appears by his Journal; there he purchases a Loading,
Chiefly Provisions, Clears out for the Maderas, and accordingly had
one Sett of Bills of Lading for that Port, to be delivered to William
Callanach or to his assigns, who to Me appears to be a fictitious
Person, and one other Sett of Bills of Lading for said Cargo to be
Deliverd at the Port of C----[2] unto Divernett Freres, who plainly
appeard to me then to be two Merch'ts Settled Inhabit'ts at Teneriffe,
one of them since dead, the other there still Inhabiting; that on the
15th of January, 1739, the said Vessell was taken, as set forth in the
Libel, with the said Papers and the Books of Acco'ts of the said
Master, and by which acco'ts it turns out to my Satisfaction if those
two Brothers the Devernets were not solely Owners they were
Principally so. It further appears that the reason assigned by the
Master, when taken, of being so near Teneriffe and setting in for that
Port was for Water, when in Truth it's in Proof they were Letting out
their Water Secretly, and after Stopt by the Captors there was Water
for one hand more than the Crew belonging to the Sloop for three
Weeks, which carried them into Madera, and if the Say of some of the
Sailors is to be Credited they were Shipped at Corke for Teneriffe;
and all this to Demonstration Shews which of those two Setts of Bills
of Lading must be understood to be Real. It also appears in Proof,
certifyed under the hand of the British Consul at Madera (whose name
thereto subscrib'd is owned by the Claimant to be of his proper
handwriting), that the said Cargo was there by force Unloaded, by
Means Whereof not brought with the Vessell to this Port, So that in
fine here is a British Master endeavouring to Commence Dutchman, a
British Vessell with two Passes, British and Dutch, and to be
occasionally[3] either a British or Dutch Bottom Navigated by British
Subjects in time of War with Spain, Sails from Teneriffe with Money to
Cork in Ireland, there purchases a Cargo of Provisions bound directly
back to our Enemies, makes a false Clearance as if bound to Madera,
has two Setts of Bill of Lading, the One which is Real to Deliver the
Cargo at a Port part of the Dominions of a Prince in Enmity with us,
and to Persons there Inhabiting who appear to be altogether or
Principally owners, Carrying the King's Subjects to Enemies, whereby
they by Menaces or Corruption or both may be drawn from their
Allegiance, and happily is thus taken,