Schooner Felicity.--Second Voyage.
At Catskill I procured another cargo, filled up all my orders, and
taking on board four carpenters as passengers, bound to Jerimie, sailed
for New-York, where we remained three or four days employed in shipping
a crew, purchasing stores, &c. We sailed from New-York about the eighth
of December, and arrived at Jerimie about the first of January, 1821. On
my arrival I called on my old friends, Leforet & Brier, where I was
politely received, particularly by Mr. Brier, who escorted me to his
house to take breakfast. After inquiring about the passage of my vessel,
news in New-York, &c. he said he had news to tell me. I told him I
should be pleased to hear it. He said, "Captain Dunham, we have got a
new padre here since you left for home; he is the smartest padre we ever
had; he can beat any man in Jerimie playing at billiards, boxing,
fencing, or jumping; he has killed two men in duels, and I assure you,
sir, he is the smartest padre in all the West Indies."
Among the orders given me, was one for thirty thousand loose cedar
shingles, which, when landed on the beach, I learned were intended to
re-cover the church. All the ladies in the town soon assembled at the
place where the shingles were landed; rich and poor, some dressed in
silk, and others with fine muslin gowns, having hoops in their hands,
which they stuck full of shingles, and laying them on their backs
carried them to the church, when they were taken by the carpenters, who
put them on the roof, not allowing one of them to be carted; thus
showing great zeal to protect from contamination every thing connected
with their church.
The negroes on this Island are far more numerous than the mulattoes,
mustees, and other colors. The old mulattoes being the heirs of their
former masters, were many of them sent to France and educated; and the
president being a mulatto, gives them as many offices as he dare; but is
obliged to confer some on the blacks to prevent an insurrection; still I
found there was considerable hatred between them. One day while walking
the streets I heard a quarrel between a mulatto and a negro. The mulatto
commenced, "What are you doing, nigger?" the negro replied, "Who are
you, mulatto? you no got any country; white man got country and negro
got country, mulatto no got any country, he's a damned _mule_."
My carpenters landed and were seeking some employment, when they were
informed that they could not make any contracts in their own names,
being white men, and not having any license, and the laws of the country
not allowing a white man to obtain one. To obviate this a petition was
drawn up and signed by most of the inhabitants, and sent to the
president, for a special permit for the eldest carpenter to carry on
his trade. Some weeks after the president sent him a license, the rest
of the carpenters working under him. I was very fortunate in the
disposal of my cargo, most of it selling at a good profit, and by paying
a large premium I procured about twenty hundred Spanish dollars, which
were smuggled on board and brought to New-York.
Coffee being high in that port, I was obliged, in purchasing it, to
dispose of the St. Domingo coin I received in payment for my cargo.
Being ready for sea, I took leave of my friends and sailed for New-York,
where we arrived about the first of May, 1821. The schooner having
proved leaky on the passage, I refused to make another voyage in her.
Soon after my arrival in New-York I received a letter from my old
friend, Mr. Apollos Cooke, of Catskill, advising me to purchase, on our
joint account, a schooner called the Combine, which was now laying in
New-York, and could be procured very cheap. On viewing the Combine I
found her timbers sound, but her decks and upper works badly worn, so I
called on the agent, and after some time spent in chaffering, purchased
her and left for Catskill, where I arrived about the 26th of May.