been sent home by him; under these circumstances we request to receive their Lordships' directions, whether any claim is to be made against the French Government for the expences of the stores, &c. so supplied. We are, &c.

J. TUCKER.

P. FRASER.

J. W. Croker, Esq.

G. A. CHETWYND STAPYLTON.

No. 12.-John Barrow, Esq. to the Navy Board.

GENTLEMEN, Admiralty Office, 26th February, 1820. HAVING laid before my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty your Letter of yesterday's date, stating a communication which you had received from Commissioner Sir Jahleel Brenton, respecting a French Vessel called La Sylphe, detained by the Redwing and ordered to be restored, and requesting to be informed whether any claim is to be made against the French Government for the expences of the stores, &c. supplied to that Vessel; I have their Lordships' Commands to acquaint you, that no claim is to be made against that Government upon that account.

The Commissioners of the Navy.

I am, &c.

JOHN BARROW.

No. 13.-John Barrow, Esq. to William Hamilton, Esq.

SIR, Admiralty Office, 26th February, 1820. IN reference to former Letters respecting the French Schooner La Sylphe, detained by the Redwing, and ordered to be restored; I am commanded by my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to request you will acquaint Lord Castlereagh, that the Navy Board having reported that this Vessel had been supplied from His Majesty's dock-yard at the Cape of Good Hope with some articles necessary to equip her for sea, and requested to be informed whether any claim is to be made against the French Government for the expence of these stores, my Lords have signified to the said Board that no claim is to be made against that Government upon this account.

William Hamilton, Esq.

SIR,

I am, &c.

JOHN BARROW.

No. 14.-Rear Admiral Plampin to J. W. Croker, Esq.

H. M. S. Conqueror, St. Helena Roads, 1st March, 1820. I BEG leave to acquaint you, for the information of my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that the Hardy Schooner returned to this anchorage from the Isle of Bourbon on the 24th ultimo, having delivered up the French Schooner La Sylphe to the French Authorities at that Place, agreeably to their Lordships' directions.

I herewith have the honour to forward to you two Receipts for the said Vessel and furniture, and different Documents relating to her.

J. W. Croker, Esq.

I have, &c.

ROBERT PLAMPIN.

SIR,

No. 15.-John Barrow, Esq. to Joseph Planta, Jun. Esq. Admiralty Office, 9th May, 1820. IN reference to the Letter of Lord Castlereagh to my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, of the 12th of July 1819, relative to the Sylphe, a French Schooner, detained as a Slaving Vessel by His Majesty's Sloop Redwing; I am commanded by my Lords to transmit to you, for his Lordship's information, a Copy of a Letter from Rear Admiral Plampin, with the original Receipts therein referred to, stating the delivery of the Schooner to the French Authorities at the Isle of Bourbon. I am, &c.

Joseph Planta, Jun. Esq.

JOHN BARROW.

PAPERS RELATING TO THE PORTUGUESE BRIG GAVIAO, AND THE SPANISH SCHOONER ANNA MARIA.

LIST OF PAPERS.

1821. Page

No.

1. Commodore Sir G. R. Collier to J. W. Croker, Esq.......

.Fernando, Po,.........16th April 237 1822

2. Sir G. R. Collier to J. W. Croker Esq....Knowle Cottage, Exeter, 4th May 240 3. Sir G. R. Collier to J. W. Croker Esq... Knowle Cottage, Exeter, 22d May 270 Commodore Sir George R. Collier to the

Registrar of the British and Spanish

Mixed Commission, Sierra Leone.....Off Bonny.

1821.

.26th Mar. 272

PAPERS RELATING TO THE PORTUGUESE BRIG GAVIAO.

No. 1.-Commodore Sir George R. Collier to J. W. Croker, Esq. H. M. S. Tartar, King George IV. Bay,

(Extract.)

Island of Fernando Po, 16th April, 1821. THE other detained Vessel is the Gaviao, from Pernambuco for Cabinda, furnished with a Royal Pass to carry Slaves, but interdicted from trading North of the Line, though St. Thomas is introduced into the License, which, if it means the Island, has certainly been the result of trick or connivance. The log-book of this Vessel, which appears to have been kept correctly, indicates her having been at Cabinda, which I am disposed to believe, because the Master states he carried

Soldiers from Pernambuco, and the Royal Pass allows her to proceed, and to receive on board at Cabinda (being to the South of the Line) 357 Slaves. From the Coast of Africa she proceeds to St. Thomas's Island, thence to Princes Island, and from thence to Old Calabar, for the purpose of taking on board (as the Master states) palm oil.

The Gaviao had arrived a few days previous to our Boats, and I understand did not intend to take a crowded Cargo; she had commenced paying some of her port dues, and had, in consequence, began Slaving the day previous to her detention; and that this was the Master's object, the within Letter from the Native Chief will be a satisfactory proof, as 3 Slaves, independent of any others sold by subordinate Traders, had been bargained for, and actually delivered over to the Master on board the Gaviao, by the Duke himself; that they had not been paid for previous to the Capture is a circumstance lamented by that Chief in a very natural way.

After the Letter had been dispatched to me by the Chief, I received a verbal message from him, saying that 2 of the 3 Slaves he had sold to the Portuguese Brig had been recovered, they having been landed from the Brig while the Boats were boarding, but that the third must be still on board; and it appears that, owing to the circumstance occurring in the night, the Boats in mistake first boarded an English Merchant Ship laying near the Gaviao, which creating an alarm on board that Brig, advantage was thus taken of it, and having only a few Slaves on board, and a Canoe alongside, the attempt was made to get rid of them, in which, with respect to the 2 above-mentioned, the Portuguese certainly succeeded, and the Sailors so employed returned to the Brig when in our possession.

Whether among the 8 Slaves found on board the Brig, the Slave of the Chief Ephraim shall be one of that number, or whether he may have been disposed of in a more secure manner, must be hereafter decided, but as a Portuguese Sailor was found in the Brig's hold, endeavouring to force a pair of trowsers upon a Slave, and this Slave had neither a name, nor could he speak or understand either Portuguese or the Native Language of Calabar, I am inclined to believe he is one amongst those sent from the Interior, and probably the identical Slave sold by Duke Ephraim. In this belief, at least, he was sent on board the Thistle; and the Brig Gaviao brought down the River by the Lieutenant in command.

In a conversation I have since had with the Master, he appeared ignorant of his having so many as 8 domestic Slaves on board, but on referring to the Contre Maestro, he said they were taken on board at Princes Island.

On a reference to her Role d'Equipage, it does appear she had 4 domestic Slaves on board on sailing from Pernambuco, whose description however, does not answer to either of the 8 mentioned, nor are there

any

additional number of Slaves as domestick ones certified on her Role d'Equipage, which bears the proper Signature of having undergone examination at Port Antonio, Princes Island. It is therefore an almost unquestionable fact, that if a part of these Slaves were not procured in Calabar, they must have been since quitting the Coast of Brazil, and I should hope, if I am to expect reasonable justice from the Mixed Commission, that this Brig will also be considered as having not only violated her engagement, but that she has been trading in Slaves, contrary to the existing Treaty.

I have been more minute in this, as well as in other Cases lately reported to their Lordships, because I am aware of the necessity which now exists; as I know from past experience, the interest every Slaver has in disproving the charge against his Vessel, tempts them to swear to the most evident falsehoods; and it is with concern I have remarked the most extravagant assertions have been recorded in the Mixed Court as proofs of innocence.

J. W. Croker, Esq.

GEORGE R. COLLIER.

(Inclosure.)—The Native Chief of Old Calabar to Commodore Sir George R. Collier.

SIR,

Old Calabar, 9th April, 1821. I FEEL it my duty to write you, and should have been very glad to have seen you up at Old Calabar. Should feel pleasure in rendering you any assistance that lay in my power. I have sent my Pilot to pilot the Portuguese Brig you took last night (unfortunate for me I put 3 Slaves on board, and has not got paid for them.) Should you or any of your Squadron visit this place I shall feel pleasure in rendering you or them any service in my power. Had you been inside the River I should have come down to have seen you. Commodore Sir G. R. Collier.

I am, &c.

DUKE EPHRAIM EGAMBO. We, the Undersigned, the Commanders of the British Merchant Ships and Vessels in Old Calabar River, having seen the accompanying Letter from Duke Ephraim to Commodore Sir George Collier, do voluntarily declare that the same is the actual Signature of Duke Ephraim, the Chief of Duke Town in that River; to the truth of which we now solemnly depose upon the Holy Evangelists.

Present at the time of his signing the Letter.

Sworn before me, on board His Majesty's Ship Tartar, off the Bar

of Old Calabar River, in Africa, this 12th day of April, 1821. Witness, ROB. Atherton.

GEORGE R. COLLIER, Commodore.

And we, the Undersigned, further declare, that the circumstance therein detailed, of the Slaves having been sent on board the Portuguese Brig by Duke Ephraim, is a fact within our knowledge, 2 of which were landed in the bush by the Portuguese, the moment they discovered the Men-of-War's Boats were boarding a Vessel near them. GEO. FORSTER,

Sworn before me (as above), on board His Majesty's Ship Tartar, off the Bar of Old Calabar River, this 12th day of April, 1821.

SIR,

GEORGE R. COLLIER, Commodore.

Witness to the Signatures, ROBert Atherton.

No. 2.-Sir George R. Collier to J. W. Croker, Esq.

Knowle Cottage, Exeter, 4th May, 1822. I BEG leave to inclose you the Copy of a Document I have received from the Agent to the Owners of the Portuguese Brigantine Gaviao, (A.) purporting to be an Award made by the British and Portuguese Mixed Commission Court established at Sierra Leone, amounting to £1,520 13s. 9d. for costs, damages, and expenses stated to have been incurred, in consequence of the seizure and detention of the said Vessel; and I request you will do me the honour to submit the same to my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, in the hope that their Lordships may, from the peculiar circumstances of this Case, refer it to the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, with their Lordships recommendation, that the Seizors may be protected from all the consequences of this demand; as I trust it will appear the detention of the Gaviao was not wantonly made, but that the facts, as admitted even by the British Arbitrator, Fitzgerald, fully justified the

measure.

I regret that I shall be under the necessity of troubling their Lordships at considerable length, but the Commission of Arbitration at Sierra Leone having thought proper to make an Award in favour of the Master, to the extent which appears in the accompanying Document, and payment having been demanded by the Person acting in this Country for the Master of the Gaviao, it becomes indispens le that I should enter into a detail of the several particulars of this Case; and I therefore purpose, in the first instance, to state the circumstances attending the seizure of the Gaviao, and then to offer some comments upon the Award in question.

Their Lordships are fully aware of the duties intrusted to me as Senior Officer and Commodore of His Majesty's Ships and Vessels on the Coast of Africa, towards checking the illicit traffick in Slaves, which, notwithstanding the Treaties that have been made with Foreign Powers, was known to exist. And in the furtherance, therefore, of