New York State Court of Admiralty Minutes and Case Papers

This series consists of cases relating to admiralty claims filed within the jurisdiction of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Claims relate to: prize cases; seamen's wages; salvage cases; actions arising out of evasions of customs regulations; cases involving cruel and unusual treatment of seamen; insubordination and attempted mutiny; assault upon passengers of an immigrant ship for publicly objecting to a short allowance of food; and proceedings initiated by the Surveyor of His Majesty's Woods in America against individuals for cutting down white pine trees reserved for masts of vessels of the Royal Navy. Files may contain libels, monitions, claims and answers, interrogatories, depositions, court orders, and other papers.

The prize cases are the most numerous and consist of libels, processes, pleadings, decrees of the court, accounts of sales of condemned property, bills of cost, and papers found on board prize vessels at the time of their seizure and delivered to the court, such as charter parties, muster rolls, instructions from owners to the captains, invoices of goods laden on the ships, and certificates of clearance.

Microfilm: 1 roll; 35 mm. NOTE: Microfilm has unsatisfactory resolution resulting in out-of-focus images throughout the roll.

Series A3297 Court of Admiralty Case Papers contains related records.

Series J0043 Record of Wills and Probates (Accretion J0043-92) contains some minutes and proceedings of the Court of Vice-Admiralty, 1666, 1668 (in Volume 1) and 1683 (in Volume 2).

New York Public Library, Manuscripts and Archives Division, MssCol 2230, New York Court of Vice Admiralty records, 1753-1770 (1 vol.). Record of proceedings (mostly prize cases during the Seven Years' War, 1756-1763). Digital version included in the New York Public Library's "Early American Manuscripts" website.

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of this material.