Alexander Hamilton

Autograph document signed ("A.H." and within the text "Mr Hamilton") and docketed "Opinion on Case of the Schooner Robert"), n.p. [New York], 25 June 1796, four pages (13 1/2 x 8 in.; 343 x 203 mm) on a bifolium, being an opinion on a maritime insurance case; a few spots and stains, including one hole touching a letter or two on the second leaf.

Autograph document signed ("A.H." and within the text "Mr Hamilton") and docketed "Opinion on Case of the Schooner Robert"), n.p. [New York], 25 June 1796, four pages (13 1/2 x 8 in.; 343 x 203 mm) on a bifolium, being an opinion on a maritime insurance case; a few spots and stains, including one hole touching a letter or two on the second leaf.
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The case involves the schooner "Robert" which sailed from Guadaloupe 15 September 1796 for either Baltimore or Charleston. She was insured by a policy dated 4 January 1796, "loss or no loss." En route, she made an unscheduled stop at St. Barthelémy, a French Carribbean island that was ceded by France to Sweden in 1784 and which remained under Swedish rule until 1878, there taking on ballast and personal stores for the ship's master. The master also took on a passenger, who claimed to be a Swede by birth and a United States citizen.

When leaving Guadaloupe, the "Robert" was carrying a cargo of clayed sugar and coffee. After departing from St. Barthélemy, the schooner was captured by a British warship and taken to Bermuda. There a libel was put forth that the vessel and cargo belonged to subjects of France and that the passenger who boarded at St. Barthélemy was in fact French. Upon which the ship was taken to Bermuda where the British Admiralty condemned the vessel, and both it and the lading were taken as lawful prizes.

After finding suspicious inconsistencies between the depositions of the Master and several of the seamen on board, Hamilton concludes: "On the whole, I cannot say from what as yet appears that the underwriters will not ultimately be obliged to pay; but I really think there is good sufficient cause for demur and further investigation examination. In pursuing this idea, no doubt it will be right to give all facility and dispatch in the mode of inquiry in concert with the assured."