Description
- Abstract:
- On July 17, 1765, a letter finally arrived from Esek Hopkins on the coast of Africa, contradicting recent reports that the Sally and her crew had been lost. The letter came first to Moses Brown, who was in Newport on business; he forwarded it to his brothers in Providence, along with this note. While the letter from Hopkins does not survive, it is clear from this and other letters that Hopkins had lost one crewman to disease and a substantial share of his rum cargo to leakage, reducing the chances of a profitable voyage. But Moses's happiness was undimmed. "If Capt. Hopkins & People Return Safe with the Brigt. I shan't be any Great Disapointed What Else he Brings, after Ingaging in So Disagreeable a Trade and being alarmed with... Loss of Friends and Interests," he wrote. This passage is the only contemporary evidence that Moses entertained reservations about the venture, but the effect of the remark is diminished by the balance of the letter, which discusses the best market for selling the Sally's slaves.
Access Conditions
- Rights
- No Copyright - United States
- Restrictions on Use
- Collection is open for research.
Citation
Brown, Moses,
"Brown, Moses to Nicholas Brown & Co.:
July 17, 1765
"
(1765).
Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/item/bdr:303718/
Relations
Collection:
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Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice
An archive of a wide array of historical documents, from the records of slaving voyages to student commencement orations, digitized in support of the work of the University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice. The collection contains over one hundred …...