August 8th. 1753. Bacon Island Road Gentlemen,

I have wrote you1 by Capt. Bartlet dated July 24th.2 which Letter you may not have recd. he not being come out of the Country at this Time, since wch. Time I have got my Vessell down & her Decks Stowd. It may Well surprize you to hear of me hear at this Time, but it cannot surprize you more than it has fretted me. Capt. Sawyer by whom I send this Letter, saild from Edenton before I got there from Loaden, notwithstanding which I shall put to Sea as soon as he does. On the 24th. of June I had all my Load on Board since which Time I have carried my Vessell to Town to clear out & am got down here, this delay has been owing to furious head Winds & almost incessant Squalls of Rain & Wind against wch. there is no striving. I have been obliged to Lighten the Vessell as much as come to 5.6.8 L. Money & then should not have got over had there not have been an Extraordinary Tide. The Vessell is compleatly full & proves tolerably tight, I hope to put to sea to morrow if it be a good Time, where if I have Winds as they have been a long Time, I shall not be much longer to Fayal than I have been coming down out of the Country, so wishing a good passage to the Hannah & Success to the Voyage I Subscribe Gentlemen yr. much obliged Humble Servant,

ROBERT-TREAT PAINE 200

LbC ; addressed: "To Mr. Henry Leddel Mercht. Boston pr. Capt. Sawyer."

1.

Probably the Capt. Isaac Freeman who in 1748 was master of the ship Bethel when it captured the Spanish ship Jesus Maria and Joseph off Portugal with its rich cargo (Frederick Freeman, Freeman Genealogy [Boston. 1875], 105).

2.

July 23.