Sold – French ignore a passport issued by President John Adams during the U.S./French Quasi-War in 1798
The original passport signed by Adams for a ship seized by a French privateer.
When the United States declared its neutrality in the Napoleonic Wars, France was offended and considered American ships bearing cargo to Great Britain or its territories to be aiding the enemy. French privateers began seizing these ships, and this brought the two nations to the brink of war.
On September 20, 1798,...
When the United States declared its neutrality in the Napoleonic Wars, France was offended and considered American ships bearing cargo to Great Britain or its territories to be aiding the enemy. French privateers began seizing these ships, and this brought the two nations to the brink of war.
On September 20, 1798, the Schooner Syren, Jared Arnold master, sailed with its cargo of flour for the port of Norfolk, Virginia. Because it was destined for the then-Spanish ports in the Caribbean, it required the issuance of a ship’s passport. It received such a passport, signed by President John Adams and his Secretary of State, Timothy Pickering. Capt. Arnold, presidential passport in hand, brought his ship into Norfolk, unloaded his flour, and took on a new cargo. Then, at the end of September he left port and headed to LaGuira, Cuba. On that voyage in October 1798, the French privateer, L’Amour de las Patrie, captured the Syren. It was brought into Guadaloupe and condemned as a lawful prize because some of its crew members were English and Portuguese. Both the privateer and the prize court ignored the passport issued by Adams and proceeded as if did not coverage exactly this type of situation. Thus did the Schooner Syren become a part of history.
Document Signed, September 20, 1798, being the actual ship’s passport signed by President Adams issued to Arnold.
Fortunately the United States and France ended up settling these problems short of war.
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