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200 Year Old Letter from a Merchant Ship


Letter from a Merchant Ship, July 31,1806
Theodore Young; American or English born
Paper and pigment
Gift of Rebecca Oglesby
38678 On July 31st, 1806 this letter was written by Theodore Young who had just reached New York after completing an oversea voyage from the city of Portsmouth, Dominica. Dominica (not to be confused with the Dominican Republic) is a small Caribbean island found northwest of Barbados and St. Lucia. The first European to visit the island was Columbus in 1493 and until 1805 the French and English governments made several attempts to take control of the island and the indigenous Kalinago people, but without success. In 1805 England colonized the island and established government; today English is the official language. This letter was written when the colony was not even one year old and gives us a glimpse of the goods being transported by the vessel, the length of time a journey lasted and some of the conditions on board. The date of the letter possibly identifies the voyage as part of the "Triangle Trade" so named for the triangular shaped journey vessels made between Europe, West Africa, the Caribbean and North America where sugar, rum and slaves were the primary cargo.
The dark line marks visible on the paper were created by the non-archival tape used by the object's donor to hold the paper together. The fold marks in the paper show us the paper was folded into a 3" x 4" rectangle and we can still see the residue of red wax that originally sealed the paper together. Some of the contents are illegible and noted by a (?), we welcome any suggestions on deciphering these words. The misspelled words read as written in the document. Addressed, "To Capt Samuel Young at old York State of mast__ish (?)," the contents of the letter are as follows:
New York July the 31 1806 I take this opportunity to inform you that I am Well and hope these few Lines will find you all the same for we arrived in hear the 29 from Domneke 16 Days pasege with one 100 puncheons of Rum on (freight?)and 3 pasengers Came with us they have Corteened (quarantined) us 4 Days herein for all hands are all well on Board Been nobody sick since we left Portsmouth my knee feels as strong as ever for they Corteen (quarantine) all vessels from any part of the westengs (sp?)they say it is very healthy herein now as soon as our Corteen is out we shall Discharge this Rum and Come on home expect to B home in 10 or 12 days from this my (?) feched that I cared (carried) out 7 Dollars per Box and (? type of product) 9 dollars per Dozen I have got on Bord 200 and 40 of Coffe and a half Barrill of Sugger
Theodore Young All text and images under copyright. Please contact Collection Department for permission to use. Information subject to change with additional research.
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