vessel they should expose themselves to the destruction of the whole of it in one wreck, as by inability to collect the commodity, whether produced by themselves or purchased from others, in time to form a cargo. The prospect of losses at sea was always imminent, and unless policies of insurance had been previously obtained, these losses were irrevocable. Fitzhugh declares that he had, in the course of three years alone, been deprived of two large crops of tobacco by the foundering or capture of the vessels which were engaged in transporting them to England.[1]
It was in some years difficult to obtain transportation, owing to the failure of vessels to make their appearance in the rivers in sufficient numbers to carry off the tobacco. Fitzhugh frequently complained that he had a large number of hogsheads which it was impossible for him to export in consequence of the scarcity of shipping, their contents undergoing great damage by delay, and in some cases falling into ruin.[2] This scarcity was not confined to the remote waters of the Rappahannock and Potomac. Byrd, who resided on the James, had reason to complain quite often of the same condition, and he was forced occasionally to transfer his crop in his own sloops as far as Kecoughtan to find a vessel in which it might be conveyed to England.[3] It was always inadvisable to neglect the use of the first ships arriving in the Colony, as there was no assurance that freight would be secured
- ↑ Letters of William Fitzhugh, July 21, 1692.
- ↑ Ibid., July 22, 1690. Byrd, writing in the same year to his brother (July 25, 1690), says in evident reference to himself and his neighbors: “I doubt not but you may have had considerable taxes during these late revolutions, (in England) but still you enjoy what you have in peace, whilst others daily venture a great part of theirs to sea, where if they escape the enemy are often lost by tempest.”
- ↑ Letters of William Byrd, May 10, Feb. 12, 1686.
