[120] *Mr. McCulloch, collector, to Lieutenant Marshall.
Collector’s Office, May 8, 1819.
Sir: Please to get the cutter instantly ready if practicable, and proceed down the bay in search of an armed brig called the Irresistible, of South America. Endeavor to secure her and as many of the crew as practicable, she having been, as reported, piratically carried off and her officers left behind or put out of her afterward. If any difficulty appears from a spirit of resistance, apply to the United States armed vessels for assistance or to the officers of the land forces and militia, at any point most expedient.
You will remember the usual directions to prevent the landing of goods or putting them on board other vessels, and to immediately seize them wherever found.
Inclosed is a blank search-warrant for use, if goods are landed, and in any house, to obtain which you must go before a magistrate and make oath of your information, and then enter no house but in the day-time, without leave of the owner, of which consent some of your own men or disinterested neighbors should be witness.
In haste, &c.,
- JAMES H. McCULLOCH.
- Lieutenant John Marshall.