Thomas Jefferson Papers

To Thomas Jefferson from Silvanus Ewer, 15 December 1803

From Silvanus Ewer

Nantucket Decr. 15th 1803

Sir

Enclosed, is a detale of the Illegal and unjust Capture and dention, of the Sloops Union, & Dolphin and Schooner Mary, by the French National Schooner Telegraph, and the cruel proceeding of the Government Officers at Jacomel

I was the Princaple owner of the Two Sloops and have suffered a verry heavy loss. being fully satisfied that compensation was due me for the damage I had suffered but ignorant & unacquanted with the proper mode of procedure added to my loss having rendered me ill able to be at any considerable expence to pursue the property I thought the most proper step for me to take would be to lay the business before the Secretary of State accordingly I addressed him on the subject as early as the 16th of Augt. 1803. copy of my letter of that date I now enclose you. not having any answer to it I addressed him again on the 15th & 17th of October but have not as yet received any answer to either letter. I beg you to consider this as a sufficient apoligy for my now addressing you, and if consistant beg you to point out to me how & in what manner I may proceed to get redress. as an Individual my loss is great, but I must leave it to some other, more capable to point out the consequence it will be to the Inhabitants of this Town if they are to be debared whaling in the West India seas

With all due respect & esteem I am Sir your Obedient Humble Servant

Silvanus Ewer

RC (DLC); at foot of text: “To Thomas Jefferson Esqr President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received 31 Dec. and so recorded in SJL. Enclosures: (1) Ewer’s account of the seizure of the three vessels, dated Nantucket, 15 Dec.; the Mary, commanded by David Folger and owned by Jeremiah Lawrence and David Worth, cleared Nantucket in July 1802, outfitted for a whaling voyage with a crew of 13; the Union, commanded by William Clisby, and the Dolphin, commanded by Silvanus Smith, were both owned by Ewer and others; the two sloops cleared Nantucket in November 1802 and were likewise fitted for a whaling voyage with crews of 13 men each; the Mary proceeded to Cape Verde, where it took on about 80 barrels of oil, then sailed to the West Indies; the Union and Dolphin sailed directly to the West Indies, where all three vessels met and cruised together off the southern coast of Hispaniola; they were taken by the Télégraphe, commanded by Anthony St. Quint, about five to six leagues offshore and carried to Jacmel; the French captain was under orders to bring in all vessels found near the island, but believed that the three whalers would not be detained for long; shortly after their arrival at Jacmel, however, the ships’ crews were charged with being taken at anchor near the shore and told that they could not be released without orders from the Vicomte de Rochambeau; the crews remained in confinement until more than half were dead, including several officers, and only six have returned home; Ewer refers the president to depositions and protests forwarded to the secretary of state confirming his account of the cruel treatment; no trial appears to have taken place; Folger obtained his freedom and traveled to Port-au-Prince in an unsuccessful attempt to secure a trial, which left him “without money cloths or Friends” and “under the necessity to get away as well as he could”; Ewer has since learned that the cargoes were landed and the vessels employed in evacuating people from the island, which he believes was the true cause of their detention; he reiterates that the intent of the voyages was whaling and not to engage in trade, and that the vessels were all taken at least five leagues from land; he estimates the loss in vessels, cargo, and damages at $11,833 for the Union, $9,466 for the Dolphin, and $16,000 for the Mary (MS in same; in Ewer’s hand and signed by him). (2) Ewer to Madison, dated Nantucket, 16 Aug. 1803, detailing the captures on 7 Apr. 1803 and the detention of the crews and condemnation of the vessels “without Trial” under the pretense that they were trading with rebels on the coast; Folger returned to Nantucket on 12 Aug. and made a protest before a notary “against the illegal procedure of the Officers” of the French government, copies of which and other documents will be forwarded to Madison; Ewer encloses certificates from the collector and selectmen at Nantucket confirming the property and the citizenship of the crews; he asks Madison to advise him on how to obtain redress and secure the release of those members of the crew still remaining “in loathsome imprisonment in the Unhealthy port of Jacomel” (Dupl in same; in Ewer’s hand; at head of text: “Copy”; Madison, Papers description begins William T. Hutchinson, Robert A. Rutland, J. C. A. Stagg, and others, eds., The Papers of James Madison, Chicago and Charlottesville, 1962- , 37 vols.: Sec. of State Ser., 1986- , 10 vols.; Pres. Ser., 1984- , 8 vols.; Ret. Ser., 2009- , 2 vols. description ends , Sec. of State Ser., 5:313-14).

Silvanus Ewer (1767-1836) trained as a ship carpenter in Massachusetts before moving to Nantucket, where he became a successful whale merchant and manufacturer of oil and candles (Memorial Biographies of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, 9 vols. [Boston, 1880-1908], 2:319-20).

lay the business before the secretary of state: Madison received another account of the capture of the three American whaling vessels from a co-owner of the Mary, Jeremiah Lawrence, in a letter from Nantucket dated 15 Aug. It does not appear that the State Department took any action on the matter. The owners’ protests were rejected by the French Council of Prizes in 1810. Not until after the signing of a convention between the United States and France in 1831 would the claims be settled. The claimants for the Dolphin received $4,850, those for the Mary received $9,050, and those for the Union received $5,650 (Madison, Papers description begins William T. Hutchinson, Robert A. Rutland, J. C. A. Stagg, and others, eds., The Papers of James Madison, Chicago and Charlottesville, 1962- , 37 vols.: Sec. of State Ser., 1986- , 10 vols.; Pres. Ser., 1984- , 8 vols.; Ret. Ser., 2009- , 2 vols. description ends , Sec. of State Ser., 5:309-10, 370; Ulane Bonnel, La France, les États-Unis, et la Guerre de Course, [Paris, 1961], 182-3; Miller, Treaties description begins Hunter Miller, ed., Treaties and Other International Acts of the United States of America, Washington, D.C., 1931-48, 8 vols. description ends , 3:641-51; Message from the President of the United States, Transmitting Reports from the Secretary of State and Secretary of the Treasury, 24th Cong., 1st sess., 1836, H. Ex. Doc. 117, 25, 53, 77).

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