1856 FORMER SLAVE SHIP SCHOONER CLARA AFRICAN CARGO PEANUTS TRIANGLE TRADE SALEM

Description

1856 MANUSCRIPT LETTER FROM BATH, MAINE BUILDER OF SHIP PARTS, REGARDING AN UNPRINCIPLED SHIP CAPTAIN'S OUTSTANDING DEBT, FOR CARGO CARRIED ON A FORMER SLAVE SHIP, THE SCHOONER CLARA
TRIANGLE TRADE LETTER, FROM WILLIAM ROUSE, REGARDING CAPTAIN STRONG, CURRENTLY SAILING ON THE FORMER SLAVE SHIP, THE SCHOONER CLARA, AND AVOIDING HIS 5-YEAR OLD DEBTS
AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED BY WILLIAM ROUSE, A MANUFACTURER OF SHIPS' BLOCKS AND PUMPS ON TALLMAN'S WHARF, BATH, MAINE. THE MANUSCRIPT LETTER TO SALEM MARITIME MERCHANT, BANKER, & TEXTILE MAGNATE, EDWARD D. KIMBALL, CONCERNS THE 5-YEAR OLD DEBT OF A CAPTAIN STRONG, FOR SHIPS PARTS AND REPAIRS PROVIDED BY ROUSE.
The letter notes that the "unprincipled" Capt. Strong requested credit for one trip only, and never called after...".
Beneath the letter is accounting figures from 1851, totaling .44.
As best as I can determine the "Schooner Clara" above is the same ship repeatedly implicated in the slave trade; the following being just one example, twenty years prior:
In 1839, the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Buzzard intercepted two suspected American slavers off the west coast of Africa-- the brig Eagle and schooner Clara. As there were no American naval ships to turn the vessels over to, the British escorted the suspected slavers to New York harbor. The arrival of the three ships created a furor in the American press which was indignant that the British would seize American ships. The British had already attempted to try similar vessels in Sierra Leone before a mixed Anglo-Spanish commission adjudicating alleged slaving, but that commission refused to try the vessels on the grounds they similarly sailed under the American flag. The U.S. attorney general ordered the Eagle and Clara released, accepting spurious Spanish papers produced by the owners. The United States ordered a squadron back into African waters (1840). Around this time, the British Navy had escorted other suspected slave ships to New York harbor, unsuccessfully attempting to get American courts to enforce English laws against slave trading.
The document is creased at old folds, else crisp and clean.
A fascinating piece of trans-atlantic maritime trade history, with a ship that has connections to the triangle trade. While this document dates to 1856, and Edward D. Kimball did not participate in the slave trade (but made millions in other aspects of the abhorrent Triangle Trade). This ship’s name and proximity point to this being the same ship (nearly 20 years later). There are numerous accounts online of the “Schooner Clara” carrying slaves to the new world between 1825-1839, including the above anecdote, and tis ship's name is listed in English slave logs available online (as early as 1825).
We have been selling on eBay for more than 2 decades. We pack carefully, ship quickly, and have thousands of happy customers. Our feedback speaks for itself, so purchase with confidence.