$100.00 CAD
| /
1799 letter to John Codman, Boston merchant, from his representative in London UK. Codman’s shipment of wine on his brig Elizabeth, departing from Bordeaux to Charleston S.C. had stopped in Lisbon on its way home, and was seized by the British naval blockade of Napoleon’s Europe and taken to Plymouth UK to determine if was a ‘prize of war’.
Codman served in Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1796 to 1798 and in the Senate from 1800 to 1803
John Codman Esq Boston London Sept. 22, 1799
Sir,
This informs you that I left Bordeaux on the 26th July last in the Brig Elizabeth Joseph Chandler
Master bound to Charleston S.C. with a cargo of wines & a few other articles amounting as pr invoices to L43,564,12 sols shipped by Mr. William Tudor junior on your sole auth.& risque & consigned to me, with intention to call at Lisbon for a new clearance. On the 6th Aug we was detained by the flag frigate Capn Yorke off Cape Finistere & sent to Plymouth were we arrived on the 10th. I have applied to your friends Messrs John & Francis Baring & Co who have provided a Proctor to defend the property as I have laid in a claim is yours. There appears but little doubt of both vessel & cargo being restored as all her papers, and every other circumstance. carry the strongest conviction of it being bone fide American property. Should it be restored there is little or no hope of recovering damages, of course shall without delay proceed on our intended voyage. We are in daily expectation of Wm Tudor’s arrival from France, his presence will strengthen our evidence, I shall keep you acquainted by every oppty. of the proceedings against your property so inique--- detained.
I remain with the highest request sir, your very humble Svt
John Beach
The brig was purchased by M. Tudor for your account, time will not allow me to be more explicit.
Addressed to “John Codman Esq. Merchant Boston Massachusetts”
Postmark ‘NEW YORK Dec 23’ as well as manuscript postal rate. Name written LL, possibly captain ship carrying mail (?)
Handwritten on back “London – Sept 1799 John Beach”
William Tudor (January 28, 1779 – March 9, 1830) was an American businessman, journalist, and author from Boston who was co-founder of the North American Review and the Boston Athenæum. It was Tudor who christened Boston "The Athens of America" in an 1819 letter. His brother Frederic Tudor founded the Tudor Ice Company and became Boston's "Ice King", shipping ice to the tropics from many local sources of fresh water including Walden Pond, Fresh Pond, and Spy Pond in Arlington, Massachusetts.
In 1762, his three sons established the London merchant house of John & Francis Baring & Co, later known as Baring Brothers. This house traded on its own account, and on joint account with other merchants, buying and selling commodities and other goods in British and overseas markets. It also acted as London agents for overseas merchants, arranging shipping and insurance, and making and collecting payments. This led on to financing the trading activities of these merchants through the provision of advances to them and by accepting their bills of exchange. This banking business was a mainstay of the firm’s work from the eighteenth until well into the twentieth century.
