To James Madison from Anthony Merry, 6 January 1806
From Anthony Merry
Washington January 6th. 1806
Sir,
The British Ship Esther, George Irving Master, having sailed from Charleston, South Carolina, with a valuable Cargo of Merchandize, bound to London, and having, from Damage which she received at Sea, been obliged to return to that Port, was, when she was off the Bar, and had a Pilot on board, captured by the French Privateer the Creole, on the 4th: November last, and carried on the 11th: of that Month to St. Mary’s on the American Side of the River of that Name, in order that the Privateer and her Prize might enjoy the Protection of the Territory of the United States.
I had the Honor, Sir, to make you acquainted verbally a few Days since with this Circumstance, and with some indistinct Information which had then reached me of the Steps which the Commander of the Privateer and his Agents were taking to obtain a Condemnation of the Prize by the Spanish Government at St. Augustine, and, in the mean Time, Permission from the Custom House at St: Mary’s to land the Cargo, in Consequence of the Prize being in a leaky State, as well as to dispose of a Part of it in Order to defray the Expences of her Repairs.
I have since learnt (not, however, officially, because there is no Vice Consul or other British agent at the Port of St. Mary’s, but from private Authority which I have Reason to credit) that the Prize was carried over, for a few Minutes only, to the Florida Shore, and brought back to St: Mary’s, that a Condemnation of her was at that Moment obtained from St: Augustine, that, at the same, a fictitious Sale of the Vessel and Cargo was made to a Person named Ross, one of the Officers of the Privateer, said to be a Native of Baltimore (the Instigator of the atrocious Murders committed on board the Esther, after her Colours had been struck, an Account of which has appeared in the public Prints)1 who instantly on his Return to St. Mary’s again sold the Ship and Cargo to a Captain Mc:Neal, formerly the Commander of a Sloop of War in the Service of the United States, who had gone to St: Mary’s on Purpose to make the Purchase.
According, Sir, to the foregoing Statement it appears that the Condemnation of the Prize was effectuated at a Place not within the Jurisdiction of the Country to which the Privateer belongs—consequently, that it must be illegal; and that a Sale was made of the Ship and Cargo in an American Port by one of the Officers of the Privateer, whilst it may reasonably be suspected that this Sale was the only one that had in Reality been made.
Under these Circumstances, should they on Inquiry prove to be correct, I trust that the Government of the United States will be pleased to afford to His Majesty’s Subjects the same Proof on this Occasion, as on a former one of a similar Nature, of their Known Justice and Disposition to observe a strict Neutrality in the present War, by taking such Measures as shall appear to be the most effectual for frustrating the Operations which have been carried on at St: Mary’s in Regard to the abovementioned Vessel, for which it is possible that there may still be an Opportunity, since I understand that the Cargo had been landed, and that it was probable that the Ship, as well as the Privateer, would remain some Time in that Port for their Repairs to be completed. I have the Honor to be, with great Respect and Consideration, Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant
Ant: Merry
RC (DNA: RG 59, NFL, Great Britain, vol. 3); Tr (UkLPR: Foreign Office, ser. 5, 49:13–14); letterbook copy (ibid., ser. 115, 15:74v–76v). RC in a clerk’s hand, signed by Merry; docketed by Wagner. Tr enclosed in Merry to Charles James Fox, 3 May 1806 (ibid., ser. 5, 49:9–IIV).
1. The British armed merchant ship Esther was sailing in company with the British transport Minorca when both were accosted by the Creole privateer, Capt. Pierre Brugman, of Baracoa, outside the Charleston bar on Saturday, 2 Nov. 1805, and a battle ensued. The crew of the Creole boarded the Esther on Monday morning, and the battle continued at close range with several men killed or wounded. Captain Irving ordered the Esther’s colors struck; when the third mate had done so, he was killed by the privateers, the captain was cut down in his cabin, and the second mate stabbed. Robert Ross, an American who was in charge of the boarding party, ordered the imprisoned crew of the Esther to be killed, and when several of his men objected, he ordered them to fire down the hatchway at the prisoners, which they did, killing the carpenter and wounding two others so severely that they died shortly after being put into the pilot boat. When the wounded members of the Esther’s crew were assembled on deck, Ross proposed to throw them overboard. It was agreed instead to put them into the pilot boat and “they were put into slings, thrown over the side,” and “let down by the run into the boat.” Out of the Esther’s crew of thirty-three, ten men were killed outright or later died of their wounds, and thirteen were hospitalized, of whom a number were not expected to live. Although Captain Brugman denied the report, claiming that Ross was a decent man who had saved the lives of two members of the Esther’s crew, the Creole was brought into Kingston, Jamaica, the following spring and Ross was jailed (Balance, and Columbian Repository 4 [1805]: 390–91, 5 [1806]: 223; Boston New England Palladium, 13 Dec. 1805).