Illustrations

1 Bowen’s birthdate is here given in the Old Style. After 1752, when England adopted the Gregorian reformed calendar, his birthday became 19 January. Thomas Bartlett died in July 1781, thereby dating Ashley Bowen’s “Autobiographical Volume” after that time. The “brick ponds” were probably located near the junction of modern Pleasant and Spring Streets. Unless otherwise noted, all entries appearing in this chapter come from the “Autobiographical Volume.”

2 “We hear from Newbury, That on the 6th Instant, it being very stormy and foggy, a Brigantine bound to Marblehead from Alicante was cast away on Salisbury-Beach: The Master, whose Name was Studley, the Mate, whose Name was Cornel, of Beverly, with Three of the Sailors were drowned; the other Four Sailors narrowly escap’d with their Lives. It is said the Vessel and Cargo is intirely lost, except some of the Rigging: There was on board a considerable Sum in Silver. Four of the Bodies have since been taken up and decently inter’d.” Boston Weekly News-Letter, 8–15 March 1739.

3 H.M.S. Tartar sailed from England on 2 July and arrived at Boston on 9 August 1739. Public Record Office, London, Captain’s Log, Adm. 51/969. “Last Night arrived in Nantasket Harbour, the Hon. Capt. [George] Townshend in His Majesty’s Ship Tartar, in 5 Weeks from Spithead: And tho’ we do’nt hear that War was actually declar’d against Spain; yet we hear that Advices are come granting Liberty to the Subjects of the British Colonies to act offensively against those of that Nation.” Boston Weekly News-Letter, 2–9 August 1739.

4 Gale entered in at Boston on 23 June 1740, after a passage of seven weeks from Swansea, bearing news of a victory over a Spanish ship of 70 guns by the English fleet of Admiral Balchen off the coast of Spain. Boston Weekly News-Letter, 19–26 June 1740.

5 Captain Gideon Ball commanded the privateer snow Triumph, fitted out by merchants of Falmouth, England, to cruise on the coast of Spain. On 13 May 1741, in Lat. 45° N., Long. 9° W., Triumph engaged H.M.S. Rupert, each thinking the other to be a Spaniard. The mistake was not discovered for an hour. Captain John Ambrose of Rupert, in retribution, pressed forty men out of Triumph. Edward Bowen was probably impressed in that manner, although Rupert’s Muster Book only lists one Henry Bowen who was discharged to sick quarters on 31 May. See Howard M. Chapin, Privateering in King George’s War 1730–1748 (Providence, 1928), the Boston Weekly News-Letter for 24–31 December 1741, and at the Public Record Office, London (hereafter cited as P.R.O.), Rupert’s Captain’s Log, Adm. 51/822, and Muster Book, Adm. 36/3169.

Ashley Bowen’s mother, Sarah Ashley Bowen, died on 18 September 1740 as a consequence of childbirth. See genealogical data in Appendices. Her daughter Elizabeth described her as “a meek & humble christian.” Journal of Elizabeth Bowen Martin, Bowen Papers, Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts.

6 Hannah (Goodwin) Harris was the widow of Samuel Harris whom she had married on 15 June 1736. Marblehead Vital Records. Elizabeth Bowen elaborated on the family situation after her mother’s death. “There was Nine of us Left without a tender guide & the advantage of a Religious Education. . . . But my father marring his second wife It seemd with him as with most men to be too much taken up with the things of this world to the neglect of there Children and familys. My father being of the Baptits perswasion would not have his Children Baptized in their Infancy which was a great grife to my mother who was perswaded of their obligations to it as a Christian duty, we were all capable & forward to Receive Instructions but my mother being dead and my father taken up with the things of this world . . . did not take that care of our education. . . .” Journal of Elizabeth Bowen Martin, Bowen Papers, Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts.

The surviving Bowen children were Edward (age 21), Mary (19), Nathan (15), Ashley (13), Sarah (10), Abigail (7), Elizabeth (6), and Anna (3). Three others had died at birth, including the “ninth”.

A “ship’s cousin” was a rating or an apprentice who berthed aft but whose duties were with the forecastle hands.

7 Virtually nothing has been found to shed additional light on Captain Peter Hall. He was a petitioner, on 30 July 1733, for the establishment of the first Masonic Lodge (now St. John’s Lodge) in Boston and was a charter member of it.

8 Sir Charles Henry Frankland (1716–1768) was born in Bengal while his father was Governor of the East India Company’s factory there. Sir Harry is best known in New England folklore for his romantic entanglement with Agnes Surriage, a fisherman’s daughter and scrubmaid at the Fountain Inn at Marblehead. Frankland first came to Boston in 1740 where he became Collector of the port the next year, a post to which William Shirley also had aspirations before accepting the Governorship of the Province. Frankland’s administration was short-lived and mediocre. See Elias Nason, Sir Charles Henry Frankland, Baronet (Albany, 1865); Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings, xlvi (1913), 464; Frankland’s fragmentary diary at the Massachusetts Historical Society; and Stella Palmer, Dame Agnes Frankland, 1726–1783, and Some Chichester Contemporaries (Chichester, England, 1964).

9 Halfway Rock is a small, domed island between Boston and Gloucester, bearing 2½ nautical miles due east of Marblehead Neck. Fishermen, outward bound, once threw pennies upon it for luck.

10 The text of the impressment episode, contained between the suspension points [. . .], is contained in a letter from Ashley Bowen to the Reverend William Bentley of Salem, 15 May 1809, Bentley Papers at the Peabody Museum of Salem. A version of this letter, with notes by Russell W. Knight, was published in The American Neptune, xxiii (1963), 143–145. Despite assurances published at Boston by Captain Edward Hawke of H.M.S. Portland that he would not impress any men during his stay, numerous seamen were taken up notwithstanding. See A Report of the Record Commissioners of the City of Boston Containing the Records of Boston Selectmen, 1736 to 1742 (Boston, 1886), 315.

11 George Whitefield (1714–1770), evangelist and leader of the Calvinistic Methodists, who had traveled extensively through the Colonies, leaving in his wake a trail of dissention and discord.

12 The Rev. Simon Bradstreet (1709?-1771), great-grandson of Massachusetts Governor Simon Bradstreet, graduated from Harvard College in 1728. When Edward Holyoke removed in 1737 from the parish of the Second Congregational Church (New Meeting House) at Marblehead to assume the Presidency of Harvard, Bradstreet became his successor, being ordained at Marblehead on 4 January 1738.

“Uncle Webb” refers to the Rev. John Webb (1687–1750), who was ordained at the New North, Boston, 20 October 1714.

13 The exact nature of the Leghorn Cough has not been determined. L. M. Payne, Librarian of the Royal College of Physicians, London, believes this may have been an epidemical disease which spread quickly throughout Europe during the 1730s and eventually found its way to New England and the Caribbean. It first manifested itself by coldness, dizzy spells, pains in the head, breast and back, loss of appetite, or pain and swelling about the eyes and throat. After several days a cough began, accompanied by quantities of mucus, stomach pains, and diarrhea. The cough was apt to continue on for some time after the other symptoms had passed off; the complaint was not considered deadly except among the infirm, aged, or consumptive.

14 The Boston Weekly News-Letter for 1 September 1743 lists Hall as outward bound for Philadelphia at that time.

15 “Fustic” is a tropical American tree which yields a light-yellow dye. A “lazaret” is a space divided by a bulkhead in the fore part of the ‘tween decks for stowing stores and provisions.

16 Hall couldn’t have chosen a worse time of day to inflict punishment. His frequent sighting with his quadrant indicates that in addition to his need to apply the cat to Ashley’s back he was anxious at the same time to shoot the sun at its maximum altitude in order to determine his daily position. At noontime a shipmaster should not have been diverted from making his celestial observations.

17 The identity of Thomas Ling has not been established.

18 “The N.S. Concordia, a Spanish Register Ship from Le Vera Cruz for Cadiz, valued at Two Hundred Thousand Pounds, was taken by his Majesty’s Ship the Solebay, Capt. Bury, of 20 Guns, off of Cadiz, and carried into Gibraltar the 26th of Feb. O[ld] S[tyle].” Lloyd’s List, 3 April 1744.

19 Blaney had commanded the vessel Lucitania, which was lost going out of Port Mahon, en route from Boston for Genoa. Lloyd’s List, 10 April 1744.

20 Captain Peter Hall had been married to Elizabeth Kenney on 31 March 1737 at Boston by the Rev. John Webb. She was the daughter of Eliza and Nathaniel (not Benjamin) Kenney and was born in Boston on 5 November 1716. Her parents, Nathaniel and Eliza Carnes, were married by Cotton Mather on 8 March 1707. See Report of the Record Commissioners of the City of Boston Containing Boston Marriages from 1700 to 1751 (Boston, 1898), 12, 201, and Report of the Record Commissioners . . . Containing Boston Births from a.d. 1700 to a.d. 1800 (Boston, 1894), 114. An Elizabeth Hall, “Widow,” possibly the same, made her Will on 20 May 1775, in which she bequeathed her entire estate to her daughter, Elizabeth Gray. Suffolk County Probate Records, Record Book 75, 476–477.

21 Thomas Mathews (1676–1751) and Richard Lestock (1679?-1746). Bad blood between rivals and Mathews’s unacquaintance with the fleet and officers of the Mediterranean Squadron to which he had been appointed commander in chief resulted in this fiasco. The combined fleets of France and Spain sailed from Toulon on 10 February 1743/44 at the same time the disorganized English fleet left Hyères roadstead. Mathews was unable to form a line and made a signal to effect the manoeuver. Lestock, with the ships of the rear division, misinterpreted the signal, by which means the vessels under his command dropped far astern of the main fleet. Mathews, who could not wait for Lestock to come up if he was to prevent the enemy fleet from making for the Straits of Gibraltar and hence having the ability to join the Brest fleet, began the action. The engagement turned into a general melee and caused the English fleet to withdraw. In August 1744 Mathews was allowed to resign his command and to return home. Lestock was court-martialed in 1746 and was acquitted.

22 Bowen later believed Mr. Preston to have been the author of a volume on Masonry. That would have been William Preston. It is more likely, however, that he was John Preston, “commissioned” Chaplain on 23 February 1741/42 in the 26th Regiment of Foot. A List of the General and Field-Officers. . .in the Several Regiments of Horse, Dragoons, and Foot on the British and Irish Establishments . . . (London, 1761), 79.

23 H.M.S. Dorsetshire, Captain George Burrish, arrived at Mahon on 9 January 1744/45, where she refitted until the end of March. Captain’s Log, Adm. 51/261 at the P.R.O., London. The Muster Book (Adm. 36/873, series I, at the P.R.O.) makes no mention of either Hall or Bowen as supernumeraries for victuals.

24 H.M.S. Rupert, Captain John Ambrose, arrived at Mahon on 4 March 1745, where Admiral William Rowley’s fleet was at anchor. She sailed from Mahon on 12 March for a cruise off Corsica and Genoa, not returning to Minorca until the following 15 June, then under the command of Captain Edmund Home. Captain’s Log, H.M.S. Rupert, Adm. 51/821, at the P.R.O., London. Bowen errs respecting Pollard’s station on board. Pollard entered 2 January 1744/45 as a Captain’s Servant; on 1 May 1745 he was an able seaman. Muster Book of H.M.S. Rupert, Adm. 36/3174, series I, at the P.R.O., London.

25 Henry Page was First Lieutenant of Dorsetshire. William Griffith was Third Lieutenant. Muster Book of H.M.S. Dorsetshire, Adm. 36/872, series I, at the P.R.O., London.

26 On 14 April 1745, H.M.S. Burford was cruising 3 or 4 leagues SE 1/2S of Cape de Gata. “At 11 Do [a.m.] Came in here a french ship from Marceilles Bound to Martinico wee sent our Boat on Board her & took her a Prize.” Captain’s Log of H.M.S. Burford, Adm. 51/85, at the P.R.O., London. The vessel was later renamed in honor of Burford’s captain, Edmund Strange. Burford arrived in Mahon Harbor on 16 May 1745.

27 On 24 June 1745 “at 5 a.m. weighd pr Signl & made Sail [from Port Mahon] in Company ye Burford Leopard & Esther Row bts with 11 Sail of Merchtmen Under Convoy to ye Wtward at 10 ye Leopard partd to ye Etwd.” Captain’s Log of H.M.S. Rupert, Adm. 51/821, at the P.R.O., London. The convoy arrived at Gibraltar on 11 July. Two days later, H.M.S. Burpord, H.M.S. Rupert, Trelawney tender, and six merchant ships came to sail for convoy to the westward. Presumably Strange was one of them although an examination of the Register of Passes (Adm. 1/85, Ind. 7595, at the P.R.O., London) makes no mention of her.

28 In 1744, Michael Beesley had been in command of a privateer schooner hailing from Montserrat which, while cruising off Dominica, blew up, killing all on board. Beesley and several other men were at that time in the schooner’s canoe, attempting to cut out an enemy sloop. Upon losing their schooner, they set out in the canoe for Nevis, where they arrived five days later on 19 October 1744. In 1745, Beesley was in command of the sloop Bumper, also of Montserrat, and cruised in company with the Bermuda sloop Trembleur. Together they captured a schooner with 240 pieces-of-eight, which they carried to Curaçao and sold. In February 1745, near Aruba, they captured a Spanish sloop bound for Curaçao from St. Domingo carrying 4,751 pieces-of-eight, 7½ pounds of silver bullion, hides, and tobacco. A few days later, they made a prize of a large schooner from Martinique for Bordeaux with coffee and sugar. Beesley was in command of the privateer Dolphin in 1747. See Howard M. Chapin, Privateering in King George’s War, 1739–1748 (Providence, 1928), 160, 195, 236.

29 Solomon Fussell was a signer of the Fellowship Fire Company of Philadelphia, organized in 1738, and a member of the Union Library Company of Philadelphia, founded in 1747. A number of his ledgers and accounts are presently in the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. See The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, xxvii (1903), 476; xl (1916), 121; and xlii (1918), 195.

30 Possibly intended to be: “Monsieur le pilote, j’en ai deux piastres. Est-ce-que vous les voulez? Prenez-les vite. Je vous les donne.” And: “Est [un] hon garçon. Comme c’est argent, j’aurais moi voulu retourner.”

31 A search through the Master’s Log of Merlin (Adm. 52/655, at the P.R.O., London) discloses a gap in the entries for about five months between March and July 1746. Her Muster Book (Adm. 36/2018, series I, at the P.R.O., London) provides no clue as there is no mention of any men taken from the cartel.

32 Nathaniel Goodwin was probably a son of Nathan Bowen’s second wife, Hannah Goodwin Harris Bowen.

33 About 1 February 1747/48, Friendship, “Copythorn,” arrived at Gibraltar from Faro and was so reported in Lloyd’s List for 1 March 1747/48. She arrived at Bristol from Faro on 5 March. Lloyd’s List, 11 March 1747/48.

34 James Perryman had been an innkeeper in Marblehead and was a signer of the petition to Lieutenant Governor William Dummer by the inhabitants of Marblehead for the preservation and repair of Marblehead Harbor, 1727. The Marblehead Vital Records report the birth of two sons to James and Grace Perryman in 1728 and 1730. When he removed to Bristol is unknown.

A contemporary description of Bristol paints a dismal portrait of the place. “I am still, Tho’ much against my Inclination, in this Dirty, Scroub Hole, Bristol, A Place of every one that I ever saw, I most dislike, and I Pray that a kind Providence may soon Remove me, to a Cleaner One, and not only that, but provent my falling into the hands of so deceitful a sett of People As I have had to do with . . . They are most of them on the Tricking order, even among themselves, and are fraid of Each other, as much as of a Stranger, and much good may do them that are Condemned to the Kennell, for my part I do swear £500 Sterling a Year would be no temptation for me to Live here for a Constancy . . . I can Compare it to nothing but New Guinea, at the North End of Boston only there the Streets are wider, and Cleaner, and here the Houses are better, and a Square or two which makes a tollerable figure, or Else Tis a Dirty, Nasty, Smoky, Develish, Stinking Hole.” John Nelson to Jonathan Warner of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 10 April 1754. Penhallow Papers (Box 3) at the Peabody Museum of Salem.

35 Lloyd’s List for 26 June 1747 refers to the vessel as Brislington and the master as Wellbourne.

36 Duke of Cumberland’s arrival at Barbados was reported in Lloyd’s List, issue of 1 August 1749.

37 “The Princess, Lynch, from Lisbon, the [Sea Nymphe], Tucker, from N. England, both for Bilboa, and the N.S. de Begona, from Bilboa for Cadiz, were lost on the Bar of Bilboa.” Lloyd’s List, 20 March 1749/50. “The Ship from N. England, last from Lisbon for Bilboa, lost going over the Bar of Bilboa, was the Swift, Coles, and not Capt. Tucker, as inserted in the List of the 20th Instant—Part of the Cargo and some Materials of the Vessel will be saved.” Lloyd’s List, 27 March 1749/50.

38 Lloyd’s List for 5 July 1751, in reporting the arrival of Commerce from South Carolina at Gravesend, gives the master’s name as “Goodman.”

39 Reports in Lloyd’s List for 26 November 1751 locating Nancy at the Downs bound for Bordeaux and for 8 May 1752 announcing her arrival at Jamaica, give the master’s name as “Shutter” and “Suter,” respectively.

40 The daily remarks of the whaling venture from 4 December 1753 through 7 January 1754 come from the manuscript journal at the Marblehead Historical Society, item number 7567, not from the “Autobiographical Volume.”

41 The “mewgin” is believed to be a mullet.

42 One of the Ashley Bowen journals at the Marblehead Historical Society, item number 7567, contains an incomplete log kept aboard Halley during the homeward passage from Oporto. The log, being only an account of wind, weather, and whereabouts, is of insufficient interest to reproduce fully. Built at Newbury, Massachusetts, in 1754 and owned by Robert Hooper of Marblehead, Halley (115 tons, crew of 9) cleared the Salem Custom House for Europe with 2,500 quintals of fish on 29 January 1755. The log begins with Halley’s departure from Oporto on 15 May and ends three weeks later on 6 June, at a point approximately midway between Oporto and Marblehead. During that time, three vessels were sighted, a suspected landfall at Corvo Island in the Azores was made on 24 May, on 28 May, the “great Boat” was lost overboard, and on 3 June the vessel carried away her main-topmast during a heavy blow although the next day’s report was “all Well on Board.” Halley entered at Salem with 500 hogsheads of salt on 27 June 1755. See Abstracts of the Salem Naval Office Lists, at the Peabody Museum of Salem, from the originals at the P.R.O., London.

43 The ship William, 120 tons, was built at Boston in 1755 and was registered there on 30 December 1755, Thomas Goldthwait, owner. She cleared Salem for Lisbon with 3,000 quintals of fish on 22 January 1756. See Abstracts of the Salem Naval Office Lists, at the Peabody Museum of Salem, and the Impost Office Records for the Port of Salem, at the Essex Institute. The William “Wonza” referred to in the narrative may have been William Wansey of Bristol.

44 A “longer” is one of the water casks stowed next to the keelson or each row of casks stowed in the hold athwartships.

45 The schooner Lucretia, 60 tons, was built at Boston in 1751 and was registered at Salem 8 December 1753, Jeremiah Lee of Marblehead, owner. She cleared from Salem for Lisbon with 1,300 quintals of fish on 14 April 1756. Her entry into Salem from Lisbon with 250 hogsheads of salt was recorded on 4 September 1756. See Abstracts of the Salem Naval Office Lists, at the Peabody Museum of Salem.

46 A record of the schooner Ranger has not been found. As late as the end of May 1756, Barnabus Binney was master of the schooner Peggy, which cleared Salem for Europe on 10 May. Binney, after many years as a shipmaster, became a merchant in Boston where he sold dry goods. He was born at Hull, Massachusetts, 22 March 1723, married Avis Engs at Boston on 15 October 1747, and is believed to have died at Demerara about 1775. See Charles J. F. Binney, Genealogy of the Binney Family in the United States (Albany, 1886), 26f.

47 The schooner Swallow, 65 tons, was built at Salem in 1739 and was owned by Robert Hooper of Marblehead. The Impost Office Records for the Port of Salem, at the Essex Institute, give her clearance for St. Eustatius as 4 December 1756. Lloyd’s List for 12 April 1757 verifies her subsequent capture: “The Swallow, Lewis, from New-England for St. Eustatia, is carried into Martinico.”

48 Item number 7645 at the Marblehead Historical Society is a letter written by Nathan Bowen to Ashley on 24 May 1757:

“My Son

If this Should reach you let it Serve to Acquaint you that the family are Well except yr Mother, who remains in the State you left her in. I simpathize with you under your late Misfortune with Capt. Lewis, but hope you will retreive that loss by a due Improvement of the Oppertunities you now have, let me recommend you to a Steady Honest & Honourable pursuit of the Things of this World, I Shall rejoice to hear from you of your health, but gladder to See you when it will Suit you to return to Marblehead, always behaving in Such a Manner as Shall recommend you to the favour of God & man, I heartily wish you health and am your Effectionate father

Nathan Bowen”

49 The sloop Olive, 50 tons, was built in Connecticut in 1752 and was registered at St. Kitts 9 May 1757 with James Freeman, owner, and Ashley Bowen, master. She entered Salem with 150 hogsheads of salt from St. Martins on 14 June 1757 and cleared from thence for the West Indies on 23 November 1757. Impost Office Records for the Port of Salem, at the Essex Institute. The actual date of sailing appears to have been 2 December, by virtue of a notation in Nathan Bowen’s interleaved almanac (at the Essex Institute) on that date—“Son Ashley Sailed this morning.”

50 Hannah, 80 tons, was owned by Jeremiah Lee of Marblehead. She cleared for the West Indies on 23 November 1757 and entered Salem from St. Martins on 18 March 1758. Impost Office Records for the Port of Salem, at the Essex Institute.

51 The text refers to the vessel commanded by Michael Coombs at this time as the schooner Betsey, whereas the equivalent sketch by Bowen (see Plates) calls her Sally. In fact, she appears to have been the schooner Charming Sally, 50 tons, built at Newbury, Massachusetts, in 1754. Coombs cleared Salem in this vessel for Lisbon on 12 June 1758. See Impost Office Records for the Port of Salem, at the Essex Institute.

52 “Townsend” is now Boothbay Harbor, Maine.

53 The contents of Chapter II are drawn entirely from the Ashley Bowen manuscript known as “The Courtship of Dorothy Chadwick,” at the Marblehead Historical Society, item number 7571.

54 See footnotes for Chapter I.

55 The events surrounding the Siege of Quebec and Ashley Bowen’s participation in it are the subject of Chapter III.

56 See Chapter IV.

57 The text of the Proclamation was as follows: “By His Excellency Thomas Pownall, Esq; Captain General and Governour in Chief, in and over His Majesty’s Province of the Massachusetts-Bay in New England, and Vice Admiral of the same.

A Proclamation

Whereas the Great and General Court have agreed to raise Five Thousand Men for the Campaign this Present year 1759; And have Resolved, that as many of said Men as I shall think proper, and as are willing to enter into the Sea Service upon such Terms as I should settle with the Admiral or Commander in Chief of his Majesty’s Ships of War, be employed in such Service, and that Additional Wages be allowed over and above the ordinary Pay in his Majesty’s Ships, so as to make their Wages equal to the Wages of those in the Land Service.

In order therefore to promote a Measure so essential to his Majesty’s Service, I have thought fit to issue this Proclamation, hereby making known that Admiral Durell, Commander in Chief of His Majesty’s Ships of War at Halifax, has engaged to discharge all such Men, as shall Inlist for the Service aforesaid, agreeable to the Time they shall engage for, or at the End of the ensuing Campaign 1759; and that they shall not be carried to Europe or the West Indies; but shall be Discharged and sent to Boston in Transports for that Purpose:—That each Man who shall thus Inlist shall receive his Majesty’s Royal Bounty of Forty shillings Sterling; that their Wages shall commence at the Time of their Entring, notwithstanding they may be at a Distance, and that their Pay Tickets shall be made out from the Time of their Entering to the Day of their Discharge; and that they shall pass free from being Impressed on their Passage home.

The Admiral has further Assured Me, that if among the Men who shall inlist, there are any that understand navigating a Ship, and are qualified for that Purpose, he will give them all Encouragement he is able, by enabling them to act as Midshipmen; and further promises, That the Men of such Towns as shall appear by my Certificate to have done their Share in this Service, shall be free from all Impresses by Sea.

And I do hereby engage in behalf, both of the Province and of the Admiral, that the foregoing Conditions shall be duly complied with; and that the Men who shall inlist as aforesaid, shall likewise receive the Province Bounty, agreeable to My Proclamation of the 17th Instant, and be punctually Discharged at the Time they shall inlist for: And that whatever Number of Men any Town or Company shall raise for this Service, shall be esteemed as Part of their Quota of the Five Thousand Men agreed to be raised by this Government for the general Service of the year. And for the greater Certainty and Precision in this Matter I have ordered the Inlistments to be made on the back of this Proclamation as the Conditions of the Men’s Inlistment.

Given at Boston, the 29th Day of March 1759, in the thirty-second Year of his Majesty’s Reign.

By his Excellency’s Command

T. POWNALL

A. Oliver Secry

God Save the King”

58 The provisions of the Act are set forth in The Acts and Resolves, Public and Private, of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay (Boston, 1881), iv. 191–195. Regarding the general muster: “. . . on the sixth day of April next, at ten of the clock in the forenoon, there shall be a muster of all the companies of horse and foot of the militia of this province, and of the batteries of the towns of Boston, Charles-town, Marblehead, Salem, and Glo[u]cester. . . .”

59 Castle William in Boston.

60 Six companies of Rogers’ Rangers participated in the Siege of Quebec, among them Captain Joseph Goreham’s, which consisted of 95 men of all ranks. The total complement of Rangers at the Siege was 576. Goreham ( ? -c. 1790) was commissioned in Rogers’ Rangers in 1749 and served at Louisbourg during the second siege in 1758. In 1782 he became Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and from 1783 to 1789 he was Governor of Placentia. See Lieutenant Colonel H. M. Jackson, Rogers’ Rangers (no imprint, 1953).

61 The Halifax Naval Office Lists for 1759 (Treas. 1/393, at the P.R.O., London) record the inward entry of the schooner Apollo, “Alexr Sweeny,” on 17 April. She was a schooner of fifty tons, a prize taken from the French in 1757, registered at Halifax on 23 July 1757, and owned by Richard Codman and company of Boston. Her cargo, in addition to the men, consisted of lime, cider, potatoes, malt, flour, beef, rum, and New England distilled spirits. A pollo cleared out from Halifax in ballast for Boston on 24 April 1759.

62 Philip Durell (? -1766) participated in the attack on Porto Cavallo, Venezuela (1743), served in the Home Station and in the Leeward Islands and Cape Breton, and Byng’s expedition to Minorca (1756). In 1766, just prior to his death, he succeeded Lord Colville in command of the North American Station at Halifax. He became Lieutenant on 30 June 1731, Captain on 6 February 1742, Rear Admiral of the Blue on 8 July 1758, Rear Admiral of the Red on 14 February 1759, and Vice Admiral of the Blue on 21 October 1762.

63 John Simcoe ( ? -1759) was commissioned Lieutenant on 7 August 1739 and Captain on 28 December 1743. Among his other, imperfectly recorded, duties, he was a member of the court-martial on Admiral Byng. See John Charnock, Biographia Navalis (London, 1797), v. 259.

The coincidence of Simcoe’s earlier presence at Ashley Bowen’s christening at Mahon is inexplicable inasmuch as he appears to have actually been at Port Royal at that time in command of H.M.S. Seahorse and subsequently H.M.S. Falmouth.

64 Thomas Buckel was rated as an able seaman until 30 March 1759 when he became a midshipman. “Mr. Crisp” was either Robert Crisp, the Second Master, or, more probably, George Crisp, Midshipman. Muster Book of H.M.S. Pembroke, Adm. 36/6347, series i, at the P.R.O., London.

65 The orlop was the lowest deck, just above the hold; the best bower tier, the space where the best bower cable was coiled. As the best bower was one of the anchors most frequently used, the tier was a particularly wet, dank, and disagreeable place.

66 The arrival of these men aboard Pembroke is summarily recorded as follows:

Captain’s Log (Adm. 51/686, at the P.R.O., London): “Do Wr AM recd on Board 17 Seamen wh came from New Engld Empd Working up Junk.”

Master’s Log (Adm. 52/978, at the P.R.O., London): “Do Wear Reed on Board 17 Seamen wch Came from New England, Empd working up Junk.”

Lieutenant’s Log (Adm/L/P79, at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich): “Moderate & Cloudy Wr AM reed on board 17 Seamen wh came from new England. Empld working up Junk.”

These three, almost identical, entries demonstrate the practice by officers of copying each other’s logs. Many of Bowen’s entries, as will be seen, reflect a similar procedure. His list of his men aboard Pembroke, with the exception of one name, is in exactly the same order as they were recorded in the ship’s Muster Book.

Admirals’ Journals (Adm. 50/7, at the P.R.O., London), containing information by Admiral Durell, states that on 16 April “in consequence of my proposals of Encouragement to such Seamen as should be raised on the Continent for the service of His Majesty’s Ships this present Year, a Sloop arrives this Day with thirty three Volunteers, whom I have order’d on board His Majesty’s Ships Pembroke & Squirrel to be borne as Supernumerarys for Victuals & Wages ‘till farther Order. . . .”

67 A list of the Royal Navy vessels which participated at the siege, together with their captains, is given following the entry for 20 September 1759.

68 Respecting the Royal America (60th) Regiment on board Pembroke: “. . . His Majesty’s Ships here with me being in general many short of their Complements I have made application to Govr Lawrence for a number of the Troops that are intended to serve on the Expedition up the River St Lawrence to make up that deficiency, which he has comply’d with, and I have order’d the Boats of the different Ships to be at Grant’s Wharf tomorrow Morning by six o’Clock, to take on board the number allotted to each particular Ship, with their Arms Accoutrements &c. . . .” Admirals’ Journals, Durell (Adm. 50/7, at the P.R.O., London).

69 Sir Charles Saunders (1713?-1775) served under Anson in the early 1740s, he became a Member of Parliament, Treasurer of Greenwich Hospital, onetime commodore and commander-in-chief on the Newfoundland Station, and Comptroller of the Navy. On 14 February 1759 he was promoted to Vice Admiral of the Blue and was appointed commander-in-chief of the fleet for the St. Lawrence. In 1761 he was installed as a Knight of the Bath. In 1765 he was appointed one of the Lords of the Admiralty and the next year to be First Sea Lord, a post from which he resigned in less than three months.

70 “The New Act” was an Act of Parliament for the encouragement of seamen. It had been delivered to the fleet by H.M.S. Lowestoft upon her arrival, 20 May 1759.

71 Bowen’s dimensions for Pembroke disagree with those given by Charnock in his History of Marine Architecture. Charnock’s are as follows: 1,222 tons, 156ʹ-0ʺ length on the gundeck, 128ʹ-7ʺ length of keel, 42ʹ-3½ʺ extreme breadth, and 18ʹ-0ʺ depth of hold. She was built at Plymouth, England, in 1757. Her complement of men was 420. The actual number aboard in May 1759, according to her Muster Book (Adm. 36/6348, series I, at the P.R.O., London), was 325, of which 315 were mustered, 4 checked, and 6 sick. The Marines’ part of the complement was 58. The books bore an additional 17 supernumeraries for wages (the Marbleheaders), and 70 supernumeraries for victuals only.

72 The foregoing paragraph is not contained in Bowen’s Journal of the Siege of Quebec (Marblehead Historical Society, item number 8203), from which the majority of entries for Chapter III are drawn. It comes from the “Autobiographical Volume,” dating from after 1781. So, too, does the paragraph giving Pembroke’s dimensions and officers.

73 Richmond’s signal indicated sighting ice. For some days after this, the fleet was forced to skirt along the edge of the ice, then in the process of breaking up and drifting about in the fog.

74 Charles Holmes (1711–1761). Holmes had served in the Mediterranean, the West Indies, North America, and on the coast of Friesland. He had been a member of the court-martial on Admiral Byng. Promoted to Rear Admiral of the Blue on 6 July 1758, he was the third in command of the St. Lawrence fleet. In March 1760 he was appointed commander-in-chief at Jamaica, where he died.

75 Durell had dispatched Richmond to reconnoiter the area around Port Basque. Admirals’ Journals, Adm. 50/7, at the P.R.O., London.

76 The Surgeon of Prince of Orange was George John. Muster Book of Prince of Orange, Adm. 36/6292, series I, at the P.R.O., London. His necessity aboard Pembroke is clear from the entry for 15 May.

77 Upon Captain Simcoe’s death, First Lieutenant James Norman went aboard Princess Amelia to inform Admiral Durell of the circumstances. Durell then appointed Captain John Wheelock of Squirrel to Pembroke and Lieutenant David Collins of the flagship to command Squirrel until further orders. There is, however, some confusion regarding when all that took place. Bowen reported Collins’s arrival on board Pembroke on 15 May as does the Captain’s Log of Princess Amelia. Wheelock was discharged from Squirrel on 14 May, according to her Muster Book, and both the Captain’s and Master’s Logs of Pembroke indicate he came aboard that ship on the 16th, yet Bowen reports it as 27 May. See Captain’s Logs of Princess Amelia (Adm. 51/736), Pembroke (Adm. 51/686), and Squirrel (Adm. 51/928); Master’s Logs of Pembroke (Adm. 52/978) and Squirrel (Adm. 52/1043); Muster Book of Squirrel (Adm. 36/6641, series I) and Pembroke (Adm. 36/6348, series I); and Admirals’ Journals, Durell (Adm. 50/7), all at the P.R.O., London.

78 “. . . p.m. the Centurion brought the Chace into the Fleet, which proved to be a French Sloop called the Hardie, from St Domingo, bound to Quebec, laden with Rum, Molasses Sugar and Coffee, the Master of her reports that he has been upon the Coast this Month past, and has not been able before to get into the Gulph, there being such quantities of Ice floating about.” Admirals’ Journals, Durell (Adm. 50/7, at the P.R.O., London).

79 “Body of Anticosti NWBN Distce 7 Lgs at 6 Buried the Corpse of Captn John Simcoe, & fired 20 half Minute Guns, at 7 Tkd Cape Rosier NWBN Distce 4 Lgs Island of Bonaventura SW distce 6 Lgs Body of Anticosti NE Distce 1 o Lgs.” Captain’s Log of Pembroke (Adm. 51/686, at the P.R.O., London).

80 “. . . At 2 p.m. saw a Sail in the SW—Made the Prince of Orange’s Signal to Chace—At 4 the Prince of Orange brought the Chace into the Fleet, which proved to be a Sloop from Quebec. She saild from thence the 3d May for Mount Louis, to order the Inhabitants of that place up to Quebec, and to look after some English Prisoners who had made their Escape—The Master of the said Schooner informs me, that on the 9th instant 17 Ships past by Mount Louis, among which were two of the Line, and three Frigates.” Admirals’ Journals, Durell (Adm. 50/7, at the P.R.O., London).

81 “. . . Saw a Schooner at Anchor under Hare Island, upon which I orderd all the Boats of the Prss Amelia (under the Command of Lieutenant Durell) to be Mann’d and Armed, who boarded and took her—She is a Fishing Vessel from Quebec. . . .” This vessel contained letters stating the present and expected naval forces under Conflans expected from Brest. Ibid.

82 The Admiral had ordered Prince of Orange to the island of Bic, there to await the arrival of Admiral Saunders and to direct any British ships to Coudre. “At 7 a.m. I made the Signal [to land the troops], and sent our Boats to assist landing the Soldiers from the Wallington, Britannia, and Russel Transports, which was done without any opposition, the Inhabitants having abandon’d the Island on our approach. . . .” Ibid.

83 Gordon, of Devonshire, had been ordered by Durell on 3 June to take under his command Centurion, Pembroke, and Squirrel, and the transports Wellington, Russet, and Britannia to proceed up river as far as the island of Orleans, or higher, to destroy whatever fire rafts could be discovered, to render whatever assistance he could to Colonel Carleton, and to land troops, if necessary.

84 The last sentence for the entry of 9 June comes from the “Autobiographical Volume,” not the Quebec Journal.

85 The reference to running through the Traverse comes from the “Autobiographical Volume,” not the Quebec Journal.

86 “. . . This Day Sails His Majesty’s Sloop Porcupine, the two Schooners and Sloop with Rangers [under the command of Captain Goreham], agreable to my Orders [to join Captain Gordon].” Admirals’ Journals, Durell (Adm. 50/7, at the P.R.O., London). The Rangers arrived from Halifax on 11 June.

87 “Captain Gordon . . . had intelligence of a Sloop having come down the North Channel laden with Stores, which She was unloading round the SE point, between Orleans and the Main—That he therefore made the Signal for Boats mann’d and Arm’d, and order’d Captain Collins in the Porcupine Sloop to fall down and cover them, while they should cut her off or destroy her, but the Boats getting round the Point, and the Porcupine not having Wind enough to get up to them, they were attacked by three times the number of Launches, Row Boats and long Canoes, and obliged to retreat with the loss of the Squirrel’s Cutter, in which were seven Men and a Mate____” Ibid.

88 The British fleet “observed some French Troops at Work on an Eminence raising a Battery opposite where the ships lay at Anchor, upon which he [Captain Gordon of Devonshire] fired several Shot amongst them, and order’d the Pembroke and Centurion to do the same, when they should see the Enemy appear, which they did and drove them from their Works—That he then sent the Squirrel close in Shore who kept them quiet ‘till the Evening, when they had got a small Battery Erected opposite the Centurion, and . . . by Daylight began firing upon her particularly, who return’d the Fire, but reced some small damage in her Rigging, which obliged her to fall below the Devonshire, who fired some Shot from her lower Deck, which took them across their Work and silenced the Battery when they saw them carry off their Guns towards the top of the Hill. . . .” Admirals’ Journals, Durell (Adm. 50/7, at the P.R.O., London). An exceptionally detailed, eyewitness account of the siege operations from this day forward is in Arthur G. Doughty, ed., The Journal of Captain John Knox (Toronto: The Champlain Society, 1914), volumes I and II.

89 The preceeding two paragraphs come from the “Autobiographical Volume,” not the Quebec Journal. The following paragraph forms the caption of the watercolor sketch illustrated in Plate XVI (Lower).

90 A falsefire was a blue light produced by combustible material and used as a night signal.

91 Bowen’s first account of the proceedings on 29 June comes from the Quebec Journal; the second from the “Autobiographical Volume.”

92 The flat bottomed boats so extensively employed during the Siege of Quebec appear to have measured some 36 feet in length, 10ʹ-2ʺ moulded breadth, and 2ʹ-10ʺ depth amidships. Plans for two such craft survive in the Admiralty Collection of Draughts at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England. Bowen, himself, shows them in his several sketches depicting the departure of the Marbleheaders from Pembroke in September 1759.

93 The last paragraph of the entry for 6 July comes from Bowen’s “Autobiographical Volume.”

94 James Wilson was a midshipman aboard Pembroke. He is shown on the ship’s books as an able seaman until 25 May 1757; coxwain until 19 March 1758; then midshipman. The majority of entries from now until the end of August were kept for Bowen and are printed in italics within parentheses.

95 Bowen’s memorandum on 15 July comes from the “Autobiographical Volume.” The reference to Bentley indicates that this account was inserted into the “Autobiographical Volume” after 1804 when Bowen first met the Reverend William Bentley of Salem, whose father served at Quebec, in an attempt to please his newly acquired friend and patron. The Muster Book of H.M.S. Porcupine (Adm. 36/6306, at the P.R.O., London), however, does not include anyone named Bentley on board from August 1758 through October 1759.

96 The “Note” comes from the “Autobiographical Volume,” not the Quebec Journal.

97 Captain John Knox commented on measures taken to avert damage from French fire rafts. “Late last night the enemy sent down a most formidable fire-raft, which consisted of a parcel of schooners, shallops, and stages, chained together; it could not be less than an hundred fathoms in length, and was covered with grenades, old swivels, gun and pistol barrels loaded up to their muzzles, and various other inventions and combustible matters. This seemed to be their derniere attempt against our fleet, which happily miscarried as before; for our gallant seamen, with their usual expertness, grappled them before they got down above a third part of the bason, towed them safe to shore, and left them at anchor, continually repeating—All’s well. A remarkable expression from some of these intrepid souls [sometimes attributed to the Marblehead contingent] to their comrades on this occasion, I must not omit, on account of its singular uncouthness, viz. Dam-me, Jack, did’st thee ever take hell in tow before?” Arthur G. Doughty, ed., The Journal of Captain John Knox (Toronto: The Champlain Society, 1914), 1. 445.

98 This last sentence comes from the “Autobiographical Volume,” not from the Quebec Journal.

99 George Townshend (1724–1807), third in command of the land forces under James Wolfe.

100 A manuscript fragment by Bowen for this date in the John Prince Papers at the Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts, p. 1, states: “at noon Came on board the Pembroke two Indin Tears With a plan of Lewesborg harbour from admerel Durell to Disier that Capt Wheelock to put the two Ships that Was Sunk.”

101 “A Serjeant of the thirty-fifth regiment, a bold desperate fellow, deserted across the fall to the enemy; some cannon and musketry were fired after him, but he escaped without any accident.” Arthur G. Doughty, ed., The Journal of Captain John Knox (Toronto: The Champlain Society, 1914), II. 51. The intelligence communicated to the French by the deserter is cited in the same reference.

102 Lieutenant Horatio Ripley of H.M.S. Alcide was court-martialed on charges exhibited by Captain James Douglas of Alcide of neglect of duty and discourtesy in failing to inform him of a signal to weigh anchor. The charges were not proved and Ripley was acquitted. Court Martial Records, Adm. 1/5298, at the P.R.O., London.

103 The last paragraph of the entry for 7 September comes from the “Autobiographical Volume,” not from the Quebec Journal.

104 Twenty-five former prisoners were entered on the books of H.M.S. Pembroke on 19 September, but there is no reference to Moses Hooper. Muster Book of H.M.S. Pembroke (Adm. 36/6348, series I, at the P.R.O., London).

105 The details of Bowen’s altercation with Alexander Duncan are unknown. William Colley, one of the former “Quebec Prisoners” taken aboard on 19 September, had been rated as an ordinary seaman. The episode was not logged.

106 Bowen’s accounts are enumerated in Pembroke’s Muster Book, as follows:

There were no charges against “Venereals,” “Trusses,” “Cloaths in Sick Quarters,” or “Tobacco.” Bowen, Bartlett, Horne, Arkis, Welsh, Farrell, Bateman, Thompson, Woodfine, Dalton, Kingsley, Nichols, Lloyd, Sovereign, Pane, and Swayer were discharged to the Fell transport on 30 September. Warren had died on 29 July. The Captain’s, Master’s, and Lieutenant’s logs give the time of their discharge as 1 October, for example: “Discharg’d 15 New England men & a petty officer [Bowen] according to Contract. . . .”

107 Cat-barks were strong, roomy vessels, much used as transports, storeships, and carriers, particularly across the North Sea and the Baltic.

108 Only the first two sentences of the entry for i October come from the Quebec Journal; the remainder appears in the “Autobiographical Volume.”

109 “The Royal William and Captain ran ashore just below Cape Diable . . . The Neptune parted and brought up lower down. The Terrible likewise parted from all her Anchors, and made the signal of distress, upon which I made the Signal for all Lieutenants and orderd all the Boats with Anchors &c, to go to the assistance of the Ships ashore.” Admirals’ Journals, Durell (Adm. 50/7, at the P.R.O., London).

110 “. . . the great Number of Transports remaining in the River makes it absolutely necessary to send them away in different Divisions, & under different Convoys . . . The different Convoys that go with him [Admiral Holmes] down the River, are, To Louisbourg, with the Grenadiers of that Garrison; To Halifax with two Companies of Rangers; and to Boston & New York with the hospital Ships, the provincial Soldiers & Seamen, & some Rangers. . . .” Admiral Saunders to the Lords of the Admiralty, 5 October 1759, in the Papers of Admirals Colville and Saunders (1759–1766), Adm. 1/482, p. 61, at the P.R.O., London.

111 The list here reproduced is contained in the William Bentley Miscellaneous Papers, p. 37, at the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts.

112 At a meeting of the Boston Selectmen the next day, 10 November: “The Selectmen being Informed that the Ship Thornton John Elkshaw Master from Quebec has a Number of People on board Sick, the Master was Sent for & reported that he has brought with him One hundred & Seventy Sailors (being part of those the Province Supplyd Admiral Saunders & which he has dismissd) about Seven or Eight of which are Sick, & a Number of others Complaining—Voted that the Master be ordered Imediatly to go with his Ship to Ransfords Island & there deliver all his Sick People and Accordingly the Master was directed Imediatly to proceed to the Island aforesaid. . . .” Written directions were then handed to Elkshaw and dispatched to the Keeper of the hospital there. A Report of the Record Commissioners of the City of Boston Containing the Selectmen’s Minutes from 1754 through 1763 (Boston, 1887), 110f.

113 Ashley Bowen’s petition to the General Court, a copy of which is in the Massachusetts State Archives, reads as follows:

“Province of the Massachusetts
Bay in New England

Thomas Pownall Esqr Capt General & Comander in Chief in and over his Majestys sd Province to the Honbl his Majesty’s Council and Honble House of Representatives of sd Province Humbly Shews, Ashley Bowen of Marblehead in said Province That on the thirty first Day of March last he entered into his Majesty’s Sea Service agreeable to his Excellency’s Proclamation of the Twenty Nineth of sd March: That on the Twelfth of April last he with Thirty two Men who were inlisted into the same Service, at sd Marblehead, of whom he had the Care, went on board a Schooner, and with Coll. Gorham and his Company, went directly from Marblehead to Hallifax, where he and said Men were disposed of by the Order of Admiral Durell, That your Petitioner was ordered on Board the Pembroke, where he was admitted in Quallity of a Midshipman and remain’d there on Duty till the Thirtieth Day of September, and was then discharged from sd Ship, and he with 160 New England Men, under his Care, were ordered on Board a Transport Ship bound for Boston, that in the Passage Homeward his said Company proved sickly and Thirty five of them Dyed: That your Petitioner was exposed to great Difficulty & Danger in tending the Sick, and taking care of them (who must otherwise have greatly suffered) and in Burying the Dead by reason of the foulness of the Distemper, then prevailing among them, for all which extraordinary Service he has had no allowance, and as he went directly from Marblehead, he had no Certificates of the Time of his Entry, so could have no Billiting for 13 Days and his serving as a Midshipman was no profit to him, but considerable Expence.

“Wherefore your Petitioner prays your Excellency’s and Honours to take the premises[?] under your Consideration and make him such Allowance as in your great Wisdom shall seem Meet, which shall Oblige:—

Your Excellency’s & Honours

Most Dutiful & Humbl Servt

[Signed] ASHLEY BOWEN

In the House of Reptvs April 23 1760

Read and Ordered that the Sum of

three pounds four Shillings be paid out of

the publick Treasury to the Petr in consideration

of his Services within mentioned.

Sent up for concurrence

Attest Roland Cotton Clerk

In Council Aprl 24. 1760 Read & Concurred

A Oliver Secy

Consented to

POWNALL”

For further information about the results of his petition, see Bowen’s remarks in his letter to the Reverend William Bentley, 4 September 1809, reproduced in Chapter XX.

114 The contents of Chapter IV are derived from three Bowen journals, viz. the Quebec Journal (item number 8203, at the Marblehead Historical Society), the journal of a voyage to Canada (item number 7568, at the Marblehead Historical Society), and a bound volume of Interleaved Almanacs, at the Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts. Joseph Weare, owner of the transport schooner Swallow, was one of many of the name who lived around York (Maine) during Colonial times.

115 H.M.S. Penzance, had sailed from Plymouth, England, on 12 March. She arrived at Halifax 7 May and at Quebec on 29 June. Captain’s Log, Adm. 51/684, at the P.R.O., London.

116 Captain William Gough, who died on 2 July.

117 Three seamen, James Mike, Thomas Wilkinson, and William McMillard, belonging to H.M.S. Vanguard, had been tried by court-martial for desertion and had been sentenced to death. Due to applications for mercy submitted to Lord Colville, he gave the following orders: “You are to hoist a red Penant at the fore-top-gallant-mast-head, and fire a Gun, as a Signal for the Boats of the Squadron to attend; and when all things are ready for the Execution of the three Prisoners, above named, you are to cause them to throw the Dice, or draw Lotts, so that one only may suffer death, who is immediately to be executed, upon firing a Gun as a Signal for the same. The other two are to be reprieved untill further Orders; and they are hereby reprieved accordingly.” At 9 a.m. on 12 July, Vanguard made a signal for a lieutenant. At 11 the prisoners, attended by two members of the clergy, proceeded to the forecastle, where James Mike drew the short straw and was hanged. Papers of Admirals Colville and Saunders (Adm. 1/482, p. 123, at the P.R.O., London), and Captain’s Log of H.M.S. Vanguard (Adm. 51/1026, at the P.R.O.).

118 The reference to James Cook comes from the “Autobiographical Volume.”

119 The reference to James Cook comes from the “Autobiographical Volume.” Bowen’s sketch of Northumberland has not been located.

120 The various merchant captains mentioned in this chapter cannot be identified precisely. Several may have been as follows: Small—Richard(?) Small, schooner Two Brothers of Boston. McCleen—Hugh McLean, sloop Nancy of Boston. Stephens— Richard Stevens, schooner Two Brothers of Salem. Hobbs—Ebenezer Hobbs, brig Greyhound of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Campbell—James(?) Campbell, sloop Sally of Boston. Standford—Jeremiah Staniford, schooner Litchfield of Salem. Laws—Archibald Laws, schooner Night Hawk of Boston.

121 Colonel Simon Fraser (1726–1782). At the beginning of the Seven Years’ War he obtained leave to raise a corps of Highlanders, which became the 78th, or Fraser’s Highlanders. His commission as Lieutenant Colonel was dated 5 June 1757; he became full Colonel 19 February 1762. He was at the Siege of Louisbourg in 1758, and at Quebec in 1759 where he was twice wounded.

122 “Colonel Fraser having secured all the avenues leading from the fort to the country [by 8 September 1760], the detachment lay on their arms until the morning of the 1 oth, when, a small party being advanced to reconnoitre the works of the place, and the ships having by this time fallen lower down, the garrison was alarmed, and the drums beat to arms. M. le Marquis d’Albergotti, the Commanding Officer, was then summoned in form to surrender; but he refused, with great parade, farcically returning the usual answer—that he would defend that post to the last extremity; which was seconded by a discharge of a few guns. The Colonel then ordered up two field-pieces and as many howitzers, under cover of a rising ground, to play upon the fort, and, at the same time, formed his corps into three divisions, being determined to storm the place without loss of time; all things being prepared, the assailants boldly advanced to the attack, which the Marquis perceiving, instantly beat a chamade, and surrendered at discretion. The garrison consisted of two Lieutenants and fifty of the regulars, with one hundred and fifty militia, two Gunners, a few indifferent guns, with a very trifling proportion of ammunition, but no provisions, except a few calves, pigs, and poultry. After the garrison were disarmed, and the usual oath tendered to the Canadians, they were permitted to disperse, and return to their respective habitations.” Arthur G. Doughty, ed., The Journal of Captain John Knox (Toronto: The Champlain Society, 1914), II. 523.

123 This reference to James Cook is a contemporary one, made at the time.

124 “The Fair American, Thompson, from London, overset in the River of Quebec, and is lost.” Lloyd’s List, 21 November 1760.

125 By “penguins” Bowen means Great Auks.

126 The contents of Chapter V come from the “Autobiographical Volume” (item number 7572) and a journal (item number 7568), both at the Marblehead Historical Society. The schooner Rambler, 18 tons, was built at Salem in 1753 and was registered there 26 June 1762, “Gamaleel” Smethurst, owner. She cleared out from the Salem Custom House on 30 June, Ashley Bowen, master, bound for Quebec with a cargo of 3 barrels of molasses, 3 barrels of sugar, 6 barrels of rum, 60 barrels of Indian corn, and 9 quarter casks of Madeira wine. Abstracts of the Naval Office Records for the ports of Salem and Marblehead, at the Peabody Museum.

127 Newbury and Haverhill lie on the Merrimac River in northeastern Massachusetts. The Merrimac River at this period was an extremely active shipbuilding area which supplied the Salem-Marblehead merchants with nearly 49 percent of all their vessels employed in foreign trade. Many commercial and economic ties existed between Marblehead and Newbury. See appendices of Philip C. F. Smith and Russell W. Knight, In Troubled Waters: The Elusive Schooner Hannah (Salem: Peabody Museum of Salem, 1970).

128 The “cabouse” was a detachable cook-house lashed on the foredeck.

129 Bowen’s specific reference to a Hadley quadrant is of interest because it probably means he was just beginning to make use of one. The instrument had been invented in 1731 by John Hadley, an Englishman, but until late in the century many mariners still continued the use of Davis quadrants, invented at the end of the sixteenth century.

130 St. John’s had been attacked and taken by a French squadron. It was later recaptured by the English.

131 A letter from Halifax, dated 15 July and published in the Boston News-Letter and New England Chronicle of 29 July 1762, summed up the situation there. “Marshal Law is published here;—a Company of Militia mount Guard every Day;—an Embargo is laid on all Shipping for about ten Days. We are putting this Town in the best Posture of Defence that is possible; and should the French pay us a Visit, we shall be in a Condition to give them a very warm and suitable Reception . . . Our Harbour is filled with Topsail Vessels and Schooners from Newfoundland; but no Advice is received from Authority of Particulars of St. John’s being taken; but in general, ‘tis said, that the Inhabitants had 8 or 9 Days allowed them to settle, and dispose of their Effects to the best Advantage they could. . . .”

132 “We hear that a French Priest has been among the Neutrals at Nova-Scotia ever since last Spring; who of late have behav’d in a very insolent Manner, giving out, on hearing the Success of the French at Newfoundland, that they should soon have possession of their Lands again, when they would cut all the Englishmen’s Throats, a Number of Indians have also been among them.” Boston News-Letter and New England Chronicle, 2 September 1762.

133 Bowen’s orders from Gamaliel Smethurst are contained in the John Prince Papers, p. 8, at the Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts.

“Sr You being Master of my Schooner Rambler now laying loaded with Oysters at the Bay Verte are to take the first Opportunity to proceed to Halifax & my Orders are that you make the best of your way there & if possibly to be avoided not to go into any Harbour betwixt & Halifax when arived there you must endeavour to dispose of the Cargo to the best Advantage sending the Cryer & making it as public as possible, you are to remain at Halifax one Week unless a Freight offers for any Part of the Bay of Fundy in such Case make all the Dispatch possible & get a good Pilot for the Bay to carry you to Cumberland if no Freight offers & at the Expiration of the Week you should have any Oysters remaining upon Hand leave them to the Care of Mr Simpson who will do the best for my Interest I shall allow you 10 p Ct upon your Sales—

I would have you send the Hon: Mr Franklin 2 Bushels as soon as you arrive & deliver him a Pacquet I shall give you Buy Me an English Saddle, Saddle Cloth, Bridle & Girths—lay out what you think convenient for the Vessel but with the utmost Frugality I hope I shall find your Behaviour such as will merit my further Esteem—

Should no Freight offer proceed to Me in the best manner you can to Chignecto or Fort Cumberland where you will find further Orders from your Friend & Owner

Bay Verte Sepr 21. 1762

Gam Smethurst”

134 “Sunday [6 March 1763] Morning about 1 o’Clock, a small Schooner from Marblehead, Bowen, Master, overset at the Long Wharf [Boston], and fill’d with Water; and had it not been for the Assistance of some of the Town Watchmen the People on board would have been drowned.” Boston News-Letter and New England Chronicle, 10 March 1763.

135 William Whipple, Jr. (1730–1785)—Portsmouth, New Hampshire, captain and shipowner. He was prominent in the early Provincial Congresses and was a member of the state Committee of Safety. In 1776 he was sent to the Continental Congress and was a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

136 Jonathan Warner was a prominent merchant of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. His three wives, each from well-connected families, added to his prestige and wealth. The first and second were granddaughters of Governor John Wentworth of New Hampshire; the third a granddaughter of James Bowdoin of Boston. In 1770 he was the third largest taxpayer in Portsmouth. See Charles W. Brewster, Rambles About Portsmouth, First Series (Portsmouth, 1873).

137 Monsieur Bunbury, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, captain and merchant, married Hannah Wentworth, daughter of Daniel Wentworth and sister of George and Joshua Wentworth. Bunbury’s daughters married into the prominent Penhallow and Shaefe families. See the Penhallow Papers, Peabody Museum of Salem.

138 Bunbury communicated with Warner from Grenada on 27 September 1763, sending his letter home with Ashley Bowen. “Sir This will be deliver’d you by Mr Bowin who has don every thing during the time he was with me to my satisfaction and your Interest I shall forword the second set by the first Oppertunity the third I shall keep, I hope Sir you will not be under any Concern my not having an In-dorser the reason was that Mr Nelson offerd my his bills in the room of those as he was acquainted with the Gentleman I Expect to sail to morrow with Captn Gilmore who wod have saild before but was oblig’d to Coulk his Vessel but she still lakes I have got the whole of my Cash and we propose if we can fetch Montserrat to by Sixty hhds of rum and Some Cotton & Shuger if we Can get it at a price that will answer this place is Very sickly I have Seen in Corsse of a Day 3 and 4 Buried I [have had] a little tuch Since I have been hear but thank god am pritty well Now I shall take it as a feavour if you will let my wife know my sailing from this place and my Complaments to All frends so remain Sr your Most Obdt Humble Servt

Monsieur Bunbury”

Penhallow Papers, Box 3, at the Peabody Museum of Salem.

139 The brig Success, 70 tons, was built at Piscataqua in 1760 and was registered at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 22 August 1760, James Gilmore, master, and Jonathan Warner, owner. Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Naval Office Lists (C.O. 5/969, at the P.R.O., London).

140 On a petition from the town of Marblehead, the Great and General Court in January 1764 gave permission until the first of June, subsequently extended to the first of September, for a fence to be erected across the highway at Marblehead to prevent the spread of the smallpox from Boston. A suitable watch was to be kept there, empowered to examine all persons or goods entering the town. The Acts and Resolves, Public and Private, of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay (Boston, 1881), iv. 786.

141 On 1 May 1765, Nathan Bo wen conveyed to John Fowler, fisherman, for £93 a dwelling house, with land, near the Old Meeting House. Essex County Registry of Deeds, Book 121, p. 266. The “Norden House” was built on what is now Glover Street between 1657 and 1686 and was purchased by Nathan Bowen from the Norden heirs. Upon Nathan Bowen’s death, the front part of the house was occupied by Knott Martin and his wife; the back by Ashley Bowen.

142 The brick house, otherwise known as the brick kitchen or coach house, was built by Colonel Jeremiah Lee just to the northeast of the site of his mansion house, completed two years later, now the home of the Marblehead Historical Society. The brick house, occupied by the Litchman-Orne printing shop, was still standing in 1971. See Narcissa G. Chamberlain, “The Neighbors of Jeremiah Lee and The Boundaries of His Property,” Essex Institute Historical Collections, cv (April 1969). Parceling is narrow strips of old, tarred canvas, normally wrapped around rope like a bandage prior to serving over with spun yarn. Its use ashore in buildings is not specifically known unless it served as flashing, weatherstripping, or some other form of waterproofing.

143 H.M. Sloop Jamaica, Captain John Lewis Gidoin, came down the coast from Mount Desert Island and on 8 October arrived at Cape Ann Harbor (Gloucester). On the 10th she sailed from Cape Ann. From 11–25 October she was moored in Marblehead Harbor, “the Church Spire NWbW half a mile.” While there, two men jumped ship. Captain’s Log of H.M. Sloop Jamaica, Adm. 51/3874, at the P.R.O., London.

144 The salutes were in honor of the anniversary of King George Ill’s accession to the throne.

145 “Monday Night last, the Wind being very high, a small Vessel laden with Bricks, belonging to Medford, and having two Men on board, foundered off the Entrance of Marblehead Harbour, whereby the Men were drowned and the Vessel lost.” The Massachusetts Gazette and Boston News-Letter, 13 November 1766.

146 Training, on Training Field Hill, of the Marblehead militia.

147 New Wharf (see map of Codner’s Cove) was located at the end of King Street, otherwise known as New Wharf Lane, modern State Street. On or adjacent to it were the wharves and warehouses belonging to Robert Hooper and to Thomas Gerry. New Wharf was improved during the mid-eighteenth century to supplement the old Town Wharf at Nick’s Cove. In 1765 the wharves had become so congested that the town was forced to take steps. As the improvements had been made for the unlading of coasting vessels bringing in wood and lumber and as very often laded vessels had been obstructed from coming in and so had gone to other towns to dispose of their cargoes, it was ordered that no vessel could be suffered to lay at any of the wharves beyond the first tide after their cargo had been discharged. Marblehead Town Records, Town Meeting of 23 March 1765.

148 “We hear from Marblehead, that last Tuesday Morning a Child, about Three Days old, was found drowned in a Well: diligent search was making for the Mother.” The Massachusetts Gazette and Boston News-Letter, 11 June 1767.

149 “Capt. St. Barbe from Falmouth, met with a Vessel from South Carolina, bound to Cowes, who had taken up Capt. Gerrish and his Crew, belonging to Salem, whose Vessel had founder’d on her Passage from the Bay of Honduras: Capt. Gerrish & his People were put on board Capt. St. Barbe, who arrived last Tuesday.” Ibid., 9 July 1767.

150 “The Farm,” constantly referred to by Bowen, at this time was owned by his father. It was located in the vicinity of Legg’s Hill and Silver Hole and was bounded on two sides by the road from Salem to Marblehead across Forest River and the road from Marblehead to Boston (see accompanying map). On 20 May 1774, Nathan Bowen sold 114 acres of it to his son-in-law, John Prince. Hence, Ashley Bowen often refers to it as “Prince Farm.” Essex County Registry of Deeds, Book 135, p. 174. A rough map of the property appears at the back of John Prince, Jr.’s Notorial Record Book at the Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts.

151 The Impost Office Records for the Port of Salem, at the Essex Institute, give the name of Burnham’s schooner as Hitty.

152 “The Beginning of this Week a Vessel arrived at Marblehead from Cadiz, which brought in a Brigantine that had been deserted by the People: She was met with off Cape Sables, when the Captain of the Cadiz Vessel put on board three or four Hands, who found all the Sails standing, excepting the Mainsail, which had been stripped off; there were no Chests nor any Stores on board, the Pumps had been taken out and lash’d on the Quarter-Deck; about three Feet Water was in her Hold: The Hands that took Possession of the Brig fix’d the Pumps and in about three Hours cleared her, and brought her in as above: She proves to be a Vessel belonging to this Port [Boston],— — Simmes, Master, which sailed from hence sometime since to Maryland, where she was loaded with Corn, Flour, &c to a great Value which is still on board, and was bound for Newfoundland: But her being left in such a Manner is not easily accounted for.” Supplement to The Massachusetts Gazette and Boston News-Letter, 29 October 1767.

153 New Boston was the area around Beacon Hill and to the north as far as the Mill Pond, later the West End.

154 “In the Storm we had here last Wednesday Night, a Sloop from Monto Christi, bound to Marblehead, with a considerable Quantity of Molasses and some Wine, was cast away near that Place; the Vessel, Cargo, and all the People perish’d. The Sloop, a few Days before put into the Vineyard for a Pilot, when the Captain went on shore and came round by Land to this Place, and they took on board Mr. David Davis, who was lost with the rest of the People.” The Massachusetts Gazette and Boston News-Letter, 26 November 1767.

155 The mouth of Marblehead Harbor opens directly to the northeast, thereby exposing any shipping riding within it to the direct force of the most severe types of storms usually experienced on the coast—Nor’easters. One of the greatest dangers to vessels in the eighteenth century, as well as to twentieth-century yachts, was the occasional vessel which broke adrift and, with the wind directly behind it, cut a swath down the length of the harbor, irrespective of what other vessels may have been in the way. Thus, Marblehead’s fishing vessels when not in use during the winter, when these storms were most likely to occur, were removed to more sheltered areas of Salem Harbor and the area known as New Mills at Danvers.

156 At the end of the year 1767 there were three Town Schools, including one at the Town House, run by schoolmasters Peter Jayne, Israel Phippen, and Samuel Ashton. In 1768 there were at least three other schoolmasters in town who were sanctioned, if not paid for, by the Selectmen and the town: Joseph Smethurst, Joshua Prentiss, and Samuel Hancock (“late of Harvard College”), the latter’s school being in the north part of the town. That attended by Ashley, Jr., was probably the one in the upper rooms of the Town House, under which was the Town Market. Requirements for admission of scholars were the capabilities of reading from the Testament. Marblehead Town Records.

157 “Fleeting” is the act of changing the position of a tackle when the blocks are drawn together; also, changing the position of the deadeyes when the shrouds have become too long.

158 “About 7 o’Clock the same Evening, Mr. Pritchet, a credible Inhabitant of this Town, left a Neighbour’s House, in Order to go Home, with two Earthen Plates which he had bought there; the Woman lighted him out, and begged him to be careful of the WELL; he answered, that he knew well enough where the Well was: He had gone but two or three Steps in the Dark, before (as is supposed) he stumbled over a large Stone, near the Well, and he being lame, could not recover himself, but fell head-foremost into the Well, and was found next Morning, with his Head in the Mud, at the Bottom of the Well, and his Feet just out of Water. This, ‘tis said, is the second Person that has perished in the same Well! A loud Call this, to the Selectmen of the Town, that they take Care that this and all other Wells in the Town, lying in the same unguarded and dangerous Condition, be properly secured, OR FILL’D UP.” Essex Gazette, 1–8 November 1768.

“Friday last, in the Afternoon, an unruly Horse being let loose in the Street, Kick’d a Boy of about 5 Years old, and wounded him on the Breast, in such a Manner, as that he died the next Morning.” Ibid.

159 “Capt. Israel Dodge arrived here Yesterday, in 26 Days, from St. Eustatia; he sailed in Company with Capt. Hodges, of this Town [Salem], who arrived here last Saturday, and Capt. Bubiere of Marblehead. They parted the next Day after they sailed. On the 30th of October, in Lat. 41,30, Long. 67,30, he took up the Crew of an Oyster Vessel (two Persons;) they were from New-York, bound to Blue-Point, on Long-Island, for Oysters: And on the first Instant, in Lat. 42,40, Long. 67, spoke with a Whaling Sloop belonging to Rhode-Island, from the Western-Islands, Strange, Master, out 62 Days, and took out of him Capt. Bubiere (who sailed with Capt. Dodge) and several of his People, whose Vessel foundered at Sea on the 28th of October, when they took to their Boat, and on the 30th they met with the above Whaling Sloop, who took them up, and on the 1st Instant fell in with Capt. Dodge as above.” Ibid.

160 The firing at Boston was caused by the salutes accorded Commodore Hood upon his arrival aboard H.M.S. Romney from Halifax. The Massachusetts Gazette, 17 November 1768.

161 “Last Sunday Night, in a violent South-East Storm with Rain, a Brigantine belonging to this Place inward bound from the West Indies, Thomas Morton, Master, was drove on the Rocks near the Light-House, and stove to pieces in an instant, and the Vessel and Cargo, which was very valuable, consisting of Sugars and Melasses, as also several Hundred Dollars that was in the Captain’s Chest, were entirely lost:—The People Lives were preserved with the greatest Difficulty, some of them being much bruis’d.” Essex Gazette, 6–13 December 1768.

“We hear that Capt. Thomas Thomas, in a Brigantine from the West-Indies, bound into Newbury-Port, laden with Molasses, was cast away last Sunday se’nnight, near Cape-Ann; the Vessel and Cargo entirely lost, and the Mate drowned.” Ibid.

162 Hope anchored in Marblehead Harbor at 2 p.m., and sailed from thence at 7 a.m. the next day. She was hovering about the coast during the next several months on patrol. See Master’s Log, Adm. 52/1288, at the P.R.O., London.

163 “The Skipper and five Men, belonging to a Marblehead Fishing Schooner, which got in last Week, was washed overboard by a large Sea, while on the Banks of Newfoundland, and all drowned. After this melancholy Accident, two Boys, who were all that remained on board, bore away for another Schooner, then in Sight, from which they received Assistance sufficient to bring the Vessel into Port.” Essex Gazette, 11–18 April 1769.

164 H.M. Schooner Halifax, Samuel Scott, Commander, anchored in three fathoms, the trees on Cat Island EbN, the Church NW, offshore ¼ of a mile.

165 The brig Pitt Packet, Captain Thomas Power, owned by Robert Hooper, while returning to Marblehead from Cadiz with a cargo of salt for the fisheries was brought to some five leagues SSE of Cape Ann on 22 April by H.M.S. Rose, Captain Benjamin Caldwell. Rose put away her cutter under the command of Lieutenant Henry Gibson Panton, ostensibly to search for contraband, but in fact to impress men out of her. As the cutter approached four members of the Pitt Packet crew scrambled below and barricaded themselves in the forepeak. Panton, discovering that some of the crew was missing, instigated a search. The four seamen, led by Michael Corbett, were soon discovered, but refused to come out and let it be known that they were armed. Panton sent for reenforcements from Rose. After a lengthy and heated altercation between the opponents, Lieutenant Panton was killed by a harpoon thrown through his neck by Michael Corbett. Corbett and his companions were forcibly extricated and removed to Rose under heavy guard. Pitt Packet was manned by a crew from Rose, escorted into Boston, and finally released and returned to the Salem Custom House to be rummaged. Corbett and the other three seamen were prepared for trial; their defense attornies being John Adams and James Otis. The authority under which they could be tried, as well as a Pandora’s Box which was feared to be opened and to expose to question the legality of impressment in American waters, led to their ultimate acquittal on the grounds of justifiable homicide. The case was of the utmost significance and caused great excitement in Boston during the early summer. See L. K. Wroth and H. B. Zobel, ed., The Legal Papers of John Adams (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1965), ii. 275–335.

Bowen did not mention the Pitt Packet incident at the time, although many years later he added to his Day Book, under date of 22 July 1770 (which see), a garbled and misplaced reference to it.

Thomas Power, captain of Pitt Packet, was reassigned to another of Hooper’s vessels 5 Hugh Hill, the First Mate at the time of the incident, the next year became Captain of Hooper’s new brig General Wolfe; and within several years Michael Corbett was in command of the schooner Collector. John Adams thought enough of Corbett to recommend him in later years for a captaincy in the Continental Navy.

166 Batchelder had been stopped and examined off the coast by H.M.S. Halifax, Samuel Scott, commander. Captain’s Log of H.M. Schooner Halifax, Adm. 51/4211, at the P.R.O., London.

167 Although Bowen does not mention it, the weather on 10 and 11 May was extraordinary. On the 10th, the thermometer read 84½° Fahrenheit in the shade; by noon the next day the temperature had descended to 41½°, and at 6 p.m. it fell to 36°, “at which Time there was a Snow Storm.” Essex Gazette, 9–16 May 1769.

168 The common pasturage land at Marblehead was divided into the areas known as the Lower Division, the Middle Division, and the Upper Division.

169 The scales were for the use of the Town Market which was located under the Town House. It was managed by a Clerk of the Market, who received for his services £5—£10 per annum in addition to certain perquisites. The Market was open every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday in the year, from sunrise, when a bell was rung, until 1 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays and sunset on Saturdays. Should one of these days happen to fall on a day set apart by government for religious services, the preceding day was market day from dawn to dusk. Numerous rules and regulations spelled out how it was to be maintained—no unwholesome meat to be sold there, no meat but pork to be left in the market during the winter after the closing hour, no horses or conveyances to encumber the entrance, restrictions concerning the purchase of provisions for resale at an enhanced price, and so on. The hours and days varied from time to time. Marblehead Town Records. See, especially, minutes of the Town Meetings for 16 June 1766 and 19 April 1773.

170 The Essex Gazette for 1–8 August 1769 reprinted an account from the Boston Gazette of Governor Bernard’s departure from Boston:

“Tuesday last embarked on board his Majesty’s Ship the Rippon, sir Francis Bernard of Nettleham, Bart, who for nine Years past, has been a Scourge to this Province, a Curse to North-America, and a Plague to the whole Empire. He having sagely fixed on the First of August, the Day of the Elevation of the House of Hanover to the British Throne, for the Time of his Departure, there were four Causes of public Rejoicing. 1. The Accession of the present Royal Family. 2. That the King had been graciously pleased to recall a very bad Governor. 3. The sure and certain Hopes that a very good one will be sent out, and placed in his Stead. 4. That a worse cannot be found on this Side—, if there. On Monday Evening the Baronet, being unwilling to give himself and Friends, if he has any, the Trouble of a formal Leave or the People an Opportunity to hiss him off the stage, sneaked down to Castle-William, where he lay that Night. The next Morning he was toated on board the Rippon, in a Canoe, a Tom-Cod Catcher, or some other small Boat. The Ship was soon under Sail, but had not proceeded a League, before the Wind shifting, she came to Anchor, and lay Wind-bound ‘till Friday Noon, when she sailed again with a fair Wind after her: The Captain, Thomson, and the Ship, both worthy a better Cargo. Should the Johns, on the rising of the first Storm, sign a round Robbin to the Captain to throw the Baronet overboard for fair Weather, and he find his Way into a Whale’s Belly, it is hoped he will not be cast out, dead or alive, within Soundings.—So soon as the Rippon was under Sail on Tuesday, the Cannon at the Castle were fired with Joy—The Union Flagg was displayed from LIBERTY-TREE, where it was kept flying ‘till Friday.—Colours were also slung out from most of the Vessels in the Harbour—And from the Tops of the Houses in Town.—The Bells were rang, and Cannon fired incessantly ‘till Sunset.—In the Evening there was a Bonfire on Fort-Hill, and another on the Heights of Charlestown. The general Joy of this City was soon diffused through the neighbouring Towns, who gave similar Demonstrations of it. There was not the least Disorder committed, and the Night was the most quiet the Town has enjoyed since August, 1760, the Time of the Baronet’s Arrival here.”

171 Probably the brig Albion, Captain White.

172 Pope’s Day, the New England equivalent of Guy Fawkes Day in Old England. It was a time for highjinks, masquerades, bonfires, and release of inhibitions. Normally held on 5 November, Pope’s Day was a day late in 1769 due to the fifth falling on the Sabbath. An account of the proceedings of a Pope’s Day at Newbury, Massachusetts, in 1775 is not atypical, except perhaps that it was more austere than usual due to the war. “In the day time, companies of little boys might be seen, in various parts of the town, with their little popes, dressed up in the most grotesque and fantastic manner, which they carried about, some on boards, and some on little carriages, for their own and others’ amusement. But the great exhibition was reserved for the night, in which young men, as well as boys, participated. They first constructed a huge vehicle, varying at times, from twenty to forty feet long, eight or ten wide, and five or six high, from the lower to the upper platform, on the front of which, they erected a paper lantern, capacious enough to hold, in addition to the lights, five or six persons. Behind that, as large as life, sat the mimic pope, and several other personages, monks, friars and so forth. Last, but not least, stood an image of what was designed to be a representation of old Nick himself, furnished with a pair of huge horns, holding in his hand a pitchfork, and otherwise accoutred, with all the frightful ugliness that their ingenuity could desire. Their next step, after they had mounted their ponderous vehicle on four wheels, chosen their officers, captain, first and second lieutenant, purser and so forth, placed a boy under the platform, to elevate and move round, at proper intervals, the moveable head of the pope, and attached ropes to the front part of the machine, was, to take up their line of march through the principal streets of the town. Sometimes in addition to the images of the pope and his company, there might be found, on the same platform, half a dozen dancers and a fiddler, whose

together with a large crowd who made up a long procession.” The boys with the pope called at various houses in town, rang the bell at the door, caused the pope to move his head around, recited lines, and then made merry as the evening wore on with bonfires of billets, tar barrels, and the mannequin pope itself.

Pope’s Day survived in Marblehead at least until the year 1892, when the Portsmouth Daily Evening Times for 7 November reported that “the night of the 5th of November is remembered by a huge bonfire on the neck, around which the chaps with horns dance in fantastic glee. The blaze Saturday night on the M[arblehead] N[eck] was a bigger one than usual.”

See “The Diary of the Rev. Samuel Checkley, 1735,” The Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Transactions, xii (1908—1909), 288—2955 and Joseph B. Felt, Annals of Salem, 2nd ed. (Salem, 1849), 45–50.

173 The temperature on this day at 11 a.m. was 13½° Fahrenheit; at 11 p.m., 7°. At 8 a.m. the next morning it was 3°. It is no wonder that Bowen could “do nothing at loft.” Essex Gazette, 28 November–5 December 1769.

174 “Capt. Josiah Orne, in the Schooner Dolphin, after a tedious Passage of 45 Days from St. Nichola Mole, as he was bound into this Harbour, last Friday Night, ran on the Rocks called Baker’s-Island Breakers, where his Men obliged him to leave his Vessel, and go ashore on the Island, as they thought it dangerous to stay on board. When the Tide arose, the Schooner drifted off the Rocks, and was taken care of by two Schooners, bound into Marblehead, which came across her, she having received little or no Damage.” Essex Gazette, 5–12 December 1769.

175 “About ten Days since, Capt. John Bubier, Master of a Sloop from St. Lucia, belonging to Marblehead, died at Martha’s Vineyard.” Essex Gazette, 30 January–6 February 1770.

176 “Last Sunday Morning, Timothy Curtis, of Marblehead, was found dead, hanging by the Neck, in one of the Rooms of his House. The Jury of Inquest’s Verdict was, Self-Murder.—He had a numerous Family of Children, and was very poor; but what induced him to commit this shocking and unnatural Act, is not known.” Ibid., 27 February–6 March 1770.

177 This is a rare instance of a vessel of this size having been built in Marblehead prior to the Revolution. A schooner of fifty-four tons would have measured approximately 43 feet length along the keel, 16 feet extreme breadth, and 7 feet depth of hold. Relatively few vessels were built at Marblehead during the eighteenth century.

178 The vessel was H.M. Schooner Magdalen, Henry Colins commanding.

179 “The Public is hereby cautioned against the Impositions of two ignorant and lying Persons who advertise themselves by the Names and Stile of Doctors McLane and White, from New York, and scatter abroad as wretched a quack Bill of what they profess to Cure as was lately done by Dr. Anthony Duraque, who sagely classed Wens and and [sic] Consumptions together. The Elder of them professes to understand several Languages, and tell Diseases without examining the Patient. Should these great Doctors by a hasty Departure prevent an Officer’s putting the vagrant Law in Execution against them; it is hoped this Publication will prevent their availing themselves any longer of the Names and Reputation of Gentlemen who heartily despise, and think it their Duty to expose such dangerous Impostors.” Essex Gazette, 1–8 May 1770.

180 Bowen does not explain further. The following account, however, may have had a connection with the incident: “Last Friday se’nnight, a two-mast Boat, bound from this Harbour [Salem] to Marblehead, with 7 Tons of Iron & a Quantity of Flour and Pork on board, (valued at near £200 lawful Money) by being too deep loaded, sunk near Peach’s Point, when the Lives of the Men, 3 in Number, were happily saved by another Boat’s being near at Hand. The Flour was mostly recovered.” Ibid., 26 June–3 July 1770.

181 Bowen must have been granted a dispensation, inasmuch as the use of tea was prohibited. See the editor’s introduction to this chapter.

182 That part of the entry for 22 July, enclosed between asterisks (*), is a later, and incorrect, addition to the Day Book. In July 1770 Thomas Power was, indeed, the captain of the brig Bilbao, but at the time Michael Corbett killed Lieutenant Panton of the frigate Rose, April 1769, Power was in command of the brig Pitt Packet. See the footnote for 30 April 1769.

183 Whitefield, after leaving Marblehead, worked his way up toward New Hampshire, where he completed a tour of his controversial preachings. He was returning to Boston when, on 30 September, at Newburyport, he was seized with a violent attack of asthma and died.

184 H.M.S. Romney, Captain Hyde Parker, Jr., arrived at Boston on 9 October from Halifax, where she had been since August of 1769. At Boston, she was scrubbed and provisioned before sailing for England. Captain’s Log of H.M.S. Romney, Adm. 51/793, at the P.R.O., London.

185 A great deal of damage was done by this storm, accompanied by the highest tides in fifty years. Fences were torn down, trees uprooted, bridges damaged or destroyed, vessels cast adrift and thrown high up on the shore, warehouses built on wharves badly flooded, and several persons drowned around Massachusetts Bay. At Marblehead, the bridge across Forest River was so damaged as to render travel across it to Salem impossible, and twenty-one brigs, sloops, and schooners were driven ashore. Essex Gazette, 16-23 October 1770.

186 “Several Fishing Vessels arrived Yesterday at Marblehead, which bro’t in some of the People belonging to the Ship Halifax, Capt. Dalton, which foundered on her Passage from Jamaica to London. The Captain and Officers, to the Number of eleven, with two Negroes, took to the Long-Boat; and the Remainder, 6 or 7 in Number, got into the small Boat. Those in the Long-Boat, after being 7 Days on the Sea, were taken up by a Fishing Schooner, on the Banks, and dispersed on board several other Schooners, which are expected into Marblehead soon. The People in the small Boat have not yet been heard of.” lbid., 13–20 November 1770.

187 “At the Training of the Marblehead Regiment of Militia, last Week, it is said near 1000 Men, Inhabitants of that Town, appeared under Arms, and made a handsome Appearance.” Ibid., 25 December 1770–1 January 1771.

188 The Essex Gazette reported Polly as cleared for the West Indies, rather than Lisbon.

189 This Hannah was owned by Jonathan Glover and was commanded by his new son-in-law, Richard James. To trace the career of this Hannah as well as the schooner of the same name owned by Glover’s brother, John Glover, as they related to George Washington’s Navy in 1775, see Philip C. F. Smith and Russell W. Knight, “In Troubled Waters: The Elusive Schooner Hannah,” The American Neptune, xxx (April 1970), 86-116; also reprinted, with appendices, by the Peabody Museum of Salem, 1970. See, also, the footnote for 5 September 1775.

190 “The same Day the Reverend Mr. Isaac Story was ordained Co-Pastor, with the Reverend Mr. Simon Bradstreet, of the Second Church in Marblehead. The Solemnity was introduced with Prayer by the Rev. Mr. Shearman of Woborn; the Rev. Dr. Pemberton of Boston preached a Sermon suitable to the Occasion; the Rev. Dr. Whitaker of this Town [Salem] prayed & gave the Charge; the Rev. Mr. Whitwell of Marblehead gave the Right Hand of Fellowship; and the Rev. Mr. [Penuel] Bowen of Boston made the concluding Prayer. A respectable Assembly, with due Reverence and just Decorum, attended the sacred Exercises of the Day: In the after Part of which, the People who attended from the neighbouring Towns and Parishes, as well as the Council, were entertained, by the Members of the Church and Congregation, in an elegant Manner, and with a Freedom and Hospitality peculiar to that Town.” Essex Gazette, 30 April-7 May 1771.

191 Commencement at Harvard College.

192 “Last Friday Afternoon arrived here [Boston] the Tamar Sloop of War, one of Admiral Montague’s Fleet.—They left England the 14th of June, and parted from the Admiral off Madeira, where he intended to stop 3 or 4 Days.—The Fleet consisted of the Captain of 64 Guns, the Lively of 24, Tamar of 18, and Swan of 14 guns, who were all bound to this Port.—The Admiral is now in the Bay, coming in.” Essex Gazette, 6—13 August 1771. Rear Admiral John Montague was coming to succeed Commodore Gambier in the command of H.M. Navy in North American waters.

Within a twenty-four-hour period of Montague’s arrival at Boston, the following salutes were fired: The Fort saluted with 15 guns, as did Gambier. These were returned by 13 guns each. H.M. Sloop Bonetta saluted 13 guns, 11 were returned. The Royal Navy vessels Rose, Senegal, Beaver, and Hope each paid their compliments with 13 guns, and each were returned 11. Later arrivals, Gibraltar and Gaspe each saluted with 13 guns and received each 11 in return. The total number of guns fired, therefore, was 224. If it may be considered that a minimum of one pound of powder was expended for each cannon fired, the total amount of gunpowder expended would have been well over two-hundredweights.

193 See the documents pertaining to the estate of James Shaw, late of Marblehead, fisherman, Essex County Probate Office, docket number 25138. Mary Shaw was unable to write her name, by her mark (X) on the inventory, 3 December 1771.

194 The Essex Gazette records the clearance as LeCraw, schooner Success, for Barbados.

195 On 13 September 1771, Abial Hollowell, wife of Benjamin Hollowell, Marblehead blacksmith, made complaint to Nathan Bowen that Brian Sheehan, fisherman, had assaulted her and against her will had “Carnal Knowledge of her Body.” He was committed to Salem Gaol, was subsequently found guilty and hanged. Benjamin Hollowell, late of Deerfield, Massachusetts, was married to Abial Blanchard of Leicester by Nathan Bowen on 6 August 1770. Nathan Bowen Justice of the Peace Record Book, item number 11131, at the Marblehead Historical Society.

“Last Thursday, between 3 and 4 o’Clock, p.m. Bryan Sheehan was executed here [Salem], pursuant to his Sentence, for committing a Rape, in September last, on the Body of Abial Hollowell, Wife of Benjamin Hollowell, of Marblehead. He frequently declared to divers Persons, since his Condemnation, (what he asserted at his Trial) that his Behaviour to Mrs. Hollowell was in Consequence of a mutual Agreement; and continued to persist in the same at the Place of Execution. But he was so notorious for uttering Falshoods, even while under Sentence of Death; together with his denying, to the last, that he was ever sensible of wounding Mrs. Hollowell, notwithstanding his Cruelty to her was very plainly proved on Trial, independent of her Evidence; that it is very difficult to give any Credit to what he declared.—He exhorted the Spectators to avoid bad Company, and to take Warning by his untimely End.—He prayed very earnestly before, and at the Time of his being turned off; his Neck was heard to snap, and he seemed to die in an Instant, without the least Struggle. He desired that if any Person took his Body for Dissection, it might be Dr. Kast.—He was born in Ireland, and was about 39 Years of Age. The Concourse of People, who attended the Execution, was very great, amounting to the Number, as is thought, of 11 or 12,000.” Essex Gazette, 14–21 January 1772.

Sheehan’s hanging elicited much comment, including a broadside and a sermon preached at Salem by James Diman of the Second Church. Rumors that Kast, an apothecary, had taken up his body were dispelled when his grave was opened and his corpse was found in its coffin as it was buried.

196 Ships arriving with reported cases of smallpox on board were sent to an isolation hospital on Rainsford Island in Boston Harbor. There, the victims were isolated until such time as it was safe for them to go at large.

197 The Essex Gazette for 10–17 March 1772 reported the following, apparently erroneous, account: “We hear that the Brig Hope, Capt. Wormstead, from Cape St. Nichola Mole, belonging to Marblehead, is cast away at Cape Henlopen; Vessel lost, but the Men and Part of the Cargo are saved. She was about 60 Tons Burthen, and was laden with Molasses.”

198 While at Marblehead, Hope’s boat was employed searching vessels in the harbor. Master’s Log of H.M. Schooner Hope, Lieutenant George Dawson, commanding, Adm. 52/1794, at the P.R.O., London.

199 Union’s arrival was not a routine one. On 16 July, William Grant, commanding His Majesty’s Schooner St. John (the “tender” referred to by Bowen on 15 July) reported to the Collector of Customs at Salem.

“. . . I beg leave to inform you that Yesterday eveng perceiving a Brign approaching in the Offing as I lay in Mblh’d Harbour I sent one of my Boats with a petty offr in quest of her on the offrs approaching her he perceived a boat rowing towards him and boarded him and in a short time came up with her, found she had on board two small Casks of wine and three bags wch he supposed to contain silk and Handkerchiefs he immediately took possession of her and ordered the Coxwain of his Boat to take this Boat in tow and make the best of their way to the Scho[one]r he himself remaining on the Brign which they proceeded to do but night coming on and they not much acquainted with the Harbour suffered one of these People to take the Helm, by wch means they artfully got Possession of the Arms in our Boat and a little while afterwards, the person who had the Helm (whose name I learn to be Ross of Mblhead commands a Schooner) rose up and declared the Goods was his, that he had ventured his life for them and wou’d lose it before he wou’d suffer them to be taken from him: the other Two seconded his motion and all declared (having possession of the arms) they wou’d blow the first mans brains out who endeavoured to oppose them they then took Possession of their own Boat, discharged the pieces and through them into our Cutter, but return’d no ammunition, & made the best of their way off. The Brigs name is the Union Edwd Hales Master from Cadiz to Marblehead with Salt and notwithstanding the masters declaring the Goods did not come out of the Brign I have a man on bd who I have taken out absolutely says they did which I believe there is little doubt off I have kept the Brig till I have your advice . . .” Union’s hatches were sealed up and she was delivered up to John Fisher, the Collector at Salem. The Commissioners of the Customs at Boston subsequently recommended that Union be admitted to a usual entry. Letter Book of the Custom House, Salem, pp. 390-391, at the Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts. The account reproduced above has been taken from a typescript of the Letter Book, at the Peabody Museum of Salem. See note 8, below.

200 H.M. Schooner Halifax, now under the command of Lieutenant Abram Crespin, arrived at Marblehead on 22 July and sailed on 25 July. She remained in the area off the coast, nevertheless, until almost mid-August. Captain’s Log of H.M. Schooner Halifax, Adm. 51/4211, at the P.R.O., London.

201 This entry refers to the episode described in note 6, above, which took place one week earlier. Bowen must have added his “Note” afterwards, erroneously placing it with the entry for 25 July rather than that for the seventeenth.

202 William Courtis’s sail loft probably was located in or close to Hooper’s warehouse, which stood on the inshore end of New Wharf at Codner’s Cove (see accompanying map). Whether this or another one, Courtis’s loft burned down “& another Ware house Consumed & one Pulled Down” on 20 February 1786. “Extracts from Interleaved Almanacs of Nathan Bowen, Marblehead, 1742–1799,” Essex Institute Historical Collections, xci (1955), 353.

203 On 15 November, Captain Joseph Doane, Jr., from Chatham saw a schooner off Cape Cod flying a signal of distress. Upon boarding her, he found only one man aboard, greatly frightened, who told Doane that the schooner, Thomas Nickerson, master, had sailed from Boston the day before bound for Chatham. About 2 o’clock the next morning they had seen a topsail schooner which boarded Nickerson’s schooner with four armed boats. The narrator of the subsequent events, Doane learned, had feared an impressment attempt and so before the armed boats came aboard he had tied a rope about himself and had let himself down over the stern. From this position, he heard the master, mate, and one other man murdered. The boarders carried away a boy. Doane, who upon coming aboard, had seen the decks all bloody and the chests all broken open and plundered, informed Edward Bacon of Barnstable of what he had heard and seen. Bacon appraised the Governor of the situation, who, in turn, ordered Admiral Montague to investigate. H.M.S. Lively was ordered to sea “without gaining any intelligence of such a Pirate Schooner being seen in our Bay.” The survivor of the incident, Ansell Nickerson, meanwhile, came under heavy suspicion himself and was committed to jail to await trial. Essex Gazette, 17–24 November 1772. Nickerson ultimately was found not guilty, but Governor Hutchinson maintained that the verdict was owing to a technicality as Nickerson could be tried in America only for piracy. For murder he would have had to be sent to England where evidence would have been difficult, if not impossible, to obtain. See L. K. Wroth and H. B. Zobel, eds., The Legal Papers of John Adams (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1965), ii. 335-351.

204 “Top armor” is the cloth or canvas, painted, used as covering in the tops.

205 Modern State Street.