Browsing: Papers of John Adams, Volume 13

1. The person carrying this letter has not been identified, but JA's purpose in writing is to introduce him to Rutledge as a Charleston lawyer well qualified to represent the owners of the Chester, a Dutch sloop captured by the South Carolina privateers Experiment and Fair American in 1777. The case ultimately was settled in favor of the captors in 1787. For previous references to the Chester, particularly the letter of 17 June 1781 from F. & A. Dubbeldemuts, Rotterdam merchants with an interest in the vessel, which may have included the otherwise unidentified documents included with this letter, see vols. 7:288, 289; 11:378–379, 380–381.