Charger Robert McNair and his son James were merchants involved in West Indies sugar trade. James traveled from Scotland to Barbados and Virginia on business. Robert McNair obtained an insurance policy from suspenders James Coulter and John Cross for cargo aboard the ship Jean, which was to carry James McNair and the goods from Barbados to Virginia. The cargo contained corn, pork, livestock, and other goods. The ship was lost near Bermuda on July 2, 1750, but James McNair and the crew survived. Coulter and Cross, suspenders, alleged that McNair overstated the value of the cargo on board. They also alleged that James McNair purposely wrecked the ship to fraudulently obtain the insurance proceeds.
Published Reports
William Morison, The Decisions of the Court of Session (1811), pg. 7106
Sir David Dalyrymple of Hailes, Decisions of the Lords of Council and Session, from 1766 to 1791 (1826), pg. 465
