SMITH HUBBARD & TICHENOR

GOLDENGATE’S

for May 5, 2013

REWARD

WHERE is the PRIZE REPORT for the SHAVING MILL WILEY REYNARD

and COULD IT POSSIBLY BE …

….the REWARD ? But first ….

From the desk of ….

YO! PLAYERS!!! ! SET YOUR JAW …..

KNIT YOUR BROW…!!! And Welcome to Our Very Special

REWARD !! Issue … in which we find ourselves … AGAIN!!! making sail from

BOSTON HARBOR during the IMPRESSMENTS WAR OF 1812 !!!

Among the “BOSTONS”– That is, the AMERICANS!!

RIGHT!!! I meant to tell you this a couple weeks ago, in the FALSE FLAG ISSUE !!! Players -- “BOSTONS” is the term the INDIANS of Oregon used to refer to Americans flying the Stars and Stripes!!! What a strange Indian word! It sounds almost like “BOSTON” – you know -- the capital of Massachusetts. Such were the first American mercantile vessels – out of BOSTON -- to strike up regular successful trade with the Naïve Americans – Oops! sorry -- Native Americans !!! in the Oregon Country – and in particular, the Indians of the Columbia River… Yes: they called the Americans the “BOSTONS”!!! OKAY …

THUS: on the cover of This Week’s Issue of S.Y.M.-Zonia™ we see the flag of 1812 [From Fort McHenry near Baltimore -- Ed.] and in the upper lefthand quadrant, an engraving of the American Naval heroes of the War of 1812 voyaging out of BOSTON and shown making a beachhead landing in some Ideal Temple, in which the Deeds of Such Great Patriots are enshrined: about to receive their Eternal REWARD … !!! The current issue follows on, more or less, our FALSE FLAG issue – the tie-in being primarily through Capt. James Lawrence, the commander of the U.S.S. Hornet, mentor and close friend of Mids James Fenimore Cooper, and Capt. Lawrence’s later command, of the U.S.S. Chesapeake – this time ill-fated out of BOSTON.

Players -- after the successful “Cruise of the Hornet” in which Cooper the Middy played such an important role, and other successes, Lt. Lawrence was advanced to the rank of Captain and given command of the U.S.S. Chesapeake frigate-- which, as we now know, in voyaging from Boston harbor on June 1, 1813, was immediately engaged and captured by

the H.M.S. Shannon. As noted Last Week, the crew of the Chesapeake, including Big Dick, were taken prisoner and transported to Dartmoor Prison for the duration of the war – however, unfortunately …

Capt. Lawrence and most of the other officers aboard the Chesapeake were killed in the fighting… and went to claim their REWARD . There was quite a magnificent funeral procession held in New York City, in honor of Capt. Lawrence … Players! There’s more on the war of 1812 below!

But First …. !!!

HAS KAJTUSHKA ALREADY FOUND …

April 30, 2013

Hey Michael:

I found something. A few things in fact … I was able to make my way back to the site I identified a couple weeks ago, and , well…. Remember those battlements I had pictures of? It looks like they may have been just some stumps!! I swear, I had just about given up on this project, and was coming down from Mt. You-Know-Where when I stumbled – literally – on a huge jumbled pile of boulders on the [Redacted – Ed.] side of the mountain, just below the summit. I hadn’t seen anything like this anywhere out here. At the very least, it indicates the raw material for such a supposed “Stone Citadel” are … really here … To tell you the truth, I don’t think I’ve ever seen this kind of “erratic” geology on any of the mountaintops around here… PLUS – I found … something else … could be important. Does that Indian dude… Tashtego? What’s his name? …. have a map or anything? Starting to actually like this assignment.

Pix enclosed!!

P.S. Also -- I think we stumbled into a Sasquatch midden! You can see in this photo piles of Sasquatch-scat scattered all over across the road! Crazy! I wAnted to get a sample, but my navigator thought it was too risky to get out and investigate. We just locked the doors and drove on…..

P.P.S. ALMOST FORGOT - - I blew a tire on the way down!! They’re using 5” or better gravel up here! Had to get a matching set. I need you to cover that, man. Invoice attached. Wire it ASAP!

Randy And now …..

WHO WAS the SECOND SURVEYOR on the SCREW-STEAMER COLUMBIA, WHO VENTURED to VOYAGE with VITUS WACKENREUDER

the BETTER to PLAT …. PORT ORFORD, (Oregon)? /

or … Who [! -- Ed.] was “J.C.F.” ?

Not JOHN CHARLES FREMONT ???

OKAY! Last Week’s 2nd OPINION Issue of S.Y.M.-Zonia™ sought to break new ground on the perennially vexing problem of those deviously discrepant surveys of Port Orford (Oregon) !!! Including the mapped layout of Port Orford, as it appears on the so-called Port Orford Inset of Lt. Robert Stockton Williamson in his Sketch of a Reconnoissance of the Umpqua …. map, from ca. Sept-Dec. 1851, as well as on the more official Map of the City and Harbor of Port Orford done by Vitus Wackenreuder, and dated July 15, 1851!!

And, to add to the difficulty-level, the problem now seems intextricably intertwingled with a serious jumble in the identification of the rivers that drain the Pacific Slope region of the Oregon country … Holy Smith Hubbard & Tichenor!!! Both Lt. William P. MacArthur’s 1851 series of THREE SHEETS to the WIND U.S.C.S. charts, and the followup 1855 U.S.C.S. charts prepared by a party under the command of Lt. James Alden are little short of a mess!!! And, lest we forget, there are also some … issues … affecting the rivers on Lt. Robert Stockton Williamson’s own Sketch of a Reconnoissance etc. etc. !!! Whereas, I once thought I had SHIT RIVER tied down, I now realize the whole thing was … completely up for grabs!!! Of course, I needed a 2nd OPINION !!!!

The premise of Last Week’s issue was, that certain sources, including vintage newspaper clippings [Sample included above – Ed.] from the region, indicate that -- contrary to widely-held assumptions regarding Southern Oregon history -- Vitus Wackenreuder was not the ONLY surveyor retained by Capt. Wm. Tichenor and the “Port Orford Company” to layout this new municipality… but IN FACT there was someone else who had been retained in his [Or her !! Because it could have been a girl !!!! Theoretically!! I mean, we can’t rule it out!! – Ed. ] professional capacity as a surveyor. This SCOOP! was a pretty revolutionary idea when we at S.Y.M-Zonia™ introduced it to the world – just Last Week!!! TWO SURVEYORS!!! Remember?

PLAYERS!!! This unknown, yet-to-be-identified PROFESSIONAL SURVEYOR voyaged with Vitus on the steamer Columbia, leaving San Francisco and arriving in Port Orford, to view the aftermath of the massacre at Battle Rock, and found scattered about the beach, stray sheets of a journal account of the events of June 9-25, which seemed to suggest the Settlers of Battle Rock had met with grave misfortune and probably been killed by the Indians!!! But PLAYERS!!! I could go on for another three pages just summarizing everything you already know, or that you can find in Last Week’s @nd OPINION Issue !!! So rather than do that, why don’t we just see what it is that Ass Dr. Beckon has to say about the matter …

Stephanie’s documentation follows!!!

Click to Enlarge! There it is !! James C. Franklin!

J.C.F. Just like she said, Players: Franklin is identified as one of the affiants on Capt. Tichenor’s original Donation Land Claim filed in Oregon City, in 1851. Is my disappointment as palpable as it feels?? But Players -- I never really said that is was Fremont – did I??

At any rate, before I capitu… I mean.. just to ensure that I was properly authenticating the matter, I spoke with S.Y.M-Zonia™ expert Native American Anthropologist Unk-Known PLAYERS!!! even before I could raise the subject, he volunteered that the Statesman correspondent with the initials “J.C.F.” was none other than James C. Franklin, whom, he said, also corresponded with Oregon’s first Territorial Governor at the time, Gen. Joe Lane! UNK has been researching the gubernatorial career of Gov. Lane, and has copied a number of pieces of Franklin’s correspondence – some of it dealing with Tichenor and Port Orford !!! Maybe he’ll send some in!!!

PLAYERS!! “J. C. F.” was James C. Franklin !! NOT Col. John C. Fremont ?!! of course, I never said it was !! On the other hand, as Stephanie noted, James C. Franklin was NOT A SURVEYOR – and so there still remains SOME UNCERTAINTY as to precisely whomever was! Him. Furthermore, there’s no mention in the genealogical records sent in by Ass. Dr. Beckon, that there even was a second surveyor on site at Port Orford! Weird.

That is to say, there may be some hope!! PLAYERS!!! I SAY …. It remains to be finally determined….

WHO WAS the SECOND SURVEYOR on the SIDE-WHEEL [] STEAMER COLUMBIA, WHO VENTURED to VOYAGE with VITUS WACKENREUDER

the BETTER to PLAT …. PORT ORFORD, (Oregon)?

And now …

YOU ARE NOW ENTERING

WHERE is the PRIZE REPORT for the SHAVING MILL WILEY REYNARD and COULD IT POSSIBLY BE … the REWARD ?

SHAVING MILLS? What’s a Shaving Mill?

Players!! Before we get underweigh, we need for you to all gain your innnerlecktual sea-legs!!!! And to make this possible – to ensure that you have this necessary fundamental sensibility and grasp of the subject, please refer at once to Gargle and search up Shaving Mills !!! Should you fail immediately to find the necessary anything, Gargle up “Shaving Mills 1812” etc. – PLAYERS!! Or knot-tying!! Search well!! Once you’re done studying up, please come back and we’ll commence again! Meanwhile I’ll be listening to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2W1Wi2U9sQ

[Ready? -- Ed.]

Shaving Mills in the War of 1812 At the time of the U.S. Declaration of War vs. Great Britain, June 16, 1812, the U.S. Navy was able to field only a meager list of vessels consisted of (roughly) some nine frigates, 3-4 ships, 4-5 brigs and maybe a dozen other smaller vessels – less than TWO DOZEN !!! -- as well as maybe 120 gunboats.1

To engage Great Britain’s naval supremacy effectively was to require the enlistment of private marine vessels – “privateers” -- under an incentive system which granted prize rewards of captive cargo, to successful adventurers, as adjudicated under a traditional maritime law prize-court system – and our courts were empowered by statute, to hear such cases, in all major U.S. port cities, throughout the coastal states.

“The Declaration of War found the naval preparations in so imperfect a condition, that the Constellation 38 [guns], Chesapeake 38, Adams 28, were not ready even to receive crews, while it was found necessary to rebuild entirely the New York 36, Boston 28, and General Greene 28.,” Cooper, History of the Navy, Chapt XXXIII, p. 301.

Players! These privateers were smaller boats; Big Dick was probably too big by far to man one of them … !!!!

So, What’s a Shaving Mill ?

1 Cf. , e.g., the similarities in two contemporary naval force assessments, “Secret Reports of John Howe, 1808” American Historical Review, p. 319, 353, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Jan, 1912) ; w/ Thomas Clark, Sketches of the Naval History of the United States, p. 175, “List of the Navy of the United States:, May 1, 1813,” (Philadelphia, 1813).

These smaller vessels were common to Maine and New England, and authorized to attack British merchant vessels and their regular navy ships, was a coastal or harbor pilot boat, of the schooner type, but freshly decked-over, and outfitted with one or two swivel-mounted cannon, and manned, by from one to about three dozen men, armed for “boarding” with pistols, muskets and cutlasses. This type of vessel was known as a “shaving mill”.

“Shaving Mills” were usually fitted out in Maine, and were to be found cruising from the Bay of Fundy as far as St. John and the St. Lawrence River. C.H.J. Snider, Under the Red Jack, p. 87, states:

“A Shaving Mill was an open boat, manned by as many as thirty men, pulling sixty oars, and mounting a small cannon or swivels, beside the muskets of the crew. The shaving mills excited the abhorence of their own countrymen, but they carried on their depredations under commissions from President Madison, and they throve [sic]. For example:

BOSTON, Oct. 18th, 1813 -- Arrived on Monday night a Shaving Mill, the General Pike, carrying one 6-pounder and two swivels; but not being pleased with the reception they met with at this Port (their Shocking Appearance creating general Disgust) they sailed again the next forenoon." St. John, New Brunswick, Courier.

The Shaving Mills – all privateers – I have so far found, were operating under direct executive commissions from President James Madison:

The General Pike (of Boston?) The Dart of Portland The whaleboat Weasel [?] of Castine, Daniel SNOW, Capt. The Jefferson The Dolphin

The last two, Jefferson and Dolphin, were often companion vessels, cruising together under one captain. There were certainly scores – in fact, hundreds – of other shaving mills fighting for the U.S. during the War of 1812. See the Appendix of Prize Captures in Russell, History of American Privateers, (1816)

The Wiley Reynard, Capt. Lane Another one of these shaving mills was the “Wiley Reynard” of Boston, Capt. Lane. "The Wiley Reynard was not much larger than a whaleboat, but of a different type; a fast-sailing decked-over pilot schooner hailing from Boston. She measured only twenty-two tons, mounted one gun, and started out with a crew of twenty-three men." Snider, Under the Red Jack, p. 90 (1928). MaClay confirms: she "was a Boston schooner, hastily prepared for private enterprise on the high seas." History of American Privateers, p. 234. PLAYERS!!! First -- The Wiley Reynard is of interest for a variety of reasons: first, as one of numerous vessels – such as the USS Nautilus and the merchantman Oronoko of the New York firm Archibald Gracie2

Wait … Did I say …. “Declaration of War”…..????

& Sons -- the Wiley Reynard is recorded as taken or captured by the HMS Shannon, Capt. (Vere) Broke, during the weeks immediately following the Congressional Declaration of War against Great Britain, yet before the Shannon’s pursuit of the USS Constitution of ca. July 17-20, 1812. Of course, to reiterate, the most famous role for the Shannon, was in its engagement with the U.S.S. Chesapeake, in June of 1813 --

We need a little time out here!!! I missed this in the False Flag Issue !!!

2 Builder of New York’s Gracie Mansion. Archibald Gracie & Sons sent four vessels from Lisbon to the U.S. in the week before the Declaration of War, in 1812. Two of these, the Oronoko and the Eliza Gracie, were captured by the H.M.S. Shannon, Capt. Broke. The Eliza Gracie was burned and her captain taken prisoner on the Shannon; the Oronoko was sent into Halifax for prize adjudication.

TIME OUT !!!

The DECLARATION of WAR – 1812

PLAYERS!!! What were the four bases or rationales upon which the U. S. Congress authorized a Declaration of War against Great Britain ?? Look here: http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/metsnav/common/navigate.do?oid=VAC2957 for President Madison’s Message to Congress … Recommending an Immediate Declaration of War Against Great Britain from June 1-3, 1812!! You can summarize his Message to Congress into four major points --

1) The impressments of our sailors 2) The right of search 3) The inciting the Indians to attack our frontiers 4) The Orders in Council

The opening Sentence of President James Madison’s Request for a Declaration of War takes the reader, in his mind, immediately back to 1803, when the British issued new Orders in Council against trade, and war was begun between the United States, and the Barbary States of Tunis and Tripoli!!

PLAYERS: both these city-states were surrogate and puppet-dependent slave states of the British Empire, but brilliant U.S. operations in the Tripolitan War crushed their influence. Yet President Madison makes it clear that the English were engaged in a war against the Republic, “going back beyond their renewal in 1803…” He’s referring to the first Orders in Council inhibiting trade, which were issued a decade earlier – in 1793, and ‘94!!!

After 1803, our young Republic patiently endured a decade of depredations at the hands of the British -- year after year, forbearing to engage her with our youthful military might and naval expertise!!! Then – despite her own engagement in the Napoleonic wars -- in May, 1806, the British declared the entire continental coast, from the Elbe to Brest, under a state of blockade!! What? Then, the Orders in Council of 1807 – proposed to shut down our trade with neutral nations – and so forth!! Year after year she violated our sovereignty, our right to trade with other nations, all the while inflicting the worst injustices upon our citizens – particularly our sailors and their families, and the merchants and industries which depended on them!! Details – some other time !!!

PLAYERS: Madison’s MESSAGE was referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, which shortly thereafter issued it’s own Report : recommending “an immediate appeal to ARMS” just days before the Congressional Declaration of War of June 16!! PLAYERS !!! Can you find it on Gargle? That’s’ some great reading, and another good introduction to the causes of the Impressments War of 1812 !! Meanwhile, you can read more about that in Pres. Madison’s MESSAGE and check out Massachusetts State H.R. Report “On the Subject of Impressed Seamen” (Russel & Cutler, 1813) on Gargle!!!

The anemic British Declaration in response was issued January 10, 1813, under the authority of Edward, Prince Regent. For more, search for a House Committee Report called Barbarities of the Enemy Exposed (1814).

PLAYERS!!! For some reason, none of the rationales for the Impressments War of 1812, were mentioned in the Treaty of Ghent (1816) which closed the war and ceased (overt) hostilities …. WHY? Or , if you prefer… WHY NOT?

Okay … TIME IN !!!

NOW: back to the Wiley Reynard:

… Second, PLAYERS!!! the Wiley Reynard is of interest because of its fairly esoteric name, inasmuch as (you might think, that !!!! ) few 19th C. Maine whale-fishermen or pilot-boat captains would care about the medieval Anglo-French literary heritage of Reynard the Fox, which dates, notably back to time of Chaucer and Robert Manning !!! Wowee!! What was our captain reading to want to perpetuate the name… on his boat?

Well, while the sailors along the Atlantic Coast were highly cultivated, vigorously competent men, and filled with zest and humor, nevertheless -- it’s WAR!!! And to encourage enlistments, the other privateer vessels are being belligerently, thunderingly named – or renamed -- as e.g., “General Washington,” “General Tompkins” “Comet” “Yankee Patriot,” “Orders in Council,” “Rattlesnake,” “Revenge,” and the like, in anticipation of war service!! Against that competition -- those fire-breathing names -- the name “Wiley Reynard” is not so well-calculated to strike fear into the heart of the enemy, and is hardly likely rally the courage of the sailors, to sign on to service on board her!!! What’s in a name??? Well, Players!!! You want sailors to sign on to your service!!!3 Right? Players: none of these vessels were called “The Rose”!4

But the Wiley Reynard did somehow gain a full complement of able-bodied seamen … and a number of early prizes!!!

Third, as to the Wiley Reynard, either Capt. Lane or Capt. Riggs – or both! -- had a further hang-up about Medieval French spelling of her name!! PLAYERS!!! In the midst of an outbreak of WAR, you might think that fewer still sailors might be pre-occupied with the variant medieval spellings for “wily” (English) or “Reynard” (Frenchish), much less be niggling enough to rename and repaint their boats to reflect new revelations of ME Anglo-Norman orthography!

Although Snider attributes the spelling variants to “much trouble ….given the chroniclers,” E.S. MaClay, History of American Privateers, establishes that the variants are not merely typographical, nor instances of confusion, nor even simple misspellings, but in fact actual name changes. He writes: "The Wile Renard -- at first commissioned as the Wiley Reynard, of one gun" Etc., etc., etc…...

But the Wiley Reynard’s name in the historical record appeared spelled in a number of variant forms – E.G.:

Wiley Reynard …

Wily Reynard …

Wild Reynard …

Wile Renard …

Wiley Re’nard … Last known name !!

Note that last one! Snider reports, "Under the Red Jack". p. 90, that British Prize Court papers, aka Vice-Admiralty court papers … “speak of her as the Wiley Re’nard" I.E. That’s her NEW official name !! GET IT RIGHT!!! Don’t forget the apostrophe!!! It’s an OFFICIAL apostrophe !!!!

YES !!! Captain Riggs must have had time to rethink, and got in one last name change of his vessel -- this time with an arcane apostrophe representing the elision of an already unsounded quasi-consonant “y”. PLAYERS!!!! Such dedication on the part of Capt. Abimilech Riggs!! In between capturing British merchant vessels, and taking them into Boston as Prizes – to have the presence of mind to elide an unsounded consonant, repaint his boat, and petition for a revised Commission from President Madison! Wowee!!! How many sea-captains do YOU know -- in you neighborhood, or along the broader waterfront -- who are quite so scrupulous about Medieval French Orthography? Wowee!! Capt. Abimelech Riggs -- truly an officer and a gentleman … and!! … a careful speller. 3 PLAYERS!!! Read the Chapter 16 of Moby Dick for instance: If you’re going whaling, do you sign on the Devil Dam, the Tit-Bit, or the Pequod? What’s that last name mean anyway? Is it Indian? Or .. is it like “Boston”? 4 Although there was a British whaleship called The Rose, operating at about this time. It was in the Pacific during the outbreak of the War, and was soon taken as a prize by commodore David Porter, of the U.S.S Essex.

Yes -- as I said: there is the issue of the mechanics of commissioning of the privateer: as the vessels’ names were official names, under which the vessels were uniquely licensed to engage British merchant and Admiralty vessels, any changes painted on the vessel in fact, would require re-commissioning and re-issuing of re-documentation, to reflect the new name – or in these cases, the new spelling.

PLAYERS!! I’m sure glad to know President Madison was willing to re-issue papers for Capt. Abimelech Riggs, every time he wanted to niggle with the spelling of his boat – aren’t you? Shown at right are some papers from the early “Wiley Reynard” period …

Cruises and Captures of Wiley Reynard, Capt. Lane

The Wiley Reynard had an initial cruise after the declaration of war, which was very successful. Snider says the first cruise was under the command of Capt. Lane. MaClay assigns nine captures to her first cruise, “taking in all three ships, two brigs, and four schooners..." including Schooner Sally, from Sydney, Nova Scotia, which got safely into Boston. MaClay does not name others. In addition to the Sally, W. G. Russell, in the Appendix to History of the War Between the United States and Great Britain (1816) (Gargle Book) lists four other captures -- p. 378, ff. All are the schooners:

No. 82 -- Schooner Three Brothers taken into Boston

No. 92 -- Schooner Polly taken into Boston

No. 173 -- Schooner Providence taken into New York

No. 1550 -- Schooner Peggy taken into … Portland ?

But the papers say Boston !! I expect to find the remaining vessels identified in Coggeshalle’s History of American Privateers and Letters-of-Marque. (1856;1861).

It was shortly into her second cruise, that the Wiley Reynard was captured by H.B.M. Shannon, Capt. Broke. PLAYERS!! As I said, this is the same frigate that took the U.S.S. Chesapeake, Capt. Lawrence, and made prisoners of her crew – including Big Dick !!! Capt. Lawrence -- Mids. Cooper’s close friend and mentor -- was killed in that engagement!

Atrocities of Wiley Reynard, Capt. Abimelech Riggs On her second cruise, the Wiley Reynard was captained by the ferociously predatory Abimelech Riggs. There are a number of incidents reported in the Nova Scotia newspapers of the day. According to one contemporary newspaper account, referenced in Snider:

"A number of hungry picaroon privateers have greatly distressed the coasts and fisherman of the province [of Nova Scotia] and its vicinity. The Schooner Peggy, Terrio [Capt.] (that is, commanded by Capt. Theriault) from Sydney, with coals, after having been chased into one or two harbours to the eastward, was, on the 30th July, with several others, pursued into Pope's harbour by the Wiley Reynard, 1 gun and 20 men -- only seven then on board. "

The privateer Captain (ironical italics on the part of the newspaper) boarded the Peggy, snapped his rusty pistol three times at a commander, beat one of Terrio's sons in a most severe and barbarous manner, merely because, as the rascal said, they had run the vessel so far up the harbour."

According to the Halifax Chronicle for late 1812, quoted by Snider:

The small shallop Three Brothers of Manchester was on 23rd July captured of White Islands by the pilot-boat-built privateer Wild Reynard, of and from Boston, carrying one 6-pounder, swivels and muskets, commanded by Abimelech Riggs. While the privateer was taking an inventory of the articles on board another shallop hove in sight. This they brought to, and took out of her three barrels of Indian meal and one of tar, and put the crew of the Three Brothers and some female passengers on board -- not before the men's chests were plundered and everything in them, even to a small child's pair of shoes, and a paper of pins belonging to one of the women. The other shallop they plundered completely -- indeed, took from one of the poor men a tolerable good pair of trousers he had on." [Nice touch!] Snider, p. 90-1.

Per Snider, the Nova Scotia Royal Gazette recorded the same incident:

“The Wild Reynard rows 24 oars. On board her are two Englishmen, who told Thos. Hearty, master of the shallop Three Brothers, they had deserted from an English ship-pf-war. – One of them called himself Second Lieutenant Hopkins.” 5

But it was to get worse. Late in the year 1812, the Nova Scotia Royal Gazette published this story of Riggs’s wanton American terrorism along the shores of Nova Scotia:

Id., p. 91

...On the night of October 8th [1812] a boat’s crew from an American privateer later identified as the Wiley Reynard landed on Sheep Island at the mouth of the Tusket River, inhabited by Francis Clements, a poor man, and his family. On hearing the voices Clements stepped out of his door. He had not gone five paces down the path to the water when a ruffian shot him through the head with a pistol. Then the gang rushed into the house, abused Mrs. Clements in a shameful manner, ransacked the place, and carried off the pigs and fowls and sheep. They dragged poor Clements’ body some distance towards their boat, but, abandoning it, put out to sea with their booty.

As a follow-up, on December 31, 1812, the Nova Scotia Royal Gazette published this plea:

IN DEEP DISTRESS

“The Widow and Nine Orphan Children of the late Francis Clements, murdered on Sheep Island – the oldest 17, and the second daughter has lost the use of he limbs and is entirely helpless. Subscription lists have been left at the Exchange Coffee house, and at the Stationery Store of Messrs. J & D. Howe, where the smallest donation will be gratefully received.”

The problem is, that the dates of the two ostensible cruises seem hopelessly overlapping, with some of the stories stating Riggs as active in July, as well as in October – leaving no room for Capt. Lane. That is, unless Lane took nine vessels within a month; while Riggs’ cruise lasted from July through October. Etc.

Nevertheless ….

The Wiley Reynard Captured & Sent In To Halifax Under the vicious Riggs, the littoral depredations of the Wiley Reynard were ere long interrupted by the HMS Shannon, Capt. Phillip Bowes Vere Broke, ca. October 12, 1812; and the captured vessel (and her crew) were sent into Halifax, Nova Scotia, for prize-adjudication before the Vice-Admiralty Prize Court there.6

Wowee!!!! PLAYERS – I don’t know about you, but I could use another Time out!!!!

MaClay gives the date a week earlier: “On her second cruise she was captured October 4, 1812, by the Shannon, Capt. Philip Bowes Vere Broke. MacClay, p. 234. Snider confirms: “She made two good cruises before she was caught by Capt. Broke, in his good ship the Shannon, in October, 1812.” Snider, Under the Red Jack, p. 90.

Howaboutit?

5 The Three Brothers, Fitch, is reported in the same volume of Vice-Admiralty records, p. 99 (1814) 6 Dr. Alexander Croke, Judge.

TIME OUT !!

BOSTON DOCKAGE RECORDS DURING the BLOCKADE of 1812 !!!

United States Frigates on Board AMOS BINNEY U.S.S. United States

U.S.S. President

U.S.S. Congress

U.S.S. Hornet

Players – On October 12, 1812, when the Wiley Re’nard / Wile Renard / Wily Reynard, etc. etc. was captured and sent into Halifax, most of the U.S. Naval fleet as still blockaded in within the Boston or New York harbors !!! Remember? See the FALSE FLAG issue for details !!! And – as noted above, the United States Navy was “nascent” and hardly fit to receive a crew !!!! The privateers were ALMOST the only means of prosecuting OUR war!!!

The above dockage records for Boston, October 14, 1812, show no less than 4 U. S. frigates taking on stores in Boston -- on that date alone!! The well-known Amos Binney, U.S. Naval Agent at Boston, was loading up the frigates United States, the President, the Congress, and the U.S.S. Hornet with a wide range durable supplies, including barrels of rich sorghum molasses, boxes and boxes of lime juice, and tons upon tons of cordage – to repair rigging mostly, but also for towline.

YES: Players: I suspect that the American Navy of 1812, knew their gunnery was so powerful and so accurately calibrated, and their vessels so maneuverable, that a U.S.S. frigate could dismast a British vessel in the twinkling of an eye!!! Ka-POW!!! Like the U.S.S. Hornet destroyed the H.M.S. Peacock, which we watched in the FALSE FLAG issue!!!! But, Alas, a dismasted vessel of the HBM Admiralty, had no longer any means of forward locomotion – and so, if it didn’t just sink to the bottom, like the Peacock, it would have to be TOWED into port. Meanwhile, just two weeks after taking on the molasses, lime juice and cordage, as we also know from the recent FALSE FLAG issue, the U.S.S. Constitution, Commodore Bainbridge, with the U.S. sloop-of-war Hornet, Lt. Lawrence, would soon slip out Boston harbor, eluding the blockading British force, and make for the open ocean !!! They did so on the night of October 26, 1812 -- with the help of the Middy, James Fenimore Cooper – of whom, indications are good, that he was already a recruit in the United States Secret Service.

TIME IN !!!!

Problems with the Documentation and the Story But Snider also says Wiley Reynard was taken -- with her companions vessel, Eunice of Boston -- but not by the Shannon, instead by the Nova Scotian vessel HMS Sir John Sherbrooke [ that is, the vessel, not the contemporaneous governor of Nova Scotia, Sir John Sherbrooke] which brought them both before the Court of Vice-Admiralty….. in June, 1813! Snider, p. 90. Which is it? Which was it?

Obviously this inconsistency – as well as many others -- plus the lurid details reported in the Halifax Chronicle, etc., are enough to send one searching for the Wiley Reynard’s case report from Halifax Vice-Admiralty. Those records exist, apparently: as noted, Snider says, Under the Red Jack, p. 90, that "Vice-Admiralty court papers speak of her as the Wiley Re’nard". Snider, p. 90, also says that Wiley Reynard was allowed to go [from prize court] with his second vessel; and on p. 92 he discusses testimony given at the prize trial – although without giving a source reference.

Where is the Case Report for the Wiley Reynard? No amount of Gargling variant versions of the name “Wiley Reynard” w/ “Halifax” returns anything like a prize adjudiucation – although there is much relevant material on the names of the crew, and their imprisonment at Halifax . Barring that, the fallback search terms I used were simply the name of Capt. Abimilech Riggs’ companion vessel the Eunice, and Riggs, Halifax: this – happily enough – lead immediately to a heretofore priceless yet almost unknown case reporter from Halifax Vice-Admiralty, REPORTS OF CASES Argued and Determined in the Court of Vice-Admiralty at Halifax, Nova Scotia, from the commencement of the war, in 1803 to the End of the Year 1813, (London, 1813).

The case title Eunice, and Riggs name as captain, establishes the identity of the report, and the text of the opinion confirms it, with repeated references to the lurid contemporary newspaper accounts !!! PLAYERS!!! It sounds very much like Capt. Rigg’s barbarian ravages, as reported in the pages of the Halifax Chronicle, Nova Scotia Royal Gazette, etc.

[Brought to you by Gargle … ] THE EUNICE, Riggs.

July 15, 1813

JUDGMENT – Dr. Croke,

"THIS is a case upon a license granted by Mr. Allan, under the authority of Admiral Sawyer, similar to what was decided upon in the case of the Reward, in this court. The case of the Hope and others, has been quoted from a community newspaper, by the counsel for the claimants, in which it is stated, that the High Court of Admiralty had pronounced, that the licenses came within the meaning of the Orders in Council, and had decreed restitution under them.

I see no necessity for the court to reconsider the principles of decision which guided it in the case of the Reward, or to enter into all the topics which have been argued in relation to that subject, because there are other grounds amply sufficient to enable it to pass judgment in the present case. But I may observe by the way, that most certainly the unauthenticated reports of newspapers cannot posses any authority in a court of justice [PLAYERS -- could this be a reference to the many Halifax news reports of the Wiley Reynard ... (see above)? – Ed. ] especially when the very inaccurate mode in which they are usually given, is taken into consideration; I must however admit that some attention might be due to particular cases, upon the footing of common notoriety, and where they are accompanied with internal marks, or other proofs of their genuineness and correctness. And indeed the usual reports of all courts of justice, since there are no official reporters, depend for their weight and authenticity, solely upon the credit of reporters, and other external and internal characters of veracity. Of considerable inaccuracy in the account of the case now offered to the court, there is abundant proof..... 7

Etc. OKAY!!! But… PLAYERS!! Where is the case report of the Wiley Reynard? OR … or …

7 Vice-Admiralty Reports, p. 99. Could it be … ??

Is the Wiley Reynard … the Reward ?

At this point you will probably wonder whether the court’s repeated references in the Eunice opinion, to the “Reward” -- where you have been expecting the “Reynard” -- isn’t merely a typo for the Reynard ? Hmmmmm.

Throughout it’s opinion in the case of the Eunice, Capt. Riggs, the prize court, Judge Croker, refers repeatedly to the opinion in the case of the vessel Reward, Capt. Hill. And – PLAYERS – an identification of the two seems alsmot to be substantiated, when we note Snider’s reference, in Under the Red Jack, to the Vice-Admiralty report: Snider says, Under the Red Jack. p. 90, that, there was one last NAME CHANGE …

"Vice-Admiralty court papers speak of her as the Wiley Re’nard"….

When last seen. … she was the Wiley Re’nard

PLAYERS: Was there … one LAST name change? In fact, this is the one time the boat’s name appears without the “y” and with the apostrophe – RE’NARD -- so that the spelling and number of letters matches the “precedent case” almost exactly, i.e. -- REWARD. The conclusion is further encouraged by the London publisher’s use of Italics typeface and a very muddy method of printing in the 1814 case reporter: set in Italics font the letter-strokes “open out” so that the “n” of Re’nard looks something like a “v’, and the completely meaningless apostrophe (replacing the “y”) almost becomes the first downstroke of a “w”. You can almost get the effect with this very WORD font:

Re’nard = Reward ?

PLAYERS – It’s very much like asking the mind to outdo OCR software!! As you might do on any given day, when you outdo text recognition software -- for instance: to get a text off Gargle Book !!!!

BUT !!! Would Captain Abimilech Riggs DO such a thing? Rename his boat …

I mean, he had only renamed his boat -- heck .. what was it??? FIVE TIMES? In the midst of a hot war … Each time changing maybe a single letter – evidently to reflect a fresh nuance in his ever-evolving understanding of medieval French orthography – and each time requiring a FRESH COMMISSION from the White House, even direct from President Madison !!! PLAYERS!!!! After all that effort – DO YOU THINK he would try to change the name of his shaving mill, after she had been taken as a … prize? Now that it had in fact become … a Reward?

Now that his vessel has been captured, it’s maybe not looking to him, or feeling quite so “WILEY” anymore … Now that it’s been captured by the H.M.S. Shannon, Capt. Broke, it’s the Shannon’s PRIZE, and all the booty taken in the cruise of the Wiley Reynard will be split by the officers and crew of the Shannon – the RE’NARD has become their REWARD

Reward = Re’nard =

Would Captain Riggs re-name his boat … ONE LAST TIME??

Darn tootin’ !!!!!

And his doing so, would explain why there is no case report for the Wiley Reynard in the Vice-Admiralty reporter.

But there may be a rich Reward …. for you, PLAYERS!!! Can YOU find it??

Youngstermembers and all readers, who have diligently searched it out over the last 7 pages, working on this problem: this Halifax Vice Admiralty Reporter (1814) appears to be a veritable goldmine of the history of commerce, naval warfare, and prize law during the period. The Eunice is in there!! Maybe your Reward is too !!

The Judge at Halifax, and the author of the prize-court opinions in the Vice-Admiralty Reporter (1814) was Dr. Alexander Croke, later Sir Alexander Croke. During the first decade of the 19th century, he was acting administrator of Nova Scotia, during the temporary absence of lieutenant-governor, Sir George Prevost. In addition to his legal and administrative skills, Croke was a distinguished Latinist and occasional poet, with at least two volumes of critical commentary on Latin poetry, and one of his own verse, published at Oxford. Given the purely artful integration of the historical texts around this Wiley Reynard /Reward interface, it appears that Croke had an ulterior design to advance the humanities at all costs – maybe even if he had to make art out of war!! Litorally.8 Furthermore, given the inextricably interwoven nature of the 1814 case-book as a whole – which is a veritable puzzle palace -- it seems entirely plausible that he was also an American sympathizer and active agent. 9

Players … DID YOU FIND IT?

Part of the United States’ SECRET SERVICE!!

WHERE is the PRIZE REPORT for the SHAVING MILL WILEY REYNARD and COULD IT POSSIBLY BE … the REWARD ?

FIND OUT NEXT WEEK ~ !!!!! But … I can hardly wait !!!!

And … what about the 2nd Surveyor? If not John Charles Fremont, then who was the SECOND SURVEYOR at Port Orford?

In 1850 and 1851, Vitus Wackenreuder – let’s call him “V.W.” for short – he had his offices in Marysville (California) at the confluence of the Feather and the Yuba Rivers. Old V.W. hung out his shingle at the New Orleans Hotel there in Marysville. Not much chance, then, of his ever meeting Colonel Fremont who, if he had if he had been looking for surveyor

work, was closer to Sacramento, or Stockton, and in 1851 was up the San Joaquin River, and on his ranch, La Marisposa ..

Dagnabit ….

YOU ARE NOW LEAVING

8 Cf. Croke’s unprecedented treatment of prize captures of art, in Marquis de Somerueles, p. 482. 9 Or if he was not, suspicions would have to fall on his reporter and clerk.