At the bottom of the signature is "R.C. Gardner, Mayor," presumed to be intended for the signature of the Mayor of Liverpool. As this statement is not under oath, and as there is no seal attached to it, it does not even amount to an ex parte affidavit. Vessel and cargo condemned.
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Some valuable supplies were extracted from these two ships, and the prisoners—one of them a female—having been transferred to the Alabama, the vessels were fired on the evening of the day after their capture. As was but too frequently the case in boarding prizes, access was by some means obtained to their strong liquor, and that evening saw a good deal of drunkenness on board the Alabama. Unfortunately, the delinquents were but too often some of the best men in the ship. They could be trusted with anything in the world but rum or whisky; but against temptation of this kind they were not proof, and the duty of boarding offered only too easy an opportunity of indulging this true sailor's taste. However, if the prizes had their little bit of revenge in thus creating a temporary disorder among their captors, they in this case, at all events, more than made up for it, by contributing an accession of half-a-dozen seamen to the crew, which, notwithstanding the discharge of the men sent home in the——, was now fast growing very strong.
The following extract from a letter found on board the Charles Hill may throw some light on the pretensions of that vessel at all events, to the protection of neutrality:—
CAPTAIN F. PERCIVAL.
DEAR SIR,—I have read your several letters from Philadelphia. As a rebel privateer has burned several American ships, it may be well if you can have your bills of lading endorsed as English property, and have your cargo certified to by the English Consul, &c.
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After crossing the equator during the night of the 29th-30th March, the Alabama experienced a succession of calms and wet weather; at one time chasing a vessel in so thick a mist that, though not more than a mile or two ahead, she was more than once lost sight of for an hour at a time. She was still involved in this misty, uncomfortable weather, when, on the night of the 4th April, she again fell in with an United States ship, the Louisa Hatch, deeply laden with that, to the Alabama, most invaluable article—coal. An investigation of her papers gave the following result:—
CASE OF THE LOUISA HATCH.
Ship, under U.S. colours. Among the papers is a charter party, dated London, 1st January, 1863, executed between John Pirie and Co., and William Grant, the Master, by which the ship was chartered to take coal to Point de Galle, Ceylon, or Singapore, as ordered, &c. Without any assignment of this contract, as far as appears, the ship seems to have been loaded by entirely new parties, to wit, by one J.R. Smith, who describes himself as the agent of H. Worms, of Cardiff. By the bill of lading, the ship is to proceed to the. Point de Galle, and there deliver the coal to the company of Messageries Imperiales. On the back of the bill of lading is the following certificate:—"I certify that the within-mentioned cargo is French property, having been shipped by order, for the account of the Messageries Imperiales." This certificate is signed by Mr. Smith, but is not sworn to, nor is the order, nor any copy of the order to ship this cargo to an account of the Messageries Imperiales, found among the papers. As the ship was not chartered by any agent of this company, and as the coal was not shipped by any such agent, Smith being the agent of Worms, and Worms not being described as the agent of the company, the presumption is that, if there was any such order at all in the case, it was a mere general understanding that the company would pay so much per ton for coal delivered for them at their depots, the property remaining in the shippers until delivery. The presumption, in the absence of proof, is, that the cargo being on board an American ship is American; shipped on speculation to the far east, by the owner, or his agent, in Cardiff; and we have seen that there is no legal evidence in the case; the unsworn certificate of Mr. Smith not even amounting to an ex parte affidavit. Ship and cargo condemned. Probable value of cargo in Cardiff, 2500 dollars. Cost of coal in Brazil, 15 to 17 dollars per ton.