Star.
London, England, 1822-12-12 00:00:00

INTERESTING CORRESPONDENCE.

Admiralty-Office, Dec. 7, 1822.
Sta—l am commanded by the Lords Commissioners of the
Admiralty to acquaint you that their Lordships' attention having
been called by a letter and memorandum from Lieutenant
Stokes, late of his Majesty's ship Iphigenia, of which the en-
closed are copies, to the paragraph in the newspapers therein al-
luded to; and their Lordships having compared the statement of
Mr. Harrison, Muter of the Zephyr, as given in the newspapers,
with this official and authentic report from Lieutenant Stokes,
they think it due to the owners in whose employment Mr. Harri-
son may be, to communicate to them the true state of the case
in question. I am, &c. (Signed) J. W. CROKER.
" J. W. Buckle, Esq. Chairman of the Committee of
the Ship-owners Society."
" The Hungerford, Strand, Dec. 4, 18429-
" Sot—ln consequence of having seen in the Times and Courier
of Saturday last, an article which professes to be an account of
the capture of a pirate schooner, by the brig Zephyr, Harrison
master, and the Iphigenia's pinnace, under my command, and
which differs essentially from the verbal report I had the honour
to make to you on my return to Havannah ; I beg leave to place
in your hands the accompanying memorandum, drawn up some
time since, relative to that affair, and to point out some of the
flagrant falsehoods in the account to which I have referred.
"That account, I am convinced, was written by Harrison, the
master of the Zephyr. Those who have read his statement, and
are unacquainted with his character, will be somewhat surprised
at hearing that neither he nor one of his crew boarded the
schooner which he has gratuitously called a pirate. They wit-
nessed the affair from the taffrail of the Zephyr, at about pistol-
shot distance, and when they saw that the Iphigenia's pinnace
had taken possession of her they gave us three cheers ; the inci-
dents he relates, such as his clearing for action, (by the bye, he
had not a gun in his brig) his calling to me to shove off, the blow
made at the bowman of the boat, the recapture of the Sarah, and
the detention of the American ship, are all perfectly fabulous.
So long as I was on board his vessel, in pursuance of your orders,
for the purpose of affording him protection, I considered myself
entitled to exact from him implicit obedience ; and accordingly
he exercised no more authority with respect to the measures
which he represents himself to have directed than did his cabin
boy. Had &e proved a pirate, the merit of het capture would
have belonged exclusively to those who were in the Iphigenia's
pinnace. I have the honour to be, &c.
(Signed) " PRINGLE STOKES,
" Lieutenant of his Majesty's ship Iphigenia."
MEMORANDUM.

In consequence of the reports of the piracies com-
mitted on the coast of Cuba, I was ordered by Com-
modore Sir Robert Mends to give escort, in the pin-
nace of the Iphigenia, to the Zephyr and Sarah, two
English merchant vessels about to start from the Ha-
vannah. In the pinnace were, besides myself, Mr.
William Pedder, passed as midshipman, Mr. A.Lace,
assistant-surgeon, a cockswain, fourteen seamen, and
four marines. The Zephyr was n brig of about 500
tons, the master's name Harrison; Mr. George Tho-
mas, a Lieutenant in the Navy, was acting as mate.
The Sarah was a small schooner out of Nassau, New
Providence, laden with bale goods; her owner, Lieu.
tenant Podmore, Royal Navy, was on board of her.
—Neither the Sarah nor the Zephyr had guns or
ammunition.
As it was not unlikely that an attempt to board
these vessels might be made by the pirates, provided
the pinnace were not seen, I went on board the Ze-
phyr, as she, being much larger than the Sarah,
afforded a better ambush for my boat when hauled
up alongside. We got outside the Moro of Havannah
by seven A. H. and by sun-set the vessels were consi-
dered as sufficiently distant from the land to require
no longer my convoy ; but deeming that I ought to
prolong as much as possible our chance of getting
hold of a pirate, I decided upon not quitting until
day-light the nest morning. The Sarah was in con-
sequence directed to keep close to us, to fire a musket
if she saw anything suspicious, and was supplied with
ammunition for that purpose.
At day-light, being between Matanzas and the
Double Headed Shot, two schooners were seen to
windward ; one was recognised as the Sarah running
down to us ; the other, a large two topsailed schooner,
having the appearance of a cruiser, was edging down
to the Sarah. About a quarter of an hour after the
stranger hoisted American colours, and fired a mus-
ket. The Sarah hoisted English colours and hove to.
Stranger luffed to, down boat, and sent on board the
Sarah, then furled and kept away for the Zephyr,
hoisted her colours. As she approached we hove to,
I got into my pinnace with my crew, and requesting
Ilr. Thomas to let me know when the schooner was
nearly in the wake of the brig, I stood by to shove off
to board her in the pinnace, because, if she proved
honest, all would be right; and if she was otherwise,
we stood a good chance of surprising her, as the plan
we were upon was knovel one on that coast. Mr.
Thom• s let me know when she was about pistol-shot
idistar e in the wake of the brig, I shoved off, and
boarded her on the larboard quarter without resist-
! a tie, for we were on board too quickly for them
to have prepared for it even if they had been so in-
clined. As we boarded, some hands abaft were
busy hauling down the American colours, and hoist-

ing the red, yellow, and blue ensign of Colombia.'
As her crew appeared rather numerous, I put about
fifteen of them in irons, and them proceeded to eye.
• mine whit I had' got hold of. She proved to be the
schooner Mai ia, out of Pampata, Margaritta, her ton-
nage about 200 tons, 'aving eight guns .and forty.
men. The Captain of her (named Baker) produced
a commission from the Republic of Colombia, autho-
rizing him to capture Spanish vessels, together aid)
a roll of public instructions in the Spanish language.
The letter of instructions from the owner wllich ac-
companies this memorandum, was found in the Cap-
tain's trunk, together with the original, of which it
is the duplicate.
Shortly after we got on board the privateer, a large
ship was seen a-head. The Captain of the privateer
told me it was a vessel which he had boarded the
evening before. I got the Master of her on board
the Maria, and questioned him. He told me that the
boarding Officer of the privateer had treated him po-
litely, paid him for some potatoes with which he had
supplied him, and detained him no longer than a
few minutes to examine his papers. I likewise sent
Mr. Pedder on board the Neutrality, for I thought
it possible that this might not be the Master of her,
but one of the Prize-masters belonging to the Maria.
Mr. Pedder questioned the crew, and reported him-
self satisfied that there was no deception. I requested
Lieutenant Podmore, the owner of the Sarah, to
come on board, that I might have his evidence re-
specting the boarding Officer of the privateer. He
reported that his conduct had been perfectly correct.
I had strictly examined the privateer whether there
were any bale goods on board, or anything that
looked like plunder. Finding nothing of that kind,
and deeming myself unauthorized to detain her, un-
le,s I could establish some act of aggression against
our commerce, I thought myself bound, in the ab-
sence of any circumstance of a crimillatory nature,
to let her go: so, having released the men I had put
in irons, I shoved off from her about one o'clock P
and pursued my way in the Iphigenia's pinnace to
Havanna!), where I arrived about noon the following
day. PRINGLR STOKES,
Lieutenant of his Majesty's ship Iphigenia.