An extraordinary and museum-worthy archive documenting one of the best-known American privateers of the War of 1812. This collection consists of the original legal instruments executed by the officers and crew of the celebrated privateer brigantine Portsmouth together with multiple contemporary crew rosters and a certified notarial copy, all relating to the distribution of prize money earned during the vessel's successful first cruise.
Executed at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on August 16, 1814, the principal manuscript appoints Abraham Shaw and Enoch S. Parrott as the lawful attorneys for the officers and crew, authorizing them to collect, litigate, receive, and distribute all prize money arising from captures made by the privateer. The attorneys were empowered to appear before government officials and courts, settle all claims, recover funds due the crew, and distribute each sailor's allotted share after deducting an agreed 2½ percent commission.
Accompanying the original instrument is a certified copy dated November 15, 1814, signed by James Ladd, Notary Public, bearing his original embossed notarial seal and certifying that it is a true copy of the executed power of attorney. Also included are multiple original manuscript crew roster sheets listing the officers and seamen entitled to prize shares. Together, these documents preserve the names of well over 100 identifiable members of the Portsmouth's company, making the archive an exceptional resource for maritime historians and genealogists alike.
The papers include Captain Thomas M. Shaw together with an extensive roster of officers and crew, including Benjamin Damrell, Nathan Walden, Amos Williams, Brackett Johnson, Joseph S. March, Henry Trevett, James Stimson, John Middlehunt, William Francis, Robert Smith, John Aiken, Carter Gale, George Granard, William Oxford, Peter Prince, Thomas Warner, James Roxbury, George Lang, Robert Holmes, John McCann, William Carter, John Lewis, Thomas Waldrip, Joseph Paul, Caleb Hopkins, Joseph White, John Fitzgerald, Snow Jones, John Hunter, George Frost, Thomas J. Keyes, Peter Jewett, John Riddell, James McKeen, James Saunders, Andrew C. Pierce, George S. Wentworth, Nathaniel Todd, William Prince, William Turner, Oliver Brooks, John U. Rollins, Benjamin Buck, Samuel Prescott, Thomas Hutchings, Samuel Trickey, Rufus Willey, Isaac B. Shepherd, Thomas Buckland, Charles H. Schroeder, Henry A. Randall, David Davis, Asa Veazey, and many dozens of additional Portsmouth mariners identified throughout the manuscripts.
The brig Portsmouth was among New Hampshire's most successful privateers during the War of 1812, capturing numerous British merchant vessels and generating substantial prize money for her owners and crew. While letters of marque, commissions, and individual prize claims occasionally appear on the market, surviving archives that combine the executed power of attorney, certified copy, and extensive crew rosters are exceptionally rare. These papers provide a remarkable insight into the legal and financial administration of American privateering and preserve one of the most complete surviving records of a privateering crew's entitlement to prize money.
The archive remains in very good condition, with bold manuscript throughout, original folds from period use, minor edge wear and small fold separations consistent with age, and an attractive embossed notarial seal on the certified copy. Overall presentation is excellent, with outstanding research, exhibition, and display potential.
This is an exceptional opportunity to acquire a substantial and historically important War of 1812 maritime archive documenting one of New Hampshire's most successful privateering vessels. Combining original legal documents, certified copies, and extensive crew rosters, the archive represents a significant survival of early American naval and commercial history and would be equally at home in an advanced private collection, maritime museum, institutional archive, or serious collection of War of 1812 manuscripts.
