Passage

November 10

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Pennsylvania Journal (November 10, 1773).

“For terms of freight or passage apply … at the London Coffee-House.”

The Clarendon prepared to sail from Philadelphia to Kingston and Old Harbour in Jamaica on November 10, 1773.  In advance of the ship’s departure, newspaper advertisements promoted “genteel accommodations for passengers” and solicited cargo for the voyage.  Those notices continued until the day the Clarendon was scheduled to leave port, appearing in the November 10 edition of the Pennsylvania Journal.  By then, neither Samuel Smith, the merchant who sponsored the voyage, nor William Townsend, the captain, probably did not accept freight that would cause delays by taking too long to load, but perhaps welcomed passengers who waited until the last minute.  Townsend likely gathered letters to deliver to correspondents in Jamaica for as long as the ship remained in port.  The advertisement advised that anyone with business for the Clarendon should apply to Smith “in Front-Street,” the captain “at Mr. Knox’s wharf, or at the London Coffee-House.”

It was not that only advertisement in that issue of the Pennsylvania Journal that listed the London Coffee House as one of the locations designated for meeting with masters of vessels to conduct business.  A notice for the Lovely Lass, departing for Jamaica under the command of Andrew Waid before the end of November, directed readers “to CRAIG and MORRELL, or the said Master, at the London Coffee-House.”  Similarly, the Lydia, under the command of Thomas Dean, “WILL sail with all convenient speed” to Liverpool, “having part of her cargo ready to go on board.”  To arrange freight or passage, readers needed to contact “Jeremiah Warder and Sons, said master on board, or at the London Coffee-House.”  Another ship, the Charming Nancy, would depart for Jamaica under the command of Charles Biddle on December 1.  A familiar refrain instructed readers to “apply to MATTHIAS ASPDEN, or said Master on board, or at the London Coffee-House.”

Not every advertisement adorned with a woodcut depicting a ship at sea made reference to the London Coffee House, but four out of ten in that edition of the Pennsylvania Journal listed that landmark as one of the places to meet with merchants and captains to arrange for freight or passage.  Readers did not have to reside in Philadelphia to realize that the London Coffee House was an important gathering place for conducting business during the era of the American Revolution.  Advertisements testified to how often merchants and captains frequented the establishment to meet with associates and customers.

November 11

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Nov 11 - 11:11:1767 Pennsylvania Chronicle Extraordinary
Pennsylvania Chronicle Extraordinary (November 11, 1767).

“She is a new Vessel, has excellent Accommodations for Passengers.”

The various commodities marketed in eighteenth-century newspapers testify to the networks of exchange that crisscrossed the Atlantic, but the advertisements also reveal the movement of people. Almost every advertisement in the November 11, 1767, extraordinary issue of the Pennsylvania Chronicle, for instance, featured some element of mobility.

Six advertisements offered passage from Philadelphia to faraway places, including Cape Fear, North Carolina; Grenada; Barbados; Londonderry; and London. Half simply stated that readers could arrange either “Freight or Passage,” but the others promoted their “excellent Accommodations for Passengers” to attract travelers. Due to the size of the port city, newspapers published in Philadelphia regularly carried such advertisements, but similar advertisements also appeared frequently in newspapers from smaller cities and towns.

Some colonists used advertisements to announce their arrival. For instance, one “YOUNG MAN … lately arrived from England” placed an employment notice in the Pennsylvania Chronicle, informing his new neighbors that he “would be glad to serve any Gentleman as Clerk.” The anonymous ‘YOUNG MAN” requested that anyone interested in hiring him “Inquire of the PRINTER.” He also indicated his willingness to extend his journey when he expressed interest in positions available “either in Town or Country.”

Three additional advertisements documented recent departures of indentured servants who absconded from their masters. One reported that Abraham Weaver, am English linen weaver who ran away from Amos Garrett in Swan Creek in Maryland, had been seen with a widow who might attempt to pass as his wife. Garrett suspected that “they may make for Philadelphia or the eastern-shore of Maryland.” John Odenheimer of Philadelphia indicated that his servant, a German named Eberhard Hirschman, had been “seen in Lancaster, at the Sign of the Highlander” the previous week. These runaways attempted to put considerable distance between themselves and their masters.

Newspaper advertisements like these depicted a flurry of movement of people, not just commodities, throughout the Atlantic world and beyond in the eighteenth century. Those who purchased passage on ships traveled for various reasons, commercial and personal. Some, like the “YOUNG MAN … lately arrived from England,” embraced mobility as a means of encountering new opportunities, but others, including many indentured servants, found that their experiences in new places did not live up to their expectations. They made new departures, frustrating masters who had bought their services for a period of years. American colonists lived in an extremely mobile society. Advertisements for consumer goods and services often insinuated social mobility, but other paid notices revealed significant geographic mobility as well.

June 21

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Jun 21 - 6:20:1766 Virginia Gazette
Virginia Gazette (June 20, 1766).

“For BRISTOL, THE ship RIALTO, DAVIDE MERIWETHER master.”

The Rialto was scheduled to sail for Bristol in less than two months, but the master of the vessel had only arranged for half of the cargo that the ship could carry.

In addition to shipping tobacco and other freight, the Rialto also provided passage for colonists who wished to travel to Bristol and, from there, on to other places in England or Europe. Such passengers may or may not have intended to return to Virginia or other colonies in the Americas. Many who made such a voyage did not have any plans to return to the New World.

Given the high rates of migration during the seventeenth and eighteenth century, motivated by a variety of push and pull factors that made life in Britain’s vast North American colonies appear filled with opportunities for social and economic improvement, it becomes fairly easy to imagine that Europeans traveled only one direction across the Atlantic. Not all migrants encountered the success they anticipated in the colonies. A good number of them ended up returning to Europe, a process called “return migration.” Thanks to the memoir he published after his own failed venture to the New World, William Moraley may be the most famous of the indentured servants and apprentices who departed from London, couldn’t make a go of it in the colonies, and ended up back in England. How many disillusioned colonists might have been traveling on the Rialto to Bristol 250 years ago?