Including Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island has a long extent of coast
line. There are in the state 90,000 acres of safe anchorage, varying in
depth from six feet to twenty fathoms. The state has the Atlantic Ocean
as its southern boundary. Of its cities and towns some twenty border on
deep, salt water. It is not surprising, therefore, that Rhode Island
early attained maritime importance.
For many years ships were sent all over the world from Providence,
Warren, Bristol and Newport. Their sails whitened many seas. These Rhode
Island mariners were a hardy race and worthy of the great merchants for
whom they sailed.
Before the year 1700, their vessels had already become numerous. In due
time they were known in Barbadoes, Jamaica, St. Kitt’s, Nevis,
Montserrat and Bermuda. Their sailors cheerily sang in the ports of
Madeira, Fayal, Surinam and Curaçao, and were welcomed even in India and
China.
The slave trade was the object of some of these voyages, commerce of
others, while the fisheries engaged the attention of the rest. In 1738,
Newport alone had over one hundred vessels engaged in business
throughout the world. In 1763, the same place sent out 182 vessels on
foreign voyages in addition to the 352 coastwise and fishing vessels.
These were manned, all told, by 2,200 seamen. In June and July, 1774,
the vessels arriving at Newport from foreign voyages numbered 64, in
addition to 132 coastwise and 17 whalers.
Providence was also a great port. An address to Congress, in 1790,
stated that there “is a greater number of vessels belonging to this port
(Providence) than to New York,” and that “it is a place of more
navigation than any of its size in the Union.” Fortunes were rapidly
made by merchants engaged in the foreign trade, while domestic commerce
also brought in its wealth. In reaching out to trade with the world
Rhode Island merchants, unlike some “historians” of today, did not
forget Ireland.
Several Rhode Island vessels made regular voyages to and from Irish
ports. Others made occasional ones, or touched at Belfast, Newry,
Dublin, Londonderry, Cork or Waterford, on their way to or from British
and other ports. A list of fifteen vessels engaged regularly or
occasionally in the Irish trade, is here given: Ships, _Hope_, _Mary_,
_Neptune_, _Tristram_, _Nancy_, _Robert Burns_, _Catherine_ and
_Faithful Stewart_; brigs, _Little John_, _Betsy_, _Recovery_, _Sally_,
_Lydia_ and _Happy Return_; schooner, _Mayflower_. There were probably
many others, but these fifteen are sufficient to illustrate the point.
Among the captains were Rathbun, Davis, Ambrose, Taggart, Dring, Warner,
Crawford, Staples, Coffin, Noyes, Allen, Smith, Cook, McCansland,
Coggeshall and Howland.
Of the foregoing vessels, the _Mary_ and _Little John_ belonged to
George Gibbs of Newport; the _Hope_ to Samuel Fowler of Newport; the
_Betsy_ to Charles Handy and the _Recovery_ to Chris. Ellery, both also
of Newport. These five vessels are specifically mentioned in the
_Newport Historical Magazine_ as making regular voyages to Ireland. From
time to time the Newport _Mercury_ chronicles the arrival from Ireland,
or departure therefor, of other ships and brigs. These were all in
addition to those sailing between Ireland and Providence.
Among the articles imported from Ireland to Rhode Island at various
times, were linen and woolen goods, Irish poplins, cambrics, lawns,
silks, hosiery, sheetings, etc. Irish butter, beef and other food
products, were also imported. The Newport _Mercury_, August 3, 1772,
contains an advertisement in which, among other things, “Irish beef” is
announced for sale. In the Providence _Gazette_, November 20, 1762,
appears the following:
“By the Newport packet from New York, we are informed, for certain, that
there are 2000 Firkins of the Best Irish Rose butter, arrived there.—A
quantity of it is expected to be imported into this town, which we are
confident will fall the price of that commodity.” Under date of December
25, 1762, the _Gazette_ says: “Since our last, we hear that a vessel has
arrived at Newport from Ireland, with 1300 Firkins of butter—Captain
Champlain, the master of her, died soon after he came out.” In December,
1764, a vessel from Ireland mistook her bearings and went ashore on
Block Island. The following notice of the disaster was published in the
_Gazette_, January 12, 1765:
“On the 25th of last month, in the day time, a large double-decked brig,
loaded with beef, pork, butter, and candles, bound from Ireland to
Halifax run ashore on the north part of Block Island, where she soon
beat to pieces; the people were all saved except the boatswain, who
perished on the deck, which he would not be permitted to quit with the
rest.—About 500 barrels of the cargo, with some other articles, were
also saved. The master’s name we cannot learn.”
The name of the wrecked brig is believed to have been the _Golden
Grove_. Her Irish cargo was in the nature of supplies for the British
garrison at Halifax. The fact that the cargo consisted of beef, pork,
butter and candles, indicate that those articles were exported from
Ireland in considerable quantities at that period.
Speaking of this wreck, recalls the fact that in 1763, the year before,
a Rhode Island vessel was stranded on the Irish coast. She was the
_Samuel and Joseph_, Captain Brown, bound for Amsterdam. In November and
December, 1766, the Providence _Gazette_ contained this advertisement: