[2] The Mars came in on Apr. 21 from a previous cruise, under the same captain. New York Mercury, Apr. 26, 1762. May 22, the vice-admiralty court pronounced a decree in a suit brought by her commander, as libellant, against the prize snow Johnson. July 2, we find him, as owner of the Mars, 16 guns, petitioning for a fresh commission as commander of her. Cal. Hist. MSS. N.Y., II. 732, 734. "On Monday last [July 5] sailed from the Hook, on a Cruize against his Majesty's Enemies, the Privateer Brig Mars, Capt. McGillycuddy"; Mercury, July 12. The issues of Oct. 18 and Nov. 29 show that she made many prizes, but lost her captain.
[3] Hugh Gaine, the celebrated printer of the New York Mercury, had his shop at the Bible and Crown in Hanover Square from 1757 to 1800. Journals of Hugh Gaine, ed. Paul L. Ford, I. 8, 9.
203. Certificate of a Negro’s Freedom. June 26, 1762.[1]
Je Soussigné Certifie que le negre apellé laville, qui se trouve actuellement prisonnier à la nouvelle York, Est Libre de naissance, Pour l'avoir veu et connu à St. Domingue travailliant de son metier de charpentier, Et si le petit negre qui a Eté pris avec luy est son neveu comme il l'atteste, il est aussy libre, D'autant plus que le pere et la mere dud. negre laville sont aussy affranchis, En foy de quoy jay signé le present certificat, que jatteste veritable a la nouvelle York le 26e juin 1762.
(Translation)
The undersigned certifies that the negro called Laville, now prisoner in New York, is free born, having seen him and known him at St. Domingo where he was working at his trade as carpenter, and if the little negro captured with him is his nephew as he declares, it is incontestable that he also is free, the more so that the father and mother of the said negro Laville are also freed people. In testimony whereof I have signed the present certificate, which I attest as authentic. New York June 26, 1762.
[1] From the papers of the New York vice-admiralty court, book III. The document is not signed, but a translation written on the back of it is signed Lagardien, to which is added a note: "Mons. Lagardien is a Gentleman of an Estate near the Cape [i.e., Cap François] in St. Domingo and came hither for his Health about the latter End of Octob. last". July 24, the provincial council gives a pass to "Mons. De Laugardiere" to proceed to Bristol, England, in the snow Belle Sauvage. Cal. Hist. MSS. N.Y., II. 734. Judge Hough informs me that, negroes found on captured vessels being often sold as prize, attempts to obtain their freedom, as in the present case, were often made, and that these attempts were usually unsuccessful in the earlier period of the court's existence, successful in the later.