23 August 1810

Sir

       Since my last another vessel has been wrecked on Barbuda, she is the Brig Adventure of Tortola, last from Lancaster, bound to St Croix; only partly laden; with dry Goods, Candles, Oil, Porter, Earthenware, & Bricks; the whole of which except the Bricks have been saved; altho in a place where no Boat could get alongside, the vessel bulged almost immediately consequently it has all been wet, but with the consent of the Captain I have had the whole dried; yesterday one of the vessels bought over part of it, I shall return tomorrow and send over the remainder, the Owners belonging to St Croix a Mr Robert Hyndman of this place who is a very reputable merchant has as a correspondent of the Owners Messrs.’ Ashton & Smyth, powered(?) on the Captain to put the business entirely into his hands, which with the consent of Mr Martin I have agreed to on his giving a Bond to pay the Salvage as soon as the Cargo is disposed of. I am sorry to say that the last week has been extremely Hot & Dry, which has been most against our Cotton & the Old Ground in consequence of it, & our attention being taken off to the wreck I have then obliged to abandon, the other ground is doing well, on Monday last it had a good rain for nearly an Hour & half but not a drop fell half a mile from it, the Yams being in the same piece had of course its share. I am

                                             Sir

                                             your most obedt. Humble servant

                                               (signed) John James

Antigua August 23^rd 1810

Reference: Gloucestershire Records Office, Microfilm no.351, Section no.6, D1610 C24
Accessed through Simon Fraser University library

8 August 1810

Barbuda August 8^th 1810

Sir

  The salvage for the sloop Unicorn has been settled, the Gross amount of the sales is £1570. 15 the Magistrates have awarded you one third which is £523. 11. 8 but you will have to pay out of it £50 the hire of a Drougher that took over part of the Cargo, as well as some Lighterage; the reason of these being hired was, that, the wreck happened at a time when the Fleet was about sailing and when Mr Hodge was a good deal pressed & therefore required the Island vessels to get your Sugar down in time; the amount of the salvage I presume has been paid on this to Mr Martin.

  The Island quarters accounts to 30^th June I have left in Antigua to be forwarded to you by the Packet, the Balance of which is £1854. 11. 11 ½, the greatest part of which I have paid Mr Martin and I have no doubt but the whole is paid by this time, as I left the very particular directions Mr Boadley the agent to do it.

  I have great pleasure in forming you that since my last we have had some very good rains particularly within the last week, in consequence of which the whole of the Yams are now in the Ground, and are doing well. I have also planted about 150 Acres with Cotton, one half of which is Now Land, and is looking as well as I could wish, the other half is in Land that has been cleared some years, and I fear from its present parents will not succeed, unless the weather continues to be favourable, however if the Cultivation is found to answer, I shall be unable to get if sufficient quantity of good Land cleared for another season. The stock over every description, from the great abundance of Pasture, all over the Island, are in as good condition as could be wished for; we have had a much larger quantity of Calves this season than I ever remember. The remainder of the last years yams I have now been able to dispose of, Admiral Cochrane has bought them at 12 (shilling symbol) per 112 lbs(?) for the Navy, a schooner sailed from this yesterday with 39 thousand weight.

  I have sent to Antigua four Green Turtle, & three Barrels of Cashew Nuts to be forwarded to you by a ship belonging to Mr Trattle, and Sam which will sail I understand in a few days.

                                                                                              I have the honor to be
                                                                                                Sir
                                                                                                your most obedt. humble servant
                                                                                             (signed) John James

Reference: Gloucestershire Records Office, Microfilm no.351, Section no.6, D1610 C24
Accessed through Simon Fraser University library

16 July 1810

Antigua July 16^th 1810

Sir

    On Friday night the 22^nd of last month, the Americans sloop Unicorn, from Rhode Island bound to Antigua, with Corn & Provisions, was wrecked on the North Reef of Barbuda; the whole of her deck load consisted of Fish, & wood Hoops, was thrown overboard immediately on her striking; the remainder of the cargo has been saved, with the exception of some Corn which got wet; it was sold on Saturday last by public auction; I have deferred writing until the very last moment, in hopes, to inform you of the exact sum it sold for, which has not yet been ascertained; as the Corn & some other things have not yet been delivered; but as nearly as I can calculate, it will be about 1600 pounds currency; I hope the delivery of the whole will be effected today, in which case the salvage will be settled tomorrow, & the money immediately paid to Mr Martin. I am sorry to say Barbuda is not lately had its share of rain, about five weeks since. I was unable to plant some part of my yams, & about 50 Acres of Cotton, the former is doing as well as I could expect considering the dry weather since; but nearly the whole of the Cotton must be planted over again, I have now at least 140 Acres ready for it. I left Barbuda on Wednesday last, since which there has been a good deal of rain in this Island, I hope Barbuda has also had some, if so, the whole of the Cotton & Yams are in the Ground. I have been able to sell but a very small quantity of the last years yams, & that to the Navy, as Cash cannot be got from the Estates in this Island for them, however, as Mr Hodge is in want of provisions for your Estates, & has agreed to take both the Yams & Corn which I may have to spare, I trust it will be the same thing to you; the Corn will be full as much as I before informed you, but that Yams must of course at the season of the year decrease considerably in weight; I have now more Ground prepared for Yams than I had last year, which I hope will do well stocked I shall also pay particular attention to the Cotton. For the first time, since I have been on the Island, we have this year had a second dropping of Lambs, particularly on the North side, & middle of the Island, in the windward, & South sides we have not been quite so fortunate, perhaps owing to the difference of feed; the Cattle are in good order, we have had a very fair proportion of Calves this season, The Man of War occasionally call for Beef and which will I suppose be stopped as soon as the Hurricane months commence. Several of the Negros have lately been attacked with slight Fevers, but they are all I am happy to say doing very well, the Quarters accounts to the end of June should be made up the instant I can get rid of the wreck.

                                      I have the honor to be

                                                  Sir

                                                  your most obedient and humble

                                                                           servant

                                                         (signed) John James

Reference: JJ257 Robson Lowe collection on microfilm 24995, University of Texas at Austin, Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection.

26 Apr 1810

  This letter is proving to be very difficult to read, the microfilm has high contrast but a lot of the writings turned to white and is in large part unreadable. I will try to transcribe it but is going to take a bit of work and patience. It seems to mostly talk about different bills due, Mr Cruden's bill is still unpaid and it also talks of the situation regarding sending slaves to Antigua and their resistance to that.

1 January 1810

Antigua Jany. 1^st 1810

Sir,

                Your favor of the 6^th Sept. reached me the latter end of November and at a time when I was confined to my Bed with a Fever, which prevented my answering it by that Packet, & from the circumstances of Wrecks happening since, I have not been able to give that attention to the propriety of removing the Negroes which I think it requires to answer that part of your letter.  The first ship that was wrecked was the Farmer of London, John Young Master, last from New-Castle bound to the Bay of Honduras, in Ballast, she struck between three and four O’clock of the morning of the 13^th of last month on the North side of the Island, we have saved the whole of her materials consisting of Cables, anchors, standing & running Rigging, sails, guns, & provisions, The whole of which I brought over on Saturday last, together with the Captain & crew.  The second ship struck on the Saturday morning following, she is the Julia of Boston, last from Taragona in Spain, bound to the Havanna, laden principally with Spanish Red Wine, she had sprung a leak some days before  making the land, it was therefore the intention of the Captain & Crew to run her onshore in the first convenient place, which they attempted to do on the west side of Barbuda, but did not keep far enough to the west to clear the reef on the North side, & therefore struck on one of the sunken rocks to the north west of the Island, soon after which she again got off with the loss of her rudder, as soon as it was possible to get to her (the boats being all at the other wreck) I went off when I found her in five & half fathoms water clear of all the reefs, the Captain gone onshore for assistance, I missed him by coming a different way from the one he went; the crew were dismantling  the ship as fast as possible, by getting down the yards & top masts, & unbending her sails, unfortunately there was but one bent when I got onboard, or I doubt not I should have got her in nearer the shore finding nothing of the kind could be done, & the ship driving fast from the land, I made the men I had in the boat with me get one of the cables on deck and fasten to an anchor which I threw overboard, & which brought her up in about 6 fathoms water, at least 5 miles from the shore, I first got on board about 10 o’clock, the water was then up to her lower deck, at noon she had sunk to her upper deck, & gave every indication of upsetting, the captain being then on board with two more of the Island Boats, it was thought best to cut away her masts, & through her guns overboard, which was soon accomplished, since which we have been constantly at work, & on Friday evening we had got on shore about 180 pipes of wine, 60 bags nuts, 15 Bales of twine, a few boxes of Spanish liquors, 185 boxes of raisins with most of her sales etc, the vessel being so far to Leeward of the Island obliged me to keep both the Island vessels in attendance on her, whilst the greater part of the cargo was on board, & therefore prevented my sending over Capt Young until last Saturday, one vessel is still attending on her with a boats Crew of chosen men; there is about 100 pipes still on board part of which I hope may be saved, but it will be impossible to save the whole, as she must sink with some of the wine in her, she gets deeper after every days work, when I left her on Friday evening the water was knee deep on her upper Deck, she was then riding by two anchors, we have had a good deal of blowing whether since, it is my intention if possible to return tomorrow morning. These wrecks have thrown us back very considerably with the Hay, but as the weather is still favourable I trust it will not be much hurt, I hope to have it all done by the end of this month, the Corn will be a good Crop, considerably more than we shall want for the consumption of the Island, the Yams have suffered much by the very heavy rains but from the circumstances of the Negros grounds being in good condition, very few, if any of the yams will be required for the use (letter damaged) Island.  I have the honor to be

                                                                       Sir

                                                                        your most obedt Humble servant

                                                                             (signed) John James

Reference: JJ256 Robson Lowe collection on microfilm 24995, University of Texas at Austin, Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection.