THE ELIZABETH.
178. Deposition of William Dunbar. May 7, 1747.[1]
Novemb'r 26th 1746 Being at the Island Orcheilla[2] in Company with Captn. Rous in the Trelawney Galley of Jamaica, Saw a Sloop coming from the Eastward, at 9 P.M. took her, they Informed us it was the Sloop Elizabeth, John Paas Mastr. from Martinico, were Bound and belonged to Curacoa, Cargoe Sugar and Coffea. when John Paas came on board the Privateer all the Papers he Could produce was a Sea Brief[3] and a Paper containing an accot. of the Cargoe he then had on Board, we Inquired for the rest of his Papers, he answered he had left them in Martinico, we told him such mistakes were not at all likely, and therefore must Send him into Port. he made Use of many horrid Imprecations, and many times offered to Swear, his Vessell and Cargoe was a Dutch Property and that neither french nor Spaniards were anyway Concerned in either. when we Told him he must go in his Sloop for Rhode Island, his answer Generally was, what Signifies my going with the Sloop without my papers, do but first lett me go to Curacoa and furnish myself w'th papers and then I will follow my Sloop. and his Sloop being Leaky we Concluded to heave her down and stop her leaks before we Sent her homeward. after we had Cleaned her and got the Cargoe on Board, found Concealed in the under part of the Boats Chock,[4] a Sett of french Papers Expressing who the Cargoe belonged to. John Paas Imediately retracted what he had formerly Said, Acknowledged that Vessell and Cargoe did belong to the french. Some time afterwards we had Some discourse Concerning the Illicit Trade that is Carried on by the Inhabitants of Curacoa. John Paas Told me a Sure way of knowing a real dutch Vessell and Cargoe from a Counterfeit one, which is by a paper Carried by all Dutch Vessells (but wanted where french or Spainards are Concerned) expressing the Owners and Master Name, where bound to, a Particular account of all the Cargoe on Board.[5] this Paper is Sworn to by the Owners, afterwards Signed by the Governour and other Officers, with the Island Seal affixed to it.
Will. Dunbar.
The above Eviden[ce] was sworn to in Court
the 7th Day of May 1747.
[1] Rhode Island Archives, same volume as the preceding, p. 15. This deposition follows in that volume the libel of John Sweet of Newport, commander of the privateer Defiance, against Paas's sloop, captured by him.
[2] Orchilla, a small island in the Caribbean, north of Venezuela and 200 miles east of Curaçao.
[3] See [doc. no. 129].
[4] Blocks of wood, shaped to the under side of a boat, on which a boat rested when on the deck of a ship.