Portland gazette and Maine advertiser., 1807-09-28

Hi. MajeRy's floop HaIifax-HalifaE EIar-
bOur, 18th Aug. 1907
SIR,
Ibeg leave to reprefent to you, that the
| FIVE men named in the Margin belonging
to his maieity's loop Halifax, under my COM
mand, when fent with petty officer IN the
Jolly boat in Hampton Roads, on the tn OF
J March lah, 10 weigh kedge anchor, which
had been previounv dropped for the purPoie
Of iwinging the h,:p by, taking the advantage
| fthe dusk Ofthe evening, mutluled upon the
| petty icer, lome Of them threatening 70
zzracy him, but, the reft interfering they de-
! flied however taking the boat under their
| command, they lucceeded in delerung, by
landing At Sewel's Point.
1 The -~hala of tl4u above mentioned deier-
! tiers, have ince been informed, entered on
/ board the United States frigate CheiaPeake,
ana were lcen bv me, and feveral of my Of
! fcers, paraGing the Rreets Of Norfolk IN tri-
umPh under the American flag. A few
days after the delertion, accolted one Of theie
men, Henry Saunders, asking the reaton Ofhs
delertng, and received for anfwer, that he did
not intend any thing Of the kind, but was
compelled by the ref to afIif, and would en-
( brace the irlt opportunity Of returning. AT
| thar moment, Jenkin Ratford, one of the 1aid
I deferters, coming up, took the arm Of the iaId
| Henry Saunders, declaring with an oath that
neither he, or any Of the ref Of the deie-ters,
! fhould return to this fhp, and, with con-
/ temptuous geaure, told me he was in the land
! Of Liberty, and inltantly dragged the laid
/ Henry Saunders away.
Finding that my exPonulating any longer
/ -. ha IL
iertcrs, bur, in I'll probability, have collected
mob Of Americans, who no doubt would have
| proceeded to feps Of violence, ] inltantly re-
| paired 10 the houfe Of colonel Hamilton, Che
| Britifh Conhl there and related evey circum-
| cumt2nce which occurred, and applied to him,
I a. ailo 10 Lieutenant Sinclair Of the rendeZ-
| vOus for the United States fervice, to recov-
er the faid deiertcrs, bu, without effect.
| Being fnce informed that Jenkin Ratford
| has been recovered, in action, on board the
| United States f-igate Chelapeake, with His
! Britannia Maelty's flip Leopard, and now
\ priioner on board his Maielly's flip Beona
! have TO requeG you will be Peaied to direct
a Court Martial may he attended Tor the
PurPOle Of trying the faid Jenkin Ratford,
for the within mentioned charges Of NIutiny,
Deiertion, and Contempt
| have the honor TO remain, fir,
Your moi obedient and humble lervant,
j. TOWNSEND.
To the Hon O. G. Berkeley,
vice Aunnst ~ witt,
and Commander in Chief,
&c &c. Halifax N. S.
The witnet1es were then with
drawn.
The Right Hon, Lord James Townfend, fworn
Q. Relate to the Court what
comes within your knowledge Of the
charges againit the priiorer ?
A. At the time Of the prifoncrs
dcieTtinG, | was on board the Mer-
maid on hearing fire of mulket-
ry kept up from the hip, about fix
O'Clock in the evening, on the 9TH
Of March, | Immediately returned
on board, when Lieut.. Carter in
formed me, that five men had fofe
on Mr.. Turner, midhipman, and
deferted with the Jolly boat. The
| next morning, | tent Lieut.. Mart
tiers TO Norfolk, to acquaint captain
Hollis and the Britiih Conful Of the
deferricn Of the men: on his return,
he reported TO me that he had feen
iome Of them, one i'll particular,
Richard Hubert, parading the itreets
with the American flag, then recru-
ting far the CeflPeake. | then went
up myfelf to Norfolk, and told the
Britifh Conlul and finding that the
men had entered for the Chelapeake,
IaPpIied to Lieutenant Sinclair, who
was entering men for her, and re-
! Ceived for an(wer, that there were nc
men entered for theE1 by the names
| gave but if any deferters had en-
tered, | mutt apply to the magis-
trates which | did, though the
Conful, who, believe, applied to the
mayor and civil power. | alto aPPH-
ed to capt. Decatur, who referred
ne to lieut.. Sine air but I met with
no fucctis in recovering the men. |
met the priioner, with Saunders, the
boaHwain's mate, after my aPPica-
ton, and asked them the reafon why
they did net return TO the flip.
oaunders faid he would, and imme-
diatcly went with me abour twenty
yards, when the prifoner laid hold Of
his arm, and Eaid ne would Be dam
ned if he thould return to the fhip !;
that he was Ia the land Of liberty !;
that he would Go as he liked, and
that | had 10 buGnei5 with him.