William Graves letter book, 1846-1860.

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William Graves letter book, 1846-1860.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/727142056

Letter book includes Graves' business correspondence from July 21, 1846 to May 22, 1860. The volume begins with letters by Captain Graves related to the 1846-1847 voyage of the ship Thomas Perkins from New York to Penang, Malaysia, Singapore, Amoy, China, Canton, China, and Manila, Philippines. Graves' letters regarding this voyage date from July 21, 1846 to July 17, 1849, and were addressed to his Newburyport partners David Pingree, William Stone, and George West; Peele, Hubbell & Co., in Manila; and to C.C. Currier, in Penang. Graves procured and sold shipments of rice, cotton, tea, Sapan wood, plantain bark, sugar, hemp, and indigo, throughout the voyage; he also transported passengers on occasion. Interspersed amongst the letters are invoices, charter agreements with Chinese and European merchants and disbursement accounts. The volume continues with an April 3, 1850 agreement appointing Graves as the local agent for the New Bedford Cordage Company to sell cordage in Newburyport. The bulk of the correspondence from April 26, 1850 to February 3, 1852, is addressed to William J. Rotch, the company's president, regarding cordage orders, but includes information on the ships for which rigging was purchased, particularly bark Lewis, ships Castilian and Anna Maria. The remaining letters and the majority of the volume deal primarily with Graves' instructions to ship captains with business conditions. The bulk of the correspondence from November 14, 1855 to May 26, 1860, is addressed to the ships' captains, Robert Couch of the George West and Jeremiah Lunt and later Edward Graves, William's brother, for the Josiah L. Hale. Graves appears to have regularly shipped cotton from New Orleans, Louisiana, to Liverpool, England. According to Graves business was "exceedingly dull" during this period. His letters are full of instructions and advice on procuring favorable shipments or charters primarily of guano from Liverpool onward to other destinations such as India, China, Australia or the Pacific Coast, but the letters only indicate that Captain Edward Graves managed to obtain at least one shipment that sent him forward to China in 1859. Scattered throughout the remainder of the volume is additional correspondence regarding obtaining charters with merchants, including an inquiry to Augustine Heard & Co. in Hong Kong on May 31, 1859, and to Alsop & Co in Lima, Peru, in August and September 1859, and insurance for the ships and cargo from Baring Brothers & Co. amongst others. There are an additional three loose letters laid in throughout the volume.

1 v. ([247] p.) ; 25 centimeters.

Harvard Business School, Knowledge and Library Services/Baker Library

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SNAC Resource ID: 8096644

Harvard Business School, Knowledge and Library Services/Baker Library

Related Entities

There are 15 Entities related to this resource.

Baring Brothers & Co. (London, England)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6x45nxf (corporateBody)

Barings Bank was founded in 1762 as the John and Francis Baring Company by Francis Baring, with his older brother John Baring as a mostly silent partner. They were sons of John (né Johann) Baring, wool trader of Exeter, born in Bremen, Germany. The company began in offices off Cheapside in London, and within a few years moved to larger quarters in Mincing Lane. Barings gradually diversified from wool into many other commodities, providing financial services for the rapid growth of international ...

George West (Ship)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63c240z (corporateBody)

Currier, Charles Chase, 1805-1860

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6zk6cdk (person)

Peele, Hubbell, and Co.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6p33347 (corporateBody)

Graves, William, 1811-1877

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6f794p9 (person)

William Graves, Jr. (1811-1877), was a Newburyport captain, shipowner, and commercial agent. Graves was captain and part owner of the ship Thomas Perkins during its voyage to the East Indies from 1846 to1847. By 1850 he was engaged as a local agent by the New Bedford Cordage Company to sell cordage in Newburyport. He sent all notes and acceptances for payment to the treasurer and later president, William J. Rotch. By the 1850s Graves was also owner the ships George West and Josiah L. Hale amongs...

Augustine Heard & Company

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6dc2z0p (corporateBody)

Graves, Edward, 1831-1873

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6j70955 (person)

Rotch, William James, 1819-1893

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6z32kr6 (person)

Couch, Robert, 1817-1896

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6b3109c (person)

William Minns & Co.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w68q24cw (corporateBody)

Lunt, Jeremiah, 1811-1874

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w60c80td (person)

Thomas Perkins (Ship)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6063kqg (corporateBody)

Alsop & Co.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63n8741 (corporateBody)

New Bedford Cordage Company

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w67x139z (corporateBody)

Founded 1842; manufactured whaleline and other marine cordage; in 1964 the company merged into Phillips Petroleum Co. From the description of Records, 1860-1896. (Mystic Seaport Museum, G W Blunt White Library). WorldCat record id: 70955781 From the description of New Bedford Cordage Co. correspondence, 1860-1896. (Mystic Seaport Museum, G W Blunt White Library). WorldCat record id: 47727966 ...

Josiah L. Hale (Ship)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6sz2c4q (corporateBody)