April 30, 1776

On May 2, a British ship was auctioned off at the coffee house in Philadelphia. John Barry, commander of the Lexington, had captured the sloop Edward in early April. The ship had been “condemned in the Court of Admiralty,” and the sale included the ship’s cargo of “ammunition, tackle and furniture.”

However, there was also human cargo on the Edward. In September 1776, the judge of the court of admiralty issues a notice in Philadelphia newspapers regarding James and Joshua, two enslaved men “lately taken on board the prize sloop called the EDWARD.” The judge requested that “the owner or owners of the said slaves, or of either of them, may appear and shew cause, if any they have, why the same should not be condemned” and sold at public auction, as the ship itself had been.

The Pennsylvania Evening Post
Printed by Benjamin Towne

ON Thursday next the 2d of May, at twelve o’clock, at the Coffee-House, will be SOLD by public Vendue,
The Sloop EDWARD,
(condemned in the Court of Admiralty) with all her ammunition, tackle and furniture, agreeable to inventory.