US SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

A merchant ship, the property of subjects of the King of Great Britain, was captured on the high seas by a French squadron, a prize master and crew put on board of her, and she remained in company with the captors upwards of twenty-four hours, when she was left by the prize master and the crew, frequent ineffectual attempts having been made to set her on fire. She was found, deserted and abandoned, by an American vessel bound on a European voyage, and by the mate and part of the crew brought into Boston. A claim was made to her by the British consul for the original owners and by the French consul for the captors. Salvage, amounting to one-third of the gross proceeds of the sales of the ship and cargo, was decreed to the owners, master, and crew of the American ship, and the residue of the proceeds was ordered to be paid to the French Republic or those concerned in the capture.

This was a writ of error to remove the proceedings and decree from the Circuit Court for the District of Massachusetts, and, the record being returned, exhibited the following facts: