Tobacco, before being transferred to another owner, was examined by
official inspectors. Mercer kept a special "Inspector's Notes" account
where he kept track of fees due the inspectors. Direct payments of
tobacco were made in transactions with William Hunter and Charles Dick,
the Fredericksburg merchants from whom Mercer bought most of his goods
and supplies. To others, however, payments were made in a complexity of
tobacco notes, legal-fee payments, and plain barter. Tobacco shipped
overseas was usually handled by Sydenham & Hodgson. Also involved with
tobacco transactions in England were two Virginia merchants, Major John
Champe, a distinguished resident of King George County who lived at
Lamb's Creek plantation, and William Jordan, of Richmond County, both of
whom arranged for purchases of books, furniture, and other English
imports for Mercer.
The following are excerpts from Sydenham & Hodgson's account in Ledger
G:
1745 £ s. d.
June To 8 hhds. tob^o consigned 63 5 5
you by the
Pri[n]ce of Denmark
November To 6 hhds by the 29 15 9
Harrington
1746
May To 5 hhds by Cap^n
Lee LOST
Feb To 10 hhds by Cap^t 51 14 8
Perry
1747
Septemb^r To 10 hhds by Cap^t 35 9 8
Perryman
1748
June To 10 hhds by Cap^n
Donaldson LOST
1749
Septemb^r To 24 hhds tob^o sold 162 17 14
Mr. Jordan
Revealed in this account are the hazards of shipping goods overseas in
the 18th century. A partnership apparently figured in the second loss at
sea, however, as the following entry in Ledger G shows:
June 1747 By Profit & Loss for the half £75.15.3-3/4
of 20 hhds by Donaldson
in the Cumberland & Lost
By William Jordan for the
other half.
Between 1747 and 1750 Mercer lost a total of 107 hogsheads of tobacco.
Over and above this, however, he shipped overseas tobacco to the amount
of £385 11s. 7d., during the same period.