The Emma. the vessel before those lines, and its efficiency, are demonstrated by the actual arrest of the vessel at each on its attempt to pass them. The other claimants had no fixed property in the cargo captured. They had no higher interest than a privilege or lien, at the utmost, for the payment of pre-existing debts from the proceeds to be realized out of the various shipments of rice, on the sale thereof in New Orleans. It is clear, that the interest or expectancy of creditors, in enemy property arrested as prize, does not exempt it from capture as such, and, accordingly, the libellants are entitled to its condemnation and forfeiture. (Wheaton on Captures, ch. 3, § 15; The United States v. The Sally Magee, now on appeal in the Supreme Court, in which C. M. Fry & Co. are also claimants in part, and where like points of law are considered by this court.) For the reasons above suggested, the vessel and cargo prosecuted in this suit are subject to condemnation and forfeiture.* THE STEAMER EMMA AND CARGO. This vessel and cargo were captured at sea by a vessel employed as a transport in the service of the United States, but not a commissioned vessel-of-war. The filing by the United States of a libel against the vessel and cargo as prize is an affirmance by the United States of the capture, and such ratification is equivalent to an original seizure by authority of the government. Destruction of the vessel's papers by her master just before capture. (Before BETTS, J., October, 1863.) BETTS, J.: This vessel and cargo were captured at sea by the steamer Arago, employed as a transport in the service of the United States, but not a commissioned ship of war, July 24, 1863, and were sent into this port, where the prize was libelled in this court, for condemnation. Such ratification of the arrest of the prize was equivalent to an original seizure by authority of the government, and the affirmance of the capture by the United States is authenticated by instituting this suit thereon. (2 Wheat., Appx., notes, p. 7.) The monition and attachment issued in the suit were duly returned in court August 18, 1863, with the usual proclamation. Thomas Sterling Begbie, of London, appeared, on such return, and filed his claim as owner of the vessel and cargo named in the libel, without exception of form to the regularity of the action. The cause was submitted by the United *An appeal was taken to the Supreme Court from this decree, as to a part of the cargo, but not as to the vessel. Affirmed by default February 27, 1866. The Emma. States attorney to the decision of the court, during the present term, upon the proofs produced therein, no party appearing in defence to the action and issue on the pleadings. The master of the vessel testifies, on his examination in preparatorio, that he took possession of the Emma at Glasgow, Scotland; that he declines to answer who put her into his possession; that she was captured in the Gulf Stream, off the coast of North Carolina, he supposes, for blockade running; that he, the witness, made no resistance to the capture, but exerted himself to escape from it; that part of the crew came on board the Emma in Glasgow, and part in Nassau, Bermuda ; that the voyage was from the Bermudas, and was to have ended there; that the cargo on board at the time of capture was turpentine, resin, tobacco, and cotton, put on board at Wilmington, North Carolina, about the middle of July, 1863; that he sailed from Glasgow to Nassau, and from Nassau to Wilmington; that he, the witness, declines to answer who owned the vessel; that the owner lives in England; that he, the witness, does not know the owner of the cargo; that he has no papers of any kind in his possession in relation to the vessel or cargo; that the vessel was captured near the coast of North Carolina, July 24, near 11 o'clock a. m; that she had regular papers on board when she left Wilmington; that he burned them all on being chased, and when upon the point of being captured, to prevent their falling into the hands of the captors; that he knew that Wilmington was blockaded when he entered the port; that he evaded the blockade in going in, and was captured soon after leaving, on his way out; that he had known all about the war for many months; that his vessel entered the harbor of Wilmington covertly and secretly, whilst that port was under blockade, and sailed from it as before stated by him; and that he loses £1,000 in consequence of the capture, which was to have been his remuneration had he succeeded in completing his voyage. The first mate concurs, in general, in the facts stated by the master. He says that he heard the latter say that he had destroyed the ship's papers, but he, the witness, did not see it done; and that he knew that the Emma had succeeded in running the blockade of Wilmington four several times. The second officer of the vessel gives no testimony contradictory to the evidence of his fellow officers. He asserts no fact respecting this voyage, criminating the conduct of the vessel or of the parties prosecuting it. He says that he knows that the vessel had run the blockade of the same port at another time. The Merrimac. The steward of the vessel, on his examination, deposed to the same effect with the first and second officers of the vessel. To the 12th and 24th interrogatories he says: "She" (the vessel) "had run the blockade from Nassau and Bermuda into Wilmington, four times." To the 21st interrogatory he says: "I knew all about the blockade, and so did the captain." No papers were captured with the vessel and produced in court with the prize and the witnesses taken on board. This recapitulation of the proof demonstrates that the case is one of premeditated violation of public law, and that the vessel and cargo are plainly subject to judgment of condemnation and forfeiture. A decree will be entered accordingly. THE STEAMER MERRIMAC AND CARGO. Vessel and cargo condemned as enemy property and for a violation of the blockade. (Before BETTS, J., October, 1863.) BETTS, J.: This vessel and cargo were captured, July 24, 1863, at sea, on the Atlantic ocean, in latitude 33° 59′ 30′′ north, and longitude 76° 55′ west, off Wilmington, North Carolina, by the United States gunboat Iroquois, and were sent into this port for adjudication. They were libelled in this court, as prize, under such arrest, July 28, thereafter, and the warrant and monition on the process were duly served on the vessel and cargo on the same day. No person appearing thereupon, due proclamation was made in open court, and a decree of default was rendered against the prize property and all persons interested therein. The papers of the vessel and the proof taken in preparatorio were submitted to the court, and judgment of condemnation against the prize was prayed by the United States attorney. A register of the vessel was recorded, in the name of the Confederate States, at the Wilmington custom-house, in North Carolina, to Richard Bradley, of that place. as owner, July 21, 1863. A shipping agreement with the master and crew, signed, without date, a manifest, a clearance of the vessel and cargo from Wilmington, North Carolina, to St. George's, Bermuda, and several bills of lading of the same direction, signed in July, 1863, were produced with the papers from the vessel. The cargo was cotton, spirits of turpentine, and tobacco. This, upon the vouchers in writing, is palpably a case of the seizure of enemy property, in flagrante delicto of traffic, in an enemy vessel at sea. The Nymph. No citation of legal authority is requisite to show its confisca bility. The deposition in preparatorio taken from the master of the vessel is in full harmony with the paper documents. He swears that he is a resident of North Carolina, and owes allegiance to that State and not to the United States; that the vessel was captured sailing under the confederate flag; that she was built in England, and was owned and sailed by a stock company in Wilmington; that he knew that the port of Wilmington was under blockade before he sailed from it, and saw the blockade squadron lying outside; that the cargo, he supposes, was the growth and manufacture of the southern States; and that there was a consignee in Bermuda for the vessel and cargo. No comments need be added to this fulness of inculpatory evidence. A decree is rendered, condemning the vessel and cargo to forfeiture. THE SCHOONER NYMPH AND CARGO. The vessel having been captured within five miles of the enemy's coast, and about 150 miles off her true course, as designated on her papers, and no excuse being given for the deviation, and her cargo consisting partly of articles contraband of war, and wholly of supplies of urgent im portance to the enemy, and no claim being interposed to the vessel and cargo, although the master was brought in and examined as a witness, the court ordered condemnation of vessel and cargo, unless their owner should, on application, obtain leave, prior to the third regular term after such order, to interpose a claim to the merits of the libel. The libellants were allowed meantime to take an order for the sale of the prize property. (Before BETTS, J., October, 1863.) BETTS, J.: The above vessel had a certificate of British registry, at Belize, Honduras, dated March 26, 1863, to James McNab, of that place. She is represented to be of foreign build, but the place of her build is not stated in the registry. A shipping agreement was entered into between Alexander McCapping, master, and a ship's crew on the 2d of April, 1863, for a voyage from that place to a port or ports in the Gulf of Mexico, and thence back to Belize, or other port in the West India islands. A manifest of the cargo to be carried, destined to Matamoras, was found on board the vessel when arrested, and the vessel was cleared from Belize for Matamoras. The manifest included, amongst general merchandise, 90 coils of rope, 6 packages of brandy, 554 gallons of rum, 35 gallons of alcohol, 35 gallons of whiskey, 1 barrel of castor oil, 5 packages of medicines, 1 barrel of alum, &c. Her cargo at the time of her capture consisted of medicines, shoes, coffee, rice, sugar, dry goods, &c. The testimony given by the master of the vessel and a passenger on their examination in preparatorio, shows that the vessel sailed from Belize about the 2d of April, and was captured on the 22d of April in the morning, 4 miles off Pass The Nymph. Caballos, near Galveston, and about 5 miles from the light-house, be- . cause, as the master says, "they thought she had run the blockade." She had no log-book on board when seized. She was about 150 miles off her true course to Matamoras. No proof is furnished in excuse of so wide a deviation, such as that violent weather had been encountered, or some impediment to a direct navigation to Matamoras. McNab, the owner of the vessel, is an English subject, now resident at Matamoras. No bill of sale of the vessel to him accompanies the register, nor any evidence of the payment of any consideration for the purchase. The master resides at Matamoras. The vessel was captured by a United States gunboat. The master knew that Pass Caballos and the coast of Texas were under blockade. The owner of the vessel was an Englishman, who resided with his family at Mata moras. It is very obvious that the position, equipment, and circumstances of the vessel and her relation to the voyage, are all clothed with violent suspicions and presumptions against the fairness and honesty of the adventure. They abundantly justify her arrest in the attitude in which she was discovered. The suspicions are of such force as to demand at the hands of her owner the clearest explanation, to relieve her from the conclusion that she was purposely hovering on the enemy's coast with the intention of placing her cargo in the possession of the rebels. It consisted in part of articles contraband of war, and wholly of supplies of urgent importance and necessity to all the region held under blockade. Every inference would seem to be of controlling force that the vessel could not, on the facts in evidence, be 150 miles out of her true course on that short transit, and that she had purposely run directly from Belize to Galveston, with the design to deliver her cargo to the rebels. The master was in court, convenient, at the wish of the owner, to claim the vessel and cargo, and vindicate the honesty of the voyage, had any defence been desired from him. A decree by default has been suffered, and the strong suspicions which justified the capture and that first decree call, also, for the final condemnation and forfeiture of the vessel and cargo, unless an application is made to the court, on proper grounds, on behalf of the real owner, for leave to intervene and give proofs in vindication of the lawfulness and integrity of the voyage in question. That opportunity will be accorded him if sought for, when he may be allowed to prove, if such be the fact, the bona fide ownership of the vessel and the honesty of her voyage, and to justify |