A Collection Transcribed
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by Edmund Berkeley, Jr.
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Summary
Letter from Robert Carter to Edward Tucker, May 11, 1727
Robert Carter writes to Weymouth merchant Edward Tucker, May 11, 1727, to enclose bills of exchange and lading (not present) and report that he expects to send the tobacco and letter on Tucker's ship, the Princess Amelia.
He reports the arrival of the Portland,
another of Tucker's ships, and thanks him for the accounts of sales. He notes reports in the colony of fighting because of the seige of Gibralter. He adds in a post script that he has lost many slaves recently, has had to buy new ones, and has drawn on Tucker in payment.
Letter from Robert Carter to Edward Tucker,
May 11, 1727
-1
-
Rappa[hannock, Lancaster County, Virginia]
May 11, 1727
Mr. Edward Tucker
Sir --
The foregoing is a Copy I now send you the several
bills of Exch:
and also a bill of Exch: of Capt: Bretts
upon you for £10:
12:1 which I desire Credit for herein Send you a bill of Lading for
8 hhds tobacco on board your Princess Amelia which I hope will
[ . . . ]
Your Portland, Captain Russell,
is arrived and my packet by
[ . . . ]
the sales of my 20 hhds by Lawrence
of their
[sales I will]
not complain believing you have made the most
of them [I am]
in hopes your next market may prove better, These
[ . . . ]
the Southam Cyder home The ship is now in the In[dian
Creek]
. Brett will best inform you of her Circumstances a [ . . . ]
[ . . . ]
from hence. Wee have many private letters of the
[fighti]
ng begun by the seige of Gibralter
but no publick Accot:
[ . . . ]
we do what we can that the ships may go out in fleets
[We have]
not thought it proper to lay an embargo till Som[e]
[instructio]
ns come from home Pray give a happy Issue to this
[ . . . ]
in the end. I am,
Sir,
Yor: most humble: Servt:
[I have]
had a griveous mortality
[among]
my familys [that]
hath Swept away
abundance of my people [I]
have bin
forcd to buy a large parcell of new Negroes
in a short time Shall be under the Obligation
of drawing upon your good Self for I beleive
about three hundred pounds.
herein is also a bill of Lading for 13 hhds: Shipt by Colonel Page
and cons'd
to you to whom you are to acco: for them and from whom no doubt you
will receive directions.
per the Princess Amelia
NOTES
Source copy consulted:
Robert Carter letter book, 1727 May-1728 July, Robert Carter Papers (acc. no. 3807), Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia. The draft is damaged along its left margin.
Robert Carter generally used a return address of "Rappahannock" for the river on which he lived rather than "Corotoman," the name of his home, on his correspondence, especially to merchants abroad. The county and colony have been added for clarity.
[1] A bill of exchange is a kind of check or promissory note without interest. It is used primarily in international trade, and is a written order by one person to pay another a specific sum on a specific date sometime in the future. If the bill of exchange is drawn on a bank, it is called a bank draft. If it is drawn on another party, it is called a trade draft. Sometimes a bill of exchange will simply be called a draft, but whereas a draft is always negotiable (transferable by endorsement), this is not necessarily true of a bill of exchange. ( "Dictionary of Financial Scam Terms" at
http://www.fraudaid.com/Dictionary-of-Financial-Scam-Terms/bill_of_exchange.htm. 8/22/2005
)
[2] John Brett commanded Tucker's ship, the Princess Amelia
which had been commanded by a Captain Lawrence until he was drowned. ( Survey Report 9729 detailing the Weymouth Port Books, Virginia Colonial Records Project, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia.
)
[2] John Russell commanded the Portland,
a vessel owned by Weymouth merchant Edward Tucker. ( Survey Report 9729 detailing the Weymouth Port Books, Virginia Colonial Records Project, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia.
)
[4] Lawrence commanded the Princess Amelia
. When the ship arrived the previous year, Carter noted in his diary on December 22, 1726, that "Captn Lawrence drownd."
[5] Indian Creek lies at the eastern tip of Lancaster County at the northern side of Fleets Bay where it is "the boundary between" Northumberland and Lancaster counties "for most of its course." and runs inland roughly northwest towards today's Kilmarnock. It probably was 6 or 7 miles from "Corotoman" by the roads of Carter's time. (Miller. Place-Names . . . .
p. 72.
)
[6] At this time, Britain was allied with France and Prussia against Spain and Austria, and the Spanish had laid siege to Gibralter; it was not successful. The conflict would end in 1729 with the treaty of Seville by which Britain obtained Gibralter. ( J. H. Plumb. England in the Eighteenth Century [1714-1815].
[Hammersmith, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1953]. pp. 64-65.
)
This text, originally posted in 2003, was revised October 18, 2011, to add footnotes, and to strengthen the modern language version text.