To James Madison from William Lee, 18 March 1807
From William Lee
Bordeaux March 18. 1807.
Sir,
I have understood that the owners of the ship Ocean Capt. Harrison of New Orleans intend to complain of my conduct in forcing them to allow the crew of that ship three months pay over & above their wages for having discharged them in a foreign port. In order to parry such a complaint I take the liberty to transmit you herewith a copy of the declaration of Capt. Harrison and his two mates and of the discharge each man received from the Captain.1 The Consignees, and I believe real owners of this Ship after unloading her ordered Captain Harrison to drop her two leagues below the City opposite the Town of L’ormond and there discharge his crew. When the Seamen after being thu⟨s⟩ irregularly discharged had spent all their money and were imprisoned by the police as Vagabonds I became acquainted with the affair. The Ship having been sold to Capt S. Hatch of Boston it was not until the 14 february when I was called on to deliver up the papers to him that I had it in my power to make the Consign⟨ees⟩ do justice to the Seamen. It would be useless and only taking up your time to no purpose were I to enter into the particulars of this affair by sending you copies of the Consignees protests against me—their letters to General Armstrong and to me and my answers to both on the subject. The annexed pieces will I trust shew that I have onl⟨y⟩ done my duty, and as an example was necessary to check the unlawful discharge of Seamen. I feel gratified that it has fallen on persons so well able to support it.
The Collectors of the different ports are not vigilant enough in their examination of the crews of the Vessels which return to the United States or what is most probable, the Captains find some means of deceiving them.
Accompanying this I have the honor to transmit you a list of seamen that I have had to provide for the four or five months past.2 With great respect I have the honor to remain your obedient servant
Wm. Lee
RC and enclosures (DNA: RG 59, CD, Bordeaux, vol. 2). Docketed by Forrest, with his note: “enclosing Documents respectg the Crew of the Ship Oceon [sic].” For enclosures, see nn. 1–2.
1. Lee enclosed a copy of an undated statement (1 p.) for three months’ pay for twenty-two seamen discharged from the Ocean at Bordeaux, totaling $2,055 (10,788.75 francs). On the verso of this statement is a copy of an undated affidavit (1 p.) in which three members of the Ocean’s crew—Robert Harrison, master; Frederick Comerford, first mate; and J. L. Hammen, third mate—swore that all of the seamen listed in the statement belonged to the Ocean, had been discharged at Bordeaux on 17 October 1806, and had been “paid off without receiving their three Months advance” and that none of them had run away or been “taken out by the French Government.” The three men also swore that the boatswain, Thomas Freeman, had been appointed shipkeeper on 17 October 1806 and ordered to prevent all sailors from boarding and to lock the ship and buy no provisions for it except to care for himself and “two Lads.” In addition, the affidavit stated that after the ship had been dismantled, Freeman and a boy named Giles Chicard were also discharged. At the bottom of this affidavit is a 27 December 1806 note signed by the consulate chancellor at Bordeaux, Christopher Meyer, certifying the affidavit. Covering these communications is a 31 March 1807 signed certification by Meyer declaring the authenticity of both copies (1 p.). Lee also enclosed a copy of a 17 October 1806 discharge from the ship Ocean given to Uxa Landera by Harrison (1 p.); Landera was one of the twenty-two seamen listed on the statement requesting three months’ pay.
2. The enclosure is an undated “List of American Seamen provided for from Novbr. 1806. to March 1807: by Wm Lee Consul at Bordeaux” (3 pp.), which includes the twenty-two seamen from the Ocean as well as fifty-one seamen from six other ships.