Declaration-Signer and U.S. Flag Designer Francis Hopkinson Orders the Seizure of a Ship in Philadelphia as Judge of Admiralty Court

FRANCIS HOPKINSON, Document Signed, to Clement Biddle, Monition against Captain Stewart, Master of the schooner Rebecca, April 15, 1784, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Includes embossed Seal of the Admiralty Court of Pennsylvania. Includes two signed endorsements by Biddle. 2 pp., 12ʺ x 7.5ʺ. Expected folds; some discoloration to outer fold on verso; very good.

By this monition Judge Francis Hopkinson of the Admiralty Court of Pennsylvania orders Marshal Clement Biddle to summon Captain Stewart and the owners of the schooner Rebecca to court to respond to the complaint of three sailors for their wages in assisting in salvaging a part of the rigging and sails of a wrecked ship.

In February, the Rebecca had sailed from Jamaica to Havana, Cuba. On March 18, the Rebecca came upon the English ship Mercury, which had run aground on Jardin’s reef with a cargo of sugar bound for Bristol. The crew had abandoned the Mercury, and although newspapers reported that the Mercury was “an entire wreck,” the crew of the Rebecca apparently salvaged a portion of its tackle and sails. The Rebecca then sailed on to Philadelphia, where it arrived by April 12. The court evidently resolved this case quickly, as the Rebecca with Stewart as master left Philadelphia by April 28 for Jamaica.

In 1792, Hopkinson published forty-nine of his decisions from the Admiralty Court in the third volume of his Miscellaneous Essays and Occasional Writings. Although this case was not among those published, approximately one quarter of those Hopkinson included involved seamen who were suing for their wages. Hopkinson generally sided with aggrieved sailors, and in Patrick Mahoon et al. v. the Brig Glocester, Hopkinson held that “Mariners are generally engaged on shore, and always sue for their wages in this court. In the one case the mariners are paid monthly wages, or by the run, in the other by a share of the booty taken. There is the same reason in both cases. But I am of opinion that the articles are not the true foundation of a seaman’s claim. If one or more mariners should enter on board a vessel, with the knowledge and consent of the master, should receive his orders and perform the duties of the station, they would be entitled to customary wages, or a proportion of the booty taken in common with the rest of the crew, although they had signed no articles at all, the right is not founded in the articles, but in the service.”

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

Complete Transcript
Port of Philadelphia
Pennsylvania, Ss
Francis Hopkinson Esquire Judge of the Court of Admiralty of the State of Pennsylvania
To Clement Biddle Esquire Marshal of the said Court Greeting
You are hereby commanded on Sight hereof immediately to admonish and cite Captain Stewart Master of the schooner Rebecca and the owners of the same Schooner and all others concerned that they be and appear before Me at a Court of Admiralty to be held at my Chambers in the City of Philadelphia on the seventeenth Day of April Instant at Ten o’Clock in the Forenoon of the same Day to make their Objections, if any they have, why a final Decree should not be pronounced agreeable to the Prayer of Barney Murray Charles Campble and Robert Stewart Mariners in their Libel filed in this Court against the said Captain Stewart and the Owners of the schooner aforesaid: And how you shall have executed this Writ make known to Me at the Court aforesaid at the Place and Time aforesaid And have you there then this Writ
Given under my Hand and the Seal of the Court aforesaid at Philadelphia the Fifteenth Day of April in the Year of Our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty four.
Fras Hopkinson

[Endorsement:] I depute Mr Jno Whitehead to serve this writ
Clement Biddle / M

[Endorsement:] To the Honorable Francis Hopkinson Esq. Judge of the Court of Admiralty for the State of Pennsylvania
Pursuant to the Directions of this writ I have Cited Capt Stewart of the Schooner Rebeccah to appear as herein directed
Philada April 16, 1784
So answers
Clement Biddle / Marshal


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.

Clement Biddle (1740-1814) was born in Philadelphia and became a merchant. A member of the Society of Friends, Biddle helped to organize the “Quaker Blues,” a company of volunteers, for service in the Revolutionary War. During the war, Biddle fought in the Battles of Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth. At Valley Forge, he was the Commissary General under General George Washington. Biddle resigned from the Army in 1780 and served as Quartermaster General of Pennsylvania troops in 1781. He served as Marshal of the Admiralty from 1780 to 1789, then as U.S. Marshal for Pennsylvania from 1789 to 1793.


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