PERIOD FROM 1836 TO 1854. 473 



[Sub-lnclosure 1.] 



Mr. Currier to Mr. Legate. 



Boston, May 17, 1843. 



The undersigned, Charles Currier, of Newburypart, in the State of 

 Massachusetts, respectfully represents that he is the owner of a 

 schooner called the Washington, of and belonging to said Newbury- 

 port; on the 28th day of April last on a fishing cruise under the com- 

 mand of John C. Cheny as master, and manned by three seamen, of 

 whom William Bragg, whose deposition accompanies this memorial, 

 was one ; that on the tenth day of the present month the said schooner, 

 while her crew were engaged in taking fish at a place ten miles dis- 

 tant from the coast of Nova Scotia, was taken possession of by an 

 officer of the provincial customs and taken into some port of the 

 province of Nova Scotia, where she is still detained, and, as he has 

 reason to apprehend, will be confiscated. The undersigned forwards 

 herewith the deposition of the said Bragg, and begs leave to refer to 

 the same for a more particular account of the case. As your memori- 

 alist believes that the master and crew of said vessel had not been 

 guilty of violating any treaty or engagement between Great Britain 

 and the United States, he humbly prays that the government of the 

 United States will, as soon as may be, take effectual measures to re- 

 store to him his property so seized, with compensation for damages 

 and expenses occasioned by such seizure. 



Charles Currier. 



To the Honorable Hugh S. Legare, 



Acting Secretary of State for the United States. 



[Sub lnclosure 2.] 



Boston, May 17, IS ;.?. 

 I. William Bragg, of Seabrook, in the State of New Hampshire, 

 on oath depose and say that, on the 28th day of April now last past, 

 I sailed from Newburyport, as a seaman in the schooner Washington, 

 whereof John C. Cheney was master, said schooner bound upon a 

 fishing excursion, there being four men all told on board said vessel, 

 including the master; that the said master and crew fished from time 

 to time between the coasts of Maine and Nova Scotia until the tenth 

 day of the present mouth; that on the said last mentioned day, while 

 engaged in taking fish at least ten miles from the const of Nova 

 Scotia, the said schooner was boarded by an officer employed in the 

 British revenue service <»f the name of Darby, and taken posses- 

 sion of in the mime of the British government, the --aid officer al- 

 leging that the place where we were fishing was within the bounds 

 prohibited by treaty to American fishermen; that [, together with t he 

 other men belonging to the schooner, was then put on board a small 

 \c "l. and we uric landed at a place near Digby; thai the captain 

 (Cheney) continued on board the schooner, whether voluntarily or 

 not I do not know, and when we left the schooner the British officer 

 was in command thereof, and el nl with her for Yarmouth, in 

 said Nova Scotia, to which place 1 have no doubt the schooner was 

 carried under his command ; that on the 11th instant, I mid the other 

 men of the schooner got passage from I>igby in a vessel bound for 



