The Sun.
London, England, 1806-07-16 00:00:00

Llll7 . REPO RT.

KING'i BENCH, CULLDk!ALL, JULY ts.
stritNes,AT NISI rictus, BEFORE LORD CUM JUSTICE

ELLENDO.ROUCTI.

ANDREWS AND OTHERS V. MURRAY.

. _
This was an a&ion of troves, brought to recover
.the possession or value of the Ship Mercurius.
The Learned Counsol, for the Plaintiffs, having
stated the nature of the a4ion, .observed,. that:it was
brOught to recover the Ship Mercurius, which had
been sold.under a Condemnation, at theisiand of To-
bago,
,and it was,one, of the most impudent con-
demnotions that,was,ever thought or heard- of and.
if such pra6ticeS were to.,be -suffered, without the
interference of a Court of Justice, ,no ship-owners
were safe in their -property, so long as their Cap-
tains or Masters had power over them. The Ship
in question, previous to her voyage to the West In-
dies, received the best possible repair, in which no
less a sum than 14001. was expended. She took out
agoodcargu, and performed her• voyage well, with-
out any unusual stress of weather. When she ar-
rived at the
,Island of Tol;ago, the then Captain
(Robinson), with a person of the name of Banaman,
procured ,a..warrant to survey the Ship. She was
conde,:',Tred, and sold by au6tion, to Mr. Glover, of
that for whom the: present Defendant was
agent. it was the intention of Robinson -and his
friend to have purchased the Ship -for themselves',
• but the sale being better than they expeaed, and not
• being able,to-raise more than ,3091. she was sold for
440.1. The cir&arnsfaixes of the survey and con-
'denination were these warrant being pro-,
-Cured, the Captain, with two other persdos, repaired
•to the Ship';- they took .a boat, went to the side of
the ship; and where Scime of thesheathing was' rot-
ten, they took a little bit in a sheet of white paper,
and on presenting_this• to the CoMmissioners, the
Vessel: was condemned. ' The carpenter, at the, time;
remonstrated With these surveyors, and wished them
to .make a more.particular examination of her; but
Capt. Robinson silenced him.A ImMediatelyafter,
the ship being in want of some repairs, which could
rici(be done at Tobago; egvt: Henry, formerly Chief
-Mate of her, and several of the crew, engaged 'to
take her; in ballast, to
.Grenada, where the-ne-
cessary re-pairs were executed for 3501. ;. which, if
dohe in England, would not have cost more than
.1501.- She afterwards sailed from thence with a full,
cargo of sugars, and arrived the port of London
without any accident upon the voyage ; and,,herself
and 'cargo iii good condition.

.These fans were . nearly (proved, as stated, by
Capt. Henry,. who .can.ie the voyage home With the
ship in question. •He further stated, that the ship
was •not in a fit condition to take in a cargo Of su-
gars when she arrived at Tobago ';' at the Sanie
time, she was by no Aneans in that state to warrant'
condemnation.

. .
The register being produced,
Mr. PARKE, for the Defendant, .objeaed to this,
as riot being sufficient cwidence•of.,the property be-
ing the .Plaintitis!. so, as to-give Weill the right of
action. The Ship was n foreign-built vessel,.. taken
and conderun.d as ti Tay:ful Prize by the Admiralty
Court; and,: under the 26th Seo:tion of Lord Liver-
pool's First A&, it was necessary to have. the certifi-
cate of the Judge of the Court of Admiralty,. of such
condeMnation, before any registry cculd be valid.—
He, therefore, submitted, that such certificate should
be given in evidence.

Lord ELLKNBOROUGH was of opinion, that it was
quite sufficient that-it' appeared in the body of, the
• registry; that such certificate did antecedently exist.
It was the- duty of the proper Officer to' have. all
these necessary documents before him, in order 'to
authorise him to grant the registry, and, the Court-
Would presume that it had been so dope. ~ .
Mr. PARKE then observed,. in .opening the De-
fence for his Client, that should, the Jury find a
verdia. against him, it would be a yery great hard-
ship on an man, If there had been any
.fraud (as he must take it fOr granted, on the evi-
dence,-that there was), it lay with the former cap-
tain (Robinson), arid his friend—and on them alone
the evil should rightly be,Visited. His Client was
the harmless and honourable purchaser, at a fair,sale
by auction, under a condeninalien by a Court of
competent jurisdietion. •
"Lord ELLENBOROUGH observed, that he. did not,
find :it laid down in any law,' tinit the Captaii bad
any 'authority Whatever tO sell or dispose of a Ship,
except in cases of the most urgent necessity. There
would be no security in a CommerCial Country like
this, to Ship-owners, if the Captains' of Vessels were
to suppose they had a right to sell the Ship on every.
pretence they might think proper to.make. The
Jury would, therefore, say, whether, in, their sound
'discretion, there was any
,pretence whafever.tor the:
condemnation and salein" qUesticin .
The Jury found a VerdiCt for. the. Plaintiffs; the
damages to be ascertained by arbitration. :

ST. PETERSBUAGH, JUNE 6.—An issue of paper
money is the .topio &discourse ; and in 'Consequence.
of this rumour cash has become more scarce .than-
before. This measure is more sensibly felt by our
Merchants in conSecinence of-the embarraSsmgnt
they have -met with from the late obstacle's 'to 'the
navigation of the Baltic... Besides the 'bankruptcies'
of last week, we expeEt others; not less injurious,.
in the course of a few days. , . - •
It is still.reported that the Fortress of. Brannanis
to be levelled.

COPENIIAGEN, JUNE 28.- -oqr Government has
acceded to the just demand of the French Court, 'rind
gratified the wishes of all interested in the welfare
of the Danish colonies. All commerce between our
West Indian Possessions and the Negroes of St. Do-
mingo is prohibited under the severestirestriaions.

. .
G-RIEFSWALD, JUNE ;'B.--Whether it bassbeen in
Consequence of alayourable tarn in the Negotiations,
or froni some other unknown cause, does not yet
appear; but the Swedili Army in PoMerapia has
certainly withdrawn from the Prussian frontier. Qn
.the 26th it took a new position on the Banks of the
Trebel and the Rick. The first line is posted be-
tween Triebsceo and Griefswaldi and the artillery is
at Grimin. The second line-is betWeln Ridebas and
Binkcnhagen; the Head-quarters of the Command-
ant-of the 'Line
.are at Ruchtenberg.• His Majesty's
head-quarters are. to be removed from this place, to
Frantzburg. A division of Gun-boats also th it were
at Fresend,orf have weighed anchor, .and returned to
their former station near. Grunschwade. • • '