23 Dec 1814

Barbuda December 23^th 1814

Sir,

Having on 31 of October received the salvage of what stores were sent from the Woolwich to the Naval Yard at Antigua, I enclosed the first of the Bills amounting to £1200 Sterling to be forwarded by the Man of War which was to Convoy the Fleet then about to sail from Antigua; then fully intended writing you by the Packet at that time expected, & sending you the seconds but unfortunately the wind blew so very strong from the North that our Vessels could not get here in time after her arrival; and I am sorry to say the same winds have continued ever since, attended with extreme drought, in consequence of which the prospect I there had of a good Crop of Corn has entirely vanished one piece of 130 Acres which then promised abundantly I shall get little more than my seed from another of nearly  two hundred will do something better but far even from a tolerable Crop, this has been the worst season I have ever seen since I have been on the Island, in fact we have not had Rain (Unreadable, but possibly “on the Island but six times”?) for the last fifteen months, and even then it was only partial. The Sheep have suffered nor is it possible to prevent it, as they cannot be attended to like the Cattle & horses, both of which are (Unreadable).  The severn Bills for £1250 were for the article is sent from the Woolwich to the Naval department, the Ordinance stores are still unpaid for nor can it be done in this Country. I have obtained certificates for the Articles sent, but they must be valued in England the storekeeper here having no directions to do it. The ship is now given up, I shall directly after Xmas have men on board her to get what Lumber we can from her.  Three of her Decks are still out of water. The Cotton of last year amounting to 15 Bales were forwarded together with the Turtle shell by the last fleet. I remain

Sir

Your Most Obedient Humble

Servant

(signed) John James

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

01 Nov 1814

Antigua November 1^st 1814

Sir

                Inclosed you have seven of the Commissary General Bills (Viz) N^os 3234, 3235, 3236 & 3273 for £200 Stlg each, N^os 3238, 3239 & 3242 for £150 each together £1250- Sterling, these I shall leave in the Port Office of this Island to go by H. M. Ship which takes home the Convoy, which is to leave this on the 9^th the Packet I understand has arrived at Barbados, by her I will send you the seconds, and will then write you more fully, I am

Sir

your most Obedient

Humble Servant

(signed) John James

Reference: JJ258 Robson Lowe collection on microfilm 24995, University of Texas at Austin, Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection.

27 June 1814

Antigua June 27^th 1814

Sir,

By H.M. Ship Hannibal which took the Convoy yesterday from this, I sent you the second of three Bills of Exchange Viz Tho^s Allmans on Alex^r Worswick for £717:12:6, Mich^l Furlonge’s on Mess^rs Plummer Barham & C^o for £200 and James Athills on Mess^rs S S & C Turner for £132 together £1049:12:6 Sterling, the first of which you have now inclosed as I doubt not that Packet will be first Home. Mr Hodge has given me Lieu^t M^cGuire’s Bill, it not having been paid, which I am sorry for, being Naval officers pay Bill I thought it the best I could to send, however the money is safe as he has Prize money due in this Island, and in the hands of the person from whom the Bill was taken; the other two Bills, MacKays & Taylors they assure me will be paid when due, the former was taken from Mr Hodge for Lumber bought by them, & the latter paid for Lumber bought by Mr Taylor, however I trust they will both be paid before you receive this, I have not yet heard any thing from St Kitts respecting Rawlin’s Bill but if I do not soon I will go there myself in my way to England, I was in hopes to have gone in the Fleet that left this yesterday, I had taken my passage, but at last I found it impossible to arrange things to my satisfaction, but I hope to leave this in the next Packet, Mr Hodge has kindly promised to do any thing for me in my absence. All the stores from the Woolwich except a few spars, which another trip will complete are now over, I have applied to the Commissioner for payment of the salvage, the answer I have received is that I must first consult the Lords of the Admiralty, upon what grounds I know not, as I saw the Letter from the Admiralty to him desiring him either to sell the Articles on the spot, or have them brought to Antigua, whichever he might think proper; I have his Letters offering me a third part of their appraised value delivered at English Harbour which I accepted & have accomplished. I think from a conversation I had with the store keeper that there will be no difficulty in getting the Admiralty order to pay it, but that the reason they will not do it have without it, is that the sum is much larger than they at first expected, but as the stores have been valued by themselves I should have thought the larger the sum the better they would have been pleased, they will not even give me a Copy of the Valuation for fear as the storekeeper himself told me I might oblige them to pay it, but at the same time gave me to understand, that the salvage, would be above two thousand pounds Currency exclusive of the Ordinance stores, which must be paid in England, probably you may have interested enough on the Vouchers being sent by the Commissioner to the Admiralty to have the money paid in England, this ship has given me more trouble than any other I have had to do with, from the size of the materials which obliged me to be constantly present to prevent accidents.

            I am sorry to inform you that we are still as dry as ever, there has been some good rain in this Island, but we have not partaken of it, consequently I am now obliged to feed on Hay, and Bush, I have now one large Rick, & the best part of two others left, which I hope is the rainy season is near at hand or more than scove us, our losses amongst the Cattle have been nothing as yet, & upon the whole they are looking better than I’ve would expect, the sheep I cannot so well command but I have no reason to think we have as yet lost many, I have had every Spring on the Island hand out, so we’re pretty well off for water.  I have not been able to send the Cotton by this Fleet as I found on my arrival here that the Captain of the Ship which was to have taken it intended carrying it on Deck, and at the same time declared that it would be your risk, which I objected to immediately particularly so after his declaration.  By the Bristol Volunteer I have sent you to Turtle branded CC, & one by the West Indian to London, I also sent you five by the first Fleet which I hope you have received I am

Sir

Your Most Obedient Humble

Servant

(signed) John James

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

26 June 1814

Antigua June 26^th 1814

Sir

Herewith I have the pleasure of forwarding to you the seconds of three Bills of Exchange,(Viz) Tho^s Allman’s on Alex^r Worswick for £717: 12:4. Michael Furlong’s on Mess^rs, Plummer Barham & C^o. for £200, and James Athill’s on Mess^rs S S & C Turner for £132 making the sum of one thousand four hundred & nine pounds 12/4, the first of these Bills I shall forward by the Packet, which is now here and which will I doubt not reach England before this, as this will go in the Man of War that convoys the fleet. Onboard the Bristol Volunteer, for Bristol I have sent you two fine Turtle, and one on board the West Indian for London, I also sent you five by the last Fleet which I hope you have received safe. The little Cotton I have made this year I have not been able to send by this Fleet, on my arrival here I found the Captain of the ship by which it was to have gone intended carrying it on his deck, and at your risk; to which I objected; and thought it better to keep it for another Fleet, I could have sent it to out Ports but thinking you would rather have it sent to London I have not done it; we have only made 15 Bales.  I regret to add that the weather at Barbuda still continues as dry as ever, we shall I fear consume nearly the whole of our Hay; I have one Large Rick, and about the half of two others still left, I shall write you more fully by the Packet.  I am

Sir

your most obedient humble

servant

(signed) John James

Reference: JJ260 Robson Lowe collection on microfilm 24995, University of Texas at Austin, Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection.

23 May 1814

Barbuda May 23^rd 1814

Sir.

                The last Packet brought me your letter of 20^th March inclosing protests for non acceptance of two Bills (Viz) MacKays for £140: 13. 1 & Taylor’s for £105 Sterling both of which they assure me will be paid when due, which I hope will be the case; these Bills were paid me on account of the Wreck Sales, which were sold for Bills. I have also received the original of Rawlins’s Bill & have put it into the hands of a lawyer for recovery, he will proceed against the endorser of the Bill as I find the drawer is in Prison in England; I have every reason to hope it will be recovered with Costs.  Inclosed you have the duplicates of the two Bills. Your Accounts to Christmas last I intended to have forwarded by the last Fleet, they were all ready but at the time of its sailing a Gentleman arrived here from Barbados to purchase Cattle, for which Admiral Duram was to have sent a Frigate, and expecting her momently I could not leave the Island; the ship has never arrived and the Gentleman after waiting three weeks return to Barbados whither he will come back or not is uncertain, as I have not since heard from him, he had twelve hundred pounds Government Bills with him which I was sorry to see again carried off the Island; these Accounts I shall now keep and bring myself, as I hope to leave this in the Fleet which is to sail the latter end of next month if nothing particular should occur to detain me.  I have now nearly sent over all I can get from the Woolwich, it has been a very troublesome job. Your salvage will be I suppose upwards of one thousand Guineas, but I cannot speak positively to the Sum as the Articles are to be valued by the Officers of the Naval Yard at Antigua I shall arrange every  thing before I leave this Country, there has been some delay in consequence of your Vessels being obliged to attend to the carrying your sugars.

I am extremely sorry that I am not able to give you a good account of the Island, we have had but one shower (to speak of) since last September; which was on the eleventh of last month, it then rained for about three Hours; but the Ground was so dry before that it has been of little service, no appearance of it remained two days after; therefore you may form some idea of the state of the place: at this moment not a sign of vegetation on the whole Island; I have been for some time feeding on Hay & and now obliged to have recourse to Bush, the Cattle are notwithstanding looking pretty well, my greatest fear is for the sheep, every precaution shall be taken to keep them up.

The Negros for the last ten days have been employed picking Salt, and must now be distributed over the Island to cut Bush for the Sheep. This is the dryest season except 1809 I have seen since I have been on the Island.

I will endeavour to get all the information I possibly can respecting Blacks contract before I have the pleasure of seeing you in England I am

Sir

Your most Obedient Humble

Servant

(signed) John James

Reference: JJ259 Robson Lowe collection on microfilm 24995, University of Texas at Austin, Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection.