To James Madison from Hodijah Baylies, 31 August 1804 (Abstract)
§ From Hodijah Baylies
31 August 1804, Collector’s Office, District of Dighton. “Enclosed is the deposition of Preserved Read,1 master of the Sloop Polly of Somerset in this District, which arrived here on the 25th. inst. from Turks Islands.
“On his outward bound passage from this port for Turks Islands, he was plundered by a French Privateer. He could obtain no information of the name of the privateer or of the commander.”
RC and enclosure (DNA: RG 76, Preliminary Inventory 177, entry 143, France, Unbound Records Relating to Spoliation Claims, ca. 1885, box 21, folder “Sloop Polly”). RC 1 p. For enclosure, see n. 1.
1. The enclosed deposition, 31 Aug. 1804 (1 p.), described the plundering of the Polly by an armed schooner manned by French and Spanish sailors on 30 July 1804 and listed the stolen items. The reason given for boarding the ship was that “they supposed We were Bound to St. Domingo as all Americans they concluded must be.”