To Thomas Jefferson from George Hammond, [12 June 1793]
From George Hammond
Wednesday [12 June 1793]
Mr. Hammond presents his compliments to Mr. Jefferson and has the honor of inclosing to him the deposition of the Pilot on board of the Brig Catharine, which he begs Mr. Jefferson to annex to the other deposition upon the subject of the Brigantine’s capture.
RC (DNA: RG 59, NL); partially dated; endorsed by TJ as a letter of 12 June 1793 received 13 June 1793 and so recorded in SJL. Tr (Lb in same). Enclosure: Deposition of James Skillinger, Philadelphia, 12 May [i.e. June] 1793, stating that he boarded the brig Catharine on 7 June to pilot her into Philadelphia; that on the 8th the Catharine was not more than half a mile from Seven Mile Beach in Cape May County, New Jersey, when between 11:00 and 12:00 a.m. she was hailed in French by the nearby frigate Embuscade, which was so close that fifteen minutes later it “fell foul” of the Catharine and “carried away her Foretopmast Steering Sail Boom”; that after hailing in French three times, despite his request that it hail in English, the Embuscade boarded the Catharine about two hours after the first hail when she was between two and two-and-a-half miles from Seven Mile Beach; that he considered the Catharine to be in possession of the Embuscade from the time of the first hailing; and that after putting him on a pilot boat the Embuscade sailed with the Catharine toward New York (MS in same, in a clerk’s hand, signed by Skillinger and notarized by Asheton Humphreys of Philadelphia; PrC of Tr in DLC, in a clerk’s hand; Tr in PRO: FO 5/1; Tr in Lb in DNA: RG 59, DL).