Part 5 (1/2)

Bacon's private life soon changed. Within a year of his son's death, a woman named Mary Bushby was pregnant with Bacon's child. At the age of fifty-three he had begun a new family. He and Elizabeth Bacon remained married, and he provided for her. He and Mary Bushby later had other children. The first child was a boy, named Anthony.

Samuel Gist moved quickly to break out and discharge the cargo of the Nancy Nancy after she was moored in the Thames in mid-January 1770. As usual, he thought the tobacco inferior, but he was in a hurry. He wished her to sail for the James early in February, while other merchants held their cargoes until Parliament repealed colonial taxes. Tradesmen delivering merchandise for his cargo delayed him more than a week, but he beat the rush. Gist did not give every vessel he loaded so brief a ride in the Thames. Even so, he spent much time in the years before and after this voyage of the after she was moored in the Thames in mid-January 1770. As usual, he thought the tobacco inferior, but he was in a hurry. He wished her to sail for the James early in February, while other merchants held their cargoes until Parliament repealed colonial taxes. Tradesmen delivering merchandise for his cargo delayed him more than a week, but he beat the rush. Gist did not give every vessel he loaded so brief a ride in the Thames. Even so, he spent much time in the years before and after this voyage of the Nancy Nancy sending goods to Virginia. He often said that he had better uses for his money than s.h.i.+pping merchandise to Virginians on credit. Yet he invested large sums in that trade. sending goods to Virginia. He often said that he had better uses for his money than s.h.i.+pping merchandise to Virginians on credit. Yet he invested large sums in that trade.

Gist set up his younger stepson, John Smith, in the brick store in Hanover. Smith lived in the house his father had built, which now belonged to Gist, and worked for Gist as a retailer on commission. Gist preferred quick returns in commodities and cash, not higher profits based upon extending long credit. Within a year he had s.h.i.+pped 3,000 in goods to Smith. Six months later he put the sum at 5,000. He urged in July 1767: ”be as expeditious as Possible to push all you can home.” Smith tried to reach a similar arrangement with John Norton, who declined but later s.h.i.+pped merchandise on credit. Smith lacked his stepfather's apt.i.tude for business. He bought tobacco at high prices and, much to Gist's annoyance, paid in cash. Gist concluded that the young man needed help. David Anderson, Captain William Anderson's father, would have done well, Gist thought, but he was out of the question after the elopement. Smith did not get enough help in good time.

Gist's older stepson, Joseph Smith, believed that Gist had cheated him out of his patrimony. He tried to keep as many as possible of the slaves formerly his father's, slaves whom Gist claimed to own. Gist sent a warning: ”he will find it difficult to get shut of the sc.r.a.pe he will bring himself into.” Joseph Smith was married to the widow of Thomas Read Rootes. The Rootes family also thought that Gist had engrossed his stepsons' property. Gist said: ”I am determined to defend my t.i.tle.” Yet he offered Smith credit in an amount equal to half the value of the disputed slaves, in return for Smith's conceding that they belonged to Gist. Smith's lawyer, Patrick Henry, thought this proposed compromise ”a little singular” and warned his client not to accept.

Gist's s.h.i.+p Elizabeth Elizabeth, with a cargo of ”Sundry European Goods,” dropped anchor in the York on May 16, 1768. She returned to London late that summer. In February 1769, Gist sent her on a winter voyage to Virginia, under the command of Captain Howard Esten. She still rode in the York early in September, as a hurricane swept up from Cape Hatteras over Albemarle Sound and across the Dismal Swamp, then hit Chesapeake Bay in the middle of the night. Violent winds blew for fourteen hours. Heavy rain came down for half that time. Uprooted trees fell over one another. Corn crops were flattened. Gristmills washed away in flash floods. Drying sheds for tobacco collapsed and flew apart. Many old houses were blown down. Every standing house sprang leaks.

The hurricane's winds damaged almost every vessel in the rivers and the bay. In the Elizabeth River at Norfolk, in Hampton Roads, and in the York, all small craft stranded. All the larger vessels at Norfolk ran aground; many were dismasted. The Fitzhugh Fitzhugh, out of Baltimore, stranded near the capes, her hold full of barrel staves, tobacco hogsheads, and salt water. In the York only the s.h.i.+p Experiment Experiment rode out the storm, after Captain William Hamlin ordered her foremast and mizzenmast cut away. The s.h.i.+p rode out the storm, after Captain William Hamlin ordered her foremast and mizzenmast cut away. The s.h.i.+p Betsy Betsy stranded and soon had 11 feet of water in her hold. A light sloop ran on Gloucester Point, stove to pieces. Gist's stranded and soon had 11 feet of water in her hold. A light sloop ran on Gloucester Point, stove to pieces. Gist's Elizabeth Elizabeth stranded with the others. It was the worst hurricane in living memory. Reading the first brief report in stranded with the others. It was the worst hurricane in living memory. Reading the first brief report in Lloyd's List Lloyd's List in November, Gist could learn nothing about the in November, Gist could learn nothing about the Elizabeth Elizabeth. He also took an interest in the fate of the Fitzhugh Fitzhugh, on which he was an underwriter.

The Elizabeth Elizabeth was soon afloat, having suffered little damage. With her help a stranded brigantine was returned to the water. Less fortunate vessels were declared a total loss. Many were sold for small sums. The owners of the was soon afloat, having suffered little damage. With her help a stranded brigantine was returned to the water. Less fortunate vessels were declared a total loss. Many were sold for small sums. The owners of the Fitzhugh Fitzhugh, Samuel Galloway and Stephen Steward, seeing her stranded on the sand, waves breaking over her hull, thought she looked as bad as any of the condemned vessels. Yet they did not wish to lose her, stained though she was with the dregs of sodden tobacco. To get her afloat at high tide, they threw hogsheads overboard. She righted herself. Her leaky seams stuffed with tobacco and her two pumps working constantly, she sailed back up Chesapeake Bay to her home port.

To his stepson in the Hanover store, Samuel Gist wrote as if he were sacrificing his own interests by s.h.i.+pping merchandise. Nevertheless, in 1770 his Virginia trade expanded. After the Elizabeth Elizabeth returned to London, he sent her back with a cargo arriving before news of Parliament's action on taxes. The returned to London, he sent her back with a cargo arriving before news of Parliament's action on taxes. The Elizabeth Elizabeth sailed up the York, the sailed up the York, the Nancy Nancy sailed up the James and the Appomattox, bearing Gist's goods. The late Thomas Tabb, owner of the sailed up the James and the Appomattox, bearing Gist's goods. The late Thomas Tabb, owner of the Nancy Nancy, had joined with Theophilus Feild and other merchants in Petersburg to start companies retailing merchandise furnished by Gist. In the spring, Feild & Company sent their s.h.i.+p Two Sisters Two Sisters to London. Gist also supplied the new Norfolk firm, Phripp, Taylor & Company. to London. Gist also supplied the new Norfolk firm, Phripp, Taylor & Company.

Samuel Galloway and Stephen Steward submitted to their underwriters at Lloyd's a claim for insurance on 84 hogsheads of tobacco jettisoned from the Fitzhugh Fitzhugh. They thought their claim modest, since they had salvaged the vessel and part of her cargo. They made no claim for damages to the s.h.i.+p. There could hardly have been a clearer case of what underwriters called jettison and loss overboard. To the owners' surprise, the insurers refused to pay them 692 for lost tobacco, saying that this cargo could have been landed rather than thrown into the bay. The owners protested that the tobacco, after twelve days under salt water in the Fitzhugh Fitzhugh's hold, was worthless. But Samuel Gist, they were told, ”has the a.s.surance to preposess the rest of the Underwriters with a notion that all your proceedings are base & Dishonest.” Gist and his colleagues prevailed when the claim went to arbitration. Samuel Galloway bl.u.s.tered about suing in Chancery, but he could only conclude: ”I have learnt a Lesson not to expect even Justice from underwriters.”

Fighting policyholders and extending credit to storekeepers, Gist saw his younger colleague at Lloyd's, John Shoolbred, making money in the slave trade and taking his business to Gist's region, the Chesapeake. On June 22, 1770, the captain of a vessel out of Dominica, bound for Bristol, spoke the Providence Providence, one of Shoolbred's vessels, below the Tropic of Cancer. The Providence Providence brought slaves from Gambia. After a stay in the Windward Islands, she was bound for Chesapeake Bay. Captain Thomas Davis said that he had ”162 negroes on board, all well.” Early in July she dropped anchor at Port Tobacco, Maryland. Shoolbred's representatives held a series of convenient auctions to sell men, women, and children ”for Sterling Cash, or good Bills of Exchange, payable in London.” brought slaves from Gambia. After a stay in the Windward Islands, she was bound for Chesapeake Bay. Captain Thomas Davis said that he had ”162 negroes on board, all well.” Early in July she dropped anchor at Port Tobacco, Maryland. Shoolbred's representatives held a series of convenient auctions to sell men, women, and children ”for Sterling Cash, or good Bills of Exchange, payable in London.”

Despite low remittances, Gist in 1771 loaded the Elizabeth Elizabeth, the Nancy Nancy, and the Two Sisters Two Sisters again. After Phripp, Taylor & Company received three cargoes from him, the partners grew unhappy. Their compet.i.tors sold narrow thread lace for the same amount in Virginia currency that the partners were paying Gist in sterling as their wholesale price. On one batch they noticed that markings of the regular price in England, 1s. 3d. per yard, had not been fully erased before the price charged them, 2s. 6d., was written in. They blamed the cloth dealers. Somehow, they could never make enough money to clear themselves of debts owed to Gist. again. After Phripp, Taylor & Company received three cargoes from him, the partners grew unhappy. Their compet.i.tors sold narrow thread lace for the same amount in Virginia currency that the partners were paying Gist in sterling as their wholesale price. On one batch they noticed that markings of the regular price in England, 1s. 3d. per yard, had not been fully erased before the price charged them, 2s. 6d., was written in. They blamed the cloth dealers. Somehow, they could never make enough money to clear themselves of debts owed to Gist.

On August 17, 1771, Gist's s.h.i.+p Elizabeth Elizabeth sailed from the York, bound for London, laden with lumber, iron, and 482,000 pounds of tobacco. Two months later, as she entered the Channel, she stranded near Cherbourg, a total loss. sailed from the York, bound for London, laden with lumber, iron, and 482,000 pounds of tobacco. Two months later, as she entered the Channel, she stranded near Cherbourg, a total loss. La Mademoiselle La Mademoiselle out of Cherbourg saved the crew. Gist took the first opportunity, by a vessel bound for New York, to send word to planters with tobacco in the out of Cherbourg saved the crew. Gist took the first opportunity, by a vessel bound for New York, to send word to planters with tobacco in the Elizabeth: Elizabeth: all of it was safely insured at 10 per hogshead. all of it was safely insured at 10 per hogshead.

After New Year's Day 1772, Gist reviewed his books, kept by his clerk, Aiskew Birkett. They showed that he was ”in Advance” for his Virginia trade by 40,000, the gap between invoices he had sent and remittances he had received. That was far too much, he said. He decided to restrict his s.h.i.+pments of goods, serving only those who paid punctually. His stepson owed him 1,787. Gist cut him off. John Smith had formed his own firm, Smith & Clarke. His autumn order for goods in 1772 went unfilled. Without comment, Gist sent it around the corner to John Norton, charging Norton transatlantic postage. In July 1772, Smith closed the Hanover Store and deeded away some of the land in Goochland County he had inherited from his father. In October he made his last entry in his ledger.

The partners expanded the Dismal Swamp Company's land claims. Their entry in August 1770 for all the ungranted sector of the Dismal Swamp in Norfolk County cooperated with Anthony Bacon's arrangements in London. In February 1770 he had spoken of his intent to get the North Carolina portion of the swamp for them. He did not seem to care whether James Parker and men of the Campania Company in Norfolk learned of his moves. If Bacon hoped to scare the Scots, he succeeded. Within weeks they heard of ”advances” made by the Dismal Swamp Company to the estate of the late Earl Granville. The proposed purchase was huge: all ungranted acreage in the four counties of North Carolina covering the Dismal Swamp south of the dividing line. Bacon might reasonably suppose that the Granville proprietary existed to yield cash, as in the days when he had dealt with the old earl. Parker and William Aitchison wrote to their friend in London, Charles Steuart, urging him to talk, ”as it were accidentally,” to people who knew what the Dismal Swamp Company was doing about North Carolina. Surely, after so many legal precautions and so much effort cutting their way into the swamp, they could not be ”tossed out” now.

Steuart's inquiries revealed that Bacon was dealing not with the new earl, whom the old Lord Granville ”never would see,” but with those who hoped to succeed to the proprietary. The earl was childless and likely to remain so. His wife had worked as ”superintendent of a bagnio” but had retired upon becoming Countess Granville. The earl long had been eccentric. ”He drinks hard, and has a swelld leg, and looks heated”-signs that the Dismal Swamp Company might not have to wait long. Steuart had ”no doubt” that Bacon would try to obtain the North Carolina sector of the swamp; Bacon could be ”a very friendly man.” The Campania partners ought to empower someone in London to counteract him. Two months later, in August, George Mercer said that the Dismal Swamp Company had secured a grant of all the swamp south of the dividing line. Steuart talked to the company's London partners. Samuel Gist said that Mercer was wrong, ”but Mr. Bacon said he had got a promise of it.”

Parker and Macknight had done nothing in the swamp since their expedition in 1769. A local man called the ”road” to Lake Drummond cut by the slaves ”a species of Road such as Squirrels use.” The partners had made no other marks of possession, though they hoped to profit from cutting s.h.i.+ngles while waiting to merge with the Dismal Swamp Company. Bacon's backstairs arrangement in London threatened to leave them with nothing to show for their ingenious plan to force the Virginians to make them rich.

Some of the Virginia partners feared threats in London to their claims in the west. In October and November 1770, George Was.h.i.+ngton traveled with some companions through the upper Ohio Valley. They went down the Ohio more than 200 miles, to the mouth of the Kanawha, then up the lower reaches of that river. Was.h.i.+ngton took notes on the land and chose some tracts for himself. He already had taken an interest in improving the Potomac River. If waterborne commerce could pa.s.s the falls by a ca.n.a.l or other means, the Potomac and the Ohio could become parts of a single system. He imagined a ”Channel of conveyance of the extensive & valuable Trade of a rising Empire.” Visitors bathing at the Hot Springs in Augusta County during the summer of 1770 saw families daily pa.s.sing westward to live along the Ohio and its tributaries. No orders from London could stop them. Such migration foretold a rising empire and gave Was.h.i.+ngton another reason to act quickly.

Virginians knew in the early months of 1770 that Samuel Wharton of Pennsylvania, his London ally, Thomas Walpole, and a group of Pennsylvanians, with help from English partners, sought a vast tract: 20,000,000 acres of western Virginia. They envisioned a new colony, with its own government ”a necessity.” They contrasted their own ”public Spirit” with Virginians' attempt ”to monopolise on narrow and sinister Principles the Country to the Westward of the Allegheny Mountains.” Wharton, Walpole, and their partners offered to pay the Crown for its grant by a.s.suming the expense incurred in the treaty of Fort Stanwix.

George Was.h.i.+ngton said that such a grant would ”give a fatal blow” to Virginia's interest. The prospect was ”alarming” to Dr. Walker and to the Loyal Company. After a brief attempt to fight Wharton and Walpole, George Mercer joined them. He united the claims of the Ohio Company with the pet.i.tion of Wharton and Walpole in return for a 1 1/36 share of the new scheme, to be divided among the twenty members of the Ohio Company. He took a share of the new scheme, to be divided among the twenty members of the Ohio Company. He took a 1 1/72 share for himself, hoping to win appointment as governor of the new colony. Though the Lee brothers were members of the Ohio Company, Arthur Lee, representing the Mississippi Company in London, opposed Wharton and Walpole. He wrote: ”there are not a sett of greater knaves under the sun.” Wharton, in moving to London, left behind large debts in Pennsylvania. His sometime partner, George Morgan, called him ”faithless & dishonourable.” Wharton feared arrest in London for unpaid tradesmen's bills. Only success with his new company might save him. He could not afford scruples. He thought of naming his colony Pittsylvania but changed his mind: ”in Compliment to the Queen, it will be called Vandalia; as her majesty is descended from the Vandals.” One of his former partners wrote in November: ”The worst wish I pray may happen to this Generous gratefull, Polite Partner of ours is Abundant Success in all his honest undertakings.” share for himself, hoping to win appointment as governor of the new colony. Though the Lee brothers were members of the Ohio Company, Arthur Lee, representing the Mississippi Company in London, opposed Wharton and Walpole. He wrote: ”there are not a sett of greater knaves under the sun.” Wharton, in moving to London, left behind large debts in Pennsylvania. His sometime partner, George Morgan, called him ”faithless & dishonourable.” Wharton feared arrest in London for unpaid tradesmen's bills. Only success with his new company might save him. He could not afford scruples. He thought of naming his colony Pittsylvania but changed his mind: ”in Compliment to the Queen, it will be called Vandalia; as her majesty is descended from the Vandals.” One of his former partners wrote in November: ”The worst wish I pray may happen to this Generous gratefull, Polite Partner of ours is Abundant Success in all his honest undertakings.”

Wharton mocked the Virginians. He sarcastically asked whether Was.h.i.+ngton thought the Mississippi Company's ”very extraordinary pet.i.tion” for 2,500,000 acres gave a fatal blow to Virginia's interests. Was.h.i.+ngton's ”patriotic sentiment” in that instance went no further than desire for free land. Though Wharton could alarm and disparage rival speculators, he could not easily get around them. The Earl of Hillsborough, secretary of state for America, did not trust land speculators and did not approve of promoters eager to buy from Indians and sell to new settlers. Hillsborough used Virginians' claims as grounds for prolonging consideration of Wharton's proposal. Uncontrolled migration westward, though Hillsborough deplored it, went on, but neither Wharton's a.s.sociates nor their rivals profited from it.

Virginia's opponents of Parliament's taxes tried to revive ”the Spirit of a.s.sociation” in the summer of 1770. They drew up another list of goods and promised not to import these items of ”luxury and extravagance.” Lord Botetourt and the Earl of Hillsborough agreed that promptings from England began this effort. The colonists may have hoped that their signatures would help their allies in London win repeal of the tax on tea. In June and July the a.s.sociation attracted many signers. Scottish merchants and Samuel Gist's stepson, John Smith, signed. David Meade served on the committee of enforcement in Nansemond County. Yet the effort did not last out the year. Neither merchants in other colonies nor signers in Virginia sustained the cause. A meeting called for December 14 brought so few a.s.sociators to Williamsburg that those present immediately adjourned.

Lord Botetourt did not live to see the final collapse of the spirit of a.s.sociation. He contracted a fever on September 23. His condition turned sharply worse on Friday, October 12-he suffered three severe convulsions. After the third he expected to die. He faced this prospect with composure and resignation, but before dawn he said: ”'tis a little unluckie, had I Stayd a little longer the people in America would have been Convinced, that I had their good at heart.” These were almost his last words. Less than forty-eight hours later he died.

Members of the Council praised Botetourt, calling his administration ”Golden days.” They covered his casket with superfine black cloth fastened by double rows of large gilt tacks; they held services for him in Bruton Parish Church and buried his remains in the chapel of the College of William and Mary. In the sale of the estate's effects, William Nelson bought the six white horses and the post coach. The ornate state coach was retained for future governors. John Blair, president of the Council, was eighty-three years old. He slept through Botetourt's administration, waking only to eat. The Council announced after the governor's death that Blair made ”a free & voluntary Resignation.” William Nelson became president of the Council and acting governor. Although Lord Botetourt died ”universally lamented,” no one surpa.s.sed Nelson in commending him for bringing to Virginians ”the compleatest Happiness We ever experienced.”

Robert Munford, burgess for Mecklenburg County, a friend of Francis Farley's and William Byrd's, had stood with Patrick Henry in opposing the stamp tax and had signed the a.s.sociation of 1770. Political life in Virginia disillusioned him as much as it disappointed David Meade. Unlike Meade, Munford stayed in office. In private, however, he wrote satirical verse and plays. He began The Candidates The Candidates, his portrait of ambitious politicians and loutish freeholders, with his version of Virginians' reaction to their governor's death. A burgess named ”Wou'dbe” enters with a newspaper in his hand and begins a soliloquy: ”I am very sorry our good old governor Botetourt has left us. He well deserved our friends.h.i.+p, when alive, and that we should for years to come, with grat.i.tude, remember his mild and affable deportment. Well, our little world will soon be up, and very busy towards our next election.”

IV.

THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE SLAVE s.h.i.+P HOPE HOPE.

PART 1: The Voyagers The Voyagers SHE WAS A SNOW, NOT A s.h.i.+P. She had two masts, not three, and her rigging, though baffling to anyone but a sailor, was less elaborate than rigging of s.h.i.+ps of her burden, 150 tons. By her name in the Admiralty's register, a clerk wrote: ”French made free.” Such vessels had been built in France for the smuggling trade. They bore thousands of gallons of wine and brandy to British waters, where smugglers' boats came out to meet them. Some were unlucky: revenue cruisers took them, and customs officers seized them for the Crown. Thus they were ”made free”; they could be purchased from the Crown and turned to new service. The Hope Hope became a slaving vessel, owned by Samuel Gist and others. She was to sail to the Gold Coast, and from there, take hundreds of slaves to Virginia. But she did not reach Chesapeake Bay. As a slave s.h.i.+p, she brought misfortune, loss, or death to almost everyone connected with her. This is her story. became a slaving vessel, owned by Samuel Gist and others. She was to sail to the Gold Coast, and from there, take hundreds of slaves to Virginia. But she did not reach Chesapeake Bay. As a slave s.h.i.+p, she brought misfortune, loss, or death to almost everyone connected with her. This is her story.

In the autumn of 1770, Gist began to write to his Virginia correspondents about his ”African Scheme,” a voyage to buy slaves on the Gold Coast and take them to Virginia. If all went well, he could pay 16 or 20 in Africa for a slave to be sold for 45 in Virginia. He wrote to his partners in the Dismal Swamp Company, urging them to ”add largely” to the force working in the swamp. Such expansion made all the more sense in light of the company's effort to acquire more of the swamp in Norfolk County and all of it in North Carolina. Gist offered to lend the company any amount its members chose to spend on new slaves, charging 5 percent interest, the maximum allowed by law. If, as he obviously expected, his partners bought from him, he would profit from the sale and the loan. He s.h.i.+pped clothing, tools, and other supplies for the company's slaves on credit.

Gist mentioned his plan to Virginia storekeepers. Neither John Tabb nor Roger Atkinson wished to sell slaves-”it is a Business I was never fond of,” Atkinson told him-but they and others believed that slaves would find buyers. In a letter written to a planter that fall, a friend in London congratulated him on his return to ”what you call your Land of Promise” Land of Promise” to enjoy the colony's ideal life: ”a comfortable Habitation, an extensive and fruitful Estate, amply stocked with what const.i.tutes the princ.i.p.al Riches of your Province, viz. a large Number of healthful robust Negroes.” The 187,000 slaves in Virginia made up 40 percent of its population. Gist felt sure that planters would buy as long as they had money or credit. He envisioned an annual s.h.i.+p from Africa. Some slaves were imported into Virginia from the West Indies, but most new slaves came from Africa. Planters preferred those from the Gold Coast. Why should Gist not send them what they wanted by a direct route, to their mutual advantage? With proper effort by his representatives in Virginia, his vessel, like most slave s.h.i.+ps sailing back to Britain, would return laden with tobacco. to enjoy the colony's ideal life: ”a comfortable Habitation, an extensive and fruitful Estate, amply stocked with what const.i.tutes the princ.i.p.al Riches of your Province, viz. a large Number of healthful robust Negroes.” The 187,000 slaves in Virginia made up 40 percent of its population. Gist felt sure that planters would buy as long as they had money or credit. He envisioned an annual s.h.i.+p from Africa. Some slaves were imported into Virginia from the West Indies, but most new slaves came from Africa. Planters preferred those from the Gold Coast. Why should Gist not send them what they wanted by a direct route, to their mutual advantage? With proper effort by his representatives in Virginia, his vessel, like most slave s.h.i.+ps sailing back to Britain, would return laden with tobacco.

By paying 2, Gist became a member of the Company of Merchants Trading to Africa, joining Anthony Bacon and many underwriters and merchants he saw every day on 'Change and in Lloyd's. The law did not allow corporate ventures by the Company of Merchants, and few men in Gist's position wished to bear alone the whole expense and risk of a slaving voyage. He needed other investors and an ally who specialized in the trade to help finance and guide his African scheme. He turned to his acquaintance at Lloyd's, John Shoolbred.

A Cutter Off Sh.o.r.e, Samuel Atkins. Courtesy of the Henry E. Huntington Art Gallery. A cutter sails toward a vessel similar to the Hope Hope.

In January 1771, Shoolbred's small s.h.i.+p Providence Providence, which had taken slaves to Port Tobacco, Maryland, the previous year, sailed for the African coast, then took 170 slaves to Georgia. At the age of thirty-one, Shoolbred was a rising man in the Company of Merchants. One of his a.s.sociates described him in August: ”a merchant in the City, an Underwriter or a.s.surer, who transacts a vast deal of Business & is chiefly concerned in the African Trade.” He was also a member of the Laudable Society for the Benefit of Widows. Though he complained about control of the trade by the dominant influence of Gilbert Ross and James Mill, of the firm Ross & Mill, he was taking steps toward changing the firm to Shoolbred, Ross & Mill. The s.h.i.+p Peggy Peggy in the Gold Coast trade changed her registered owner from Ross & Mill to John Shoolbred, making him an employer of Captain Hercules Mill, brother of James Mill. Shoolbred was a pitiless compet.i.tor. An investor in the in the Gold Coast trade changed her registered owner from Ross & Mill to John Shoolbred, making him an employer of Captain Hercules Mill, brother of James Mill. Shoolbred was a pitiless compet.i.tor. An investor in the Hawke Hawke, which he dispatched to Africa in the fall of 1771, said after the skewed division of profits: ”I have indeed been monstrously abused by Shoolbred.” Samuel Gist saw that Shoolbred would become the most important man in the slave trade. Shoolbred later wrote: ”the Effects of this Trade to Great Britain are beneficial to an infinite Extent...there is hardly any Branch of Commerce in which this Nation is concerned that does not derive some Advantage from it.” He added more vessels to his Africa fleet and sought new investors, such as Gist. Large profits might flow from a single voyage, especially one bringing to England a cargo of commodities from the port where slaves landed. Not all voyages succeeded; some barely broke even; some vessels and their crews never returned. Investors bought a cargo of manufactured goods on credit, and they bought insurance at a premium of 7 percent or 8 percent. In the course of many voyages, they could expect a profit of as much as 14 percent.

Eddystone Lighthouse, John Cleveley. Courtesy of the Henry E. Huntington Art Gallery. A view of the English Channel south of Plymouth. The lighthouse was completed in 1759.