Sep 26, 2019 - Sale 2517

Sale 2517 - Lot 171

Price Realized: $ 3,500
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
(PENNSYLVANIA.) A Philadelphia shipping merchant's account journal spanning Europe, the Caribbean, and China. 436 pages (erratically paginated). Folio, original sheep, worn, boards coming loose; lacking leaves 2 and 3, plus at least 15 leaves from rear, otherwise only minor wear to contents. Philadelphia, 1766-74, 1792-93
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Additional Details

This substantial and intriguing mercantile account book begins on 1 November 1766 and contains regular entries spanning almost 8 years. We have been unable to identify the merchant or firm which kept this journal. They were apparently the owner of the ships Sally, Betsy, Myrtilla, Charming Molly, and Pennsylvania Packet, often employing Captain John Osman. They also frequently shipped goods aboard other ships as "adventures." Much of the trade seemed to be to Europe, Jamaica, and other Caribbean points. A cargo of pistols and rum was shipped to the lawless Bay of Honduras by the ship Sally on 3 March 1767. Other cargoes included coal, salt, staves, candles, wine, and sugar. The ships seem to have carried substantial number of immigrants from Germany to Philadelphia. Though they are not named, some accounts allude to "German passengers" (see 19 February 1773). A separate account was kept for "sales of playing cards," mentioned 4 August and 26 September 1770 and elsewhere. The revolutionary financier Robert Morris is mentioned at least once, regarding £200 received from his firm of Willing & Morris, 25 November 1769.
These ships do not seem to have engaged directly in the slave trade, but several sales of individual enslaved people are recorded. For example, the sale of a servant boy carried on the ship Myrtilla is mentioned twice on 6 October 1768. On 30 June 1769 is recorded a servant girl sold from the same ship on Captain James Caton's account. The firm also hired some free black laborers such as Sipeo Woodby, who was paid for work on 20 November 1766, and "paid a Negro for 5 1/2 days work" on the ship Myrtilla, 7 January 1769.
The main journal ends abruptly on 23 September 1774. The last 26 pages contain a Philadelphia shipping account journal in another hand from 13 June 1792 to 10 January 1793. Many of these entries seem to relate to tea and other goods arriving in the second voyage of the ship Sampson, one of Philadelphia's earliest adventures in the China trade. The merchant Samuel Howell was the captain and apparently part owner of this ship, but it is unclear whether these may be his personal accounts.