CAPTURE OF THE BRITISH BRIG SILLA BY A FEDERA VESSEL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 267, 28 October 1862, Page 4

CAPTURE OF THE BRITISH BRIG SILLA BY A FEDERA VESSEL.

The following is a copy of a protest made by Capt. Applebee, ofthe brig Silla:—" Personally appeared before me, tbis day, Charles Applebee, 'ma=t>r ofthe brig Silla, of Liverpool, England, and declared on oath, that he took his departure from Liverpool, England, on the 16th day of May, in the year of our Lord 18G2, with a, cargo consisting of boxes of tin, pigs of tin, saltpetre, sheet iron, and thirty-seven boxes c drugs, bound for Nassau, NP. On arriving oli Abaco, near the Hole in the Wall, Bahama Islands, on the morning ofthe 3rd July, at 1.30 p.m., when within four miles of the light, was ordered to heave to by the United States steamer Quaker City, who. sent on board a boat with an officer, demanding my person and papers. My papers, all, I delivered ;my person I refused. They then sent an officer,, with a file of marines, demanding me to go on hoard the Quaker City. I then refused, drawing a pistol in my defence, saying I would shoot the lirst person that seized hold of me, for which the officer of the marines told them to slipot me: they levelled their muskets, and I retreated to the after part of my cabin. I was followed by the marines. Seeing there was no resource but to submit, I gave nvsseif up and went into the boat, and was carried on board the Quaker City. Was then ordered by the commander to send for all my papers that I had on board, which I did. Was kept on boaid the Quaker City until near dark in my wet clothes. Was then sent on board the Silla, with a prize officer, ray mate and five men having been taken from said brig, and a prize crew, consisting of eight men, two officers, and two marines, placed on" board. I was placed in> close confinement, guarded strictly day and night, and so until I arrived in Boston on the 13bh instant. Yesterday, the 14th, was taken on shore by the United States Marshal, and examined conceraing rriy voyage, owners, and cargo, likewise one of my passengers, Mr. Hewetson, aod then liberated, with orders hot to return on boa:.u that evening. I then went to her Majesty's consul, and entered this my protest, claiming protection from my Government, insomuch that I was prosecuting a lawful voyage, and %vas illegally seized in waters I. presume to be British, namely, within four miles of the Bahama Islands (British coast). And I further call attention to the fact, that had my destination been the coast ot the United States, as alleged by my captors, I was not in the track that would lead me thither, and that the whole proceeding is one of gross violence toward myself and vessel. Charles Applebee. The above having been read over to me, I swear to the. truth thereof.—B. D. Hewetson, passenger on board. Before uie. Francis Loksada,. H.B.M. Consul, Mass, and Ji.T." The statement oi; a passenger on board the Silla when captured, and who arrived at Liverpool on Saturday per Scotia, confirms the above in every particular. He is a shipmaster, and qualified to give a reliable opinion. He states the vessel to have been within three miles of the Ahaco Light; and that he distinctly saw men on the rock below ihe light, and that, in his opinion, the vessel was in British waters.