Nations does not depend on circumstances. An enemy engaged in war may take vengeance upon those who do not expect it but reciprocity may occur. A neutral, at war with no-one, cannot acknowledge such compensatory arrangements. It protects itself by impartiality and by treaties. It does not renounce its rights in favour of this or that belligerent. The basis of its rights are enshrined in international law. Denmark will neither be a party to infringement of international law nor a judge of such infringements. Treaties do not allow for privileges or favours – they list mutual obligations. It would be an unnatural agreement if a party might either whimsically suppress or re-interpret its obligations, or if it performed its agreements only so long as they suited its self-interest. If that conduct became the norm, then all treaties would become useless – what of equity, and fidelity, and safety then?
Denmark neither attempts to justify nor judge the government of France. Our neutrality requires we remain quiet on the subject. We merely lament the disasters that have befallen that country and, on their account, all Europe. We wish them speedily ended. We do not acknowledge the French democratic form of government but the French nation remains extant and the authority it has derives from the French people. Our trade continues in the same way it did between England and France until the latter declared war.
France has not ceased to acknowledge her treaty commitments, at least in so far as our commercial treaty is concerned. This acts in favour both of ourselves and those subjects of belligerent powers who trade under our flag. If grievances are refused or delayed, we have born reprisals, since the nations warring with France showed little regard for their treaties with us. In this way the neutral flag becomes the victim of errors which are not a fault of neutrality itself. Justice is still available in France; private individuals are heard, no-one is prevented from applying to the commercial tribunals. No revision of our commercial treaty is intended. Politicians are irrelevant, judges are sufficient.
It is true the municipalities seized of these disputes are not uniformly equitable. As neutrals we are institutionally disabled from threatening force and this sometimes facilitates inequitable decisions. You object to this uncertainty but you yourselves find it appropriate to act inequitably towards us. A neutral power performs its duty when it maintains strict impartiality and adheres to its treaty commitments. If neutrality become more advantageous to one belligerent than another, that has nothing to do with the law. The pro’s and con’s balance out. Those things that do not lie wholly within the power of the neutral cannot influence its neutrality, otherwise every little interest would re-interpret existing treaties.
The distinction you make between private trade and government trade is unknown to us. We decline to discuss it. A neutral supplying the armies, garrisons or warships of a belligerent is restrained only by its treaties, wherein such matters should be addressed. The Danish economy is reliant on navigation and grain trade. This is harmless commerce. Our sales are as important to us as the purchase of our goods is to our buyers. Your concern must be to blockade ports of war not ports of commerce. You say you blockade ports to create famine and reduce your enemy – this is punishing the innocent without distinguishing them from the guilty. Shortages of grain are commonplace. France normally gets her grain from Egypt, Italy and America. The Baltic has historically been a minor supplier only. In 1709, when France was exposed to serious famine, you did not attempt to worsen it. On the contrary, when, soon after, Denmark in its war with Sweden (a country that requires constant food imports), considered adopting the principle you now assert, all the European powers remonstrated, especially you, declaring the principle of blockade to induce famine new and inadmissible. As a result Denmark desisted from it.
You say this present type of war is new. Perhaps it is. Denmark will always judge matters by their apparent justice. In this case, where a neutrality is imperfect, it ceases to be neutrality.
British ships and those of your allies are welcome in Danish ports. We offer you safety, assistance and protection. Those of your ships that have been captured by your enemies cannot be treated the same. We will not treat French privateers as pirates so long as Britain does not. In your country the crews of French privateers are treated as prisoners-of-war. They are exchanged in the usual way and you negotiate with France to arrange those exchanges. These are the usual rules of war and we subscribe to them. We acknowledged the French tricolor in our ports at the time it was also acknowledged in all other European ports. If we alter our stance, we risk involvement in your war. The admittance of privateers into Norwegian ports (Norway is the colony of Denmark) results from our neutrality. All belligerents have hitherto needed and appreciated such facilities. We allow no general proscription because Norway has a small population, a long coast and myriad harbours and anchorages. Any proscription we enacted would be unenforceable. If the French found they could not repair their ships, they would destroy them to deny their use to others. Sgd A P von Bernstorff
Sat 17th May 1794
La Cybelle, Prudence and Princesse Royale were the three French privateers that took the Indiaman Pigot. They each mount 18 guns and have crews of about 200 Europeans. They formed the squadron that was sent from Mauritius to take Batavia, Bencoolen and Penang.
They then demanded $70,000 from the Company’s factory at Bencoolen or they would attack Rat Island (where Bencoolen’s pepper stock is stored). This was not met and they took the island and its warehouses. Lt Hutchinson of the artillery and 80 Europeans, mainly English, from Bencoolen were captured.
The Dutch factory at Padang was taken by a French force from the Ville de Bordeaux in November and then ransomed back for $20,000. The ransom was paid by private merchants of the port, not the VOC, and the agreement that the French made was with those private merchants. They agreed to a condition that throughout the war all French ships would be welcome to wood, water and refitting and allowed to employ such tradesmen as the place has to offer.
On 18th Dec the French attacked Natal (an outstation of Bencoolen or Fort Marlborough on east coast of Aceh) using two privateers, Le Vengeur (38) and Resolue (26) with combined crews of some 450 men. They were repeatedly repulsed but eventually landed on 24th Dec about three miles south of the fort and took it that afternoon. Some of our sepoys ran off but the natives were very brave and helpful. They attacked every night. One European and one sepoy were killed. We spent 10 days in prison until Maidment ransomed us and the fort for $30,000, half payable this year and half next.
Sat 24th May 1794
The Court of Directors have petitioned George III and obtained His agreement that all prizes taken in the war with Tippoo shall be apportioned 50/50 between the Company and the army. However by a letter of 25th June to the Madras Presidency, the Directors approve passing the Company’s share to the troops.
As the troops in Malabar are now dispersed, Lt Wm Browne is to prepare a muster of the involved men.
Sat 7th June 1794
Letter from Pondicherry dated 12th May – The grab Bombay Merchant (Holmes) has arrived here from Batavia which it departed 27th Feb. The previous month Commodore Mitchell, commanding the Bengal squadron, brought in two French privateers of 36 and 30 guns with their crews of about 600 men. They are the privateers that ransomed the Company’s factory at Natal for $30,000. Mitchell received a reinforcement of 250 Dutch soldiers at Batavia and sailed. A French fleet of 3 frigates and a privateer are known to still be in the area.
The Indiaman Canton (Mackie) was at Batavia at the time Holmes left. It had been captured by the Dumourier and a French snow. The prize crew were short of provisions and sailed for the Sunda Straits to meet the French squadron there. En route they encountered a Dutch frigate which recaptured the Canton. The Dumourier and the snow had been severely damaged in a typhoon and the snow later sank.
The annual Dutch ship from Japan, with a rich cargo of copper etc., was attacked by a privateer but fought it off and made Batavia safely.
Sat 7th June 1794
Letter of Jefferson, American Foreign Minister, to Pinckney, his ambassador to London, dated 7th Sept 1793:
We have an unauthenticated copy of an Order-in-Council headed ‘Additional Instructions to HM Warships and Privateers,’ dated 8th June 1793. Please confirm its authenticity. Assuming it is genuine, you will obtain explanations from the British government on the following points:
The 1st article requires all ships carrying grain or flour to be sent into British ports and the cargo sold to England or, if the Captain gives security, to an English ally. This is illegal. England can war with whom she pleases but peaceful countries always retain their right to trade as usual, whether the trade is with England or her allies or enemies. A neutral country merely abstains from trade in whatever is reasonably considered as contraband and avoids all blockaded ports. No-one can prevent a trade in foodstuffs.
I conclude that the war between France and England cannot interrupt the agriculture of America or prevent our exchanging our production with whoever we like. Article 1 of the English Additional Instructions is unreasonable. If it is not opposed it will damage our agriculture – the source of our food and clothing. Can England close all the ports of the World to us, except her own and her friends’? Suppose she then closes her own ports – what then? We cannot have our economy restricted and our peoples’ employment reduced at the whim of foreign ministries. This is like a tax on our country. We claim the right to sell our products to whomsoever we like.
We do not send our ships to France to return empty – we exchange our surplus for their surplus, wherever we get best prices. We wish to remain neutral and treat all belligerents equally. If we permit grain shipments to England we must equally permit them to France. If we are partial, we risk alienating one side or the other and involving ourselves in war. The 1st Article of these Instructions has the effect of forcing all neutrals into supporting the English side. We do not want to war.
When our treaty with France obliged us to prevent French enemies from arming in our ports, we prevented France doing so as well - that was just. If we are now required to withhold food from France, we must likewise withhold it from England. We either forego the demand for provisions in Europe or we involve ourselves in their war. This is the dilemma that England seeks to force upon us. If England thinks it appropriate to starve her enemies, that is her business, but she has no legal right to require our assistance in it.
The President requires you to make our case in a friendly and temperate way. Detail the extent of distress that the Instructions cause us and request both a revocation of the Order and indemnity for those Americans who have been injured by it already.
I have to remark that we have never yet received a response from the English government to any matter we have raised with them, except for the exchange of ministers, and you may tell them we necessarily interpret silence as an answer - but do not give them a time-limit to avoid offending them. Write me a report on the situation on 1st Dec so it arrives here when Congress is sitting.
The 2nd Article of the Instructions permits British warships to seize any ship, except Danish or Swedish, attempting to enter a blockaded port. The only neutrals carrying maritime trade in the Atlantic are Denmark, Sweden and America. This Article targets American merchant ships for seizure whilst it merely turns back Swedish and Danish ships from entering a blockaded port. It is discriminatory. You will demand an explanation of this Article. You will know that America treats England as a Most Favoured Nation except when our bilateral treaties prevent it. Conceivably, England has made agreements with Sweden and Denmark that explain this discrimination. If so, we expect you to procure a similar agreement.
I prefer the British explanations to be obtained in writing. Sgd Jefferson.
A copy of the Order-in-Council is appended in the newspaper. It confirms Jefferson’s construction. The 2nd Article turns back Swedish and Danish ships only on their first attempt to enter a blockaded port but orders their seizure on any subsequent attempt. A 3rd Article addresses the subject of Notice to ships that may have sailed before the Order was published - the Captains of these ships are to be admonished to deliver to another port.
Sat 7th June 1794
On 1st June a snow arrived at Tranquebar (the Danish enclave) from Mauritius. The captain reports the Indiaman Pigot was brought in to Mauritius on 14th March with Capt Ballantyne, 1st Officer Torin, 2 midshipmen and four crew. The rest of the complement were distributed amongst the other ships in the French squadron. The Captain was permitted to return to England on his own parole on 19th March. Mr Torin awaited a cartel-ship (used for exchange of prisoners between belligerents) from Mauritius to Madras that was intended to leave at end March. They reported they had been well-treated. The island officials knew of the intended expedition from India against them and also of Commodore Newcombe’s three ship blockade of Port Louis.
The large French frigate Ville de Bordeaux, which took the Sacremento, was confirmed to have foundered near Mauritius and all crew were lost. The Danish ship Minerva (Coulthard) was safe in harbour. She had been suspected of carrying English goods but was searched and the French were satisfied with her neutrality. She will provide passage for 50 English prisoners from Mauritius to Madras at end March.
We have also received a letter dated 16th March from a correspondent on Mauritius. He says the privateers Cybelle and Prudente arrived after an engagement with our Bengal squadron. They have no information on their 2 sister ships Duguay Trouen, ex Princess Royal and La Modeste, ex La Fayette.
There are now three revolutionary clubs on Mauritius – Les Sans Culottes, Les Amis de la Liberty et Egalite Republicane and Les Amis des Loix – the slaves are being politicised and a revolt is feared.
Appended is a list of 13 active French privateers and 10 others in varying states of disuse. They are manned by French seamen (12%), French soldiers (12%), many other nationals, mainly American, and a handful of English. Each ship has 30 – 50 slaves on board to do the drudgery.
Sat 21st June 1794
Calcutta news, 26th May – The American ships Union and Cleopatra sailed from Bengal but were detained in Mauritius for carrying British property. They have been under arrest so long that their cargo has deteriorated and been landed. It was then seized by the Mauritian government.
Sat 28th June 1794
American neutrality has prejudiced American trade just as much as had they declared for one side or the other. The English port of New Providence in Canada has over 100 American ships arrested and brought in by our frigates on suspicion of carrying goods for France.
Sat 28th June 1794
Two English frigates met off Porto Ferraio, Corsica on 30th Jan 1794 without recognising each other (they routinely cruise under false colours) and fought for a considerable time. Both are badly damaged with many killed and wounded.
Sat 12th July 1794
Commodore Newcombe’s fleet has removed the threat of French privateers from the Malacca and Sunda Straits and the last China fleet will sail without convoy. The French warships that escaped are all back in Mauritius.
Sat 19th July 1794
The French ship Constitution with a cargo from Canton put into St Helena on her homeward voyage unaware of the start of war. She was arrested.
Sat 19th July 1794
Channel Islands, Feb 1794 - French privateers come out of Cherbourg each morning and cruise until sunset. They take our merchant ships off Alderney. The produce of Alderney is being removed to Guernsey as soon as it is harvested for safety. Most of the merchants of Guernsey have sent their wives and children back to England. It is rumoured that guns are being made at Cherbourg, Granville and St Malo for the invasion of the Channel Islands. A militia has been formed on the island for defence.3
Sat 26th July 1794
Letter from Vienna, 2nd Feb: The English Mediterranean fleet has captured 20 barques between Genoa and Nice, all carrying grain to France.
Sat 26th July 1794
Stockholm, 4th April – 7 Swedish merchantmen have been taken as prize by the English. Their papers showed cargoes of grain, herring and iron destined for Spain and Ireland but they were still arrested. The British say they suspect the papers are forged. The Swedish merchants are livid. They conclude that British policy is to ruin their trade.
Sat 26th July 1794
Bombay, 23rd July - Lt Colonel James Hartley of HM’s 75th regiment is charged, in collusion with Mr Ray, of selling prize goods at half price to the merchant Chancri Moosa and ignoring more advantageous offers from other merchants with intent to defraud the Company and the captors of their true share.
Charges unsubstantiated – Hartley released.
Sat 26th July 1794
Hailes, the British ambassador at Copenhagen, has complained to Bernstorff, the first minister, against the newspaper Danish Spectator which he says has libelled him with a public accusation of putting profit before people.
Hailes demands a criminal prosecution of the newspaper in the British style. Other allied ambassadors support Hailes’ complaint. The Editor has been questioned by the Governing Council of Denmark.
Sat 2nd Aug 1794
Denmark, 18th March – the Court is determined to follow a policy of strict neutrality and oppose the British view ‘you are either with us or against us’. Freedom of commercial navigation is a fundamental right in International Law. A squadron of 8 ships-of-the-line and 4 frigates is assembled under Admiral Schindal for the defence of Danish trade. A further 4 ships-of-the-line are planned. The Danish merchants are determined to maintain their carrying trade of provisions to France, either direct or via Bilbao, Genoa and Leghorn.
A large subscription of some 700,000 crowns for the reconstruction of the Royal palace (destroyed by fire with 100+ casualties) has been received by the Royal family but has been transmitted to the fund for the support of commerce. The Danish King and his family will continue to live in hotels until the national emergency has passed. Both citizens and military officers are subscribing. They are anxious for the honour of Denmark.
Sat 9th Aug 1794
Captain Wright of the Ceres reports whilst his ship was anchored in Manila Bay and he was ashore, it was boarded at night by 20 French and 14 Spanish seamen who confined his crew and sailed his ship away, supposedly to Mauritius. Wright took passage on another ship back to Calcutta. In the Straits of Malacca he met and briefed Commander Mitchell on the event.
Editor - Our small fleet of 17 self-financed privateers and frigates has cleared the Malacca Straits, preserved the spice islands and Batavia to our allies and saved Penang. All this without help from England.
Sat 23rd Aug 1794
Government Notice 19th Aug – the captors of Mahe (the French port on the Kerala coast) will get their part of the plunder but the Company expects to receive its own 50% share.
Sat 30th August 1794
Captain Doussere reports his instructions from Paris are to seize all European shipping except Danish and Swedish. This permitted his taking of Portuguese ships which has been profitable – San Sacramento had 1 million rupees of property, St Antoine had 800,000 rupees and Bom Success had 300,000 rupees in silver alone. He took 180 prisoners with the three ships.
Sat 13th Sept 1794
The Mentor (Richardson) and Betsy (Megson) have arrived from Manila via Batavia on 6th Sept 1794. They say two French privateers, one the Revanche, are cruising off Java. The French have seized the annual Dutch spice ship and a Chinese junk, both having very valuable cargoes.
This is not the first time that Chinese trade has been taxed by the French, apparently in the belief that the Chinese government discourages maritime trade by its nationals and that the ship-owners accordingly have no redress.
Sat 13th Sept 1794
A treaty between the King of Denmark & Norway and the King of Sweden for the safety of their maritime commerce and navigation, done at Copenhagen on 27th March 1794:
The advantages of our strict neutrality, based on our international treaties, are important to our countries. War has spread throughout Europe and our trade is threatened. We have agreed to maintain strict neutrality during the present war. We claim no advantages that have not been already conceded in our treaty arrangements with the belligerents or those that are available to us under international law.
The Baltic Sea, access to which we signatories control, is declared a sea of free navigation. The German possessions of both Denmark and Sweden (some states along the Rhine and Pomerania) are exempted from this treaty.
We will protect the trade of our nationals without extending it or departing from our former agreements. We will each fit-out and deploy a squadron of 8 ships-of-the-line and a proportionate number of frigates. Each squadron will defend the shipping of the other flag as well as its own.
Should any power, in contempt of treaties and international law, molest our navigation outside the Baltic we will attempt conciliation, make joint remonstrances, seek satisfaction and indemnity and, if the matter still remains unresolved after four months, take reprisals. We will unitedly resist any attack from any other power.
This agreement will continue in force until the conclusion of the present war.
Sat 25th Oct 1794
American news (reported in Leiden Gazette, 24th June):
New York papers to 19th April reveal the American Congress is split politically into two factions. Both sympathise with France; both protest the British attitude to neutral shipping.
The violent party, which prevails in the Southern states, wants war with England, armed forts along the western frontier and indemnity for the slaves carried from New York as prize.
The moderate party, led by General Washington and John Adams, favours negotiating with England for the restitution of illegal captures.
The result, after a Congressional debate, has been a decision to send a Minister to London to argue the equity of the American cause. He is John Jay, Chief Justice of the American Supreme Court and formerly President of the Congress. He holds the same views as Washington and Adams.
London papers 27th June – negotiations with John Jay have commenced. He wants a peaceful solution and so do English ministers. A notice has been published at the Royal Exchange indicating agreement will be forthcoming.
Sat 8th Nov 1794
British sources in St Petersberg report two letters have arrived, one from the Russian minister at Stockholm to the Tsar and another from the Swedish court to their minister at St Petersberg. It is feared that Russia may accede to the neutrality declared by Sweden and Denmark.
If this happens Britain will be excluded from the Baltic and deprived of Russian masts, hemp or tar for the Royal Navy. Our ability to influence Europe through Prussia or Hanover will also be diminished, but mainly it is the threatened loss to British commerce that has alarmed the ministry.
Russian sources remain unaware of the attitude of the Porte to the armed neutrality in the Baltic. It may be hostile since the insurrection in Poland is diverting Russian resources and relieving the Ottomans.
The British minister at Stockholm has complained of contracts concluded publicly between Swedish merchants and French agents for the supply of huge amounts of gunpowder, ammunition and other contraband and also the great shipments of grain, building timber and similar goods to France. All these exports are shipped under false papers suggesting discharge at Bilbao, Genoa or Lisbon when they are intended to be directly imported at whatever French port the Swedish ships can access. They are paid for by the French in advance of shipment. The Swedish and Danish commissions on the trade are outrageously high but the French must tolerate the high prices or go without.
Sat 15th Nov 1794
Lisbon, 11th May – a Royal Edict offers merchants, who sustain loss by privateers and can prove their losses, a means of recovery. The government at Madeira has arrested a valuable French ship as security for claims and a request for indemnity of privateering losses has been made on Paris. The cargo of the French ship has been sold and the proceeds deposited with the Commercial Court. If France does not offer indemnity, the proceeds will be distributed to Portuguese claimants.
Sat 15th Nov 1794
Prize-taking in West Indies is easy and lucrative as the French are not protecting their trade. Admirals Sir Charles Grey and John Jarvis have put the following prizes on sale at Martinique:
|
|
|
Estimated Value |
|
|
70 ships of various types |
£ 72,000 |
|
|
6,200 hogsheads sugar |
£186,000 |
|
|
2,200 hogsheads of muscovado |
£ 44,000 |
|
|
4,000 bags coffee |
£ 8,000 |
|
|
5,000 bags of cocoa |
£ 5,000 |
|
|
3,500 bales cotton |
£ 70,000 |
|
|
4,000 cases wine |
£ 8,000 |
|
|
40,000 doz of liqueurs |
£ 30,000 |
|
|
Misc Provisions |
£500,000 |
That is nearly a million pounds to share amongst the officers and crew of the West Indies fleet.
Sat 10th Jan 1795
An American ship from Bordeaux recently arrived at Mauritius bringing news that Portugal had declared war on France. The colonial authorities at Port Louis then declared war on Portugal and three Lisbon ships which had long been detained were condemned as prizes. In fact the ships have been arrested so long they have little value.
Sat 21st Feb 1795
London news, 14th July 1794 - The Order-in-Council to our warships and privateers of June 1793 (searching neutral ships for cargo being sent to France and bringing any found into an English port) has been withdrawn.
The rift with the Courts of Denmark and Sweden is consequently healed and our continuing access to the Baltic appears assured.
Sat 14th Feb 1795
When the Company’s army obtains loot in war, if the amount is small, it is apportioned according to the efforts of the officers and soldiers involved, then put into a lottery with the troops getting numbered tickets in proportion to their share. It is a form of gambling to concentrate the value of loot and make it more attractive.
After Abercromby’s campaign against Tippoo in 1792, just such a lottery occurred. It this edition of the Bombay Courier 22 tickets winning 20 gold pagodas each are listed together with those others drawn blank. The prize money of 440 pagodas, less 10% for the raffle organiser M/s Forbes Smith & Co, acting for the prize agents of the army M/s Bailie and Mackenzie, is then invested in Madras lottery tickets.
Sat 28th Feb 1795
The merchants of Bombay have thanked Commodore Rainier for the protection of their trade by HM warships. The efficiency of his services is reflected in reduced insurance premiums which are now half what they were a year ago. Premium on voyages Bombay to Calcutta are now 6% and Bombay Madras 4% ad valorem.
Sat 25th April 1795
Halifax, Canada, 23rd August:
Last month HMS Argonaut and HMS L’Oiseau arrived from the Delaware coast with 13 American prizes loaded with grain and provisions. All the prizes were part of a fleet of 30 vessels from Philadelphia that formed a convoy to France. The French warships convoying the fleet were La Concorde, Le Perdrix, Le Cassacas, Cornelia and two others.
All the cargo on the ships is consigned to the French Republic. The shipments were assembled by Fouchet, the French minister to America. He had first awaited the arrival of 4 French ships-of-the-line but they were delayed whilst demurrage on the chartered bottoms was increasing. Fouchet eventually took a gamble and lost.
The British fleet at Halifax now comprises 3 ships-of-the-line and 13 frigates.
Sat 23rd May 1795
HMS Hussar has brought a French privateer into Halifax, Nova Scotia.4 She is the 12 gun Republican and had $23,000 in silver on board. She is one of the privateers that the US Government permitted to be fitted-out in Charleston – so much for strict neutrality. In her brief life she took about 20 prizes, mostly Spanish.
Sat 20th June 1795
Admiral Lord Howe has intercepted the Dutch East India fleet and brought it into a home port. It comprises 8 Indiamen, 6 warships and 100 merchantmen. The prize value is too great to estimate.5
Sat 20th June 1795
Report from Amsterdam, 6th Feb 1795:
The Dutch Committee of Commerce & Marine has warned all neutral or Dutch shipping, coming from Levant, Mediterranean or East & West Indies, not to touch at an English port en route. All Dutch shipping entering British ports is being confiscated.
The VOC has been suspended and a new corporation set-up in its place.
Sat 11th July 1795
The Company’s armed cruiser Panther (Margotty) arrived at Madras from Suez on 26th June with dispatches from London for the Governor General. The packet left London on 20th March. Baldwin, British Consul at Alexandria, has zealously made up the European news for us. He says:
The French have embargoed Dutch shipping in English ports. British letters of marque were amended 9th Feb to include the Netherlands, as a French satellite. The Braket and Zeeland ships-of-the-line, three smaller warships, nine East Indiamen richly laden and sixty other Dutch ships have been arrested in English ports. On 8th Feb the Zuiderberg arrived at Cork from Batavia with a million in specie and was arrested. All Dutch property is retained provisionally. The ship and cargo owners and the masters, as citizens of allies, receive a government indemnity.
Sat 25th July 1795
The Spanish treasure ship Santa Jago, taken in April 1793, has been adjudged to the captors by the London Prize Court. Its value is assessed at £935,000. Rear Admiral John Gell commanded the squadron.
Sat 12th Sept 1795
2nd Officer Black of the Bombay ship Armenian Merchant has just arrived at Negapatam from Mauritius on an American ship Peggy (Roper) from New York. His ship was taken by the French frigates Cybelle and Prudente and a brig Courier in Sunda Straits on 30th June and is now arrested at Mauritius.
He said the French squadron at Mauritius has 1,600 troops on board supposedly for the siege and subsequent garrisoning of Batavia.
Sat 26th Sept 1795
Letter from Malacca - Three French privateers from Mauritius have been active in the Malacca Straits. The Crockett of Bombay has been taken. The Parsees at Malacca fear one or two of their ships (sent by their colleagues at Bombay) have also been taken. The Dutch Governor of Malacca has been warned that the French intend to take the settlement and destroy the Orpheus (the Company’s armed cruiser based there). The north entrance to the harbour is unprotected.
The French took Myers’ ship (he is the Master Attendant at Malacca) off Palembang. On 17th August they took a brig belonging to a Chinese from Batavia, plundered and scuttled it and deposited the crew on the Java coast. On 18th they took the Fort Louis, a Spanish snow, off Penang that was en voyage from Madras to Manila. That evening they took the Dutch brig Java. This is the VOC’s armed cruiser.
On 20th the French commander sent a message to the Dutch governor of Malacca. Whilst waiting outside the port for an answer, they took a Parsee ship from Bombay to Malacca. On 22nd they took a grab. That evening the Dutch governor sent his reply and the French then moved off.
Sat 14th Nov 1795
Two American ships arrived Calcutta from Mauritius in mid-October, both named America and both commanded by a Crowninshield (one by John and the other by B.).6 The Captains of all the prizes taken by the French privateers Cybele and Prudente in the Malacca Straits are returned on these ships – Stone of the Talbux, Stokes of the Latchme, Lindsay of the Fort Louis, Scott of the Penang Grab and Scott of the Carnatic. Also returned are Robinett and Hewitt. They are all on parole not to serve against France until they have been exchanged. Another American ship is bringing the remaining English prisoners from Mauritius to Bombay at the end of this month.
All the released men speak well of Capt Reynaud of the Prudente and Capt Garraud of the Courvette. Capt Trouhart of the Cybelle was not well thought of. The Mauritian Governor Malartic was kind but the Colonial Assembly allowed no subsistence to the prisoners. American provisions are widely available and only a slight shortage of rice is apparent which is expected to be relieved by the Danes at Tranquebar soon.
The French frigate Moineau has arrived Port Louis and a national fleet is expected soon.
We are told that, amongst all the neutral shipping, the American flag is most respected by the French, particularly in the Atlantic trade.
Sat 28th Nov 1795
Sheriff’s sale, 3rd Dec – The ship Eydroos ex Hero, built Bordeaux 1786, refitted 1792 by M/s Gillet and Edwards at Calcutta (a prize). Capable of carrying 1,000 bales of cotton or 7,000 bags of rice.
Sat 23rd Jan 1796
Letter from Halifax, Nova Scotia, 16th May – We have taken two valuable prizes – L’Esperance a 22-gun French sloop and Harmony an American merchantman from Baltimore. This latter ship had a cargo of French claret and brandy and £80,000 in silver.
Sat 6th Feb 1796
The Governor-in-Council offers for sale on 15th Feb the Dutch ketch Verwachden, prize of HMS Drake, with her guns and equipment. The cargo will be sold in lots. A deposit of 10% on each lot is required from successful buyers with the balance in 10 days. The prize agent is Joseph Harding.
Sat 5th March 1796
French privateers from Mauritius have devised a new method of taking prizes. They carry only small guns and come alongside and board. They effect this by using captured pilot boats. The marines hide under deck until they are alongside, then swarm aboard and make the capture.
The Indiaman Triton has just been taken in this way on arrival off the Hoogly whilst en route from Madras to Calcutta,. The privateers were helped by the Triton’s boatswain who persuaded 20 of the deck crew to decline to fight.
Sat 7th May 1796
State of the Royal Navy:
Exclusive of the chartered armed ships protecting British coasting trade, the Navy has in commission 120 ships-of-the-line, 23 x 50-gunners, 159 frigates and 164 sloops for a total of 466 warships. Of this number, 7 capital ships, 1 x 50-gunner, 5 frigates and 6 sloops are serving in Asia, about the same as at Jamaica and rather less than we have at Halifax or in the West Indies. The main concentration of British naval force is in the English and Irish Channels and the North Sea (127 warships). 8 capital ships and 2 sloops are under construction.
Sat 2nd July 1796
Auction, 5th July of the cargo of Rymsdyck’s ship Weelvaareen, taken at Mocha as prize of HMS Arrogant, the Company’s cruiser Alert and the Company’s armed ship Jehangir.
Samples of the cargo comprising sugar, spices, red wood and arrack are available. Successful purchasers to pay one gold Mohar7 instantly with the balance before 15th July by which date they must remove the goods.
The ship and her stores will be sold immediately thereafter.
Sgd Philip Dundas and Levi Philipps, Agents of the Captors.
(NB – there is still no Admiralty Jurisdiction in Bombay)
Sat 16th July 1796
The auction of the immense volume of Dutch property seized at Colombo will be on 20th Aug. It is mainly comprised of the following:
9,000 bales (each 80 lbs) of cinnamon, ready packed for Europe
220,000 lbs pepper
94 chests (each 200 lbs) of cardamoms
180,000 lbs saltpetre
190 bales of coarse cloth
95 bales of cotton yarn.
Large quantities of Ceylon and Java coffee, Batavia sugar, gum aloes, myrrh, nutmegs, mace, cloves, iron and steel
2 Dutch Indiamen each 720 tons complete with rigging and stores (suitable for the Pegu trade).
The goods were offered for sale at auction by Major Agnew and Mr McDowell at Colombo, payment in three months, security for payment required. The Company put in a quick offer for all the cinnamon which the Prize Agents accepted – this is now withdrawn from sale.
Sat 16th July 1796
The Madras Courier of 21st June publishes a letter from Banda Aceh of 27th March detailing the progress of Admiral Rainer’s invasion force:
On 17th Feb Major Johnson Kennedy took possession of the fort of Amboinya. They found $56,000 in silver, a stock of cloves and other spices to an estimated value of 600,000 Gold Pagodas, 85 fine cannon and a great quantity of stores.
The Admiral then continued with the fleet to Bangka on 8th March. Major Kennedy led the landing party ashore under strong fire from the fort. As the British approached the Dutch soldiers spiked their guns and fled. The Dutch Governor, finding himself deserted by his troops, called for a respite and offered to deliver the fort on the following day. On the morning of 9th March Major Kennedy led his men into Fort Banda finding £70,000 in specie, various spices to a value of c. 400,000 Gold Pagodas, 310 cannon and a great quantity of military stores. Admiral Rainier then left to return to Amboinya.
Major Kennedy was left in command of Bangka island with two companies of European infantry, two companies of the 17th battalion of Native Infantry, one company of the Wurtemburg regiment, a half company of the coast artillery and about 100 sepoys, formerly in the Company’s service, who were found in the fort. The value of prizes to the Admiral’s force exceeds 3 tonnes of gold.
Sat 23rd July 1796
A Dutch Indiaman carrying van der Graaf, late Governor of Batavia, has been captured in the Channel and taken into Plymouth. It contains some £350,000 of cargo.
Sat 17th Sept 1796
Notice, 19th July 1796 – We, the officers of the late expeditionary force to Ceylon, consider ourselves entitled to a share in the prize money from the sale of the goods seized in our invasion. Major General James Stuart has disallowed our claim.
We Protest and have laid our claims before HM for adjudication.
Sgd 33 officers (from Lt Colonel to Ensign) of the Madras Army.
Sat 17th Sept 1796
Admiral Rainier, in charge of the occupation of the Spice Islands, has loaded the Bombay ship Surprise Galley with about 20% of the spices found in storage at Amboinya and sent her to China.
The cargo is valued at 400,000 Gold Pagodas, pending sale.
Sat 15th Oct 1796
Public Auction, 20th Oct – the prize Batavia’s Wellvareen, 400 tons with all her stores, apparel and furniture. About 4 years old, copper-sheathed, two decks, hold sealed and caulked, flat-floored and therefore admirable for rice cargoes. Her slight draught makes her suitable for river trade.
Payment 25% on sale, 25% after one month and 50% in two months.
Sgd P Dundas and L Phillips, Agents of the captors.
(NB – it was sold to Capt Scott for 18,800 rupees)
Extraordinary 23rd Oct 1796
HMS Arrogant and Victorious have located and engaged the French privateering fleet that has been predating on our merchant ships. They encountered six French frigates off the Pedier coast (the Sumatran coast above the Malacca Straits) on 9th Sept and engaged them.
HMS Arrogant was disabled after an hour but Victorious continued fighting until the French bore away for Aceh, towing two disabled frigates, although the whole squadron was heavily damaged.
HMS Victorious sustained 15 killed and 55 wounded. HMS Arrogant lost 5 men killed and 20 wounded. It was supposed by the involved British naval officers that the French squadron will now be obliged to refit.
Sat 10th Dec 1796
The Company’s sloop Swift (Billamore) has captured the French privateer Jean Labat on 18th Nov. She comes from Mauritius and had no carriage guns. She was fitted out solely for boarding. Uniquely, the Jean Labat was manned entirely by gentlemen with their servants in attendance on them.
Sat 17th Dec 1796
A party of Bengal civil servants – Bebb of the Board of Trade and his assistants Parry and Paxton – have gone to Colombo to value the spices we took in prize from the Dutch and prepare them for shipment to London.
Tues 2nd Jan 1798
The frigate HMS Experiment (44) met a fleet of Spanish merchant ships returning from Mexico and captured three. The cargo is largely silver and Capt Barratt’s personal quarter share is over £800,000. Our own West Indian convoys are arriving at London safely.
Sat 28th April 1798
Tranquebar, 6th April – a ship Hirondelle has arrived here from the King of Cochin China (the southern part of today’s Vietnam) seeking for information about the Armida, another of the King’s ships which he feared had been lost at sea.
Actually, the Nonsuch (Thomas) seized Armida in Pedier roads last year for carrying enemy goods.
Sat 28th April 1798
Letter from Macau – a ship has just arrived here from Manila. The Spanish governor no longer expects a British invasion and his fleet remain in harbour. HMS Cybelle (Cook) and HMS Fox (Malcolm) have visited Manila under French colours to get water and provisions. Having received these, they displayed their English colours and made a few small captures in Manila Bay.
Sat 5th May 1798
The Company’s ship King George holds Letters-of-Marque.8
Sat 12th May 1798
Two Indiamen - Raymond (Smedley) and Woodcote (Hannay) - have been captured off Tellicherry by the 46-gun French frigate Preneuse (l’Hermite). The crews were sent ashore next day. The Woodcote carried 100 tons of pepper and both ships had a considerable lading of piecegoods.
Sat 19th May 1798
HMS Virginie has arrived at Madras. She was last at the Cape where two Danish ships from Batavia and Mauritius had been seized as prizes. An Englishman found in the crew of one Danish ship has been charged with High Treason.
Sat 26th May 1798
Letter from the Cape, 8th March 1798:
HMS Crescent has arrived Capetown with a valuable French prize she took off Cape d’Aguilhas. The cargo of slaves has sold at 400 – 700 Rix dollars per head.
Three other ships have been arrested here. Two were condemned as lawful prizes. One was an American commanded by Capt Ferrier and chartered to the Dutch Government. It was found to have two sets of ship’s papers, Dutch and American. Ferrier is imprisoned until some diamonds on his (real) ship’s manifest are produced – we don’t know where he is hiding them. The second ship was Danish. The third, under Danish colours, actually belonged to the British merchant Ryan and it was not condemned. This ship was formerly the Fort William in Mr Tyler’s ownership. The Fort William was taken by the French as prize and Ryan bought it at Mauritius. He then foolishly made a claim on government here for demurrage while his ship was detained. He was arrested and sent a prisoner to England.
Admiral Pringle, in command of the Cape fleet, has returned to England in HMS Crescent and has been succeeded by Admiral Christian.
Wed 6th June 1798 Extraordinary
A division of the spoils from the Dutch prizes has been published by the Prize Court. The King and the Governor of the Company’s island of St Helena both do well in the distributions from Macassar and Hooghly. The seven ships taken on 14th June 1795 likewise go mostly to Company ships’ officers and officials on St Helena.
Sat 30th June 1798
A letter was received on 3rd June at Madras from Admiral Rainier. On 5th Jan the frigates HMS Cybelle (Cook) and Fox (Malcolm) sailed from Macau convoying two Indiamen and five country ships to Bombay. This was a pretext - the frigates parted company with the merchantmen off the Ladrones and sailed instead for the Philippines.
On 12th Jan they captured a small Spanish ship from Manila and learned that the Spanish fleet was at Cavite and comprised 4 capital ships and 4 frigates. It was said that two ships had only their lower masts installed and all the others were hulks. The Spanish fleet had reportedly been dismasted last July in a typhoon and no spares were yet available. The master of the captured ship said there was a rich merchant ship in Manila roads coming to Canton. He was released after surrendering the cash on his ship ($4,000).
It appeared to the officers of the frigates that the ‘rich’ merchant ship might be cut out of the roads and seized. They sailed to Corregidor under French colours and disguised their ships and crews as best they could. On entering Manila Bay they saw three gunboats which had apparently been sent out to examine them. These were captured using the ships’ boats. They continued to within 3-4 miles of Manila when a boat came out directly to HMS Fox. The French-speaking part of the crew was assembled near the gangway, all wearing Republican tricolor cockades, and the Spanish officer was received in French style. He said the Governor required him to water and provision every arriving ship. He confirmed that the Spanish warships could not be readied for sea in under two months – it was not just typhoon damage, no crews were available.
Captain Cook rowed over from Cybelle and boarded the Fox posing as the French Commodore. He asked if any departing Spanish ships needed convoy and learned that one was leaving for China but was still loading. Having debriefed the Spanish officer as much as necessary, the disguises were abandoned. Shortly thereafter two more boats arrived from the shore. One contained the Spanish Admiral’s aide-de-camp and the other the Governor’s nephew. They offered to help tow the frigates to the anchorage whilst it was still daylight. At this moment the ships’ boats returned with the three captured gunboats. One had a 32 pounder and the others 28 pounders. Each had a crew of about 90 men. This rather ‘tipped the wink’ to the Spanish grandees that all was not as they thought. Then a large Customs boat came out for inspection. The frigate’s crew displayed their gunpowder and shot to him. By 2 pm about 200 Spanish officials had arrived on the supposed French frigate. The Spanish officers were given dinner and later were allowed to depart in their own boats.
Sat 7th July 1798
The Laurel (Foggo) has been captured by an American privateer. The Laurel left Ceylon undermanned on 23rd Oct. On 19th Nov she saw the privateer, which got in under her guns, hooked the anchor and stopped square alongside. About 60 Europeans boarded and our lascars and sepoys jumped overboard.
The privateer is the Apollo (Houdell) of Boston, a 16-gun ship with a crew of 70. She took us to Mauritius on 18th Jan where the Laurel was condemned on 25th Jan.
Sat 22nd Sept 1798
HMS L’Oiseau (Linzee) reports from Penang on 10th July that they have captured the Madras ship Angelique travelling to Manila with a cargo worth 118,000 Gold pagodas. The ship and cargo is owned by six Armenians at Madras who are all British subjects. The ship stopped at Tranquebar for a second set of (false) papers, both of which are in our possession The warship is taking the prize to the Cape.
Sat 6th Oct 1798
The American ships Ganges and Orion entered Port Louis in July for water and were arrested and condemned. They had fired on a French privateer on their outward bound voyage.
The Indiamen prizes Raymond, Woodcote and Helsingoer are laid-up in Port Louis.
Sat 6th Oct 1798
Merlin, or someone with comparable authority in France, is promoting the cause of French privateers. Several French national frigates have been chartered to the privateering speculators if they are used in Indian seas. They are to cruise against neutral shipping – Danish, American, Indian, Arab, etc.
The latest arrivals from L’Orient are of this type. One 24 gunner with 200 crew has just arrived – a very fast sailer. A Danish Indiaman that was visiting Mauritius has been seized in consequence of this new order.
Sat 13th Oct 1798
The French have captured the Shaw Allum, the flagship of the great Surat merchant Chilabi. She was en route to Mocha with a reported million Rupees in silver to buy coffee. Even if she only had half that amount of silver the loss will be keenly felt in Surat.
Wed 24th Oct 1798 Extraordinary
The French frigate La Seine that sailed from Mauritius for France a few months ago with two other frigates and all the dissident soldiery of that island, met with two British frigates as she approached the coast of France and was taken in a fierce battle. She had 610 men on board of whom 170 were killed. The other two frigates are now being sought for.
Sat 10th Nov 1798
Seven privateers have arrived at Mauritius from France to perform the Directory’s order to capture all shipping in eastern seas found to contain English goods.
Wed 21st Nov 1798 Extraordinary
The French were in the course of transferring the valuable prizes from their occupation of Malta to France when the carrying frigate was intercepted by a British squadron and HMS Seahorse seized the ship and cargo.
Thus was the accumulated wealth of the Templars on Malta transferred to some British naval officers and their crews.
Wed 21st Nov 1798 Extraordinary
A fleet of Swedish merchant ships bringing naval stores to France has been caught in the channel and brought into the Downs (in the Thames estuary).
Sat 22nd Dec 1798
The Company agrees that merchant ships may arm for their protection. Country ships must produce the Company’s Pass and testimonies from two creditable persons proving they are resident in British India (under the Company’s protection) before they may obtain guns and ammunition for their vessels. Foreigners and ships registered at foreign ports will not be supplied.
No replacement ammunition will be issued until the ship accounts for the use of its existing stock.
Sat 2nd Feb 1799
The London Prize Court has condemned the towns, forts and surrounding settlements of Amboinya and Banda to Admiral Rainier’s squadron. This ratifies their precipitant sale of the stock of spices, etc., found there.
Sat 16th March 1799
The Prize Court has issued guidelines to naval commanders when retaking a prize. They derive from Sir Edward Pellow’s case. To protect their entitlement to salvage and its amount, they need only obtain notes of the recapture and the affidavits of three crew members to evidence their claim.
The Court is concerned that bringing a recaptured ship into port delays her voyage and diminishes the value that accrues to the captors. The Court wants naval commanders to permit such merchant ships to continue their voyages after recapture and establish their prize claims documentarily.
Sat 16th March 1799
HMS Trusty (Tod) has stopped the return voyage of the Danish East India fleet at St Helena. The fleet comprises the Rendsberg, Oden, Nancy and Magdalen and was travelling from Batavia back to Copenhagen. The Danish warship Oldenburg (64) was in the roads and claimed to be convoying the fleet but she had no national commission on behalf of the King. Instead she was empowered to protect the ships by a certificate of the Copenhagen Chamber of Commerce.
Tod says that sailing under such a certificate is illicit trade as the Danish government would be able to disavow its responsibility for the Oldenburg and Governor Brooke of St Helena agrees. The Danish fleet is accordingly sent to England for the determination of the Prize Court. The Danish government is enraged.9
Sun 5th May 1799 Extraordinary
Six warship prizes (Franklin, Tonnant, Spartiate, Aquilon, Conquerante and Souverain Peuple) have been bought by the Navy Board for £117,000. Their names will be Anglicised as appropriate.
Sat 8th June 1799
Britain has now (c. January 1799) taken over 60 capital ships and 120 frigates from the enemy fleets (French, Dutch and Spanish). Over half British trade (both imports and exports) is with Europe. We have to oppose French obstruction of our traditional commerce.
Second half of 1799 and all 1800 missing from British Library copy
Sat 17th Jan 1801
The new Treaty of Commerce between England and Denmark has two important articles. No 3 agrees that neither King will furnish ships, soldiers or arms to the enemy of the other. No 20 requires the ships, seamen and cargoes of each to be authenticated by passports.
(Editor – obviously this treaty gives us a right to inspect passports. That means we can legally search Danish ships under the bilateral treaty without reference to international law)
Sat 7th Feb 1801
HMS Minotaur (Lewis) and HMS Niger (Hillyer) have reported to the Admiralty that they used their frigates’ boats to cut-out two Spanish corvettes from Barcelona Roads on 4th Sept 1800. They are the La Paz and Conception. The British found 4 million Reals on board and 48 brand-new brass cannon.
However, the Swedish Consul at Barcelona has a different report on the action. He complained to the Governor of Catalonia on behalf of the owners of a galliot named Hoffaung (Rudbart) from Swedish Pomerania. He says the English officers boarded the Hoffaung to check the papers. They were satisfactory but they then allowed several of their fellow officers and seamen to board, pointed a pistol at the Captain, and rowed the ship out of the roads. They then used this neutral Swedish galliot to deceive two Spanish corvettes and obtain their surrender. The Consul says it is unprecedented to use a neutral vessel to capture a belligerent’s ships. Neutral shipping alleviates the hardships of war and is not supposed to be involved in it.
The Spanish King accepts the Swedish version and deplores the event. He will wait to the end of the year for the Swedish King to obtain justice, as he expects England to recognise the folly of its naval officers. After that time, if no redress has been obtained, he will act against Sweden.
Admiral Lord Keith, CiC Mediterranean, says the corvettes were provisioning for the relief of Malta or possibly going to Holland. His report makes no mention of a Swedish ship. He found 300 Dutch Swiss on board one corvette, which came from Majorca. There were Dutch officers on the other.
The Swedish King agreed to remonstrate with London and let the Spanish know the result. He reminded the Spanish King that he has been involved in a long and fruitless negotiation in London on restitution of prizes, and Sweden is a neutral whilst Spain is a British enemy. He complains that several other Swedish ships have been taken by English and French warships in Spanish ports.
Sat 14th Feb 1801
Denmark and England have discussed their maritime quarrel at Copenhagen, particularly the recent encounter between the Danish frigate La Freya and several English frigates. Count de Bernstorff represents Denmark and Charles Whitworth KB, normally our man in Petersburg but lately expelled from that Court, speaks for England. The agreement is:
The right to search neutral ships sailing under convoy is to be further discussed.
La Freya and her convoyed ships are to be released.
England will provide all necessary materials for their repair.
Danish convoys will cease until the matter is explained and a definitive agreement reached for the future.
Sat 21st Feb 1801
Letter from Lisbon, 23rd Sept – a fleet from South America has arrived. It is composed of both Portuguese and Spanish ships. None of the captains knew that warlike preparations were being made in Spain against Portugal. The five Spanish ships are from La Plata and carry 12 million piastres of treasure. The money is effectively in the possession of the port authorities of Lisbon. It is expected that the Portuguese court might use it as a bargaining counter to deter a French invasion.
Sat 21st Feb 1801
The diplomat Lord Robert FitzGerald has written an Opinion on the Baltic Confederacy and the resentment of Sweden, Denmark, Hamburg, etc., at the capture of their neutral ships and cargoes:
The democratic press has vociferously opposed our national policy towards neutral shipping. The people are being misled. It is not a matter of British arrogance towards the rest of the maritime trading world. Actually, this is a commercial matter. Countries like Denmark envy our prosperity. The Dutch made the same arguments against us in the last (American) war. Denmark is simply rehashing the old Dutch arguments. She wants a free and uninterrupted trade with our enemies. Almost since the beginning of this war, Denmark has shown a preference for France over us. She pursues warfare under the cloak of neutrality.
The nature of the present war has been perfectly recorded by Herbert Marsh in his book.10 It is a war against our maritime supremacy. The French are our relentless rival and inveterate foe. They aim for our abject submission. We have to attack the foundations of their power. Our object is our own security. God has given us an island base which is an advantage. God has given us huge fleets. We alone repel the assaults of France, Spain and Holland. We must guard against the secret blows of Denmark and Sweden. Those countries characterise the repeated illicit acts of neutrals as unauthorised acts of individuals. This is a poor excuse when these individuals are strengthening our enemy. The neutrals know precisely what is going on but they want the money and do not effectively control their own people.
Dutch merchant fleets are blocked-up in Surinam, the West Indies and America. They can hardly move without meeting one of our blockading frigates. As a result the Netherlands has invited neutrals to carry home the produce of her possessions in the Americas. All the inland trade of the Netherlands is carried on by commission agents and the external trade by natives of the Baltic states. The masters of most Dutch ships are Danes. Dutch property is carried under papers suggesting it is Danish property. For this service the Danish government gets a revenue from the Dutch. That is what it is all about. This situation has continued for years. False sale papers are issued by the Dutch owners to Danish and other neutral Captains in Surinam, Amsterdam and other European ports. The agreements are not made before a magistrate, no Oath is required and no payment is made for the supposed transfer of ownership. Crews are sent out from Copenhagen and Altona to Surinam. The middlemen describe the ‘transfers’ as ‘naturalisations’. The Danish King issues Royal Sea passes at Copenhagen as though the ships and their crews were really Danish, even if the ships have never before been in a Danish port and the crews have little connection with Denmark. The bills of sale for the ships are made out with the unique clause ‘only valid until the vessel reaches a Danish port’. The bills of sale for the cargo make payment conditional on safe arrival at destination. They permit a commission to the person drawing the Bills. These captains say they are Danish and have come from Europe to buy West Indian cargoes in enemy ports. If the ship is captured or sunk, no payment is required of the captains.
The problem for our Prize Courts is establishing the ultimate beneficial ownership of the ship and cargo. Even if England allows a right for neutrals to buy and sell in enemy colonies (they just have to prove a bone fide purchase in the open market and their payment for it), we must maintain this check because the profits are enormous and the speculators should be willing to endure the delay of seizure and investigation.
The sale of Danish citizenship (called Briefs of Burghership – the Brief gives the recipient all the commercial rights of a Dane) has become notorious and numerous Englishmen as well as Dutch sailors have thus obtained an ability to trade with the enemy. Burghers are authorised to fly the Danish flag and exhibit Danish papers, although for Englishmen, that is illegal when we are at war (English law prevents any Englishman from seeking the protection of a foreign King in any matter that is injurious to our country). Danish consuls worldwide issue declarations to ship masters purporting to protect the Captain and his ship from search by other Danish authorities. The Danes have been using both frauds in West and East Indies, particularly in Java, in the Mediterranean, in fact everywhere. The trade of Mauritius is monopolised by these imitation Danes. The extent of this fraudulent trade exceeds the capital of Denmark to sustain. The ports of Cadiz, Ferrol, Cathagena, Toulon, L’Orient, Brest, Rochefort are always full of ships flying the Danish flag – wherever our enemies are in need of supplies, there is a ‘Danish’ ship ready to help. One famous mercantile House in Copenhagen has a fleet of 80 ships sailing the high seas under the Danish flag, not one of which ships is actually Danish. The Danish crews are all metamorphed Spaniards, Dutch and French. An insignificant trading nation has thus appeared in the first rank of world trade.
England has to take care and put these people to strict proof that they and their cargoes are what they are said to be. In every case all suspicions must be allayed in the Prize Courts. This is not a matter of one or two ‘likely lads’ taking a chance - it is the policy of the Danish court and, to the extent that it strengthens our enemies and weakens us, it must be repudiated.
The La Freya case, in which the frigate attempted by violence to prevent its convoyed ships being searched, cannot be countenanced. It was an infraction of Danish neutrality by one of her own commanders. It was an attempted denial of the right of every belligerent warship, whilst in a state of war, to confirm neutral tonnage was not assisting any of the belligerents. The only legal limitation on that belligerent’s right is the prohibition of arbitrary and vexatious arrests when the ship’s papers etc appear unremarkable.
Countries at war conclude treaties listing the articles to be treated as contraband. They agree the forms of Sea Passes for their respective subjects. How dare a neutral frigate attempt to screen neutral merchant ships from being searched and having their papers inspected! This is the meaning of the absurd dictum ‘free ships make free goods’ which is intolerable to belligerents.
There is no need for us to fear a confederacy of Russia, Sweden and Denmark at sea (and Russia on land) taking over the world. This action of La Freya was an experiment. The Danes were trying us out to see how firmly we would maintain our rights. (NB – after England released La Freya and her convoy, Russia ended her embargo on British ships)
Denmark has only Copenhagen as a port. Therein lie 33 capital ships, mostly 64’s, 12 – 15 frigates and some smaller ships. 8 of the capital ships are unfit for sea service. If the remainder could be readied for sea, they could not all be manned. In any event Denmark will not hazard its entire fleet – it will divide it, and the most we can expect to see would be 10-12 capital ships coming out from the Baltic. The rest would be reserved and some few of them would protect the Danish coast, particularly the harbours of their colony of Norway, where the people are not very friendly to Denmark (indeed, FitzGerald mused, they seem more like us than Danes). Nevertheless, all Danish seamen (and that includes Norwegians) are obliged to serve in the Danish Navy whenever notice of their required service is given to them. On the other hand, government has excited Danish seamen with the prospect of becoming carriers of the world’s trade. This appeal to greed is more powerful that the appeal to duty. I conclude that a realistic assessment of the naval force that Denmark can put in the field is probably no more than 5 capital ships and some attendant frigates, and they could only maintain this level in the summer. Accordingly Denmark is no threat to England.
Turning to Sweden, her fleet was diminished in the last war with Russia. She has 20 capital ships and is always reluctant to deploy them outside the Baltic. They might allow up to five capital ships to concert with the Danes in the North Sea – the rest would cruise in the Baltic to protect the trading towns. Swedish finances have not yet recovered from the late war. The Danes have greater credit than the Swedes and the management of the national treasury is more efficient in Copenhagen than Stockholm. Any additional taxes on the Swedes would likely have unpredictable consequences.
Russia has 60 capital ships - a larger navy that Sweden and Denmark combined. The Tsar Paul has just helped the allied cause in the eastern Mediterranean. He cannot quickly switch sides. Russia also has a shortage of seamen. She is an unlikely candidate for the Baltic Confederacy.
Prussia is a military power with no maritime tradition. Her threat is to the ports on the south Baltic coast which she can access by land – Hamburg particularly – but if she excluded us from Hamburg it would hurt her as much as it hurts us. We would both lose the benefit of trade. Her Silesian linens could not be sent to international markets.
I have sought to clarify the extent of threat to England that a Baltic Confederacy represents. I believe if the whole Baltic marine could ally with the fleets of France, Spain and the Netherlands, it would still be inadequate to cope with our navy. Cutting our trade with the Baltic and Germany could not be effected for long. The cost of naval stores (timber, planking, hemp etc) would rise in England. Government would protect the naval forces but our mercantile marine would be hit. On the other hand the money we routinely send to the Baltic might be employed developing new sources for those products. Such sources may be further away than the Baltic but we are likely to find them. The end result would be a temporary loss for us and a permanent loss for the Baltic states. Once the Baltic countries cut-off our supply, we would reciprocally ensure their goods were not supplied to others. It would be commercially self-defeating for the Baltic countries as naval stores are all they can return for the necessaries and luxuries that we sell to them. They would also lose the silver we ship to make up the balance of trade which is invariably against us. Scottish fir is difficult to access but should be comparable for masts; English oak has traditionally been our preference for hulls.
What would Norway say to its Danish masters for the loss of its principal export (fir masts)? What if Swedish iron was no longer required by us, if we stimulated our home production to meet our requirements. Tar and pitch is readily available from America. The Prussian and Russian dealers in flax, hemp and coarse linen would soon be distressed by our absence from their market. Can the occasional supply of grain from Denmark be sufficient for us to forego our maritime rights in war? If it was withheld from us, would it not spur domestic production here to compensate?
Russia and Prussia could certainly hurt us by denying our access to Hamburg and the Elbe and Weser rivers but they would provoke the Elector of Saxony and others who rely on that trade.
At present England merchantmen pay about £160,000 a year to Denmark for Sound Dues (the fee for entering the Baltic). That money mostly goes straight to the Danish King. Has he thought about this? The North East Sea Canal (Kiel Canal) links the Baltic to the North Sea and is used by small Dutch ships to bring Baltic goods to Netherlands and France. We would certainly blockade that. If the Northern Confederacy really came into existence England might respond by occupying Heligoland (as a base to smuggle our goods into N W Europe) and by interdicting the carriage of goods through the Keil Canal. Only the state of peace between our countries prevents us from doing this today. The settlements at Tranquebar & Fredrick’s Nagore in the East and St Croix & St Thomas in the West Indies would be easy to occupy and that would be an end to Danish hopes of commercial aggrandisement from this war.
Sat 21st Feb 1801
Anthony Merry, our man at Copenhagen, has written to the Danish King on 10th April 1800 to explain the arrest of the Danish frigate Hausersen (van Doekum) at Gibraltar. Its another Freya-type case. The frigate was met at sea convoying some merchant ships. The English squadron sought to inspect the papers and cargoes of the merchantmen. The frigate captain said his destination was Gibraltar. The English said ‘in that case, come into port and we’ll take a look there’. The Dane refused this so the English put out boats to examine the merchant ships. The Danish frigate fired on one boat wounding a sailor and captured another boat. The English commander said if the Dane did not cease his resistance he would be attacked. The Danish frigate and its convoy then entered Gibraltar.
Lord Keith, English CiC Mediterranean interviewed Captain van Doekum and said he thought him personally responsible for the injury to the seaman as he could not believe the Danish court would instruct him to act like that. Keith asked to see van Doekum’s instructions. The Captain said he was instructed to prevent his convoyed ships being boarded. Keith wanted to put the matter before a Judge and asked van Doekum for security. The Dane agreed and returned to his ship but then sent a letter declining to provide security. Keith called on him to surrender himself.
The British government considers it has an incontestable right in international law to inspect ships on the high seas. The resistance of the commander of a ship in the service of a country with whom England is at peace is an act of hostility. It is inappropriate for the Danish King to require his commanders to display hostility to England. Keith expects the King’s disavowal of van Doekum and an apology, together with a proportional reparation. We wish for peace but we insist on a disavowal, apology and reparation.
Sat 21st Feb 1801
Lord Grenville has replied to the Danish minister’s (Count de Vedel Jarlsbourg) note about the frigate La Freya. He has clearly drawn on FitzGerald’s analysis above:
I have shown your note to my King. He is concerned to preserve the friendship between our countries. He believes no Danish officer has instructions to attack British warships in British seas and supposes the captain acted on his own responsibility. Your note requires satisfaction and reparation for the captain’s aggression. My King recognises the difficulties neutrals have in the present war and has often refrained from exercising his rights. In this case, some of His seamen have been killed and His flag has been insulted almost in sight of His coast. England maintains its legal rights.
Please represent this matter in its true light to your Court.
England will not permit neutrals to provide support to her enemies under any cloak of supposed free trade. We repudiate the ‘free ships make free goods’ doctrine. You hold that ‘whilst our country is at war you may take advantage of our disability in our enemy’s market to assume our former trade to your own advantage’. Britain says ‘if you support our enemy you injure us and we will treat you as an enemy as well’. We will never agree to be commercially disadvantaged by war in any of our markets and our markets are global.
Please also note that any lands Britain takes by act of war are ours to deal with as we see fit. If there is trade to be done, we will generally handle it ourselves. If you want a share you will have to publicly join us and espouse our cause.
What is really involved in this ‘neutral rights’ debate is an attempt to profit from the war in ways that are unavailable in peace. The Netherlands was formerly an imposing trading nation. Now its ships are shut-up in Surinam and other American ports by our cruisers and the great mass of Dutch trade in West Indies and America cannot be brought home. The Dutch accordingly ask the neighbours to do it for them. Dutch inland trade in Europe is done by the Dutch themselves as commission agents; Dutch maritime trade is done almost entirely by seamen from the Baltic states. The masters of most Dutch ships are Danes. Ownership of the ships is apparently transferred to Danes by documents which the parties publish. One document that is never published is the one revealing the ultimate beneficial ownership of the ship and cargo.
The idea of the Dutch marine en masse suddenly becoming the Danish marine is silly. It is a documentary fraud designed to permit what is not permitted; an abuse of the legal process by giving documents, which you can touch and read and tender as exhibits in evidence, a status comparable to real evidence. We were not born yesterday. These purported sales have been investigated at Surinam. Dutch consuls around the World are involved in this commercial conspiracy. Both parties to the purported agreements are seldom present; no ‘consideration’ is paid, the agreements are not made on Oath or before a magistrate – they are all done by notarising.
That is not to say that the Danes, Swedes, Americans and others are incapable of carrying goods from one place to the other. It is precisely the fact that they can do so that galvanises them into this despicable charade. They want the freights and the profits of trade for themselves. We object because it has been British feats of arms that have opened these markets. It is our intention to monopolise all this new trade and concentrate the world’s production in London before supplying it to Europe. This helps us pay for the war.
There is a new industry at Copenhagen. It involves shipbrokers who sell Danish registry to allcomers. They sell the King’s Royal Sea Passes as though the ships and masters are Danes. These documents are all endorsed ‘only valid in Denmark’ (i.e. the law and jurisdiction clause is Denmark’s) – they have no legal force elsewhere.
In every town of Denmark one may buy a ‘brief of Burghership’ that makes one a Danish citizen. No selection is done; everyone qualifies. People of every nationality (but particularly Dutchmen) become Danes with Danish papers. They sail under the Danish flag and trade in all our enemy’s ports. British citizens are involved (posing as Americans) although we have a law that no Englishman may claim the protection of another country in war time.
The great Dutch settlement at Batavia in Java has been preserved to the Dutch by the use of Danish ‘subjects’. The trade of Mauritius is similarly preserved.
You Danes have sought to confuse the issue by convoying ships involved in Dutch trade. The Danes are not at war with anyone. From whom are you protecting your merchant ships? Clearly it is from us and from our demand that we board and inspect. It is an attempt to foster an illegal trade by the threat of violence. It is the Danish court’s wish to oppose us for its national commercial advantage.
(the article continues to examine the naval forces of Denmark, Sweden and Russia and concludes there is nothing to fear from them individually or collectively. See FitzGerald’s original analysis above for details.)
Sat 21st Feb 1801
On 1st Sept HMS Termagant captured the French polacre La Capricieuse. It was three days out of Toulon bound for Egypt and contained a French General, 350 muskets and some shot. The General’s dispatches were destroyed before Termagent’s officers boarded.
Privateers apply the discipline of a king’s ship to their crews as regulated by the Articles of War. They are unlike merchantmen.
Sat 9th May 1801
The new Madras Insurance Company has presented a £200 sword to Capt Waller of HMS Albatross for his capture of two French privateers. Not to be outdone, the Old Madras Insurance Company has given him £200 of silver plate through its Agent at Madras M/s Lys Satur & d’Monte.
Sat 30th May 1801
Capt Alms and his crew of the Amboinya were captured by the French privateer La Gloire and landed on the Burmese island of Cheduba. The Rajah of the island was allegedly told that the prisoners were a tribute of slaves for the King at Ava. He accordingly sent them to Rangoon. It took 20 days and a few presents for Alms to clear up the misinformation.
Fortunately the Governor of Rangoon was in Ava at the time and interceded on Alms’ behalf. The Amboinya crew have now arrived at Penang on the Ceres from Rangoon.
Sat 13th June 1801
House of Commons debate on the King’s Address to parliament:
After considering the Union with Ireland (see the Ireland chapter), Grey turned to the war. He said every European power was now against us. Russia had given grave cause for British complaint but he had seen a Russian manifesto whereby our man in Petersburg (Whitworth) purportedly agreed to cede Malta to the Tsar. We knew he was a difficult customer. We should never surrender Malta to a weak naval power but Russia has a Black Sea fleet. If we let her into the Mediterranean it would balance the power of France. Why did we antagonise the Tsar? Our efforts seem to have resulted in the destruction of the balance of power in Europe – its us against the rest.
Our policy to Sweden and Denmark should be separate from our policy to Russia. We should not attack either of those countries because of a Russian initiative. We are fighting those countries because they wish to trade with our enemies whilst asserting their neutrality. We say ‘you are with us or against us’ and neutrality is not an option. Our claimed right to ‘stop and search’ has repeatedly been questioned in international law. It was objected at the end of 17th century, by Prussia in 1740, by the Dutch in 1762 and by many countries towards the end of the American War. It seems to be only England that supports ‘stop and search’ and everyone else supports ‘free ships make free goods’. If we are wise we will have an international conference to discuss the matter. If our claim is not founded on justice, we should give way.
We need a statesman not a bunch of tricky politicians. Our Orders-in-Council leave us open to charges of piracy – that we steal the goods of merchants and sell them (and their ships) for our own advantage. Indeed it has been prize-taking that accounts for the immense size of our navy and the wealth and activity of our ports and seamen. It is this ‘something for nothing’ that accounts for our assiduity in naval attack – everyone stands to gain and there have been so many windfall fortunes made from prizes that everyone wants a bit of it. A respected member of this House once said ‘we should never go to war for an unprofitable right, any more than for a profitable wrong’. I wish to hear ministers establish the connection between this right and our national welfare. We should calculate what this right is worth before we expend all our goodwill with the neighbours. We are solely, so we say, concerned to prevent military stores coming to the ports of our enemies. The present exhausted state of the French merchant marine suggests she could not avail herself of much if we were to forego ‘stop and search’.
In the Convention of 1780, the Empress of Russia conceded her right to supply a blockaded port and her former policy was abandoned by the Russian government. We are able to maintain a close blockade on all France’s principal ports month after month, year after year. If France was to import Baltic stores of any amount, that would not restore her marine nor supply her with the sailors to man her marine. By holding this ‘right’ we give France the support of all the maritime countries who sooner or later become our enemies as a result. The European ports we are able to use are those we have effectively conquered – Lisbon, Naples, the Turkish ports. Are we really able to take-on the fleets of the entire world alone? The discontent in Ireland should disabuse us of our pretensions. That country would readily submit to France not for religion but to escape our harsh dominion.
We have a serious grain shortage. Where are we to buy the essential supplies if we war with everyone. Genoa and Copenhagen well remember our vexatious acts. Much of our grain has historically come from the Baltic. We risk that supply by opposing the neutral powers.
We went through all this in the Seven Years War. Lord Camden settled the policy in 1756 – ‘our enemies must be cut-off from supplies of naval stores but it is to be done with the greatest moderation towards neutrals’. Perhaps it is too late for that now – the Armed Neutrality Convention has already been signed by the Baltic states. It is said to duplicate the Convention of 1780, but Lord North never found it politic to war with the signatories of that Convention and neither did the great Rockingham administration that succeeded him.
In Pitt’s commercial treaty with France we got a good trade deal in return for giving full effect to the principles of the Armed Neutrality. We made that agreement with France voluntarily – why do we now object to conceding it to others? In 1793 we made a provisional treaty with Russia agreeing that Russians may carry all their national production to our enemies with the exception of contraband. We are now again in the weakened state we experienced at the end of the American war with the important difference that we now have decided naval superiority. Eight years of war have brought distress to our people. Only the people of the seaports and in our forces have profited.
I demand an explanation from ministers why every country in Europe hates us (and a good many of them believe we hate them). We have supported the émigrés at the expense of our reputation for fairness. Their despicable activities in France are due to their hatred of the government but, even at the highest levels of French government, émigré hatred is attributed to us. Talleyrand believes we hate France. If it was not so, why was Bonaparte’s peace overture rejected last year. If ministers did not foresee the approaching storm, were they qualified to administer the country? The detention of the Swedish convoy gave them an insight into Stockholm’s opinions. Prussia has all along been explicit in its wishes. When France proposed peace to Austria it was England that objected - now the Emperor has a French army at the gates of Vienna. Austria is the only land power of Europe that can confront France alone and we have risked their resentment. We declined to negotiate with France when she was bankrupt in both credit and resources saying we would treat only when she became more moderate! Now she is restored and again threatening an invasion whilst we are deserted by our allies.
Ministers have disposed of the militia, preferring to spend the money elsewhere. Our paper currency is over-issued and depreciating like French assignats; the burden of the new taxes is heavy and there is a desperate shortage of basic food at a time when we say we ‘rule the waves’ and can import and export anything we want. To extricate ourselves from the danger of invasion requires economy. We should re-establish and re-recognise the true principles of our Constitution. Ministers have been entrusted with the country’s entire support but they have brought disgrace upon us. It is no longer acceptable for you representatives of the people to automatically assent to ministerial policies of which you secretly disapprove. MPs should make public interest the sole guide to their decisions.
Grey then moved an amendment to the King’s message to inquire into our relations with the neighbours and, if the representations that we commend HM to make are unavailing, this House will give Him its complete support. Whitbread seconded.
Pitt said he represented the majority and Grey the minority. He nevertheless welcomed Grey and the other liberals back into the House (after their secession throughout the previous session). If Grey wishes his view to prevail he will have to convince a majority of members. Pitt’s policy had saved England from the calamities that had affected the rest of Europe. We all consider our principles before we vote. There is only one item to respond to – that is our differences with the Baltic states.
Our right to ‘stop and search’ is just – it has preserved our existence. Grey’s proposal would place England at the mercy of France. The right to ‘stop and search’ was established in international law over a century ago – there is no trace of doubt concerning it. There has been no quibbling from our Judiciary which adjudicates the claims. They have been asserting the principle in case after case since the first days of the war. I have enough real enemies to contend with without Grey acting the stalking horse. There are a good many lawyers present. Why have they not raised this question before – because there is no question, the matter is settled.
The evaluation of the question is easily done by first reviewing the law on the subject and second by reviewing any bi-lateral treaty terms that might appear to conflict with international law. I have no doubt that the principle accords with the Law of Nations. Grey’s case rests solely on the modifying effect of any relevant bi-lateral treaties. He is right to note my French treaty of 1787 reciprocally removed ‘stop and search’ if we were at war and France was neutral or vice versa. Perhaps many countries have similar agreements. This complaint was made at the time and we answered it by stipulating that the treaty was not a precedent for dereliction of the principle.
Pitt thought Grey might have better success if he argued it the other way around – that there is no general consent to ‘stop and search’ amongst nations. In the instant case we have express engagements from all three of the Baltic states to allow ‘stop and search’ and their acts in forming an Armed Neutrality derogate from their agreements with us. I rely on the treaties with Denmark and Sweden of 1661 and 1670, which remain in full force today, wherein the right to carry enemy property was abandoned. As regards Russia, in our Convention with her, signed as recently as the beginning of this war, we both agreed to observe the principle. Russia went further and engaged to prevent neutrals from protecting French trade on the high seas and in French ports. All three treaties are in full force and together with international law provide a complete justification for our policy.
I do not rely on old treaties alone. Both Sweden and Denmark have at various times in this war expressed their readiness to agree the principle and both acknowledged our not carrying the claim as far as Russia would take it. Sweden agreed an Armed Neutrality in 1780. Later she was at war with Russia and completely reversed herself. Denmark gave us a pledge last Autumn (when her capital city, her fleets and arsenals were at our mercy) not to send merchant vessels with convoy and a few months later she has signed a Convention to the contrary, just like 1780. One of the articles in her 1780 treaty is that its terms are to be maintained by force. This is perfidy. Our right is established.
I now consider the expediency of asserting that right. Are we to permit neutral ships to convey the silver of South America to Spain or the naval stores of the Baltic to Brest. Britain is a naval power - we fight at sea. Has there ever been a time when we did not assert this principle? France is no longer a naval power precisely because of our application of this principle. If French commerce had not been destroyed, if neutral’s frauds were not prevented, does Grey suppose our situation would be as strong as it is? Prize-taking has produced our naval predominance - it is essential. France is no longer able to invade Ireland, she cannot invade anywhere by sea. Prize-taking is the key to our success. Many of Grey’s topics are important but they are secondary. This matter of prize-taking is fundamental. The calamities that have affected Europe are sad but Britain has been largely shielded from them. The House then divided 245/63 against Grey’s amendment.
Sat 20th June 1801
A small Danish brig Myrhen tells a tale of woe. She was detained by the Company’s officer at Chittagong on 10th Dec on suspicion she was enemy property (there was no cargo). The detention order was lifted on 13th March and the Company paid the Captain 2,500 rupees for wrongful arrest. She had by then missed the winter monsoon and the Captain was obliged to sell the ship to pay-off arrears of crew wages. There were no buyers at Chittagong and on 21st March he brought the brig round to Calcutta, the nearest major commercial port, but met with heavy weather from the change of the monsoon and ran aground off the Sunderbunds losing not only his anchor and cable but the rudder as well. He got her off after four weeks of innovative seamanship and jury-rigged a rudder to bring her into the Hoogly.
He arrived 8th May but that was the day the Company, responding to instructions from London where a dispute with Denmark over our ‘stop and search’ of neutral vessels has become violent, introduced a new law embargoing all Danish ships in British ports. Instead of potential buyers coming on board for inspection, he had a military guard arrive and take possession of the ship again. This should deter him from grazing in our eastern fields in future.
Sat 11th July 1801
The RussoSwedish treaty permits the officer of the warship convoying neutral merchant ships to declare the ships carry no contraband (articles of war) and his declaration must be accepted. They agree not to carry contraband. They will respect all blockades that are effective blockades. The captain and at least half the crew of every merchant ship shall be of the nation whose flag she flies.
The Convention has no retrospective effect. It is made to deal with future acts of violence. It is intended to make it the basis of a system of protection for all the neutral states of Europe. If a signatory’s ship is insulted or plundered, both Russia and Sweden will demand satisfaction and, if their complaint is unredressed, they will together take reprisals. If either power is attacked by a belligerent on account of this Convention, the two countries will defend each other. These principles will continue in force in every maritime war that Europe might in future become involved in. Other neutrals may join if they wish. Notice of the intention of this Convention will be given to belligerent powers.
Done at St Petersburg, 16th Dec 1800
Sat 25th July 1801
The Matilda has captured the ship Les Deux Amis and brought her into Madras. Les Deux Amis was formerly the Rebecca which was captured by the French last year. In consequence of that prize-taking, the New Madras Insurance Company as underwriter settled the owners and asserts a precedent claim on the ship.
The insurers say the Matilda is legally due only salvage. However Chase and Co, the Secretary of the insurer, has written to Capt Sheen of the Matilda that the Indian insurance market wishes to encourage prize-taking and the New Madras has waived its subrogated rights in favour of the captors on this occasion.
Sat 1st Aug 1801
HMS Daedalus (Waller) has brought a valuable Danish prize into Trincomalee. She comes from Europe with a rich cargo and £10,000 in specie.
Sat 1st Aug 1801
The Sun of 23rd March has obtained a legal opinion on the status at International Law of the British Order-in-Council requiring ‘stop & search’ of Neutral merchant shipping on the high seas:
Page 732 of the 1720 Amsterdam edition of Grotius, deals with the matter of prize-taking. “Goods found on an enemy’s ship are generally considered enemy property. This is not a fixed rule of International Law but merely a rebuttable presumption. In the Dutch war with the Hanse towns of 1333 the matter was so decided and has since been incorporated in the Law of Nations.”
In a note to this entry, Grotius adds “ships of friends are not to be made prize for carrying the enemy’s property unless it has been done with the consent of the owners.” He adduces several authorities for the proposition and further says “the true construction of the Laws of France, which has subjected both ships to be condemned for their cargoes and cargoes to be condemned for their ships, is that unless the owners consented to the carriage of enemy property, only the cargo may be condemned.”
This assumes that, as of 1720, enemy property may be searched-for in the ships of a Neutral and, if found, becomes the property of the captor. Whether the ship is subject to capture as well depends on the knowledge of the owner.
Sat 22nd Aug 1801
The Danish ship Fredericksburg, which sailed from Bombay for Manila, put in to Malacca and was arrested by the Company’s port staff there.
Sat 12th Sept 1801
Our garrison at Amboinya sent a force under Colonel Burr to attack Ternate. Lt Hayes of the Company’s warship Swift of Bombay played an essential role in the battle. We received the Dutch surrender on 21st June and have seized $150,000 in silver and much other prize property.
Sat 19th Sept 1801
The American ships Peggy and Mornington have arrived at Calcutta from Mauritius. They sailed from the island on 12th July.
At that time the Diana and Nymph privateers had returned to Port Louis and been dismantled. The islanders have made an account of their privateering ventures during the recent campaign. Outfitting the ships, the capture of five of them and the few prizes they have taken this season, have together caused a loss of approaching 1,000,000 rupees, they say.
Only the two Surcoufs have made money. The elder took the American brig Traveller which had a cargo of silver specie; the younger took the Company’s ship Kent and two other ships with full cargoes.
It appears likely that Mauritius may cease its privateering activities.
Sat 10th Oct 1801
London Gazette, 20th June - All the British Orders-in-Council against the member countries of the Armed Neutrality have been revoked by the King.
Sat 24th Oct 1801
King, the American minister to London, complained to Hawkesbury on 13th March 1801 about prize-taking in West Indies:
An American ship sailed from an American port to a Spanish colony with a cargo of Spanish goods which the American had bought in Spain. The Prize Court at Nassau condemned the cargo as it was grown in Spain, an enemy of Britain. The same argument has been used against Neutral trade in the Prize Court at Jamaica. (the Leopard case, which carried Malaga wine from Spain to USA and then re-exported it to West Indies.)
Britain claims the right to distress her enemies by interrupting their trade. An open trade is carried on between British and Spanish colonies in West Indies involving British and Spanish merchants, trading the very goods that Americans carry. This trade is never disturbed.
The Treaty between America and Britain acknowledges that enemy goods are lawful prize. International law allows a Belligerent to seize enemy goods. It protects Neutral goods. This is the law.
The British have tried in the present war to extend the rights of Belligerents at the expense of Neutrals. I attach a copy of the judgment in the Nassau case. This policy is ruining American trade in West Indies.
The Foreign Minister replied that he agreed the Nassau and Jamaica courts appeared to be misconstruing the law. The British view if that the produce of an enemy’s colony may be imported by a Neutral into his own country and may be re-exported from there to the mother-country of that producing colony.
In the same way, the produce of the mother-country can also be traded to her colonies by the same circuitous route. There must be a genuine import and export at the Neutral country to qualify – i.e. landing of goods, paying of Customs dues etc. – even if the goods are subsequently shipped-off in the same ship by the same merchants. Direct trade by Neutrals between enemy mother-countries and their colonies is illegal. The ships will be stopped and their cargoes seized wherever found.
Sat 28th Nov 1801
In the course of the British invasion and occupation of Ternate, the American ship Hazard was taken with a cargo belonging to the Dutch government.
Philip Dundas, Superintendent of the Company’s Marine at Bombay, has just published the result of the attack.
Sat 10th April 1802
The Admiralty has searched its records and produced a figure for the destruction of enemy warships during the period 1793 – 1801:
|
|
|
French |
Dutch |
Spanish |
Total |
|
|
Of the line |
45 |
25 |
11 |
81 |
|
|
50-gunners |
2 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
|
|
Frigates |
133 |
31 |
20 |
184 |
|
|
Sloops |
161 |
32 |
55 |
248 |
|
|
Total |
|
|
|
516 |
The Admiralty also reports the destruction of 934 enemy privateers and 5,453 enemy merchant ships over the same period.
Sat 24th April 1802
Auction 3rd May of the French brig Creole, prize of HMS Victor:
About 120 tons, teak-built, coppered to the bends, a fast sailer and ideal for the Basra or Malay trade. (The notice is not from the nascent Admiralty Court. It is a private advertisement)
Sat 1st May 1802
The Bengal Hircarrah has reported on the activities of Hogan’s privateer Chance (White). Hogan is based at the Cape. He operates his armed ships from there and sends all his prizes to the Admiralty Court in Capetown for condemnation.
The Chance cruised off the coast of Peru where she found opportunities for gain. On 19th Aug 1801 she took the new Spanish ship Amiable Maria, 600 tons, with a cargo of grain, wine and baled goods and has sent her to the Cape. On 24th Sept she took a 22-gun Spanish warship Limeno.
Sat 15th May 1802
The Madras Courier of 21st April says the brig Active (Greenway) was captured by the French privateer Subtile on 22nd March, about 10 days after the coming into effect in East Indies of the peace terms.11
Sat 15th May 1802
The Company’s shipping losses in the Revolutionary War were:
|
|
1792 |
Winterton |
wrecked off Madagascar |
|
|
|
Princess Royal |
taken by the French in Sunda Straits |
|
|
|
Pigot |
taken by the French off Bencoolen |
|
|
1794 |
Triton |
taken by a privateer in Bay of Bengal |
|
|
1798 |
Ocean |
lost in eastern seas |
|
|
|
Raymond |
taken at Malabar |
|
|
|
Woodcote |
taken at Malabar |
|
|
|
Princess Amelie |
burnt at sea |
|
|
1799 |
Henry Addington |
lost at sea |
|
|
|
Fitzwilliam |
Burnt |
|
|
1800 |
Queen |
Burnt |
|
|
|
Talbot |
lost in China Seas |
That’s over 12,000 tons.
Sat 22nd May 1802
The Company’s Resident at Amboinya has written to the Directors on 6th July 1801 on the capture of the last Dutch Colony in Asia. His report has been shown to Lord Hobart at the Board of Control.
His report deals with the capitulation of Ternate to Colonel Burr in June 1801 after a siege of 52 days. The Dutch were in possession of Fort Orange but were unable to break our sea blockade and many of them died of hunger before the surrender.
The value of the spices in store (part of the prize to the captors) is in excess of £150,000.12 We lost 10 soldiers and 12 seamen in the siege.
Sat 28th August 1802
The Company’s ship Cornwallis, which was captured by Mauritian privateers, has been auctioned on the island for $12,500 to slave traders operating on the Mozambique supply route.
Sat 4th Sept 1802
HMS Suffolk (74), which has been on the East India station for eight years, has returned to England with the peace and the crew has been paid-off. Each sailor received about £160 wages for his long service and prize money.
Sat 13th Nov 1802
Capt Burnaby arrived at Mauritius from Madras at end July with a dispatch from the Governor-General Wellesley to the Mauritian Governor Magellon. It is said to concern those English ships that were taken by Mauritian privateers subsequent to the peace treaty taking effect.
The note says Capt Churchill will be sent from Calcutta to Mauritius to adjust the claims. He has just arrived at Port Louis on the Cornwallis with some 500 French prisoners we were holding in India. The Mauritians had judicially approved the claims a few days prior to his arrival. Churchill was only able to enter notices of appeal to the supreme court in Paris in respect of the Porcher and the Tay. Capt Greenway of the Active has made a formal complaint against Capt Pinaud of the privateer Subtile for illegal capture and detention of the Active.
Sat 26th Feb 1803
The prize account of the seizure of the Dutch fleet in the Zuider Zee is complete. Admiral Sir Andrew Mitchell will get £199,000 as his one eighth share.
Sat 2nd July 1803
The prize money obtained from the capture of the Cape totalled about £250,000. Shares due to the various ranks of the invasion force are being calculated.
1 In the next edition the Editor recalls that Portugal is supposedly neutral and her ships are welcomed in Mauritius
2 This entitles the captors to head money in respect of the enemy crew; the same as paid to the army on capturing the garrison of a town.
3 Only Jersey is well-populated. It is governed on behalf of Britain by an émigré aristocrat popularly known as Philippe d’Auvergne
4 The British naval base on the American east coast.
5 According to ‘Dutch Asiatic Shipping in 17th & 18th Centuries’ by Bruijn, Gaastra & Schoffer almost every ship returning from the East at this time was captured or confiscated by the English. The invoice value of the cargo in the Indiamen that was thus lost appears to have been about 5.5 million Guilders. The Dutch Guilder contained slightly less than 10 grams silver. No information on the 100 merchantmen or their cargo is available. A handful of VOC ships reached safety at Setubal and in Norwegian ports. This loss induced the bankruptcy of the VOC.
6 This will perplex the Hoppo at Canton where ships are known by the name of their Captains.
7 A gold coin equivalent in value to 10 silver Rupees.
8 It seems likely they all do.
9 This is how England secures international trade to herself, by arresting the ships of the other maritime states for carriage of enemy property, or in this case unusual papers, having ship and cargo condemned and putting the vessels back to sea under English colours. British naval commanders have expert knowledge of the Orders-in-Council and the Judicial attitude to seizure. The monopoly of world trade in London has produced a demand from the merchants to make the city a free port.
10 ‘History of the Politicks of Great Britain and France’, 1800.
11 International agreements made in Europe have a schedule of dates for their effectiveness in other parts of the World. Asia is routinely six months after ratification.
12 This will be cloves, which production had been confined to Ternate by the monopoly companies of Portugal and the Netherlands. The distribution of Asian spices to other territories is just commencing at this period using the opportunity provided by war.