Boxes
of Soap and five Bar'ls of Wax for acco't of the same owners and was
then returning directly to Teneriffe for their Supply, He the said
Philip therefore Seized and Took the sd Sloop _Amsterdam Post_ and her
Cargo as a Lawfull Prize, as he Lawfully might do, Wherefore the said
Philip Dumaresq prays the consideration of this Hono'ble Court upon
the premises properly and only in their Cognizance, that a Short
Day[5] may be assigned to Hear and pass upon this Libel and Matters
therein contained and that the said Sloop and Cargo may be Decreed and
declared a Lawfull Prize, etc.

JNO. READ.
W. BOLLAN.[6]

[Footnote 3: The commission from Governor Belcher, Aug. 24, 1739, is
printed in [Augustus Thorndike Perkins], _A Sketch of the Family of
Dumaresq_ (Albany, 1863), pp. 15-16.]

[Footnote 4: The harbor of Santa Cruz is on the side of Teneriffe
toward the Grand Canary.]

[Footnote 5: An early date.]

[Footnote 6: Two of the leading lawyers of the province. Read had been
attorney general and was now a member of the council. Bollan, Governor
Shirley's son-in-law, was for many years agent of Massachusetts in
London.]

1740, July 23d, filed and allowed, and ordered that Publick
Notifications be Posted upon the Sloop _Amsterdam Post_ and at the
Town House, for all Persons Claiming Property in the said Sloop to
Appear at a Court of Admiralty to be holden at Boston on Friday next
at 10 a Clock A.M. To Make out their Property.

ROBERT AUCHMUTY, Judge Ad'y.

Accordingly at the time appointed the Court was opened and the Libel
Read, at which Time Collonel Wendell[7] appeared and offered some
Papers to be Lodged in Court, which he rec'd from the Owners of the
Sloop, which the Judge refused to admit of, But told him he might
Claim the Vessell and Cargo if he wou'd do it as the Act of Parliament
requires, which he refus'd and said he Intended to put the Bonds[8] in
Suit when he had proper Powers.

[Footnote 7: Col. Jacob Wendell (1691-1761), great-grandfather of Dr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes. Born in Albany, of Dutch descent, he might
naturally be invoked to aid Amsterdam owners.]

[Footnote 8: _I.e._, the bonds of the privateer; see doc. no. 126,
sect. XV.]

Publick Proclamation was then three Times Solemnly Made for all
Persons claiming Property in the Sloop _Amsterdam Post_ and Cargo to
make their appearance and they shou'd be heard, but none appeared; The
Court was then Adjourn'd to Wednesday the 13th of August next a