[5] Also an owner in several privateers; will (1778) in N.Y. Hist. Soc. Fund Pubs., 1900, p. 50.
[6] A scribe must have misread the figure 81, which appears in other documents, into 87. In reality, 87° 57´ W., in the latitude named, would locate the capture on dry land, in Yucatan. It took place near the Isle of Pines, south of the western part of Cuba.
[7] A doubloon was a Spanish gold coin, equal to $8.24.
[8] A pistareen or peseta was equal to about 19 cents.
[9] Proctor. Richard Morris (1730-1810), son of the judge ([note 2], above), and at this time practising in the court, succeeded his father as admiralty judge in 1762 (commission Oct. 16, see [doc. no. 180], [note 1]), and served as such till 1776, when he took the American side. From 1779 to 1790 he was chief justice of the Supreme Court of New York.
185. Deposition of Francisco Raphe. March 31, 1757.[1]
Province of New York ss.
The Deposition of Francisco Raphe Having been before Sworn and now Examined on the part and behalf of Richard Haddon Commander of the private Vessel of War the Peggy, Against Ten Doubleloons, five Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty four Dollars, One Hundred and five Pisterreens, one Bracelet, Twenty Gold Rings, Some Silver Buckles, Some Small Silver, Six Swivel Guns, Some Shot, one Cask of Powder, Some Cuttlasses and one Keg of Indigo.
1. To the first Interrogatory this Deponent saith that his Name is Francis Rafe, and is twenty Six Years of Age, that he is a Native of Sierra[2] in Greece and Subject to the Grand Turk, by Ocupation a Mariner.
2. To the second He says, that two Days after the Vessel he was on board of Sailed out of Cuba they were taken by Capn. Haddon, which was about December last, that he does not know the Vessels Name of which he was aboard for she had no Regular Commander, no Dispatches or Papers of any kind from any Port or Place whatsoever And he believes that had said Vessel been taken by any Vessel of any Nation she would have been a lawfull prize, and had she been taken by a Spanish Guarda Costa, the whole Ships Crew would have been Hanged as Pirates, that there were on board of all Nations almost, as Genoves, French and others, In Number Seventy two, and that one of the Chief in Particular was a Frenchman Subject to the French King. That He knows no further to Declare in Relation to any other Interrogatories, but only that He absolutly from all the Knowledge he can form thinks her to be a just and Lawfull prize.