Examination of Dominique Leblanc, by John Greenway, Portsmouth

Examination of Dominique Leblanc, by John Greenway, Portsmouth

Interrogatoire de Dominique Leblanc

Greenway, John

Carette, Camille (transcription)

CNRS IKER (UMR 5478)

23/04/1757

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2 fichiers (fac-similé 5.3 Mo, transcription 424 Ko) ; le texte contient 564 mots.

papier

anglais

Documents reconstitués à partir de photographies au format 'jpeg' prises dans le fonds HCA.

guerre de sept ans

prise de guerre

interrogatoire

dossier judiciaire

Il était courant de poser à trois membres de l'équipage du navire capturé des questions standard pour découvrir la vérité sur la nationalité, la propriété et la destination prévue du navire, de sa cargaison et de son équipage.

Dominique Le Blanc, originaire de Louisbourg, témoigne sous serment à Portsmouth le 23 avril 1757 sur la capture du navire Le Dauphin, détaillant sa présence lors de la saisie, les caractéristiques du navire, son chargement, ainsi que l'identité présumée de son propriétaire. L'officier de marine D. Leblanc est interrogé par John Greenway. Le commissaire James Bucknall l'assiste pendant l'interrogatoire, traduisant en anglais sa déposition.

Portsmouth

18e siècle

Domaine public

Nous tenons à exprimer notre sincère gratitude aux Archives nationales du Royaume-Uni, Kew à Londres (TNA) pour l'utilisation des copies numériques du fonds Prize Papers.

Paternité - Pas d'utilisation commerciale - Partage selon les Conditions Initiales [CC] [BY] [NC] [SA]

Documentation conservée à Archives de la High Court of Admiralty and colonial Vice-Admiralty courts (Londres)

TNA, HCA 32/180/7 CP5

Dominique Le Blanc of Louisbourg aged about twenty four years, being sworn and examined, deposeth as follows
1 To the first Interrogatory this Deponent saith that he was born and hath always lived when at home at Louisbourg aforesaid is a subject of the French King and is not a burgess of any city or town.
2 To the second Interrogatory this Deponent saith that he was present at the Time of seizing and taking the Ship and her lading concerning which he is now examined and that she had a Commission of War from the French King.
3 To the third Interrogatory this Deponent saith that the said ship and her Lading concerning which he is now examined were taken and seized in the Latitude of about 47 on the ninth day of April instant, as Prize of War that she was brought into the Port of Portsmouth, sailed under French colours, made no Resistance when she was taken, and was taken by the Rochester, a British Man of War in company with two other Brithsh men of war which this Deponent has heard were the Somerset and Devonshire but the captains' names of the said ships this Deponent cannot set forth.
4 To the fourth Interrogatory this Deponent saith that Martin Lermet was Master or Commander of the ship in question when she was taken, that this Deponent has known him only since the month of March last, that the captain was appointed to the command of her by Monsieur Laborde, and that monsieur Lannes delivered the possession of her to the Captain at Bayonne where the said Monsieur Lannes lives, that the Captain lives at Saint Jean de Luz where he has lived when at home ever since this Deponent's knowledge of him and was born as this Deponent believes, that the Captain is a subject of the French King and is not married.
5 To the fifth Interrogatory this Deponent saith that the said ship in question is of the burthen of about eighty tons, that the number of mariners (officers included) was thirty one who were all Frenchmen except one Englishman, which mariners were all hired and shipt by the captain at Bayonne in the month of March last.
6 To the sixth Interrogatory this Deponent saith that neither he or any of the officers or mariners belonging to the said ship in question had any part share or interest in her or in any of her lading (except Private Adventures) that he was second Captain of her when she was taken, that he has known her about three years, that he saw her first at Louisbourg, and that she was built in New England.
7 To the seventh Interrogatory this Deponent saith that he never knew the said ship in question called by any other name than Le Dauphin, that she had a passport on board from the Amiral of France, that she was bound in her voyage from Bayonne to Louisbourg and from Louisbourg to Bayonne again, that she accordingly set sail from Bayonne and was taken in her passage to Louisbourg, that her Voyage began and was to have ended at Bayonne if she had not been taken, and that her cargo from the date of her passport to the time of her capture consisted of wine, brandy and shoes.
8 To the eighth Interrogatory this Deponent saith that the cargo the said ship in question carried at the time of her first setting sail in her last voyage and also when she was taken consisted of wine, brandy and shoes, the particular quantities of which he cannot set forth, which cargo was all put on board in the month of March last.
9 To the ninth Interrogatory this Deponent saith that he believes Monsieur Laborde was owner of the ship in question when she was taken because he acted as such, that the said Monsieur Laborde is a Frenchman by birth, lives with his wife and family at Louisbourg, and is a subject of the French King.
10 To the tenth Interrogatory this Deponent saith that he cannot depose.
11 To the eleventh Interrogatory this Deponent saith that the said cargo was all put on board at Bayonne aforesaid on several days in the said month of March last.
12 To the twelfth Interrogatory this Deponent saith that the aforesaid Monsieur Lannes was lader and the French King proprietor of the cargo of the said Ship in question, that the said goods were to have been delivered at Louisbourg, and that he this Deponent does believe that at the time of the lading the said cargo, and at the present time, and also if the goods shall be restored and unladen at the destined Port, the goods did, do, and will belong to the said French King and to none others.
13 To the thirteenth Interrogatory this Deponent saith that he does not know how many bills of lading were signed for the goods seized on board the said ship in question, nor that any of them were colourable, nor that any others were signed which were of a different tenor from those which were on board the said ship when she was taken.
14 To the fourteenth Interrogatory this Deponent saith that the papers relative to the ship or goods in question are now in Great Britain, as he believes, because the captain delivered them to the captors when he was taken.
15 To the fifteenth Interrogatory this Deponent saith that there was no charter party signed for the voyage in which the said ship in question was taken.
16 To the sixteenth Interrogatory this Deponent saith that he cannot set forth what particular papers relative to the ship or goods in question were on board her when she took her Departure from Bayonne, but that none of them were burnt, torn, thrown overboard, destroyed, or concealed.
17 To the seventeenth Interrogatory this Deponent saith that the said ship In question was never seized or condemned as prize before.
18 To the eighteenth Interrogatory this Deponent saith that he hath lost by the capture and detention of the said ship in question his private adventure of shoes and anchovies and his Cloaths to the value of one thousand and five hundred livres, for which loss he has neither received or been promised any indemnity or satisfaction whatsoever.
19 To the nineteenth Interrogatory this Deponent saith that his said private adventure was not insured, and he does not know whether the said ship in question and her cargo were insured or not.
20 To the twentieth Interrogatory this Deponent saith that in case the said ship in Question had arrived at her destined port, he believes the cargo on being unladen would have continued the property of the French King.
[signé] Dq LeBlan
Sworn before me [signé] John Greenway
In presence of George Augustus Prosser, Notary Public
By interpretation of James Bucknall