City and Liberty
of Westminster
in the Country of
Middlesex } to wit

An Inquisition Indented, taken for our Sovereign Lord the
King, at the Parish of saint John the Evangelist
within the Liberty of the Dean and Chapter of the collegiate Church of St. Peter, Westminster ,
in the Country of Middlesex , the Fifth day of October in the Twelfth Year
of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord GEORGE the Third, by the Grace of God, of Great-Britain,
France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, and so forth, before Thomas Prickard< no role > . Gentleman ,
Coroner of our said Lord the King for the said City and Liberty, on view of the Body of
Robert Rapier< no role > then and there lying dead, upon the Oath of William
Davis< no role > , Charles kither< no role > , Benjamin Blader< no role > , George Mallard< no role > , Paul Wilson< no role > ,
Alexander Smell< no role > , William Griffiths< no role > , Henry Loader< no role > , William Franklin< no role > ,
Robert Clerk< no role > , John Tomkinson< no role > and John Phipps< no role > good and lawful men of the Liberty, duly
chosen, who being then and there duly sworn and charged to enquire for our said Lord the
King , when, how and by what Means the said Robert Rapier came to
h is Death, do upon their Oath say, that the said Robert Rapier on the First
day of October in the year aforesaid, being on Board a certain Vessel,
called a Fraggot Hoy, in the River Thames at Sibells Wharf in the Parish
aforesaid within the Liberty and County aforesaid, and then and
there going down out of the said Vessel into a certain Boat
floating upon the said River Thomas Belonging to and lying near
the side of the said vessel, it so happened that the said Robert Rapier
then and there slipped in his his feet, and there by accidentally casually
and by Misfortune fell into the said River Thames , and in the water's
thereof was then and there suffocated and Drowned, of which said
suffocation and Denning [..] he the said Roberts Rapier then and
there died. and so the Jurors aforesaid upon their oath aforesaid
do say, that the said Robert Rapier, in manner and by the Means
aforesaid accidentally casually and by Misfortune came to his Death,
and not otherwise, In Witness where of as well the said Coroner;
as the said William Davis< no role > Foreman of the said Jurors, on the behalf of
himself and the rest of his Fellows, in their Presence, have to this
Inquisition set their Hands and Seals, the Day year and place first
above wtitten.

Tho. Prickard< no role > [mark] Coroner

Wm. Davis< no role > [mark] Foreman.