USA > Connecticut > New London County > Norwich > History of Norwich, Connecticut: from its possession by the Indians, to the year 1866 > Part 49
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1793. Joseph Howland has for sale " Manchester goods direct from the manufac- turers."
1800. Jabez Huntington & Co. advertise "salt, nails, crockery, and hardware, direct from Liverpool by the ship Three Friends."
1804. "Peter Lanman Jr. imports from England and keeps for sale, crown glass, hardware, &c."
CHAPTER XXXIX.
MEMORANDA OF DISASTERS.
WE have thus far spoken of the trade of Norwich chiefly in respect to its amount and success. It may not be amiss to review the ground, and chronicle a few striking incidents that diversified the scene and gave it a dark side.
In September, 1783, Capt. Azariah Hillard, who sailed from Norwich in August, encountered a hurricane at sea, by which his vessel was over- set, and all on board perished except Joseph Pierce, the mate, who clung to the wreck, and after a fearful experience, was taken off and returned home in safety.
In August, 1785, the sloop Lydia, Zachariah Bill, was wrecked in a gale near St. Martin's; the vessel and cargo lost, and one man drowned. In the same gale, two other sloops belonging to Norwich, St. Mark, Capt. Rossiter, and the John, Capt. White, were driven out to sea, and suffered considerable damage.
March 5, 1786, Capt. Henry Billings in the schooner Humbird was cast away at St. Eustatia; vessel and most of the cargo lost.
During the winter of 1787, the schooner Virgin, Alpheus Billings, out- ward bound, was cast away on the coast of Demarara; vessel and cargo lost.
In February, 1788, the brig Clarissa came in from Port-au-Prince ; her master, William Loring, had died on the passage home, just as they came upon the coast. The vessel touched at Elizabeth Islands, and buried Capt. Loring at Tarpaulin Cove, "that very cold Tuesday," Feb- ruary 5th.
March 24th, Asa Waterman, homeward bound from Port-au-Prince in the brig Fanny, was wrecked in a fog upon Narragansett Beach. In November, the sloop Polly, C. Cook, was lost at Deer Island on the coast of Maine. The people and part of the lumber saved.
August 22, 1788, the brig Narcissa arrived from the coast of Africa, Zachariah Bill late master. Four days from the African coast, Capt. Bill died, and Capt. Mortimer took command, returning home by Demarara and St. Eustatia,
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
In 1789, disasters were numerous. The sloop Nancy, Elias Lord, lost her whole deck-load of stock in a gale. Capt. Hezekiah Perkins, in the brig Neptune, bound to Aux Cayes, lost his mainmast and thirty-six horses. In the same gale the ship Josephus, E. Huntington, lost main and mizzen mast and nearly fifty liead of cattle. In December, advices were received that Capt. John Howland of the schooner Modesty (who sailed from New London the last of July) had died at sea, as also his mate, Robert Wattles; Thomas George, a seaman, and Mr. Joshua Pico, merchant of Norwich, who went out with Capt. Howland as a passenger, for his health. During the same season, the whole crew of the sloop Lively, of Norwich, with the exception of the master, Capt. Mortimer, died on the African coast, of the deadly malaria to which that region is subject.
In January, 1790, the brig Friendship, John Pierce, bound to Aux Cayes, was wrecked on the Isle des Vaches, and totally lost.
The sloop Negociator, Zebadiah Smith, sailed for Demarara, Dec. 7, 1790, and in lat. 37° long. 74° was struck by a heavy sea, which swept the captain, who stood at the helm, overboard. The accident occurred at midnight, while a furious gale was raging, and nothing could be done by the crew to save their unfortunate commander. The voyage was com- pleted under Nathaniel Barker .*
In March, 1794, the sloop Harmony, of Norwich, was met with at sea, not far from St. Domingo, drifting about, half full of water, with no one on board, her sails gone, and what rigging remained, useless. Apparently her whole crew had perished.
In March, 1795, the brig Nancy, Capt. John Webb, with a full cargo of rum and sugar from Jamaica, after touching at New London and taking in several passengers, sailed on the 12th for New York, and that same night was cast away on Eaton's Neck, and vessel and cargo lost. The passengers escaped with difficulty ; among them were Dr. Benjamin But- ler, a large owner in the vessel and cargo, and his sister, Mrs. Denison.
The ship Speculator, J. S. Billings, bound to the West Indies, met with a gale, eighteen days out, in which she broached to, overset, and had all her stock swept away. By cutting away the mizzen mast, she righted and became manageable, but having lost her voyage, she returned into port Nov. 11th.
In 1796, many heavy losses were sustained, both from hostile elements and foreign belligerents. In March, Park Benjamin, in the brig Nancy, lost forty-five mules overboard in a gale of wind. Moses Benjamin, in the schooner Beaver, lost nineteen horses and two men. On his return
* In September, 1792, Capt. Isaae B. Durkee, in the sloop Betsey, belonging to Samuel Woodbridge, sailed for Eustatia, and before arriving there, discovered that two of his crew, whom he had shipped at New London, were females.
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voyage, Capt. Park Benjamin, having a cargo valued at $50,000, was carried into Grenada, where he was obliged to pay largely to get eleared, and during the detention, lost his mate and all his people by putrid fever.
The schooner Chloe, J. Lord, and the Crisis, Cyprian Cook, were over- hauled and plundered by the French ; the Lucy, Gilbert, carried into Gua- daloupe, and vessel and cargo condemned.
Jan. 11, 1798, arrived schooner Fair Lady, Moses Benjamin, after a dreary passage of 83 days from Demarara. The schooner Sachem, Jer- emiah Harris, cleared at the custom-house in April, bound to the Mole, but before reaching her port, was stranded on the North Caieus and went to pieces.
Two very striking disasters, in which not the suffering vessels, but those which came to the rescue, were from Norwich, may be allowed a place in our chroniele.
April 6, 1795, the sloop Prosperity, Park Benjamin, arrived at New London, 25 days from Essequibo, bringing in also the ship Polly, David Baldwin. The Polly was 90 days from Demarara. In March, during a furious gale, she lost rudder and sails, and was thrown on her beam ends, which shifted her cargo and stove several hogsheads of rum. She was afterwards driven off the coast seven times, till at last she was met and towed in by Capt. Benjamin.
In November, 1795, the ship Columbus, Capt. Lathrop, sailed for Charleston. On the passage she fell in with a schooner from Port Dau- phin, bound to Boston, with only one living man on board ; the others, five in number, had died of fever, a few days after leaving port. Capt. Lathrop put two of his men on board, and the vessel arrived safely at New London, where she discharged a valuable cargo.
When the British obtained possession of the French Islands in 1794, those American vessels that chanced to be in the harbors were seized and many of them condemned and forfeited. The property of American mer- chants on the land was likewise in various instances confiscated. From the letter of a ship-master, dated at St. Pierre, Marel 2, 1794, to his fam- ily in Norwich, we give a short extract :
"I have lost all my property by the surrender of St. Pierre to the English. I have not only lost my vessel and cargo, but my wearing apparel, bedding, books, quadrant, and all the money I had to the amount of 1700 dollars. Our friend and neighbor Capt. Fred. Tracy has shared the same fate."
At this time the British commanders on the West India station received orders to seize, detain, and bring to legal adjudication all vessels laden with the produce of French colonies or engaged in carrying supplies to said colonies. This decree and the eoineident activity of French priva- teers made almost a clean sweep of the shipping then abroad. Congress
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
at the same time laid an embargo upon vessels in port, and for a short space there was a lull in marine affairs. The West India trade, however, soon revived, and was pursued under great hazard and difficulty. Indig- nities were heaped upon American seamen, and often, when not wholly confiscated, the vessels were ransacked from stem to stern, and plundered of many valuable articles. Of the Norwich marine that suffered in this way, we can only notice a few instances.
Capt. Frederick Tracy, taken by the English and carried into Mont- serrat, lost a valuable cargo by the decree of the Admiralty Court. Capt. Glover was condemned at St. Kitts. Capt. Gilbert, after being deprived of part of his lading, was released. The French privateers, slipping out of the island ports, and waylaying the customary paths of commerce, caught many a rich prize,-the courts before which the captured vessels were carried, being sure to condemn the cargo as contraband.
Capt. Sangar in the schooner Chloe was captured, and he and his peo- ple stripped of every article of value, even to the clothing on their per- sons. The captain himself was set ashore at Laguira, barefoot. The vessel was afterward released, but at a later period was again captured, Ebenezer Cooley, master, carried into Guadaloupe, and never appeared in our waters afterward.
In February, 1797, Capt. Webb, in a voyage to Jeremie, was taken and carried into Petit Guave, where he was detained ninety days, a quar- ter of his cargo taken, and he lost all his crew by sickness, except one man.
Capt. Isaac Hull, afterward the veteran hero of the frigate Constitution, but then a ship-master in the West India trade, was repeatedly arrested in his voyages by hostile cruisers. He was taken in May, 1797, in the ship Minerva of New London, and lost both vessel and cargo. He returned home, and in July started on another voyage in the schooner Beaver, of Norwich. He was again captured and carried into Porto Rico, where he was once more condemned.
In March, the brig Betsey, J. Lord, was taken by the French, carried into Guadaloupe, tried and released ; afterward taken by the English, car- ried into Tortola, and a second time tried and released.
The Sally, Capt. Boswell, bound to Jeremie, with nearly ninety head of stock on board, was taken by the armed brig Pandure, of fourteen guns, the privateer firing a broadside before hailing. She took out twenty-one men, nearly the whole crew, and putting eleven Frenchmen in their place, ordered the vessel to a French port. Eight days afterward she was taken by an English brig, carried into a neutral port, and there given up to Capt. Boswell, half her cargo being retained for salvage.
The brig Hannah, Park Benjamin, was also twice taken in one voyage, and after some loss and detention, released.
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
The ship Young Eagle (returning from Liverpool in August) sailed Sept. 19 for the West Indies, under Absalom Pride, with no contraband goods whatever on board. She was however taken by a French priva- teer, carried into port and condemned, solely upon the plea of not being furnished with a rôle d'equipage, or registry of the crew. The vessel was however redeemed by Capt. Pride.
The Charlotte, Alexander Morgan, in a homeward passage from Dem- arara, was overhauled by a privateer sloop of four guns from Guadaloupe, and stripped of every thing valuable, even to the charts, books, clothes and cash of the officers. The Lark, Gilbert, was boarded and searched by an English twenty-gun frigate, and released, but was afterward twice chased by French privateers, from whom she barely escaped.
In March, 1798, the schooner Polly, Smith, was taken by an English vessel near St. Bartholomew, robbed of a negro boy, forty shoats, and $200 in caslı, and then released.
The continuance of these depredations made it imperative for trading vessels either to be furnished with means for self-defence, or to hover under the wing of an armed escort. Early in 1798, the ships Hope, E. Clark, and Sally, Buswell, were respectively fitted with an armament of fifteen and twelve guns, for the purpose of protecting themselves and. others. They dropped down to New London in May, and were soon joined by seven brigs and schooners from Norwich, under Captains Ben- jamin, L. P. W. Chester, Cook, Gilbert, Lord, Billings, and Winchester, and several other vessels of the New London district, making a respect- able West India fleet that sailed under their convoy.
Tropical fevers during this season were intensely virulent. Capt. Bos- well of the Sally lost eight of his crew. Joseph Lanman, second mate of the Hope, died at sea, after leaving the Mole, to return home. These two vessels arrived the 1st of October, crowded with French passengers. The Mole was about to be evacuated, and possession taken by the African Gen- eral Tonissant. A fleet of thirty American vessels left the islands, under convoy of the Hope and Sally.
It was in August and September of the year 1798, that the yellow fever raged with such fatal severity at New London. All vessels coming up the river were required to lie at quarantine near Bushnell's Cove, under the direction of the Health Committee,
In February, 1799, an action took place off St. Kitts between a French and American frigate ; the Constellation, Commodore Truxton, captured L'Insurgente. A regular war with France was now seriously appre -- hended, and forcible seizures were made on both sides.
A few more instances of the loss sustained by Norwich adventurers will be given, though not always perhaps in the true order of sequence. From the injuries that fell to the share of one small port, some estimate
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
may be formed of the ravages perpetrated on the whole American coast, by the belligerent powers, out of fierce indignation at our neutrality.
Most of the seizures were made upon the plea of having contraband goods on board. Horses, one of the most profitable articles sent to the West India market, were contraband.
The schooner Commerce, Samuel Freeman, bound to Martinico, was taken by the privateer L'Esperance, within an hour's sail of her port, and a prize-master with four men put on board. Capt. Freeman with a part of his crew were left with them. Watching his opportunity, he rose upon his captors, and after an obstinate resistance, in which one man was killed and others wounded, succeeded in retaking the vessel. Capt. Freeman in the conflict received three severe flesh-wounds from a cutlass. Unfortu- nately the privateer discovered that the Commerce was altering her course, and gave chase, compelling the captain at last to run the vessel ashore, among the breakers on the east side of Dominique, where slie went to pieces.
In 1799, the West India fleet belonging to Norwich sailed in January. It consisted of the armed ships Hope, B. Coit, and Sally, John McCarty ; the ship General Lincoln, E. Lord, J. Kelly supercargo; schooners Fair Lady, Benajah Leffingwell, Friendship, J. Williams, Favorite, B. Paine ; sloops Negociator, Munsell, and Prosperity, J. W. Brewster. Other ves- sels that had sailed in December, and were then out, were the brig Bay- onne, Satterlee; schooners Lark, Gilbert; Harriet, Webb; Jenny and Hannah, G. Bill; Chloe, E. Cooley ; and sloops Despatch and Farmer.
The Hope and Sally were bound to Barbadoes. They came home by Havana, with rich cargoes, and arrived safely, but the Sally had lost half her crew by sickness. The Hope sailed once more, in August, under Sylvester Bill, but on her return voyage was captured by a French pri- vateer. The Hope had fifteen guns, and the privateer only four, but the Frenchi conquered by stratagem. They had eighty men in their vessel, and dressing a part of them in women's apparel, decking the ship with garlands, and filling the air with joyous songs and shouts, they deceived Capt. Bill, who, as they were near the land, took it for a coasting vessel with a pleasure party on board. He was boarded and his deck covered with armed men, before he had opportunity to make any resistance.
The General Lincoln, only three days out of New London, in a heavy gale, lost her second mate, Elisha Reynolds, overboard, and had 50 head of stock swept away. She however pursued her voyage, and returned in May with goods consigned to G. L'Hommedieu, John Converse, &c. The Fair Lady lost, by sickness, the mate, Oliver Barker, and two sea- men.
The Favorite was arrested by a privateer on hier outward voyage, and plundered of all her small stock, cabin stores, furniture, charts, and instru-
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ments, and then released. Capt. G. Bill's sehooner and the sloop Pros- perity were both seized, carried into Guadaloupe, condemned, and for- feited.
1800. The brig Harriot, Francis Smith, in a return voyage from Demarara, was taken and sent into Martinique, but having nothing con- traband on board, was liberated, and proceeded on her voyage. Before reaching the coast, she was taken by an English armed vessel and sent into St. Kitts, where she was tried by the court, released, and came from thence in 27 days.
The schooner Fair Lady, J. Williams, was taken by a French armed vessel called "Conquest of Italy." A prize crew were put on board, and she was ordered into a French port. Capt. Williams was detained on board the privateer, which was fortunately soon after captured by the Connecticut sloop-of-war, Capt. Tryon.
The schooner Paragon, Jonathan Lester, captured by the French, was re-captured by the English and taken into an English port. After paying a salvage of one-third of her cargo, and all the costs, she was suffered to proceed on her voyage.
The brig Caroline, Harvey Winchester, was taken, plundered, scuttled, and sunk. The crew were carried to St. Kitts, and there detained for some time as prisoners.
Capt. Leffingwell in the ship Patty, while at Jamaica, had most of liis crew prostrated with the yellow fever. Jedidiah Kelley, supercargo of the vessel, and Joshua Walworth, died before leaving the port.
Ship Sally, MeCarty, leaving Liverpool with a lading of salt, when just off the harbor, went ashore near the Queen's Dock, and both vessel and cargo were lost, September, 1800.
The brig William, Samuel Freeman, foundered at sea, Sept. 10, 1800. Her stock was swept overboard; she was dismasted, lost her rudder, and in this situation the erew remained ten days, when they were taken off by a Spanish vessel and carried to the South American coast, one man only being lost, viz., William Roath. Capt. Freeman came home from the Bay of Honduras with Capt. Sparrow in the brig Despatch. The wreck was found at sea by one of our vessels, towed into Newport, brought round to the West Chelsea ship-yard, and refitted for new service.
The same season, Capt. Hezekiah Freeman, in the brig Ann, during a violent gale, had all his stock swept overboard,-in sailor language, sent down as a tribute to Davie Jones. The brig Favorite, Capt. Brumley, was likewise dismasted.
Capt. Gilbert, in the brig Three Sisters, foundered at sea and lost botlı vessel and cargo; the crew clinging to the wreck, were at last relieved. Many such disasters occurred in the terrible hurricane season of Septem- ber, 1800, and similar incidents continue to stream along the current of
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West India trade from year to year. We can not follow the list with con- secutive detail, or anything like exhaustive accuracy.
1801. The new brig Resolution, Alpheus Billings, bound to Demarara, was taken 27 days out and sent to Guadaloupe. The captain and crew were detained several weeks, most of the time in prison, and then sent in a cartel to St. Kitts. They reached home in July.
1803. The brig William lost while in the West Indies, Capt. George W. Palmer, master, Samuel HIyers, mate, and three seamen, by sickness.
In July, 1804, four vessels from Norwich cleared at the New London custom-house nearly at the same time :
Brig William, John Brown.
" Dove, John McGowty.
" Fortune, Charles Billings. Schooner Betsey, Christopher Colver.
They all sailed before the first of August, and were often within hailing distance or in sight of each other while on the voyage, and one afternoon three of these vessels, the William, Fortune, and Betsey, while sailing in the tropical seas, the air being calm and the ocean smooth, ran along side by side, and the crews called to each other and conversed from the hay- stacks on deck, where they were eating their supper. That very night a tremendous hurricane swept over those seas, and neither the William or the Fortune were ever heard from afterward; the destruction being so complete that no memento of their fate was found. But of this hurricane, so narrow was its scope, the only influence that reached Capt. Colver was a magnificent billowy swell of the sea, rolling him on and following him for two days .*
A monumental inscription in the Chelsea burial-ground shows that the family of Capt. Alpheus Billings had a heavy share in the loss of the Fortune.
This monument is erected to the Memory of Capt. Charles Billings aged 32 years, and James F. Billings aged 18 years, and Benjamin Billings aged 15 years, Sons of Capt. Alphens and Mrs. Elizabeth Billings, and also of Mr. David Barber, a son-in-law aged 26 years, Who were lost at sea in September, 1804, in the Brig Fortune.
* These facts are derived from Capt. Colver, who, at the age of 90, in the possession of a good degree of health and mental vigor, is still to be seen almost daily, taking his accustomed walks and lingering upon the wharfago by the river.
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
Jan. 20, 1804, the sloop Ruby, Jonathan Roatlı, seven days from Nor- folk, was wrecked on Block Island. A tempestuous snow-storm raging at the time, and the weather extremely cold, the crew escaped with difficulty. The next day the vessel went to pieces.
Capt. Francis Smith had sailed for several years in the brig Harriot, meeting with all the varieties of good and bad fortune. His arrival from one of these voyages, when some apprehension prevailed that the brig was lost, is thus noticed in the Norwich Courier, April 11, 1804 :
" It is with pleasure we announce the safe arrival of the brig Harriet, Capt. Smith, after a passage of 70 days from Demarara, having experienced very heavy gales of wind on the coast, which drove her off nine times and so much damaged her sails and rigging as to render them useless."
Capt. Smith sailed again in June, and left Demarara on the return voyage Aug. 21st, but on the 5th of September encountered a heavy gale from the south and east, which increased to a hurricane. The next day, while lying to under bare poles, the brig was knocked on her beam ends, and the bowsprit and foremast swept off. By cutting away the mainmast the vessel righted, and the crew succeeded in rigging a jury foremast and a bowsprit. But the sea running high, the vessel leaking, and the spars and rigging all expended, so that they could make no after sail, and meet- ing for several days only vessels in distress, they abandoned the wreck and took to the boats, and were fortunately relieved by a vessel that landed them in Virginia.
The brig Ontario, (Henry Eldridge,) owned by Jesse Brown, Sen., in a homeward voyage from Martinique, was wrecked upon the Elizabeth Islands, March 9, 1805. The crew were saved, but the vessel, with its valuable cargo of sugar, cocoa and coffee, was lost.
In the loss of men from marine pursuits, Norwich suffered less than New London and some other ports, yet her victims were neither few nor far between, as the following mortuary list of a single year, gathered at this distance of time from the scanty memorials extant, will testify :
Deaths at Sea during the year 1805.
Isaac Loring, of the brig Despatch, at Demarara.
Joseph Brewster, at the same place.
Capt. Jeremiah Harris, aged 35, at Martinique.
William, son of Jesse Brown, do.
William, son of Elkanah Tisdale of Lebanon, do.
Henry Loring, of brig Iris, drowned at Green Island.
John Batty, aged 21, of sch. Mechanic, at sea.
John Wedge, aged 21, at sea.
John Cary, at sea.
Hezekiah, son of Capt. Daniel Meech, of Preston, aged 22.
Charles E. Trumbull, aged 24, at sea.
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
Connected with the marine intelligence, during the latter part of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century, frequent allusions are made to the civil conflicts that convulsed several of the islands, and particularly St. Domingo. The following is an instance :
April 14, 1804, a ship from Cape François came into Long Island Sound with 300 men, women and children on board, who had escaped with their lives and came as exiles to this country, leaving their homes to de- vastation. Capt. Frederick Tracy of Norwich was also on board. He had been for some years engaged in business at the Cape, and fled with the rest at the approach of the ruthless invader. The vessel went into New York.
The most melancholy marine disasters are those which are shronded in uncertainty. A vessel disappears,-it is heard from no more, and is sup- posed to have been ingulfed by the ocean, but no one returns to relate how and when the catastrophe happened. The hearts of friends are long ago- nized with alternate hope and dread, while imagination brings up dark pictures of a cruel death from pirates, a wreck upon desert islands, or a wearisome captivity in barbarous lands.
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