THE APOLLO.
174. Deposition of John Brown. August 2, 1745.[1]
John Brown of Holywood near Belfast[2] in the Kingdom of Ireland being Sworn,
1st. To the first Interrogatory saith that he Knows the Ship called the Apollo now rideing at Anchor in this Port of Philadelphia; That he first Knew the said Ship At the aforesaid Port about Seven Years ago, but the Particular Time does not now remember; That he was hired by Alexander McMullen the Commander of the said Ship on or about the Nineteenth Day of March last past at Larn[3] in the Kingdom of Ireland aforesaid to proceed with the said Ship as Chief Mate thereof from thence to Virginia; That the said Ship at her Departure from Larn aforesaid was not Laden with any Goods, Wares or Merchandizes but in her Ballast; That the said Ship Apollo in the prosecution of the said Intended Voyage was taken as a Prize on the Sixteenth day of June last past upon the High Seas near the Capes of Virginia by a Spanish Privateer Snow; That the Commander of the said Privateer after he had taken Possession of the Ship Apollo brought over board her into his own Vessel the Master and all the Men belonging to the said Ship except this Deponent and one Boy, and at the same time put on Board her Sixteen Mariners belonging to the said Spanish Privateer Snow; That on or about the twentieth Day of the said Month of June the Commander of the said Spanish Privateer caused to be laden on Board the said Ship Apollo several Goods, Wares and Merchandizes the Cargo of a Certain British Snow which the said Privateer had taken a few Days before; That soon after the said Goods, Wares and Merchandizes were put on Board the said Ship Apollo she was seperated from the said Spanish Privateer; That he this Deponant was on Board the said Ship Apollo at the Time of such her seperation and saith that she remained under the Conduct of the said Sixteen Spanish Mariners who were put on Board her on her being first taken as aforesaid (in order to carry her to Laguira[4] as they informed this Deponant) untill the twelfth day of July last past when the said Ship Apollo was attacked and Retaken as a Prize on the High Seas by an English Privateer Sloop called the Trembluer[5] whereof Captain Obadiah Bowne was Commander;[6] That upon the Recaption of the said Ship Apollo by the said Sloop the said Captain Obadiah Bowne put on Board her twelve or Thirteen Mariners in order to navigate and carry her to this Port of Philadelphia where she arrived the first day of this Instant Month of August and till which Time the said Deponent Continued on Board her from the Time of her being Retaken as aforesaid.
2d. To the second Interrogatory this Deponent saith that the said Ship apollo at the Time of his being Shipped as Chief Mate of her as aforesaid did belong to Richard Oswald[7] and Company Merchants residing in Glascow in Scotland and subjects of the King of Great Britain as this Deponent was informed by the said Alexander McMullen then Master of the said Ship Apollo. And this Deponent further says that he does no[t] Know to whom the Goods, Wares and Merchandizes taken from on Board the said Ship Apollo did belong, but says that he Knew and was well acquainted with James Bowne the Commander of the said British Snow at the Time of her being Taken as aforesaid.
John Brown.
[1] From the same manuscript volume as the preceding, pp. 262-264. The capture is thus recorded in the Pennsylvania Gazette of Aug. 1, 1745: "Yesterday arrived the Privateer Trembleur, belonging to this Port, and brought in the Scotch Ship taken some Weeks since by the Spanish Privateer Snow off the Capes of Virginia. Captain Bowne met with [her] East of Bermudas, bound to Laguira".
[2] Holywood is four or five miles northeast of Belfast, on the east shore of Belfast Lough.
[3] Larne lies on the northeast coast of Ireland, some twenty miles north of Belfast.