"To the Right Honourable the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament.

"The humble Petition of Thomas Boyde, a Scotts Merchant;

"That your Petitioner, in the Month of Decem'r, 1644, freighted, at Burdeaux, in France, a Ship called The Thomas, of Elie, in Scotland, to carry Wines from thence to Carrickfergus in Ireland; and that, at Burdeaux aforesaid, your Petitioner laded aboard the said Ship One Hundred Nineteen Tons and Two Hogsheads of French Wine, to be transported to Carrickfergus aforesaid.

"That, in the Ship's Course from Burdeaux towards Carrickfergus, Captain Plunkett surprized and took her, with the Petitioner's said Wines, and carried the same to Kingsale; where, as the said Captain Plunkett pretended, he delivered all the said Wines to the Lord Inchiquin, who disposed of the same for the Use of the State, and Relief of the Protestant Army in Ireland.

"That your Petitioner, upon his Claim made for the said Wines in the High Court of Admiralty, had a Sentence of Restitution for the same; but was remitted to the Lord Inchiquin for Satisfaction.

"That the said Wines, at the Time they were taken, were worth Twenty-two Pounds per Ton, and so approved before the Delegates; so that the whole Value of them did and doth amount to the Sum of Two Thousand Six Hundred Thirty-nine Pounds Sterling, as by the Testimony in that Behalf given doth appear; which hath been detained from him near Three Years, the Interest whereof doth amount till this Time to above the Sum of Five Hundred Pounds. And your Petitioner hath been at great Charges and Expences in attending the Prosecution of a Suit against Captain Plunkett for the said Wines, to the Value of at least Three Hundred Pounds; and at last obtained a Sentence against him, in the Court of Delegates, for the Value of the said Goods: But the said Plunkett (as your Petitioner conceiveth) is unable (or at least unwilling) to pay your Petitioner the Value of the said Wines and other Damages, in regard, as he pretendeth, and as is averred by the Lord Inchiquin, the said Wines were employed for the public Use of the State, and for the Relief of the Protestant Army in Ireland, and that, without those Wines, he had not been able to have preserved the Parliament's Garrisons, and Interests in those Parts; as hath been by him declared to the House of Peers.

"That Captain Plunkett, leaving nothing unattempted to free himself of the Fact aforesaid, hath lately petitioned the Committee of Lords and Commons for Indemnity: But that Honourable Committee, finding your Petitioner's Case so just, have ordered that the Honourable Houses be desired to give Order, that your Petitioner and other the Owners of the said Wines may speedily receive just Payment and Satisfaction for the same, as by a Copy of the Report of the said Committee in that Behalf, hereunto annexed, may appear.

"The Premises considered, and for that the Money which bought the said Wines was all your Petitioner's Stock, by the Want whereof he hath been exceedingly damnified in his Credit and otherwise, he having at that very Time contracted for sundry Commodities of Value, which he was forced to give over, and so hath ever since been out of Trade; and forasmuch as your Petitioner hath been constrained, for the last Three Years, to take up Money upon Credit from his Friends, to follow this Business here; which now his Friends seeing to take no Effect, they threaten him daily with Arrests and Imprisonment, for Nonpayment of their Debts; which if the same should be charged upon him, he would thereby be utterly ruined and undone.

"His most humble Suit therefore is, That the High and Honourable Court of Parliament will be pleased to give Order for present Satisfaction to be made unto your Petitioner, of the Money, Interest, and Charges, due unto your Petitioner for the said Wines, according to the Purport and true Intent of the Report of the said Committee for Indemnity, that so he may be enabled to redeem his Credit and Reputation, which hath long lain at Stake in respect of the Premises.

"At the Committee of Lords and Commons for Indemnity. (1647 Sept 29)

"In the Matter where Captain Thomas Plunkett did, by his humble Petition, exhibit to this Committee, complain against Thomas Boyd, for arresting and declaring against him, first in The Compter, and then again in the King's Bench, upon pretended Trover and Conversion, touching Wines by him the said Plunkett seized and surprized upon the High Sea, in a Ship called The Thomas of Ely, there taken by him, by virtue of a Commission under the Seal of the Court of Admiralty, according to the Ordinance of Parliament, of the 30th of November, 1643, for the enabling all Persons approved of by Parliament to set forth Ships, in Warlike Manner, for the Guarding of the Seas, and Defence of His Majesty's Dominions:

Upon Opening and Debating of the whole Business this Day, in the Presence of the said Parties, and their Counsel on both Sides, and Consideration of the said Ordinance of Parliament, a Copy whereof is hereunto annexed, the true State of the Matter appeared to be this:

"That the said Captain Thomas Plunkett having procured an Approbation, or Warrant, from the Lord High Admiral of England, and taken out a Commission under Seal of the said Court of Admiralty, according to the said Ordinance, for the setting forth, in Warlike Manner, of the Ship called The Discovery, whereof himself was Captain, did equip, arm, provide, and set forth to Sea, the said Ship The Discovery, with the same to seize and take such Ships and Vessels, with the Ordnance, Victuals, Goods, &c. therein, that they should meet withal, In or Outwards bound, from any Port or Place, within any of of His Majesty's Dominions being in Hostility against the King and Parliament, or coming from or returing to any such Port or Place, or that should be found to have traded with the Inhabitants of any such Port or Place since their Defection, and also for surprizing the rest designed in the said Ordinance; and, being in the said Ship The Discovery, and having aboard the said Commission, according to the said Ordinance, did, upon the High Sea, near unto Cape Cleere, on the Irish Coast, meet with the said Ship the said Thomas of Ely, and hailed her, and boarded her, and visited her; and, finding that she had late before been and came from Crooke Haven, in Ireland, then in Possession of the Irish Rebels, and had had some small Barter there with them, the said Captain Plunkett did thereupon, upon the High Sea aforesaid, surprize and take the said Ship, and all the Goods and Wines in her, in Pursuance of his said Commission, by virtue of the said Ordinance of Parliament; intending to have brought them up to the Port of London, to have received Judgement in the Court of Admiralty, as the said Ordinance directs: But, coming along by Kinsale, in Ireland, where the Lord Inchiquin then commanded in Chief under the Parliament, he the said Lord Inchiquin, being in great Distress for Want of Relief, did, for Preservation of himself and the Parliament's Forces there, and the better enabling them to hold the said Place of Kinsale against the Rebels, by Advice of his Council of War, seize upon the Wines in the said Ship The Thomas of Ely, and took them out of the said Ship, and made Use thereof in that Case of Extremity, and gave a Certificate and Testimony under his Hand thereof, "That he had taken the said Wines for the Service of the State." Whereupon the said Plunkett, perceiving the said Wines taken from him in Manner aforesaid, received the said Certificate, and acquainted the said Court of Admiralty with the Case; and, bringing the Matter there to Judgement, he the said Thomas Boyd appeared with others, and put in their Claims to the said Ship and Wines, and made their Proofs for the quitting themselves from adhering to, or trading with, the said Irish Rebels; and that they were originally bound for Carrickfergus, and were only by Storm or Tempest driven into Crooke Haven aforesaid; and such other Matters as they thought necessary for their Desence: Whereupon, the Cause coming to Judgement (fn. *) in the said Court of Admiralty, and the Ordinance of Parliament and Commission being exhibited, and the Lord Inchiquin's said Certificate shewed, and Captain Plunkett's Proofs heard; the Judge of the said Court of Admiralty, upon full Debate of the whole Matter, gave his Sentence, or Final Decree, thereby pronouncing, in these Words; videlicet;

"That, by the Proofs before him (the said Judge), it appeareth, That the said Captain Plunkett had just Cause to take and surprize the said Ship and Goods, and that there might be Cause for him to bring the same to Trial; and that the Ship herself is restored already to the said Todd the Master of her; and that the Lord Inchiquin, after the Arrival of the said Ship at Kinsale, in Ireland, took the Wine out of her, for the Service of the State: And thereupon the Judge did order, That the Wines taken in the said Ship shall be restored to the said Todd, the Master of her, to the Use of the Owners thereof, in Specie, if they be extant; or else that Satisfaction shall be made for the Value thereof, by the Lord Inchiquin or his Assigns.

"From which Sentence or Judgement of the said Court of Admiralty, the said Boyde, and one Andrew Mac Alexander and others, appealed to the Delegates; and there obtained Sentence, "That the said Captain Tho. Plunkett should restore to the said Andrewe Mac Alexander and Thomas Boyd the said Wines, being One Hundred Nineteen Tuns and a Half, laden at Bourdeaux (if they were extant), or else the true Value thereof, deducting Leakage." And against the Sentence of the said Delegates the said Captain Plunkett put in his Petition into the Right Honourable the House of Peers; and humbly prayed the same, as erroneous, to be reversed; and assigned several Causes of Error in the said Sentence: During the Dependency whereof in the Lords House, and before the same was there determined, the said Thomas Boyd arrested the said Captain Plunkett in The Compter, upon an Action of Trover and Conversion; and first there, and since in the King's Bench whither the said Action was removed by Habeas Corpus, declared against him, upon a meer Fiction, and pretended Surmise that he the said Boyde was possessed of the said Wines in London, and lost them out of his Possession, and that they came there to Plunkett's Hands by Way of Trover, and that he converted them to his own Use; whereas, in Truth, there never were any Wines or Goods of the said Boyd's in London which at any Time came to Plunkett's Hands; but the said Actions of Trover were brought by the said Boyd against him for those very Wines taken by him in said Ship The Thomas of Ely, upon the High Sea, by virtue of his said Commission, in Pursuance of the said Ordinance, and after taken out of the said Ship at Kinsale, by the Lord Inchiquin, for the Service of the State as aforesaid; which he the said Boyd confessing to be true, and that the said Actions of Trover were for no other Matter, the said Plunkett humbly prayed the Order of this Committee for his Discharge and Acquittal, with Damages, according to the said Ordinance for Indemnity: But this Committee, in regard of the Intermixture of State that fell out in this Business, thought fit, and so ordered, "That the whole Case should be reported to both Houses of Parliament; with this, That it was the Opinion of this Committee, That, in regard the said Lord Inchiquin had as aforesaid taken the said Wines, and made Use of the same for the Service of the State, for Relief of his Soldiers, and Preservation of those Parts of Ireland in a Time of Extremity, that therefore Payment and Satisfaction for the said One Hundred Nineteen Tuns and a Half of Wines, so made Use of, was to be made by the State;" and that the said Honourable Houses should be desired to give Order, That the said Boyd and other the Owners of the said Wines might speedily receive just Payment and Satisfaction for the same: And as touching the Discharge and Acquittal of the said Captain Plunkett from all further Vexation and Trouble touching the said Wines, that it be likewise represented to the said Honourable Houses, to give such Order therein as they should hold meet.

"Signed,

"Tho. Plunkett.
Tho. Boyde.

"This is a true Copy of the Original, remaining in my Custody.

"Ste. Kirke, Clerk to the said Committee for Indemnity."

10th November 1647

Ordered, That it be referred to the Members of this House that are of the Committee of Indemnity, or any Three of them, to inquire after and inform themselves of the Quantity and Quality of the Wines belonging to Mr. Boyd; and whether they were employed by the Lord Inchiquin for the Use of the Parliament's Army in Munster; and to value the said Wines; and to consider, How Satisfaction may be made to Mr. Thomas Boyde, for so much Monies as shall be made appear to be due unto the said Mr. Thomas Boyde for the said Wines. And that they do prepare and bring in an Ordinance for giving him Satisfaction accordingly.

Ordered, That it be referred to the Committee of Indemnity, according to the Power given to that Committee, to free and discharge the Suit, commenced by Mr. Thomas Boyde against Captain Thomas Plunkett, for a Ship and Wines taken by the said Captain Plunkett, that were belonging to the said Mr. Thomas Boyde; and to free the said Captain Plunkett from any Molestation; arising unto him, upon the Occasion of taking the said Wines, if they shall find Cause so to do.

11th July 1648

Upon reading the Petition of Captain Thomas Plunkett, in Behalf of his Kinsman Captain James Plunkett, "who did most unfortunately meet with One upon the Highway, and took from him about Fifteen Pounds in Money, merely to keep him alive; for which he is found Guilty, and like to suffer Death;" and in regard it is his First Offence of this Nature that ever (fn. *) he committed, and having formerly shewed good Affections to the Parliament:

It is Ordered, That it be specially recommended to the Recorder of London, to cause him to be reprieved until the next Sessions.