The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts. 1630-1880, Vol. IV, Part 28

Author: Winsor, Justin, 1831-1897, ed; Jewett, C. F. (Clarence F.), publisher
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Boston : Osgood
Number of Pages: 760

USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts. 1630-1880, Vol. IV > Part 28

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" November 17, 1814.

"We hear that the 'Jacob Jones' went safely into Canton, and presume she may be despatched before the river is blockaded. In such case, she ought to be here at the time appointed, unless captured. Our coast is closely invested, and the hazard of getting in very imminent.1 Some insurance has been done on her, owing to her being

1 The risks were great, and so were the pos- sible profits. A son of Colonel Perkins sailed for China during the war "in a private armed ship that was prepared to fight her way for a rich cargo," and this she did literally and suc- cessfully. The ship "Sally " arrived in the bay without knowing of the war. Two British

frigates were off the harbor ; she received advice from a fishing boat, and ran into Plymouth. Her cargo was brought by land to Boston. The arrival of the schooner " Russell " at New Bed- ford, ninety-two days from Canton, is reported in the Columbian Centinel, April 5, 1815, and it is said: "Information had been received at

219

THE TRADE, COMMERCE, ETC., OF BOSTON.

a war-built vessel and having the reputation of being a swift sailer, at fifty per cent, but very little can be had. We have only $8,000 written at present, and fear we shall not be able to effect more by safe men, even at that. Vessels built before the war cannot be insured at seventy-five per cent, which premium has been given on prizes taken near this coast and ordered in. Owing to the decline of public credit conse- quent on a continuance of the war, and the many failures which have taken place, it is extremely difficult to effect sales of any sort except for immediate consumption, and those are made only for cash, no one being inclined to sell on credit at this critical juncture. . .. Public funds here (six per cent) are down to sixty-five, and growing worse. Nothing but peace can prevent an utter downfall of governmental credit and means. We have no expectation that the duties will be reduced for several years, if at all.1 Keep the 'Levant ' safe in port till you hear of peace. Then she may do well with black teas for European markets." 2

There had been a wide divergence of opinion in the country on the questions of declaring and continuing the war; but there was no difference in the spirit with which the news of peace was welcomed by the people of both parties and of all classes. Mr. Silsbee says: "The news was received with demonstrations of universal joy in every part of the country." Colonel Perkins was in Washington with two other commissioners from Massachu- setts, and he wrote from that city, Feb. 16, 1815, to Mr. John P. Cushing : "The joyful event of peace has suspended the mission on which I came. You will hear with delight of this event. No sacrifice is made of terri- tory or commercial rights. It is a treaty formed on the basis of that of 1783. . . . I trust I shall never see another war."

We can almost hear the hum of the reviving industries as we read the announcements which now appeared in the papers of the day : -

February 18. "The lights in the light-houses off this harbor and Cape Ann have recommenced by order of Government. The moderate weather, which we hope is now commencing, will raise the ice blockade of this and other harbors, and permit the numerous vessels now preparing for sea to spread their white canvas to the gale."

" Since the arrival of the peace news, the vessels in this port have been actively preparing for sea."

"The first effects of peace have been seen in the rapid declension in the price of foreign goods, West India produce, etc. In New York, sugars have fallen 100 % (sic), teas from 75 to 100 %."

March II. " Many gallant vessels have left port on voyages, and others are in stages of readiness. The beautiful ships ' Liverpool Packet' and ' Milo' will un-

Canton from Columbia River of the capture of ship 'Charon,' Whittemore, of Boston, with her cargo of furs, and ship 'Isabella,' Davis, of Boston, particulars not known. All the Ameri; can vessels on the Northwest Coast were con- sidered as lost or in danger of capture. The establishment at Columbia River had been bro- ken up."

Captain Black, of the British sloop of war · " Raccoon," took formal possession of Astoria in the name of the King, Dec. 12, 1813. The

ships "Jacob Jones " and "Levant" are re- ported as being at Canton, Dec. 26, 1814; and the ships "Levant " and "New Packet." and the brig "Brutus,"-all of Boston, - Feb. 27, 1815.

1 The duties on all merchandise were doubled on the breaking out of the war. Hyson teas paid sixty-four cents a pound; Young Hyson skin, forty cents ; Souchong and Congo, twenty- four cents.

2 Memoir of Thomas H. Perkins, pp. 298-300.

220

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

loose their sails to-morrow, if the wind will permit. The elegant new ship 'Galen ' will sail for London in all the month. Vessels which now sail for any European ports cannot run into danger." 1

Mr. Abbott Lawrence was one of the passengers in the " Milo" for Liverpool. He managed to ship his first English purchases by her on her return trip, and they reached Boston and were sold within ninety days from the time of his departure.2

Of the many other Boston merchants of this period of returning pros- perity, worthy then, and not forgotten now, the shipping record3 of the

1 Columbian Centinel.

2 Mr. Amos Lawrence began business in Boston in December, 1807. His brother Abbott came here in 1808; and the firm of A. & A. Lawrence was formed Jan. 1, 1815. The first set of books by double entry in Boston was opened in their counting-house in 1816 or 1817. They occupied for many years a store in what is now known as Cornhill, but which was called Market Street when it was laid out in 1817, until the year 1828. They then moved to 11 Liberty Square, and later to Milk Street, on the corner of Bath Street, - a locality which was obliterated by the changes which followed the fire of 1872.

Bath Street was first called Tanner's Lane, and afterward (until 1807) Horn Lane, because of its crookedness. Drake's History and Anti- quities of Boston, pp. 811, 813, 817.

[A Lawrence tabular pedigree, by H. G. Som- erby, was printed in 1856; also in the N. E. Hist. and Geneal. Reg., October, 1856, in con- nection with a memoir of Abbott Lawrence ; and The Genealogy of the Family of John Law- rence, Boston, 1857, and third edition, 1869, also covers the ancestry of the well known Boston merchants of this name. Their lives are also traced in Hunt's 'American Merchants. - ED.]

8 The new and superior ship "Canton," B. P. Tilden, supercargo, was advertised for Can- ton by Benjamin Rich, 75 Long Wharf, to have immediate despatch. The ship "Hope," Cap- tain Bachelder, sailed for Calcutta April 1, 1815. On the fourth of the same month the ship " Flor de Brazil," Silva, from Pernambuco, via Bermuda, arrived with a cargo of molasses and sugar, consigned to Ropes, Pickman, & Co .; and. a few days later the brig "New Hazard," Endicott, came in from Matanzas, with thirty- eight thousand gallons of molasses to the same firm. The name of this brig is suggestive of the perils from which our commerce had just escaped; so is that of the schooner " Catch-me- if-you-can," which arrived at the same time from Baltimore, with a cargo of flour consigned to Hall & Thacher. (Columbian Centincl, April 8, 1815.) The first arrival from Liverpool after the peace was reported May 3,-the British ship

"Kingston," Captain Smith, with "dry-goods, crates, hardware, pig-iron, and lead, to David Hinckley, Giles Lodge, Daniel Hastings, and others.".

" This day (Monday, May 3d) arrived and fired salutes the fine letter-of-marque brig ' Rambler,' Captain Edes, and ship ‘Jacob Jones,' Captain Robarts, both in 108 days from Canton, with rich cargoes of silk, teas, and other articles, to the Messrs. Perkins, Bryant & Stur- gis, Mr. B. Rich, etc. They escaped dashingly the British blockading squadron, consisting of the 'Grampus,' 50, and ' Owen Glendower,' who had long been watching for them." (Columbian Centinel, May 10, 1815.) Mr. Thomas H. Per- kins, Jr., and Mr. Edes came passengers in the " Jacob Jones." The cargo of the " Rambler" consisted of Canton crapes, sewing-silk, black- fringed handkerchiefs, dimitics, sarcenets, rib- bons, pongees, teas, cassia, and six thousand walking-sticks.

A few days later the letter-of-marque schoon- er "Tamaahmaah," Captain Porter, arrived from the Northwest Coast, September, IS13, and one hundred and fifteen days from Canton, with a full cargo of teas, nankeens, cassia, alum, etc. She had sailed from Boston in the month of February, 1813, with supplies for various vessels on the coast, and to give them information of the war. These Canton cargoes were sold at auction immediately on their arrival, in accord- ance with the custom of the trade.

On the 17th of May fifty-three vessels arrived " coastwise," with large quantities of flour, to- bacco, hemp, molasses, whiskey, rice, oil, tar, coal, sugar, corn, gin, candles, grindstones, turpentine, plaster, oysters, etc., consigned to numerous mer- chants. May 19, arrived Swedish ship " Mer- curius," forty-eight days from Liverpool, with dry-goods, hardware, tin-plates, coals, crates, etc. ; also the Russian ship " Alexander," fifty- one days from Lisbon, with salt, bar-iron, duck, and corkwood. May 27, arrived the British brig " Speedy," fifty six days from Liverpool, with dry-goods, hardware, shot, iron, crockery- ware, to Andrew Elliot, C. R. Codman, Trott & Bumstead, O. Everett, Lewis Tappan & Co., J .. Sewall, J. Carter, S. G. Perkins, H. Higgin-

221

THE TRADE, COMMERCE, ETC., OF BOSTON.

Centinel makes frequent mention; but space is wanting here to enlarge upon their careers.

Soon after the war the export trade in ice was started and carried for- ward under the enterprise of Mr. Frederic Tudor. In the winter of 1805-6 Mr. Tudor had taken a cargo to Martinique, and although the venture had

son, John Tappan, F. Cabot, S. Torrey & Son, B. & C. Adams, K. Boott & Son, Rice & Read, T. Cordis. The ship " Milo," Glover, arrived from Liverpool June 3. The passengers by the " Milo" were "James Creighton, Esq. of New York, Bearer of Despatches to the Government from our late Commissioners at Ghent ; " also, Gustavus Tuckerman, Joseph B. Henshaw, Ralph B. Forbes, and others. The "Liver- pool Packet," Nichols, and "Roscoe," Amory, arrived on the fifth, with assorted cargoes to a large number of consignees. Among those who advertised dry-goods received by these vessels were Tuckerman, Rogers & Cushing, Benjamin C. Ward & Co., John Grew, Lane & Lamson, Henry Gassett & Co., Isaac Osgood, Phineas Foster, James Read. Those who ad- vertised hardware were J. & E. Phillips, Sam- uel May, Charles Scudder, John Bradford, Fair- banks & Burbeck. June 7, arrived schooner " Union," of Beverly, forty-four days from Lis- bon, with lemons, salt, duck, etc., to Ray & Gray ; and the British schooner "Matchless," fifty-four days from London, with a cargo of cordage, duck, porter, iron, copperas, tin, steel, alum, crockery, paints, chalk, whiting, and thirty piano- fortes.

The brig "Panther," Lewis, cleared for Liv- erpool and the northwest coast of America June 8. " The fine new ship 'Union,' of six hundred and nineteen tons, belonging to the Hon. Mr. Gray, sailed from the outer roads on Monday last (June 5th), for Calcutta." Mr. William Gray had moved to Boston from Salem in 1809. [See his portrait in the chapter on " Finance."- ED.]

July 13, arrived ship " Hannibal," Burgess, fifty-five days from Liverpool, with an assorted cargo; she brought about two thousand letters. On the same day, ship "Beverly," Edes, was cleared for Canton. July 20, arrived brig " Mary," from Gottenburg, with iron, steel, block-tin, hones, slates, pencils, brass and card wire, pins, camphor, copperas, flats for hats, and dry-goods, to Walley & Foster, T. Williams, E. & J. Breed, and Beckford & Bates. The junior member of this last firm was Joshua Bates, who went to Europe in 1816, as Mr. Gray's agent, and afterward became a member of the firm of Baring Brothers & Co., London. From a brief outline by Mr. Bates of his earlier history, drawn off by years, we make the following extract : 1803 to 1812, with William Rufus Gray, in Bos-

ton and Charlestown ; 1813 to 1815, Beckford & Bates ; 1816 to 1819, William Gray's agent in Europe; 1828, joined Baring Brothers & Co. [See the chapter on " Libraries." - ED.]

Cleared, August 21, ship " Jacob Jones," Oxnard, for Canton ; and 23d, ship "Sultan," Reynolds, for the Northwest Coast and Canton ; the latter by Boardman & Pope. Arrived, Au- gust 25, ship " John Adams." Downing, forty- three days from Liverpool, with assorted cargo, to Walley & Foster, owners, and others; Sep- tember 7, ship "New Packet," Bacon, from Canton, with teas and cassia to Ropes, Pick- man, & Co.

Among the prominent business men of the day, besides those whose names have been already mentioned, were Samuel Parkman, Rob- ert G. Shaw, John Parker & Sons, Israel Thorn- dike, Thomas C. Amory & Co., Thomas Wig- glesworth, Isaac. Winslow, James Ingersoll, Josiah Bradlee, and Cornelius Coolidge & Co. The leading auctioneers were Plimpton & Marett, Whitwell & Bond, T. K Jones & Co., and Coolidge, Deblois, & Co. How nobly these men and their fellow-merchants had maintained, as a whole, their financial position and the credit of the town, during all the vicissitudes of the previous decade, is illustrated by the following paragraph which we find in the Columbian Centincl, July 12, 1815 : -

"In many of the Southern prices-current, gold and silver and Boston bank-bills are quoted at the same prices, and from twelve to sixteen per cent above their own bank- paper."

Mr. Bromfield was proud of the financial position maintained by New England during the war with Great Britain from 1812 to 1815, at a time when all south and west of her borders failed to fulfil their engagements, and suffered dishonor ; "but he was sadly troubled and deeply mortified at the course taken in 1837, when, in a time of profound peace and apparent prosperity, all the moneyed institutions in the country sus- pended payment, not as they alleged, but be- cause they chose to consider it for the public good that they should violate their engagements and refuse to pay their debts."- Lives of Ameri- can Merchants, ii. 478, 479.

The taxable valuation of Boston rose, be- tween the years 1810 and 1820, from $18, 500,000 to $38,000,000. In the period from 1800 to ISIo it had increased only from $15,000,000 to $18,500,000.

222

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

not been a pecuniary success, it had been demonstrated that this article could be carried to a warm climate. After the war the British Govern- ment offered him the monopoly, for a term of years, for Jamaica, upon certain conditions, which were readily acceded to; and further encouraged him by releasing all ships bringing ice from port charges. The first promi- nent and permanent establishment of ice-houses in the West Indies was at Kingston. Soon after the monopoly was secured for Havana, and liberal concessions were made for the introduction of ice into other ports in Cuba. The first cargo for Charleston was shipped in 1817, and ice-houses were established in Savannah in 1818, and in New Orleans in 1820.

In May, 1833, at the request of English and American merchants resi- dent in Calcutta, Mr. Tudor sent a small cargo, about two hundred tons, to that port. "The result, like that of the first shipment to the West Indies, was not a pecuniary success; but it proved that ice brought twenty thousand miles could, with all the attendant waste and loss, successfully compete in prices with that prepared by the natives." The result was the establishment of a trade which steadily increased in volume and import- ance, and which, for many years, enabled Boston "to hold the key to the rich and extensive commerce between Calcutta and the United States."

A cargo was sent to Rio Janeiro in 1834. In 1842 Messrs. Gage, Hit- · tinger, & Co. shipped a cargo to London in the bark "Sharon," but it was not a success; and subsequent attempts to introduce the American article into that market were not more fortunate. In 1855 twelve companies were engaged in the business in and about Boston; and the estimated value of the plant, including ponds, ice-houses, wharves, and tools, was $600,000. The quantity shipped to the East Indies in 1857 was ten or eleven thousand tons, and during the next two or three years it increased to twenty thou- sand. In 1867 it reached twenty-seven thousand tons, and then gradually fell away, until now the annual shipment has declined to one or two thou- sand tons, The total export of ice from Boston, foreign and coastwise, according to the Custom-House returns, was one hundred and forty-two thousand four hundred and sixty-three tons in 1860, which was the highest point reached. In 1865 it was one hundred and thirty-one thousand two hundred and seventy-five; and in 1866, one hundred and twenty-four thou- sand seven hundred and fifty-one tons. Of late years it has been fifty or sixty thousand tons per annum.1

In this connection it will be appropriate to give some particulars about the Calcutta trade. We have seen that in the year 1800 twelve vessels were loaded at Calcutta in one season for the United States, with cargoes valued altogether at about $2,400,000. These cargoes consisted largely of cotton and silk manufactures. In 1840 twenty-one vessels arrived with Calcutta cargoes, amounting in quantity to seventeen thousand tons, and in value

1 See Reports of the Boston Board of Trade ; letter on the " History of the Ice Trade," in also an article on "Ice," by F. H. Forbes, in the Massachusetts Historical Society's Proceedings, Scribner's Monthly, x. 462-470; and F. Tudor's January, 1856.

223

THE TRADE, COMMERCE, ETC., OF BOSTON.

(first cost and freight money) to $1,250,000. The tonnage had increased, but the value had been reduced by one half, owing to the change in the character of the goods imported. The trade steadily increased until, in 1857, one hundred and twenty-two ships were loaded at Calcutta for the United States, bringing one hundred and eighty-nine thousand two hundred and sixty-seven tons, valued at $17,000,000. The following table will show how Boston controlled this trade at the period of its greatest development 1: -

YEAR.

BOSTON.

NEW YORK.

18 56

78 ships.

110,113 tons.

14 ships.

20,813 tons.

1857

147,13I

37,055

„

1858

86,013

25,801

1859

141,825

26,234

From and after 1859 New York began to gain upon Boston; but it was not until 1867 that the tonnage imported at the former city actually exceeded that at the latter.2

The Russia trade of Boston deserves special mention. We find the arrival of a ship from Riga reported as early as Dec. 25, 1783. In the summer of 1784 Mr. Derby of Salem sent his barque, the "Light Horse," from that port to St. Petersburg, the first vessel to go there from New England. The ship "Thomas and Nancy" arrived at Boston from St. Petersburg Aug. 31, 1786; and the ship " Garrick " Nov. 15, 1787. Mr. George Cabot once said: "The hemp, iron, and duck brought from Rus- sia have been to our fisheries and navigation like seed to a crop." But for many years the trade was carried on at a disadvantage. The same intelligent merchant, writing to Colonel Pickering in 1806, remarked : " In Russia we sell little or nothing, and buy to a great amount. We go there dead-freighted, and pay all in cash, or rather in bills on London, bet- ter to us than money, having cost us a considerable premium in Spain or elsewhere." 3

After the War of 1812, American vessels began to go to Havana and Matanzas to load with sugar for Cronstadt, the port of St. Petersburg, and

1 See Reports to the Boston Board of Trade, by J. R. Lee.

2 Tonnage imported from Calcutta to both cities, from 1862 to 1867 :-

Boston.

New York.

1862

40,786

19,705

1863

31,416

22,142

1864

37,845

17,989

1865

29,213

13,711

1866

50,622

45,371

1867

74,094

85,073

We have an illustration of the changes which take place in trade in the course of time, in the history of the importation of gunny-bags and

gunny-cloth. In 1840 the quantity was less than five thousand bales ; in' 1856 it was ninety thou- sand bales ; in 1859, eighty-seven thousand; in 1860, eighty-eight thousand; and in 1867, eighty- six thousand. The importation has since almost entirely ceased.

8 In the same letter, Mr. Cabot said that in the trade with Spain and the south of Europe American merchants were selling much more than they bought, and there was often a loss, because the ships had to come home dead- freighted. Life and Letters of George Cabot, p. 358.

224

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

to return with Russia cargoes to Boston and New York. Among the articles brought were hemp, bolt-rope, cordage, oakum or turned hemp, codilla, occasionally flax and flax-tow, junk both for oakum and paper, sail-cloth, ravensduck, diaper, crash, bar-iron, sheet-iron, feathers, down, horse-hair, hogs' hair, felt of cows' hair, occasionally red leather, canthar- ides, and China rhubarb. In 1829 Mr. William Ropes, previously of the firms of Ropes, Pickman, & Co., Ropes & Ward, and Ropes, Reed, & Co., made a voyage, by way of Havana, to Cronstadt, as supercargo in the ship "Courser," and was so favorably impressed with the prospect for business there, that after another voyage he removed, in 1832, with his family to St. Petersburg, and established the house of William Ropes & Co., which still. continues. Mr. Ropes was the first to import cotton from the United States direct into Russia. Among other Boston merchants engaged in this trade were Curtis & Stevenson, Robert B. Storer, Josiah Bradlee, and John Dwyer. It was extensive and profitable for many years. Since the development of native industry in Russia, and the adoption of an extreme protective policy there as well as in the United States, the mutual trade between the two countries has been nearly destroyed. In 1857 twenty-three cargoes arrived from Russia at Boston, against eight at New York.

From 1820 to 1830 the trade of Boston, both foreign and domestic, grew and advanced steadily; and from 1830 to 1840 it prospered still more. This prosperity was only temporarily and slightly checked by the general disasters of 1837. During this latter period the taxable valuation increased fifty per cent; 1 and the arrivals of shipping from abroad were more than doubled, the ratio of increase being much greater in this particular than at New York or Philadelphia.2 The railroads to Providence, Lowell, and Worcester were built, and the line from Worcester to the Hudson River was almost completed. But the succeeding decade was still more pros- perous, and in its development was one of the most marked in the history of Boston. This was the result of the energy and public spirit with which its business men had pushed the work of railway construction, and of the opening of steam communication with Liverpool by the ships of the Cunard Company.

In 1838, after the successful passages of the " Sirius " and " Great West- ern " across the Atlantic and back again, the British Government advertised for tenders for the conveyance of the mails, by steam, between England and North America. Mr. Samuel Cunard of Halifax went to England,

1 We give below the valuation of Boston in 1800, and in every tenth year since :-

1800

$15,095,700

1810

18,450,500

1820

38,289,200

1830

59,586,000

1840

94,581,600

1850

180,000,500

1830

1,510

642

415

1870

584,089,400

1880

639,089, 200

These figures show that the valuation of Boston has doubled itself in three decades of the present century, - from 1810 to 1820; from 1840 to 1850 ; and from 1860 to 1870.

2 Arrivals from foreign ports at the three cities : -

New York.

Boston.

Phila.

1860

276,861,000

1840

. 1,953

1,628 538

- Boston Daily Advertiser, Jan. 6, 1844.

225 ·

THE TRADE, COMMERCE, ETC., OF BOSTON.

concluded a contract arrangement with the Government, and then put him- self in the hands of Mr. Robert Napier, the great marine engineer, by whom he was introduced to the Messrs. Burns of Glasgow, and the Messrs. MacIver of Liverpool. These firms were running steamboat lines between the two cities, in active competition with each other. Mr. Cunard and they united forces, and what is known now as the Cunard Company was the result.1 Four vessels were built, with as little delay as possible, each of twelve hundred tons gross register, and four hundred and forty horse power. A pioneer steamer, the " Unicorn," which was to be kept in reserve at Halifax, sailed from Liverpool May 18, 1840; and the " Britannia," the first of the regular line, on the 4th of July following. Boston had been selected as the American port of destination, and it continued to be so exclusively until 1848, when a service from New York was begun by the " Hibernia " sailing on the Ist of January of that year. These first vessels were paddle-wheel steamers, and as the engines then in use made it neces- sary to take large quantities of coal on board, there was little room for general cargo.2

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The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts. 1630-1880, Vol. IV, Part 28

Author: Winsor, Justin, 1831-1897, ed; Jewett, C. F. (Clarence F.), publisher Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Boston : Osgood Number of Pages: 760

Author: Winsor, Justin, 1831-1897, ed; Jewett, C. F. (Clarence F.), publisher
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Boston : Osgood
Number of Pages: 760