Water transportation was essential to all the planters, most of whom
owned sloops. We have seen that Mercer used a sloop for his earliest
trading activities before he settled at Marlborough, and it is apparent
that in the 1740's either this same sloop or another which may have
replaced it still was operated by him. Hauling tobacco to Cave's
warehouse, picking up a barrel of rum in Norfolk or a load of lumber on
the Eastern Shore were vital to the success of the plantation. To equip
the sloop, 14 yards of topsail, ship's twine, and a barrel of tar were
purchased in 1747. Mercer had two Negroes named "Captain" and
"Boatswain," and we may suppose that they had charge of the vessel. Such
an arrangement would not have been unique, for many years after this, in
1768, Mercer wrote that "a sloop of M^r Ritchie's that came around from
Rapp^a for a load of tobacco stopped at my landing; his negro skipper
brought me a letter from M^r Mills...."[106]
That there was considerable hunting at Marlborough is borne out by
repeated references to powder, shot, gunpowder, and gunflints. Fishing
may have been carried on from the sloop and also in trap-nets of the
same sort still used in Potomac Creek off the Marlborough Point shore.
In 1742 purchases were made of a 40-fathom seine and 3 perch lines, and
in 1744 of 75 fishhooks and 2 drumlines.