Concerning Shipping and Trade
New England, with its many rivers and indented coastline, until recent years, has been a breeding place for sailors and a location for shipbuilding. During the first century following the settlement, the larger part of the population lived near the coast, and as roads between towns were poor, it naturally followed that craft of small tonnage were constantly employed for transport on the ocean and the navigable rivers, and as no extent of rich soil was found awaiting cultivation, many settlers, of necessity, turned to fishing and to trade. A ship carpenter was brought over to Plymouth, in 1624, who "quickly builte them 2 very good and strong shalops ... and a great and strong lighter, and had ... timber for 2 catches" framed when he fell sick of a fever and soon died.[44] These shallops were used in opening a fur trade among the Indians on the Kennebec River that eventually discharged the indebtedness of the Pilgrims to the London adventurers.
Six shipwrights were sent over by the Company of the Massachusetts Bay, in the spring of 1629, together with a considerable stock of ship stores, such as pitch, tar, cordage and sail cloth.[45] Doubtless these men were employed at the outset in housing the settlers and in building small fishing boats, as the first vessel of any size in the Bay, of which there is record, is Governor Winthrop's trading bark, The Blessing of the Bay, of thirty tons, built mainly of locust, which went to sea, August 31, 1631, on a voyage to the eastward and afterwards traded with the Dutch at New Amsterdam.[46]
In January, 1633, Emanuel Downing wrote to the Council for New England that he had made enquiries of Mr. Winthrop respecting the ship carpenters employed in New England and found that the plantation was able to build ships of any burden. Their most competent shipwright was William Stephens, who had built in England, the Royal Merchant, a ship of six hundred tons.
The General Court, in 1639, exempted ship carpenters and fishermen (during the fishing season) from compulsory military training.[47] Two years later the Court was informed that some shipwrights were scanting their work and an order was adopted providing for a survey of all ship construction as was usual in England at that time.[48]
The coasting trade led to the building of small shallops and sloops and the need for firewood in Boston and Charlestown brought about the building of sloops, broad of beam, intended especially for that trade. Fishing craft and wood sloops were soon being built all along the coast. As early as 1634, one merchant in Marblehead owned eight fishing craft, and Portsmouth, N. H., had six great shallops, five fishing boats, with sails and anchors, and thirteen skiffs, in the trade as early as 1635. Richard Hollingsworth, in 1637, had a shipyard at Salem Neck and in 1641, built "a prodigious ship of 300 Tons."
The number of New England vessels used in foreign trading during the seventeenth century was considerable and the mainstay of the trade was the fishing business. Off-shore fishing in the early days was carried on in shallops—capacious, open boats carrying several pairs of oars and also fitted with masts and sails. They were sometimes decked over, in whole or in part, and usually carried one mast with a lug sail. Many of these small craft were built in the winter time by the fishermen and their sons, as a fisherman is always more or less of a boatbuilder by virtue of his calling. The lumber for the boat would be cut in the common woods and got out, a little at a time, and the boat when built would actually cost its owner little more than the outlay for certain necessary fittings. These boats might be framed-in anywhere—on the beach in front of the fisherman's cottage; in his dooryard or in the woods, some distance from the shore, to which the hull would be dragged by oxen, on sledges of timber. The first vessels sent to "the banks," from Massachusetts, for deep-water fishing, were "a ship and other vessels," rig unknown.[49] That was in 1645.
By 1665 there were three hundred New England vessels trading with Barbadoes, Virginia, Madeira, Acadia, etc., and 1,300 smaller craft were fishing at Cape Sable. Cod and mackerel were caught and salted. The best fish were sent to Malaga and the Canaries, the second sort to the Portugal Islands, and the worst to the Barbadoes there to be used in the diet of the negro slaves. At that time, the principal commodities produced in the Massachusetts Bay were fish and pipe-staves, masts, fir-boards, pitch, tar, pork, beef, and horses and corn which were sent to Virginia, Barbadoes, &c. Tobacco and sugar were taken in payment and shipped to England. Excellent masts were shipped from the Piscataqua River, and many pipe-staves. There were more than twenty sawmills located on that river and "much good timber was spoilt," reported an agent of Lord Arlington, the Secretary of State.[50] New England masts, 33 to 35 inches in diameter, at that time cost the Navy Commissioners from £95 to £115 per mast. The agent also reported that Boston, the chief town, was "built on a peninsula in the bottom of a bay, which is a good harbour and full of fish. The houses are generally wooden, the streets crooked, and neither days, months, seasons, churches, nor inns are known by their English names."
During the middle years of the seventeenth century the waters of the West Indies were covered with privateers commissioned to prey upon Spanish commerce. Not only did the home government issue these commissions but every Colonial governor as well, and not infrequently it was difficult to separate privateering from piracy. John Quelch, who was hanged in Boston for piracy, in 1704, preyed upon Portuguese commerce as he supposed in safety and not until he returned to Marblehead did he learn of the treaty of peace that made him a pirate. In 1653, Thomas Harding captured a rich prize sailing from Barbadoes and in consequence was tried in Boston for piracy, but saved his neck when he was able to prove that the vessel was Dutch and not Spanish.
The town of Newport, R. I., frequently profited from the visits of known pirates, as in 1688, when Peterson, in a "barkalonga" of ten guns and seventy men, refitted at Newport and no bill could be obtained against him from the grand jury, as they were neighbors and friends of many of the men on board. Two Salem ketches also traded with him and a master of one brought into "Martin's Vineyard," a prize that Peterson, "the pirate, had taken in the West Indies."[51] Andrew Belcher, a well-known Boston merchant, and master of the ship Swan, paid Peterson £57, in money and provisions, for hides and elephants' teeth, taken from his plunder.
The ill-defined connection between privateering and piracy was fully recognized in those days and characterized publicly by the clergy. In 1704 when Rev. Cotton Mather preached his "Brief Discourse occasioned by a Tragical Spectacle in a Number of Miserables under Sentence of Death for Piracy," he remarked that "the Privateering Stroke so easily degenerates into the Piratical; and the Privateering Trade is usually carried on with an Unchristian Temper, and proves an Inlet unto so much Debauchery and Iniquity."
Another strong influence that led to insecurity on the high seas and eventually to outright piracy was the operation of the English Navigation Acts. European nations were in agreement that the possession of colonies meant the exclusive control of their trade and manufactures.
In 1696, Col. Charles Lidgett, a New England merchant, in "Some Considerations Offered to the Board of Trade," wrote that "all the American Colonies are generally esteemed according to the Conveniency and benefit they bring to England, their Mother."[52] Lord Chatham wrote, "The British Colonists in North America have no right to manufacture so much as a nail for a horse shoe," and Lord Sheffield went further and said, "The only use of American Colonies, is the monopoly of their consumption, and the carriage of their produce."[53]
English merchants naturally wished to sell at high prices and to buy colonial raw materials as low as possible and as they were unable to provide a market for all that was produced, the Colonies were at a disadvantage in both buying and selling. By the Acts of Navigation certain "enumerated articles" could be marketed only in England. Lumber, salt provisions, grain, rum and other non-enumerated articles might be sold within certain limits but must be transported in English or plantation-built vessels of which the owners and three-fourths of the mariners were British subjects. Freight rates also advanced, as other nations, notably the Dutch, had previously enjoyed a good share of the carrying trade.
The first Navigation Act was passed in 1645. It was renewed and its provisions enlarged in 1651, 1660, 1663 and later. Before long it was found that these attempts to monopolize the colonial markets resulted in a natural resistance and smuggling began and also an extensive trade with privateers and pirates who brought into all the smaller ports of New England captured merchandise that was sold at prices below the usual market values. Matters went from bad to worse and servants of the Crown frequently combined with the colonists to evade the obnoxious laws. Even the Royal Governors connived at what was going on. This was particularly true in the Colonies south of New England.
There were pirates and pirates. Some were letters-of-marque and illegitimate traders and enjoyed the protection of merchants and officials on shore, while others were outlaws. In 1690, Governor Bradstreet of the Massachusetts Colony was complaining of the great damage done to shipping by "French Privateers and Pirates," and four years later, Frontenac, the Governor of Canada, was asking for a frigate to cruise about the St. Lawrence against the New England "corsaires and filibusters." There is no doubt these French privateers were a considerable menace to New England shipping and that there was need for privately armed vessels to protect the coast, a task not easy or desirable; so why should one scrutinize too closely semi-piratical captures made by so useful friends?
The profits of piracy and the irregular trade practiced at that time were large, and twenty-nine hundred per cent profit in illicit trade was not unusual, so there is little wonder that adventurous men took chances and honest letters-of-marque sometimes seized upon whatever crossed their course. The pirate, the privateer and the armed merchantman often blended the one into the other.[54]
Edward Randolph landed in Boston on June 10, 1676, and during the next week the following vessels arrived: "a Bostoner, 100 tons, Clutterbuck, master, from Nantes, laden with 50 butts of brandy and French commodities; a pink, of Boston, from France, of 70 tons, with 12 tun of brandy, wine, etc.; a Scotsman, 130 tons, from the Canaries, with 80 pipes of Canary; a Bostoner, 80 tons, from the Canaries, with 50 pipes of Canary, and a ketch of Southampton, from Canary, with wine."[55] He reported to Secretary Coventry that the fishermen had made good voyages notwithstanding the war with the Indians. He estimated that the fish exported amounted to about £50,000 yearly with profitable returns in barter on masts and timber for shipping sent to Barbadoes and other of the Carib Islands. The Bay of Campeachy supplied about 1,000 tons of logwood annually. The maritime towns were well stored with sailors, fishermen and carpenters, and yearly several ships of good burthen were built, besides ketches and barques. In 1676 thirty vessels had been ordered set on the stocks by merchants in England, but the Indian War had prevented building the full number. However, twelve were in process of construction at Boston, Charlestown, Salisbury and other places, some of which were upwards of 160 tons burthen.
In October he wrote that there were about thirty merchants in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine estimated worth from £10,000 to £20,000. Local commodities consisted of naval stores, cattle and provisions, exported to Virginia, Maryland and the West Indies—(to the latter were also sent "houses ready framed"), to Spain, Portugal, the Straits and England. Tobacco, sugar, indigo, cotton, wool, ginger, logwood, fustic, cocoa and rum were imported and again exported. "They trade with most parts of Europe from which they import direct all kinds of merchandise, so that little is left for English merchants to import," wrote Randolph. "Some ships have been sent to Guinea, Madagascar, etc., and some to Scanderoon; there are built in the Colony, 730 ships varying from 6 to 250 tons, by thirty master shipbuilders." Duties were imposed on provisions and wines imported, and on ships, but there was no custom on exports, except on horses.[56]
In April, 1675, William Harris wrote from Boston that "The merchants seem to be rich men, and their houses [are] as handsomely furnished as most in London. In exchange of fish, pipe-staves, wool and tobacco, they have from Spain, Portugal, and the islands, the commodities of those islands; their wool they carry to France and bring thence linen; to England they bring beaver, moose, and deer skins, sugar and logwood, and carry hence cloth and ironwares; to Barbadoes, in exchange for horses, beef, pork, butter, cheese, flour, peas, biscuit, they have sugar and indigo; when they trade with Jamaica; as they do sometimes, they bring home pieces of eight, plate, and pigs of silver.... As to cloth, there are made here Linsey woolseys, and other of cotton and wool, and some all sheep's wool, but the better sort of linen is brought from England; they have many woolcombers, and some make tammeys, but for their private use. Salt they get from Tortudas, not far from Barbadoes. It is sold at 10s. the hogshead, and is clear and white as alum, very sharp and much stronger than ordinary bay salt."[57]
Governor Simon Bradstreet wrote in 1680, in answer to an enquiry from the Lords of the Privy Council: "There may bee near twenty English merchants within our Government bred up to that calling, and neere as many others that do trade and merchandize more or less; but Foreign merchants of other Nations Wee have none ... there are two or three [merchants] in our Corporation that may bee worth sixteen or eighteen thousand pound a piece, some few others worth eight or ten Thousand pounds a piece, a third sort worth four or five thousand pounds a piece.... Hee is accounted a rich man in the Country that is worth one thousand or Fifteen hundred pounds. There are about one hundred or one hundred and twenty Ships, Sloopes, Katches and other Vessells that trade to and from hence yearly of our own or English built, most of them belonging to the Colony, wee have eight or ten ships of one hundred tons or upwards, three or four of two hundred tons or more, and about Forty or Fifty Fishing Katches of betwixt twenty and Forty tons; Six or eight English ships do usually come hither yearly belonging to the Kingdom of England, bringing commodities of all sorts from thence.
"The obstructions wee [encounter] within our trade are the generall decay of any profitable trade in the places wee mostly trade unto. Vizt. to all his Majesties plantations in America, where wee send our horses, beasts, timber, provisions, mackeril, fish, etc. For the commodities of those places which are spent here or transported into England wee finde those markets many times so overlaid and clogged with the like comoditys from England, Ireland and other places, that many of our commodities are sold at cheaper rates many times then they were worth at home. 2dly The Algeir men of warr infesting the seas in Europe have taken some of our Ships and men which is a discouragement to our trade and Navigation. 3dly the French at Nova Scotia or Acadia (as they call it) do interrupt our Fishers in those parts and Sr. Edmond Andros, Governor of New-Yorke for his highness the Duke of Yorke, doth the like betwixt the French and Pemaquid requiring duty to bee paid to them by all our Vessells that fish in those Seas, otherwise threatening to make prizes of them, which hath been alwaies Formerly free For his Majesties Subjects for Fishing ever since wee came hither. The double custom which our merchants pay for Sugar, Indigo, Cotton Wool, Tobacco, etc. First at the places from whence they fetch these commodities, the greatest part whereof is transported from hence to England, where they pay the full custome again.
"Wee impose no rates or dutys upon Goods exported they being generally the produce of the Country got with hard labour and sold at low prices ... and but one penny pr pound upon Goods imported, when they come into the Merchant's hands, which is the taxe wee have set upon houses, Lands, cattle and other estate of the Country yearly."[58]
By this time the Colonists were all comfortably housed according to the standards of the period and were producing all the foodstuffs needed and more. Wines and spirit were imported in considerable quantity to give variety to the native beer and cider. Much butter and cheese were brought from abroad and also luxuries such as spices, chocolate, raisins of the sun, almonds, figs, oranges, etc. Our English ancestors were gross eaters and drinkers. Mulled and spiced wines were drunk in the absence of tea and coffee, and highly-seasoned dishes were popular. The absence of a variety of root-crops made it necessary to pickle meat and pepper and spice were used to a considerable extent. There was a very comfortable and varied diet among the merchant and governing class but the farmers and common people lived much on salt pork, beans, fish and boiled foods. As for clothing—home industry, of course, provided a certain amount but as yet the loom was not in common use. Between 1665 and 1675 over three hundred estates were settled in Essex County, Massachusetts, with only nine looms listed in the inventories. Eighty-three of these homes, however, possessed spinning wheels—cotton, linen and wool—for every good wife and child could knit stockings, mittens and tippets. Among those who died during this ten years were two tailors, five shoemakers, a cloth worker and eight weavers.[59]
Much clothing was brought from overseas, particularly for the town dwellers. John Hull, the mintmaster, records in his diary in June, 1657, that three ships arrived from London bringing supplies of clothing, "for, as yet," he writes, "our chief supply, in respect of clothes, is from England." He owned a number of vessels and his little ketches were constantly on the go between Boston and the Barbadoes and thence to Bilboa, London or Bristol. He shipped salted fish, logwood, tobacco, furs and plantation products and received iron in bars, salt, wines and fruits from Spain, while from England came dress goods, lead, shot, etc. His serges he wanted "sad coloured," none above 42 shillings, nor under 30 shillings. He also instructed one of his captains to load "dowlass and good nowell convass [which was used for sails], Dutch duffalls, red penystones and flanils, no such scalet cloth as you brought me before." He looked askance at calicoes. Another time he called for duffalls, white, striped or blue, with red and blue stockings, none above 16 shillings and under if possible. He wanted no "kersey" that cost above 46 pence per yard and the black stuff, either of "hair or wosted," must be cheap.
A cousin once advised him to ship a cargo of pipe-staves, hoops and fish to the Canaries, but he declined the venture and wrote in reply that he "would more and more affect and imbrace opportunity of getting out rather than running into the businesses of this world Speacially forraigne trafficque as desirous to be more thoghtfull of Lanching into that vast ocian of Eternity whither we must all shortly bee carried yt soe I might bee in a prepared posture for my Lord's Comeing."[60]
His sea captains were carefully instructed "to see to the worship of God every day in the vessel and to the santification of the Lord's day and suppression of all prophaness that the Lord may delight to be with you and his blessing be upon you which is the hearty prayer of youre frind and ownr." The sailors were not all to this way of thinking, however, but Mintmaster Hull rode with the ruling party which saw to it that the Quarterly Courts were kept busy measuring out the metes and bounds. In the journal of the voyage over kept by the Reverend Higginson in 1629, he records a visitation of avenging Providence; a just retribution inflicted upon the ungodly. He writes, "this day a notorious wicked fellow yt was given to swearing and boasting of his former wickednes and mocked at ye daies of fast, railing & jesting agt puritans, this fellow fell sicke of ye [small] pocks and dyed."
It is interesting to discover at how early a date it was possible to purchase in the shops in New England, the manufactured products of Old England. It is known that George Corwin set up a shop in Salem, for the sale of fabrics and hardware, as early as 1651, or only twenty-five years after the first immigration. His shop was well stocked and at the outset he was selling such luxuries as children's toys. Undoubtedly stocks of manufactured goods were on sale in the Colony years before this time. In the matter of house hardware Corwin sold a considerable variety of locks. He carried stock locks of several sizes, spring locks with screws, single and double chest locks, warded outside chest locks, outside box locks, plain cupboard locks and small and large padlocks—by no means a poor assortment for a small shop tucked into a corner in the American wilderness.
This shop, a few years later, was supplying the town with such articles as combs, white haft knives, barbers' scissors, flour boxes, carving tools, carpenter's tools of all kinds, door latches, curry combs and brushes for horses, and a great variety of earthen and woodenware. Its shelves held broadcloth, red cloth rash, perpetuana, red cotton, sad colored rugs, green rugs, green Tammy, blue calico, crape, curley duroy, prunella, silk barronet, peniston, Persian silk, worsted faradeen, camblet, St. Peter's canvas, hall cloth, vittery, blue linen, noyles, together with a great variety of hose, stomachers, ribbons, tape, fileting, silk and gimp laces, needles, pins, thread, buttons, etc., etc.[61]
The invoice of an importation made into Boston in 1690, contains such items as brass curtain rings, dressing glasses, square monument candlesticks, iron spring candlesticks, brass extinguishers and save-alls, tin lanterns, pocket nutmeg graters, bread graters, wooden rat traps with springs and a great variety of woodenware. It seems strange that New England should import from across seas wooden plates and bowls, yet here they are:
9 doz. best Maple Trenchers @ 30/ per dozen
1 doz. Porridge Dishes at 11/4.
Here also are carved spoons, beer taps, hair sieves, sucking bottles and milk trays.[62]
From the returns of outward and inward entries at the Colonial ports, the records of which are now preserved in the Public Record Office in London, much may be learned concerning early shipping and trade in the Massachusetts Bay. Let us take, for example, the last six months in the year 1714, covering the outward entries of shipping at the port of Boston. During that time there were 236 clearances not including, of course, fishermen and coasting craft. The rig is not stated in the first part of the register but between Sept. 21st and December 31st there were cleared 49 ships, 18 brigantines, 64 sloops, two barques, one snow, one pink, and a "ship or snow" of 40 tons. Not a schooner is mentioned. The largest ship measured 210 tons and the smallest was the Grayhound of London, a British-built vessel of 33 tons, carrying a crew of five men and a cargo of dyewood, turpentine, whale oil, barrel staves and sugar. With the exception of five ships hailing from London, every vessel cleared was "plantation built," that is, it had been built in one of the American colonies. Of the 236 entries, 147 of the vessels hailed from Boston; 18 were owned in London; six in Bristol; four came from the West Indies; and the rest hailed from New York, Virginia, Maryland, and other colonies. Most of them were small craft averaging from thirty to sixty tons burthen.[63]
The Hopewell, of North Carolina, five tons, and a crew of two men, was loaded with rum and salt.
The Swallow, of Boston, 20 tons, and three men, sailed for Annapolis Royal with a cargo of tobacco, pitch, molasses, rum, pork, and English goods for the garrison.
The sloop Success, owned in New York, 20 tons, with four men, sailed for home carrying four hhds. rum, pewter ware, a cart, chairs, boxes, etc.
The sloop Pelican of Boston, 25 tons, with four men, sailed for Virginia, loaded with 42 bbls. salt, three hhds. rum, iron pots, etc.
The sloop Sea Flower of Boston, 40 tons, with six men, entered out, the 3d day of November, carrying bread, butter, beer, onions, and peas for the logwood cutters in the Bay of Campeachy.
The brigantine William and Susanna, owned in Salem, 40 tons, and eight men, sailed for Virginia, carrying rum, lime juice, salt, earthen ware, etc.
The sloop Branch of Boston, 50 tons, with six men, sailed for South Carolina, carrying rum, blubber, onions, etc.
The brigantine Speedwell of Boston, 60 tons, with seven men, cleared for Surinam, carrying 10 pipes of wine and twenty horses.
The ship Brunswick of Boston, 65 tons, two guns and ten men, sailed for Barbadoes, carrying 37 hhds. fish, 50 boxes candles, and 15 boxes of soap.
The ship Mary Ann of London, 80 tons, with four guns and ten men, entered out, bound for Lisbon, carrying 240 quintals of salted fish, "which is the whole cargo," states the register.
The ship Bedmunster of Bristol, 100 tons, with ten men, returned home with 18½ tons of logwood, 507 bbls. tar, 307 bbls. pitch, 7 bbls. whale oil, and 40½ bbls. cranberries.
The ship Amity of London, 130 tons, six guns and fourteen men, returned with a cargo of 20 hhds. sugar, 5 bags of cotton, 168 tons, 9 cwt. 1 qr. and 14 lbs. logwood, 10 bbls. pitch, pimento, wines, furs and staves.
The largest ship to clear was the Sophia of Boston, 310 tons, built in New Hampshire, armed with 18 guns and carrying a crew of twenty men. She sailed for Barbadoes carrying fish, corn, candles and lumber.
Among the more unusual articles of merchandise enumerated in the cargo lists are "2 cases of returned pictures," shipped to London; pots and frying pans, to Maryland; apples, cider, Indian meal, and six sheep, shipped to Newfoundland; 230 barrels of cider shipped to Philadelphia; and rum, cider, iron and brass, saddles and bridles, etc. to North Carolina. Bricks, shingles, iron and woodenware, hops, pickled sturgeon, beeswax, rice, furs, washed leather, linens and calicoes are mentioned.
The West India trade called for lumber, horses, rum, food, and luxuries; and supplied sugar and molasses. Salt fish and pickled sturgeon were sent to Spain, Portugal and the Western Islands—Roman Catholic countries. The important dyewood trade in the Bay of Campeachy required foodstuffs; and the coasting trade with the Southern colonies called for manufactured goods of all sorts and supplied in return tobacco, pitch, turpentine and tar, which were used in the New England shipyards and also reshipped to England. The fisheries in Newfoundland called for foodstuffs and London and Bristol supplied markets for dyewoods, naval stores, furs, whale oil, sugar, manufactured lumber, and wines brought from Portugal and the Western Islands.
During the months of April, May and June, in the year 1717, there were twenty-seven inward entries at the Salem customhouse. All but three were plantation built. Seventeen were owned in Salem; two hailed from London; two from Liverpool, and one from Bristol. There were eight ships, four brigantines, twelve sloops and three schooners. The first of these schooners to enter was the schooner Fisher, 30 tons, Timothy Orne, master, registered at the Salem customhouse, Oct. 27, 1715. This is the earliest authentic record of a schooner I have ever found. Those vessels having the largest tonnage were the ship Patience and Judith, 100 tons, owned in London, England, and carrying six guns and a crew of fourteen men, entering from the Isle of May, with a cargo of 140 tons of salt; and, second, the ship Friendship, Capt. Samuel Crow, 100 tons, owned in Salem, carrying two guns and a crew of ten men, also entering from the Isle of May with 90 tons of salt. Ten out of the twenty-seven entries brought in salt for the Salem fisheries. Rum and lignumvitae wood came from the West Indies, and wheat, corn, beans, flour, flax, hides, pork and lard came from Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina. The ships from English ports brought European goods.
During the last three months of 1754, eighty-seven vessels cleared outward at the Salem customhouse and sixty-eight were schooners. The largest tonnage was the snow Aurora of Salem, 130 tons, built at Newbury that year, sailing for Liverpool with a cargo of 15,000 staves and 40 tons of pine timber. Of the ten European clearances, seven were for Bilboa, with salted fish; thirty-three cleared for ports in the West Indies; forty for southern colonies; and two for Newfoundland. The principal cargoes were salted fish, manufactured lumber, rum, sugar, molasses, salt, horses, sheep, and salted meats. Nearly all clearing for Maryland, Virginia and the Carolinas carried cargoes of wooden, earthen and iron wares, probably manufactured in Salem or its immediate vicinity. Twenty-six thousand bricks were shipped to the West Indies and 20 bales of hay to South Carolina. The two schooners clearing for Halifax were loaded with "dead meat," probably intended for the garrison.
During the first three months of the year 1762, fifty-three vessels cleared from Salem, bound for foreign ports and the southern colonies; thirty-four were schooners. The largest vessel was the ship Antelope, 150 tons, a prize, registered at Salem in 1761 and owned by Richard Derby. She cleared for Guadaloupe with lumber, fish, train oil, and Fyall wines. There were nineteen clearances for Guadaloupe during those three winter months. Listed with the staples were the following curious items, viz.: 7½ tons prize soap, illegally imported, shipped to Guadaloupe; and 12,000 feet of oars, shipped to St. Christophers. There is a surprising diversity of ownership among these fifty-three vessels. No large shipowner had a considerable interest. Richard Derby of Salem owned three vessels; Robert Hooper of Marblehead, two; Jeremiah Lee of Marblehead, two; Nathaniel Ellery of Gloucester, owned two and the rest were owned by men who cleared only one vessel.
The ships, that plied between English and American ports, at more or less regular intervals during the eighteenth century, not only brought an exchange of merchandise, but also carried passengers. Officials connected with the government—the customs service and the military establishment, with a sprinkling of clergymen and scholars, were crossing on nearly every ship and the New England merchant sailing to London to buy a new stock of goods for his shop and the Englishman who came to the colonies bringing adventures of goods in great variety, all helped to maintain the service. In the year 1737, the Boston newspapers mention by name eighteen persons who had arrived by ship or were about departing. On January 31st, John Banister, late in business with his uncle Samuel Banister, at Marblehead, advertised in the Gazette that he designed speedily to embark for Great Britain and requested a settlement of all accounts. John Jeykill, the collector of the Port of Boston, arrived from London, April 18th, in Captain Shepardson; early in May, Thomas Phillips of Boston, merchant, advertised that he would sell his household furniture by vendue, as he intended speedily for London, and a week later Major Martin and family arrived from Antequa, in the West Indies. He proposed to reside in Boston for a few years. Toward the last of the month, the Lieutenant-Governor of New Hampshire sailed from Portsmouth, bound for England, and about the middle of June, the Rev. Doctor McSparrow and lady arrived in Boston. As late in the year as December 20th, Edmund Quincy, Esq., the agent of the Province at the Court of Great Britain, was sailing for London, in Captain Homans, with several other unnamed gentlemen.
Very little is known at the present time concerning the intimate details of life on board ship in the early times and especially as to the accommodations provided for passengers. On the vessels that brought over emigrants in any number, the living conditions must have been well-nigh intolerable because of crowding many people into limited space and also by reason of a meagre equipment and lack of necessary conveniences. During the period of the German emigration and that from northern Ireland in the mid-eighteenth century, there was frequently a high mortality during the voyage and sometimes, when it was of unusual length, the supply of food and water ran short and there was terrible suffering. Doubtless some attempt was made to separate the sexes and the families but from time to time cases are found in the court records in which depositions or testimony clearly show that living conditions on board ship in the early days were decidedly of a miscellaneous character.
It isn't necessary to delve into the very remote past in order to discover casual social relations between the sexes on board ship. In 1888, I went the length of Cape Breton and while sailing up the Bras d'Or lakes on the steamer that plied regularly during the summer, I came on deck early one morning to see the sun rise and then began an exploration of the boat. On the lower deck I suddenly came upon some twenty or more barefooted and half-clothed men and women lying in a long row, side by side, stretched out on mattresses placed on the deck. They were probably waitresses, cooks, stewards, and the like, but may have been second-class passengers. However that may be, they were unconscious of the presence of any passer-by and slept quietly together like so many puppies.
In the olden time it is known that in the more regular passenger service the main cabin was parted off at night by means of curtains. Small cabins or staterooms were also built and especially on the larger ships. It is impossible to imagine that it could be otherwise, when the official station or wealth of the passenger is considered.
The captain's cabin had its steward and there the food and service were undoubtedly better than that provided forward where all slept in canvas hammocks slung from hooks in the deck timbers overhead, or lay upon pallet beds on the deck. Here they served themselves from the ship's galley. The foul odors below deck and the unsanitary conditions are part of the lore of the sea. "Ship feaver" was well known to all physicians practicing in seaport towns. In those days the cooking was done in an open fireplace. So, too, on shipboard there was provided an open "hearth" made of cast iron and weighing from four to eight hundred pounds. This was fastened to the deck and its "chimney" was screened by a "smoke sail." A smaller "hearth" was in the captain's cabin and supplied all the heat below. It must have been bitterly cold on board ship during a winter crossing. The coals in these "hearths" were a menace to safety and required constant attention.
A communication printed in the Boston News-Letter describes an escape from fire on board one of these English packets. The writer, a good New England puritan, first declares his suspicion that a certain military gentleman, a fellow passenger from Boston, had brought on board a fair lady who was not his wife. The couple occupied a small cabin, partitioned off from the main cabin, which had a curtained window looking into it. There were other curtains about. As the Boston shopkeeper sat near the "hearth," musing over his suspicions, a sudden lurch of the vessel brought a carelessly placed curtain swinging into the coals on the "hearth" and in an instant it was aflame. The shopkeeper shouted "Fire! Fire!" which brought the major's inamorata to her cabin window and an instant later she rushed into the main cabin with a certain necessary receptacle in her hands. One splash and the worst was over. The charred curtain was soon torn from its fastenings and the fire stamped out on the cabin floor.
In 1760, Jacob Bailey, a native of Rowley, Mass., and a graduate of Harvard College, having prepared for the ministry and been licensed to preach, determined to obtain orders in the Church of England and so, through the intervention of friends, took passage from Boston for London in the ship Hind, carrying twenty guns, which sailed in company with six other vessels. Mr. Bailey kept a diary of the voyage and his description of the accommodations which the ship supplied, the life on board, and the men with whom he was brought in contact, is a surprisingly vivid picture of strange and uncouth conditions attending passenger service to England in the mid-eighteenth century. The ship lay at anchor in the harbor and Mr. Bailey went out to her in a small boat.
"The wind was blowing strong, and it was some time before we could get on board ship. At length, with difficulty, I clambered up the side and found myself in the midst of a most horrid confusion. The deck was crowded full of men, and the boatswain's shrill whistle, with the swearing and hallooing of the petty officers, almost stunned my ears. I could find no retreat from this dismal hubbub, but was obliged to continue jostling among the crowd above an hour before I could find anybody at leisure to direct me. At last, Mr. Letterman, the Captain's steward, an honest Prussian, perceiving my disorder, introduced me through the steerage to the lieutenant. I found him sitting in the great cabin. He appeared to be a young man, scarce twenty years of age, and had in his countenance some indications of mildness. Upon my entrance he assumed a most important look and with a big voice demanded to know my request. I informed him that I was a passenger on board the Hind, by permission of Capt. Bond, and desired that he would be civil enough to direct me to the place of my destination. He replied in this laconic style: 'Sir, I will take care to speak to one of my mates.' This was all the notice, at present. But happily, on my return from the cabin, I found my chest and bedding carefully stowed away in the steerage. In the meantime the ship was unmoored and we fell gently down to Nantasket....
"I observed a young gentleman walking at a distance, with a pensive air in his countenance. Coming near him, in a courteous manner he invited me down between decks to a place he called his berth. I thanked him for his kindness and readily followed him down a ladder into a dark and dismal region, where the fumes of pitch, bilge water, and other kinds of nastiness almost suffocated me in a minute. We had not proceeded far before we entered a small apartment, hung round with damp and greasy canvas, which made, on every hand, a most gloomy and frightful appearance. In the middle stood a table of pine, varnished over with nasty slime, furnished with a bottle of rum and an old tin mug with a hundred and fifty bruises and several holes, through which the liquor poured in as many streams. This was quickly filled with toddy and as speedily emptied by two or three companions who presently joined us in this doleful retreat. Not all the scenes of horror about us could afford me much dismay till I received the news that this detestable apartment was allotted by the captain to be the place of my habitation during the voyage!
"Our company continually increased, when the most shocking oaths and curses resounded from every corner, some loading their neighbors with bitter execrations, while others uttered imprecations too awful to be recorded. The persons present were: first, the captain's clerk, the young fellow who gave me the invitation. I found him a person of considerable reading and observation who had fled his native country on account of a young lady to whom he was engaged. Second, was one John Tuzz, a midshipman and one of my messmates, a good-natured, honest fellow, apt to blunder in his conversation and given to extravagant profaneness. Third, one Butler, a minister's son, who lived near Worcester, in England. He was a descendant from Butler, the author of Hudibras, and appeared to be a man of fine sense and considerable breeding, yet, upon occasion, was extremely profane and immodest, yet nobody seemed a greater admirer of delicacy in women than himself. My fourth companion was one Spear, one of the mates, a most obliging ingenious young gentleman, who was most tender of me in my cruel sickness. Fifth: one of our company this evening was the carpenter of the ship who looked like a country farmer, drank excessively, swore roundly, and talked extravagantly. Sixth: was one Shephard, an Irish midshipman, the greatest champion of profaneness that ever fell under my notice. I scarce ever knew him to open his mouth without roaring out a tumultuous volley of stormy oaths and imprecations. After we had passed away an hour or two together, Mr. Lisle, the lieutenant of marines, joined our company. He was about fifty years of age, of gigantic stature, and quickly distinguished himself by the quantities of liquor he poured down his throat. He also was very profane.
"About nine o'clock the company began to think of supper, when a boy was called into the room. Nothing in human shape did I ever see before so loathsome and nasty. He had on his body a fragment only of a check shirt, his bosom was all naked and greasy, over his shoulders hung a bundle of woolen rags which reached in strings almost down to his feet, and the whole composition was curiously adorned with little shining animals. The boy no sooner made his appearance than one of our society accosted him in this gentle language. 'Go you —— rascal, and see whether lobscouse is ready.' Upon this the fellow began to mutter and scratch his head, but after two or three hearty curses, went for the galley and presently returned with an elegant dish which he placed on the table. It was a composition of beef and onions, bread and potatoes, minced and stewed together, then served up with its broth in a wooden tub, the half of a quarter cask. The table was furnished with two pewter plates, the half of one was melted away, and the other, full of holes, was more weather-beaten than the sides of the ship; one knife with a bone handle, one fork with a broken tine, half a metal spoon and another, taken at Quebec, with part of the bowl cut off. When supper was ended, the company continued their exercise of drinking, swearing and carousing, till half an hour after two, when some of these obliging gentlemen made a motion for my taking some repose. Accordingly, a row of greasy canvas bags, hanging overhead by the beams, were unlashed. Into one of them it was proposed that I should get, in order to sleep, but it was with the utmost difficulty I prevented myself from falling over on the other side....
"The next day, towards evening, several passengers came on board, viz: Mr. Barons, late Collector, Major Grant, Mr. Barons' footman, and Mrs. Cruthers, the purser's wife, a native of New England. After some considerable dispute, I had my lodgings fixed in Mr. Pearson's berth, where Master Robant, Mr. Baron's man, and I, agreed to lie together in one large hammock."[64]
Such were the accommodations of the petty officers' mess on board a twenty-gun ship of 1760 in the New England service.
In October, 1774, Miss Janet Schaw set sail from the Firth of Forth, Scotland, in the brig Jamaica Packet, of eighty tons burden, built in Massachusetts two years before. With her sailed a girl friend, two young nephews, her brother and her maid. They arrived on board in the evening and turned in at once. In Miss Schaw's journal of the voyage, now in the British Museum, we read:
"Our Bed chamber, which is dignified with the title of state room, [there were only two staterooms: the captain occupied the other] is about five foot wide and six long; on one side is a bed fitted up for Fanny and on the opposite side one for me. Poor Fanny's is so very narrow, that she is forced to be tied on, or as the Sea term is lashed in, to prevent her falling over. On the floor below us lies our Abigail. As she has the breadth of both our Beds and excellent Bedding, I think she has got a most envyable Berth, but this is far from her opinion, and she has done nothing but grumble about her accommodations." The two had been asleep about an hour when her brother came to the stateroom and let down "the half door" to enquire after their healths. His "Cott" swung from the ceiling of the cabin of the brig and the two boys slept on a mattress on the deck beneath the hammock. The hencoop was located on deck just over his head and in the morning the rooster and hens kept up such a pecking that it was impossible for him to sleep. The brig was making a northerly course in a heavy sea and Fanny and the maid were both seasick and lying flat on their backs in their five by six foot cubicle, dimensions probably somewhat underestimated by Miss Schaw, although later she records that "we sit in bed till we dress, and get into it whenever we begin to undress."
In the cabin, in which Schaw hung his "cott," was a small cast-iron stove and here, too, was the case containing the Captain's gin, which he frequently opened and the odor of which set their stomachs topsy-turvy and sent poor Fanny to her bed, and Schaw flying on deck for fresh air. This cabin was furnished with joint stools, chests, table, and even an elbow chair which Miss Schaw had lashed to a mooring near the fireside.
A few days after sailing the brig ran into a storm and the water finding its way into the cabin almost reached the beds in the stateroom—(which was located beside the companion stair)—forcing the maid to "peg in with the boys who could easily let her share with them." The gale also washed away most of their private store of provisions so they were forced to depend upon the ship's stores which consisted mainly of neck-beef, several barrels of New England pork, then on its third voyage across the Atlantic, oatmeal, stinking herrings and excellent potatoes. Lobscouse was a favorite dish made from salt beef that had been hung by a string over the side of the ship till tolerably fresh and then cut up in little pieces and stewed for some time with potatoes, onions and peppers. They also varied their diet by "chowder, scratch-platter and stir-about."[65]
Just forward of the cabin was the steerage filled with immigrants of all ages. Their beds were made up on the deck where they lay alongside of each other and in this low-studded space they existed when the hatches were battened down in stormy weather. "They have only for a grown person per week, one pound neck beef, or spoilt pork, two pounds oat meal, with a small quantity of bisket, not only mouldy, but absolutely crumbled down with damp, wet and rottenness. The half is only allowed a child, so that if they had not potatoes, it is impossible they could live out the voyage. They have no drink, but a very small proportion of brakish bad water."
It is quite plain that eighteenth-century trans-Atlantic voyaging was full of discomfort to the average traveler, and to the unfortunate in the steerage a fearful adventure.