U.S. Customs Service Selected Documents Relating to French Spoliation Claims B2025

U.S. Customs Service Selected Documents Relating to French Spoliation Claims

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Overview of the Records

Repository:

New York State Archives
New York State Education Department
Cultural Education Center
Albany, NY 12230

Summary:

This series consists of documents containing evidence of the ownership and registry of vessels, most having their homeport at New York City, other places in New York, or in a nearby state. Documents include certificates of registry, bills of sale, and affidavits of ownership. They document claims from loss of vessels or cargoes to privateers acting for the governments of France, Spain, and the Netherlands. The United States government assumed such claims.

Creator:

U.S. Customs Service

Title:

Selected documents relating to French spoliation claims

Quantity:

0.1 cubic feet

1 microfilm roll 35mm

Inclusive Dates:

1785-1803

Series Number:

B2025

Arrangement

Arranged in two groups: "Miscellaneous certificates of registry, 1784-1802," 51 pp.; "Bonds and oaths of ownership, 1785-1803," 499 pp.

Scope and Content Note

Microfilmed documents contain evidence of the ownership and registry of vessels, most having their home port at New York City or another place in New York or a nearby state. The documents pertain to the New York customs district and include certificates of registry, bills of sale, affidavits of ownership, etc. They provide information about numerous vessels and their owners and masters in the late eighteenth century. The documents were submitted to the U.S. government as evidence of claims arising from loss of vessels or cargoes to privateers acting for the governments of France, Spain, and the Netherlands during the period 1797-1800. Those claims were assumed by the United States government in 1803, under a provision of the treaty by which France sold Louisiana.