Original colonial American manuscript cargo account dated January 9, 1770, recording merchandise delivered from the Sloop Hills to merchant Myles Williams. Prepared only six years before the Declaration of Independence, the document provides a fascinating snapshot of everyday commerce in colonial America.
The inventory lists an assortment of goods unloaded from the vessel, including beef, pork, flour, tar, butter, 1,300 staves, 1,826 bricks, bushels of oats, sugar, tallow, wheat, casks, chairs, nuts, and other provisions, with contemporary quantity calculations recorded alongside the entries. Such documents served as working merchant records documenting the receipt and distribution of cargo moving through the coastal trade that linked colonial ports.
Written on laid paper and docketed on the reverse, this manuscript is a fine survival of eighteenth-century commercial history. Unlike formal legal documents, working cargo inventories were often discarded after accounts were settled, making original examples increasingly scarce. An excellent addition for collectors of colonial Americana, maritime history, merchant records, early commerce, shipping manuscripts, and pre-Revolutionary American documents.
The heading reads:
"1770. The account of the Sloop Hills Cargo Delivered to Myles Williams January the 9th 1770."
It is a merchant's cargo memorandum listing provisions and merchandise discharged from the vessel.
Contents
Among the cargo recorded are:
- Beef
- Pork
- Barrels of pork
- Barrels of flour
- Barrels of tar
- Butter
- Moon (likely "meal" or another provision—partially illegible)
- 1,300 staves
- 72 bushels of oats
- 1,826 bricks
- Onion tops and wheat
- Approximately 760 pegs (or similar hardware item)
- Additional bushels of oats
- Bags of sugar
- Tallow
- Winter wheat
- Barrels of nuts
- Hogshead(s)
- Casks
- Chairs
- Chop (animal feed)
A contemporary tally appears in the center, totaling quantities of meat:
The reverse carries a contemporary docket identifying the document as relating to the cargo.
Historical Significance
This is an excellent example of a colonial American coastal shipping record.
Documents of this type were created by merchants upon receipt of cargo arriving from coastal vessels. They illustrate the complex trade networks that connected colonial ports before the American Revolution.
The cargo represents a mixture of:
- Foodstuffs
- Building materials
- Agricultural products
- Household supplies
- Merchant inventory
The inclusion of staves, bricks, sugar, tallow, flour, oats, and livestock products illustrates the diverse commodities exchanged through colonial maritime commerce. Such working business documents were generally discarded after accounts were settled, making surviving examples relatively uncommon today. Similar shipping and cargo account books are preserved in maritime archives such as Mystic Seaport and the New-York Historical Society.
Condition
- Original laid paper
- Single folio
- Strong legibility
- Original folds
- Minor edge wear
- Reverse docket
- Very good condition
