Bayley to By his excellency’s command: C. R. Nesbitt, Colonial Secretary, June 6, 1863

No. 2.

Bahama Islands, New Providence:

By this public instrument of declaration and protest be it known and made manifest, that, on Tuesday, the second day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, personally came and appeared before me, Bruce Lockhart Burnside, a notary public, by lawful authority appointed, duly admitted and sworn, residing and practicing in the city of Nassau, in the island of New Providence, William Wilson, the master of the steamship Margaret and Jessie, of and belonging to the port of Charleston, in the State ot South Carolina, Confederate States of America, and caused a protest to be duly noted before me, the said notary, against the acts and deeds of the captain, or other officer, in charge of a certain vessel-of-war of and belonging to the United States of America, occasioning injury to the said steamship Margaret and Jessie, and thereby entailing loss and damage to the owners and others interested in the said steamship and the cargo on board of her laden. And now on this day, being Friday, the fifth day of June, in the year aforesaid, again came and appeared the said William Wilson, the master, and James Forbes, first mate; Christopher Cowper, second mate; John Fitzgerald, third mate; Thomas Plane, purser; John Blackly, carpenter; Robert Warner Lockwood, pilot; Octavius Henry Dorsett, coasting pilot; Peter Skues, chief engeneer; John Scott, second engineer; Thomas Russell, third engineer; Samuel Johnson, fourth engineer; John McLean, fireman; Joseph Gilbreath, fireman, of and belonging to the said steamship, who, of their own free will and voluntary accord, did solemnly declare—such declaration being made in pursuance of the laws of the Bahamas for substituting a declaration in lieu of an oath in certain cases—

That these declarants and the rest of the crew of the said steamship Margaret and Jessie sailed in and on board of her on Wednesday, the twenty-seventh day of May last past, from the port of Charleston, in the State of South Carolina, one of the Confederate States of America, with a cargo consisting of seven hundred and thirty bales of cotton, and with sixteen passengers, bound on a voyage to Nassau, in the island of New Providence, one of the said Bahama islands; the said steamship, at the time of her departure as aforesaid, being tight, staunch, strong, and seaworthy, and in every respect fitted, equipped, manned, and found for the prosecution of the aforesaid voyage. That nothing material occurred (they encountered heavy weather) until the forenoon of Saturday, the thirty-first day of May, about 10 a. m., civil time, the Margaret and Jessie then being about ninety miles to the north and east of the island of Abaco, one of the Bahama islands, and then steering a south by west course to make the land of Eleuthera, also one of the Bahama islands, the territory of her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain, then distant about twenty-five miles, a steamship was observed to the leeward of the Margaret and Jessie, heading eastwardly across her stern.

That about a quarter of an hour after the said steamship had been first observed by the parties on board the Margaret and Jessie she was seen to change her course and give chase to.the Margaret and Jessie, the master of which, suspecting that the other vessel was a vessel-of-war of the United States and that the intention was to make a prize of his vessel, ordered her to be put at full speed for the land of Eleuthera, then being a part of the neutral territory of her Britannic Majesty the Queen of England.

That the said vessel-of-war continued to chase the Margaret and Jessie, but at no time succeeded in approaching nearer to her than four miles until about half past twelve o’clock noon of that day. The Margaret and Jessie being distant from the main land of Eleuthera, which she was then fast approaching, about five miles, and the vessel-of-war distant astern of the Margaret and Jessie about four miles, a shot was fired from the vessel-of-war which fell short of the Margaret and Jessie. That the Margaret and Jessie was still run direct for the land, and arrived within the territorial limit of three miles shortly after, in the mean time the vessel-of-war firing shot after shot at her.

That from the time the Margaret and Jessie arrived within such territorial limit as aforesaid, the Margaret and Jessie being hemmed in by the land, the vessel-of-war was enabled to approach nearer to her, and the Margaret and Jessie was consequently taken to within three hundred yards of the shore.

That from the time the Margaret and Jessie arrived within such territorial limit as aforesaid, until she was taken to within such distance of three hundred yards from the land as before mentioned, no cessation whatever was made in the discharge from the war vessel of shot and shell, many of which passed over the Margaret and Jessie, struck and exploded upon the land which lay within her.

That the steamship Margaret and Jessie having arrived within the distance of three hundred yards, as aforesaid, her course was at once changed to prevent her grounding on the rocks, and she was coasted along the land in a westwardly direction, keeping within that distance from the land, notwithstanding which no cessation was made in the discharge of shot and shell from the war vessel, which approached to within five hundred yards of the Margaret and Jessie and coasted along with her for an hour and a half, incessantly discharging shot, shell, and what appeared to these declarants to be grape and canister.

That the Margaret and Jessie, from her close proximity to the land, took the-bottom on several occasions, and many of the shot and shell discharged at her passed over and struck against the land of Eleuthera. That at about thirty minutes past three p. m., the Margaret and Jessie then being not over three-hundred yards from the beach, a seven-inch spherical shell, discharged from the vessel-of-war, struck her on the starboard side, just below the water-line, and entered her boiler, causing the steam to escape, thereby severely injuring; one of her engineers, and the water to flow into the ship. And the said declarant, William Wilson, then at once ordered the wheel to be put a-starboard, but before the order could be obeyed the ship ran upon the ground and filled with water not three hundred yards from the beach, her position being a little to the east of a point of land known as James’s Point, on the north side of the island of Eleuthera, one of the Bahama islands.

And the declarants did further declare, that whilst the said merchant ship Margaret and Jessie and the said vessel-of-war of the United States of America were both within the territorial jurisdiction of her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain, as hereinbefore detailed, they, the said parties on board of the said vessel-of-war, then being officers in the naval service of the United States of America, in violation of the municipal laws of the said territory of her Majesty the Queen, did feloniously discharge against the said parties then being on board of the said steamship Margaret and Jessie certain cannons then loaded with gunpowder and shot, shell, shrapnell, and other deadly missiles, with intent thereby the said parties on board the said merchant ship Margaret and Jessie, or some of them, to kill and murder.

That from the time that the said vessel-of-war entered within the distance of three miles from the land until the time that a shot from her sunk the Margaret and Jessie, as before set forth, the American ensign was flying at her main peak; she being a brig-rigged steam vessel propelled by side wheels, with a beam engine above the deck. That when a shot propelled from a gun on board of her struck the Margaret and Jessie, she, the said war vessel, was distant from the main land of Eleuthera not five hundred yards; but so soon as it was observed by the parties on board of the war vessel that the Margaret and Jessie had been driven ashore and sunk, the vessel-of-war was headed to sea, and having proceeded to the distance of about a mile from where the Margaret and Jessie lay, she, the vessel-of-war, was brought to anchor, and two armed boats despatched to the Margaret and Jessie, which rowed round her; in the said boats were officers in the uniform of the navy of the United States, and this declarant, the said James Forbes, inquired of one of the officers what ship-of-war that was, and was answered that it was the United States vessel-of-war Savannah, but these declarants believe that in truth and in fact the vessel-of-war was the United States vessel-of-war Rhode Island, and not the Savannah.

And these declarants did further declare that the master and crew of the said steamship, with the passengers, observing the armed boats proceeding for the said steamship, all quitted her and landed on the shore.

That shortly after parties of wreckers from inland came down, and the said steamship was given up to them to work in endeavoring to save the cargo, and if possible to get her off.

That the said parties immediately commenced working, and, with the aid and assistance of others who subsequently arrived at the ship in wrecking vessels, succeeded, after great exertion, in discharging the cargo and in pumping the water from the said steamship, after which she was floated off in their charge. He, the declarant, the said Captain Wilson, being also on board, brought her to this port of Nassau, the passengers and crew having been brought to this port of Nassau in the wrecking vessels, they, the said wreckers, claiming salvage and remuneration for their services to the said ship and her cargo.

And the said declarants did further declare that from the time the said steamship quitted the said port of Charleston until she was sunk, as aforesaid, within the jurisdiction of her Britannic Majesty, by a vessel-of-war of the United States, everything was done by the master and all on board to conduct her in safety to the port of her destination, and they attribute the sinking of the said steamship and her stranding upon the island of Eleuthera to the act of the parties on board of the said vessel-of-war of the United States, whilst both of said vessels were within the territorial jurisdiction of her Majesty the Queen, in exercising acts of hostility against the said merchant steamship Margaret and Jessie, and feloniously attempting to kill and murder the persons on board of her, she then being not three hundred yards from the land, and to the fact of a shell having been shot through the side of the said Steamship from the said vessel-of-war, when said last-mentioned vessel was not five hundred yards from the land.

WM. WILSON, Master.

JAMES FORBES, Chief Mate.

CHRISTOPHER COOPER, Second Mate.

J.FITZGERALD.

THOMAS PLANE, Purser.

JOHN BLACKLEY, Carpenter.

ROBERT WARREN LOCKWOOD, Pilot.

OCTAVIUS H. DORSETT, Coasting Pilot.

PETER SKUSE, Chief Engineer.

JOHN SCOTT, Second Engineer.

THOMAS RUSSELL, Third Engineer.

SAMUEL JOHNSON, Fourth Engineer.

JOHN McLEAN.

his

JOSEPH X GILBREATH.

mark.

Wherefore the said master has desired me, the said notary, to protest, and I do, by these presents, solemnly and formally protest and declare against the acts and deeds of the persons on board of the said vessel-of-war, and against all and every act, matter, and thing occasioning, as aforesaid, loss and damage to the said steamship, to the intent that it may be submitted unto, suffered and borne by those to whom it shall of right belong, or in anywise concern.

In testimony whereof the said declarants have hereunto set their hands, and I, the said notary, my hand and seal notarial, this fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.

B. L. BURNSIDE, Notary Public, Bahamas.

[seal]

Bahama Islands, New Providence :

To all to whom these presents shall come: I, Charles Rogers Nesbitt, esq., colonial secretary of the Bahama islands, do hereby certify that Bruce Lock-hart Burn side, who attests, as a notary public, the protest hereto attached, is a duly qualified notary public, and that all faith and credit is and ought to be given to his acts and deeds as such.

In witness whereof, I have hereto set my hand this fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.

C. R. NESBITT, Colonial Secretary.

Bahama Islands:

By his excellency Charles John Bayley. esq, companion of the most honorable Order of the Bath, governor, and commander-in-chief in and over the said islands, chancellor, vice-admiral and ordinary of the same.[seal.]

To all to whom these presents shall come, greeting: Be it known that the Hon. Charles Rogers Nesbitt, esq., by whom the annexed certificate is subscribed, was on the day of the date thereof, and now is, the colonial secretary for the said Bahama islands; therefore all due faith and credit are and ought to be had and given to the said annexed certificate.