[Granville-Hough] 21 Nov 2009 - Revolutionary War Mariners

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

Date: Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:49:43 -0800
From: Granville W Hough <gwhough at oakapple.net>
Subject: Rev. War Mariners - 21 Nov 2009

  PREFACE

When we began the study of American Revolutionary War mariners, my 
daughter Nancy and I were trying to put together a list of those who had 
served in the West Indies. We soon learned we could not isolate those 
who had served only in the West Indies. It was the ambition of every 
sailor to go where the most lucrative trading could be done, and that 
was the West Indies. It was where you got the sugar, salt, rum, 
molasses, and other products which added flavor to your food and 
festiveness to your parties. You could also trade for nearly any 
European product, with merchants from England, France, Denmark, the 
Netherlands, and Spain each ready to accept your money or trade 
products, either legally or illegally.
In those days of wind and sail, you did not usually follow straight 
lines or great circle routes on a globe. You followed the wind. The Gulf 
Stream moved from the West Indies north by the American continent, then 
eastward to England and Northern Europe. Winds followed the Stream. Then 
you could coast southward towards Africa and pick up the East-West 
currents and "trade" winds to the West Indies. It was actually easier 
and faster during certain times of the year to go from Europe to America 
via the West Indies. So the West Indies had developed into an oceanic 
crossroads, with each European country establishing island trading 
centers there.
England had established the coastal colonies as sources of raw materials 
and as markets for her growing manufactured products and for her slave 
trade. Each American colony was focused on ports which took out the 
fish, tobacco, rice, timber products, wheat and corn, and indigo. These 
same ports housed the merchants who had their counterparts in England 
and in the West Indies. They brought in the West Indies products and 
manufactured goods, adding tea from India, silk from China, brocades 
from Europe and the Middle East, and slaves from Africa. England had 
fought France and Spain over and over for dominance, but had to settle 
for mutual co-existence.
At the time of the Revolutionary War, England had developed her island 
colonies, largely with slave or indentured labor, and concentrated their 
efforts on the most lucrative products derived from sugar cane, namely: 
sugar, rum, and molasses. She depended on her American colonies to 
provide the food and timber products she needed for development. Among 
these were wheat and corn for bread, and salt cod for protein. So the 
fishing vessels of New England found their markets among the plantation 
owners in the West Indies, Philadelphia merchants moved wheat and corn 
to the same people, and all along the coast, people moved lumber, 
stakes, shingles, staves, etc., for the island timber supplies had long 
been exhausted. Another product in abundance in the West Indies was 
salt, as several islands were almost natural salt ponds where the hot 
sun quickly evaporated the brine, leaving the salt which could be used 
to cure fish and meat products.
So the thirteen colonies had been on a maritime economy, with expansion 
restricted to east of the Appalachian mountains. All roads lead downhill 
and eastward to the colony ports. There was little development of colony 
to colony roads and not even mail service until Benjamin Franklin 
developed it a few years before the War. If you wanted to go from 
Philadelphia to Charleston, you went by sea. The same for Baltimore to 
Boston. Of course, once you got to a port, you could get to London or to 
Kingston, Jamaica, or to Halifax, or to Newfoundland, all quite readily. 
Many mariners knew all the principal ports and learned about others when 
England began to restrict trade in tea and other products. They became 
smugglers from the free-trade Dutch and Danes, or from the willing 
French, and even some Spanish. Many famous American names were among the 
smugglers, including John Hancock, whose bold signature highlights the 
Declaration of Indpendence.
England was well aware of the specialized knowledge of some of the 
American seamen. They estimated in 1775 that the Americans had 1000 
ocean-going vessels, with 19,000 skilled seamen. They knew American 
sailors knew little about sea warfare, had no sources for gunpowder, no 
foundries for cannon, nor factories for muskets. However, they did have 
a near monopoly on whale oil. Three hundred of their vessels were 
whalers, with Nantucket having 150. Early during the war, the British 
cornered the whalers of Nantucket, captured 134 vessels, and impressed 
the crews into the British Navy. For the whole war, British whale oil 
was produced by American crewmen, under the watchful eye of British Marines.
England also knew that Americans could build good vessels and had the 
timber resources for doing so. No one, however, realized how effectively 
Americans would use the privateering options open to them. You could 
capture a good vessel quicker than you could build it. England lost 2200 
vessels insured with LloydÆs of London. How many they or the Tories 
working with them lost which were not insured is not known. However, 
Americans were soon replacing vessels at about the same rate they were 
losing them.
Under privateering laws, you captured a vessel, then it was tried in a 
Court of Admiralty, where it was usually condemned to be stripped and 
sold. Then, after the public auction, the crewmen got their cuts 
according to their articles of agreement. Privateering was far more 
attractive to the ordinary seaman than service in the Continental or 
state navies.
In this study, we used every source of recorded crew listings we could 
find. We identified 8000 vessels on which Americans served, including 
the captured British vessels where they were prize crews. We believe we 
have most of the vessels, perhaps 75 percent, more than any other known 
study. However, we only identify 50,000 mariners and/or supporters. We 
probably have about half, considering that the same mariner would appear 
on one vessel after another until he was finally captured. One good 
estimate is that there were about 80,000, which would mean from a start 
of 19,000, you added 700 to 800 yearly. If you added the supporters, the 
ship builders, the suppliers, the jurymen trying the cases, the nurses, 
bonders, owners, etc, there were well over 100,000 persons, perhaps 
250,000, whose contributions would qualify their descendants to become 
members of the SAR or DAR.