Autograph letter signed, "Edm: Randolph" as Secretary of State, to Messrs. Viar and Jaudens, the Spanish consuls to the United States, concerning the capture of the Ship Russell, taken as a Spanish prize at Fort Dauphin, Saint Domingue.
Philadelphia: July 4, 1794.
Price: $2,000.00
About the item
1p., plus integral blank. Docketed on verso. [With:] Autograph letter signed by the ship owner William Bartlett to Timothy Pickering, concerning the capture of the Ship Russell, dated October 27, 1795. Usual folds.
Item #376337
In the midst of the French revolutionary wars, in January 1794 a Spanish fleet seized Fort Dauphin in Saint Domingue. That same year, in conflict with the United States over the navigation of the lower Mississippi and the boundary between the United States and Spanish Florida, Spanish ships seized American commercial vessels on open water.
In April 1794, the Ship Russell, owned by William Bartlett and captained by Israel Young and on a voyage from Newburyport to Hispaniola, was captured by the Spanish ship Saint Ysidoro near Monte Cristi and taken to Fort Dauphin as a prize. Secretary of State Randolph here writes to the Spanish consuls in Philadelphia requesting the recovery of the ship and its cargo, writing:
"I do myself the honor of inclosing to you sundry papers, forwarded to me by Mr. Bartlett, the owner of the Ship Russell, Israel Young commander. She was taken at Fort Dauphin, and Mr. Bartlett is resolved to send a vessel thither immediately, with a hope of recovering her and her cargo. The papers will, I trust, satisfy you of the innocence of both captain and owners; and I therefore take the liberty of requesting such a letter of recommendation, as will facilitate his object in the most effectual manner."
Under the terms of Pinckney's Treaty in 1795, commissioners would be appointed to settle such spoliation claims, and Bartlett would eventually be awarded nearly $30,000. Included here is a related letter from Bartlett to Secretary of State Pickering, written on the same day as the signing of Pinckney's Treaty.
