Declaration-Signer and U.S. Flag Designer Francis Hopkinson Presides over Admiralty Case Involving Quarreling Owners of a Schooner

FRANCIS HOPKINSON, Endorsement Signed, March 12, 1787, on Francis A. Richette, Bill and Petition, March 10, 1787, in Richette v. Garreau, Admiralty Court of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. 2 pp., 7.75ʺ x 6.75ʺ. Also includes Copy of Bill and Petition in Richette v. Garreau, with James Read, Autograph Endorsement Signed, March 12, 1787. 3 pp., 8.375ʺ x 13.75ʺ. Expected folds; some water staining on folds; very good.

This pair of documents from the admiralty case of Richette v. Garreau concerns a dispute between two co-owners of the schooner Girard. Richette, the owner of two-thirds of the vessel, wanted to send it on a voyage to Charleston, South Carolina, but Garreau, the owner of the other third, refused. Richette filed suit in admiralty court seeking an order to provide a bond to secure Garreau’s interest in the ship, so it could make the voyage. The resolution of the case is unknown.

After Congress passed the Judiciary Act of 1789, admiralty jurisdiction transferred to federal district courts rather than state courts.

Excerpts:

Bill and Petition
“That your petitioner is the owner of two third parts of the schooner Girard now in the port of Philadelphia & within the Jurisdiction of this Court & that Francis Garreau is the owner of the remaining third part thereof, that your petition being the major part owner in the value of the said schooner purposes & has determined to send her a voyage to sea, towit to Charlston South Carolina & that the said Francis Garreau wholly disagrees thereto & refuses to join your petitioner in fitting out & navigating the said schooner Wherefore your petitioner prays that suitable persons may be appointed by the order of this Court to appraise the said Schooner & set the just value thereon & that this Honorable Court will also decree & order that the Petitioner upon entering into a recognizance to the said Francis Garreau in a sum proportionable to his share according to the value to be set by the said appraisers to secure his said share against all adventures shall have liberty to fit out & navigate the said schooner alone so as not to be accountable for any part of the profits of the voyage to the said Port of Charston or elsewhere And that the said Francis Garreau may be cited to appear before this Honorable Court to shew cause if any he hath, why the prayer of this bill should not be granted.
F. A. Richette”

[Monition:]
To James Read Esqr Register &c
Sir,
Please to issue the usual notice to Francis Gareau within mentioned, & cite him to appear at a Court of Admiralty to be held at my Chambers at 12 o’Clock tomorrow noon, then & there to shew Cause, if any there be why the Prayer of the within Petition should not be granted & Process had thereon according to Law & the Custom of the Court
Fras Hopkinson
March 12th 1787

Copy of Bill and Petition, March 10, 1787
[Endorsement:]
On the Twelfth Day of March in the Year of Our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven The foregoing Bill and Petition being read & heard It is Ordered by the Court that Notice thereof be given to Francis Garreau therein mentioned and that the said Francis Garreau also have Notice to appear at the Chambers of the Judge of the said Court in the City of Philadelphia at a Court of Admiralty there to be held at Twelve o’Clock at Noon, To-morrow, the thirteenth Day of March Instant, then and there to shew Cause, if any there be, why the Prayer of the said Bill and Petition should not be granted and Process had thereon according to Law and the Custom of the Court.
Extract from the Minutes of the said Court,
James Read Register &c.

Francis Hopkinson (1737-1791) was born in Philadelphia and graduated from the College of Philadelphia (now University of Pennsylvania) in 1757 with a bachelor’s degree and in 1760 with a master’s degree. In 1759, he became the first American composer of a secular song. He practiced law in Philadelphia from 1761 to 1766. After spending more than a year in England unsuccessfully seeking the office of Commissioner of Customs for North America, Hopkinson returned to Philadelphia, became a merchant, and served as Collector of Customs at New Castle, Delaware. From 1774 to 1776, he served as a member of the New Jersey Provincial Council and represented New Jersey in 1776 in the Second Continental Congress, where he signed the Declaration of Independence. He served in a variety of offices during the Revolutionary War, including member of the Navy Board (1776-1777), Treasurer of the Continental Loan Office (1778-1781), and Judge of the Admiralty Court of Pennsylvania (1779-1789). As an artist, Hopkinson created designs for Continental paper money, the first United States coin, and two early versions of the American flag, one for the United States and another for the U.S. Navy (both originally with six-pointed stars). He also contributed to the design of the Great Seal of the United States. In addition, he was a member of the Pennsylvania Convention that ratified the U.S. Constitution. In 1789, President George Washington appointed Hopkinson as judge of the new United States District Court for the District of Pennsylvania, a position Hopkinson held until his death nearly twenty months later.

James Read (1718-1793) was born in Pennsylvania and went into business selling books with his widowed step-mother in 1737, in a shop next to Benjamin Franklin’s, who had married Read’s second cousin. Read gained admission to the Pennsylvania bar in 1742, and soon moved to Reading. There he held several offices, including clerk of several of the local courts. Berks County voters elected him to the Assembly in 1777 and to the Supreme Executive Council in 1778-1781 and 1787-1790. When the Register of the Court of Admiralty died in June 1781, Read resigned from the Supreme Executive Council, the remaining members of which elected him as Register, a position he held from 1781 to 1789. Apparently, his daughter Sarah Read (1756-1793) acted as his clerk and performed many of the writing tasks of the position. Both Read and his daughter died in the yellow fever epidemic of 1793.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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