To James Madison from John Elmslie, 25 July 1802
From John Elmslie, 25 July 1802
Consuls Office, Cape Town, Cape of Good Hope. July 25th. 1802.
Sir,
Inclosed is duplicate of Asa Bodwells Note ⟨of⟩ hand, original of which I forwarded in my Letter of 29th. ⟨M⟩arch last, to which I beg leave to refer; I have now the honor to forward Lists of American Vessells which have Entered ⟨th⟩e Ports of the Cape of Good Hope since December 1801 to June last inclusive. I have had frequently to observe to ⟨Go⟩vernment the remissness of many Masters of Vessels in not ⟨ca⟩lling on their arrival to report their Vessels, as well as in ⟨de⟩parting from the Ports without notifying the same; A ⟨la⟩te Case in which Captn. Tibbetts of the Merchant Ship Hazard from New York bound to the Cape who was ⟨en⟩trusted with Duplicate of Papers from the Owners of the Pacific to Claim the Cargo of that Ship and for ⟨w⟩ant of which the Cargo has been Condemn’d in the ⟨Ca⟩pe Vice Admiralty Court of which I advised Govermt. ⟨in⟩ March last. Captn. Tibbetts arrived here in Septr. ⟨la⟩st, but neither Call’d to report his Vessel nor deliver’d any papers; The Consequence of which I am afraid will be the loss of large property to the Owners of the Pacific. Were M⟨asters⟩ of Vessells sailing under the American Flag enjoined to make regular Reports on their arrival at Foreign Ports where Consuls reside, and under a penalty not to depart without a Certificate from the Consul a nu⟨mber⟩ of difficulties would be avoided. With great respect I have the Honor to be Sir Your most obed H’ble Serv⟨t.⟩
John Elmslie
The preceding is the full transcription of a document that was previously abstracted in The Papers of James Madison, Secretary of State series. The original abstract contains additional annotation and source information.