Browsing: Legal Papers of John Adams, Volume 2

41. Spelling uncertain. Perhaps Roberts v. Schooner Thistle, DNA Microcopy 162, Case 1 (Sp. Com. 1776), an appeal from the Pennsylvania Court of Admiralty. The Thistle had been taken by the privateer Congress while en route from Florida to the West Indies with a cargo of flour, pitch pine, and oak to be sold there. The libel alleged that she was the property of inhabitants of Great Britain (amended to read enemies of the United Colonies), and that she was carrying supplies to the “ministerial army” of Great Britain. The vessel was condemned after a verdict that she was the property in part of inhabitants of Great Britain and in part of enemies of the United Colonies. A special committee of Congress, with Robert Treat Paine a member, reversed on 16 Sept. 1776. The reasons for reversal do not appear in the record.