ABSTRACT
The High Court of Admiralty documents printed relate to the suit of Arthur Michelson, executor of the dead captain's will, but it is not clear whether he is merely laying claim to the ownership of the Dog. A further suit in the court arose from the claim of Stephen Mansfield (or Mansford) to ownership of a part or the whole of the Black Dog. An evidence shows that the Black Dog of London left England in the Autumn of 1588 and reached the West Indies by May 1589. From Richard Hakluyt's mention of 'consorts' it is evident that the Dog was not alone in the West Indies, but was probably one of a fleet of English privateers. The aforesaide ship called the Dogge, of the burthen of three-score and ten tunnes was furnished, and armed forth with the number of fortie men: it departed from the coast of England in the moneth of May, directly for the West India.
