The Sun.
London, England, 1802-10-27 00:00:00

i----

;ad the Invoices from Mr. Easterby, and t
:d them back to Mr. Easterby at Deal."
[Here the Witness was again interrupted by the Counsel,
for the purpose of proving a notice given to all the Prisoners to
produce these itivoires, and other docuinents respecting the
Ship Adventure, &c. in or.lcr that it such documents were
oot produced, parole evidence might be given of their con.
tents—which rout being gone through, the Witness pro.
ceeded.]
""1 ne.amlunt of the Invoices appeared to me to
be about 90001. but I did not pay particular atten-
tion to that, I proceeded as Supercargo to Yar-
mouth. I cannot pretend to say, whether there
were things in the 'lnvokes which were not on
board. I wrote to Mr. Eastcrby from Yarmouth,
and told him I did not mran to sail from thence in
the ship. I afterwards went to the Downs, and
saw Mr. Easterby at the Inn, but not on board the
hip there I finally quitted. the ship, and deli veted
up the Invoices to Mr. Easterly, at Deal. There
were two lads, apprentices of mine,
.on board, Mor-
ris and Kennedy.
ruere a Letter of Codling, found at qv: lodgings of Mr.
1-;:sterby, at Brighton, which furnished a clue to whole
case, was read.]

Captain Deuglas, examined by Mr. KNOWLYS._.,
I got to Brighton on the loth of August last ; I
saw the ship Adventure there ; only a part of her mast
was above -water. She was about two miles and a
half from shore ; I went to her ; I ttent again on.-
shore, and saw Mr. M'Farlanee Mr. Easterby, and
Mr. Read. When 1 saw them, I slowed them the
apthority I had from the Underwriters to inquire
how the ship sunk, and said, it was necessary to
detain the Captain and the Crete for the purpose
of assisting me to get her on shore to save the cargo ;
but I mentioned no other reason at the time. Mr.
Read took his watch out of his pocket, said it was
part of the cargo, and offered to resign it to me,
saying, he had no right to it, for it •was part of the
property belonging to the Underwriters. I then
went with Mr. Smith, when it was endeavour.
ed to get the ship up by the -Boatmen, anti
others who lived at Brighton : they worked at
it the whole day, and I came on shore, and remain.
ed at Brighton the rest of the day, taking notice of
what they were about with the vessel, but took no
alive part myself. On the Wednesday morning I
went to the place where the Stagecoaches go off;
and 1 saw Mr. M'Farlane and Mr. Read walk-
ing together : I soon - afterwards joined them, and
they informed me, that Captain Codling was going
to London in the stage : I expressed my astonish.
meet at their permitting him to go, after what had
passed the they before : Mr. Easterby then said,
. that he would detain him, which he did, and sent
one of the boys in his place. I 'do nor remember
that I communicated to them anv report respecting
what happened to the ship. Mr. Easterby, My-
. self, and Mr.• Read, then walked together to the
other ship. Mr. Read said, he had some watches
and some tinte.pieces, and a sinall ,bale, which
he wished to give up-, to toe. I met Captain
• Codlieg, at • the Lou, and told him it -was very
wrong, to attempt to leave Brighton, Flail the fate
of the Vessel was known, He said he had no place
for sleeping—and was obliged to lie on the floor.—
Mr. Easterby said it would be a great expence to
him to continue •there.—l said 1 would bear the
expellee, on behalf of the Underwriters ; aett, with
respect to his trot getting a bed, if he could not
get a bed at the Ine, where he was, I -would
endeavour to get him one at the White Horse,
where I was. filar was on the Wednesday morn.
ing. Codlits said " Very - well." I under-
stood him, as if he meant to remain. The Ship
was, of that time, on her .way, getting to shore ;
but she was not got tte the shore, until the Thursday
moreieg, the r et h, about tee o'clock in the morn.
ing, 1 think.—l went on board, the Ship, but did not
see the hatches 'open ; I saw the holes ite the
ship ; the holes that were made in the scuttle ;
saw that from the outside; I was the lint . person
who went into the cabin after she was brought to
shore. On going in, I found the lower pant of the
larboard side of the cabin knocked down, and part
of the ceiling torn up. There was a hole, which
appeared to be done with a rude instrumente•—it was
about nine incites long and four inches broad. By
a rude instrument, I mean in comradistinaion from
a sharp instrutnent,which breaks rather than cuts.—
It was in the run of the larboard quarter ; Ldid not
ithen perceive other holes in- the eVip : on the fol.
lowing day, I perceived two auger holes also on the
larboard side. The auger holes were nem the keel
on the larboard side ; the two auger holes were not
sufficient to sink the vessel,' but the hole made win
the rude instrument, was quite sufficient-to sink the
vessel, and I have. no doubt she was; sunk by it. It
appeared to me to 14e done front the inside of the
ship, for the lockers and ceiling appeared to have
been knocked down for the purpose of doing it ;
she was lying on the opposite side to that in which
the holes were made. Upon going on board, I
saw an auger lying upon the cabin floor; I silty
Mr. Easterby and likewise Mr. Read afterl had
seen the condition of the ship; they Were. at
Brighton at that time, and went with them to
Lewe., where they were examined before a Ma.
gistrate. I said to Mr. Easterby that he had aded
very imprudently in leaving Codling to quit the
place, (for I had then learnt that Codling had gone
away.) I do not recoiled that Read was present
then ; Mr. Easterby said he thought there was no
harm in it he was only gone to London, and meant •
to return the following day. .On Friday Me, Levie
tame down to Brighton, and, then Easteeby was
gone ; it was after we had been before the Ma-
gistrate, by whom .Easterby was discharged, and
Read admitted to bail. It was, on Friday night
that Mr. Easterby left Brighton. • I then. went to
Mr. Easterhy's lodgings, and there I found
eotne letters (among which was One in the
handwriting of Codling, which gave a clue to
the whole transaction, as we have reported al.
ready.) I told Read, and believe Easterby was pre.
sent at the time, '1 that 1• thought the ship had'been
sunk ;" he said, " he had not the least doubt of
it ;" but he did not say by whom he thought it had
been sunk.- I afterwards went tolierwich, and ay.
_plied to the Tostmaster there, to see the names of
the persons, in the Packets, but I did not see the
name of Codling. • The Packet was under weigh,
sgoing to the Continent. I got a warrant to search •

the Packets, and pursued them. I got on board the
first Packet and searched I found he was not there.
I then %vent on board the other Packet, and found
Codling in a bed with his coat off, and the test of
his cloaths on. I found no particular'name•given in
for him. He was searched. I took him into custody
and brought him home."
Cross-examined by Mr. FIELDING on behalf of
Codling, the Witness said, the vessel was in fad
towed on shore, and she was afterwards repaired.
Cross-examined by Mr. Serjeant BAILEY on
behalf of Read, the Witness said, that the watches
and the time-pieces he had spoken of were in the
possession of Mi. Read, for they were in the room
with the rest of his packages in his box.
Re-examined by Mr. KNOWLYS for the Prose-
cution, the Witness said, the ship was in about
7 fathom water, and about three feet of her top.
mast in sight.
Richard Brewer, examined by Mr. MARRYAT.
" I am a Shipwright at Shoreham ; I assisted in
bringing the vessel into Shoreham harb' ur, after she
had sunk off Brighton. On getting her to the
beach, I observed the water. to run out.of her in
three places below the water-mark :..the upper.
most of them 74. inches 'below the watermark ;
they were in the larboard aft quarter ; in the Lir.'
board run. The holes were made front the inside,--
I can speak with certainty to that from the ap-
pearance of the ship, for I have been used to these
t4ings for many years.—lf a hole is made on the
inside, there is a roughness- on the outside. I
found the lockers were broke to get at the ceiling,
so as to get at the bottom where one of the holes
was stove from within ; it is 18. inches and an
half by 2 and an half..-,-Two of he hols appeared
to be bored with an auger"— Here the_ augers
found in the ship were produced, as %%as also the
part of the plank of the ship cut out for the pur.
pose, exhibiting the large hole which had been
staved in and described- by the Witness.—The
Witness proceeded.—" Any one may see that this
hole was made from the inside of the ship, for it is
torn, arid it is larger on the outside than it is on the
inside.—The ship received no injury in towing in,
for we plugged her ; 'neither was she pillaged, for
we guarded her : she was brought into Shoreham
harbour." •

Cross.eNarnined by Mr. FIELDING on behalf of
Coaling. the Witpess said—" I st,•pt the holes,.
and enabled the Ship to swim into Shoreham Har.
bour."

Q. " She is capable of being repaired again ?"
A. " If there was only a stem anti a stern post,
you may make her up again if you have all the ma.
feria's."

Lord EL ter eo,tauGhi"Was she destroyed
as a vessel for the purposes of navigation, until she
had those holes plugged up ?"
A. " Yes, ms Lord, she was certainly."
A number of Witnesses were afterwards examin-
ed on the part of the Prosecution, from whose testi-
mony ayariery of circumstances, more or less tend-
ing to implicate the Prisoners, particularly 114‘Far-
lane and Easterby, appeared. A great deal of do.
cutnentary evidence was also adduced, such as the
Powers of Attorney given, and the appointment of
Read to aft as Supercargo of the vessel, &c. In
the course of the cross.examination of those Wit-
nesses who spoke to lads -affeding Read, some
circumstances miller favourable to that Prisoner
transpired. A great deal of the evidence in this
pit of the case, as well oral as documentary, relat.
ed to the various insurances made with different
Underwriters, - which by one calculation amount.
ed to 58501. in
,the whole. Miele were effededs
for the most part, in the month of July ; in some
instances it appeared by Easterby, but in the great.
er number of instances by Easterby and WFarlane
together. Even the • Commission was 'insured to
the amount of asol. It appeared that the different
policies were duly executed by the respedive Un-
derwriters with ,whom the Insurances were made.
In these cases the general understanding was, that
it was a joint concern of Easterby and Sl(Farlane,
both with resped to the ship and cargo.
This part of the case, on the part of the Crown,
being-gone through, a body of evidente was ad.
duced with respell to the contents of the cargo, its
nature, quantity, and value :—a part of what was
taken up as .the cargo, it appeared, consisted of
some very valuable plate, and various articles of
cutlery and hardware. There were among it sixty
pieces of silver plate, four packages of earthen ware,
foufboxes of China ware, a case of cutlery, some
tea, dquantity of ironmongery, some cases of hats,
some oil, a variety of musical instruments, among
which was a Grand Piano-Forte, by Ganer there
were also some tire arms. The insurance, on a
_part of the - hard-mare and the plate, amounted to
nearly tool.

Sot-ne evidence was also adduced, respeaing the
facts of raking away a part of the Cargo from the
' Vessel ; from which it appeared twelve cases were
taken away, by direCtion of Mr. Easterly ; this
was while the Vessel lay in the River. The prin.
cipal Witness, with whom this pan of the Case
rested, described that a whole heap of things, chief-
ly inclosed in cases, were taken out ; there were two
boat lolds. He described the part which Easterby
took in this transadion. A great deal appeared on
detail relative to the ordering the musical -instru-
snints, which were ordered by M'Farlane and Las.
terby, at two different periods. The amount of
the first order was for upwards of 1851.—0 f the
second -zza. of which the bills were regularly
made out. , Peery, the Officer, described a number
of articles which he found at M'Farlane's house,
and also in the house of a Mrs. Smith, who was the
sister of a Mrs. Patterson, a woman connected with
M'Farlane. Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Patterson were
also brought forward ; they spoke to the removal
of the articles in question from the house of Mr.
M'Farlane to the lodgings of Mrs. Patterson, &c.
the latter alledged that the causes of her removing
the goods were her apprehensions from a servant-
maid who was in the house, and also in consequence
of the 'Bankruptcy ti and she also spoke as to the
identity', of the goods removed'hy her from War-
lane's, and those taken to the Police Office. -With
this woman's testimony the Evidence fur the.Prose_
cution closed'. •