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The capture of a French vessel during the Napoleonic wars could be a rewarding prize for
a British naval captain. Jane Austen's younger naval brother Charles was actively engaged
in this search for fortune while he was posted on the North American Station of the Royal
Navy between 1805 and 1811. Unfortunately there has been some confusion in the literature
regarding his prize taking in 1808. Documentary references to two different French vessels
appear to have been conflated into one. Part of this difficulty may stem from the fact
that the second vessel, captured by Charles in November 1808, was lost at sea and her name
is unknown. The authority for this capture is traced to Jane's letter of 24 January 1809
to Cassandra in which she stated that Charles had reported taking `a small prize on his
last cruise; a French schooner laden with Sugar (1) but bad weather had parted them and she
had not been heard of since. Additional evidence is said to come from Charles's letter to
Cassandra written several weeks before. It conveyed the news that `the little Frenchman'
had not reached port and thus Charles feared that his prize crew was lost. (2) However, some
months previously, in June 1808, Charles had captured the French privateer schooner La
Jeune Estelle (4 guns) and had profited from her condemnation and sale as prize. Though
this highly successful venture is not mentioned in any of the extant letters of the Austen
family, it is fully documented in Bermuda Vice Admiralty Court records, his agent's cash
book and newspapers of the time. Indeed, the story of La Jeune Estelle represents a
fascinating snapshot of one facet of Charles's naval life.
There are good grounds for making the distinction between La Jeune Estelle and the `French
schooner laden with Sugar'. Even though both Deirdre Le Faye, in her note to Jane's letter
of 24 January 1809, (3) and Chris Viveash in the JAS Report for 2005, (4) have claimed that these
vessels are one and the same, Indian's log book provides evidence to the contrary. It
records the seizure on 21 November 1808 of a French schooner `sailing from Washington to
Guadeloupe'. By 24 November, the weather had turned nasty. Indian was buffeted by `heavy
gales and squalls' and the prize with her prize crew was `not in sight'. (5) It is this unnamed
vessel which is the subject of Jane's and Charles's letters, for the facts recorded in
the log about the number of her prize crew (12) , the horrific weather and her loss of
contact with Indian fit the descriptions which Jane and Charles employed. Moreover, the
French schooner was said to be laden with sugar whereas the inventory for the auction of
La Jeune Estelle's perishable goods did not include this commodity. (6)
The saga of La Jeune Estelle began when she was boarded on June 19, 1808. She proved to be
a French schooner Letter of Marque (4 guns) enroute from St Mary's River (near St Augustine,
Florida) to the French colony of St Domingo with 25 men. According to Charles's official
report of the event there was a measure of excitement associated with the privateer's pursuit
and capture. Indian's chase guns were fired and in consequence La Jeune Estelle lost one man
and another was wounded. (7) Charles immediately installed a prize crew of 23 men who sailed the
vessel directly to Bermuda. (8) Vice Admiralty court procedures there were executed with efficiency.
As James Christie Esten (Charles's brother-in-law) frequently acted as Advocate General for
the condemnation of captured vessels on behalf of the crown, he was probably involved and
supportive of Charles's claim for prize in this case. (9) Given that La Jeune Estelle and her
cargo were unquestionably enemy property, it is not surprising that the court promptly ruled
on 25 July to condemn both the vessel and the cargo in favour of the captor, Charles. (10)
Court records sometimes included an inventory of the condemned cargo and an appraisal of
its value. Such a document is not extant for La Jeune Estelle but the notice for auction
which appeared in the Bermuda Gazette reveals what had been in her hold. Charles had told
Admiral Warren that he intended to send this vessel to Bermuda, given `the nature of her
cargo'. (11) This was the right decision as the cargo included perishable food stuffs such as
`superfine flour, pork, beef, fish, herrings, bread, butter, cheese, lard, pease and hams',
staples such as `soap, tallow, and oil in baskets' and other useful items of equipment
like `small shot, pig iron, a new cable and two hawsers'. An unspecified amount of claret
in casks rounded out the list. (12) All of the above were sold at the St George's premises of
Charles's prize agent, Edward Goodrich, on Wednesday 27 July. His other agents, according
to the notice of auction, were G.R. Hulbert and Austen and Maunde of London, the Austen
being Charles's banking brother Henry.
What appeared to be a modest array of ordinary goods nevertheless sold well. Prize agent
George Hulbert's ledger entitled `Cash Book 1808-1812' records an income of £2,529.11.4 from
the sale of the prize cargo alone. Additional entries from this source show what fees and
charges the court deducted from the sale's total and permit the calculation of what prize
money Charles received. On the debit side, the Advocate General was paid £50; court charges
were £28.5.6; pilotage, bills for the delivery of the cargo after sale, customs house entry
and custody, storage and wharfage amounted to £37.18.0. Other bills included the hire of a
cooper for repairing flour casks, £2.13.11; fee for recording agency power, £3.10 and
advertisements in the Bermuda Gazette, £3.6.8. The 5% duty payable to the Greenwich hospital
came to £129.19.6 and agency fees were also £129.19.6. Once these claims were settled the
court ordered the distribution of £2,158.19.11 (13) and the appropriate notice was printed in
the Bermuda Gazette. (14) As Indian's captain, Charles received a two eighths share of the net
proceeds, his commander in chief, Admiral Sir John Warren one eighth and his officers and
men smaller shares according to their rank. (15) From Hulbert's comprehensive records, Charles's
two eighth share may be calculated as £539.14s.11d, which approximates two and a third
times his regular annual naval salary. (16) This sum does not include what he may have received
for the sale of the prize vessel.
Years later La Jeune Estelle was the one prize vessel Charles specifically named in his
entry for O'Byrne's Naval Biographical Dictionary. (17) This reference was particularly
appropriate for, almost 40 years earlier, La Jeune Estelle's capture had been made known
to the readers of the London Gazette and Naval Chronicle, when the text of Charles's
official report to Admiral John Warren appeared in these publications. (18) This publicity had
in effect put Charles on the map as a young officer successful in the pursuit of naval
prize. In fact all aspects of this prize case were favourable for him. The vessel's
adjudication was prompt and unproblematic and Charles' prize money was substantial in the
context of his current naval salary. Far from being the lost prize which never made it to
port, La Jeune Estelle turned out to be a model case of how the business of prize taking
would ideally proceed from the moment of capture to the occasion when the net proceeds
were paid out to the beneficiaries. She rightfully holds pride of place in the list of
all Charles's successful prize adjudications between 1805 and 1808.
I would like to acknowledge with thanks the research assistance of Hugh Kindred and the
staffs of the Bermuda Archives and the Bermuda Library.
Notes
1 See Jane Austen’s Letters, ed. Deirdre Le Faye (Oxford: OUP, 1997), p. 169.
2 See Charles Austen to Cassandra Austen, 25 December 1808, The Pierpont Morgan Library, New York. Bequest; Gordon N. Ray. 1987. MA 4500.
3 Letters, ed. Deirdre Le Faye. She wrote that ‘CJA had captured La Jeune Estelle, a small privateer’. Ft. 2, p. 398.
4 See Chris Viveash, ‘Charles Austen Under Fire’, The Jane Austen Society Report for 2005, pp. 70-73. He wrote that ‘the adventure of
capturing La Jeune Estelle was tinged with regret in Charles’s mind, as the prize had been wrenched from him with such tragic consequences’ (p. 73).
5 See Indian’s log book, 24 November 1808, ADM 51/1868, National Archives [hereafter NA], Kew, London, England.
6 See Bermuda Gazette, 23 July 1808.
7 Charles Austen to Sir John Warren, 27 June 1808. ADM 1/498/fol.283. NA.
8 Indian’s log book, 19 June 1808, ADM 51/1868, NA.
9 James Christie Esten was the Attorney General of Bermuda from 1803 to 1809. He was the Advocate General in the Vice Admiralty Court when Charles’
prize cases regarding Joseph and Eliza, Baltic were adjudicated.
10 ‘List of Ships and Vessels Captured by His Majesty’s Ships of War and Brought to the Port of Bermuda for Adjudication from 7 June 1808 to the 18th
Day of May 1810’, List of Prizes, VA 221, 1-4, Bermuda Archives, Hamilton, Bermuda.
11 Austen to Warren, 27 June 1808.
12 Bermuda Gazette, 23 July 1808.
13 George Hulbert, Cash Book 1808-1812, HUL/23, September 1808, p. 5. National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England. There are several possible
explanations why this case was propelled through the Vice Admiralty Court so quickly. Firstly, as Charles’s lawyer brother-in-law James Christie Esten
was often party to the functioning of the Vice Admiralty court, he was thus no doubt in a position to see that the legal proceedings were conducted efficiently.
Secondly, there was a pressing reason from Charles’s point of view for finishing the business as speedily as possible. The regulations governing the distribution
of prize money were changing. A new formula was to be applied from 15 June or so soon thereafter as the Vice Admiralty Court received formal notice of it. So,
although the distributions mandated by the Vice Admiralty Courts abroad were to be considered valid until official confirmation of the changes arrived from the
Admiralty in London, word of the new policy could arrive at any time. Given the timing of this case and the length of time it took to receive communiqués from London,
it is very probable that the prize money was paid out under the old formula for distribution. This would be to Charles’s benefit for under the new rules he would receive
only two thirds of the two eighths part of the prize money instead of the full two eighths. Under the new regulations his prize money from La Jeune Estelle would have
been almost £180 less.
14 Bermuda Gazette, 24 September 1808.
15 For the distribution formulae see Brian Southam, Jane Austen and the Navy, 2nd edn (Greenwich, London: National Maritime Museum, 2005), p. 129.
16 Charles net salary as a captain at this time was about £228. See N.A.M. Rodger, The Command of the Ocean A Naval History of Britain 1649-1815 (London: W.W. Norton & Co, 2004),
Appendix 4, 1807 Scale of Sea Pay, p. 626.
17 William O’Byrne, A Naval Bibliographic Dictionary (London: John Murray 1849), p. 26.
18 See Navy, p. 54 and The Naval Chronicle (1805), xix, p. 158.
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