I. TOTAL MOVEMENT OF VESSELS.

The following extracts from a table of annual average clearances, give us a broad view of the total movement of sea-borne commerce. No date is attached to the table (which covers every continental port); but it is found among the other papers of the Customs Commissioners, and undoubtedly represents the period of their incumbency, 1768-73, if not the latter part of it.

AN ACCOUNT OF THE NUMBER OF VESSELS ON AN AVERAGE ENTERED INWARDS AND CLEARED OUTWARDS ANNUALLY AT THE SEVERAL PORTS IN AMERICA

I must remind the reader that Boston's commerce, as that of all the British continental colonies, was under certain restraints imposed by the Acts of Trade and Navigation. Hence all commerce outside these legal channels was illicit, and does not appear in the statistics that form the basis of this study. But it seems to be the consensus of opinion, both of contemporaries and historians, that by 1771 the combined efforts of the Royal Customs service, the Royal Navy and revenue cutters, had pretty well stamped out smuggling at Boston, although much of it continued at ports south of Cape Cod."

It will be understood that the term continental, as used in these tables and in this article, refers to the continent of North America.

i. e., ships, barques, brigs, brigantines, and snows.

Portland, Maine.

See the statistics of duties collected at the end of this article.

To summarize the legal restraints under which Boston's commerce labored during the years 1771-731 1. All vessels trading in or with the colonies must be built in Great Britain, Ireland, Channel Islands, or British colonies, and owned by British subjects.

2. IMPORTS. All goods of European or oriental origin must be imported from Great Britain, except Mediterranean salt, Madeira or Azores wines, and Irish horses, victuals, linen and servants, which may be imported directly from the country of origin.

a. Enumerated colonial products may be exported only to Great Britain, British colonies, and West Africa. The enumerated products likely to affect Boston's trade were tobacco, cotton, indigo, dyewoods, molasses, sugar, rice, coffee, pimento, furs, hides and skins, naval stores, masts and spars, pot and pearl ash, whale fins, iron.

b. Non-enumerated (all other) colonial products may be exported only to Great Britain, British colonies, Ireland, Europe south of Cape Finisterre, West Africa, and the West Indies.

C. Wool yarns, woolens, hats and felts may not be exported at all, even coastwise.

I omit the regulations as to duties, bonds, cockets, etc.

Stated in another way, parliamentary legislation forbade the colonists direct trade with the orient, or with Northern Europe outside Great Britain; and permitted only a limited trade with Southern Europe and Ireland. But practically free trade was permitted with the west coast of Africa and the West Indies, British and foreign, subject only to certain customs duties and regulations; and there were no restraints on the coasting trade between the colonies

The clearest statement of these that I have seen is in "Instructions by the Commissioners of His Majesty's Customs in America to [John Mascarene Esq.] who is appointed Comptroller] of the Customs at the Port of [Salem & Marblehead] in America." (1769, pp. 40. (Words in brackets inserted in Ms.). Copy in Mass. Historical Society. Rice and sugar may be exported to Europe south of Cape Finisterre.

from Labrador to Florida, other than a few export duties, and that mentioned in (c) above.

The English colonists were forbidden to trade with Spanish or Portugese America by the laws of those countries.

2. THE DIRECT TRADE BETWEEN BOSTON AND GREAT BRITAIN

A. Vessels and Exports

We have an itemized list of imports and exports for 17711 at all the continental ports; a similar list of imports for 17722; and for Boston alone, a list of clearances, with interesting particulars as to the vessels and cargoes, for the first six months of 1773.3 Additional data as to records and inward ladings, at a somewhat abnormal period, may be obtained from the pamphlets printed in Boston by John Mein in 1769 and 1770.*

From these sources, and from the entries and clearances in the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston News Letter for 1773, we gather that Boston had forty clearances to, and sixty-six entries from British ports for that year.5 London was the favorite terminal or

"An account of the imports & exports to be from the several ports in America from January 1771 to January 1772" Ms. in Massachusetts Historical Society. This contains no imports from Great Britain.

Imports from Gt. Britain & Ireland from 5th Jany. 1772 to 5th January 1773." Ms. in M. H. S.

"A List of all Ships & Vessels that have cleared outward from the port of Boston to Great Britain and Ireland" in one of the Ms. books at the Plymouth Custom house.

"A State of the Importations from Great Britain into the port of Boston." Jan. 1769 to Aug. 17th 1769 (Boston 1769); and “A State of Imporations from Great Britain into the Port of Boston. From the beginning of January 1770." (Boston, 1770). 'Distributed as follows:

starting point, with Greenock (the port of Glasgow) second, and Liverpool, fourth. The discrepancy between entries and clearances is explained by the fact that many vessels made the voyage from England to Boston as the last leg of a triangular voyage.1

The "constant traders" or packets that plied regularly between Boston and British ports were as familiar to Bostonians of that day as Long Wharf or the Town House, and their masters as well known as Sam Adams or James Bowdoin. These vessels were very small, even for that period; none over 180 tons, and mostly under, which would make them about sixty to eighty feet long on deck. Most of them carry a crew of ten officers and men. Here is the ship Thomas, Captain John Callahan, built at Boston in 1764 and owned by the Greenes and Daniel Hubbard; next year the same captain will have Governor Hutchinson as passenger. Here is the ship Lydia, 120 tons, John Hancock's well known packet. Her former master James Scott has been promoted to the larger Hayley (150 tons, built at Boston in 1771); earnest of a later promotion, by his owner's wife! Here is the ship Boston Packet 120 tons, Nathaniel B. Lyde, master, built at Pownalborough in 1772 to replace an earlier vessel of the same name, and belonging to William Dennie, a Boston merchant. Here is the ship Industry, 100 tons, Captain Parsivell, built at Barnstable in 1773 for Samuel Allyne Otis, brother of the eminent patriot. Mr. Otis, we are told elsewhere, was accustomed to pick up most of his outward cargoes at Plymouth:

The ten entries from Falmouth, for instance, are probably vessels bringing Mediterranean products, which merely stopped at the nearest British port to comply with the law. See below.

The dimensions of a 110-ton brigantine in 1768 are 52 feet keel, 20 feet beam, 91⁄2 feet hold, and 4 feet between decks (Collections Mass. Hist. Soc. LXIX, 219) Lloyds register for 1776 contains several New England-built vessels over 300 tons. Vessels as large as 400 tons had been built in Boston in the 17th century (Morison, "Maritime History," 14), and one of 700 tons was built at New London in 1725 (Caulkins, "New London," 242). Some of the British East Indiamen of that period were over a thousand ton burthen. 'Captain Scott married John Hancock's widow Dorothy (Quincy). James Thacher, "History of Plymouth" (1832) 340.

cod liver oil from the local fishermen, lumber and potash from the wooded back-country of the Old Colony. Most interesting of all is the ship Dartmouth, 180 tons, Captain James Hall; built at Dartmouth (New Bedford) in 1772; owned in part by three Rotches of that place, in part by Samuel Enderby and Isaac Buxton of London. The Dartmouth clears for London on January 4, 1773, and again on June 26;1 on her return from this voyage a famous tea-party will be held on her decks.

The ship John, 140 tons, which like the Dartmouth makes one round voyage and begins a second within six months, belongs to James Duguid of Boston, John Duguid of Glasgow and three other Scots of Greenock. She was built at Falmouth (Portland, Maine) in 1772. The three other vessels in this list which cleared for Greenock, are also New England built and Scots owned2. Nor are all the English packets owned and built on this side. The ship London, 140 tons, Robert Calef, master, was built on the Thames in 1770, and is owned by Nathaniel Wheatley of Boston and two Londoners; and the brig Liverpool Packet, 110 tons, built at Sheepscot in 1770, is owned by Liverpool parties. One vessel, the ship Mary Ann, 110 tons, built at Amesbury in 1762, is owned by its master, Ebenezer Symmes.

This list of clearances affords little detail as to cargoes; enough, however, to see that Boston's exports to Great Britain were few and cheap compared with her imports thence. The greater part of them are products of the forest; Glasgow, however, takes flaxseed and Indian meal; and to London goes six tons of pig iron marked Hope, manufactured by Nicholas. Brown & Co., at Providence, Rhode Island.

The detailed list of exports from all continental

'Apparently it took about six months for one of these packets ships to make a voyage. The John clears for Greenock on January 4 and June 19.

Brig Chance, 70 tons and brig Christy, 110 tons, both built at Newbury, and brig Minerva, 100 tons, built at Boston in 1766.