The Virginia Gazette

LONDON. From the London Evening-Post, October 8.

The following Account of the Piractical Treatment of the Spaniards, both to Ship and Crew, coming undeniably attested, we think it our Duty to offer it to the Perusal of our Readers, tho' no doubt it will rouse the Fire, and inspire with Resentment and Indignation every True Briton to hear the braver Part of his Countrymen, the Merchants and Sea-faring Men, (by having their Hands tied down) forc'd to endure such Depredations, and have their Commerce interrupted by an Enemy always contemptible in the Eyes of an English Sailor, who wants nothing but Liberty to chastise him for his Insolence.

The Deposition of John Curtis, late Commander of the Ship St. James, of the Burthen of 100 Tons, or thereabouts, belonging to the City of Bristol, bound from thence to the City of Cork in Ireland, and to the Island of Jamaica; and George Reynolds, Boatswain of the said Ship; Silvester Plummer, John Giles, James Painter, Richard Witts, and Robert Durnell, Sailors before the Mast in the said Ship. Sworn before Samuel Dicker, Esq.

These Deponents being sworn on the Holy Evangelists, do depose, that they set Sail from the Port of Bristol in the said Ship St. James, (whose Owner was Michael Atkins, of the City of Bristol, Merchant,) for Cork in Ireland; and that they were partly laden at The Port of Bristol with divers Wares and Merchandizes, which were consigned to divers Merchants and Planters in the Island of Jamaica; and that at Cork they took in a Quantity of sundry Sorts of Provision, as Beef, Pork, Butter, &c. which was to be deliver'd at Jamaica to divers Merchants and Planters; and that they sailed from the aforesaid Port of Cork on or about the 9th Day of March last for their intended Port of Delivery at Jamaica; and that when they were arrived so far in their Passage as to the Longitude of the Island of Porto Rico, and in the Latitude of about 16 Degrees and 50 Minutes of North Latitude, and being by Estimation about 22 Leagues to the Southward of Porto Rico, on a Course West and by South; and on the 18th Day of May last a certain Sloop, being furnished with 16 Guns and upwards of 60 Men, under Spanish Colours, and commanded (as these Deponents were afterwards informed) by a Mulatto, named Dominick Sanchez, the Name of which Sloop was the Cruiser, came near them and fired a Gun at the said Ship St. James; and this Deponent, John Curtis, perceiving that the said Sloop had Force, and his Ship having no Guns and but few Men, he apprehended he should be obliged to submit, therefore struck his Colours; and the said Sloop coming near the Ship St. James, hailed them in English, and demanded of them from whence they came and where they were bound to; to which, Answer was made them from the Ship, that they came from Cork, and were bound to Jamaica; to which they were replied from the Sloop, that they themselves were Sea Rovers, and that they of the Ship were fallen into bad Hands; immediately about 30 Men, being Spaniards (as these Deponents did apprehend and do believe) came from the aforesaid Sloop and boarded the said Ship St. James; and in some few Hours after they boarded the said Ship, they ordered her to set Sail and follow the Sloop; and under their Command the said Ship was carried into a Bay, and brought to an Anchor the West End of Porto Rico, where she lay detained by the said Sloop's People; in the Course of which Time they plundered a Part of her Cargo and Stores, and forcibly took from this Deponent, John Curtis, Master, all his Letters and Certificates, a Mediterranean Pass, and sundry Papers belonging to the Ship's Voyage; as also the Log-Book, Journal, Instruments, the Captain's Cloaths, &c. And they turned the Deponent, John Curtis, the Master, out of his Cabin, and obliged him to sleep for the Space of Ten Days upon the upper Deck, and part of the Ship's Company they put on Shore under a Guard.

And further these Deponents say, That on or about the 22d Day of May, a Sloop came from the City of St. John on the said Island, and brought an Order from the Governor (as these Deponents were informed) to remove the Ship from thence to the said City of St. John, which was accordingly done: and the said Ship was anchored within the Port of St. John, on or about the 25th Day of May last, at which Place the remaining Part of her Cargo was taken out, her Sails unbent, her Rigging taken down, and all carried on Shore and put into Warehouses in the said City of St. John, by the Governor's Order.

And further, the Deponent, John Curtis, saith, That on or about the 5th Day of June last, the Deponent addressed himself to the Governor of Porto Rico by an Interpreter, and desired to know for what Reason the Ship had been brought from the Seas and plundered of her Cargo, Rigging, Sails, &c. and also desired that the Part of the said Ship, together with her Cargo which remained, might be delivered to him again, and that he might have Satisfaction for that Part of the Cargo which was plundered; forasmuch as that nothing was found on board the said Ship whereby She could legally be condemned as a Prize, as might appear from his Clearance from his Majesty's Customs in Great-Britain and Ireland, which were in his the said Governor's Hands, and to which this Deponent referred: But notwithstanding that this Deponent repeated his Address several Times to the Governor aforesaid, he could get no satisfactory Answer.

In the mean Time there came into the said Port of St. John, a Fifty Gun Ship belonging to the King of Spain, called the St. Juan, and bound to La Vera Cruz, who bought a considerable Part of the Provision which had been taken out of the Ship and put on board the said Spanish Man of War, the St. Juan; whereupon this Deponent, John Curtis, waited on the Governor, and informed him that seeing her Cargo was partly sold, and she laid by, he despaired of getting any Satisfaction for his Loss, or of having his Ship again; therefore he petitioned that he might have Liberty to depart from thence with his People to some English Settlement; but this Petition was rejected: Whereupon this Deponent, John Curtis, being afraid that he and his People might be put in Prison, or that some Mischief or other might befall them, did privately in the Night take his Boat, and with those other Deponents came away down to Jamaica, where they arrived on the 5th of July.

And further these Deponents do say, That they had not traded during the Course of their Voyage any where upon the Spanish Coasts, nor had they any Intention to trade upon any of the Coasts of the Spanish Dominions; nor had they sailed within 15 Leagues of any of the Spanish Coasts during the said Voyage, to the best of their Knowledge and Belief: And further these Deponents say not.

Various are the Opinions concerning the Depredations of the Spaniards on our Ships lately; some pretending, that the Cause of such a Procedure of the Dons proceeds from our Ships having contraband Goods on board, such as Logwood, Pieces of Eight, &c. And others, that any Pretence serves for that Purpose, while they (the Spaniards) imagine they may do it with Impunity: It's certain the Spaniards never have been, nor will be sincere Friends to Great-Britain; the beating and destroying their Fleet, 1718, by Admiral Byng, sticks in their Stomachs.