[1] This record, in which are embedded a variety of documents characteristic of privateering procedure, is from pp. 163-183 of a volume of records of the vice-admiralty court held in Philadelphia, 1735-1746, now preserved in the office of the clerk of the U.S. district court in that city. The only other records of that vice-admiralty court known to be still preserved are contained in a second volume comprising (a) records of that court, 1748-1757 (mostly 1748-1751), (b) records of the state court of admiralty, 1776, and (c) records of the U.S. district court, 1789-1795. The vice-admiralty court was apparently held in a room over the market-house at Third Street. David Paul Brown, The Forum, I. 264.
The story of the Spanish or Dutch snow Princess of Orange may be further illustrated from the pages of Franklin's paper, the Pennsylvania Gazette, of Thursday, Apr. 9, 1741. "Friday last arrived here a Spanish Snow laden with Wine, taken at Aruba, and sent in by the George, Capt. Drummond, of this Port. She came from Teneriffe, and had a Pass from the Dutch Consul, but no Dutchmen on board: On Account of this Pass, the Governor of Curasoa sent out a Vessel to demand the Prize of Capt. Drummond, but he refus'd to restore her, fir'd at the Dutchman and beat him off. Before the Taking of this Snow, Capt Drummond had taken two Sloops, one was sent into Jamaica and condemn'd there, the other being a good Sailer, he has fitted out for a Tender, with 30 Men, and Arms suitable, under the Command of Capt. Sibbald; she is call'd the Victory. On the 16th of February, the George, the Victory, and the Prize Snow, being in Company off Hispaniola, were chas'd by two Men of War, which they suppos'd to be Enemies; the George and Victory left the Prize, and she was taken; but the Victory falling in with the Grand English Fleet two Days after, found they were English Men of War, who had taken the Prize, and she was restor'd to Capt. Sibbald, by Order from Admiral Vernon. The Victory convoy'd her thro' the Windward Passage, and return'd to look out for the George, from whom she Parted in the Chase."
The Gazette of May 28 chronicles the arrival, May 24, of the sloop Victory, Sibbald, and gives an account of a glorious fight, May 15, in which Capt. Sibbald, attacked simultaneously by a Spanish ship and sloop, had beaten both off. His owners rewarded his valor with a present of a silver-hilted sword. The Gazette of June 4 adds, "This day arrived the George Privateer, belonging to this Place, from Jamaica. Capt. Drummond, who commanded her, died on the Passage". See also Memorial Hist. Phila., I. 246, 247.
[2] The reign of George II. began on June 11, 1727; accordingly June 11, 1741, was the first day of his fifteenth year.
[3] Later in the war Sibbald greatly distinguished himself in a privateering voyage in command of the George (cruising in company with the Joseph and Mary, refitted prize, in 1742) and of the Wilmington. Memorial Hist. Phila., I. 247; Pa. Mag. Hist., I. 247, XXXII. 466. In the next war he was commander of the province's frigate Pennsylvania, from 1757 to 1759. Pa. Archives, III. 190, 658. The ships' register of the port of Philadelphia shows the sloop George, of 50 tons, John Sibbald owner, sailing out on this present voyage Nov. 12, 1740. Pa. Mag. Hist., XXIII. 513.
[4] Andrew Hamilton the elder (1676-1741), the most famous lawyer of Pennsylvania, defender of John Peter Zenger, constructor of the State House (Independence Hall), speaker of the assembly 1729-1739, was admiralty judge from 1738 to 1741. He died a few weeks after this trial, Aug. 4, 1741. For a sketch of him, see Historical Magazine, XIV. 49-59.
[5] The letter of marque, dated Oct. 11, 1740, is recorded in this same manuscript volume, p. 143. It names Seth Drummond captain, John Sibbald lieutenant, William Dowell (see under June 23, below) master.
[6] 1740 by old style, the new year beginning Mar. 25; by new style, 1741. The capture of the Princess of Orange took place Feb. 24, 1741, N.S. (Feb. 13, O.S.), near Aruba.
[7] Captain William Dowell died in 1768, aet. 49, "a good husband, a sincere friend, and an honest man", so says his tombstone in Christ Church yard. He had an important part in the privateering expeditions from Philadelphia in this war. In the Memoirs of Peter Henry Bruce, chiefly occupied with his service in the Russian army under Peter the Great, but ending with a narrative of military engineering services in the Bahamas and South Carolina, that author gives an account (pp. 403-408, 421) of the capture of two rich Spanish prizes in September, 1742, "by John Sibbald of the George schooner, and William Dowall, of the Joseph and Mary sloop, both privateers from Philadelphia", who brought them into New Providence; and he vehemently accuses Governor Tinker of defrauding them and their Philadelphia owners by machinations lasting all through that winter. "All our Privateers", he adds, "intended to have made this place their general rendezvous; but the treatment Sibbald and Dowall met with, prevented any from coming near us". Later, May, 1744, the journal of William Black shows Dowell as again commander of the George schooner, 14 carriage and 18 swivel guns, then fitting out in the Delaware; and in 1746 he commanded the Pandour privateer. Pa. Mag. Hist., I. 247, XXXII. 465.
[8] Originally Irish; see the testimony of Gaspar Fajardo, below, 9.