Revolutionary War-dated DS, signed “Sam'l Huntington,” one page, 8.25 x 13, no date, but circa 1779-1780. Congressional broadside originally issued on April 3, 1776, which provides "Instructions to the Commanders of Private Ships or Vessels of War, which shall have Commissions or Letters of Marque and Reprisal, authorizing them to make Captures or British Vessels and Cargoes." The mandate consists of eleven articles of instruction for American privateers, in part: "I. You may by force of Arms, attack, subdue, and take all Ships and other Vessels belonging to the Subjects of the King of Great-Britain, on the High Seas, or between High-water and Low-water Marks, except Ships and Vessels bringing persons who intend to settle and reside in the United Colonies, or bringing Arms, Ammunition or warlike Stores to the said Colonies, for the Use of such Inhabitants thereof as are Friends to the American Cause, which you shall suffer to pass unmolested, the Commanders thereof permitting a peaceable Search, ad giving Information of the Contents of the Ladings, and Destinations of the Voyages.
II. You may, by Force of Arms, attack, subdue, and take all Ships and other Vessels whatsoever, carrying Soldiers, Arms, Gun-powder, Ammunition, Provisions, or any other contraband Goods, to any of the British Armies or Ships of war, employed against these Colonies.
III. You shall bring such Ships and Vessels as you shall take, with their Guns, Rigging, Tackle, Apparel, Furniture and Ladings, to some convenient Port or Ports of the United Colonies, that Proceedings may thereupon be had in due form, before the courts which are or shall be there appointed to hear and determine causes civil and maritime.
IV. You or one of your Chief Officers shall bring or send the Master and Pilot, and one or more principal Person or Persons of the Company of every Ship or Vessel by you taken, as soon after the Capture as may be, to the Judge or Judges of such Court as aforesaid, to be examined upon Oath, and make Answer to the Interrogatories which may be propounded, touching the Interest or Property of the Ship or Vessel and her Lading; and at the same Time you shall deliver or cause to be delivered to the Judge or Judges, all Passes, Sea Briefs, Charter Parties, Bills of Lading, Cockets, Letters and other Documents and Writings found on Board, proving the said Papers, by the Affidavit of yourself or of some other Person present at the Capture, to be produced as they were received, without Fraud, Addition, Subduction or Embezzlement.
V. You shall keep and preserve every Ship or Vessel and cargo by you taken until they shall, by Sentence or a Court properly authorized, be adjudged lawful Prize of acquitted—not selling, spoiling, wasting, or diminishing the same, or breaking the bulk thereof, nor suffering any such Thing to be done.
VI. If you, or any of your Officers or Crew, shall, in cold Blood, kill or maim, or, by torture of otherwise, cruelly inhumanly, and contrary to common Usage and the Practice of civilized Nation in War, treat any Person or Persons surprised in the Ship or Vessel you shall take, the Offender shall be severely punished." Signed at the conclusion by Huntington as president of the Continental Congress. In fine condition.
First issued by John Hancock in April 1776, this privateering proclamation was reprinted and used continually, as occasion demanded, throughout the Revolutionary War, with each example legitimized with the signature of the Congress president. After John Jay vacated the position to become Minister to Spain, Huntington was elected Continental Congress president on September 28, 1779, serving until ill health forced him to resign on July 10, 1781. The outcome of the Revolutionary War was significantly impacted by the role of private vessels; privateers greatly outnumbered the armada of the nascent American navy, and their recruitment and subsequent actions accounted for the seizure of hundreds of British ships.
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