New-York Journal

August 21

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago this week?

Supplement to the New-York Journal (August 18, 1774).

“Sold here at 1s6 New-York money, which is little more than half the London price.”

The Adverts 250 Project previously examined an advertisement for a political tract, Considerations on the Measures Carrying On with Respect to the British Colonies in North-America, that appeared in a prominent place in the August 1, 1774, edition of the Boston-Gazette, attributing the copy to Benjamin Edes and John Gill, the printers of that newspaper and the Boston edition of the pamphlet.  Yet Edes and Gill were not the only printers to produce an American edition of Considerations, nor were they the first to advertise it.  When they did, they borrowed advertising copy that previously appeared when John Holt marketed his edition in the New-York Journal.

Holt first announced publication of a New York edition of this “Pamphlet just arrived from London” on July 21.  When Edes and Gill advertised the same pamphlet eleven days later, they used copy identical to Holt’s advertisement, embellishing it with a quotation from Phillippe de Commines that appeared on the title page of the pamphlet.  As was often the case with advertisements for books and pamphlets, the printers did not devise any of the copy on their own, except for “THIS DAY PUBLISHED, (Price 9d.) And sold by EDES and GILL, in Queen-Street.”  Holt may have written the copy that lauded the pamphlet as a “most masterly performance” against the Coercive Acts and reported on its reception in England when he first advertised the pamphlet, though he could have borrowed that overview from someone else, just as Edes and Gill appropriated it from him.  Either way, Holt did eventually make an addition to his advertisement. After it ran twice, he added a note that the pamphlet “sells in London at 1s5 sterling” yet “is sold here at 1s6 New-York money, which is little more than half the London price.”  That suggests that the initial appeals might not have been enough to convince readers to buy the tract, no matter how much they may have been interested in the arguments it made about current events.  The printer found it necessary to add an appeal to price in hopes of selling the pamphlet.  Holt and other patriot printers sought to spread the rhetoric of the American Revolution (and generate revenues for themselves in the process), but doing so required more than merely announcing political pamphlets for sale.  Their advertisements aimed to convince colonizers, even those already sympathetic to their cause, to purchase the books and pamphlets about politics and political philosophy they printed and sold.

August 4

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

New-York Journal (August 4, 1774).

“A complete collection of what may be with propriety stiled, AMERICAN STATE PAPERS.”

As the imperial crisis intensified, colonizers looked to the past as they considered their present circumstances and the future.  In the summer of 1774, an anonymous compiler issued a proposal for collecting and printing “AMERICAN STATE PAPERS” that documented the history of British North America.  The compiler acknowledged that recent events in the colonies “attract[ed] attention” and promoted “many inquiries” among the curious with “little, or no connection with the British colonies in America” as well as others with “perhaps more interested motives.”  Yet information about the history of the colonies, both the distant past and more recent events, was not readily accessible “by every person.”  Even those with means to travel in search of documents that told “the story of [the] rise and progress” of the colonies would spend more time seeking them out than reading them.  The compiler presented a published collection of “AMERICAN STATE PAPERS” as the solution, one that would make a “good American history” widely accessible while also “preserving from oblivion valuable materials” that otherwise might be lost, damaged, or destroyed.

The compiler envisioned a project that went back to “the grant from Henry 7th, to John Cabot, and his sons for making discoveries.”  It would also include “every important public paper (such as royal grants, charters, acts of parliament, &c. &c.) relating to America.”  Despite such an extensive scope, the compiler emphasized the recent past, the events that were part of the imperial crisis that colonizers currently experienced as Parliament sought to regulate trade and oversee governance much more than in the past.  The compiler considered the “history of the STAMP-ACT, and other acts of the British parliament for raising a revenue among us by internal taxation;– Resolves of the American assemblies;– Votes of town meeting;– and such political pamphlets and other fugitive pieces” worthy of preservation and inclusion.  A significant portion of this collection would be devoted to sources that told the story of the American Revolution; the compiler detailed a plan for constructing a narrative even before the war for independence began.

The proposal gave some details about the publication, indicating that it “may be comprised in five volumes octavo, and … the price of each volume, well bound and lettered, will not exceed one dollar and a half,” yet did more than call on readers to reserve copies by subscribing.  The compiler sought “friendly assistance” in acquiring documents that belonged in the collection.  To that end, he “begs that gentlemen who are possessed of proper materials for this purpose, will be kind enough to favour him with the use of them,” trusting that “they shall be carefully returned.”  The compiler then gave a list of local agents who accepted documents and “safely forwarded” them in addition to accepting subscriptions.  Printers, postmasters, and booksellers in fifteen towns in ten colonies participated in this endeavor, establishing a community of common interest across vasty distances.  The list of local agents underscored a common cause that extended across the colonies, a political project that looked to history to inform arguments about the rights and liberties that the colonies had enjoyed and should continue to experience.  The proposed collection of “AMERICAN STATE PAPERS” commodified the past, especially the decade of the imperial crisis.  It was part of the commodification of the American Revolution that occurred before the first shots at Lexington and Concord.

July 24

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago this week?

New-York Journal (July 21, 1774).

“The quick sale their fish met with here last season … being a convincing proof of their goodness.”

Bennet and Company offered a superior product that consumers did not want to miss.  That was their claim in an advertisement for “RED HERRINGS” that first appeared in the July 21, 1774, edition of the New-York Journal and continued for several weeks.  Bennet and Company began by comparing their herrings to imported alternatives, asserting that whether customers purchased them “for home consumption, or for shipping,” they would find them “as good as any imported from Europe.”  They were so confident in that claim that they “will warrant them” as such, extending a promise and a nonbinding guarantee.

Yet prospective customers did not have to take their word for it.  Bennet and Company offered other evidence to convince readers to choose their herrings over others.  They emphasized the “quick sale their fish met with here last season, both for exportation and present use.”  In addition, “the accounts received from the different parts of the West Indies … being a convincing proof of their goodness, they need no farther recommendation.”  Apparently, herrings from “BENNET and Co.’s Manufactory” in New York arrived in ports in the Caribbean at the same time as “Yarmouth red herrings” and consumers preferred the former over the latter.  Bennet and Company sought to build on that reputation.

To further make their case, they reported that “numbers of people were disappointed in the last season in being supplied with red herrings from this manufactory.”  Bennet and Company sold out before they could meet the demand for their product.  Keeping that in mind, they “acquaint[ed] the public in general, that we have a very large quantity for sale, and desire those that have occasion for any, to apply in time.”  In other words, Bennet and Company wished to serve as many customers as possible, but they could do so only while inventory lasted.  Readers had a limited time to purchase red herrings from Bennet and Company, the amount of time determined not by the producers themselves but by the speed of sales as consumers clamored for the popular product.  The advertisers highlighted demand as a strategy for inciting even greater demand.

July 17

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago this week?

New-York Journal (July 14, 1774).

“The great and daily Increase in the Number of Customers to this Paper.”

John Holt’s address to readers of the New-York Journal in the July 14, 1774, edition did not include an element that many likely expected to encounter.  It did not request that subscribers and others who owed money for goods and services provided by Holt’s printing office send payment or else face legal action.  Colonial printers frequently ran such notices, what Isaiah Thomas, printer of the Massachusetts Spy, termed a “‘dunning’ advertisement” a month earlier.  Instead, Holt expressed appreciation to his customers and expounded on the satisfaction he derived from serving the public by disseminating the news.

He also took the opportunity to promote the New-York Journal to readers who were not yet subscribers, commencing his notice by noting a “great and daily Increase in the Number of Customers to this Paper.”  Drawing attention to an increase in circulation also signaled to prospective advertisers that placing notices in the New-York Journal would be a good investment, especially since Holt’s newspaper competed with the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury and Rivington’s New -York Gazetteer.  Yet he framed the recent increase in subscribers as approval of “the Sentiments and Measures he has from Inclination and a Sense of Duty endeavoured to inculcate and promote for the public Good.”  For instance, the front page of that edition featured two items reprinted from the South-Carolina Gazette that Holt “republished both on account of the excellent sentiments they express, which are equally applicable to all the British Colonies, and to show that our brethren in South Carolina concur with the other Colonies in resenting and opposing the tyrannical acts of the British Parliament.”  The first of those editorials encouraged colonizers to “UNITE,” echoing the sentiments expressed in the “UNITE OR DIE” image that recently replaced the British coat of arms in the masthead.

Holt allowed that more customers meant “private Advantage to himself,” alluding to more revenue in his printing office, but emphasized that his editorial decisions “have been generally acceptable to all Ranks of People.”  He considered this a “double Pleasure,” while leaving no doubt that he regarded serving the public more important than earning his livelihood.  The printer asserted that “he shall ever receive more Pleasure from those Advantages he may receive in common with the Society of which he is a Member than in those peculiar to himself.”  Positioned first among the advertisements in that issue of the New-York Journal, Holt’s notice did not explicitly make demands of readers, neither to settle accounts nor to become subscribers.  Instead, the printer cultivated support for his newspapers in a more subtle manner, explaining that “the public Good” motivated his editorial perspective and gently suggesting to readers that they become patrons of a newspaper that was already increasing in circulation because “all Ranks of People” appreciated his approach to delivering news and editorials.

June 23

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

New-York Journal (June 23, 1774).

“AS USUAL, A GENERAL assortment of EUROPEAN and EAST INDIA GOODS.”

As readers perused the June 23, 1774, edition of the New-York Journal, they once again encountered Samuel Hake’s advertisements for a “GENERAL assortment of EUROPEAN and EAST INDIA GOODS, to be sold reasonably, for cash or credit.”  It was the fourth consecutive week that it appeared in that newspaper, having originated in the June 2 edition.  It was the first time, however, that the advertisement ran under a new image in the masthead.  The New-York Journal previously included the coat of arms of the United Kingdom, a lion and a unicorn flanking a shield with the words “DIEU ET MON DROIT” (“God and My Right”) on a banner beneath it.  After receiving word of the Boston Port Act that closed and blockaded the harbor until residents of that city paid for the tea destroyed during the Boston Tea Party, John Holt, the printer of the New-York Journal, selected a new image for the masthead, a snake severed into pieces with the words “UNITE OR DIE” beneath it.  Short abbreviations indicated each part of the snake represented New England or one of the other colonies.

Pennsylvania Gazette (May 9, 1754). Courtesy Library of Congress.

Holt drew inspiration from the “JOIN, or DIE” woodcut that appeared in Benjamin Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette twenty years earlier on May 9, 1754.  At that time, the American colonies faced a threat from the French and their Indigenous allies on the eve of the Seven Years War.  In an editorial, Franklin encouraged colonizers to support the Albany Plan of Union and recognize their shared identity as Americans.  The “JOIN, or DIE” political cartoon that accompanied that call to a common cause is the earliest known visual representation of such unity, a symbol repurposed during the imperial crisis.  According to public historians at the National Constitution Center, the “emblem appeared in colonial newspapers during the Stamp Act crisis” and again “during the American Revolutionary War, sometimes as part of a masthead.”  Holt was the first printer to deploy it in 1774, though in the coming months variations appeared in the mastheads of other newspapers.  Those newspapers carried editorials and coverage of the Boston Port Act and the rest of the Coercive Acts and the colonial response, including proposals to cease trade with Britain and stop purchasing imported goods.  Over the next several months, the “GENERAL assortment of EUROPEAN and EAST INDIA GOODS” advertised by Hake would take on new political meanings for colonial consumers.

New-York Journal (June 23, 1774).

June 19

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

New-York Journal (June 9, 1774).

“A PARTICULAR account of Mr. THOMAS SAY … who had fallen into a trance.”

When William Mentz published The Visions of a Certain Thomas Say, of the City of Philadelphia, Which He Saw in a Trance without permission, Say placed an advertisement in the Pennsylvania Gazette to voice his objection.  He described the text as an “incorrect and imperfect” rendition of what he wished to reveal to the public, further asserting that “publishing any Thing in any Man’s Name without his Knowledge or Consent is, in my Opinion, very unjustifiable.”  He concluded with an appeal to “all Printers … not to aid or assist the said Mentz, or anyone else, in such wrong Proceedings.”

Unfortunately for Say, printers and booksellers in New York either did not see that advertisement or, if they did, chose to disregard it in favor of generating revenue by selling the pamphlet.  An advertisement in the June 16, 1774, edition of the New-York Journal described the contents of the work and noted that readers could purchase copies from printers Robert Hodge and Frederick Shober, bookseller Samuel Loudon, and John Holt, printer of the newspaper that carried the advertisement.  Mentz apparently shipped copies of The Visions of a Certain Thomas Say to New York, perhaps exchanging them for titles printed there.  Local agents felt the pamphlet merited a separate advertisement.  Loudon, for instance, simultaneously ran an advertisement for “BOOKS … TO BE SOLD ON THE LOWEST TERMS” that listed dozens of titles but did not mention The Visions of a Certain Thomas Say.  That advertisement also did not promote any books by providing summaries, unlike the advertisement about the pamphlet that Say wished to withdraw from circulation.

In his own advertisement, Say stated that he “never intended what I have wrote … should be published during my Life.”  More than two decades later, Benjamin Say, his son, published A Short Compilation of the Extraordinary Life and Writings of Thomas Say: In Which Is Faithfully Copied, from the Original Manuscript, the Uncommon Vision, Which He Had When a Young Man.  That work, released following Say’s death in 1796, presumably abided by his wishes for disseminating what he recorded of his vision.  During his lifetime, however, a public notice in the Pennsylvania Gazettehad not been enough to prevent the marketing of an unauthorized account.

May 19

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

New-York Journal (May 19, 1774).

“Meet … to consult on Measures proper to be pursued on the present critical and important Occasion.”

Important news sometimes appeared among the advertisements in colonial newspapers during the imperial crisis that culminated in thirteen colonies declaring independence from Britain.  While the rest of the newspaper carried reports, updates, editorials, and extracts of letters meant to keep readers informed of “the freshest ADVICES, both FOREIGN andDOMESTIC” (as the masthead for the New-York Journal and other newspapers proclaimed), readers also needed to peruse the advertisements.  Such was the case in the spring of 1774 when New York received word of the Boston Port Act that closed the harbor until such time that resident made restitution for the tea destroyed by colonizers masquerading as Indians the previous December.

A notice in the May 19 edition of the New-York Journal referred to an “Advertisement” or announcement that “appeared at the Coffee House, in Consequence of the late extraordinary and very alarming Advices received from England.”  That announcement invited merchants to meet “at the House of Mr. Samuel Francis,” meaning the tavern operated by Samuel Fraunces, “in order to consult on Measures proper to be pursued on the present critical and important Occasion.”  In turn, the advertisement in the newspaper reported on what occurred at that meeting.  “A very respectable and large Number of the Merchants and other Inhabitants” gathered and nominated a committee “of Fifty Persons, of which Fifteen to be a sufficient Number to do Business.”  The advertisement, addressed “To the Public,” called on the “inhabitants of this City and County” to attend another meeting to “approve of the Committee nominated … or to appoint such other Persons, as in their Discretion and Wisdom may seem meet.”  The organizers intended to garner as much support as possible to “constitute a Committee duly chosen” to act on behalf of all residents concerned about the most recent abuse perpetrated by Parliament.

Disseminating notice about the meeting as a newspaper advertisement made more colonizers aware of the meeting, though word also spread in conversation.  It also kept readers at a distance informed that merchants and others in New York prepared to take action, encouraging them to continue checking the public prints for more news about politics and current events.  Those who also read Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer that day encountered the complete text of the Boston Port Act on the front page, an opportunity to assess it for themselves beyond whatever rumors they previously heard.  Working back and forth between news and advertisements, colonizers gained a more complete picture of the events unfolding in the wake of the Boston Tea Party.

March 27

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago this week?

New-York Journal (March 24, 1774).

“WATCHES … no Expence for cleaning them.”

John Simnet, a watchmaker, was a prolific advertiser in New York’s newspapers in the early 1770s.  In late March 1774, he placed a new advertisement in the New-York Journal, with a headline that proclaimed, “The Sixth Year of this Advertisement in this Country.”  Simnet referred to the fact that he migrated to the colonies from London, though he first set up shop in New Hampshire.  He advertised there for about a year and a half, frequently engaging in feuds with a competitor, before relocating to New York.  Perhaps prospective customers in and near Portsmouth had not appreciated his abrasive style, though the curmudgeon did not seem to learn his lesson if that was the case.  After settling in New York, he frequently picked fights with local watchmakers, their arguments witnessed by newspaper readers as they perused the advertisements.  Over the years, the colorful Simnet has become a favorite for the Adverts 250 Project, one of the colonial advertisers most often featured thanks to his lively notices.  In March 1774, Simnet had indeed commenced his “Sixth Year” of running advertisements in the colonies.

When he did so, he advanced a marketing strategy he frequently deployed.  Simnet offered an ancillary service for free to his clients who paid for other services: “those Gentlemen, &c. who have employed the Advertiser to Repair their WATCHES, ARE now at no Expence for cleaning them.”  In other words, he did not charge customers for routine cleaning of watches that he previously repaired.  That kept the watches in good running order, which further testified to Simnet’s skills and justified hiring him for other work.  The watchmaker declared that “it will be his endeavour to prove, Watches which are tolerably good, will perform 20 Years without Expence.”  Prospective clients could take their watches to his competitors who did not invest the same care in their work, causing them to have to pay for additional repairs over time, or they could entrust their watches to Simnet with confidence that he would assist them in averting further expense.  His clients could avoid paying for “mending Work” on their watches (and simultaneously safeguard Simnet’s reputation) if they presented their watches for cleaning “at least once a Year.”  Putting a little effort into such routine maintenance, offered for free, made the clients and the watchmakers partners in the enterprise, encouraging customer loyalty.

March 24

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , , ,

GUEST CURATOR:  Madison Kenney

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

New-York Journal (March 24, 1774).

“The best Price given for ALL SORTS OF LINEN RAGS.”

John Keating, the owner of a “PAPER MANUFACTORY” in New York, uses politics as an advertising strategy. In 1774, “The demand for paper in America, is of late so greatly increased, that very large sums are continually sent abroad, for the purchase of it.” Keating attempted to take advantage of the political tension with Britain by connecting the donation of spare rags to make into paper with patriotism. He argued, “All those who really wish to promote the interest of America … will contribute their aid to the success of the paper manufactory in this place.”

Advertisements asking families to save linen rags to support American printing were not uncommon during the era of the American Revolution. An advertisement printed on the back of Thomas’s Massachusetts, New-Hampshire, and Connecticut Almanack for the Year of our Lord Christ 1779 claims “ fair daughters of Liberty…would not neglect to serve their country, by saving for the paper mill in Sutton, all linen and cotton and linen rags.” Again, entrepreneurs who made paper or printed on it used patriotism to pressure households to support American industry by donating rags. Kayla Haveles argues that printing was “as vital to revolution as guns and gunpowder” because the colonists used it to spread ideology and attack the British.

Thomas’s Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New-Hampshire Almanack for the Year of Our Lord Christ 1779 (Worcester: Isaiah Thomas, 1778).

Additionally, the frequency of these advertisements highlights the contributions of women in the Revolution. Both advertisements focus on saving rags in the home. Keating’s advertisement asked every family to save spare rags in their household. Women were responsible for the housework so Keating’s call to action targeted women. The advertisement on the back of the almanac asked “daughters of Liberty” to save rags. Both advertisements are examples of how women contributed to the Revolution by supporting the American economy.

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ADDITIONAL COMMENTARY:  Carl Robert Keyes

John Keating had been placing similar advertisements for the “NEW-YORK Paper MANUFACTORY” for years by the time this advertisement appeared in the March 24, 1774, edition of the New-York Journal.  The Adverts 250 Project first featured one of his advertisements that offered “Ready Money for clean Rags” that ran in that newspaper on February 18, 1768.  During the six years in between, Keating maintained an almost constant presence in the public prints, encouraging colonizers, especially women, to collect rags for paper production and explaining the patriotic benefits of their efforts.  He advertised at times when relationships with Parliament deteriorated, including when nonimportation agreements went into effect to protest various legislation, as well as when the situation cooled and most merchants, shopkeepers, and consumers returned to business as usual.  Keating remained a steady voice in favor of “domestic manufactures” or goods produced in the colonies.

In this instance, Keating ran his advertisement at a time of crisis.  Throughout the colonies, the destruction of the tea in Boston the previous December remained a topic of conversation, including in New York.  The Sons of Liberty anticipated the arrival of the Nancy with a cargo of tea that they did not want landed in their city.  Keating’s advertisement, which had been running since before the Boston Tea Party, appeared on the last page of the March 24 issue, interspersed among other advertisements.  A notice that the Sons of Liberty would meet every Thursday evening “till the Arrival and Departure of the TEA SHIP,” on the other hand, made its second appearance, this time in the first column on the first page.  Only tables showing prices current and sunrise, sunset, and high tide preceded the announcement.  Its placement made it more likely that readers would see it, while also framing how they read other advertisements in the issue.  Most readers likely did not need that notice from the Sons of Liberty to influence their reaction to Keating’s advertisement calling on “all those who really wish to promote the interest of America” to do their part, considering how widely colonizers discussed the politics of tea at the time.  Still, the combination of print culture and public discourse occurring everywhere from the town common to taverns made Keating’s appeals to patriotism even more urgent.

March 20

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago this week?

New-York Journal (March 17, 1774).

“The SONS OF LIBERTY will meet on THURSDAY Night … till the Arrival and Departure of the TEA SHIP.”

It was a call to action.  An advertisement in the March 17, 1774, edition of the New-York Journal proclaimed, “NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, That the SONS OF LIBERTY will meet on THURSDAY Night, at 7 o’Clock, in every Week, at the House of Mr. JASPER DRAKE, till the Arrival and Departure of the TEA SHIP.”  That advertisement ran in the column next to an anonymous address “TO THE PUBLICK” that anticipated “the TEA-SHIP, which has been long expected, is near at hand.”  The address asserted, “Our sister colonies have gloriously defended the common cause of this country,” referring to the destruction of several shipments of tea in Boston the previous December and colonizers in Philadelphia had managed to prevent the Polly from landing its tea there.  In turn, the address called on colonizers in New York “to stand our ground, and as the day of tryal is now come, that we shall convince the whole American world that we are not slack and indolent, nor in the least degree unworthy, of being registered as a genuine sister province.”  It was a call to match the resolve and resistance already demonstrated in Boston and Philadelphia.

The “TEA SHIP” in these advertisements referred to the Nancy.  As James R. Fichter explains in Tea: Consumption, Politics, and Revolution, 1773-1776, the consignees of the tea aboard the Nancy “hoped to land and store this tea (but not sell it), which was initially acceptable to local Patriots.”[1]  But that was in November.  On December 1, 1773, even before the Boston Tea Party, the consignees “gave up their role in the tea and asked Governor Tryon to take over.”  The governor initially intended to land and store the tea, emboldened by support from British troops, but reconsidered that plan when Patriots in New York decided they could no longer endorse that plan and, especially, after the colony received word about the destruction of the tea in Boston.  That news encouraged Patriots in their position while convincing Tryon that “‘the Peace of Society’ and ‘good Order,’ trumped landing the tea, and the best he could hope for was an outcome like at Philadelphia (where the ship was turned around).”  The governor engineered a plan for the Nancy to land at Sandy Hook, outside New York City’s customs area, where it could be resupplied to return to Boston while evading any legal obligation to unload its cargo.  Yes, as Fichter notes, the governor “could not formally condone smuggling around His Majesty’s customs, even if it would maintain order.  So Tryon made no official announcement.”  Instead, he made sure that Patriots overheard conversations about this plan when they gathered at one of the coffeehouses in the city.

In the meantime, the Nancy continued making its way across the Atlantic, sheltering in Antiqua in February 1774 following a storm.  The ship made then its way to British mainland North America, arriving at Sandy Hook on April 18, a month after the Sons of Liberty advertised their weekly meetings at Drake’s house.  Conveniently, the governor was away from the city at the time.  Local Patriots observed the Nancy receiving supplies for its return to London, intervening only to prevent sailors who did not wish to continue on a ship further damaged in another storm from coming ashore.  The Nancy needed a crew to return to London without lingering in the waters near New York or inciting any sort of disorder that the carefully orchestrated plan had avoided so far.  As the Son of Liberty’s advertisement in the New-York Journal demonstrates, tea remained a flashpoint for resistance after the Boston Tea Party.  They achieved their goal of the “Arrival and Departure of the TEA SHIP.”

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[1] For quotations and a more extensive overview of the Nancy, see James R. Fichter, Tea: Consumption, Politics, and Revolution, 1773-1776 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2023), 88-93.