Archive Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
MS050 B02 F30.02 |
Title |
Philip Moore to John Langdon |
Scope & Content |
Three page letter from Philip Moore in Boston to John Langdon in Portsmouth. Philip Moore was a merchant and privateer in Boston. Langdon's recent letter confirmed that he received the money Moore had sent via Capt. Yeaton. he reiterates that he sent money via John Tracy of Newbury MA. Has communicated the contents to Mr. Mercer, but both have been too busy getting the brig "Rising States" ready. One of their ships is to sail to France on the morrow. Neither he nor Mercer are really free to come up to Portsmouth and are fine giving Langdon the authority to make decisions, which they fully entrust to him. Moore urges him to make haste and set the ship off to sail for fear that some pretext will arise to stop it. It seems it may have been difficult to get commissions at the time, there being a relatively small number of commissioned American naval vessels. He includes his ideas about what orders to give to the captain of the vessel, but says that Langdon can alter them as he sees fit. He suggests that sometimes old frigates can be purchased in France cehaply and it would be a good thing for the whole concern if one could be bought and they could then "cruise together." Mercer has sent by Capt. McNeil a "copy of our articles" and also an order for Mr. [Jacob] Sheafe to pay £300. A letter to the captain of the vessel is appended in which he gives his orders and suggests that the captain sail directly for the port of Lorient (in Brittany), near Belle-Île, and encloses a recommendation to the broker Monsieur Gourlade. He asks the captain to buy a gunship there if he can and an old frigate, as well. After this, he says, they would like him to attempt to take an East Indiaman (a general name for any sailing ship operating under charter or licence to any of the East India trading companies of the major European trading powers). If he is successful in this, Moore asks him to send the cargo in a fast-sailing ship to Portsmouth. He may meet another privateer brig of theirs in Lorient, in which case they may want to sail together for the general good of all concerned. Dated January 23, 1777. |
Collection |
John Langdon Papers |
Object Name |
Letter |
Date |
January 23, 1777 |
People |
Langdon, John, 1741-1819 Moore, Philip, dfl. 1777 Yeaton, Hopley, c1739-1812 Tracy, John, 1753-1815 McNeil, Daniel, dfl. 1775 Sheafe, Jacob, 1745-1829 Gourlade, Mr. |
Search Terms |
Portsmouth (Frigate) Rising States (brig) |
Subjects |
Merchants Privateers Revolutionary War Boston (Mass.) France Belle-Île Lorient (France) East Indiaman Frigates |