Boston. February 2d. 1750/1

Mr. Robert = Treat Paine, you having the Command of the Sloop Success, hired and Loaded by us & your Self at equall Thirds & now ready to sail; Our Orders to you are, That you take the first Opportunity & sail for North Carolina either to Nuce or Pamplico Rivers, & there sell your Cargo to the best Advantage you can, & take in a Load of Tar Pitch &c., & any thing elce you can gett to Advantage, And return directly back to Boston; And in Case you should not be Able to gett a Load of Tar, Pitch &c. on the Company's Acct., then you are to take in a Load on Freight to the best Advantage you can. And if the Cargo should Prove more than sufficient to load the Vessell, then bring back the Overplus either in Proclamation Money1if you can gett it or in a good Note or Notes, as the Prospect shall appear to you; And furthermore you are to sell off your Cargo as much at wholesale as you can for the sake of Expedition in the130Voyage, And we hereby allow & Order you to bring a Deck Load of Tar &c. if you imagine the Season & other Circumstances that may Occur will allow of it; And lastly you are to take Aboard all such Stores &c. as shall be Necessary & Charge to the Company; & so we wish you An Easy & prosperous Voyage & Rest your Wellwishers, Joint Owners &c.,

JAMES ALLEN J: PALMER ROBT. =TREAT PAINE I consent to these as my Sailing Orders ROBERT=TREAT PAINE

DS ; endorsed in RTP's hand: "Robt. Treat Paine's Sailing Orders."

1.

"Colonial money valued according to a standard for use in American colonies prescribed by Queen Anne in 1704 in which the Spanish dollar of 17 1/2 dwt. was rated at six shillings" (DAE).

Newburn in Nuce River North Carolina March 1 1750/51 Gentlemen,

After due Compliments to you all I shall proceed to give you a Summary of my Proceedings hitherto. I sat Sail from Boston February 5th. stood down the South Channel cold weather &c., had some very Bad Weather in My Passage. On Thursday Morning the 14th. day we Anchored in Bacon Island Road1 there waited for a Pilot to carry us up the Country.2 I understood it was very dull Times, the Produce of the Country being exceeding Scarce. I have not Time to describe Bacon Island Rhoad to you but shall only say the like I neer see before, calm one Hour Hurricane the next. I waited till 20th before I could get a Pilot then we satt out for Newburn, for I could not learn wch. River had least Vessells. I can't now tell you the Fatigue I underwent in getting along, however the 24th I went ashore about half way up the River & Rid about to Miles over to Core Sound3 to the Collector's to Enter in. Arrived at Newburn the 27th. Day. Found many Vessells there, & upon the whole I learn, that these Late Hurricanes have very Much hurt the Country so that Provisions are exceeding Scarce & likewise the that there are so many Trees Blown down in the Woods that it is with difficulty they can make Tar, & that there are very many Vessells from New England131in for Tarr Pitch &c., & Many large Vessells from Europe. Goods of almost all Sorts are plenty. I suppose there is 20 or 30,000 Bushells of Salt here in Town so that many Vessells have sold Salt for 1/ Proc. equall to I/ L.M. NE:4 on the other Hand Tarr has been Sold for 50/ 55/ & I Believe some for three Pounds pr. Bll. which Price will answer our Ends as well as Any, Provided we can sell it proprotionably at Boston but there lays the Difficulty, however, & in Order to prepare the way let it be known about that all the Vessells that are loading for Europe (of which there are a vast Many) gave that Price for Tar 4£ 10 and 5£ for Pitch 3£ to for Turpentine. But for comfort to us I hope not to give above 50/ for any of mine. Proc: Money is very Plenty at Newburn & in good Credit so that I hope to turn my Cargo into Money soon but I fear the Voyage will be longer than we proposed. You may depend upon it I shall let no opportunity slip of persuing the Good of the Voyage. The Heavens above & the Earth underneath Appear very much like April in NE.

Upon the Whole Gentlemen I do not think we shall gain much Money by the Voyage but then I sincerely think we shall lose none. But expect An Opportunity of writing about a fortnight from the Date hereof by which Time I shall be able to inform you more. Remember me well yrs. &c.,

ROBT. TREAT PAINE

LbC ; addressed: "To Messrs. Jas. Allen Jos: Palmer & Richard Cranch pr. Capt. Ling."5

1.

Properly Beacon Island Roads, an anchorage in Pamlico Sound at Beacon Island, 3.7 miles west of the village of Ocracoke (Roger L. Payne, Place Names of the Outer Banks [Washington, N.C., 1985], 32–33).

2.

RTP kept marine journals, which are in the Paine Papers, of four of the voyages he made during the years 1751 to 1754. In the journal of this first voyage to North Carolina on the sloop Success he describes his arrival: "Thursday Feby. 14. Fine Day an easy Breese at NE; pass'd along by Cape Hattaras about Noon it is long low Land with low Shrubby Bushes, no ways Remarkable for Anything, saving Barreness of Aspect, with respect to which it looks as tho' Cain had been there and Entailed a Curse upon it and founded the Empire of Desolation and Horror upon it; and one Red Sand Hill North. About I o'Clock we passed thro' the Shoals, there being a pretty large Swell the Breakers Run high; we struck 6 or 8 Times, altho we had between 1 1/2, 2 and 3 Fathom of Water which made strong Knees Smite and strong Hearts tremble; our Course thro' was SW by S, giving Birth to one Shoal between us and the Cape, our distance from Cape about two Miles SE; we had a leading Breese all the PM steering w by S and WSW about Sun Set we made Ocracock Island and the Vessells laid at Anchor at Beacon Island Road but not having sun Enough to go over the Barr we stood off and on all Night.".

3.

A lagoon in Carteret County which extends south from Pamlico Sound (Payne, Place Names of the Outer Banks, 60)

132 4.

Lawful money was defined by the Massachusetts General Court in Jan. 1742 to be coined silver of sterling alloy, at the rate of 6s. 8d. per ounce Troy weight (The Acts and Resolves, Public and Private, of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, 21 vols. [Boston, 1869–1924 hereafter Mass., Province Laws, 2:1083).

5.

Capt. Ling arrived in Boston from South Carolina during the week of Apr. 20 (Boston Gazette, Apr. 23, 1751).