USA > Massachusetts > Commonwealth history of Massachusetts, colony, province and state, volume 1 > Part 41
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favor of England. The enterprise of the entire colonial pop- ulation aided the imperial system, and it was certainly a spur to the rise of the colonial shipbuilding industry.
As the colony became established and the population, owing to Laudian persecution and the "Great Migration" from Eng- land, became sufficiently numerous to support a mercantile as well as a fishing population, colonial vessels began to ap- pear in distant ports in competition with English and other European shipping. The first mercantile ventures of Massachusetts shippers appear to have been confined very largely to the coastwise trade to the other mainland planta- tions and to a more ambitious and likewise more profitable intercolonial trade with the West India plantations. Within fifteen years after the founding of the colony, the merchants of Salem, if not those of Boston, were trading with Barba- does and the Leeward Islands of the West Indies. Within another ten years, began to develop the second triangular trade so akin to the rum and slave trade of the next century. Ves- sels from Salem and Boston plied to Virginia and the West Indies with marine products, reloaded with tobacco and other sub-tropical articles of trade, and then set sail for European markets, following the example already set by English mer- chants. The return trade was various, depending upon the European country visited, whether Spain, France, Holland or England.
The astonishing fact concerning this early trans-Atlantic trade is that men could be found with courage to undertake the hazards of a trade so distant in small ships, chiefly ketches of from twenty to fifty tons burden, carrying crews of only four to six men. It was this rapid growth of Massachusetts trade, curtailing, as it did, the profits of the English shippers, which suggested to Cromwell the expediency of placing some restrictions on the colonial trade in the interest of the mother country, and so led to the first Navigation Act of 1651.
THE RISE OF A MERCHANT MARINE (1630-1675)
Generosity in supplying Massachusetts with the essentials for trade - excellent harbors, merchantable products, and ma- terials for shipbuilding, was reflected in the speedy contruc- tion of ships. Shipbuilding began almost with the laying out of
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town sites. For the encouraging of the industry, the colony in 1637 excused all those so engaged from compulsory military training, and indirectly contributed to the same end by exempt- ing from taxation all property of men employed in fishing.
Among the first colonists sent out to Salem in 1629 were three shipwrights. The first vessel to be launched in the colony, however was the Blessing of the Bay, built at the expense of Governor Winthrop in a hastily contructed ship- yard at Ten Hills Farm on the Mystic River. This bark of 30 tons was completed at a cost of £165 before Boston was yet one year old.
In 1633 another vessel of the same size was launched on the Mystic. In 1636 a ship of 120 tons was built at Marblehead. Meanwhile several small vessels had been built at Salem. In 1640 a ship was completed there by the builder Tar Peter, of the relatively huge size of 300 tons.
In 1641 the first Boston-built vessel, the Trial, of 160 tons burden, was launched. "The work was hard to accomplish," said Governor Winthrop, "for want of money, etc., but our shipwrights were content to take such pay as the country could make." She immediately loaded with fish and des- patched to Spain, returned in January 1643, laden with wine, fruit, oil, linen and wool, "which was a great advantage, and gave encouragement to trade." In 1642 three more ships were built in Boston, and it was said that "besides many boats, shallops, hoys, lighters, pinnaces, we are in a way of building ships of two, three, and four hundred tons. We being much encouraged therein by reason of the plenty and excellence of our timber for that purpose and seeing all materials will be had there in short order."
For a considerable time Salem excelled in shipping. In 1641 a certain Richard Hollingsworth built a vessel of 300 tons. Throughout the remainder of the century Salem ranked high among the ports of the colony in the tonnage of vessels built. By 1675 good, staunch ships of 200 tons or more could be turned out at the uniform and reasonable rate of £4 per ton. At that time the town boasted a considerable number of ex- pert builders, most of whom had come out at one time or another from England, and whose technic was probably equal to the best in Europe. As practically all iron and metal work
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at first had to be imported and was very costly, these ships were fabricated with a surprising economy of nails, bolts and metal fittings.
By the time of the Restoration and the first Navigation Act of the Stuarts in 1660, Massachusetts could point with pride to a fleet of more than a hundred sailing vessels built within the colony, of which a dozen measured above 200 tons each. Considerable numbers of vessels were being turned out at Marblehead, Cambridge, Dorchester, New Bedford and Lynn. Many of these, having been built of the finest pine and fir and more cheaply than they could be constructed elsewhere, were sold at good prices in the other American colonies and in England; thus making shipbuilding a considerable export industry.
The passage of the more drastic Navigation Acts in 1660 and the years following placed no great damper on shipping or shipbuilding, considering the lack of enforcement of the Acts. A half dozen years later, Edward Randolph, English Customs Officer, credited the colony with thirty vessels meas- uring above 100 tons, besides 700 vessels of smaller size. Be- fore the end of the century, according to a contemporary writer, several hundred ships of all sizes were annually built within the colony, though not all of these were employed in trading from Massachusetts ports. The greater number of these were fitted out in the port of Boston. As this is a fair index to the commercial activities of the colony, it will be readily understood why, within a generation after the launching of the Blessing of the Bay, the attitude of the Eng- lish government altered from one of neglect to one of active interest in attempting to regulate the colonial trade, which was to a large degree the trade of Massachusetts.
EARLY GROWTH AND REGULATION OF COMMERCE (1630-1670)
Although the maritime activity of Massachusetts was founded on the export of fish, other articles of trade gained. This was due partly to the fact that Massachusetts could not, like Virginia for instance, profitably carry on a system of direct exchange of goods with England. Virginia's tobacco was in greatest demand only in England, while all necessary
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supplies came from thence. But England required only small quantities of fish from across the Atlantic because her market was largely supplied by her own fisheries. Fish from colonial waters were practically excluded after 1660 because of the im- position of new and prohibitive tariffs. From about the time of the English Restoration, the best fish of the seasonal catch were exported to Spain and Portugal, whence New England vessels carried cargoes of wines and oils to north European ports in competition with European carriers and with fine oblivion of the Navigation Acts. The "middlings" or second grade fish were, at the same time, sent to the Canary and Azores Islands, where there was a steady demand for the cheaper grades. The fish of poorest size and quality were transported to the West Indies, where the colonists found their most reliable markets through the whole of the colonial period. The West Indies, with their extensive forest producing tim- ber of all kinds, had no use for Massachusetts lumber prod- ucts, and these, with furs and colonial ships were sold almost exclusively in England. Such exports to England at their best fell far short of equalling in value the amount of goods purchased in England for the colony; and this considerable balance of trade in favor of the mother country was made pos- sible only by the extensive trade from colonial ports to the West Indies and southern Europe. England thus continued from the first to furnish a large portion of the imports into all of the American colonies on the mainland including Massa- chusetts but only by means of a trade system which deprived one group of English merchants of any profit.
What did the ships carry? In 1630 and for a number of years thereafter petitions reached the Privy Council from the colony praying that ships might be sent out with such supplies as the colony urgently needed. Yet English vessels found lit- tle profit in trading with Massachusetts. English goods were in great demand, but return cargoes yielding any profit on the voyage were scarce. Hence people of Massachusetts under- took to carry their own goods to market. The colonists were never averse from also carrying the goods of others, whether from one colony to another, from the West Indies to Europe, or from the Iberian Peninsula to North Europe and the British Isles. After the middle of the seventeenth century, Massachu-
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setts vessels were to be found in almost all the seas where the English flag was known, and the spirit of enterprise and self reliance engendered by this successful competition had much to do with the restiveness displayed when legal barriers were erected to this exercise of free trade.
The trade of Massachusetts was early subject to local regu- lation. In 1632 a duty of twelve pence per pound was levied on beaver pelts purchased from the Indians. Four years later duties were placed on imports of fruits, spices, sugar, wines, liquors and tobacco, for those who purchased such goods for the purpose of retailing them, the rate was doubled. For a brief period (in or about 1645) a tonnage duty was levied; and in 1667 and 1679 this was revived for vessels not owned in the colony.
In 1678 no export duties were levied in the colony, but goods imported paid one penny in the pound, except salt, wool, fish, etc., which entered free. The duties were higher on wines and spirits, extending from 2s.6d. a hogshead to 10s. a pipe. Moreover, each vessel entering a colonial port paid a small duty towards the maintenance of fortifications. These duties appear to have been collected rather consistently while the royal customs were almost ignored; although Edward Ran- dolph, royal Collector of Customs, in 1676 stated that "there is not any form of a Custom House" at Boston. The Mas- sachusetts Government reported to the Lords of Trade in 1680 that the colonial customs revenue amounted to about £1500 a year - not a large sum, considering the known trade of the province. The local rates were raised afterward, and in 1688 the list of dutiable goods was extended to include money, plate, bullion, salt, provisions and merchandise, all to be taxed at 2% ad valorem.
The Plymouth colony in this period followed a similar course. The principal difference in procedure here lay in the levying of export duties on the products of the colony, such as boards and planks, barrels and hogsheads, staves and bead- ing, tar, oysters and iron, as well as on the usual imports. The revenue thus gained was used principally in strengthening the fortifications of the colony. Neither the Massachusetts nor the Plymouth tariffs were heavy, and they exerted a very slight influence, if any, on the volume of trade. Nevertheless,
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even before the passage of the English navigation laws, the inhabitants of New England were familiar with both the theory and practice of tariff for revenue purposes. In view of the rapid growth of the New England trade, in native ves- sels, of the expense of administering colonial affairs, and of the prevailing mercantile theory of colonial relations in 1651 and again in 1660, Parliamentary enactments undertook to regulate the colonial trade in the interest of the mother coun- try.
THE ENGLISH NAVIGATION SYSTEM (1660-1675)
An account of the Navigation Acts is necessary only so far as relates to effects on the trade of Massachusetts. It was the complaints, by English mercantile interests, of the competition and great profits of Massachusetts shippers which first sug- gested the expediency of undertaking to regulate the colonial trade by legislative means. The Act of 1660, "for the en- couraging and Increasing of Shipping and Navigation," may be taken as the basis of a long list of similar enactments. It undertook, in brief, to put an end to the era of free trade long enjoyed by English merchants, and particularly by New Eng- landers. In place of this, certain small rates were to be col- lected for the benefit of His Majesty on practically all com- modities of trade; and vessels engaging in the English and colonial trade were to be bound to declare their goods and pay duties in English and colonial ports. The reciprocal car- rying trade was particularly hard hit.
Nothing indicates that the Act of 1660 was received in the towns of Massachusetts as anything more than a statement of theory. It was found to contain so many doubtful and inconsistent provisions that it was almost immediately amended. Much of the difficulty in enforcing this and later laws came from doubt as to the relation to other parts of the realm and to England of Ireland, Scotland, the Channel Is- lands, and Dunkirk. Hence a number of other enactments "for preventing Frauds and regulating Abuses in His Majes- ty's Customes" were passed in the period between 1660 and 1675, amplified and altered by a host of Orders in Council, which, in theory, had all of the authority of law in the colo- nies.
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Owing to the fact that no adequate machinery of enforce- ment was provided, and that the Crown was almost constantly embarrassed by domestic and foreign difficulties, the colonists were suffered to trade practically unmolested, as before. The colonial governors, who were empowered to grant licenses and collect duties uniformly found it to their advantage to take no action. In 1672 complaint was made to the Privy Council that the traders of Massachusetts "boldly employ two or three hundred Sail of Ships yearly, trading to and fro from several plantations and most parts of Europe, and this with- out being under the Restrictions of such Laws, as put our Merchants to vast charges, either by customs, or otherwise, which enabled them to undersell our English Merchants 50 percent at least, to the unspeakable prejudice of the King's customes, and the decay of our Manufactures, as well as an Infallible Bait to all our Manufacturers to remove thither, where People trade with such advantage over their fellow Sub- jects."
In the meantime, the various committees and commissions appointed by the Privy Council to oversee colonial and mer- cantile affairs were trying to make the Acts of Trade effective. Governors were required to take oath to enforce the Acts. Owners and captains of ships were also required to attest un- der oath to the ownership of vessels, ports of registry and destination, kinds and amounts of goods carried. Spies were placed in the leading European ports to detect vessels trading illegally. Special passes were devised without which no ship might load, unload, or sail in any English or colonial port.
During these years the Home Government was most patient and exceedingly lenient with offenders. At last disillusioned of the idea that under favorable circumstances colonial traders would be willing to cooperate, the Privy Council gave up its policy of persuasion and determined to take more vigorous steps to secure enforcement of the law. An Order in Council was issued, therefore, in May, 1674, cancelling concessions which had been made to colonial shippers thirteen years be- fore, and requiring all vessels engaged in the European trade to touch in England in sailing in either direction. This marks the end of easy going regulation and the beginning of a com- pulsive system. It is hardly too much to say that essentially
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all of the Massachusetts trade between 1660 and 1675 was il- legal. The habit had become firmly fixed.
This period is characterized by attempts to regulate a profit- able and growing trade over a wide portion of the earth's surface merely by documentary authority. No fewer than six Acts of Parliament and a host of Orders in Council were published in the ports of New England during this period. With the establishment in 1676 of a new, permanent and ag- gressive Board of the Privy Council, under the style of the Lords of Trade and Plantations, endowed with wide powers and considerable discretion, the way of the transgressor be- came decidedly less easy.
Before this time the English authorities had little definite knowledge of the extent of the American trade or the evasion of the Navigation Acts. Therefore, in 1675, the English: Commissioners of the Customs were instructed to investigate trading conditions in Massachusetts. Their findings, supple- mented by the voluntary reports of English merchants, aston- ished the members of the Privy Council; and after the creation of the Committee of Trade and Plantations, three new means of enforcement were determined upon. (1) A commission was to be sent to all colonial governors, authorizing them to enforce the Acts of Trade. (2) Special customs officers were to be established in Massachusetts, and the ports of the colony were to be blockaded in case of any resistance. (3) The cap- tains of royal frigates were to be empowered to stop suspected vessels, seize offenders, and bring them to trial.
These provisions were more easily framed than carried out. If the commission was sent out, the records of the Privy Council are silent as to its work. Captains of such royal fri- gates as came to American waters were instructed "to appre- hend and take vessels trading illegally"; but several years passed before this means of enforcing the Acts could be re- lied upon. It was necessary, however, that some measures be take to reduce an illegal trade so open and so extensive that it could scarcely be termed smuggling. Current reports on this trade recommended that the action be prompt. In the same year, therefore, the Lords of Trade commissioned Edward Randolph to come to Boston, the center of New England ship-
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ping, to investigate the trade of Massachusetts and to report on the enforcement of the Acts of Trade.
ATTEMPTS TO ENFORCE THE ACTS OF TRADE
Randolph's detailed reports to the Lords of Trade, to- gether with the complaints lodged by English traders about the same time, give insight into the extent to which the trade of the colony had grown. In January, 1676, a group of 28 English merchants protested at the custom of Massachusetts merchants in trading direct to Europe and selling European goods in the American colonies at prices with which the English were unable to compete. To this complaint the silk weavers of London appended the statement that they were being ruined by the Massachusetts traders, who, not paying any duties, were depriving the English customs of at least £60,000 per annum. In April, 1676, several English mer- chants acquainted with the New England trade testified before the Lords of Trade that there was much direct trade between Massachusetts and the continent of Europe on which no cus- toms duties were paid, enabling the colonial merchants to undersell English traders by 20%.
Edward Randolph went into greater detail. The Massa- chusetts towns, he said, traded extensively with most parts of the western world and to a large extent. "They violate all the Acts of Trade and Navigation," he continued, "by which they have engrossed the greatest part of the West India trade, whereby your Majesty is damnified in the customs £100,000 yearly, and the Kingdom much more." In June, 1676, he wrote that within the space of one week there had arrived in Boston without paying customs, "a Bostoner from Nantes, 100 tons laden with 50 butts brandy and French commodities ; a pink of Boston from France, of 70 tons, with 12 tun of wine, brandy, 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, this day a ketch of Southampton from Canary, the contents and burthen I do not know." What cargoes had meanwhile come into the Pisca- taqua river he could not say.
Randolph's investigations also disclosed the fact that not all of the Massachusetts trade was overseas. "The Boston
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people," he said, in a report in 1676, "continue a private trade with the French and Indians and openly keep on their fishing on the coast of Arcadia, though forbidden by the French King's Lieutenant." "The Boston Government," Randolph continues, "impose on the French and encourage an inter- loping trade, causing to the inhabitant dread of a French in- vasion, and they look at the French with an evil eye, believing they had a hand in the Indian wars." As a corrective for all of these flagrant violations, Randolph "was assured by those that well understood the affairs of the country that 3 frigates of 40 guns, with 3 ketches well manned, lying a league or two below Boston, with express orders to seize all shipping and perform other acts of hostility against these revolters, would bring them to the King's terms, and do more in a week than all the orders of King and Council in seven years."
In consequence of these and other disclosures, the Lords of Trade found it advisable to take more drastic action than be- fore. In July, 1678, at his own request, Randolph was given a commission under the Lord Treasurer's seal as Collector and Surveyor of the Customs in New England. The powers given him were extensive. He was to reside in Boston and appoint deputies in the other ports of New England as need arose. He was to enforce the Acts of Trade, collect duties, receive oaths and bonds, inspect ships and seize those smuggling, put an end to smuggling, keep accounts of money received and spent, and give an account of his work at least twice per year. At the same time the Massachusetts government received a noti- fication of the appointment, together with the command to as- sist him in any way possible.
In his capacity as Collector, Randolph arrived in Boston in 1679, and immediately set about stopping illegal trade, while gathering evidence to be used in attacking the colony's char- ter. During his residence of nearly two years Randolph tried in every way to execute his commission. In almost every in- stance he was balked. For example, in attempting to seize the pink Expectation, of Boston, its master had Randolph ar- rested for the action, and Governor Bradstreet caused his personal bond to be taken for £800. He was denied an attor- ney, and was admitted to the colonial courts only in the capac- ity of a private individual and an informer, and was unable
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to bring any real evidence against offenders, "everyone appear- ing for me being accounted an enemy to this countrey." Al- though he had three clear counts against the Expectation, the case was lost because the passengers on the vessel gave per- jured testimony, and the jury consisted either of Boston mer- chants or masters of ships.
Positive as well as negative methods interfered with convic- tions. His servant, who was guarding a warehouse on one occasion, was severely beaten. One of his deputies was chased from his home, "not from any averseness or dislike to me," he said, "but only because I am come upon such an unwelcome er- rand so destructive to their privilege and interest." He himself was threatened with bodily injury on several occasions; and in one instance, the master of a vessel he was undertaking to seize fired on the royal flag he bore. Several vessels against which he tried to take action were removed before the seizure was complete. Even the Governor, he averred, cooperated with the illegal traders by granting them false passes. The ships themselves, he said, "change names and masters as often as they please."
In December, 1680, Randolph despatched to the Lords of Trade a "List of Ships and Goods seized in His Majesty's name by E. Randolph in Boston, Salem, Piscataqua, and Prov- ince of Maine" in the period since March of that year. This recounted the seizure of or action against eight ships and their masters, on good grounds of violation. Of these, five were cleared by jury, one was given a rehearing, one master of a vessel was fined £40 for opposing a royal officer (though the fine was retained by the colonial government), and one master was fined £10 for firing on the royal flag. Both of these last cases were dismissed so far as respected charges of illegal trading. In three instances, damages were awarded against the crown, i.e., against Randolph, who appears to have been held personally responsible for sums varying from 13s. to £800. Two cases of seizure of goods from ships and ware- houses were decided by colonial juries against the Collector.
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