The following list of the vessels owned or chartered by Hazen, Simonds and White in their business at St. John, A. D. 1764–1774, is probably as complete as at this distance of time it can be made:

Names of Vessels and Masters.

Schooner Wilmot,William Story.
“Polly, Jon. Leavitt, Jas. Stickney, Henry Brookings.
“Eunice, James Stickney.
“Betsy, Jonathan Leavitt.
“Seaflower, Benjamin Batchelder, Jonathan Leavitt.
“Sunbury, Jonathan Leavitt, Daniel Leavitt.
“Essex; Isaac Marble.
Sloop Bachelor,William Story.
“Peggy & Molly, Henry Brookings
“Merrimack, Jon. Leavitt, Samuel Perkins, Daniel Leavitt.
“St. John’s Paquet, Richard Bartelott, Hen. Brookings, Joseph Jellings.
“Speedwell, Nathaniel Newman
“Dolphin, Daniel Dow.
“Woodbridge, David Stickney.
“Sally, Nathaniel Newman.
“Deborah, Edward Atwood.
“Kingfisher, Jonathan Eaton.

Of the vessels enumerated the schooners Wilmot, Polly, Eunice and Betsy and the sloops Bachelor, Peggy & Molly, Merimack and St. John’s Paquet were owned by the company.

For some years the company paid insurance at the rate of 3 per cent. on the vessels and their cargoes, but the insurance was obtained with difficulty and after a time was discontinued on the ground that the business would not bear the expense.

When the partnership was formed in 1764, the company owned the schooner 203 Polly of 20 tons, the sloop Bachelor of 33 tons, and the sloop Peggy & Molly of 66 tons. The same year Isaac Johnson of Newburyport built for them the schooner Wilmot of 64 tons and James Simonds paid £180 as his share of her hull. Samuel Blodget purchased in Boston a quantity of yarns, strands and cordage, which were delivered by Wm. Hazen to Crocker, a ropemaker of Newburyport, to be worked up for the schooners Polly and Wilmot, the sloop Bachelor and the sloop Peggy & Molly. The company afterwards bought or built the schooners Eunice and Betsy and the sloops Merrimack and St. John’s Paquet. The sloop Merrimack was a square sterned vessel of 80 tons, built at Newburyport in 1762. She was hired for the company’s service in 1767 and purchased for them in 1771 by Hazen & Jarvis for £150. James Simonds says she was then a mere hulk entirely unfit for sea, but after being repaired was employed in coasting to St. John and in carrying lumber to the West Indies. William Hazen and his family had good reason to remember the Merrimack, for it was in this vessel they embarked for their new home in St. John in the month of May, 1775. They were cast away on Fox Island and in addition to the discomfort experienced, many of theirs personal belongings and some valuable papers connected with the company’s business were lost. The crew and passengers were rescued and brought to St. John in a sloop of Captain Drinkwater’s, the captain consenting to throw overboard his load of cordwood to make room for the rescued party and their possessions. Most of Mr. Hazen’s valuables and the rigging and stores of the Merrimack were saved.

The sloop St. John’s Paquet was another vessel that had an unfortunate experience. She made occasional voyages from St. John to St. Croix in the West Indies. In the year 1770 she sailed from St. John with a cargo of lime for Newburyport, having on board William Hazen, who had been on one of his periodical business trips to St. John. Simonds and White asked to have the sloop and cargo insured, but Hazen says the reason they gave, namely, that the paquet was “an unlucky vessel,” did not make any impression on the minds of himself or Mr. Jarvis, and, as it was a good season of the year, they did not effect it. The vessel unfortunately proved true to her reputation. She got on the shoals at Newburyport and taking “a rank heel” got water amongst her lime, which set her on fire. The sloop and her cargo were sold in consequence for £300 where she lay. The vessel was afterwards hired by Hazen & Jarvis and again sent to St. John to load for the West Indies.

The Wilmot proved unfit for the company’s business and on May 23, 1766. Hazen & Jarvis wrote their partners: “We have purchased a very good and valuable cargo for the schooner Wilmot. It consists of oxen, cows, calves, flour, cyder, boards and bricks, and we have sent her under care of Captain Beck to Newfoundland for sale. We hope we will get a good price for her.” This hope was not realized, for the schooner lost her deckload of cattle in a storm and the voyage was unprofitable.

During the earlier years of the partnership the schooners Eunice and Polly, sloop Peggy & Molly and other small vessels were employed from April to October in fishing in the Bay of Fundy and at Passamaquoddy. The correspondence 204 of the company contains many references to this important branch of business, a few of which are to be found in the footnotes below.[72]

The company, finding the fishing at Passamaquoddy declining on account of the multitude of their rivals in that locality, determined to dispose of some of their smaller vessels, and Mr. Jarvis writes to Simonds & White, under date May 23, 1766: “If you think we would be likely to sell the “Peggy & Molly” at Halifax, please to advise us * * * We look upon it in general to be the better way to, sell all vessels when they come to be old and crazy, as we find by experience that old vessels are great moths. Therefore if you can dispose of the sloop Bachelor and schooner Polly, we think you had better do it, provided you can obtain their worth, and we could build such vessels as you shall think will be most advantageous.”