The Ann. returns to the monition which was issued on filing a libel against the prize October 1, 1862, that it was served by attaching the cargo and delivering the vessel to the United States government October 21, 1862. The vessel and cargo were owned by residents in Texas, and were captured in Aransas bay. Due proclamation and default were made on the return of the monition, and no claim or answer has been interposed. There must be judgment of condemnation by default against vessel and cargo, and for their confiscation as enemy property. THE STEAMER ANN AND CARGO, Vessel and cargo condemned for a violation of the blockade. Spoliation of papers by the master. Part of the cargo contraband of war. (Before BETTS, J., October, 1862.) BETTS, J.: This vessel and cargo were captured by the United States naval forces stationed off Mobile, Alabama, June 29, 1862, and were sent thence to this port for adjudication. A libel was filed against them July 17 thereafter, and, on the 9th of September, the owners, British subjects, residents in England, intervened, by their agent, and claimed the vessel and cargo as neutral property, contesting the legality of the seizure, and denying that Mobile was a blockaded port, or that they had lawful warning of such fact. On the hearing of the cause in court, counsel for the claimants appeared and contested the condemnation upon the law and facts of the case. The substance of the case, on the preparatory proofs, is, that the vessel was fitted out in England, with a cargo consisting, in part, of articles contraband of war, and that her destination was to ports in the West Indies, and from the last one, Havana, to Mobile, and thence back to England. The war between the United States and the rebel States, and the blockade of the southern ports, were well known in England when the vessel was fitted out and despatched. On her arrival at Havana it was reported that the blockade at New Orleans and Mobile had been raised by the United States. The report was not credited on the vessel, and it was determined to run her into Mobile. She attempted to make the entry secretly and covertly. When the blockading vessels lying off the port were discovered, the master destroyed his bills of lading, his private accounts, and the ship's entries. The Lizzie. The vessel was run in past the blockading fleet and Fort Morgan, and was there attacked by the United States forces and captured. She was anchored, and was unlading, when she was first attacked, and worked herself further in the harbor, but, being unable to get out of the reach of the attacking force, was abandoned by the master, the supercargo, and most of the crew, who went to Charleston. The master and two engineers embarked from Charleston for England in the steamer Memphis, and, on getting out of Charleston, that vessel also was captured and sent into this port. These officers were examined as witnesses in this suit, in preparatorio, on the arrival of the Memphis at New York. They made a clear and unreserved disclosure of the facts above recapitulated. The case is free from all ambiguity. The voyage undertaken in England was with full knowledge that Mobile was under blockade. The vessel was, notwithstanding, despatched with her cargo, of which a valuable part was contraband of war, to convey it to the use of the enemy, and make her return directly to the owners in England. A decree of condemnation and forfeiture of the vessel and cargo is ordered to be entered. THE SLOOP LIZZIE AND CARGO. Vessel and cargo condemned for an attempt to violate the blockade. Spoliation of papers by the master. False destination on the vessel's papers. (Before BETTS, J., October, 1862.) BETTS, J.: This vessel and cargo were captured on the coast of North Carolina, by the United States steamer Penobscot, August 2, 1862. The vessel was at the time destroyed by the capturing forces, as unseaworthy, and the cargo was sent to this port for adjudication, and was here libelled September 20, 1862. On the return of the monition as duly served, and on public proclamation thereon made, the default of all persons interested in the cargo was entered. No person intervening for the property on the hearing, the proofs in preparatorio, with the papers found on the vessel, were submitted to the consideration of the court. The vessel held a certificate of British registry, dated at Nassau, N. P., July 21, 1862, issued to George Campbell, of Scotland, merchant,.which stated that she was a foreign vessel, built at New York in the year 1840. No bill of sale was attached to or accompanied the The Lizzie. registry. Shipping articles for a voyage from Nassau, N. P., to Baltimore, signed by a master, a mate, a cook, and two seamen, were taken from the vessel; there was no date to the shipping articles, nor was any place or time of their execution named therein. A clearance of the vessel from Nassau for Baltimore, July 21, 1862, was on board, and also a bill of lading of the cargo from the owner of the vessel to persons in Baltimore, dated July 19, 1862, without any signature. There was also a note, dated July 22, in the owner's name, to the consignees, addressed to them at Baltimore, advising them of the transmission of the articles named in the bill of lading. The master, the mate, and one seaman, captured with the vessel, were examined as witnesses in preparatorio. The master says that the letter of instructions was given to him by Campbell, and that he, the witness, was directed to throw it overboard if captured, and that he did so when the capturing vessel came in sight. He also says that Campbell appointed him master of the vessel, and that he, the witness, supposed him to be her owner; that he knew that the southern ports were under blockade, and that that was well known in Nassau; that his vessel was out of a course for Baltimore, where, by her papers, she was bound, and was heading in towards the land, and that he intended to run her on shore. The mate says that the vessel was captured about eight miles to the northward and eastward of Wilmington, in North Carolina; that the fact of the blockade of the coast had been known at Nassau for a long time, and was of general notoriety; that the vessel attempted to enter Wilmington; and that he heard the captain say that, on her last voyage, she sailed out of Wilmington into Nassau. The port was both times under blockade; and the seaman testifies that on the voyage the vessel was steering a course leading her to the port where she was captured. It seems to me that the case, on the proofs, stands clear of all ambiguity as to the culpable purpose of the voyage and the actual attempt to carry out that intent. The voyage meant to be run was falsified on the papers. Papers tending to show the design of the voyage were destroyed. The vessel was detected in the effort to violate the blockade, and a decree of condemnation and forfeiture must be entered against vessel and cargo. The British Empire. THE SCHOONER BRITISH EMPIRE AND CARGO. Vessel and cargo condemned for an attempt to violate the blockade. (Before BETTS, J., October, 1862.) BETTS, J.: This vessel and cargo were captured April 3, 1862, in Matanzas inlet, off St. Augustine, Florida, by the United States vessel-of-war Isaac Smith. Part of the cargo was appraised and appropriated to the use of the United States, to the value of $3,510 73, and the residue was sent to this port for adjudication. On the return of the monition, the district attorney moved for and took a decree for the libellants, by default, no person intervening in the suit in behalf of the prize property. The certificate of British registry shows that the vessel was built at Wilmington, Delaware, in 1855, and was registered at Nassau, N. P., October 19, 1861, to Thomas Lloyd, of that place. A shipping agreement for a voyage from Nassau to St. John, N. B., was found on board, executed by two seamen March 22, 1862; also an invoice of merchandise, dated Nassau, March 24, 1862, from Henry Adderly & Co., for St. John, N. B., on account and at the risk of J. B. Parsons, consigned to W. R. Wright, consisting of provisions, medicines, whiskey, and miscellaneous articles of merchandise; also a clearance from Nassau to St. John, N. B., March 22, 1862. No bill of sale is shown to have been given on the transfer of the vessel at Nassau. Upon evidence that the members of the crew captured with the prize had subsequently escaped from the custody of the United States, and could not be produced in this district for examination before the prize commissioners, the court, on the application of the district attorney, allowed Lieutenant Nicholson, of the United States navy, to be examined on the standing interrogatories as a witness in the suit. This witness was present at the capture of the prize, which was made at Matanzas inlet, sixteen or eighteen miles south of St. Augustine, in Florida. The vessel was commanded by Captain Parsons, a citizen of the United States, resident in Florida, who was appointed master of the vessel by her American owner, Willie, who also resided in Florida. Four of the crew were Americans, from Jacksonville, Florida, and two were Englishmen shipped at Nassau. The vessel had no chart for any port north of Charleston, and had an insufficient supply of water for a voyage to St. John, N. B. Her outward voyage began at Jacksonville, with a cargo of turpentine, rosin, and lumber. She had been to Nassau, N. P. A portion of her return cargo, consisting of powder, was, The Troy. upon her capture, discharged at Matanzas inlet, on the coast of Florida, and was there buried. Her last clearance was from Nassau. The master knew of the war, and of the blockade of the coast of Florida; the vessel, before her seizure, ran the blockade out of St. John's river, and forced her way back again to the place of capture. Two days after her capture she sank at her anchorage. Most of the facts testified to by Nicholson which were out of his presence or view were stated to him by the master and crew of the prize vessel whilst she and they were in his custody. The proofs from the vessel's papers, her fitment, and the surrounding circumstances, conduce to show that she was despatched with a lading adapted to a traffic with enemy ports, such as, from a series of notorious transactions during the war, established by legal evidence in the prize courts of this country, and shown from the course of trade carried on between the port of Nassau and the rebel ports of the southern States, has been actively pursued since the existing blockades of the latter ports were known and enforced, and amount, in my judgment, to adequate evidence that this enterprise was entered into for the purpose of accomplishing (what the vessel was detected in doing) the evasion and violation of the blockade of the coast of Florida; and the circumstantial proofs conducing to that end justify and demand the condemnation and forfeiture of the vessel and cargo engaged therein. In addition to that, there is the proof that she transported, on this voyage from Nassau to Florida, articles contraband of war. For the considerations suggested, independently of the confessions of the master and crew of the prize vessel, ample cause is shown for the decree which is ordered to be entered for the forfeiture, as prize, of both vessel and cargo. THE SCHOONER TROY AND CARGO. Vessel and cargo condemned as enemy property, attempted to be used in trade by their owner for the benefit of the enemy, and arrested in the act of violating the blockade. (Before BETTS, J., October, 1862.) BETTS, J.: This schooner and cargo were seized August 13, 1862, by the United States steamer Kensington, in the Gulf of Mexico, off Sabine Pass, as prize. The crew escaped from the vessel after capture, and could not be sent in as witnesses. The vessel was found to be unseaworthy, and was taken to the Southwest Pass of the Mississippi |