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Fish and Flour for Gold: Southern Europe and the Colonial American Balance of Payments*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2012

James G. Lydon
James G. Lydon
Affiliation:
Associate Professor of History, Duquesne University
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Abstract

A neglected trade and its commodities are emphasized in Professor Lydon's consideration of the colonial merchants' search for profitable returns to England.

Type
Research Article
Information
Business History Review , Volume 39 , Issue 2 , Summer 1965 , pp. 171 - 183
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 1965

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References

1 “Schooner Jolly Robin's book of Acco'ts. for Voyages as Settled per Dan'l Staniford,” Heard Collection, AQ 1 (Baker Library, Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration).

2 Nettels, Curtis P., The Money Supply of the American Colonies before 1720 (Madison, 1934), pp. 96–97Google Scholar.

3 Hall, Fayrer, The Importance of the British Plantations in America to this Kingdom (London, 1731), p. 98.Google Scholar

4 John Huske, The Present State of North America, quoted in McFarland, Raymond, The History of the New England Fisheries (New York, 1911), p. 98.Google Scholar

5 Douglas, William, Summary, Historical and Political … of the British Settlements in North America (2 vols., London, 1755), vol. I, p. 295.Google Scholar

6 Hosmer, James K. (ed.), John Winthrop's Journal: A History of New England, 1630–1649 (2 vols., New York, 1908), vol. II p. 42.Google Scholar

7 The Names of such Ships and Masters that have come in and gone out of our Harbors & Given bond for His Majesty's Customs, August 16, 1661 to February 25, 1662” (Photo stat at the Mass. Historical Society).

8 Abstracts of English Shipping Records Relating to Massachusetts Ports — from Original Records in the Public Record Office, London (Mass. Historical Society, cited hence as Photostats, MHS). Part I, p. 28 indicates that 500 tons of fish were shipped to Bilbao. Two other cargoes cleared to Portugal and the Canary Isles. The estimate is 550 tons of fish or 11,000 quintals.

9 Nettels, Money Supply, p. 79; Photostats, MHS, Part I (Entrances and Clearances, 1686–1717) and Part II (Entrances and Clearances, 1717–1755).

10 Hall, Importance of British Plantations, p. 102; Photostats, MHS, Part II.

11 Photostats, MHS, Part II.

12 Hosmer (ed.), John Winthrop's Journal, vol. II, p. 42. Lounsbury, Ralph G., The British Fishery at Newfoundland, 1634–1763 (New Haven, 1934), p. 58Google Scholar indicates that 100 dried cod equalled a quintal. Several sources price New England fish at 32 rials or 16 shillings at this time. Half the fish were merchantable. See note 8 above for volume of fish shipments; John Hull's Journal, 1685–1689 (Baker Library) prices merchantable fish at ten shillings/qtl., so 11,000 qtls. equalled £5,500. For 1700 shipments see Nettels, Money Supply, p. 79. The 1731 figure is from Hall's Importance of British Plantations, p. 102.

13 Great Britain Public Record Office, Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Office Series, vol. VIII (1675–1676), p. 409.Google Scholar Henceforth cited CSPC.

14 Pownal, Thomas, The Administration of the British Colonies (5th ed., 2 vols., London 1774) vol. I, pp. 256–57Google Scholar.

15 Photostats, MHS, Part I, p. 28. Prices for these goods may be found in John Hull's Journal, 1685–1689 (Baker Library).

16 Innis, Harold A., The Cod Fisheries: The History of an International Economy (New Haven, 1940), p. 159.Google Scholar

17 As an example, of 90 vessels entering Boston from Southern Europe between No vember 27, 1752 and December 3, 1755, 71 carried only salt, 3 salt and wine, and 16 wine only.

18 Boston Records, XXXII (A Volume Relating to the Early History of Boston containing the “Aspinwall Ntarial Records” from 1644 to 1651) (Boston, 1903).

19 Morison, Samuel Eliot, The Maritime History of Massachusetts, 1783–1860 (Cambridge, Mass., 1921), p. 13.Google Scholar

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21 Hosmer (ed.), John Winthrop's Journal, vol. II, p. 341.

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23 Leder, Lawrence A., Robert Livingston and the Politics of Colonial New York (Chapel Hill, 1961), p. 17n.Google ScholarToppan, Robert N. and Goodrick, A. T. S., Edward Randolph, Including His Letters and Official Papers (7 vols., Boston, 1898–1909), vol. IV, pp. 254, 258Google Scholar.

24 Beer, George Louis, The Old Colonial System (2 vols., New York, 1912), vol. II p. 345n.Google Scholar

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26 Simon, Andre L. (ed.), The Bolton Letters, 1695–1714 (London, 1928), p. 156.Google Scholar

27 Ibid., p. 180. A moyo equals 23.0 bushels of grain, total then was 3,454 bushels.

28 Beer, Old Colonial System, vol. II, p. 114.

29 Ibid., p. 143.

30 Bezanson, Anne, Gray, Robert D., and Hussey, Miriam, Prices in Colonial Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, 1935), p. 9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

31 Jensen, Arthur L., The Maritime Commerce of Colonial Philadelphia (Madison, 1963), p. 57.Google Scholar

32 Bezanson, et als, Prices, p. 9, citing Isaac Norris to Joseph Pike, June, 1711.

33 Ibid., vol. XXIX (1716–1717), p. 256.

34 Ibid., vol. XXVIII (8/1714–12/1715), p. 15.

35 Ibid., vol. XXIX (1/1716–7/1717), p. 271.

36 Hanna, Mary A., The Trade of the Delaware District before the Revolution (Northampton, Mass., 1917), p. 265n.Google Scholar

37 Hall, Importance of British Plantations, p. 98.

38 Ibid.; Whitworth, Charles, The State of the Trade of Great Britain in its Imports and Exports Progressively from the Year 1697 to 1773 (London, 1776), p. 67.Google Scholar

39 Bezanson, et al., Prices, p. 23, citing John Reynell to Richard Deeble in Plymouth, England, Philadelphia, February 25, 1735; Jensen, Maritime Commerce, p. 59, citing John Reynell to Michael Dicker, Philadelphia, November 19, 1736, and William Till to Lawrence Williams, Philadelphia, September 11, 1740.

40 Hanna, Trade of the Delaware District, p. 264–65.

41 Statistics taken from the Pennsylvania Gazette (Philadelphia), August 7, 1735 to August 2, 1736.

42 Bezanson, et als., Prices, p. 35, citing Samuel Powell, Jr. to Gabriel Manigault, Philadelphia, March 16, 1747.

43 Jensen, Maritime Commerce, p. 57. Harrington, Virginia D., New York Merchant on the Eve of the Revolution (New York, 1935), p. 290.Google Scholar

44 Bezanson, et als., Prices, p. 29.

45 Ibid., pp. 237–44.

46 CSPC, vol. VII (1669–1674), p. 294.

47 Lord, Eleanor L., Industrial Experiments in Colonial America (Baltimore, 1898), p. 106.Google Scholar

48 Photostats, MHS, Part II (1717–1755).

49 Postlethwayt, Malachi, Universal Dictionary of Trade and Commerce (2 vols., London, 1751–1755), vol. I, p. 362.Google Scholar See also South Carolina Gazette, 1731–1738. Average price of rice in this era is considered as 38 shillings/bbl.

50 Postlethwayt, Universal Dictionary, vol. I, p. 362.

51 Photostats, MHS, Part I (1686–1717).

52 Prices are taken from John Hull's Journal, 1685–1689 (Baker Library).

53 Salem statistics are to be found in Photostats, MHS, Part II (1717–1756). Prices were found in mercantile correspondence.

54 Whitworth, State of the Trade of Great Britain, p. 63.

55 Shillington, V. M. and Chapman, A. B., The Commercial Relations of England and Portugal, 1487–1807 (London, 1907), p. 217.Google Scholar

56 Ibid., pp. 239–41, 249.

57 The Mercator (London), Number 74 ( 1713), p. 2.

58 Letter Book of Timothy Fitch, 1714–1717 (New England Historic and Genealogical Society), letter dated May 3, 1717.

59 Babson, John J., Notes and Additions to the History of Gloucester (Salem, 1891), second series, p. 123.Google Scholar

60 Fluctuations in the economy are noted by Pares, Richard, War and Trade in the West Indies (Oxford, 1936), pp. 14–16Google Scholar; Warren, George F., Pearson, Frank A., and Stoker, Herman M., Wholesale Prices for 213 Years, 1720–1932 (Ithaca, 1932), pt. II, p. 201Google Scholar; Hamilton, Earl J., War and Prices in Spain, 1651–1800 (Cambridge, Mass., 1947), p. 176Google Scholar; Bezanson, et al., Prices, pp. 9–13, 315–16; Cole, Arthur H., Wholesale Commodity Prices in the United States, 1700–1861 (Cambridge, Mass., 1938).CrossRefGoogle Scholar