Nov 25, 2014 - Sale 2368

Sale 2368 - Lot 215

Price Realized: $ 618
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 500 - $ 750
(NEW YORK CITY.) Lease for the naval facility at Turtle Bay. Manuscript document, 16 x 13 inches, signed by Peter Warren (with his wax seal), his father-in-law Stephen Delancey, and two other witnesses, being a 50-year lease from Captain Robert Long to Warren for "all that messuage, tenement or dwelling house together with the brewhouse, store house, powder house, and other outhouses . . . in Turtle Bay near the city of New York . . . together with the use of the large copper now set up on the same premises"; docketed on verso, with later notes on payment through 1750 signed by Long; worn at folds with slight loss of text, early linen tape repairs on verso. [New York], 2 March 1741

Additional Details

Manhattan's Turtle Bay was one of the best harbors on the East River. In the 18th century, it was developed privately for the use of naval vessels, which would dock there to await a more favorable tide or use it as a careenage, beaching the ship to perform maintenance on those parts of the hull below the waterline. It was acquired by naval captain Robert Long in 1734. In this document, it was leased for £25 per year to fellow naval captain Peter Warren, who would soon become a hero of the French and Indian War. Warren later purchased the property outright (see Stokes, pages VI:173-4). Manhattan's Warren Street and the Rhode Island town of Warren were both named in his honor. The bay has long since been filled in, and is now part of the United Nations headquarters at the foot of 46th and 47th Streets. Provenance: Sotheby's London sale, 9 April 1974, lot 646, to Maggs.