Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 2.djvu/357

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ported were stored in large cases, chests, trunks, hogsheads, barrels, and casks. At times, a heavy loss resulted to the owner not only from rough handling and the casualties of an ocean passage, but also from embezzlement by the seamen and even by the master of the ship.^[1] If a war was in progress, there was always peril of capture by the enemy. In 1665, the Dutch, who were then engaged in hostilities with the English, destroyed a fleet of merchantmen in the mouth of the James. From the earliest period, the vessels employed in the Virginian trade were under the necessity of carrying guns. In 1633, the number in single instances ranged from twenty to twenty-four.^[2] A pro-

↑ British State Papers, Colonial, vol. IX, No. 64. The following is from the Records of General Court, p. 146: “Judgment is granted Col. Daniel Parke Esq. against M^r Thomas Warren, commander of the ship Daniel in Virginia for payment of £29, 13^sh 2^d, being for money due for goods of the said Parke damnified in the said ship in her late voyage from London, the money to be paid within 40 days upon her next arrival in England.” Five other persons also suffered losses in the same voyage. See reference to the robbery of a sloop which had been sent in to a river landing with a cargo of goods taken from a vessel lying in the main stream. Records of Lancaster County, original vol. 1680-1686, orders July 13, 1681.
↑ Devries’ Voyages from Holland to America, p. 112. In time of war the masters of ships were directed by law to seek certain places as safe harbors. A proclamation of Nicholson in 1691 named the following: “Upper James, Sandy Point; Lower James, Elizabeth River; Nansemund, above fort on Pagan Creek; Warwick River, above Sandy Point; Fork, as high as Colonel Bacon’s; in Rappahannock, above fort in Corratoman River; in Potomac, in Wicocomico, and Matchatax, as high as they can; Eastern Shore, at Appomattox; rivers of Mobjack an high as the ships can go.” Records of Middlesex County, original vol. 1679-1694, p. 472.

[1] British State Papers, Colonial, vol. IX, No. 64. The following is from the Records of General Court, p. 146: “Judgment is granted Col. Daniel Parke Esq. against M^r Thomas Warren, commander of the ship Daniel in Virginia for payment of £29, 13^sh 2^d, being for money due for goods of the said Parke damnified in the said ship in her late voyage from London, the money to be paid within 40 days upon her next arrival in England.” Five other persons also suffered losses in the same voyage. See reference to the robbery of a sloop which had been sent in to a river landing with a cargo of goods taken from a vessel lying in the main stream. Records of Lancaster County, original vol. 1680-1686, orders July 13, 1681.

[2] Devries’ Voyages from Holland to America, p. 112. In time of war the masters of ships were directed by law to seek certain places as safe harbors. A proclamation of Nicholson in 1691 named the following: “Upper James, Sandy Point; Lower James, Elizabeth River; Nansemund, above fort on Pagan Creek; Warwick River, above Sandy Point; Fork, as high as Colonel Bacon’s; in Rappahannock, above fort in Corratoman River; in Potomac, in Wicocomico, and Matchatax, as high as they can; Eastern Shore, at Appomattox; rivers of Mobjack an high as the ships can go.” Records of Middlesex County, original vol. 1679-1694, p. 472.

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