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![handle is hein.slavery/ssactsengr0459 and id is 1 raw text is: THE FELICIDADE OTHERWISE VIRGINIA 3 W. ROB. 45.
sation to be paid to them, unless they submit to the deduction of a moiety of the
damages which has been sustained by the owners of the Seringapatam. By
this decision I conceive the owners of the Seringapatam will have no reason to
complain that injustice has been done towards them.
[45] THE FELICIDADE, otherwise VIRGINIA. April 28, 1848.-The principles
of law which are applied to prize captures in time of war are, applicable to
questions of bounty for the capture of vessels engaged in the slave trade. The
claim of one of H.M. slave cruisers to share in the bounties for the capture of
a slave vessel overruled.
[S. C. 6 Notes of Cas. 174 ; 12 Jur. 441.]
This was a question as to the right of one of Her Majesty's cruisers to share in
the bounties arising from the capture of a slave vessel under the following circum-
stances -
On the 6th of March 1845, Her Majesty's sloop Star, whilst cruising on the
coast of Africa, descried a schooner in latitude 3' 10' north, and longitude 30 43' east,
whereupon sail was made in chase, and at 3.30 A.M., the Star having come
up with the schooner, Captain Dunlop, the commander, boarded her, and found her
fitted and equipped for the slave trade. Captain D. observing that several of the
crew of the said schooner wore bandages on their heads, directed the surgeon of
the Star to examine them, and a report being made that the men appeared to
be cut and wounded on their heads with cutlasses, Captain D. caused the crew to
be put in irons, and shortly after such order was made, one of the said crew stated
that the schooner had been captured by Her Majesty's sloop Wasp ; that the
crew of the Felicidade had killed the prize crew belonging to the Wasp, and
that the wounds which were observed were inflicted at the time when the crew of
.the schooner killed the prize crew, and retook possession of their vessel. Upon
this confession Captain D. ordered the second lieutenant of the Star to take
charge of the schooner, and proceed with her to Sierra Leone for adjudication. In
the progress of the voyage the Felicidade capsized in a white squall, and was
totally lost, and proceedings were subsequently commenced in the Vice-Admiralty
Court at Sierra Leone against the said vessel, and the Judge, [46] by interlocutory
decree, pronounced the said schooner at the time of the seizure to have been equipped
for and engaged in the slave trade, and as such liable to forfeiture and condemnation.
A claim having been made by the commander, officers and crew of the Star
for the tonnage bounties granted by the 1 & 2 Vict. c. 47, a claim was also interposed
on behalf of the commander, the officers and crew of Her Majesty's sloop the Wasp
to participate in those bounties, and an allegation was now brought in on their
behalf, the admission of which was opposed. The allegation pleaded.
1st. That on or about the 27th day of February 1845, Her Majesty's said sloop
Wasp, whilst cruising on the coast of Africa for the prevention of the slave trade,
&c., fell in with and seized the Felicidade, a Brazilian vessel, then equipped for
the slave trade, but without any slaves actually on board, and manned with a crew
of thirty persons, including the master. That the whole of the crew, except the
master and one other person, were removed on board the Wasp, and Lieutenant
Stupart and Mr. Palmer, a midshipman, with sixteen seamen belonging to the
Wasp, were put on board, with orders to convey her to Sierra Leone for adjudi-
cation.
2nd. That the two vessels having parted company, the Felicidade, on the
2nd of March 1845, fell in with and seized another Brazilian vessel called the Echo,
with 431 slaves on board, whereupon Lieutenant Stupart, with seven of his men,
went on board the Echo, leaving Mr. Palmer in charge of the Felicidade
with the remaining nine men belonging to the Wasp, the two persons of her own
crew, and twenty of the crew of the brigantine the Echo. That the two vessels
remained in company during the [47] night, but on the following day the Brazilian
people on board the Felicidade rose upon the said Mr. Palmer and his men, slew
the whole of them, with the exception of two blacks, who jumped overboard and
swam ashore, and took possession of the vessel, and after making an ineffectual
attempt to recapture the Echo, sailed away and stood out to sea, chased by the
Echo, which being a bad sailer soon lost sight of her.
3rd. That the Felicidade, having outsailed the Echo, stood to the
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