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THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE to the UNION OF THE PARLIAMENTS OF
ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND:
1702-1707.
INTRODUCTION
The Partition treaties of 1698 and 1700 regulating the
succession to the Spanish throne were successively superseded by the deaths
of Ferdinand of Bavaria and Charles, King of Spain. The latter, in despite
of the treaty terms, bequeathed the crown of Spain to Philip of Anjou,
second son of the Dauphin of France, who to the aggrandisement of France
succeeded in October, 1700. Next year the Grand Alliance was formed against
him and his grandfather, Louis XIV, by the Emperor, the Estates of Holland
and William III, and the war of the Spanish succession began. On 8th March,
1702, William died, but his foreign policy was taken up and prosecuted with
vigour by his successor, Queen Anne. During the war, which lasted until
1709, great success was attained in the field on the continent of Europe by
the English under Marlborough at Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, and
Malplacquet; while Admirals Sir George Rooke, Sir Cloudesley Shovell, Sir
John Leake, and Benbow, at Vigo Bay, Gibraltar, in the Mediterranean, in the
West Indies, and in other places established the preponderance of England at
sea. In the course of the war, while Scots regiments performed great and
important service, the small Scots navy of three frigates, inherited by the
Queen from her predecessor, could do no more than routine local, though
useful, service in protecting from French and Ostend privateers Scots
shipping on the east and west coasts of Scotland. On 25th August, 1702,
the two smaller frigates, the Royal Mary and the Dumbarton Castle, were
ordered to be ' outreiked ' to protect the coasts of Scotland, and orders
were given that the defects of the third and largest frigate, the Royal
William, should be remedied, the poll tax and the more usual cess or land
tax being voted to defray the outlay on the frigates. Whether the Royal
Mary and the Dumbarton Castle were commissioned that season is not
altogether clear. It is certain that early in March, 1703, the Scots
government invited the English Admiralty to protect Scots shipping in
Scottish waters. A curious commentary on this request for extraneous
assistance is the fact that a few days earlier, on 27th February, the Royal
William, then lying idle in Burnt-island harbour, was according to usual
custom lent out to Captain Thomas Gordon of Aberdeen and two partners for a
trading voyage to the East Indies. Parsimony of this kind while French
and Flemish privateers were infesting the coasts of Scotland and
damaging Scots merchant shipping could not endure, though it was not easily
stopped. Early in July, 1703, the Royal Mary and the Dumbarton Castle
were certainly rigged out and manned; and on the 16th of that month Thomas
Gordon of Aberdeen and Mathew Campbell, their respective captains,
along with other officers, received their commissions. A
sidelight is thrown upon the methods of manning these
frigates in the complaint to the Privy Council by,John Spence,
captain of a Leith merchantman, that Captain Gordon had pressed his crew
into the Royal service. The Privy Council disbelieved the complaint,
and Spence felt the matter so strongly that next year he refused to salute
the Scottish flag flying on the Royal Mary, and was on 2nd May, 1704, dealt
with by the Privy Council for the offence. From the date of her
commission until 20th September, 1703, the Royal Mary was on duty on the
east coast of Scotland convoying Scots shipping between the Firth of Forth
and Orkney. The Dumbarton Castle was during the same period performing
similar work between the Sound of Mull and Lambay Island near Dublin. With
characteristic Scotch thrift the Royal Mary was lent out during the winter
of 1703-4 to her captain for a trading voyage to Italy with a cargo of
salmon and herring. On 14th March, 1704, the two frigates were again
commissioned and were ordered to their former stations on the east and west
coasts of Scotland.
Meantime the Scots government had issued letters of marque on
3rd January, 1704, to the Annandale, Captain Ap Rice, and on 29th February
to the Alexander Gaily, of Queensferry, Captain Stewart. The Annandale,
belonging to the African Company of Scotland, was fitted out, an expiring
effort to prosecute the East Indian trade. On her maiden voyage to the East
she was detained in the Downs by the East India Company of England and was
condemned as prize. This was the cause of the capture in reprisal by the
African Company in Leith roads in February, 1705, of the English ship the
Worcester, commanded by Captain Green. On 5th March, Green and others of
this crew were condemned to death by the Scottish Court of Admiralty for
piracy and for murdering Captain Drummond of the Speedy Return, belonging to
the African Company; and he and two others were hanged. This incident
gave rise to such extraordinary bitterness of feeling between England and
Scotland, that it became an important compelling cause of the Union of 1707.
In the course of the cruise of the Royal Mary in 1704,
Captain Gordon succeeded in capturing two or three French privateers.
Writing in April, 1704, to Lord Cromartie, Joint Secretary of State for
Scotland, Lord Seafield, Lord High Chancellor of Scotland, reported that
Captain Gordon had cleared the coast of sea privateers, having chased three
of them.[Fraser's Earls of Cromartie, vol. i, p. 235.] One French
frigate was reported to the Privy Council on 15th May, 1704, as having been
brought into Leith. The subsequent proceedings regarding this capture show
that the prisoners were sent in September under convoy by sea to Newcastle
to be exchanged by the English Admiralty for Scots prisoners in France.
Another French privateer, the Marmedon of Dunkirk, was captured early in
August. That same month Captain Gordon captured the Katherine of
Rotterdam on a voyage from the Canaries to Rotterdam. She was
laden with wine and was equipped with a French passport ' which was
discovered to Captain Gordon by the cook of the said ship in revenge to the
captain, who had the day before beaten him, and she is ordered this day
[August 29] to be brought into Leith harbour in order to the selling both
the bottom and the cargo.' [Portland
Papers, Hist. MSS. Com. iv, 117.] Her capture and
confiscation gave rise to prolonged diplomatic representations by the
Estates of Holland ; and the matter was not settled for years, though the
influence of the Crown was used for her owners. Diplomatic correspondence
with the Lord High Treasurer [ Treasury
Papers, vol. clxxvii, 8, P.R.O.] about this capture was
drawn out as late as June, 1714. There is no record of any captures in 1704
by the Dumbarton Castle.
After the usual stay in harbour during winter the two
frigates were again, in February and in March, 1705, commissioned for
service, the Royal Mary doing convoy duty between Tynemouth and Orkney.
On 25th May the Dumbarton Castle captured a French privateer of eight guns
and brought her into Greenock, whence sixty-two of her crew were transferred
to Glasgow tolbooth. About the same time Captain Gordon captured an Ostend
privateer of four guns, called the St. Trinity, commanded by Jean Sable.
From the Queen's letter of 19th August, 1707, we learn that the St. Esprit,
an Ostend privateer of four guns, was captured by the Royal Mary near
Fraserburgh in 1705. In 1705, owing to the strained relations existing
between England and Scotland, arising out of Captain Green's affair, the old
method of exchanging prisoners through the English Admiralty received a
check. In June, 1705, the Privy Council, on the petition of the
magistrates of Aberdeen, a town which had three ships recently captured by
the French and Ostenders, liberated the French prisoners captured in Jean
Sable's ship by Captain Gordon in the hopes that Scots prisoners in France
and in the Spanish Netherlands would be similarly released. This action was
resented in England, and on 28th June the Depute Secretary of State for
Scotland strongly expressed Lord Godolphin the Treasurer's disapproval of
it. All the same the new method seems to have worked satisfactorily judging
from the minute of the Privy Council of 13th December, 1705. In June, July
and August, 1705, Captain Gordon was at Tynemouth running on shore from the
Royal Mary, for his friend Colonel Villiers the governor, supplies of French
wines and other dutiable goods. [Treasury
Papers, vol xcvii, No. 40, P.R.O.]
That same year Colonel Nathaniel Hooke, a Jacobite emissary
from the Court of Louis, made his first visit to Scotland in the interest of
the Old Pretender. The time was considered opportune for an attempt to
restore the exiled dynasty, owing to the bitter feeling between England and
Scotland and the growing unpopularity of the proceedings just commencing
which culminated, two years later, in the corporate union of the two
countries. Hooke's Memoirs disclose a typical case of the common
practice of Scotsmen in those days giving hostages to fortune on both
sides.
However careful Captain Gordon was in convoying Scots
shipping, and faithful in capturing French and Ostend privateers,
out of which he could make handsome prize money, he was not averse, under
the influence of the Countess of Erroll, from putting his telescope to his
blind eye when a French ship brought over Jacobite political agents to
Scotland. Fourteen signals were agreed upon between Captain Gordon and
the Captain of the French frigate Audacious, which brought over
Hooke, whereby they could recognise and avoid each other.
The need for further protection against French and Spanish
privateers became so great that on 8th September, 1705, the Royal William
was outrigged at the expense of the Royal Burghs, put in commission, and
stationed on the east coast. Captain Thomas Gordon of the Royal [Mary was
promoted to her command on 7th November, 1705, and James Hamilton of
Orbieston, Lanarkshire, was on the same date posted to the command of the
Royal Mary. On 22nd December blank commissions were issued for other
officers of the three Scots frigates, but none of these were filled up until
12th March, 1706. On that date David Prescio was appointed lieutenant and
George Hay master of the Royal William, and William Hay lieutenant, and
Patrick Hay master of the Royal Mary. Earlier, on 7th March, sailing orders
were issued to Thomas Gordon, commodore of the Royal William and Royal Mary,
stationed on the east coast of Scotland, to guard the shipping on that coast
and convoy it between Tynemouth and the Orkney Islands. Captain Campbell was
again posted to his old station on the west coast of Scotland and England.
In May, 1706, the Royal William was in Gothenburg being fitted with new
masts, and was ordered to convoy twenty-five to thirty sail for Scotland.
[Mar and Kellie Papers, Hist. MSS. Com., p. 202. ] In June the
Royal William and Royal Mary were so busily engaged in guarding the east
coast against small privateers, that they could not be spared to go to the
Baltic to convoy Scots shipping from there to Scotland, and the English
Navy was appealed to for the necessary convoy. That same month Captain
Gordon raised the old question of the English Navy's claim to be saluted by
the Scots men-of-war striking to them. At the same time he referred to the
Lord High Admiral of Scotland a complaint by the Captain of the Dunwich,
English man-of-war, that he fired an evening and morning gun in an English
port. His vessel the Royal William had by this time become so crank that the
Privy Council allowed the derelict guns of the Bass, lying at Leith, to be
used as ballast for her. Early in July the Dumbarton Castle captured a
French privateer and put on shore seventy prisoners. The daily allowances
made by government to the prisoners for sustenance was 10s. or 12s.
Scots for a captain, 6s. Scots for a lieutenant or mate, and 3s. or 4s.
Scots for an ordinary seaman. In July or August the Royal Mary captured
another privateer. The
three frigates of the Scots Navy were in commission as late as November,
1706; and were probably laid up in harbour during the winter. They were
again recommissioned in March, 1707, and were ordered to their old stations,
where they remained under Scots control until the union in May, 1707. In
June, 1707, Captain Gordon, then commodore of the two frigates guarding the
east coast, hoodwinked his junior colleague, Captain Hamilton, and concerted
with the Earl of Erroll how to steer clear of a French frigate under M. de
Ligondez, which was then on the north-east coast of Scotland attending
Colonel Hooke.
In Queen Anne's reign the policy of recruiting the English
Navy from Scotland was continued as in King William's reign, though in a
modified manner. No compulsory levy of a fixed number of seamen was
ordered, enlistment being made voluntary.
CHAPTER V
State Papers (Scotland) Warrant Books, Vol. XVIII, No. 330.
The Queen's Letter to the Lords Commissioners of Treasury
anent the Frigates for the Defence and Security of the Coasts.
ANNE R.—Right trusty . . . we greet you well. We understand
by our Secretaries [ On 12th May 1702, the Earl of Seafield and the
Duke of Queensberry were appointed Joint Secretaries of State for Scotland.]
that the funds given in the last session of Parliament were given partly for
the outreiking [ Outrigging.] and maintaining frigates for the
defence and security of the coasts in this time of war, and that the
Commissioners of our Admiralty have given a particular account to our
Secretaries for our information, that two frigates one for the east coast
and the other for the west coast are needful to be outreiked so soon as may
be, and of what money it will require for to outreik them and maintain them
monthly the time requisite for to have them at sea, but that the funds given
will not fall due for some time, so that of necessity there must be an
advance upon credit for the ends above mentioned: Therefore we have thought
fit to recommend this whole matter to your care, empowering you to allow
such an encouragement for advance as shall be needful to the end that, as
you shall receive account from our Admiralty, you may use your endeavours to
have them answered. And that it may appear there is nothing left undone
which may render that security, which was intended by the Parliament,
effectual, it hath also been represented that the biggest of the frigates,[The
Royal William] which is not to be out-reiked at this time, is in an
ill condition and like to perish, and therefore we do likewise recommend it
to your best care to prevent this loss and inconvenience. For doing whereof
this shall be your warrant: And so we bid you heartily farewell. Given at
our Court at Windsor Castle the 25th day of August 1702 and of our reign the
1st year.
By her Majesty's comand,
QUEENSBERRY.
State Papers Domestic Naval (Entry Book), 1703-8. P.R.O.
Miscellaneous Correspondence.
Admiralty Office, 11th February, 1702-3.
Sir,—Being informed this
morning that her Majesty hath not yet sent to the Council of Scotland for
the seamen which the frigates are going to that kingdom to fetch for the
fleet, I thought it necessary to acquaint you therewith, and to desire that
you will move the Rt. Honoble. the Earl of Nottingham therein.
I am,
Your most humble servt.,
J. BURCHETT.
State Papers (Scotland) Warrant Books, Vol. XVIII, No. 708.
The Queen's Letter to the Lords Commissioners of Treasury in
Favour of Captain Gordon and Partners.
ANNE R.—Right trusty ... we greet you well. Whereas we
understand that James Gordon, merchant in Edinburgh, and George Lockhart,
merchant in Glasgow in that our ancient kingdom,. and other merchants joined
with them, do intend a trading voyage to the East Indies, providing that
they may have the use of our ship the Royal William now lying in harbour of
Burntisland in our said kingdom as she now is, they being at all further
expenses in rigging and fitting out the said ship for her voyage: And we
considering that the said ship is more liable to rotting and decaying by her
not being used than if she were, and having no occasion at this time to
employ her in our service, are willing to give all proper encouragements to
trade, and resolved to bestow a mark of our royal favour upon the said James
Gordon, George Lockhart and Thomas Gordon (who is to be captain of our said
ship for the voyage) and others who shall join with them: It is therefore
our will and pleasure, and we do hereby authorise and require you to cause
deliver to the said Captain Thomas Gordon, for the use of the said James
Gordon and George Lockhart, and others who shall join in partnership with
them our said ship the Royal William, as she now lies in the foresaid
harbour with what masts, guns, sails and other rigging did belong to her at
her last coming from sea, they finding sufficient security for redelivering
the said ship with all guns, masts, sails and other rigging so delivered to
them at her return, and also all addition of the necessary equipments which
shall be purchased by the said partners towards carrying on a voyage to the
East Indies (sea hazard excepted), without any allowance made to them for
what they had so purchased. For doing of which this shall be your warrant.
And so we bid you heartily farewell. Given at our Court at St. James's the
29th day of ffebruary 1702-3 and of our reign the first year.
By her Majesty's command,
TARBAT. [The Duke of Queensberry,
Principal Secretary of State for Scotland, was Lord High Commissioner to the
Scots Parliament which sat from 6th May to 16th September, 1703.]
Minutes of the Privy Council of Scotland.
Edinburgh. 31st March, 1703.
Recommendation to the Lord
Chancellor [The Earl of Seafield] to write to the Secretary
anent Convoys and Cruisers.
The Lords of her Majesty's
Privy Council do hereby recommend to the said Lord High Chancellor to take
what method his Lordship shall think most proper for desiring of her Majesty
and his Royal Highness, Prince George of Denmark, Lord High Admiral of
England, that convoys be seasonably allowed to Scots merchant ships trading
from England to Scotland, and that cruisers be appointed to cruise upon the
coasts of Scotland from St. Abbs Head to Orkney, and upon the western coasts
of this kingdom for securing the coasts and ships trading there from
privateers.
Ibidem (resume).
Permission is given to the captains of two of her Majesty's
men-of-war lying in the road of Leith to recruit seamen volunteers in all
sea towns between Stirling and Aberdeen, also on the Clyde from Glasgow to
Ayr, and from Eyemouth to Leith, the magistrates being instructed to aid
them in this.
Hume of Grossrigs Diary, p. 103.
Occurrences in Parliament.
Tuesday, June 1.—. . . Motions about rigging out the frigates
for clearing the coasts full of French privateers.
Minutes of the Privy Council of Scotland.
Edinburgh. 12th June, 1703.
Recommendation to the Treasury for Outrigging Her Majesty's
Two Ships of War for Preserving Trade &c.
His Grace her Majesty's High Commissioner[The Duke of
Queensbury, principal Secretary of State for Scotland, was Lord High
Commissioner to the Scots Parliament which sat from 6th May to 16th
September 1703.] and Lords of her Majesty's Privy Council having
considered the many informations given in to them of the damages sustained
by the merchants in this kingdom in their trade both on the east and western
coasts by French privateers, find it necessary that her Majesty's two ships
of war called the Mary and Dumbarton Castle be outrigged and employed for
her Majesty's service in securing the trade of this kingdom and coasts
thereof from the insults of French privateers, and any damages that the
merchants and trade of this kingdom may sustain by them, and therefore
recommend to the Lords of her Majesty's Treasury to take effectual course
for outrigging of the said two ships of war, and to order and give warrant
for payment of such sums of money as shall be necessary for the effect and
service abovementioned, and for maintaining the said two ships of war at sea
with the men and officers aboard the same for the space of four months after
the first day of July next to come ; and recommend to Lieutenant General
George Ramsay,[Third son of George, second Earl of Dalhousie, served in
the Low Countries; promoted Brigadier-General in 1690, and after Landen in
1693 Major-General; was promoted Lieutenant General on his appointment to
the Scottish command in 1702.] commander-in-chief of her Majesty's
forces within this kingdom, to order such a number of the said forces to
march and be shipped aboard the said two men of war with officers to command
them, as the Lords of her Majesty's Treasury shall appoint.
Warrant to the Two Captains of the Scots Frigates to Levy
Seamen.
His Grace her Majesty's High Commissioner and the Lords of
her Majesty's Privy Council having heard a representation made to them by
the Lord High Chancellor that the captains of her Majesty's two frigates
formerly appointed to be outrigged for defending the coasts against
pirating had difficulty in engaging seamen aboard the said frigates, his
Grace and the said Lords of her Majesty's Privy Council ordain the
magistrates of the respective burghs and sea port towns within this kingdom,
or any other persons having warrant from the said captains of the said two
frigates, to beat drums within the respective bounds of the said
burghs and seaport towns for intimating to all able seamen who by their own
free consent given before a magistrate are willing to serve aboard her
Majesty's said two frigates, that they repair to the said two captains and
there offer themselves to them or either of them ; and ordain all
magistrates and others within the burghs and seaport towns foresaid to give
all due encouragement to the said two captains and others employed by them
in levying seamen as above, and prohibit and discharge any disorders and
abuses to be committed by the said two captains and other persons to be
employed by them, as said is, in taking on the said seamen, but always to
keep themselves within the bounds the law prescribes.
Seafield Correspondence (Scottish History Society), p. 363.
Edinburgh. 14th June, 1703.
For William Lorimer, Chamberlain to the Earl of Seafield at
Cullen.
Affectionate Cousin,— . . . The government here are fitting
out two men of war to cruise on our coast, which will be ready within twenty
days, and these two will be thought sufficient to beat off the small
privateers. Besides the English have promised to send down two men of war
from London more. When these come or our own ships are ready, I shall
timeously advertise you to put the victual aboard again. My Lord commends
what you have done, and till the men of war be upon the coast the ships must
stay, for better they be in Portsoy than Dunkirk.
I am
Your most affectionate cousin and servant,
JOHN PHILP.[Private Secretary to
the Earl of Seaneld. See Seafield Correspondence, pp. 222-3]
Minutes of the Privy Council of Scotland.
Edinburgh. 3rd July, 1703.
Committee for Preparing Instructions to the Two Captains of
Her Majesty's Frigates the Royal Mary and Dumbarton Castle.
His Grace her Majesty's High Commissioner and the Lords of
her Majesty's Privy Council do hereby nominate and appoint the Marquis of
Annandale, Lord President of Privy Council, the Duke of Argyll, the Earl of
Eglintoun, Earl of Loudoun, Lord Boyle, Treasurer-Depute, and Mr. Francis
Montgomery, with the Lord Advocate, to be a committee to prepare
instructions for Captain Thomas Gordon, captain of her Majesty's frigate
called the Royal Mary during the space formerly appointed for him to cruise,
and appoint the same to be laid before the Council next Council day; and
recommend to the said committee to meet Monday morning at ten of the clock
in the forenoon ; and declare any three a sufficient quorum.
Ibidem (resume).
Edinburgh. 3rd July, 1703.
Petition to the Council by James Frogg, merchant in
Edinburgh. He and his partners purchased from George Robertson of
Newbigging, Steward depute of Orkney, 1000 bolls of bear, [ Bear or
big, a species of Scots barley.] Orkney measure, out of her Majesty's
rents from these islands, and freighted ships under command of John Spence,
skipper in Leith, and John Bosswell skipper in Burntisland for its
conveyance in proper time, but the said skippers not sailing, they required
them to do so in form of instrument, protesting for damages if they
failed. But John Spence declared he would not be so liable as he was
ready with a sufficient, able and skilful crew for his voyage when Captain
Gordon, commander of one of H.M. ships had taken his whole crew, and
declared that he had authority from their Lordships so to do ; and Spence
declared that in such a case he must be free of his charter party. The
petitioners represent that by the delay they have already sustained great
damage by loss of markets and backwardness of the season, and crave that to
prevent further the said crew may be delivered back to John Spence. The
Lords find and declare that the said crew voluntarily engaged with Captain
Gordon and therefore belong to him.
Ibidem.
Edinburgh. 13th July, 1703.
Recommendation to Her Majesty's Advocate anent the two
Commissions to the Captains of Her Majesty's two Frigates.
His Grace her Majesty's High Commissioner and the Lords of
her Majesty's Privy Council do hereby recommend to Sir James Steuart, her
Majesty's Advocate, and appoint Sir Gilbert Elliot, one of their clerks, to
wait upon his Lordship, and draw up two several commissions with the usual
powers in the like cases, one for Captain Thomas Gordon, commander of her
Majesty's frigate called the Royal Mary, and the other for Captain [Mathew]
Campbell, commander of her Majesty's other frigate called the Dumbarton
Castle, and recommend to the said Lord Advocate to bring in the same to the
Council the next Council day with their sailing orders.
Ibidem.
Edinburgh. 15th July, 1703.
Committee for Adjusting the two Commissions and General and
Particular Instructions to be Observed by the Captains of Her Majesty's two
Frigates.
His Grace her Majesty's High Commissioner and the Lords of
her Majesty's Privy Council do hereby nominate and appoint the Marquis of
Annandale, Lord President of Privy Council, the Duke of Argyll, the Earls of
Eglintoun and Loudoun, the Viscount Tarbat, Lord Secretary, the Lord Boyle,
[Appointed Treasurer-Depute in December, 1702, and created Earl of Glasgow
in 1703.] Treasurer-Depute, and Mr. Francis Montgomery, with the Lord
Advocate, to be a committee to adjust the two commissions for, and the
general and particular instructions to be observed by the two captains of
her Majesty's two frigates called the Royal Mary and Dumbarton Castle ; and
recommend to the said committee to meet the morrow at nine of the clock in
the forenoon, and declare any two a quorum.
Ibidem.
The Abbey of Holyrood House. 16th July, 1703.
Commission
[See also State Papers {Scotland) Warrant Books, vol. xix, No.
12, where the commission is given dated 17th July, and Hist. MSS.
Commission, Stirling- Home- Drummond-Moray papers, 1885, p. 185.]
in Favour of Captain Thomas Gordon to be Commander of Her Majesty's Ship the
Royal Mary.
Commission to Captain Thomas Gordon to be captain and
commander of her Majesty's ship the Royal Mary voted and approven, whereof
the tenor follows :—
Anne, by the Grace of God, Queen of Scotland, England,
France and Ireland, Defender of the faith, with advice and consent of the
Lords of our Privy Council, do hereby constitute and appoint you, Captain
Thomas Gordon, captain and commander of her Majesty's ship the Royal Mary,
willing and requiring you forthwith to go on board of the said ship and take
upon you the charge and command of captain in her accordingly;
strictly charging and commanding all the officers, seamen and soldiers
belonging to the said ship to behave themselves jointly and severally in
their respective stations and employment with all due respect and
obedience unto you their said captain ; and you likewise to observe and
execute as well the instructions herewith to you delivered by our Privy
Council and attested by their clerk as what further orders and directions
you shall from time to time receive from us or them or
any other superior officers for our service. And we being now
engaged in war with the French King and King of Spain and their
adherents, we hereby give you further power and commission not only to
defend against but attack these our enemies and with all your force to
subdue and seize them and their ships and goods to be declared
lawful prize ; wherein you nor none of you are to fail, as you will answer
the contrary at your peril; and for so doing these presents (being recorded
in the books of our Privy Council and to continue till recalled) shall
be your sufficient warrant. Given by warrant and under the signet of
our Privy Council at our palace of Holyrood House, the sixteenth day of
July, 1703.
(Sic subscribitur)
QUEENSBERRY, COMMR.;
SEAFIELD, CANCELLAR.;
ANNANDALE,
[William, Earl of Annandale, was in June, 1701, created a Marquess. He
was in December, 1702, appointed President of the Privy Council, and on 9th
March, 1705, Joint Secretary of State for Scotland.]
ATHOLL, P.S.,
[ Privy Seal.]
ARGYLL,
CRAFURD,
MAR,
MORTON,
LEVEN,
BOYLE.
Follow the
instructions for the said captain for the better executing of his commission
:—
By her Majesty's High Commissioner and the remanent Lords and
others of her Majesty's Privy Council, the instructions following are given
to Captain Thomas Gordon, commander of her Majesty's ship called the Royal
Mary in prosecution and for better executing of his commission, and to be
by him punctually observed upon his peril.
You are immediately to sail taking her Majesty's ship the
Dumbarton Castle in company with you the length of the Isles of Orkney,
where you are to let him part for the station appointed to him.
You are to
take under your convoy all vessels bound' to the northward and carefully see
such of them safe into their respective harbours so far as
Orkney. Then you are to
return and call along the coast for all vessels bound for the Firth, [of
Forth] and take all who are ready from place to place under your convoy.
If no vessels be ready to come out of harbours when you call,
you are to cruise ten days between the Staples and the Islands of Zetland
where your station is appointed to be, and call again for what ships are to
come to the Firth, and take them under your convoy as above.
You are carefully from time to time to advise us of all that
occurs during your cruise.
You are to defend yourself and all ships under your convoy
against all her Majesty's enemies, whether French or Spaniards, and all
others with whom her Majesty is at present engaged in war, who will presume
to attack you, to the utmost of your power, and to endeavour by all your
force to subdue them and make and bring them in as prize to be declared
such.
You are also as you find occasion and yourself in condition
to attack and set upon all her Majesty's said enemies, and endeavour by all
your force to subdue them and seize their ships and goods.
You are also to search all ships going to or coming from
France or Spain or any of the dominions belonging to the said kingdoms, and
if you find them carrying contraband goods to any enemy's country to seize
them their ships and whole goods and bring them in as prize.
You are to observe the time of your cruising and all other
articles contained in your contract with the Lords of her Majesty's
Treasury. Given at Holyrood House the sixteenth day of July, I7O3
Commission to David Prescio[Sometimes
written ' Preshow ' and ' Preschio.']
to be Lieutenant of her Majesty's Ship the Royal
Mary.
Commission to David Prescio to be lieutenant of her Majesty's
ship the Royal Mary, read, voted and approven and subscribed by a quorum of
the Council in manner underwritten, of the which commission the tenor
follows :—
Anne, by the grace of God, Queen of Great Britain, France and
Ireland, Defender of the faith, with advice and consent of the Lords of our
Privy Council do hereby constitute and appoint you, David Prescio,
lieutenant of her Majesty's ship called the Royal Mary, willing and
requiring you to take upon you the charge and command of lieutenant under
the captain of the said ship, strictly commanding and charging all the
inferior officers, seamen and soldiers belonging to the said ship to behave
themselves jointly and severally in their respective stations and
employments, with all due respect and obedience unto you, their said
lieutenant; and you likewise to observe and execute, in absence of the
captain, all orders and instructions that shall be immediately directed to
you by our Privy Council, attested by their clerk from time to time, or any
orders to be given you from us or your said captain or any other your
superior officers for our service. And we being now engaged in war with the
French King and King of Spain and their adherents, we hereby give you
further power and commission not only to defend against but to attack these
our enemies, and with all your force to subdue and seize them and their
ships and goods to be declared lawful prize, wherein you nor none of you are
to fail as you will answer to the contrary at your peril. And for so doing
these presents (being recorded in the books of our Privy Council and to
continue till recalled) shall be your sufficient warrant. Given by warrant
and under the signet of our Council, at our palace of Holyrood House, the
sixteenth day of July, 1703.
(Sic subscribitur)
QUEENSBERRY, Comr.;
SEAFIELD, Cancellar. ;
ANNANDALE, P.;
ATHOLL, P.S.;
ARGYLL,
CRAFURD,
MAR,
LEVEN,
BOYLE.
There is also a warrant appointing James Midltoune to be
master of the Royal Mary, in similar terms, and dated as the foregoing.
Ibidem.
The Abbey of Holyrood House. 16th July, 1703.
Commission to Captain Mathew Campbell to be Captain of the
Ship the Dumbarton Castle.
[See State Papers {Scotland) Warrant Books,
vol. xix, No. 13, where the Commission is given dated 17th July,
1703.]
Commission to Captain Mathew Campbell to be captain and
commander of her Majesty's ship the Dumbarton Castle, read, voted and
approven, and subscribed by a quorum of the Council in manner underwritten.
Follows the said commission :—
ANNE, by the Grace of God, Queen of Scotland, England,
France and Ireland, Defender of the faith, with advice and consent of the
Lords of our Privy Council, do hereby constitute and appoint you, Captain
Mathew Campbell, captain and commander of her Majesty's ship the Dumbarton
Castle, willing and requiring you forthwith [as in the previous commission
to Captain Thomas Gordon]. . . .
Follow the instructions for the said Captain Campbell for the
better executing the foresaid commission :—
By her Majesty's High Commissioner and the remanent Lords and
others of her Majesty's Privy Council, the instructions following are given
to Captain Mathew Campbell, commander of her Majesty's ship the Dumbarton
Castle, in prosecution and for better executing of his commission and to be
by him punctually observed upon his peril.
You are immediately to sail from the road of Leith with and
in company of Captain Gordon to the Islands of Orkney.
When you part with him you are to make the best of your way
for the western coast.
When you arrive there you are to cruise from the Sound of
Mull in the Highlands to the Mull of Galloway, and from thence the length of
Lambie [Lambay] Island, near Dublin, and to take and have under
your protection and convoy all vessels and ships belonging to her Majesty's
subjects that shall fall in your way.
You are to defend yourself and ships under your convoy
against all her Majesty's enemies whether French or Spaniards [as in the
instructions to Captain Gordon].
At the end is added :—
You are carefully from time to time to advise us of all that
occurs during your cruise. Given at Holyrood House, the sixteenth day of
July, 1703 years.
There is also a warrant to Robert Russell to be master of the
Dumbarton Castle, in terms similar to the previous warrant.
Ibidem.
Edinburgh. 4th August, 1703.
Act: Captain Mathew Campbell.
Anent the petition given in to her Majesty's Commissioner and
the Lords of her Majesty's Privy Council by Captain Mathew Campbell, shewing
that his Grace and the said Lords would be pleased to consider that the
season of the year was far spent, and that by the petitioner's instructions
from the said Lords the petitioner is obliged to keep company with Captain
Gordon and the rest of the vessels the length of the Orkneys, and therefore
humbly craving the said Lords would be pleased to alter the first two
articles of his instructions by allowing the petitioner to make the best of
his way for the west seas where he was appointed to cruise, and to take
along with the petitioner what ships were going his way; as also that the
said Lords would be pleased to give him a precept upon the commissaries for
eleven pounds sterling, which the petitioner had paid since he came in for
two top masts and two yards, in regard the old ones were useless and rotten,
which could not be known while they carried sail, as the petition bears ;
his Grace, her Majesty's High Commissioner, and the Lords of her Majesty's
Privy Council, having considered the above petition given in to them by
Captain Mathew Campbell, and the same being read in their presence, his
Grace and the said Lords do hereby appoint the said Captain Mathew Campbell
immediately to pursue his voyage from the road of Leith to the west seas,
for the cruise formerly appointed him there, notwithstanding of any article
of his former instructions to the contrary.
State Papers (Scotland) Warrant Books, Vol. XIX, No. 59.
The Queen's Letter to the Lords Commissioners of Treasury
ordering them to deliver to Captain Thomas Gordon the Ship the Royal Mary.
ANNE R.,—Right trusty and right well-beloved cousin and
councillor. ... we greet you well. Whereas we having taken into our royal
consideration a proposal made by Captain Thomas Gordon, commander of our
ship the Royal Mary belonging to that our ancient kingdom, for having the
use of the said ship as she now is for a voyage to Italy, with salmonds,
herrings and other goods of the product of that kingdom, he being at all
charges for fitting her out for the said voyage, and to redeliver her for
our use in or about the month of April next or sooner, if she shall perfect
the said voyage : And considering that she may sustain more damage by being
laid up this winter, as she is now ordered, than by making the said voyage,
and that the voyage may be of great benefit to these of our subjects who
shall be concern'd in it; wherefore it is our will and pleasure, and we do
hereby authorise and require you to cause deliver to Captain Thomas Gordon
our said ship the Royal Mary for the use aforesaid, with what masts, guns,
sails and other rigging do now belong to her, he finding sufficient security
for redelivering the said ship with all guns, masts, sails and other rigging
so delivered to him some time on the month of April next (all hazards at sea
excepted) so that she may be ready at that time for what service we shall
think fit to employ her in. And lest any loss should happen to her at sea or
from the enemy you are to oblige him to insure her against such at his own
charge for our benefit before her entry on the said voyage ; for doing
whereof this shall be your warrant. And so we bid you heartily farewell.
Given at our Court at St. James's the 6th day of November, 1703, and of our
reign the second year—
By her Majesty's command,
QUEENSBERRY.
Ibidem, No. 96.
Commission to Captain John Ap-Rice to be Commander of the
Ship Annandale.
Anne
R.—Anne by the
grace of God Queen of Scotland, England, France and Ireland, Defender of
the faith &c : to our trusty and well-beloved Captain John Ap-Rice,
commander of the ship the Annandale of two hundred and twenty tons burden or
thereby, mounted with twenty guns and a suitable number of small arms, and
navigated by forty-eight seamen, or to any other commander of the said ship
for the time being, greeting: Whereas we have thought it necessary for the
honour and safety of this our ancient kingdom of Scotland and all other our
dominions to declare war by sea and land against the French and Spanish
Kings their subjects and allies, for redress (as much as in us lies) of
those injuries and oppressions which our subjects have suffered from the
French and Spanish Kings in several parts of the world, both in and out of
Europe, we out of our princely care for the safety protection and further
advancement of the East India trade wherein the honour and profit of all our
dominions is so much concerned have thought fit to authorise and
impower, and
accordingly do by these presents authorise and impower you to
fight with and take by force of arms all such ships as you shall meet with,
belonging to the French and Spanish Kings or any of their subjects or
allies, and their goods and merchandise trading or being in any parts or
places within the limits of the charter and letters patent granted by Act of
Parliament to the Company of this our ancient kingdom trading to Africa and
the Indies, or in any other place whatsoever on this side the Cape Bona
Esperance, as also the ships and goods of any pirates of whatsoever nation
that you may meet in your voyage: And if you happen to be
outward bound at the time of such capture, you are to carry such French and
Spanish ships with their loading to be tried in any Court of Admiralty in
the East Indies ; if homeward bound to be tried in our High Court
Admiralty in Scotland : And we do hereby require you to keep an exact
journal of your proceedings, and therein particularly to take notice
of all prizes which shall be taken by you, the nature of such prizes, the
time and place of their being taken, and the value of them as near as you
can judge ; of which and all other occurrences you shall from time to time
send account to the Lord High Admiral or any executing the office of Lord
High Admiral of our said kingdom of Scotland for the time. And we do
further will and command you take care that all prizes taken by you in
your voyage outward be brought to some place in the East Indies, where
there is Court of Admiralty, together with the ships papers and three or
four of the chief of the company of such ships who are to be produced
before the Judge of the Admiralty, or such as shall be appointed by that
court to be sworn and examined upon such interrogatories as they shall
produce to the discovery of the truth touching the interest or property of
such ship vessel and goods taken. And you are to keep in safety such ships
vessels and goods as shall be taken in your voyage outward or homeward, and
not break bulk, sell, waste, spoil or diminish the same before judgment be
first given in our Admiralty Court in Scotland or in the East Indies
respectively, that the same are lawful prizes, or until some other court
shall by a provisional order decree the same to be sold in the accustomed
manner of prizes. And you are also to take care that the tenth part of all
such vessels and goods as shall be taken and adjudged good and lawful prizes
as aforesaid, being the right of the High Admiral of Scotland, be truly paid
as we shall direct: In witness whereof we have caused our royal signet of
our kingdom of Scotland to be affixed to these presents, together with the
seal of our Admiralty. These given under our royal hand at our Court at St.
James's the 3rd day of January, 1703-4, and of our reign the second year.
By her Majesty's command,
QUEENSBERRY.
Ibidem, No. 173.
Commission to Captain John Stewart, Commander of the
Alexander Gaily of Queensferry.
ANNE R.,—Anne by the grace of God, Queen of Scotland,
England, France, and Ireland, Defender of the faith &c: To all and Sundry,
Kings, Princes, Dukes, Governors of Republics, Admirals and Commanders of
Navies, Magistrates of Burghs, Governors of Ports and Castles in
friendship and confederacy with us, greeting. Forasmuch as we considering
that Captain John Stewart, commander of the ship the Alexander Gaily of
Queensferry, hath offered to serve us with the foresaid ship against the
ships and goods belonging to the French King and Philip, King of Spain, and
against all ships and goods of and belonging to any of the subjects or other
inhabitants of the countries dominions and territories pertaining to the
said French King and King of Spain ; and we being sufficiently informed of
the loyalty courage and conduct of the said Captain John Stewart, know ye us
to have nominated and appointed, likeas we by these presents nominate and
appoint the said Captain John Stewart to be captain of the said good ship or
frigate called the Alexander Gaily of Queensferry of one hundred and fifty
tons burden or thereabout, and carrying twenty pieces of ordnance, with all
munition proportionable as a man-of-war commissioned in our actual service :
Giving granting and committing to the Captain John Stewart full power,
warrant, commission and charge to order and command the officers, soldiers
and mariners of the said ship or frigate in all things belonging to the
power and office of a captain or commander of a man-of-war, and to furnish
the said ship or frigate with men, arms, victuals, artillery great and small
and other warlike munitions and provisions, and therein and therewith to
set forth and go to sea and to search for follow and pursue after as also to
take and apprehend, and in case of resistance to fire, burn, sink and
destroy the ships and goods of the said French King and King of Spain, and
the ships and goods of their subjects or of the inhabitants of countries,
dominions and territories of the said French King and King of Spain ;
as also to stay and arrest all other ships and vessels of whatsoever other
kingdom or country nation or people conveying any goods or merchandise in
them belonging to the said French King and King of Spain or to their
subjects or to the inhabitants of the said dominions, and carrying any
soldiers, horses, ships or vessels or any arms offensive or defensive or any
ammunitions or provisions, naval stores or any other counterband goods or
merchandise whatsoever, and to bring the said ships and goods so apprehended
and arrested to any port or harbour within our kingdom of Scotland without
breaking bulk or altering the property thereof, to be proceeded against and
adjudged according to law in our High Court of Admiralty of our said kingdom
or in such other court or courts as by particular and special warrant and
commission shall be sufficiently authorised for doing the same ; and after
such proceeding and adjudgment to be sold and disposed of as to right
appertains ; Providing always that out of such ships and vessels, and also
out of all such goods, wares and merchandise whatsoever as shall be adjudged
lawful prizes, there be paid to us or any having our warrant the just
fifteenth thereof, or the customs as shall be required by our Lord High
Treasurer or Commissioners of our Treasury, and the tenths to our Lord High
Admiral or Commissioners of Admiralty or any having their warrant;
authorising you the said captain generally to do and perform all and every
other thing that towards the execution of the whole premises is necessary
and requisite, and what is in use to be allowed to ships of War having the
like commissions from other admirals: Requesting
you and every one of you the said
Kings, Princes, Dukes, Governors of Republics, Admirals, Commanders of
Navies and Governors of Ports and Castles in friendship and confederacy with
us to acknowledge the said captain and company of his said ship as our good
and lawful subjects, authorised with this our warrant and commission ; and
if the said captain shall come in to your or any of your harbours, bounds,
coasts or territories with or without any prizes taken by him, that you
furnish him with victuals and other necessaries upon his own reasonable
expenses, and that ye defend from and resist all violence that shall be
offered to him his company or equipage, or to their ships or goods, and show
all other rites and offices of common friendship and alliance to us,
intreating well the said captain and his company, as we shall on all
occasions of that nature cause the like to be shown to you and your
subjects; ordaining these presents to continue during the whole time of the
war betwixt us and the said French King and King of Spain, at least till the
same be discharged and recalled by us : Given under our royal hand and
signet at our Court at St. James's the 29th day of February, 1703-4, and of
our reign the second year.
By her Majesty's command,
CROMERTIE.
Minutes of the Privy Council of Scotland.
Edinburgh. 14th March, 1704.
Recommendation to the Lieutenant-General to send a Detachment
of Forces to the Two Men-of-War.
The Lords of her Majesty's Privy Council do hereby recommend to
Lieutenant-General George
Ramsay, commander-in-chief of her Majesty's forces within
this kingdom, to order such a number of the said forces to be shipped aboard
the two ships and men-of-war called the Royal Mary and Dumbarton Castle,
with officers to command them, as the Lords of her Majesty's Treasury shall
appoint, and as near as may be the same forces and officers formerly
employed for defending of the coasts against French privateers, when the
said ships were last at sea.
Ibidem.
Edinburgh. 15th May, 1704.
Warrant for Committing the Captain and Lieutenant of the
French Ship taken by Captain Gordon Prisoners in Edinburgh Tolbooth, and
ordaining the said Captain Gordon to bring ashore the Crew and commit them
Prisoners to the Tolbooths of Leith and Canongate.
The Lord High Chancellor having represented to the Council
that Captain Gordon, commander of her Majesty's frigate the Royal Mary,
had taken a French frigate and brought her up to the road of Leith where she
with her crew are at present lying, the said Lords of her Majesty's Privy
Council do hereby appoint and ordain the captain and lieutenant of
the said French ship taken by the said Captain Gordon to be committed
prisoners to the tolbooth of Edinburgh, therein to remain till further
orders ; and give order and warrant to the magistrates of Edinburgh and
keeper of their tolbooth to receive them prisoners and detain them
therein"; and also give order and warrant, and command and ordain the
said Captain Gordon to bring the crew of the said French ship ashore and the
one half thereof to commit prisoners to the tolbooth of Leith, and the other
half prisoners in the tolbooth of Canon-gate, and for that effect give order
and warrant to the magistrates of Leith and Canongate and keepers of their
tolbooth to receive the prisoners and to keep, hold and detain them in their
respective tolbooths till further orders of Council
thereanent; and command and ordain the commandant for the time
at Leith to provide and furnish a sufficient guard for transporting the crew
to the respective tolbooths above-mentioned, and appoint and ordain each one
of the said crew to have three shillings Scots[3
pence sterling] a day paid for their subsistence; and for that
effect, recommend to the Lords Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury to
see the same effectually paid.
Ibidem.
Edinburgh. 6th June, 1704.
Recommendation to the Treasury for continuing the Cruise two
months.
The Lords of her Majesty's Privy Council do hereby recommend
to the Lords Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury to continue the cruise
of the two Scots frigates for two months longer.
Recommendation to the Treasury anent the French Privateer.
The Lords of her Majesty's Privy Council do hereby recommend
to the Lords Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury to cause pay to the
captain of the French privateer the sum of ten shillings Scots daily, and to
the lieutenant and mate each of them six shillings money foresaid, for their
subsistence while in prison.
Ibidem.
Edinburgh. 13th June, 1704.
Recommendation to the Chancellor to write to the Secretary of
State anent the French Prisoners being exchanged with Scots.
The Lords of her Majesty's Privy Council do hereby recommend
to the Lord High Chancellor to write to the Secretary of State for this
kingdom, that it may be laid before her Majesty to give orders to the
commissioners of exchange of French prisoners, that the prisoners taken
aboard of the French privateer by Captain Gordon may be exchanged with Scots
men taken aboard of Scots vessels, now prisoners in France ; and, in the
first place, with the eight or ten Scots prisoners lying and detained at
Dumant taken aboard of a Scots ship, and then with such Scots prisoners as
have been taken up in the English service or aboard of English vessels, and
that the exchange of prisoners may be made accordingly.
Ibidem.
Holyrodd House. 20th July, 1704.
Recommendation
to the Lord Advocate to call for and examine Skipper Rate his crew, and
anent Passengers come to Scotland in Prescio's Ship.
His Grace her Majesty's High Commissioner and Lords of her Majesty's Privy
Council do hereby recommend to Sir James Steuart, her Majesty's Advocate, to
call for and examine Skipper Rate in Borrowstouness and his crew anent the
mate of the ship belonging to Captain Prescio which Captain Gordon, captain
of her Majesty's frigate the Royal Mary, commanded before he got her
Majesty's said frigate, and what passengers or other persons the said mate
brought to Scotland with him ; as also to call for the said mate himself,
and to inquire at him as aforesaid what persons he brought from Holland and
landed in any part within this kingdom.
Ibidem.
Holyrood House. 7th August, 1704.
Warrant anent the Prisoners on Board the Dunkirk Privateer.
His Grace her Majesty's High Commissioner and Lords of her
Majesty's Privy Council do hereby give order and warrant, and command and
ordain Captain Thomas Gordon, commander of her Majesty's ship the Royal
Mary, instantly to set ashore under a sufficient guard the captain,
lieutenant, mate and whole sailors of the Dunkirk privateer[The
Marmedon of Dunkirk] taken by the said Captain Gordon, and now lying
in the road of Leith; and give order to the commandant at Leith to furnish a
sufficient guard for bringing them ashore ; and appoint the officers of the
said privateer to be sent under a safe guard to the tolbooth of Edinburgh,
and the one half of the seamen to be sent under a guard, as said is, to the
tolbooth of Leith, and the other half to the tolbooth of Canongate
[Also written Cannongate]; and give order and warrant to the
magistrates of Edinburgh, Leith and Canongate respective, keepers of their
tolbooths, to receive them prisoners in their said tolbooths and detain them
therein till further orders of Council: And recommend to the Lords of
Treasury to grant such allowance for the sustenance of the seamen and
officers of the said privateer during the time they are prisoners, as was
allowed to the prisoners taken aboard the other privateer formerly taken by
the said Captain Gordon.
Recommendation to his Grace the Lord High Commissioner the
Lords Chancellor and Secretary to write to Court anent the French Prisoners.
His Grace her Majesty's High Commissioner and Lords of her
Majesty's Privy Council do hereby recommend to the Lord Commissioner[
John, Marquess of Tweeddale]
his Grace the Lord High Chancellor[The
Earl of Seafield].
and Secretary [The
Earl of Cromartie].to
write to Court in name of the Board anent the French prisoners taken by
Captain Gordon, that it may please her Majesty to order the said prisoners
to be received at Newcastle, and detained there till a convenient occasion
of exchanging them with British prisoners, or otherwise to order a ship to
come to the road of Leith and receive them there, to be transported and
exchanged as said is.
Warrant to the
Clerks of Council to deliver up the Commission and Instructions of the
French Privateers to the Clerks of Admiralty upon Receipt.
His Grace her Majesty's High Commissioner and Lords of her
Majesty's Privy Council do hereby give order and warrant to their clerks to
deliver up to the Clerk of Admiralty Daniel Hamilton, writer in
Edinburgh, appointed on 2ist October, 1702, by Charles, Duke of Lennox and
Richmond, and confirmed by royal warrant 5th February, 1705.—S.P.
(Scotland), Warrant Books, vol. xx.] the commission and other
instructions of the privateer called the Marmedon of Dunkirk upon his
receipt of the same.
Seafield Correspondence (Scottish History Society), p. 379.
Windsor. 12th August, 1704.
For the Earl of Seafield.
My Lord,— ... I have given a memorial to Sir Charles Hedges[Judge
of the Admiralty Court, London, appointed 28th May, 1689.—Admiralty
3, No. 1 Minutes, P.R.O.]
concerning the French prisoners, and I doubt not but so soon as he is well,
for he is a little indisposed at present, they will order all the prisoners
taken by our frigates to be received at Newcastle, and to be exchanged with
our men, as they fall in course, according to the time of their being taken
. . .
AL. WEDDERBURN.
[Appointed on 10th June, 1704, to officiate as Under Secretary in the
absence of the Secretary of State. Appointed Deputy Secretary of State for
Scotland on 25th October, 1704.—StatePapers (Scotland) Warrant Books,
vol. xx.]2
The Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, Vol. XI, pp. 195-6.
25th August, 1704.
Account of the Admiralty.
The accounts of the Admiralty read, whereof and of the
observations thereon the tenors follow :—
The Accounts of the Admiralty given in by Hugh Cunningham.
Charge upon the Admiralty.
|
By cash received out of the Pole money and otherwise, two hundred and
thirty-seven thousand five hundred and fifty - eight pounds, nine
pennies |
237,558 0 9 |
|
From Sir Andrew Myretoun per the Treasury's precept in Sir George
Hamilton's account. Forty-eight thousand pounds |
48,000 0 0 |
|
|
£285,558
0 9 |
Discharge.
|
For
providing ships of war and maintaining the same with other necessaries
thereto belonging—two hundred and seventy-three thousand five hundred
and fifty - eight pounds, nine pennies |
273,558
0 9 |
|
Given to Sir
Andrew Myretoun twelve thousand pounds |
12,000
0 0 |
|
|
£285,558
o 9 |
Observations on the Accounts of the Admiralty.
1. That the first article had been considered by a particular account, and
found fully instructed and applied for the uses of the Admiralty.
2
That the twelve thousand pounds mentioned in the discharge as given to Sir
Andrew Myretoun, he retained the same for advancing thirty-six thousand
pounds of the Treasury's precept mentioned in the charge.
3. That
considerable arrears are owing to the seamen, amounting to the sum of
eighty-four thousand pounds or thereby. Upon reading
whereof the first observation
sustained, the second observation remitted to the Commission to inquire
thereanent and to report.
Minutes of the Privy Council of Scotland.
Holyrood House. 30th August, 1704.
Recommendation to the Treasury to agree with a Ship to carry
the French Prisoners to Newcastle.
His Grace her Majesty's High Commissioner and the Lords of
her Majesty's Privy Council do hereby recommend to the Lords Commissioners
of her Majesty's Treasury to agree with a ship to go from Leith to
Newcastle, and carry on board thereof and deliver at the said port the
French prisoners lying in the tolbooths of Edinburgh, Canongate and Leith,
with Peter Dalaloun, Frenchman, now prisoner in the tolbooth of Edinburgh;
and appoint and ordain Captain Gordon, commander of her Majesty's frigate
the Royal Mary, to go and convoy the said ship from Leith to Newcastle, and
to bring her with what Scots ships are lying there under his convoy back
again to Leith.
Ibidem.
Edinburgh. 4th September, 1704.
Recommendation to the General to send ten Sentinels and one
Sergeant aboard Archibald Drummond's Ship for Carrying and Securing the
French Prisoners to Newcastle.
The Lords of her Majesty's Privy Council do hereby recommend
to Lieutenant-General George Ramsay, commander-in-chief of her Majesty's
forces within this kingdom, to order between and the eighth day of September
instant ten sentinels and one sergeant aboard of Archibald Drummond's ship,
that is hired to carry the French prisoners from Leith to Newcastle, and
that for securing the prisoners in the night time for preventing their
running away with the said ship.
Warrant anent Transporting the French Prisoners to Newcastle.
The Lords of her Majesty's Privy Council do hereby appoint
and ordain the whole French prisoners that are lying in the tolbooths of
Edinburgh, Canongate and Leith (except Jacobus Soetenay and Gerard Druive
and Jacob Strobbe, his two men, who are appointed to continue in prison) to
be shipped aboard of Archibald Drum-mond his ship lying at Leith to be by
him carried to Newcastle ; and for that effect appoint and ordain the
magistrates of Edinburgh, Canongate and Leith and keepers of their tolbooths
to deliver the persons of the whole French prisoners in their custody and
tolbooths (except the said Jacobus Soetenay, and Gerard Druive and Jacob
Strobbe, his said two men) to a party duly commanded to be sent by the
Lieutenant-General to receive them off their hands and put them aboard of
the said ship, and that without payment of any house dues ; and to the
effect foresaid recommend to Lieutenant-General George Ramsay,
commander-in-chief of her Majesty's forces, to send upon the eighth day of
September instant at eight of the clock in the morning to the respective
tolbooths of Edinburgh, Canongate and Leith a sufficient and competent
number of men duly commanded to receive from the said magistrates and
keepers of their tolbooths the persons of the whole French prisoners in
their custody (except the said captain and his said two men), and carry them
to Leith and ship them aboard of Archibald Drummond's ship to be transported
to Newcastle, as said is.
Ibidem.
Edinburgh. 5th September, 1704.
Warrant for the Captain of the French Privateer last taken by
Captain Gordon to transport himself with the rest of the French Prisoners to
Newcastle.
The Lords of her Majesty's Privy Council appoint and ordain
Peter Aggatt, captain of the French privateer last taken by Captain Gordon,
to be shipped aboard of Archibald Drummond's ship and carried with the rest
of the French prisoners to Newcastle upon his giving sufficient security
under the penalty of one thousand pounds Scots that James Hyndeshaw, son to
Gilbert Hyndeshaw, one of the keepers of Edinburgh tolbooth, now prisoner in
Brest, shall be set at liberty and have a sufficient and valid pass with
free liberty to him to return to Scotland without trouble or molestation;
and upon the said captain his giving security, as said is, give order and
warrant to the keepers of the tolbooth of Edinburgh, to deliver him to any
having warrant from Lieutenant-General Ramsay to receive the French
prisoners and put them aboard, as said is, and if he fails recall the former
order appointing him to be shipped aboard and carried to Newcastle in
respect of the premises.
State Papers, Domestic, Naval (Entry Book), P.R.O.
Admiralty Office. 14th September, 1704.
Rt. Honourable,—We have received your letter of yesterday's
date, and according to your desire therein send you enclosed a copy of the
instructions which are given to the commanders of all her Majesty's ships
for their government in making the ships of foreign princes or states strike
in her Majesty's seas, and we are to acquaint you that we do not know of any
precedents of English men-of-war meeting with Scots men-of-war at sea.
We are Rt. Honourable,
Your most humble servants,
D. MITCHELL,
GEO. CHURCHILL,
J. BRYDGE.
Mr. Secretary Hedges.
State Papers (Scotland) Warrant Books, Vol. XX.
Her Majesty's Commission to
, Captain of the Ship the Nonsuch.
ANNE R.—Anne by the grace of God Queen of Scotland, England,
France and Ireland, Defender of the faith &c: To all and sundry Kings,
Princes, Dukes . . . [same as in commission to Captain John Stewart,
commander of the Alexander Gaily of Queensferry at p. 280] . . . to be
captain of the said ship Nonsuch of thirty tons burden or thereabouts and
carrying six pieces of ordnance ... [as at pp. 281-2]: And particularly you
are hereby injoined and required to keep an exact journal of your
proceedings, and therein to take notice of all prizes which shall be taken
by you, the nature of such prizes with the time and place of their being
taken and the value of them as near as you can judge, as also of the
station, motion and strength of the enemy as well as you can discover by the
best intelligence you can get : Of all which you are from time to time to
transmit an account to our Privy Council of our said kingdom or their
clerks, and to keep a correspondence with them by all opportunities that
shall present : Requesting you and everyone of you &c. [as at p. 283]. Given
under our royal hand and signet at our Court at St. James's the 5th day of
January 1704-5 and of our reign the third year.
By her Majesty's command,
ROXBURGHE.
[ John, Earl of .Roxburghe, was appointed Joint Secretary of State for
Scotland along with the Earl of Seafield on 17th October, 1704.—State
Papers (Scotland) Warrant Books, vol. xx, pp. 40 and 48].
Ibidem.
The Queen's Letter to the
Council recommending to them to give Proper Instructions to the. Captain of
the Nonsuch.
Anne
R.—Right trusty
and right well-beloved cousin and counsellor ... we greet you well. Whereas
we have granted commission to Captain commander of the ship Nonsuch, to fit
out to sea in warlike manner his said ship, and to take and apprehend the
ships and goods belonging to the French and Spanish Kings now at war with
us, and the ships and goods of their subjects and inhabitants in their
dominions and territories ; we therefore recommend to you to give the said
Captain such instructions of behaviour in the execution of
this our commission as are usual and proper in such cases ; and that you
cause him give security for his faithful observance of the same accordingly
: So we bid you heartily farewell. Given at our Court
at St. James's the 5th day of
January, 1704-5, and of our reign the 3rd year.
By her Majesty's command,
ROXBURGHE.
Historical MSS. Commission, Seafield MSS., Fourteenth Report,
App. Ill, p. 220. *[See
also State Papers {Scotland) Warrant Books, vol. xx, pp.
216-7. ]
M. Van Vrijberge, Dutch Ambassador at the English Court, to
Queen Anne.
That he had received instructions to request from her Majesty
the release of the vessel named the Catherine, belonging to James Meyers
merchant at Rotterdam. It had been returning from the Canaries laden with
wine, and though furnished with a passport of ' LL. HH. PP.' was seized
towards the end of August last by Captain Gordon and taken to Scotland. He
will not repeat the reasons urged on behalf of the owner, but he cannot
refrain from pointing out that the procedure of her Majesty's subjects in
Scotland seemed very rude, to pretend to maintain free trade with both the
enemies and the allies of her Majesty, and yet to seize this ship under safe
conduct. He therefore begs her Majesty to order the release of the Catherine
forthwith.
London. I7~28th January, 1705.
Minutes of the Privy Council of Scotland.
Edinburgh. 20th February, 1705.
Instructions to Captain Campbell.
By the Lords of her Majesty's most honourable Privy Council,
the instructions following are given to Captain Mathew Campbell, commander
of her Majesty's ship the
Dumbarton Castle in prosecution and for better executing his commission,
and to be by him punctually observed upon his peril.
1. You are to be in readiness and sail from New Port,
Glasgow, to the mouth of Clyde against the tenth day of March next to come,
wind and weather serving.
2. And from thence you are to cruise between the Isle
of Tarrie [Tory Is] and the Mull of Galloway, and from that the
length of Lambie Island near Dublin, and to take and have under your
protection and convoy all vessels and ships belonging to her Majesty's
subjects that shall fall in your way in that cruise, and conduct them safely
to their respective ports.
3. You are to defend yourself and ships
under your convoy against all her Majesty's enemies, whether
French or Spaniards, and all others with whom her Majesty is at
present engaged in war, who shall presume to attack you, to the utmost
of your power, and to endeavour by all your force to subdue them, and bring
them in as prize and to be declared such.
4. You are also, as you find occasion and
yourself in condition, to attack and set upon all her Majesty's
enemies, and endeavour by all your force to subdue them and seize
their ships and goods.
5. You are also to search all ships going to or
coming from France and Spain or any of the dominions belonging to the said
kingdoms, and if you find them carrying contraband goods to any enemies'
countries, to seize them, their ships and whole goods, and bring them in as
prize.
6. You are to observe the time of your cruising and
all other articles contained in your contract with the Lords of her
Majesty's Treasury.
7.
You are carefully from time to time to advise us of all that
occurs during your cruise.
Given at Edinburgh the twentieth day of February, 1705
years. (Sic subscribitur)
TWEEDDALE, Cancel., I.P.D.
Ibidem
Edinburgh. 8th March, 1705.
By the Lords of her Majesty's most honourable Privy Council
of Scotland.
The instructions following are given to Captain Thomas Gordon
commander of her Majesty's ship the Royal Mary, in prosecution and for
better executing of his commission, and to be by him punctually observed
upon his peril :—
1. You are immediately to sail to the northward, take
under your convoy all vessels bound that way, and carefully see each of them
safely into their respective harbours so far as Orkney. Then you
are to return and call along the coast for all vessels bound to the Firth.
2. If no vessels be ready to come out of harbours
when you call, you are to cruise ten days between Tynemouth[Usually
written as Tinmouth] Bar and Orkney, and call at Tynemouth what
vessels may be there bound to the Firth, whom you are carefully to see
within the Island of May. Then you are to return to the northward as
far as Orkney, and bring along with you all vessels who are ready.
3. At any time when you come to Leith road, if there be
any ships bound to London, you are carefully to see them the length of
Tynemouth Bar, and bring from thence all ships as you are appointed above,
all which you are to observe during the time the ship is kept in pay.
4.
You are carefully from time to time to advise us of all that
occurs during your cruise.
5. You are to defend yourself and all ships under
your convoy against all her Majesty's enemies, whether French
or Spanish and all others with whom her Majesty is at present
engaged in war, who shall presume to attack you, to the utmost of your
power, and to endeavour by all your force to subdue them and make and bring
them in as prize to be declared such.
6. You are also, as you find occasion and
yourself in condition, to attack and set upon all her Majesty's said
enemies, and endeavour by all your force to subdue them and seize their
ships and goods.
7. You are also to search all ships going to or
coming from France or Spain or any of the dominions belonging to the said
kingdoms, and if you find them carrying goods to any enemy's country, to
seize them, their ships and whole goods, and bring them in as prize.
8. If you find any of our allies who are now in war
with France and Spain trading to any of these kingdoms, isles or
dominions thereto belonging, you are to seize them and bring them in as
prize.
9. You are to keep exact journals of all that occurs
during your cruise and to observe the time of your cruising, and
all other articles contained in your contract with the Lords of her
Majesty's Treasury.
Given at Edinburgh, the eighth day of March, 1705
years. (Sic subscribitur)
TWEEDDALE, Cancellor, I.P.D.
Ibidem.
Edinburgh. 8th March, 1705.
Recommendation to General Ramsay to send Forces aboard the
Royal Mary.
The Lords of her Majesty's Privy Council do hereby recommend
to Lieutenant-General George Ramsay, commander-in-chief of her Majesty's
forces within this kingdom, to order the same officer, two sergeants, three
corporals and one drum and thirty-three soldiers, all the same as near as
possible that were on board her Majesty's ship the Royal Mary the last year,
to repair to Leith upon the 13th of March instant, and there to be shipped
aboard the said ship and man-of-war the Royal Mary, Captain Thomas Gordon,
commander, there to continue during his cruise.
Ibidem (resume).
Edinburgh. 12th March, 1705.
Complaint in a letter by the Council to the Secretary of
State of the conduct of the commander, Captain Hews, of H.M.S. the
Winchester, calling at the Forth to embark recruits for Holland, and
forcibly stopping and searching Scottish ships lying there, firing at them
if they refused to comply with his demands. The complaints of the skippers
are enclosed. On being sent for, the captain persistently refused to wait on
the Council, but sent his lieutenant, whom the Council retained for a time;
but on the captain declaring he would sail without the recruits the Council
sent him and some of the crew back and let him go.
Ibidem.
Edinburgh. 28th March, 1705.
Recommendation to write to Captain Campbell.
The Lord High Chancellor [The Earl of Seafield]
having received a letter from Captain Mathew Campbell, commander of
her Majesty's ship the Dumbarton Castle, and the same being by his Lordship
communicated to the Board and read in their presence, the said Lords do
hereby recommend to the Lord High Chancellor (in his Lordship's return2
to the foresaid letter) to appoint him to pursue his cruise, conform to his
instructions given to him by the said Lords of her Majesty's Privy Council,
how soon he hath brought up the ship mentioned in his letter to New Port,
Glasgow ; as also to appoint the said Captain Campbell to send in to the
Lord High Chancellor to be communicated to the Board a full information of
the grounds he hath for bringing up the said ship and of the documents
aboard her for seizing thereof.
State Papers (Scotland) Warrant Books, Vol. XX.
The Queen's Letter to the Lords Commissioners of Treasury
ordering the Ship Katherine of Rotterdam to be restored or her value, and
concerning Dutch ships to be seized.
ANNE R.—Right trusty ... we greet you well: Whereas, for
maintaining the good understanding that is between us and our allies the
States General of the United Provinces, we have mutually agreed that there
be no seizure or confiscation made of any ships of each nation trading to
France and Spain or their dominions notwithstanding of the present war, such
ships having passes for that end from their respective sovereigns, and have
also agreed that such ships as are already taken on either side be restored;
and understanding that there was brought into that our kingdom by Captain
Thomas Gordon the
ship Katherine of Rotterdam Captain commander, and condemned as lawful prize
in
our Court of Admiralty there, and which ship had the said States their
pass-—we therefore
authorise and require you to cause return to the said
Captain and his owners the value of the said ship
Katherine and cargo: And you are to make known to our subjects of that our
kingdom that all such as have suffered by such confiscations there, that
they are to have the like favour of our allies the States, and shall have
our royal protection and assistance in their claim of repetition from them.
So we bid you heartily farewell. Given at Court at St. James's the 7th day
of April, 1705, and of our reign the 4th year.
By her Majesty's command,
AL. WEDDERBURN.
Seafield Correspondence (Scottish History Society), p. 391.
London. 12th April, 1705.
For the Earl of Seafield.
My Lord,—. . . It was not my fault that the opinion of the
Privy Council was not waited for, before orders were given for restoring the
Dutch prize, but that being over the next thing necessary in that matter
seems to be the concerting speedily what passports will be sufficient for
securing our ships, or reclaiming them if they shall be taken into Holland.
. .
AL. WEDDERBURN.
Ibidem, pp. 407-8.
May it please Your Lordships, [The Scots Privy Council].—
. . . This is to advise you that in my station on the twenty-fifth of this
instant off Cape Kintyre about three in the morning I espyed a sail, and
after a chase from that time till nine of the clock at night I came up with
her and found her a French privateer, and after some small conflict she
surrendered, having killed his lieutenant and wounded several of his men.
She is a privateer of eight guns, sixty-two men—nothing else on board but
some few provisions and two ransomers, one for the Dublin packet boat, and
the other for a Greenock barque. Having come in here with the prize
and prisoners, I have sent this express to your Lordships to know what
further is to be done with the prize and prisoners. If they are to be
sent to Glasgow they can be securely sent there by the men I have on board,
I mean the prisoners. There is a necessity for haleing my ship ashore to be
cleaned, but I shall make all the dispatch I can to be ready to wait your
Lordship orders. I am at a considerable charge in maintaining the prisoners,
which I persuade myself your Lordships will have regard to.
I am . . .
Mathew Campbell.
Greenock Road, on board the Dumbarton. 28th May, 1705.
Minutes of the Privy Council of Scotland.
Holyrood House. 30th May, 1705.
Recommendation to the Commissioner[John, Duke of Argyle]
to write to the Queen anent French Prisoners.
The Lord High Commissioner having produced to the Board a
letter directed to his Grace from Captain Mathew Campbell, commander of her
Majesty's ship the Dumbarton Castle, giving an account that the said captain
had taken off the Cape of Kintyre a French privateer consisting of eight
guns and sixty-two men aboard her, and the same being read, the Lords of her
Majesty's Privy Council do hereby recommend to his Grace her Majesty's High
Commissioner to lay the same before her Majesty, that her Majesty in her
royal wisdom may give further directions how the prisoners shall be disposed
of, and whether the said prisoners shall be sent to or allowed to go into
England, and in that case that her Majesty may give orders to receive them,
or that the said prisoners may be set at liberty for returning to France
with their first convenience.
Warrant to Captain Campbell to transmit the French Prisoners
to Glasgow Tolbooth.
His
Grace her Majesty's High Commissioner and Lords of her Majesty's Privy
Council appoint and ordain Captain Mathew Campbell, commander of her
Majesty's ship the Dumbarton Castle, to conduct and carry the crew of the
French privateer taken by him prisoners safely to Glasgow, and deliver them
to the magistrates of the said burgh to be by them detained prisoners in
their tolbooth till further orders, and to transmit to the Council the
documents and instructions aboard the said ship for declaring her prize.
Warrant to the Magistrates of Glasgow to receive and Aliment
the French Prisoners.
His Grace her Majesty's High Commissioner and Lords of her
Majesty's Privy Council do hereby appoint and ordain the magistrates of
Glasgow to receive from Captain Mathew Campbell, commander of her Majesty's
ship the Dumbarton Castle, the crew of the French privateer lately taken by
the said captain, and to keep and detain them in sure frrmance till further
orders of Council thereanent, and to maintain and aliment them as follows,
viz., the captain at ten shillings Scots a day, the mate at six shillings
Scots a day, and each of the rest of the crew at four shillings Scots a day,
and recommend to the Lords Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury to cause
repayment thereof to be made to the said magistrates accordingly.
Ibidem.
Holyrood House. 30th May, 1705.
Warrant to continue the Cruise of the two Frigates.
His Grace her Majesty's High Commissioner and Lords of her
Majesty's Privy Council do hereby recommend to the Lords Commissioners of
her Majesty's Treasury to continue the cruise of her Majesty's two frigates
the Royal Mary and the Dumbarton Castle, commanded by Captain Thomas
Gordon and Captain Mathew Campbell, till the tenth day of July next to
come, with and under the instructions formerly given to them.
Ibidem.
Holyrood House. 12th June, 1705.
Warrant to the Magistrates of Glasgow to liberate the Captain
of a French Privateer from Prison.
His Grace her Majesty's High Commissioner and the Lords of
her Majesty's Privy Council do hereby give order and warrant to the
magistrates of Glasgow to set the captain of the French privateer lately
taken by Captain Mathew Campbell at liberty forth of their tolbooth, with
liberty to him to go up and down the said town of Glasgow and two miles
round the same, upon his giving his parole of honour that he shall keep and
not exceed the bounds of his said confinement till further orders of Council
thereanent.
Ibidem.
Holyrood House. 19th June, 1705.
Act dismissing the French Prisoners.
Anent the petition given in and presented to his Grace John
Duke of Argyll, her Majesty's High Commissioner, and remanent Lords of her
Majesty's Privy Council by the magistrates and merchants of the town of
Aberdeen, shewing that where three ships belonging to the town of Aberdeen
had lately unfortunately happened to be seized by the French and Ostenders
in their voyage homeward bound from Campheir to Scotland,
and seeing that Captain Gordon and Captain Campbell, commanders of two of
her Majesty's ships, have also each of them seized a French or Ostender
privateer, and that the good treatment of the Scots men taken doth depend
upon what treatment the French or Ostenders meet with here, and that the
detaining the Scots long in France may contribute very much to the hindrance
of our trade and the detaining of the seamen, whereas the setting of the
French at liberty upon their enacting themselves to procure the same favour
to Scots prisoners and giving a declaration under their hands of their good
treatment here may procure the same favour to those seized in the ships
belonging to the said town of Aberdeen, and therefore craving to the effect
aftermentioned, as the said petition bears, his Grace her Majesty's High
Commissioner and Lords of her Majesty's Privy Council, having considered the
petition given in to them by the magistrates and merchants of the town of
Aberdeen, and the same being read in their presence, his Grace and the said
Lords do hereby appoint and ordain the prisoners taken aboard the Ostend
privateer commanded by Jean Sable, captain, and taken by Captain Thomas
Gordon, commander of the Royal Mary, to be instantly dismissed and set at
liberty, upon the said captain and prisoners their giving a declaration
subscribed under their hand that they were taken aboard the said Ostend
privateer and were instantly dismissed, as said is, in expectation that the
subjects of this kingdom who are or shall be taken prisoners in France or
the Spanish Netherlands shall be used and treated in the like manner.
Seafield Correspondence (Scottish History Society), p. 412.
For the Earl of Seafield Lord Chancellor.
My Lord,—. . . I shall observe what your Lordship directs
concerning the French prisoners taken by Captain Campbell, and by next post
shall, I hope, receive her Majesty's commands and transmit them to your
Lordship. . . .
DAVID NAIRNE. [Sir David Nairne
was appointed Under Secretary of State for Scotland early in 1703. He was
superseded on 10th June, 1704. On 2nd May, 1705, he was appointed
Secretary-Depute.—State Papers (Scotland) Warrant Books, vol. xxi.]
Whitehall. 19th June, 1705.
Ibidem, pp. 412-3.
For the Earl of Seafield Lord Chancellor.
My Lord,—I told your Lordship in my last that I should by
this day receive her Majesty's commands concerning the French prisoners
taken by Captain Campbell, and accordingly I went to Windsor for that end,
and am just returned. She was pleased to ask me if any such case had
occurred before. I told her Majesty that there had, when I had the honour
formerly to serve, [ On 10th June, 1704, a warrant was issued to Al.
Wedderburn, on the narrative that the Queen had laid aside Sir David Nairne,
to officiate as Under Secretary in the absence of the Secretary of State for
Scotland.—State Papers (Scotland) Warrant Books, vol. xx.] and that
then I was commanded to attend the Secretary of State here and the
Commissioners of transportation, who took the same method of exchanging as
with those taken and brought to any remote part of England or in Ireland;
and thus her Majesty has ordered me to apply again, which I shall do the
morrow, and I doubt not but they will do as they did before. In the meantime
I believe they will expect a more particular account, for your Lordship
neither tells the number nor the several station or ranks, which I remember
your Lordship did formerly, and it was demanded by the Commissioners of
transportation. As for the expense of keeping them, my Lord Treasurer[Lord
Godolphin].
was pleased to tell me that those who were exchanged for them were to
balance it, but whether the sum will be so considerable as to oblige anybody
to solicit for it I know not. . . .
David Nairne.
Whitehall. 21st June, 1705.
Ibidem, p. 414.
For the Earl of Seafield Lord Chancellor.
My Lord,— . . . Sir Charles Hedges has concerted the
exchange of the prisoners there with the Commissioners here, who have agreed
to receive them at Newcastle as them did the former; and the Commissioners
want only now to adjust with the Admiralty concerning the ships who are to
receive them, and which they assure me shall be done in time for me to
advise of it against next post. . . .
David Nairne.
Whitehall. 23rd June, 1705.
Ibidem, pp. 415-6.
For the Earl of Seafield.
My Lord,— . . . The country expects the Parliament will take
into consideration the guarding our coasts, so much infested at present by
privateers of such numbers and force that Captain Gordon alone is not able
to deal with them; and as he hath done very good service already and saved
much money to the nation, so if he had the Royal William added (for which
the Parliament should give a fund) he would act a great deal more for the
honour of the nation, as well as the safety of its trade. . . .
Jo. Buchan. [Colonel John Buchan
was a brother of the Jacobite General who was defeated at Cromdale.]
Carnebulg [Aberdeenshire]. 25th June, 1705.
Ibidem, pp. 419-20.
For the Earl of Seafield Lord Chancellor.
My Lord,— . . . My Lord Treasurer thinks it will make a great
noise here, and may be of ill consequence the letting these prisoners be
dismissed that were taken by Captain Gordon with the Duke of Bavaria's
commission. It would have been yet better if they had been the sailors of a
merchant, but a privateer is an open offensive enemy, and to think that the
French will dismiss any prisoners of the Queen's subjects, when they have
not enough to exchange for their own, is much to be doubted. I told what
your Lordship said for the doing it, but I find it does not satisfy, and the
less that, upon the first application here, care was taken to ease the Queen
of those prisoners taken by Captain Campbell. I wish that this method may
not make the Commissioners here distinguish between Scots and English in the
exchange hereafter, which they never did hitherto.
David Nairne.
Whitehall. 28th June, 1705.
State Papers Domestic, Naval (Entry Book), P.R.O.
Extract of a letter from Colonel Villiers dated Tynemouth
Castle, 3rd July,
1705.
I received your order for to receive such prisoners as should
be sent from Scotland, and to deliver them to the commander-in-chief of the
convoy for the colliers, that he may carry them to the Nore ; and I hearing
that there was some taken up at Newcastle so I sent yesterday to Newcastle
to the Commissioners of the sick and woundeds' deputy who hath 34 prisoners
in his custody at Newcastle, which he will send me down this morning, and I
will deliver them to the commander of the convoy to the Nore. There was
about ten more of them that have made their escape. They were not sent as
prisoners from Scotland, but had passes, and I have here enclosed a copy of
one of the passes.
Copy of the Pass.
To all whom it may concern,
These are to certify that Gerard Van Stable, Pieter Van
Stable, Francais Roderigo, Dominicus Pintifliur were belonging to the St.
Trinity, a privateer of Ostend, Captain Jean Sable commander, taken by me
aboard her Majesty's ship the Royal Mary, her Majesty's High Commissioner
and the Right Honourable the Lords of her Majesty's Privy Council having
thought fit to give them liberty to go home or where they please, it is
desired that they may go in pursuit of their voyage homeward without
hindrance or molestation. Given under my hand and seal aboard her Majesty's
ship the Royal Mary in Leith road 20th June, 1705.
Thomas Gordon.
Ibidem.
Admiralty Office. 6th July, 1705.
Sir,—Having received a letter from Colonel Villiers, governor
of Tynemouth, touching French prisoners at war travelling from Scotland to
Newcastle with passes, I am commanded by the Prince to send you an extract
of his said letter together with a copy of the pass to be laid before the
Right Honourable Mr. Secretary Hedges.
I am, Sir, Your most humble servant,
J. BURCHETT.
Seafield Correspondence (Scottish History Society), pp.
421-2.
For the Earl of Seafield Lord Chancellor.
My Lord,— ... I wrote to your Lordship formerly of the
inconveniency of letting those prisoners loose about the country, who were
taken by Captain Gordon, and the copy herewith of a letter wrote to the
Committee for exchange of prisoners, and which they showed to me, will show
your Lordship the hazards that the poor men themselves run. They might have
been indeed sent away without formal treaties for ransome, as they do here
with the Ostenders, but to let them run loose in the country may be a means
to get them knocked down by every country fellow that has an aversion to a
Frenchman. . . .
David Nairne.
Whitehall. 7th July, 1705.
Minutes of the Privy Council of Scotland (resume).
Holyrood House. 1st August, 1705.
Warrants issued by the Council to the magistrates of Glasgow
to release the French prisoners ; to General George Ramsay,
commander-in-chief of H.M. forces, to send soldiers to Glasgow to receive
them and convey them to the tolbooths of Canongate and Leith ; and to the
magistrates of the Canongate and Leith, and the keepers of their tolbooths
to receive the said Frenchmen, and detain them till further orders.
Correspondence of Colonel Nathaniel Hooke
(Roxburghe Club).
While I stayed with my Lady Erroll, our frigate [the
Audacious] was within musket shot of the castle. The day after my arrival
Mr. Gordon captain of a Scotch frigate commissioned to guard the coast
appeared in the southward. My Lady Erroll bid me be under no apprehensions,
and sent a gentleman in a cutter to desire the captain to take another
course, with which he complied. This lady has gained him over, and as often
as he passes and repasses that way he takes care to give her notice. I have
brought with me one of his letters as a proof of his good disposition. Since
that time there are signals agreed upon between him and Mr. Carron,[Commander
of the French ship Audacious.] that they may avoid each other.
Ibidem.
Off Aberdeen, 11th August, 1705.
Letter to Lady Erroll.
Right Honourable Madam,—Unexpectedly I passed the Slains
[Slains Castle, on the east coast of Aberdeenshire, the seat of the Earl of
Erroll and Lady Erroll.] this morning before day with some vessels
under my convoy bound to Leith. From thence I design for Newcastle. If your
Ladyship has any service for me there, honour me with your commands, which
shall be punctually observed. It'll be fourteen days before I return to the
north. I shall trouble your Ladyship with an account of my coming ere I part
from Leith. Your Ladyship's most obliged and most humble servant,
Thomas Gordon.
Hooke gives a List of the Signals between Captain Gordon '
commanding the ship and M. Carron at the Slains in August,
1705, by the Countess of Err oil's
means.'
Carron shall hoist a Holland ensign at the main topmast head
(the main top-sail half mast down) and a Scots ensign at the mizen. Captain
Gordon shall answer by hoisting the Scots ensign at the main topmast head
(his main top-sail half mast down) and a Holland ensign to the mizen
peak—and he shall not inquire after, pursue or concern himself with any such
ship.
Minutes 0f the Privy Council of Scotland.
Holyrood House. 5th September, 1705.
Sailing Orders to Captain Gordon.
His Grace her Majesty's High Commissioner and Lords of her
Majesty's Privy Council do hereby command and ordain Captain Thomas Gordon,
commander of her Majesty's frigate the Royal Mary to sail forthwith and with
all speed, wind and weather serving, from Leith to Newcastle, and to take
under his convoy the ship belonging to Tait, hired by the Lords
Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury for transporting and carrying the
French prisoners for present in the tolbooths of Canongate and Leith, and
there and at the said port to deliver the said prisoners to the Lord Mayor
of Newcastle or to any other person or persons having her Majesty's warrant
for receiving of them ; and upon the said Captain Gordon's arrival there his
Grace and the said Lords do hereby appoint and ordain to intimate these his
orders to the said Lord Mayor and aldermen of Newcastle, or any others
having orders and warrant for receiving the said prisoners : And his Grace
and the said Lords do hereby appoint and ordain the said Captain Gordon to
return from Newcastle to the mouth of Forth, and to bring under his convoy
such Scots ships as are homeward bound there, and conduct them safe within
the Island [of] May ; and thereafter appoint and ordain him to prosecute his
cruise northward, and call at all the harbours and seaport towns for ships
bound to Leith, and receive them under his convoy thither.
Order to the Magistrates of Canongate and Leith to deliver
French Prisoners to Captain Gordon.
His Grace her Majesty's High Commissioner and Lords of her
Majesty's Privy Council do hereby appoint and ordain the whole French
prisoners, who are lying in the tolbooths of Canongate and Leith, except
the master and nine of his men who are to continue in prison aye and until
Sir John Shaw's men that are prisoners in France be set at liberty, and have
a sufficient and valid passport to return home, and that the same be
notified to the Privy Council, and also except La Grandure and La Peine, two
of the said prisoners who, by former ordinance of Council are appointed to
be set at liberty, to be shipped aboard of Tait his ship lying at Leith to
be by him carried to Newcastle, and for that effect appoint and ordain the
magistrates of Canongate and Leith and keepers of their tolbooths to deliver
the persons of the whole French prisoners in their custody and tolbooths,
excepting as above, to Captain Thomas Gordon, commander of her Majesty's
frigate the Royal Mary or to those having his orders to receive them off
their hands, and put them aboard the said ship and that without payment of
any house dues ; and appoint and ordain the said magistrates to keep and
detain the said master and his nine men in their tolbooths aye and until
further orders of Council thereanent.
Ibidem (resume).
Holyrood House. 8th September, 1705.
Mitchell Godett, captain of the French privateer taken by
Captain Mathew Campbell, commander of H.M. ship, the Dumbarton "Castle,
having represented that he and nine of his men are ordained to be kept in
prison until John Adams, master, Patrick Mudie, John Carr, John McKearie,
James Shearer, William Ritchie, Robert Crone, Archibald Miller, William
Rodger and Mathew Scott, all Scotsmen, now prisoners in Dinan in France, be
set at liberty, with a passport to return home, and that he is desirous to
return to France to effect this, promising also either to accomplish their
release or to return and re-enter as a prisoner in Scotland within three
months, the Council grant him their passport under their cachet to proceed
to France for this end.
The Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, Vol. XI, p. 244.
8th September, 1705.
Moved that another month's supply be granted for payment,
inter alia, for outrigging her Majesty's ship the Royal William, and for
maintaining two birlines to be kept upon the West coast for preventing the
importation of Irish victual and other prohibited goods. . . . Carried
approve . . .
Ibidem.
8th September, 1705.
Ordered that the royal burghs outrig the frigates and two
birlines with all convenience, and recommended to the Lords of Treasury to
assign so much of the said month's supply as shall be disbursed by them for
these ends, as also recommended to the Lords of Treasury to assign so much
of the said month's supply to the above persons as will satisfy the
respective sums granted to them by the Parliament; and the Act of Supply
having received some other amendments it was put to the vote : Approve the
Act or not, and carried approved.
Minutes of the Privy Council of Scotland.
Holyrood House. 26th September, 1705.
Sailing Orders to Captain Gordon.
His Grace, her Majesty's High Commissioner, and Lords of her
Majesty's Privy Council do hereby give order and warrant to Captain Thomas
Gordon, commander of her Majesty's ship the Royal Mary, forthwith and
without delay to sail from the road of Leith to Tynemouth, and receive under
his convoy such Scots ships as are outward bound thither, and conduct them
safe to the said port, and appoint and ordain the said Captain Thomas Gordon
immediately to return and bring under his convoy such Scots ships as are
homeward bound, and conduct them safe within the Island of May ; and
recommend the said Captain Gordon to the Lords Commissioners of her
Majesty's Treasury for his payment accordingly.
Ibidem.
Holyrood House. 2nd October, 1705.
Warrant to Captain Gordon to sail to Scarborough.
His Grace her Majesty's High Commissioner, arid Lords of her
Majesty's Privy Council do hereby permit and allow Captain Thomas Gordon,
commander of her Majesty's frigate the Royal Mary, to sail from Tynemouth
to Scarborough in case the ships that he is to convoy from Tynemouth within
the Island [of] May be not come that length.
State Papers (Scotlard) Warrant Books, Vol. XXI, No. 110.
Commission to Captain Thomas Gordon to be Commander of the
ship Royal William.
Anne R.—Anne by the grace of God Queen of Scotland, England,
France, and Ireland, Defender of the faith etc : To our trusty and
well-beloved Captain Thomas Gordon greeting. We do by these presents
constitute and appoint you to be commander of our ship the Royal William;
willing and requiring you forthwith to go on board and take upon you the
charge and command of captain in her accordingly, charging strictly and
commanding all the officers, seamen and soldiers belonging to the said ship,
to behave themselves in their several stations and employments with all
respect and obedience unto you their said captain : And you are likewise to
observe and execute as well the instructions herewith to you delivered by
our Privy Council of our said kingdom of Scotland, as what further orders
and directions you shall from time to time receive from us or them or any
other your superior officer for our service wherein you are not to fail, as
you will answer the contrary at your peril. And for your so doing these
presents, being recorded in the books of our Privy Council and to continue
until recalled, shall be to you a sufficient warrant. Given under our royal
hand and signet at our Court at St. James's the 7th day of November, 1705,
and of our reign the 4th year.
By her Majesty's command,
MAR. [John, Earl of Mar, was
appointed Joint Secretary of State for Scotland on 29th September, 1705.
He led the Jacobites in 1715]
Ibidem.
Commission to James Hamilton of Orbieston younger, to be
commander of the ship the Royal Mary. Given at St. James's the 7th day of
November, 1705, and of her Majesty's reign the 4th year.
MAR.
Minutes 0f the Privy Council of Scotland (resume).
Edinburgh. 13th December, 1705.
Captain Godet having, according to his promise, obtained the
release of the Scotsmen imprisoned in France, the Lords on the petition of
Julian Godet, Pieter Bonhomme and other six French prisoners kept as
hostages, and on receipt of a certificate signed by John Baptista Lempereur,
one of the French King's councillors, commissioner of marine affairs and
governor in the jurisdiction of St. Malo, that the Scotsmen have been
released, they appoint the magistrates of Canongate and Leith to set the
French prisoners at liberty without payment of any house dues ; and grant
them their protection to take them home.
State Papers (Scotland) Warrant Books, Vol. XXI, No. 139.
Commission to [See
commission dated 12th March, 1706, to David Prescio.] to
be first Lieutenant of the Ship Royal William.
Anne R.—Anne by the grace of God Queen of Scotland, England,
France, and Ireland, Defender of the faith &c : To our trusty and
well-beloved greeting. We do by these
presents constitute and appoint you to be first lieutenant of our ship the
Royal William, willing and requiring you forthwith to go on board and take
upon you the charge and command of first lieutenant in her accordingly,
charging strictly and commanding all the officers, seamen and soldiers
belonging to the said ship to behave themselves in their several stations
and employments with all respect and obedience unto you their said first
lieutenant, as you are likewise to observe and execute as well the
instructions herewith delivered unto you by our Privy Council of Scotland,
as what further orders and directions you shall from time to time receive
from us or them, or any other your superior officer for our service, wherein
you are not to fail as you will
answer the contrary at
your peril: And for your so doing these presents being recorded in the books
of our Privy Council, and to continue until recalled, shall be to you a
sufficient warrant. Given under our royal hand and signet at our Court at
St. James's the 22nd day of December, 1705, and of our reign the 4th year.
By her Majesty's command,
LOUDOUN. [ Hugh, Earl of Loudoun,
was appointed Joint Secretary of State for Scotland with the Marquess of
Annandale in June 1705.]
Ibidem, Vol. XXI, No. 140.
   Commissions[Completed
on 12th March, 1706.] [in same form as the above No.139]
to to be second lieutenant of the Royal William ;
to to be first lieutenant of the Royal Mary;
to to be second lieutenant of the Royal Mary ; to to be
first lieutenant of the Dumbarton Castle; to to be
second lieutenant of the Dumbarton Castle.
All these five commissions were passed and dated at St.
James's the 22nd of December, 1705, and of her Majesty's reign the 4th year.
By her Majesty's command,
LOUDOUN.
Ibidem, Vol. XXI, No. 160.
The Queen's letter to the Lords of Treasury ordering the
Royal William to be fitted out.
Anne R.—Right trusty ... we greet you well. Whereas for
preventing the importation of Irish victual and other prohibited goods our
Parliament last sessions gave a fund for outrigging our ship the Royal
William and ordered that the royal burghs should outrig the frigates and
birlines with all conveniency, and recommended to the Lords of our Treasury
to assign so much to them of the said fund as shall be disbursed by them for
that end, notwithstanding of which order in Parliament we are informed that
the royal burghs do decline to advance what money is necessary for the
foresaid purposes : And We taking into our royal consideration how
necessary it is for true security of trade that the said ship be speedily
outrigged and sent to sea, and that seeing the royal burghs, as being the
chief traders, will reap the greatest benefit thereby, we think it most
just and reasonable that they should advance what money is necessary for
that effect in pursuance of the order of Parliament : Therefore it is our
will and pleasure, and we hereby authorise and require you to call the
royal burghs and signify this our pleasure to them, and that we expect
their ready compliance therewith; and on their so doing, you are to
assign to them so much of the month's supply granted by Parliament for the
above uses, as shall be disbursed by them for those ends. But if they
refuse, you are to acquaint us therewith, that we may give such further
orders as are necessary thereanent. For doing of which this shall be your
warrant. So we bid you heartily farewell. Given at our
Court at St. James's the 31st day of January, 1705-6, and of our reign the
4th year.
By her Majesty's command,
MAR.
State Papers, Domestic, Naval (Entry Book), P.R.O.
At the Court at Kensington, the 14th of February, 1705-6.
Present: The Queen's most Excellent Majesty in Council.
Upon reading this day at the Board a memorial from the
Council of his Royal Highness, Prince George of Denmark, Lord High Admiral
in the words following viz. :
' There being reason to apprehend that there will be want of
men to enable the fleet to proceed timely to sea the next year as the
service may require it, we do by virtue of the power and authority given us
by his Royal Highness humbly propose unto her Majesty that she will be
pleased to recommend it to the Government of Scotland to provide and send to
Leith to be put on board the ships of war and other vessels, as will be to
that purpose ordered thither, such a number of able seamen as can be got in
that kingdom for the service of her Majesty's fleet by or before the 15th of
April next.'
The old bounty money, forty shillings, recommended to be
paid to each able seaman sent by the Council of Scotland.
Same approved.
Ibidem (resume).
On 23rd February, 1705-6, J. Burchett writes from the
Admiralty Office inquiring of Mr. Secretary Hedges ' what directions are
given or measures taken in relation to the getting seamen from Scotland in
order to his Highness sending ships and money thither, according as was done
the last time men were had from thence.'
Minutes of the Privy Council of Scotland.
Edinburgh. 7th March, 1706.
Sailing Orders for Captain Thomas Gordon.
By the Lords of her Majesty's most honourable Privy Council
of the kingdom of Scotland, the instructions following are given to Captain
Thomas Gordon, commander of her Majesty's ship the Royal William, and
commander of the Scots frigates, in prosecution and for better executing of
his commission, and to be by him punctually observed upon his peril.
First, you are at and against the first day of April next to
come to sail from the road of Leith to the northward in company with the
Royal Mary, commanded by Captain James Hamilton, who is to receive orders
from you from time to time as commodore, and take under your convoy all
vessels bound that way, and carefully see each of them safe into their
respective harbours so far as Orkney. Then you are to return and call along
the coast for all vessels bound to the Firth.
Secondly, if no vessels be ready to come out of harbours when
you call, you are to cruise ten days between Tynemouth Bar and Orkney, and
call at Tynemouth for what vessels may be there bound for the Firth, whom
you are carefully to see within the Island of May. Then you are to return to
the northward as far as Orkney and bring along with you all vessels that are
ready.
Thirdly, at any time when you come to Leith road, if there be
ships bound for London you are carefully to see them the length of Tynemouth
Bar and bring from thence all ships as you are appointed above, all which
you are to observe during the time the ship is kept in pay.
Fourthly, you are carefully from time to time to advise us of
all that occurs during your cruise.
Fifthly, you are to defend yourself and all ships under your
convoy against all her Majesty's enemies, whether French or
Spanish, and all others with whom her Majesty is at present engaged in
war, who shall presume to attack you, to the utmost of your power, and to
endeavour by all your force to subdue them and make and bring them in as
prize to be declared such.
Sixthly, you are also, as you find occasion and yourself in
condition, to attack and set up all her Majesty's said enemies and endeavour
by all your force to subdue them and seize their ships and goods.
Seventhly, you are also to search all ships going to or
coming from France or Spain or any of the dominions belonging to the said
kingdoms, and if you find them carrying contraband goods to any enemy's
country, to seize them, their ships and whole goods, and bring them in as
prize.
Eighthly, you are to keep exact journals of all that occurs
during your cruise, and to observe the time of your cruising, and all other
articles contained in your contract with the Lords of her Majesty's
Treasury.
Given at Edinburgh the 7th day of March, 1706.
Sailing Orders and Instructions for Captain Mathew Campbell.
By the Lords of her Majesty's most honourable Privy Council
of the kingdom of Scotland the instructions following are given to Captain
Mathew Campbell, commander of her Majesty's ship the Dumbarton Castle, in
prosecution and for better executing of his commission, and to be by him
punctually observed upon his peril.
First, you are to be in readiness and sail from New Port
Glasgow to the mouth of Clyde against the fifteenth day of March
instant wind and weather serving.
Secondly, and from thence you are to cruise between the Isle
of Tarrie and the Mull of Galloway, and from that the length of Lambie
Island near Dublin, and to take and have under your protection and convoy
all vessels and ships belonging to her Majesty's subjects that shall fall in
your way in that cruise, and conduct them safely to their respective ports.
Thirdly, &c. as in the instructions fifthly-eighthly given to
Captain Gordon.
Given at Edinburgh this seventh day of March, 1706.
Ibidem.
Edinburgh. 7th March, 1706.
Sailing Orders and Instructions for Captain James Hamilton.
By the Lords of her Majesty's most honourable Privy Council
of the kingdom of Scotland, the instructions following are given to Captain
James Hamilton, commander of her Majesty's ship the Royal Mary in
prosecution and for better executing his commission, and to be by him
punctually observed upon his peril.
First you are at and against the fourteenth day of March
instant to sail from the road of Leith to the northward and take under your
convoy all vessels bound that way, and carefully to see each of them safe
into their harbours so far as Orkney. Then you are to return, between and
the first day of April next to come, to the road of Leith, wind and weather
serving, at which time you are to go northward in company with the Royal
William, commanded by Captain Thomas Gordon, and to receive orders from him
from time to time as commander ; and in your first return to the road of
Leith you are to call along the coast for vessels bound to the Firth.
Secondly &c, as in Captain Gordon's instructions.
Given at Edinburgh the seventh day of March, 1706.
Ibidem.
Edinburgh. 12th March, 1706.
Act appointing the Officers of the Scots Frigates to take the
Oaths.
The Lords of her Majesty's Privy Council do hereby appoint
the captains, lieutenants and masters of the Scots frigates to qualify
themselves to her Majesty by swearing the oath of allegiance and subscribing
the same with the assurance before a privy councillor.
Ibidem (resume).
Edinburgh. 12th March, 1706.
Commissions to David Prescio to be lieutenant of H.M. Ship,
the Royal William ; to William Hay to be lieutenant of the Royal Mary; to
George Milne to be master of the Royal William ; and to Patrick Hay to be
master of the Royal Mary, in the usual form, all dated 12th March, 1706.
Ibidem.
Edinburgh. 12th March, 1706.
Warrant for putting a party of soldiers aboard the Royal
William.
The Lords of her Majesty's Privy Council do hereby recommend
to David, Earl of Leven, [David, second son of George, Earl of Melvill,
succeeded on the death of the Duke of Rothes (27th July, 1681) as third Earl
of Leven. He fought in Scotland and in Ireland on the Revolution side, and
afterwards served in Flanders. In 1703 he was promoted Major-General. In
March, 1706, he was appointed Lieutenant-General and Commander-in-Chief in
Scotland. On his father's death, in 1707, the two earldoms were conjoined in
him.] commander-in-chief of her Majesty's forces within this kingdom,
to order a party of forty-two sentinels (good and sufficient men) duly
commanded by one officer, with three sergeants, three corporals and one
drum, to repair to Burntisland upon the last day of March instant, and there
to be shipped aboard her Majesty's ship and man-of-war the Royal William,
Captain Thomas Gordon, commander, there to continue during his cruise.
Warrant for putting a party of soldiers aboard the Dumbarton
Castle.
The Lords of her Majesty's Privy Council do hereby recommend
to David, Earl of Leven, commander-in-chief of her Majesty's forces within
this kingdom, to order a party of twenty foot sentinels (good and sufficient
men) duly commanded by one officer, with a sergeant, two corporals and one
drum, to repair to New Port Glasgow, upon the day of March
instant, and there to be shipped aboard her Majesty's ship and man-of-war
the Dumbarton Castle, Captain Mathew Campbell, commander, there to continue
during his cruise.
Ibidem.
Captain Hamilton qualified to her Majesty.
Oath of allegiance sworn and the same with the assurance
signed by Captain James Hamilton, captain of the Royal Mary, and William
Hay, his lieutenant, and Patrick Hay, master of the said ship, in presence
of her Majesty's Advocate ; and the same being reported to the Council was
appointed to be recorded and put up among the oaths.
Ibidem.
Edinburgh. 12th March, 1706.
Letter from the Queen for Levying Seamen.
Letter from her Majesty to the Council anent listing of
seamen to serve aboard her Majesty's Royal Navy read and ordered to be
recorded. The Council recommend to Sir James Steuart, her Majesty's
Advocate, to draw a proclamation in the terms of the foresaid letter and
former proclamations of Council anent levying of seamen for serving her
Majesty in the English fleet.
(Sic suprascribitur) Anne R.—Right trusty and right
well-beloved cousin and councillor, &c, we greet you well. Whereas we have
ordered one of our men-of-war to convoy what Scots ships are now here into
the road of Leith, and having great occasion at this time for seamen, we
have given directions to the captain of our said man-of-war to lie some days
in Leith road and to receive what seamen will voluntarily enter themselves
to serve in our Royal Navy, and for their encouragement we have ordered
forty shillings sterling to be paid to each seaman at his entry, and from
that time they shall have the same pay and entertainment that our English
seamen do receive ; therefore it is our will and pleasure and we recommend
to your care to fall upon such methods as you judge proper for giving notice
to all seamen, that such as are willing to enter into our service on board
our fleet may know where to go and list themselves, and you are to give all
other encouragement and assistance to our said captain for raising seamen
that may be consistent with the laws of that our ancient kingdom, giving
always special orders for preventing abuses and disorders in making these
levies. We have taken care to have our orders to our Admiralty for
prohibiting all press masters to press or seize any seamen on board any
ships belonging to Scotland duly observed. We doubt not of your care of what
we recommend to you, and so we bid you heartily farewell. Given at our Court
at Kensington the 27th day of February, 1705-6, and of our reign the 4th
year.
By her Majesty's command
(sicsubscribitur),
Loudoun.
Ibidem.
Edinburgh. 20th March, 1706.
Act for a voluntary Levy of Seamen.
The Lords of her Majesty's Privy Council in prosecution of
her Majesty's letter directed to them on the 27th of February last, and
making mention that one of her men-of-war sent for convoy into the road of
Leith is to lie some days there and to receive what seamen will voluntarily
enter themselves to serve in the Royal Navy, who for their encouragement are
to have forty shillings sterling each seaman at his entry, and from that
time the same pay and entertainment that her Majesty's English seamen do
receive, and therefore recommending to their Lordships' care to fall upon
such methods as they judge proper for giving notice to all seamen, that such
as are willing to enter into her Majesty's service on board her fleet may
know where to go and list themselves, and to give all other encouragement
and assistance to the captain of the said man-of-war for raising seamen that
may be consistent with the laws of the kingdom, giving always special order
for preventing abuses and disorders in making these levies, do therefore
hereby ordain the magistrates of the respective burghs and sea-towns within
the firths of Scotland or elsewhere upon any of the coasts thereof, or any
other person having warrant from the said captain to beat drums within their
said burghs and sea-towns for intimating to all able seamen who voluntarily
of their own free consent, given before a magistrate attesting the same, are
willing to serve aboard her Majesty's fleet, that they repair to Leith
between and the first day of May next to come, and there offer themselves to
the said captain or any he shall appoint, upon payment to be made to each
of the said seamen of forty shillings sterling of free bounty and levy money
before their going aboard of the said man-of-war, and the said captain his
engaging that they shall be received into her Majesty's service aboard her
fleet, and shall have the same pay and entertainment with her English
seamen. And the said Lords of Council ordain all magistrates and others
within the burghs and sea-towns foresaid to give their concurrence to the
said captain and such as shall be employed by him for securing the persons
of the said seamen, who shall willingly engage and receive payment in manner
foresaid upon the said captain's proper charges and expenses : And the said
Lords do hereby strictly prohibit and discharge all disorders or abuses to
be committed in making the said voluntary levy, but that all concerned keep
themselves within the bounds and rules of law, recommending to the committee
of Council for pressed men to hear and redress summarily all complaints that
shall be made to them in the said matter.
Ibidem.
Edinburgh. 4th June, 1706.
Recommendation to the Lord Advocate to write for Convoys to
Scots Ships in the Baltic.
Sir Robert Forbes[Clerk to the Scots Privy Council. He
was also a Judge of the Admiralty Court of Scotland from 30th November,
1699.— State Papers (Scotland) Warrant Books, vols. xvii and xx.]
having represented to the Board that he had received a letter from several
skippers and masters of ships at Danzig desiring application to be made to
the Council for a warrant to Captain Gordon and Captain Hamilton, commanders
of the two Scots frigates, to come sometime in June to Gothenburg to convoy
home twenty-five or thirty Scots ships from thence, and the said letter
being read, the Lords of her Majesty's Privy Council do hereby recommend to
Sir James Steuart, her Majesty's Advocate, to prepare and bring in to the
Council next Council day a letter from their Lordships to the Secretaries of
State to be laid before her Majesty, entreating that her Majesty will be
pleased to order two English frigates to go in company with one of the Scots
frigates to Gothenburg, and to convoy from thence such Scots ships as are
there and ready to sail, and to see them safely within the Scots firth.
Ibidem.
Edinburgh. 6th June, 1706.
Letter from the Council to the Secretary of State for Convoys
to Scots ships in the Baltic.
Letter from the Council to the Earl of Loudoun, Secretary of
State, to be laid before her Majesty for convoys to some Scots ships in the
Baltic, read, voted, approven and ordered to be recorded, and recommended to
the Earl of Buchan to sign and transmit the same to court, the tenor whereof
follows :—
My Lord, there hath been a representation made to the Lords
of Privy Council in behalf of a great many Scots masters of ships now abroad
in the Baltic that some time in June there may be twenty-five or thirty sail
of Scots ships at Gothenburg that will need a convoy for Scotland, and
therefore desiring that orders may be given to Captain Gordon and to Captain
Hamilton to come that length and convoy them homeward, as the copy of the
letter from Danzig in April last to one of the clerks of Council herewith
sent bears; whereupon we thought fit that the case should be transmitted to
your Lordship to be laid before her Majesty with our opinion, which is that
because our frigates cannot be wanting to defend our coasts now in the
summer from small privateers that infest us, therefore it may please her
Majesty to give her royal orders to the Admiralty of England to send two or
three of [her] Majesty's ships of war for this convoy. My Lord, this
would be a considerable kindness and advantage to this kingdom and the trade
thereof, and therefore we again recommend it to your Lordship's care, and
whatever her Majesty shall appoint shall be duly signified to those
concerned ; but this being now the season we expect your Lordship's
answer with the first convenience.
Signed in presence by order and in name of the Lords of her
Majesty's Privy Council by, my Lord, your Lordship's most
humble servant
(sicsubscribitur),
BUCHAN.
Admiralty I (Captain's Letters), 1833 (P.R.O.).
Royal William lying at Tynemouth Haven. June, 1706.
My Lord,—Having received a letter signed by several masters
of our vessels from London, who had put in here and have aboard some
valuable goods of the nobility and commissioners of the Union, to give them
convoy from this home, I took the first opportunity with Captain Hamilton,
commander of the Royal Mary, to comply with their desire.
The wind proved cross most of the way ; and, having sprung
the head of my foremast, I was obliged to put into harbour, where, without
any previous notice, I was saluted by Captain Jones, commander of the
Dunwich, with a sharp great shot. I immediately sent my lieutenant on board
him to know the meaning of such rashness. He complained of my spreading a
broad pendent[According to the New English Dictionary, the Duke of
Wellington in 1813 congratulated a friend on hoisting the ' broad pendent,'
and 'pendent' appeared in the Navy List as late as 1882. The official
spelling is now ' pendant.'] in English waters, and gave that for the
reason. Now, my Lord, I have done nothing in this case but what the English
are doing in our rivers,
and what
the Dutch do also in their and our waters in company of the Queen's
ships. Captain Jones takes amiss also my firing an evening and morning
gun, altho' the English and Dutch do the same when with us, and also the
Dutch too in the very Thames ; and my doing so is only with regard to the
ships under my command. Captain Jones sends an account of the affair
to the Prince of Denmark by this post, therefore I judged it my duty to
inform your Lordship at the same time thereof; wherein I hope I'll be found
to have done nothing unwarrantably. My Lord, this case may give occasion to
the regulation of the memorial between us and England, as well
as foreigners ; and I wish it may, for, my Lord, if we shall happen to
meet with English frigates of greater force than ourselves, who no doubt
will pretend the submission of striking saluting of which we cannot yield
without particular instructions, the consequence may prove fatal, which
by all means ought to be prevented for the good of both.
I beg, my Lord, now when so many honourable and knowing
persons of our country are at London, who can assist in this affair, that
the opportunity be not lost of rendering things of this nature distinct
between our neighbours and us.
I cannot omit to tell your Lordship on this occasion that
Captain Ramsay, commander of the Bon Adventure, who conveyed our recruits to
Holland, told me in the road of Leith that he should be sorry of meeting me
without the Island of May, since he had orders from the Board of England to
make our frigates strike and salute. This makes it still the more necessary
that matters be timeously adjusted, and we fully instructed how to carry
out such cases, for I am firmly resolved not to yield one jot, while I
have the honour to command, without particular orders, which are impatiently
waited for by him, who is, my Lord, your Lordship's most obedient and most
humble servant,
THOMAS GORDON.
The letter is endorsed by Lord Wemyss[David, Earl of
Wemyss, was appointed Lord High Admiral of Scotland on 7th March,
1706—State Papers (Scotland) Warrant Books, vol. xxi.] the High
Admiral for Scotland, with the remark :— ' The
expedient proposal is that, being all the Queen's subjects in her own ships,
that there be no dissension amongst them, but as one English man of war
comes to another.'
Minutes of the Privy Council of Scotland.
Edinburgh, 11th July, 1706.
Order for transporting French Prisoners to Glasgow.
The Lords of her Majesty's Privy Council do hereby command
and ordain Colonel Corbitt forthwith to order a party of her Majesty's
forces to repair to Greenock and there receive from Captain Mathew Campbell,
commander of her Majesty's ship the Dumbarton Castle, the captain,
lieutenants and crew of a French privateer lately taken by the said captain,
amounting to the number of seventy persons, and to transport them prisoners
to the burgh of Glasgow ; and ordain the magistrates of Glasgow to receive
them and to keep and detain the said crew prisoners in their tolbooth till
further orders of Council; and allow the said magistrates to grant the
captain and his two lieutenants the liberty of the town of Glasgow upon
their parole of honour not to remove from the said burgh without the
Council's leave; and appoint the said prisoners to be alimented as follows,
viz., the captain at twelve shillings Scots per day, the two lieutenants at
six shillings Scots each per day, and each of the rest of the crew at three
shillings Scots per day ; and recommend to the Lords Commissioners of her
Majesty's Treasury to order the said aliment to be punctually paid
accordingly.
Ibidem.
Edinburgh, 11th July, 1706.
Act in favour of Captain Thomas Gordon.
Anent the memorial given in and presented to the Lords of her
Majesty's Privy Council by Captain Thomas Gordon shewing that the Royal
William being so very crank that she cannot carry sail without heavier
ballast than stones, that therefore it might please the said Lords to give
him orders to take aboard those guns which belonged to the Bass, and are now
of no manner of use to the government but such as this. If at any time the
government think they have use for them they may have them ashore upon
twenty-four hours' advertisement. The Lords of her Majesty's Privy Council
having considered the above memorial given in to them by Captain Thomas
Gordon, commander of her Majesty's ship the Royal William, and the same
being read in their presence the said Lords do hereby allow the said Captain
Thomas Gordon the guns which were formerly in the Bass now lying on the
shore of Leith upon his granting receipt therefor to the shoremaster to make
the same forthcoming for the use of the government when required thereto.
Ibidem.
Edinburgh, 11th July, 1706.
Remit to the Judges of Admiralty to try and judge a French
Privateer and an Irish Ship retaken.
The Marquis of Montrose, Lord President of Privy Council,
having represented to the Board that Captain Mathew Campbell, commander of
her Majesty's ship the Dumbarton Castle, had acquainted his Lordship that he
had taken a French privateer and retaken an Irish ship which the said French
privateer had taken and in her custody, the Lords of her Majesty's Privy
Council do hereby remit to the judges of the High Court of Admiralty to try
and judge the said French privateer, and grant warrant to and ordain the
said Captain Mathew Campbell to keep and detain the said Irish ship ; and
remit to the said judges of the said High Court of Admiralty to cognosce and
determine her case conform to the maritime law.
Ibidem.
Edinburgh. 6th August, 1706.
Act allowing the Captain and Lieutenants of a French
Privateer to return to their own country.
The Lords of her Majesty's Privy Council do hereby allow the
captain and lieutenants of the French privateer lately taken by Captain
Mathew Campbell to return to their own country, and recommend to Sir James
Steuart, her Majesty's Advocate, to grant them sufficient passes for that
effect.
State Papers (Scotland) Warrant Books, Vol. XXII.
The Queen's Letter to the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury
ordering her share of the Prize taken by Captain Campbell to be given to the
Earl of Wemyss.
Anne R.—Right trusty, &c., we greet you well. We being
informed that Captain Mathew Campbell, commander of our ship the Dumbarton
Castle, has in his cruise on the western seas taken a small French
privateer, and we being resolved to bestow a mark of our royal favour upon
our right trusty and well beloved counsellor David, Earl of Wemyss, Admiral
of that our ancient kingdom: Therefore it is our royal will and pleasure,
and we hereby authorise and require you to order what proportion or share
belongs to us of the said privateer to be given to the said Earl of Wemyss
to be disposed of by him and in such manner as he shall think fit, for doing
of which this shall be your warrant. And so we bid you heartily farewell.
Given at our Court at Windsor Castle the 12th day of August, 1706, and of
our reign the 5th year.
By her Majesty's command,
LOUDOUN.
Minutes of the Privy Council of Scotland.
Edinburgh. 15th August, 1706.
Warrant for Liberating the crew of a French Privateer at
Liberty.
The Lords of her Majesty's Privy Council do hereby allow the
crew of a French privateer lately taken by Captain James Hamilton,
commander of her Majesty's ship the Royal Mary, to return home to
their own country, and appoint and ordain the magistrates of Edinburgh and
keepers of their tolbooths to set them at liberty forth of the tolbooth of
Leith, wherein they are presently imprisoned, three of the said crew at a
time, with the interval of twenty-four hours, and appoint the said
magistrates to give each of the seamen four pounds Scots for assisting them
to return home, as said is ; and recommend to the Lord Advocate to grant
them passes as they are liberated, and allow the said magistrates to grant
the captain and his lieutenants the liberty of the town of Edinburgh upon
their parole of honour not to remove from the said burgh without Council's
leave ; and in the meantime appoint the said prisoners to be alimented as
follows, viz., the captain at twelve shillings Scots per day, the two
lieutenants at six shillings Scots per day, and each of the rest of the crew
at three shillings money foresaid per day ; and declare that the said
magistrates shall be reimbursed of their advances out of the first end of
the said privateer when rouped, and that the price thereof is burdened with
payment to them accordingly.
Ibidem.
Edinburgh. 6th September, 1706.
Permit to the French Officers to go home to their own
country.
The Lords of her Majesty's Privy Council do hereby allow the
officers of the French privateer lately taken by Captain James Hamilton to
return to their own country without trouble or molestation, and recommend to
the Lord Advocate to grant them sufficient passes for that effect.
The Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, Vol. XI, p. 319.
9th November, 1706.
Then a proposal given in that the one month's cess given for
the three frigates and two birlines will not outrig and maintain them
considering their bad condition by stormy weather, and considering the
establishment and that therefore a half-month's cess be further granted for
their outrig and maintainence, which being read the same was ordered to lie
upon the table.
Minutes of the Privy Council of Scotland.
Edinburgh. 28th March, 1707.
Warrant anent Seamen.
Her Majesty's High Commissioner[James, Duke of
Queensberry.] and Lords of Privy Council do hereby allow the
captain of the English man-of-war, now lying in the road of Leith, to beat
drums and put up ' placatts ' for levying such seamen as shall engage with
him voluntarily and give their consents before a magistrate, and prohibit
and discharge all disorders and abuses to be committed in levying of the
said seamen, but that the said captain and those- to be employed by him keep
themselves within the bounds prescribed by law.
Recommendation to Major-General [R.] Maitland[Sometime
governor of Fort William.]
to send a Party aboard The Royal William.
Her Majesty's High Commissioner and Lords of Privy Council do
hereby recommend to Major-General Maitland, commander of her Majesty's
forces within this kingdom for the time, to order a party of forty-one
sentinels, good and sufficient men, duly commanded by an officer, with three
sergeants, three corporals and two drums to repair to Leith
the day of ,and there to be
shipped aboard her Majesty's ship and man-of-war the Royal William, Captain
Thomas Gordon, commander, and the said party to be the same men that were on
board the said ship last year as near as possible, and to continue during
his cruise.
The Same aboard the Royal Mary.
Her Majesty's High Commissioner and Lords of Privy Council do
hereby recommend to Major-General Maitland, commander of her Majesty's
forces within this kingdom for the time, to order a party of thirty-three
sentinels, good and sufficient men, well armed and duly commanded by a
lieutenant, with two sergeants, three corporals and two drums to repair to
Leith the day of , and there to be shipped aboard her
Majesty's ship and man-of-war the Royal Mary, Captain James Hamilton,
commander, there to continue during his cruise.
Recommendation to Major-General Maitland to send a Party of
Soldiers aboard The Dumbarton Castle.
Her Majesty's High Commissioner and Lords of Privy Council do
hereby recommend to Major-General Maitland, commander of her Majesty's
forces within this kingdom for the time, to order twenty sentinels, good and
sufficient men, duly commanded by an officer, with a sergeant, two corporals
and one drum to repair to upon the day
of , and there to be shipped aboard her Majesty's
ship and man-of-war the Dumbarton Castle, Captain Mathew Campbell,
commander, there to continue during his cruise.
From the English translation of Colonel Hooke's work as given
in the British Museum Add. MSS., 20858.
During Hooke's absence[May and June 1707].
in Edinburgh Captain Gordon, commander of the two Scotch frigates on guard
upon the coast, the one of 40, the other of 28 cannon had come ashore to the
Earl of Erroll, who desired him that, as M. de Ligondez[Captain of a
French frigate]. was every day expected, he would avoid him.
Therefore the captain gave the earl a signal to be communicated to M. de
Ligondez, which when the latter should display, the captain would avoid him.
The captain also promised the earl that he would appear no more upon that
coast for fifteen days, and begged he would contrive that M. de Ligondez
should not remain long in those seas, because, should they frequently meet,
the captain who commanded the other frigate under his orders, and whose
intentions were dubious, might grow suspicious.
At the same time he desired the earl would inform me that he
should soon be obliged to quit the service, because he refuses to take the
oath of abjuration, which is going in consequence of the Union to be
imposed on all the officers, and by which they are to renounce the King of
England, and declare that he has no right to the throne. Thus he, the
captain, could not be long in a way of rendering any service; but, if
the King[Louis XIV of France.] will accept of his
service, he offers to come to France with his 40-gun frigate at the first
notice of his Majesty's pleasure.
M. de Ligondez arrived a few days after, before my return to
Slains. They gave him just the signal mentioned, and begged him to keep
aloof for a fortnight. He returned at the end of three weeks, when he found
me at Slains, where he came on shore, and dined with the High Constable.
[The Earl of Erroll.] But as I had promised to wait for the Duke of
Hamilton's answer till the 9th of June, I desire M. de Ligondez to cruise
off the coast and return for that day or the day after. On the 8th of June
Captain Gordon appeared on the coast, and the day following M. de Ligondez.
The two frigates gave him chase and gained round upon him, particularly the
20-gun frigate. Then M. de Ligondez made the signal, upon which Captain
Gordon fired a gun to recall his companion, which obeyed with reluctance.
The two frigates steered off for some time at sea, and Captain de Ligondez,
having cruised off for some time at sea, arrived about noon before the High
Constable's castle. [ - Slains, Aberdeenshire.] The time
appointed for the Duke [of Hamilton's] answer being expired, it was thought
proper I should not lose any more time in waiting for it, as it could not be
expected to be more favourable than his former answers. I went on board with
Mr. Moray about nightfall, and by the vigilance and good conduct of M. de
Ligondez we met with no accident in the passage, but arrived safe at Dunkirk
the 17th of June after between eight and nine days' sail.
State Papers (Scotland) Warrant Books, Vol. XXV, No. 43.
The States General their letter to the Queen.
Madam,—We should willingly dispense ourselves to interrupt
your Majesty in the continual care you take (with so much wisdom and
affection for the public good and that of your people) in recommending to
your care a particular affair, if our duty did not oblige us to speak for
our subjects, and to protect them in a just cause, as is incontestably this
to which we desire your Majesty to give attention. It is three years since
that the ship named the Katherine coming from the Canaries loaded with raw
wines from those isles was met in full sea upon her voyage towards our port
by Captain Gordon a Scotsman commanding a man-of-war of your Majesty's, who
took her and carried her to Edinburgh where she was confiscated and sold
very precipitantly in a fortnight, without that those interested had had
time to be advertised of it and to give duly the necessary orders to
reclaim her, and in their own defence also without any just reason or
foundation, being 'tis certain that the proprietors James Meyers and others
being all citizens in the town of Rotterdam had obtained our passports to
have brought this ship and her cargo from the Canaries into our ports : That
your Majesty has permitted the trading with Spain and the towns thereunto
belonging as also those isles of the Canaries, so that those interested have
done nothing contrary to the laws of your Majesty or of ours nor of any
treaty or convention : And if that trading had not been permitted in your
Majesty's kingdoms, that could in no ways concern our subjects whom that
toucheth not, also your Majesty being persuaded of the wrong done the
proprietors above named has had the goodness to order the Treasury of
Scotland that the value of the said ship and her cargo should be rendered to
them again, but we know not by what misfortune it is that neither the
goodness of the cause nor the orders of your Majesty nor the repeated
instances of our envoy has been capable to obtain to those interested the.
satisfaction that their own good right ought to have procured them. These
are the reasons Madam which obligeth us again to take our refuge in the
justness and love that your Majesty has always professed in desiring to have
the goodness to order for the future and more at large than before the
undamaging of the proprietors of the said ship and cargo, either by those of
the treaty of Scotland or any other way which your Majesty shall think more
convenient and quick, that the complaints of these our subjects interested
which troubles us (because none can but own they have reason) may cease ;
the which will no doubt contribute to the conservation of a good
intelligence betwixt the subjects of either side, the which we know is
agreeable to your Majesty', and that we shall try to affirm and augment more
and more ; but nothing can be more contrary than not to remedy complaints so
well grounded, therefore we hope your Majesty will take it off, and we trust
in your love, who cannot suffer in an affair so clear and just our subjects
should languish any longer, and that they should be the only people who
enjoyeth not the effects of your justice and royal goodness which is the
ornament of your glorious reign of which the fame is spread so universally
all over the world. So that in hoping your Majesty will not let our
intercession be unfruitful we shall conclude the present in addressing our
prayers to the Almighty.
Madam,
To fulfil the reign of your Majesty with glory and felicity
and to bless your royal person with perfect health and very long life, from
The Hague the 11th of August, 1707, from your Majesty's the very humble
servants the States General of the United Provinces of the Low Countries,
By order from them,
FFAGELL.
State Papers (Scotland) Warrant Books, Vol. XXV, No. 47.
The Queen's Letter to the Lords Commissioners of the
Treasury in favour of Captain Gordon.
ANNE R.,—Right trusty &c. ... we greet you well. We
understanding that Captain Thomas Gordon did in the year 1705 (when
commander of our ship the Royal Mary) take near Fraserburgh a small
privateer of four guns called the St. Esprit belonging to Ostend, and that
when the said privateer was exposed to sale by a public roup, the said
captain did buy her and gave bond for the value for our use, which bond lies
now in the hands of the Judge Admiral of that part of our kingdom of Great
Britain called Scotland, and we being resolved to bestow a mark of our royal
favour upon the said Captain Gordon, in consideration of his good
services; therefore of it's our will and pleasure, and we hereby
authorise and require you to call for and deliver up to him the foresaid
bond, for doing of which this shall be your warrant. And so we bid you
heartily farewell. Given at our Court at Windsor Castle the 19th day of
August, 1707, and of our reign the 6th year.
By her Majesty's command,
LOUDOUN. |
