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![handle is hein.slavery/ssactsengr0379 and id is 1 raw text is: There is next a parcel mentioned in the letter as being for our account : the
question is, Who are the individuals composing this firm ? J. Bacri the broker,
resident at Algiers, must clearly be one, and I think his brother resident at Leghorn
must be another ; I shall restore their shares.
Another share, must, I think belong to a person, another brother, resident at
Marseilles ; the letters, in the whole tenor and style of them, point to such an interest.
His share I shall condemn, the rest I restore, and direct it to be paid to the Danish
Government. I am sorry that the Danish Government should suffer any loss in
this affair, but I have the satisfaction of thinking that it is not owing to the in-
justice of this country; it is an inconvenience to which all European states are liable
in transactions of this nature where the Barbary states happen to become parties.
THE FORTUNE -(Smith, Master). (a) April 7, 1800.-Claim on behalf of the
American government for Algerine property not admitted, owing to the manner
in which the American flag had been assumed.
This was a case of a claim given on the part of the American Government, praying
to be received to stand in the place of African merchants ; in respect [93] to a ship
and cargo, taken 5th January 1797, on a voyage from Bona to Marseilles, sailing
under American colours, and for which the Dey of Algiers had forcibly exacted
compensation from the American Consul.
Judgment-Sir W. Scott: This is a case of a ship and cargo claimed on behalf
of the government of the United States, and of Messrs. Busnah and Bacri, Algerine
merchants, subjects of the Dey of Algiers. The affidavit of claim represents, That
in the month of July 1796, Joel Barlow, Esq. the American Consul at Algiers, having
procured the liberation of the American prisoners then in confinement at Algiers
(the state of the plague at that time rendering it dangerous for them to remain
longer in that place), he was desirous of conveying them to Marseilles, but that
there was no vessel on which they could embark, except the ship Fortune, which
then belonged, as this deponent is informed and believes, to Messrs. Michael Busnah
and Joseph Coen Bacri, Algerine merchants and subjects; and that the Algerines
being at war with Genoa and Tuscany, it was thought inconvenient for the American
passengers that the vessel should sail under the Algerine flag ; that the aforesaid
American Consul therefore, to prevent an interruption by capture of his humane
purpose, took a bill of sale for the ship in his own name, and gave her the American
flag, and appointed- Calder to the command, directing him to destroy the
said bill of sale when he had reached his port of destination ; and this deponent
saith, that he is informed and believes that the said ship arrived'safe with the afore-
mentioned Americans [94] at Marseilles, still continuing to be the sole and entire
property of the said Messrs. Busnah and Bacri; and that Michael Smith, an
American citizen, there took upon himself the command of the said ship under the
directions of the said owners, and set sail with her, namely, on or about the 17th
November 1796, in ballast, bound to Bona on the coast of Barbary, where the ship
arrived in or about the month of January 1797, and was immediately laden with
a cargo of wheat, to be delivered at Marseilles, though specified in the bills of lading
as destined for Genoa ; that the said cargo was shipped by Michael Busnah aforesaid,
for account and risk of the said shipper and of his partner the aforesaid Joseph
Coen Bacri, Algerine merchants and subjects aforesaid ; and this deponent further
saith, that he hath been informed and believes that the said ship was proceeding
on her said voyage, when, on the 5th of February following, she was captured and
seized as prize; that the Dey of Algiers, upon receiving information of such capture,
caused a demand of indemnification to be made upon the aforementioned Joel Barlow
the American Consul at Algiers, upon the ground that the cargo had been put on
board a vessel sailing under the American flag, and which the American government,
and not the Dey, was bound to support; and that to prevent any dispute or mis-
understanding with the said Dey, the said American Consul thereupon drew bills
upon the American Agent for 40,3871 dollars, the sum demanded as the value of
the ship and cargo to be paid, within six months in Algiers, and if not then paid,
giving the Dey a right to draw at three months sight on the American government,
(a) This case is here reported without regard to the date, on account of its con-
nection with the preceding case.
THE FORTUNE
250
2 C. ROB. 93.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.slavery/ssactsengr0379&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)