The Neptune.

The counsel for the claimants, in his brief of argument, solicited leave to have a rehearing, upon further proofs, in this case. The impression of the court is, that the evidence upon the first hearing is so decidedly against the defence attempted to be established as to afford no reasonable ground for opening the case, to allow a new issue and a hearing on further proofs.

THE SLOOP NEPTUNE AND CARGO.

Vessel and cargo condemned as enemy property, and for a violation of the blockade.

(Before BETTS, J., June, 1863.)

BETTS, J.: This vessel was captured, as prize of war, April 19, 1863, on the Atlantic ocean, off Charleston harbor, S. C., by the United States sloop-of-war Housatonic. The vessel was, on her capture, appraised at the sum of $150, and left at Port Royal, S. C., by the captors. The cargo was brought to this port for adjudication, and was here libelled, on the 5th of May thereafter. It was on the same day arrested by due process of attachment and monition, returnable May 26, and on that day the writ was duly returned in court, and a decree by default was thereupon rendered in court.

The ship's papers show that the vessel was, on the 4th of April, 1863, registered at Charleston, in the Confederate States, in the customhouse of the enemy, as the sole property of Samuel D. Stoney, of that place, and that she there shipped a crew for Nassau, N. P., with a manifest and bills of lading, dated April 11, 1863, of a cargo of cotton and spirits of turpentine, from that port to Nassau, N. P.

The master of the vessel deposes, on his preparatory examination, that the vessel sailed from Charleston with the confederate colors, and had no others on board; that she was captured off Charleston harbor, April 19, 1863, in the night; that he was a resident of Charleston, and was appointed to the command of the vessel by her owner, in that port; that he, the master, owned part of the cargo, and the owner of the vessel the residue; and that both of them knew that the port was under blockade at the time by the United States forces. No question is earnestly maintained, upon the pleadings and proofs, as to the guilt of the vessel and cargo. A regular default against both has been taken, and a decree of condemnation and forfeiture must be entered against both.

Decree accordingly.

The Rising Dawn.

THE SCHOONER RISING DAWN AND CARGO.

This vessel was seized as prize and taken to Key West, and released by the prize court there on bonds, and permitted to proceed on her voyage. She was afterwards arrested again as prize, for an alleged attempt to violate the blockade after leaving Key West; Held, that her release at Key West did not absolve her from her obligation not to violate the blockade afterwards. Approaching a blockaded coast from necessity.

Vessel and cargo condemned for an attempt to violate the blockade.

Leave given to the claimants to move within four days for a rehearing on further proofs.

(Before BETTS, J., June 25, 1863.)

BETTS, J.: This vessel and cargo were captured, as prize of war, March 25, 1863, at sea, off the coast of North Carolina, by the United States gunboat Mount Vernon, and were sent into this port for adjudication. They were libelled in this court for condemnation, April 14 thereafter. The British consul intervened in the suit, and filed his claim in behalf of British owners, May 12 thereafter, and the case was submitted to the court on written briefs, by the counsel for the respective parties, June 8, 1863.

The vessel and cargo were British property, and her crew were British subjects. She was lying in the port of Nassau, N. P., in December last, and, about the 5th of that month, was despatched from that port to Key West, under her master, Ryan, with a cargo of salt, laden on board by Sawyer & Menendez, of Nassau, who appointed her master, and she was to proceed from Key West with that cargo to New York. On her passage from Nassau to Key West she was seized by a United States ship-of-war, and taken as prize into the port of Key West, and delivered into the custody of the prize court in that district. By the order of that court, under the proceedings in prize, the vessel was released from seizure, on depositing in court bonds for the appraised valuation of the vessel and cargo, and was permitted to prosecute the voyage to New York, carrying the same cargo with her. The foregoing facts are authenticated by official documents found with the vessel on her last capture, March 25, 1863. She proceeded to sea with her cargo, from Key West, for the port of New York, March 15, and, on the 25th of the same month, was captured and sent into this port, with the same cargo on board. The libellants insist that she was intercepted in making an attempt to violate the blockade of the coast of North Carolina. The defence set up thereto is: (1.) The exemption, by law, of the vessel and cargo, under the preceding facts, from arrest for the cause alleged, after her restoration by the proceedings in the prize court at Key West; and (2.) That

The Rising Dawn.

legal cause of justification is shown for the approach of the schooner to the blockaded coast, because of the state of necessity for immediate relief in which she was placed at the time of her apprehension. It is alleged in the evidence of the master, upon his preparatory examination, that at the time of his capture he was in sight of the North Carolina coast, and in the vicinity, as he supposes, of Wilmington, and that he was forced to that place by violence of weather, the want of water, and injuries sustained in his sails, after his departure from Key West, rendering it necessary for him to obtain relief. The whole tenor of the master's testimony on that subject is exceedingly indefinite and unsatisfactory, and strongly inconsistent with the entries and statements made upon the log of the vessel, so long as those entries continued. The master and mate were aware of the existence of the blockade of the place the vessel was endeavoring to enter when she was seized, and no colorable excuse is established in the facts, nor is any intimated, for her being in the position at which she was captured, except the argumentative suggestion, that, as she was on a voyage from Key West to New York, authorized by the action of the prize court, she became impliedly discharged and relieved from the responsibility she would have incurred had that been her original and continuing voyage. I cannot perceive any distinction or palliation, whether the inception of the voyage was at Nassau or at Key West, or whether the vessel was pursuing an intermediary course through both ports, with the interruption of a positive arrest and a conditional release on bail. That release cannot be claimed to amount to a discharge from the obligation to avoid carrying articles contraband of war to an enemy port, or violating an embargo.

If the proceedings in the prize court at Key West were equivalent to the actual forfeiture of the vessel and the transfer of her past ownership to other hands, she still remained subject to the public law, and liable to confiscation for attempting to enter a blockaded port, if remaining a neutral, or for carrying on trade or traffic with the enemy, if a home bottom. I think it clear, upon the proofs produced on the trial, that the vessel left Key West, with her cargo of salt, with design to transport the same to the blockaded port she was actually attempting to enter when arrested, it being well known to the officers and crew on board at the time that the place was then under an efficient blockade. I forbear rehearsing in further detail the evidence submitted to the court on the hearing, and order a decree of condemnation and forfeiture of the vessel and cargo to be entered, with leave to the claimant to move

The Emeline The Antelope.

the court, within four days from the entry and service of notice of the decree, for a rehearing in the suit, upon further proofs, according to the usual procedure in such cases.

Order accordingly.

THE SLOOP EMELINE AND CARGO.

Vessel and cargo condemned for a violation of the blockade.

(Before BETTS, J., June 25, 1863.)

BETTS, J.: The above sloop and cargo were arrested and libelled, May 26, 1863, as prize of war, having been captured off Charleston harbor on the 16th of May, ten days previously, by the United States ship-of-war Courier, and brought into this port for adjudication. No person intervened, or claimed the vessel or cargo, and a default against both vessel and cargo has been entered. The master testifies, on his examination in preparatorio, that the vessel belongs to R. T. Walker, of Charleston; that Walker appointed him master, and delivered the vessel to him there; that she was captured twenty-two hours after leaving Charleston, for running the blockade; that she was laden with cotton and turpentine belonging to the owner of the vessel, except that one bale of cotton and one barrel of turpentine were owned by the master; that the vessel was bound to Nassau, N. P.; that she brought no papers whatever with her; that the master had no papers with him relating to the vessel or cargo, and knows nothing about them; and that he knew of the war and of the blockade of Charleston at the time he sailed thence. No evidence contradicting that of the master was given by the two seamen examined.

The testimony affords clear proof that the vessel, with knowledge of the blockade, was carried out of Charleston at the time alleged, with intent to evade it.

A decree condemning the vessel and cargo to condemnation and forfeiture must be entered.

THE SCHOONER ANTELOPE AND CARGO.

Vessel and cargo condemned for having false papers as to their destination, and for an attempt to violate the blockade.

(Before BETTS, J., June, 1863.)

BETTS, J. This vessel and cargo were captured, March 31, 1863, by the United States steamer Memphis, as prize, and were sent into this port for adjudication. They were here libelled, April 23, 1863.

The Angelina.

Default for the non-intervention of any claimant or defence having been regularly taken in court, the preparatory proofs and the vessel's papers were submitted to the court on the part of the libellants, with a demand for judgment against the vessel and cargo.

No papers relating to the vessel and cargo or the voyage were found on board of her, except the clearance of the vessel at the port of London for Nassau, N. P., January 15, 1863, and letters of introduction of the master of the vessel, William Brain, from a Mr. Martin, assuming to be the owner of the schooner, and recommending the vessel and the cargo of salt on board of her to a Mr. Hart, of Nassau, for advice and directions as to the business of the voyage. The mate of the vessel, in his examination in preparatorio, says that the master and the crew of the vessel belonged to England, and shipped from London to Nassau, but that he understood that the voyage was not to be to Nassau, but to some other port on the continent of North America; that her cargo was all salt; that London was her last clearing place; that she was captured near Fort Sumter, going into Charleston harbor; that he and the master knew that that port was then under blockade; that, when first pursued, the Antelope was endeavoring to enter Charleston; and that she tried to escape by getting into Bull's bay.

The master, William Brain, confirms the evidence of the mate, and says that the vessel was captured trying to run the blockade of Charleston; that he knew of the war and of the blockade of Charleston, and presumes that the owner of the vessel did also, when he sailed; and that he was bound to run the blockade at Charleston, and steered for that purpose.

All the evidence is concurrent and conclusive that the nominal clearance of the vessel from London to Nassau was simulated and false, and that the voyage from Loudon was set on foot and pursued with a design to violate the blockade of Charleston.

A decree is pronounced for the condemnation and forfeiture of the vessel and cargo, because of false papers, and an attempt to run the blockade of Charleston, in her destination and procedure.

THE SLOOP ANGELINA AND CARGO.

Vessel and cargo condemned as enemy property, and for a violation of the blockade. (Before BETTS, J., June, 1863.)

BETTS, J.: The above-named vessel, with her cargo, was captured as prize, May 16, 1863, by the United States ship Courier, at sea, off