Merchant Convoys

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=185 BGCOLOR="#003333" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="040b9c00dduajq.jpg"> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="70" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 76 WIDTH="66"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="76" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="66" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFBF0" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Falmouth Packet Archives 1688-1850</B></FONT>    |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Falmouth Packet Archives 16881850"><U>home</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id173.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Health"><U>Health</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id175.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Steam "><U>Steam </U></A>   |   <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Freemasonry"><U>Freemasonry</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id188.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="HRH Prince of Wales Masonic Ceremony at"><U>HRH Prince of Wales & Masonic Ceremony at Truro Cathedral 1880 & 1887</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id124.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Cartels Prisoners"><U>Cartels & Prisoners</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id115.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lighthouses Navigation"><U>Lighthouses & Navigation</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id109.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Piracy "><U>Piracy </U></A>   |   <A HREF="id71.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Smuggling "><U>Smuggling </U></A>   |   <A HREF="id72.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Customs Excise"><U>Customs & Excise</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id75.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="British Navy"><U>British Navy</U></A>   |   <B>Merchant Convoys</B>   |   <A HREF="id78.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="American Navy"><U>American Navy</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id77.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="France Navy, Privateers, Convoys"><U>France - Navy, Privateers, Convoys</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id108.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="French Pacquets"><U>French Pacquets</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id149.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Trinity House"><U>Trinity House</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id56.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Philatelic "><U>Philatelic </U></A>   |   <A HREF="id129.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Genealogy"><U>Genealogy</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id158.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dress of the Packet era"><U>Dress of the Packet era</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id117.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sailing (Racing)"><U>Sailing (Racing)</U></A></div> <div> Merchant Convoys</div> <div> Slow and vulnerable, but economically essential to nations and their colonies.  The seasonal 'fleets' were convoyed by armed naval vessels, at the request and, often, the cost of merchants and shipowners who were constantly protesting the vulnerability of their cargoes.</div> <bR> <div> The packets carried communications, which would be published in the City of London, concerning weather and the state of crops in the colonies; political and military news; reports of shipping arrivals and losses, etc.,  all which impacted on insurance rates and commodity prices. In evidence;</div> <bR> <div> <B>1757</B>: <A HREF="http://earlyamerica.com/lives/franklin/chapt14/index.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://earlyamerica.com/lives/franklin/c"><U><I>Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin</I></U></A> (Ch. 14)</div> <div> Another paquet arriv'd; [May 1757, at New York] she too was detain'd; and, before we sail'd, a fourth was expected. Ours was the first to be dispatch'd, as having been there longest. <B>Passengers were engag'd in all, and some extremely impatient to be gone, and the merchants uneasy about their letters*, and the orders they had given for insurance (it being war time) for fall goods</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>! </B></FONT></div> <div> <B>A good example of the lead time for orders and dependence upon obtaining insurance against loss during periods of war</B>, <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Arial" >(Seven Years War, England & France)</FONT></div> <div> [*probably refers to <B>Letters of Credit</B>, at risk of becoming out of date through delays at New York]</div> <bR> <bR> <div> In periods of war, the packets were frequently reported as sailing in company of the navy escorts for part of their voyage, to clear the areas most at risk of attack. These included the western approaches, Lisbon to Finnisterre, and the Bahamas, all areas preyed upon by armed privateers in the knowledge that there was a high probability of finding valuable and vulnerable shipping in such areas.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Not quite the perfect example, but illustrative; </B></div> <div> <B>New York, 1757</B>:<I>This daily expectation of sailing, and </I><I><B>all the three paquets going down to Sandy Hook, to join the fleet there."</B></I></div> <div>  </div> <div> One benefit the navy enjoyed was that convoy escorts regularly and <U>predictably</U> provided the strategically (regionally) stationed squadrons with serviceable vessels from England. Similarly, vessels in need of repair could be released to return for docking and maintenance. Officers often requested, and sick crew were necessarily transferred to returning escort vessels.  Many were the complaints of the effectiveness of some naval escorts, seemingly limping home in the company of a slow, laden merchant fleet.  <B>The packets often carried Admiral's messengers</B>, usually officers requesting leave, <B>with dispatches</B> outlining the state of vessels under their command, and proposals regarding selection of appropriate escorts for returning merchant fleets. Today, it seems odd that the content of such dispatches could be released to the press, in an inn or on the first leg of the 3-day post route to London. Apparently it was common for a local correspondent to hop off the carriage at Truro, having elicited news that could be in print almost as soon as it was displayed for public readership in London. Even if the detail was not disclosed, hints lead to strong editorial supposition. (Leading to retractions in later issues)</div> <bR> <div> Although correspondence was normally in triplicate, (the first copy being sent by the first, or fastest</div> <div> available vessel, normally a scheduled packet or specially dispatched naval vessel), <B>merchant vessels carried 'ship letters' </B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FF0033" FACE="Arial" ><B>* </B></FONT>collected from taverns and similarly delivered to well known collection points, with payment methods varying, but including 'upon delivery'.  This often meant 'upon acceptance.'  Until postal monopolies were established, and captains were obliged to deliver ships letters immediately upon arrival to the nearest post office, the arrival of  a 'single' (just one folded 'onionskin' sheet) letter was enough to inform the recipient that the sender was obviously well..... resulting in 'wise' recipients declining to pay for postage. So, partial postage would be demanded up front to pay the ship's captain; but the proportion, often a low as 25%, reflected the likelihood of it reaching the addressee.</div> <div>  <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FF0033" FACE="Arial" >*</FONT> "<I>A History of Ship Letters of the British Isles </I><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><I>(an Encyclopedia of Maritime Postal History)</I></FONT> by Alan W. Robertson. Falmouth Reference Library has a copy.</div> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Cuttings</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Franklin on </B><B>Loudoun</B>: "Instead of defending the colonies with his great army, left them totally expos'd while he paraded idly at Halifax, by which means Fort George was lost, besides, he derang'd all our mercantile operations, and distress'd our trade, by a long embargo on the exportation of provisions, on pretence of keeping supplies from being obtain'd by the enemy, but in reality for beating down their price in favor of the contractors, in whose profits, it was said, perhaps from suspicion only, he had a share. And, when at length the embargo was taken off, by neglecting to send notice of it to Charlestown, the <B>Carolina fleet</B> was detain'd near three months longer, whereby<B> their bottoms were so much damaged by the worm that a great part of them foundered in their passage home</B>. [Qf <I>Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin</I>, Chapter 14. (<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://earlyamerica.com/lives/franklin/chapt14/index.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://earlyamerica.com/lives/franklin/c"><U>1793 transcript</U></A></FONT>)  ]</div> <bR> <bR> <div> SM 24/5/1779: Whitehall May 20; Yesterday arrived a mail from the West Indies brought by his Majesty's packet-boat the <I>Duke of Cumberland</I>, Capt. Mitchell, in 44 days to Falmouth. [ID 2393]  By her we learn the West Indies [merchant convoy] fleet sailed three weeks before the packet, and therefore are hourly expected to arrive.</div> <bR> <div> SM 18/9/1779: By the packet, a letter from Antigua, August 8th. Antigua put under Marshall Law.  "Several laden ships, which were to have sailed on Aug. 1st from the Leeward islands, have stolen out, and are on their passage home without convoy".</div> <bR> <div> SM 22/7/1799: London, July 20.</div> <div> Two of the Jamaica fleet have arrived at an out-port. The whole, consisting of nearly 200 sail, we hope soon to be able to announce as safe in the Channel.  The <I>Hebe</I>, Thatcher, is arrived at Bristol.  She parted with the fleet on 3rd of June.</div> <div> Same edition:Married, John Wheately Esq., second son of W. Wheately Esq., of Lrsuey [sp?] in Kent, to Miss Georgina Lushington, daughter of W. Lushington Esq. M.P.</div> <div> [Note: SM 14/7/1799 gives an interesting account of an armed attack on a merchant vessel, the <I>Benjamin and Elizabeth</I>, 'one of the most valuable of this season from Grenada, and belonging to Alderman Lushington' - one of the homeward West India fleet, boarded in fog off Dover, by crews of  two French Luggers <I>(Flying Fish</I> of Boulogne, with 32 men, and <I>Impregnable</I> of Calais, with 45 men) and retaken by H.M. Sloop<I> Racoon,</I> Captain Lloyd.]</div> <bR> <div> SM Monday December 2<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >nd</FONT> 1799: Falmouth, November 28th. </div> <div> <B>The fleets for Lisbon, Oporto and the Mediterranean, passed this port on Friday last</B> [22nd].</div> <div> They were joined by several vessels, which waited their arrival here.</div> <div> The <I>Prince of Wales</I> packet which arrived on Monday [25th] from Lisbon, brought accounts of the arrival there, of a large French privateer, prize to the <I>Flora</I> frigate.The <I>King George</I> packet sailed on Monday last [25th] for Lisbon.</div> <bR> <div> SM Monday December 9th 1799: Extract of a letter from Falmouth December 5th.</div> <div> The <I>Weymouth</I> packet arrived on Sunday last [1st] from Jamaica.</div> <div> The <I>Prince Adolphus</I> packet sailed for Lisbon Sunday last, then on the same day the <I>Princess Royal </I>sailed for the Windward Islands.</div> <div> The <I>Lady Jane</I> cutter came in on Tuesday last [3rd]<B>, </B>with<B> dispatches from the fleet </B>under the command of Lord Bridport, which she left off the Lizard. They were seen this afternoon off the Deadman Point. [Note: This implies the convoy was making backwards progress...]</div> <bR> <div> SM Monday January 13th 1800: Extract of a letter from Falmouth January 9th</div> <div> The<I> King George </I>and <I>Prince Adolphus</I> packets arrived since my last from Lisbon.</div> <div> The <I>King George</I> was <B>24 days</B> on her passage. The <I>Prince of Wales </I>packet has since arrived from Lisbon, after a passage of only<B> 4 days</B>.</div> <div> A few days previous to the <I>Prince of Wales</I> sailing from Lisbon, <B>the homeward bound fleets from thence sailed , under convoy of the </B><I><B>Arethosa</B></I><B> frigate.</B></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>