Between 6 and 7 A.M., on Sunday, the 9th, he sailed, and on his
way round to Simon's Bay captured another vessel; but on finding that
she was in neutral waters he immediately released her.
In the meantime, the United States Consul had, on the 5th August,
addressed to me a written statement that the Federal barque Sea Bride
had been taken "about four miles from the nearest land," and "already in
British waters;" on which I promised immediate inquiry. The next day the
Consul repeated his protest, supporting it by an affidavit of the master
of the prize, which he held to show that she had been taken about two
miles and a half from the land; and the agent for the United States
underwriters, on the same day, made a similar protest. On the 7th, the
Consul represented that the prize had, on the previous day, been brought
within one mile and a half of the lighthouse, which he considered as
much a violation of the neutrality as if she had been there captured,
and asked me to have the prize crew taken out and replaced by one from
the Valorous, which I declined.
I had, during this period, been seeking for authentic information as to
the real circumstances of the capture, more particularly with reference
to the actual distance from the shore, and obtained through the Acting
Attorney-General statements from the keeper of the Green Point
Lighthouse (this was supported by the Collector of Customs), from the
signal-man at the station at the Lion's Rump, and from an experienced
boatman who was passing between the shore and the vessels at the time.
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