Bath-Town April 2d. 1752 Mr. Abraham Sheppard,

I wrote a Letter to you to Newbern thinking you would be at the Court there, but it miss'd of you. What I have to say is that the Note of Hand you Endors'd me, of John Lane's, was protested by him, & therefore of Consequence I must Return to you for my Money. I am Sorry I am so troubled about it. I desire you would pay it forth with, for you may depend upon it I can't wait any Longer, I have had one Journey already & cant take an other unless I can besure of getting My Money. If you'll pay me what you owe I'll promise Never to trouble you for a Debt again, for I think the two or three days of Credit are expired. I am Yr. humble Servt.,

ROBERT-TREAT PAINE

LbC ; addressed: "To Mr. Abra: Sheppard junr. Living on Contenecte Creek North Carolina."

Bath Town North Carolina April 15th. 1752 Gentlemen,

The last Letter I wrote you was dated March 26th Which I hope is come to hand, since wch. wth. vast difficulty I have Engaged the Whole of my Load, but have as yet not sold My Goods. Money is very Scarce & I shall meet with great Difficulty in getting the Money for them, without the Promise of wch. I have not been able to Engage Tar. I shall go to work immeadiately to getting the Tar down the River so as to have all Ready when the Vessell comes. And upon More Mature consideration I believe it would be best to send a Vessell that will want no Lightning, for not only the charges of Lighterage are like to be rais'd, but what is more they cannot be had with any Certainty so that Vessells sometimes wait a great while for them. Such a Vessell must not draw above 8 foot 3 inches when deep Loaded & therefore must be very flat built & big enough to carry 650 Blls. in the Hold, or thereabouts, wch. must be a large Vessell for the Bls. are larger & with a high Waste so that I may be able to carry some on the Deck, & with Regard to what you are yet to send me to compleat my load, I should be glad if it might be161sent in Rum & Mollasses or else it may detain the Vessell here very long while I am selling of it. The Tea that I brought here, turns out so bad that I fear I must bring it home again. I trust to it that you will charter a sutable Vessell as reasonable & as soon as possible, & in as much as there will be no Work for the hands to do here, so she need not be so strong Handed as if the load was not all Ready, do not get an old Vessell or a Leaky one, & I beleive it will be best to stock her with Provision for the Voyage round, for 'tis cheaper there than here. I this day heard that the Small Pox raged much in Boston,1 I hope it is not so bad as to hinder Business. I would have the Vessell sent with all reasonable speed. I write somewhat sooner than I would do because I imagine it will take you some Time to get a Vessell; for I have got the whole of my Load to Boat down above 20 Miles whch. will be a difficult Jobb. If the Vessell arrives here by the latter End of May it will do. Upon the whole; I assure you that the Interest of the Voyage shall not suffer here so long as I am able to do anything to forward it, but if Any One have a mind to risque his Life, his Health, his Interest, & be heartily plagued let him come to Carolina, in these perils I have been often. I am Gentlemen yr. much obliged humble Servt.,

ROBERT-TREAT PAINE

LbC ; addressed: "To Messrs. Henry Darrall & Samll. Downes Merchts. in Boston."

1.

The smallpox outbreak in Boston started on Jan. 6, 1752, but did not gather force until April, when 119 deaths were reported. By the middle of August the epidemic was over. "Out of a total population of 15,684, 5,998 had had the disease before, 1,843 moved out of town, and 174 remained without catching it. The 7,669 cases of smallpox involved nearly half the population. Of these 5,545 were natural smallpox, with 539 deaths; 2,124 were innoculated, with 30 deaths" (John B. Blake, Public Health in the Town of Boston, 1630–1822 [Cambridge, Mass., 1959], 83–87).