Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period / Illustrative Documents

by Unknown

X. That if any Person belonging to the said Brigantine, be killed in an Engagement, or die on board, his Share or Shares, of all Prizes taken in his Life-Time, shall be paid to his Executors, if so appointed by Will; but if no Will be made, then his Part of what was got as aforesaid shall go to his Widow, or Heirs at Law, if claim'd in Twelve Months, from the Time of the said Brigantine's Arrival into her commission'd Port; and on Failure thereof, said Share or Shares shall be and belong to the general Interest of the Whole.

XI. That if any of the Company do disannul any of the Officers Commands for the Good of the Cruize, or the general Interest, he or they shall be fined and punished as the Captain and Officers shall direct. And if any of the Company do Assault, Strike or Insult any Male Prisoner, or behave rudely or indecently to any Female Prisoner, he or they shall be punished as the Captain and Officers shall direct. And if any of the Company begin an Attack, either by firing a Gun, or using any Instrument of War, before Orders be given, by the proper Officers, he or they shall be punished; but if any of the said Company do refuse to make an Attack on the Enemy, either at Sea or Land, at the Command and in the Manner ordered by the Captain and proper Officers, or do behave with Cowardice in any Engagement, he or them shall forfeit his or their Share or Shares for such Refusal or Cowardice; and if any of the Company get drunk, or use blasphemous and prophane Words, they shall be punished as the Captain and Officers shall direct: And likewise if any of the Company do desert the said Schooner before her Return to New-York, he or they shall forfeit their whole Shares to the Owner and Company, first paying such Brigantine's Debts as are contracted by the Captain's Knowledge.

XII. That at the Division of any Money or Effects taken this Cruize, —— Dead Shares shall be deducted out of the Whole, which shall be divided by the —— amongst the most Deserving and them that does most for the benefit of the Cruize.

XIII. That any Prize or Prizes that shall be taken during the Cruize, shall be with all Speed sent into the Port of New-York, in order that the same may be libelled against in the Court of Admiralty for Condemnation, and to no other Place whatsoever, except said Prize shall be so disabled that she could not proceed to said Port: And any Person or Persons which shall be aiding or assisting, or shall give his or their Consent for sending any Prize or Prizes, into any other Port but the Harbour of New-York aforesaid, shall forfeit his or their Share to the Owner and Company; and that no Division shall be made till they return to the Port of New-York.

XIV. That in Case any neutral Property, or any Property whatever, be taken and sent into Port, and after Condemnation be had, an Appeal should be entered by the Claimants, then, and in such Case, it shall be Lawful with the full Consent of the Captain and Company of the said Privateer, for the Owner, or his Attorney, to compromise, compound, and settle, by giving up any Sum or Part of the Prize, as shall seem most advisable to him for the general Interest, that the Captain and Company may receive each and every one of them their just and lawful Right and Prize-Money, and not be kept out of their Money until the Appeal may be determined in England; and in Case no such Compromisation can be made, then a certain Sum, shall be lodged out of the Prizes before taken, to prosecute the said Appeal: And it shall likewise be lawful for the Owner or Agent of the said Privateer to discharge any Capture that may be made during his said Cruize, without the formality of a Prosecution, in order that all unnecessary Charges may as much as possible be avoided.

XV. That it shall not be lawful for the said Officers and Company, or either of them, to demand or sue for the Prize-Money so to become due to them, or any Part thereof, until fourteen Days after the Sale of such Prize or Prizes, the Settlement of the Accounts relating to the said Cruize, and the actual Receipt of the Money by the Agent appointed to manage the Affairs of the said Cruize.

XVI. That if it should happen, that the said Briganteen, by Means of any Fight, Attack, or Engagement, be lost, sunk or disabled, so as she may be thereby rendered unfit for any further Service as a private Vessel of War to cruize; that then, and in such Case, the owner of said Brigantine, shall be entitled to take to himself, and for his own sole Use and Property, any Ship or Vessel taken during the Cruize, with her Guns, Tackle, Furniture, Ammunition and Apparel, not exceeding the Value of the Brigantine at the Time of her Sailing; which Ship or Vessel so taken shall be to the Owner in Lieu of the said Brigantine.

XVII. That in Case of the Death of the Commander, the next in Place shall strictly observe and comply with the Rules, Orders, Restrictions and Agreements, between the owner of the said Brigantine and the said Commander.

God Save the King, and Success to the Mars, and all her brave Crew.

[1] Printed broadside, 20 by 16 inches, preserved among the papers of the New York vice-admiralty court, no. 85 in the "large book". It bears near the heading a picture of two vessels, with the legend, "Success to the Brigantine Mars." With these elaborate articles of agreement may be compared the articles of agreement, substantially similar, of the Rhode Island privateer Defiance, 1756, in the Newport Historical Magazine, II. 198-204, or those of the General Washington and the Belisarius, 1781, presented in facsimile in the N.Y. Geneal. and Biog. Record, LIII. 349-351.