The Sea Captains Club

URING the last thirty-five years of the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth, the Society for the Relief of D Poor and Distressed Masters of Ships their Widows and Children was, perhaps, Philadelphia's most selective organization. Membership was limited to persons residing in or near the city who were or had been commanders of ships in the merchant service. Seldom did they exceed two hundred in any given year. The objective, as the Society's lengthy title indicates, was of a benevolent nature: to provide relief to those whom tempest and other unavoidable dangers of the sea had rendered objects of charity. Navigation in the era of sail was an occupation attended with greater peril and hardships than any other employment. Increase in the trade of the port of Philadelphia since the close of the French and Indian War in the years prior to 1765 disclosed many instances of lamentable distresses to which seafaring men and their families had been reduced. Not always, however, did these distresses stem from shipwreck. "The causes which produce the necessity for the relief administered by the Society," reported one of its committees, "we are persuaded arises from losses at sea & otherwise from want of steady employment & economy; and in some instances from too frequent use of ardent spirits/'1 The Society raised money for relief from subscriptions paid by members upon admission, from quarterly dues, donations, occasional contributions of ship survey fees, and from a penny tax levied for many years by the postmaster upon overseas letters. Funds were soundly invested and proceeds as soundly administered by a Board

l This report, presented July 9, 1821, to the Governor's Commission on Pauperism, pro- vides better than a fifty-year analysis of causes for relief. It is quoted from the "Minutes of Captains Society Jany [6] i8i7-Aug* [7], 1832,'* in The Historical Society of Pennsylvania (HSP). The records of the Society for the Relief of Poor and Distressed Masters of Ships their Widows and Children, from 1765 to 1912—minute books, ledgers, collection books, registers and miscellaneous papers—are also in this repository. Unless otherwise noted, the text of this article is drawn from these volumes, and, hence, needs no further references. 39 4O WILLIAM BELL CLARK January

of Managers of twelve annually elected members. When a suppliant was worthy, relief was forthcoming; when not, the Society was adamant in withholding it. Rules and regulations, as revised through the years, were strengthened to prevent maladministration of funds. Delinquents in payment of dues were given prompt notice and a reasonable time allowance to attain good standing. Failure of members to respond was followed by dismissal and loss of rights to future benefits. Efforts at times to induce the Society to step beyond its true purpose were always rebuffed. Its members knew that donations from the charitably inclined public would be imperiled by any devia- tion from its avowed aims. Its Board of Managers crystallized its single-mindedness in the following forceful appeal2: The Occupation of a Master of a Ship, is at least as useful to his Country, as any other; his Hardships greater; and his ruinous Dangers often such, as no human Foresight or Precaution can elude; yet such an one may be worn down with Age and Labour, crippled by Accidents, or lose his Life and Fortune, without any Fault of his own. The considerate Part of Mankind need not be told, that a Recollection of having been once affluent or inde- pendent, is not the least aggravating Circumstance attending Poverty; or that those who have been used to give to others, are most loath to ask for themselves. As the Design of this Institution is to relieve modest Indigence, to alleviate the miseries of such who were once useful Members of the Com- munity; to aid their distressed Widows, to assist them to train up their fatherless Children, in a Way that may be happy to themselves and their Country, therefore they hope the Design will more than doubly merit the Countenance and Assistance of the Humane and Benevolent in particular, and of this most public-spirited Province in general.

The Society continued its benevolent work well into the age of steam and the twentieth century. Its most picturesque heyday, however, came in the years preceding, during, and immediately following the American Revolution. Fortunately, the Society's records are copious for that time. They present interesting glimpses of the men who commanded the ships, brigs, snows, schooners and sloops in Philadelphia's overseas and coastal trade during the years when the city was the principal port on the eastern seaboard. The worthy idea—formation of a charitable club for the benefit and relief "of poor decay'd Masters of Ships, their Widows and

2 This appeal preceded a financial report for the year ending Mar. 25, 1772, and appeared in the Pennsylvania Gazette, Apr. 9, 1772. THE SEA I957 CAPTAINS CLUB 4I Children''—sprang from benevolently minded Samuel Mifflin and Joseph Richardson, eminent merchants, who formerly had commanded vessels sailing from the port.3 This respectable pair—Mifflin, a militant gentleman who had raised an artillery company in the French and Indian War,4 and Richardson, a mild-mannered Quaker —enlisted others in the cause. During June, 1765, in a campaign for "a beginning Fund," they secured pledges, ranging from £5 to £1 IOJ., from eighty-six shipmasters or former shipmasters who had forsaken the sea to ply such varied occupations as ship chandlers, shopkeepers, importers and sailmakers. Among these eighty-six were many who would render signal services at sea during the Revolution and the infancy of the Republic, men like William Barnes, John Craig, Nathaniel Falconer, William Greenway, John Green and Woolman Sutton. A dozen or more of the most active subscribers gathered at the widow Elizabeth Gray's tavern in Market Street on July 4 to discuss plans for an organization. Response to the appeal for funds had been so successful that it was unanimously decided "to meet too morrow Evening at the Coffee House, to choose Officers, and Agree on Articles." About a score assembled the next evening to elect twelve managers and a treasurer and to consider several drafts of articles. A committee was appointed to reduce the drafts to proper form, and Nathaniel Falconer was named to collect the subscriptions already pledged. After calling for a general meeting on October 7, the group adjourned, no doubt to the taproom of the Coffee House to con- gratulate each other upon the successful launching of what the news- papers called "The Sea Captains Club." The senior manager chosen was Samuel Mifflin, who was repeat- edly re-elected to that position until his death sixteen years later. The other eleven managers were Hugh Bowes, William Dowell, Lester Falkner, Henry Harrison, Henry Lisle, John Mease, George Morrison, William Morrell, Peter Reeve, Charles Stedman, and

3 One of Samuel Mifflin's last commands was the brig Hawkey of seventy-five tons burden, registered Aug. 5, 1748, as the property of himself, Jonathan Mifflin, James Polgreen and Jonathan Lewis. Joseph Richardson commanded the brig Grafton, of fifty tons burden, registered Nov. 2, 1741, owned by himself, John Richardson, Richard Grafton and Joseph Robinson. Ships' Registers, HSP. 4 In 1756, Mifflin was captain of the Association Battery Company of Philadelphia. Pennsylvania Archives, Fifth Series, I, 51, hereafter referred to as Pa, Arch. 4^ WILLIAM BELL CLARK January James Young. Some of these men were still in the merchant marine; the others were engaged in business in the city. For treasurer, the choice was Joseph Richardson, "whose private virtues and public spirit justly claimed the friendship, esteem and confidence of his fellow citizens."5 On September 15, prior to the general meeting, a number of contributors again met at Elizabeth Gray's "to fix on the Rules for the Sea Captains Club." Of this preliminary meeting only the public announcement survives.6 The first formal meeting was convened in response to a notice in the 'Pennsylvania (gazette three weeks later7:

The Members of the SEA CAPTAINS CLUB are desired to attend their first Quarterly Meeting at the House of the Widow Hatton, at the Hatton's Arms, in Third-street, near St. Paul's Church, on Monday the Seventh Day of October instant, at Five o'Clock in the Evening. By Order of the Managers. Only twenty-six members, including seven managers and the treasurer, came to the meeting. The meager attendance would have been disheartening had not Captain Falconer announced the collection of subscriptions from seventy of the eighty-six who had pledged support, and donations of £3 from Joseph Galloway, and £2 from Samuel Flowers. Falconer turned over to Treasurer Richard- son the tidy sum of £200 ^s. lod. Business proceeded upon a happier note. Samuel Mifflin was chosen chairman. The articles of agreement were read and approved enthusiastically. They defined those eligible for membership, and established a sum of not less than forty shillings as an initial con- tribution. They also set the annual dues at twelve shillings payable quarterly, and assessed a fine of two shillings sixpence for nonat- tendance at a quarterly meeting, exempting any shipmaster who was at sea upon meeting days. The annual meeting for election of managers and treasurer was specified as the first Monday in January, with quarterly meetings falling upon the first Monday of the months of April, July, and October. Investment of funds, charity payments, and general conduct of business were placed in the hands of the managers. The chairman was instructed to have five hundred copies of 5 Pennsylvania Journal, Nov. 22, 1770. 6 Pennsylvania Gazette, Sept. 12, 1765. 1 Ibid., Oct. 3, 1765. THE SEA i957 CAPTAINS CLUB 43 the articles of agreement printed and an equal number of the list of subscribers. Before adjournment, "the business of the day being finished, the managers agreed to meet at this House the Widow Hattons, on the Ninth Instant at Six o'Clock." Captain Richard Taylor, who had acted as clerk, was ordered to inform the absent managers of this engagement. Despite notification, none of those absent on October 7 attended the managers' meeting, but their nonappearance did not impede business. Treasurer Richardson was authorized to lend at interest what- ever money was in his hands to the commissioners of the Cape Henlopen lighthouse. A donation of £5 was received from eccentric Captain John Macpherson, and subscriptions totaling £23 js. 6d. were turned in by Lester Falkner for seven new members. By year's end, the treasury had lent £250, taking the commissioners' "Certifi- cates for the same for the use of the Club." William Bradford, who had been given the job of printing the articles and list of subscribers, delivered the five hundred copies of each at the annual meeting for 1766. His account of £4 IOJ., marked as paid, "he generously gave to the Club." The business of the meeting, as recorded by the clerk, "was carried through regularly according to our Articles." Samuel Mifflin was unanimously chosen president "by holding up of the hands." Captains Robert Knox, James Miller, and John Murray were appointed inspectors of the election, which was "by Balot." Four of the five managers who had failed to attend the two previous meetings—Henry Harrison, Henry Lisle, John Mease and Charles Stedman—were succeeded by Cap- tains James Blair, Zachariah Hutchings, Joseph Stiles, and William Heysham. The first three were active shipmasters. Heysham, a merchant, was to enjoy uninterrupted service as manager for thirty years. The concluding business of each general meeting, as established by the articles, was the payment of dues and fines to the clerk, who sat with his quarterage book before him and checked each member as he presented himself. "Lester Falkner. Three shillings? Correct. Robert Hardy. Absent in October? At sea. Six shillings then and no fine." And so on, until the last payment had been made and the money turned over to the treasurer. Eleven managers gathered at the Coffee House a week after the annual meeting and took action on delinquent accounts. According 44 WILLIAM BELL CLARK January to the treasurer's report, sixteen subscriptions pledged the previous June were still unpaid. Lester Falkner and William Heysham were appointed to search out the delinquents, and they applied themselves with diligence. Only five did not pay up. Of these, William McFunn, who had once been an officer in the British navy, and Robert Ferguson, whose last command had been a sloop in the coastal trade, died before the two managers could get in touch with them.8 The other three—Oswald Eve, Thomas Hatton, and Gurney Wall—were removed from the roll. Richard Taylor's temporary position of clerk was made permanent for the year, and he was granted a salary of five pounds for collecting from members as they returned from voyages. In addition, he gave notice of quarterly meetings and kept the books. Taylor was succeeded in 1770 by Joseph Stiles, who served as clerk for the ensuing seven years. In April, 1766, Samuel Mifflin began donating quarterly the con- tents of his "Charity Box." The initial gift was a modest seventeen shillings and seven pence. But, by the end of 1769, his benevolences, via his "Charity Box," had enriched the treasury by better than £62. During this same period, donations from outside sources totaled around £46. Ninety-two new members strengthened the rolls by 1770, including such future notables as Charles Alexander, John Barry, Charles Biddle, Joseph Blewer, Gustavus Conyngham, Leeson Simmons and Lambert Wickes. The new members had paid £204 in subscriptions. Dues and fines had amounted to about £260. The club was becoming stronger financially every year. Yet, when the first petition for help was received at the annual meeting in January, 1768, the members were loath to begin charitable payments. The suppliant was Janet Corsar, widow of Captain John Corsar, one of the original subscribers. Captain Corsar had been drowned, along with twenty-six others, when the snow J^ancy, in- bound from Bristol, England, had been dashed in a violent storm upon Hereford bar, four leagues north of Cape May on April 6, 1766. It had been one of the worst tragedies along the New Jersey coast in many a year.9 The widow Corsar's case was a worthy one. Appreciat- 8 James S. Biddle, ed., Autobiography of Charles Biddle (Philadelphia, 1883), 368, hereafter referred to as Biddle. Ferguson had commanded the sloop Friendship in 1764. Pa. Arch., Second Series, II, 559. 9 Pennsylvania Gazette, Apr. 10 and 17, 1766; Pennsylvania Journal, Apr. 17, 1766. 1957 THE SEA CAPTAINS CLUB 45 ing her dire need, the forty members present, while unanimously agreeing to pay no money for charity out of the club's funds until the next year, took up a collection for her support. The collection amounted to £6 14J., and William Heysham was directed to "see it properly apply'd." A year later, a similar procedure was followed; charity payments were postponed until 1770, and a collection for widow Corsar produced £2 15^. As early as 1768, the club had authorized the managers to apply for incorporation, and on January 17, 1770, a bill for that purpose was introduced into the Pennsylvania Assembly. On February 24, the bill was enacted into law,10 as Joseph Richardson informed the managers that evening at a meeting at the Coffee House. The new title, replacing the original "Sea Captains Club," was publicly announced, with a superfluous apostrophe, in the official call for the summer meeting11: The Contributors of the Society for the relief of Poor and Distress'd MASTERS of SHIPS, their WIDOW'S and CHILDREN, are desired to attend their Quarterly Meeting, on Monday the 2d of July, at the London Coffeehouse, at Seven o'clock in the evening.

And now, at last, funds were considered sufficient for the com- mencement of charitable payments. Petitions from five applicants were received in July. Two or three managers were assigned to investigate each case, and when their reports were favorable, relief was granted: Hugh Bowes, Willm Heysham & Rob* Whyte report, That they had visited Martha, the Widow of John Anderson, deceased, late one of our Members, who they think justly merits some speedy relief. . . . An order was therefore drawn on the Treasurer for Five pounds payable to said Martha. Peter Reeve & Joseph Stiles report, That they had visited John Duplessis one of our Members, who appears to them to be in a bad Condition, & in real want of Assistance. An order was therefore drawn on the Treasurer for Three pounds payable to said John Duplessis.

Two more cases, "Margaret, the Widow of Robert Henderson de- ceas'd, and . . . Elisabeth, Widow of William Boon, deced both of

10 Pa. Arch., Eighth Series, VII, 6472, 6473, 6478, 6482. 11 Pennsylvania Journal, June 28, 1770. 46 WILLIAM BELL CLARK January whom were Members of the Society/' were likewise investigated and approved. Janet Corsar was added to the list of beneficiaries without further investigation. These additional duties imposed upon the managers brought an amusing agreement: "that for every neglect of meeting precisely at the time appointed in the Summons each Manager shall pay a fine of one Shilling; And for not meeting at all, shall pay two shillings & sixpence: Note, The Coffee house Clock is to determine the time." "My time piece must have been slow" excuse would not be accepted! In April, 1769, the Society had decided upon a corporate seal, the device to be an anchor and rope with the representation of a ship in distress, and the motto, "Visit the Widows and Fatherless in their Affliction." At the October quarterly meeting the seal was approved, and several windfalls in the way of donations received. Joseph Fox, a prosperous Quaker, presented the Society with £101 9^., "which he desires may be placed to the Capital Stock." Joseph Richardson made an additional subscription of £27. When, to the great sorrow of every member and the community in general, Richardson died unexpectedly on November 17 in his sixty-fourth year, many of his sea captain associates attended his interment in the Quaker burying ground two days later.12 Richardson's will contained a bequest to the Society of £120. Peter Reeve succeeded him as treasurer. The act of incorporation stipulated that the Society publish an annual report "in some of the News-papers in the City of Philadel- phia." This requirement the managers coupled with a forceful appeal for more contributions, which was printed in April, 1771. Opening with a verse from Falconer's dramatic poem, "The Shipwreck," the managers presented a condensed account of the reasons for establish- ing the Society, a summary of the act of incorporation, a list of the managers for the year, and an abstract of the Society's finances, including a list of contributors. All of this, it was hoped, would recommend the Society to the favorable notice of the public, especially to those whose affluent Circumstances, and benevolent Disposi- tion, enable them to lend a helping Hand towards the further Promotion of this laudable Work; in which not only the Sea Captain, the Merchant, but the Mechanic, the Farmer, and every other Part of the Community, are

12 Ibid., Nov. 22, 1770. THE SEA I9S7 CAPTAINS CLUB 47 more or less interested, as the Encouragement to skilful Seamen must tend to the general Emolument, and consequently to the Advantage of every Inhabitant.13 This appeal, and a shorter one in the spring of 1772,14 brought contributions from Robert Morris, John Nixon, Stacy Hepburn and George Meade, all well-to-do merchants, David Hall, printer of the Pennsylvania Qazette, and many others. A sum of £10 came from Lisbon, Portugal, donated, through Captain William Davis, by four merchants of that port. These sums, when added to small legacies from John Weir, deceased Philadelphia blacksmith, and Captain Joseph Stout, a late member of the Society, brought in more than one hundred pounds by the end of 1773. Unfortunately, in that same period many members had fallen behind in their quarterly dues. By the fall of 1772, the delinquents were sufficiently numerous for the managers to instruct the clerk to include in his call for the January, 1773, meeting "A particular hint to all those Members who have not paid up their Annual payments/' Joseph Stiles complied, his announcement concluding: "And whereas several Members of the said Society have been long in Arrears, it is expected that they will attend and pay the same, especially as the said Society is purely a Charitable one."15 That the "hint" brought results is apparent in the large number of back payments entered by the clerk at the Coffee House on January 4, 1773. Twenty-four members each placed fifteen shillings or more in his hands, Thomas Callender, George Atkinson, and Peter Long returning to good standing with payments of thirty, thirty-eight, and thirty-nine shillings, respectively. That there were still arrearages was largely their own fault, the managers decided. The custom had been for them to collect dues and fines between quarterly meetings, which "whilst the Society was in its Infancy was attended with very little or no inconvenience to them, or Loss to the Society." But times had changed; the outlying areas had become more populous, the membership had increased, and the managers found it impossible to collect dues in their spare moments. The remedy was the appointment of a man who would devote himself entirely to this work. John

13 Pennsylvania Gazette', Apr. 4, 1771. 14 Ibid.y Apr. 9, 1772. !5 Ibid., Dec. 30, 1772. 48 WILLIAM BELL CLARK January Sibbald, a retired sea captain, was named as collecting clerk at an annual stipend of ten pounds (raised the following year to fifteen) and reasonable expenses, "which the Managers shall be the Judges of." On May 10, 1773, Sibbald was given a list of delinquents. Within three years he had well earned his wages by collecting subscriptions, dues, and fines amounting to more than £140. Charity payments had not been heavy in the several years after incorporation, although some new pensions were granted. William Simpson, an aged sea captain whose health had failed, petitioned for aid in November, 1771. The following year he was made a pensioner at twenty-five pounds annually. Dubious of the wisdom of a lump sum payment, the managers spread it out quarterly: £8 in January, £5 each in April and July, and £7 in October. Sarah, widow of Captain George Stevenson, who had died in 1772, was given relief, but was warned to find a house with a lower rent if help was to con- tinue. Ann, widow of Captain John Livingston, who was lost at sea in the snow zAnn in 1773, was also added to the roll. Elisabeth Boon continued to receive periodic assistance. The managers broadened their benevolence beyond the Society on April 3, 1775, when £25 was granted to Andrew Caldwell, a nonmember but "a real object of charity." Caldwell had been master of the brig Kjng Qeorge, which had been burned at Reedy Island while outward bound for Ireland. He had escaped with only the clothes on his back, and had been "reduced to great distress." Three weeks after the April, 1775, meeting, the momentous tidings of Lexington and Concord reached Philadelphia. Prior to that, the Continental Association, with its nonimportation date of December, 1774, already past, and its nonexportation date of September 10, 1775, looming ahead, had proved a spur upon attendance. Shipmas- ters and former shipmasters found the quarterly meetings a congenial place to exchange news and views about American grievances. The spring of that year found the Society at its peak with a total of two hundred and two members. To the end of June, 1775, there had been two hundred and seventy-four names accumulated upon the rolls. Only four had withdrawn in the ten years of the organization's existence, while sixty-eight had died. Emphasizing the hazards of their occupation, nine of the dead had been lost at sea: Captains John Corsar and Walter Kerr in 1766, Henry Dunn in 1768, John 1957 THE SEA CAPTAINS CLUB 49 Potts in 1770, Terence Connor in 1771, Benjamin Ashley Anderson in 1772, John Livingston and Jonathan Montgomery in 1773, and James Taylor in 1774. Now, with war at hand, danger from the enemy had been added to the perils of the deep. The minutes were silent on the subject of impending hostilities, but the members were not. Conversation rose in the Coffee House to ebb only during the necessary business of the Society's meetings. Much of the talk dealt with the activities of individuals. Captain Robert White, one of the managers, came late to the meeting on July 3, and paid his quarterage "at the table." That was as much as the Society's records stated, yet White had been delayed by a lengthy session of the Committee of Safety to which he XSIMWD£®»>elected on June 28.16 Samuel Mifflin and Joseph Stiles were in attendance at the July quarterly meeting, although their current interest was in recruiting an artillery battalion.17 Present also was George Ord, who in a few weeks would be off for Bermuda upon a clandestine and successful powder procurement voyage.18 Hugh Dougherty was there, too, unaware that in a fortnight he would be honored by appointment to the command of the first of thirteen galleys being built for the defense of the province.19 By the end of 1775 many other members were in the service of Pennsylvania, and eight more were in command of galleys—Charles Alexander, James Blair, Samuel Davidson, Richard Eyre, John Hamilton, Alexander Henderson, James Montgomery, and Thomas Moore. John Hazlewood was in charge of fire rafts. Peter Long had been appointed ship's husband for the fleet, and Thomas Read had been recommended to the Assembly as commodore.20 Many members were at sea, sent off for Europe or the West Indies by merchants desperately anxious to get their goods out of Philadel- phia warehouses before the September 10 deadline set by the Con- tinental Association. On that last day "all the vessels which were intended for sea (to the amount of 52) sailed from this place," re-

16 Minutes of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania (Harrisburg, 1851-1853), X, 280, hereafter referred to as Col. Rec.

17 pa. Arch., Sixth Series, I, 515. 18 Wilfred Benton Kerr, Bermuda and the American Revolution, 1760-1783 (Princeton, N. J., 1936), 47-49- 19 Col. Rec, X, 287 (July 17, 1775). 20 Ibid., 290, 296, 328, 339, 342, 352, 363, 380, 437. $O WILLIAM BELL CLARK January ported the 'Pennsylvania Journal, "and has left us with hardly a vessel in port."21 Captain Charles Biddle, who was about to take passage for L'Orient with Captain John Craig in the brig Chance upon a powder and arms mission, had watched the spectacle and later commented22: It would, perhaps, have been better policy in Congress to have prohibited any trade to Great Britain or her possessions. We should then have kept many a gallant seaman that sailed in this fleet and never returned to America; for many of the vessels were sold abroad and the crews not being able to return were obliged to enter into foreign service. Seven tall ships commanded by members of the Society and clear- ing for Falmouth, Bristol, or Newry were among the fifty-two that sailed on September 10. As Biddle noted, all seven ships were sold abroad. Six of the masters eventually returned, but not the ships. The seventh master, Edward Spain, died at sea. In July, two more ships under command of Society members had cleared for Bristol and Liverpool, respectively, and another, the Charming Peggy, Thomas Dowman, master, for Lisbon.23 To Dowman fell the doubtful honor of being the first member to fall into enemy hands. The British frigate Glasgow intercepted the Charming Peggy and escorted her into Boston in August, where her cargo of flour and staves was bought for the use of General Thomas Gage's army.24 Dowman was but the first of many unfortunates. In January, 1776, Wilkinson Timmons in the brig "Dove, James Johnston in the ship Two ^Brothers, and Walter Stevens in the brig Qrey hound were taken when homeward bound from the West Indies with powder and arms, and were carried into Antigua.25 A similar fate awaited William Keith in the ship Juno. Keith had sailed from L'Orient with a cargo of gunpowder, saltpeter, and sulphur, only to be captured in February by His Majesty's sloop-of-war Kjngfisher when within a day's run of the Delaware.26 21 Pennsylvania Journal, Sept. 13, 1775. 22 Biddle, 75, 76. 23 Pennsylvania Journal, July io, 1775. 24 "An Account of Ships and Vessels seized, and brought into Port by his Majesty's Squadron in North America . . . between the Ist of June & the 31st of December, 1775," The Conduct of Vice-Admiral Samuel Graves in North America, British Museum, Additional Mss. 14038: I: 46V. 25 "Prizes taken by Admiral Young's squadron," Pennsylvania Gazette, July 24, 1776. 26 Robert Wilden Neeser, ed., The Despatches of Molyneux Shuldham (New York, 1913), 150, 151. 1957 THE SEA CAPTAINS CLUB 51 In 1776, the managers ordered that a list of the members who were yet in the city and who had failed to attend meetings be recorded in the minutes. These "Fineables" at the annual meeting of Monday, January 1, outnumbered the members present, and continued to do so up to and including the July meeting of 1777, the last meeting held before Sir William Howe's army marched into Philadelphia. In the main, however, the absentees had wartime reasons for nonattend- ance. The Continental navy, which had been conceived in the late fall of 1775, was being augmented, letters of marque and reprisal were being granted, and the Pennsylvania navy was being enlarged. Members serving as captains in the Continental navy were Charles Alexander, John Barry, Peter Brusstar, William Hallock, Thomas Read, Isaiah and James Robinson, and Lambert Wickes.27 William Barnes and James Robertson were lieutenants.28 Commanding priva- teers were John Craig, Charles Ferguson, William Gamble, John Hamilton, David McCullough and James Montgomery.29 On the Council of Safety, which had succeeded the Committee of Safety, were Samuel Mifflin and Nathaniel Falconer. Joseph Blewer was on the Pennsylvania Navy Board.30 Added to the Pennsylvania navy as captains were William Allen, William Brown, James Craig, Francis Faries, Nathaniel Gait, Jacob Hanse, and John Ross. John Hazle- wood had moved from director of fire rafts to commodore of the fleet.31 The telling of the vicissitudes, successes, and failures of these members of the Society during the years 1776 and 1777 would require many volumes. Suffice it to say that most of those who were in arms within or about Philadelphia moved away before its occupation by the British army on September 25, 1777. Eleven days later, on October 6, the meager minutes for the regular quarterly meeting record: At a Meeting of the Society for the Relief of poor and distressed Masters of Ships &c this day at Mr Burns Tavern the following only were present 27 Journals of the Continental Congress (Washington, D. C, 1906), VI, 861 (Oct. 10, 1776). 28 William Bell Clark, Captain Dauntless (Baton Rouge, La., 1949), 155; W. B. Clark, The First Saratoga (Baton Rouge, La., 1953), 153. 29 "List of Armed Vessels from Port of Philadelphia, 1776-1777," The Pennsylvania Maga- zine of History and Biography (PMHB)y XXVI (1902), 146, 147; Col. Rec, X, 702. 30 Ibid., 653. 31 Pa. Arch., Second Series, I, 257, 258, 260, 261, 302, 333, 338, 349. 52 WILLIAM BELL CLARK January of the Members viz. James Sparks Samuel Wilson John Sibbald Peter Reeve John Lownes Chs Steward John Woods. 7 Members who were in Town, & were absent viz. George Morrison, Caleb Emlen, John Mullet, William Budden, Daniel Reese, John Souder, John Wilson, John Hunn, John Harr, Robert Shewell & Edward Bingley. Many of these members had long ago retired from the sea, while the others, without current berths or by delaying too long at home, were unable to get away ahead of the enemy. There were no Tories among them, however—Budden, Hunn, Harr, Shewell and Souder commanding letters-of-marque later in the war.32 Peter Reeve, the treasurer, had recorded the October 6, 1777, meeting. He handed his brief minute to Joseph Stiles in the summer of 1778, after the foe had gone and the patriots were beginning to come home. The secretary delivered it to the managers, who composed a "Preamble for the Times'' to precede the minutes of the meeting for October 5, 1778: As by the above Minutes no Business appears to have been done of any kind, not even a Chairman appointed for the Evening; the Number of Members met very few, and no Apology made, or any reason given for the seeming neglect of the there present Members, in point of Method; It is hereby necessary to observe that the City was in the possession of General Howe & his Army, and had been so ever since the 25th Ultimo. On the ap- proach of the British Troops to this City, the far greatest Number of the Members, and who were then in the Service of their Country, in opposition to the Enemy, were obliged to leave it for the Safety of their persons, and could not return until the said Troops evacuated it on the 18th June last, so that the principal reason for the above meeting appears to have been for, and in Support of the Charter of the Society: But when then for the same reason did they not meet on the 6th January and the 7th April 1778, seems to want explaining. Why a meeting was not held in July after the enemy had de- camped was a question that might well be asked, and the managers concluded with an explanation that few members had returned and that the British had left the inhabitants in a most unsettled state. Even the October meeting in 1778 accomplished nothing, "as the Books and Papers belonging to the Society were not posted up, through the hurry and Confusion of the Times," and neither dues nor fines were collected. By the end of that year, the quarterage books 32 Papers of the Continental Congress, 196, II, 14; 196, III, 34; 196, V, 25; 196, VI, 5; 196, XII, 68, Library of Congress, hereafter referred to as Papers CC. THE SEA I957 CAPTAINS CLUB 53 disclosed that the membership had fallen off from its June, 1775, high of two hundred and two. Although twelve members had been added, twenty-seven had died, including Patrick Barry, William Barnes, Andrew May, Peter Osborne, James Russell, Edward Spain and Lambert Wickes, all of whom were lost at sea. Matters returned to an even keel in 1779, although at the July and October meetings "so few Members being met no Business was done." Only thirteen attended at the Coffee House for the annual meeting in 1780 to elect twelve managers, and Joseph Stiles to suc- ceed Peter Reeve as treasurer. The meeting also empowered the new managers to apply to the Assembly "for leave to bring in a Bill to incorporate the Society on a more liberal footing than the present." A special meeting on January 27, 1780, with twenty-one present, approved a draft of the petition to the Assembly "setting forth the several defects of the law by which they are incorporated." On March 4, the Society's bill was enacted into law.33 The changes from the old act of 1770 liberalized the loan and investment policy, increased the initial contributions to a minimum of three pounds, and permitted adjustment by by-laws of the annual dues in line with the declining value of Continental currency. The governing standard was to be "at the rate of ten shillings for a bushel of good merchantable wheat, weighing sixty pounds." Reflecting the need for such adjustment was the Society's prompt resolution to increase quarterly payments to four pounds, and fines to £3 6s. %d.— Continental value, of course. The managers met for the first time under the new act of incorporation at the home of Joseph Stiles in Arch street on May 18. Leeson Simmons, who had replaced Stiles as clerk, enlivened the minutes with his peculiar orthography. Because of the managers' irritation at the "many Inconvencys that the Society meet with at a poublick House," Simmons recorded that he and Henry Dougherty were desired "to Inquir for a more Suteable place for that Porpous." Meeting on June 21 at Captain Stiles's home, George Ord reported that he and Captain Falconer, who had been appointed to draft by-laws at the last meeting, had done nothing about it, and the

33 Journals of'the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania beginning the twenty-eighth Day of November, 1776> and Ending the second Day of October, 178 1 (Philadelphia, 1782), I, 432. 54 WILLIAM BELL CLARK January managers named a new committee with John Hazlewood, Joseph Blewer, and Joseph Stiles. Simmons' committee had been more active, and "Reporte that agreeable to thire Apointm* they had got the privelage of the Loge Room N° 2 on Loge Ally agreing to paid one fourth parte of the Yearly Rent there on haveing the privelage of meeting at Pleasure not Interfairing with the Buisness of the Dif- ferant Loges that do meet there." Accordingly, the call for the ensuing quarterly meeting specified "the Freemason's Lodge Room, in Lodge Alley, on Monday Evening next, the Third of July, at Seven o'Clock."34 The by-laws submitted at that time were considered and referred back to the managers and four members at large. In January, 1781, the new by-laws were placed in Joseph Stiles's hands to be "put in Propper Order against the Next General Meeting." Finally, on April 2, they were "uana- mously agreed unto," and three hundred copies were ordered printed. John Dunlap, printer of the Pennsylvania Tacket, did the job and "Genorrusly Presented the Society with the Papper and Printing." The by-laws were fourteen in number, the first decreeing that each member should have a certificate setting forth the date of his admission. Procuring these certificates proved no easy accomplishment. A committee of four was appointed to have a plate engraved which would include the Society's seal. This committee reported at the July meeting "that They had Ingaged with a person to git it don but that he had found it too Dificult to Do." Authorization was given "to Imploy Some other Engraver to do it in the Best manner and as soon as Possable." The committee selected David Edwin,35 and certificates were issued in August of the following year. One of them—to Captain John Green, an original member—still exists.36 Other by-laws increased the admission fee to at least five pounds, assessed a twelve shilling fine upon any member elected to office who refused to serve, forfeited the membership of any delinquent twelve months in arrears, specified that applicants should apply to two of the managers in writing, requested full attendance at the funeral of a deceased member, empowered any two managers to authorize im-

34 Pennsylvania Journal, June 29, 1780. 35 Mantle Fielding, "Engravings of David Edwin," PMHB, XXXII (1908), 219-222. 36 This certificate is in the possession of Carrow Thibault of Ardmore, Pa., a great-great- grandson of John Green. i957 THE SEA CAPTAINS CLUB 55 mediate relief to a widow in distress, and provided that "after the Chearman has taken the Chear, Good order shall be Asurred [observed?] which Any Member Refuseing to do when Commanded theirto by the Chearman shall be fined two Shillings and Six pence." First victim of this latter by-law was Captain William Allibone, who was fined at the July meeting "for leveing the room without leave before Business was don." The captain took it good-naturedly, as was evidenced by his donation, a few months later, of £i IOJ., a reward he had received for finding "a Silver Buckel" belonging to John Holker, Consul General of France. The Society lost its founder and most generous benefactor when Samuel Mifflin died in Reading on May 14, 1781, after a long illness. His "Charity Box" over the years had bestowed upon the Society a total in excess of £160. His last attendance had been at the annual meeting in January, 1780, when he had been re-elected a manager. Despite illness and absence he was again elected in 1781. Mifflin's body was brought from Reading on May 17, and was buried the following day with many members of the Society in sorrowful attendance.37 During the final years of the war, the Society encountered financial problems. Most serious of these was the growing delinquency list, caused in part by the illness of John Sibbald, who was unable to get about and stir up absent members, and who died in the winter of 1780-1781. The managers appointed Samuel Martin to do the collecting for the first half of 1781, and Samuel Corry for the third quarter. Neither was very successful, but soon after Nathaniel Gait was elected permanent collecting clerk in October, 1781, the delinquency list was reduced to six members of whom five were dropped. The five were George Morrison and Charles Stedman, who had been members of the first board of managers, George Fortune and James Cobourne who had joined the Society in 1766, and Henry Stiles, who had joined a year later. The record indicates that Fortune paid his debt. Whether Gait sued the others, as he was authorized to do at the meeting of July 4, 1782, is not stated. The other financial problem was the Continental Loan Office certificates in which the Society had invested some of its funds. The

37 "Extracts from the Diary of Jacob Hiltzheimer, 1768-1798," PMHB, XVI (1892), 102. $6 WILLIAM BELL CLARK January managers in April, 1777, had authorized a loan of six hundred dollars at interest to the national government. Over the years interest had been paid by bills drawn on France; in other words, the interest was paid out of the money granted by the French government to Benja- min Franklin and deposited with his French banker, Ferdinand Grand. This procedure, according to reports circulating in June, 1782, was to end. Robert Morris, Superintendent of Finance, had urged its discontinuance, pointing out that it was unsound to borrow from one loan to pay interest on another. Morris advocated post- ponement of payments of interest on Loan Office certificates until it could be renewed out of revenue received in import taxes from the states. These rumors reached the Society, which on July 4 "took into Consideration the State of Money (Stock) in the Loan Office belon- ing to the Society that drew Inturst on France/' and resolved: that a committee of three Cap* Joseph Stiles, Cap* Nath. Falkner and Cap* Wm Allebon be Requested to Attend at a meeting of the Holdrers of Sertifi- cate who are requested to attend at the State House to Morrow at 10 Oclock in the Morning, agreable to A Hand Bill Set forth this day to Represant the Society theiron and to make a rep* thereon at the next Meeting of the Society. That report was never made because before the next meeting the Continental Congress had confirmed the rumor by resolving that, as there were no funds in Europe to draw upon, the commissioners of the various loan offices should "issue no bills of exchange for the Interest which hath or may become due on loan-office certificates since the first day of March last."38 Some compensation for the loss of interest came from donations of nine pounds made by members of the Society in the fall of 1782 from surveys on board the ships St. Helena^ J^pnsuch, and Heer zAdams*9 A steady income became assured that same fall through action of the post-office department. Inattention or carelessness in handling transatlantic correspondence had resulted in serious losses to merchants, who had urged that all such mail, instead of being entrusted to shipmasters, should be handled by the Philadelphia post 38 Journals of the Continental Congress (Washington, D. C, 1914), XXII, $$S (Sept. 9, 1782). 39 These three vessels arrived with cargoes from France in the summer of 1782. Pennsylvania Packet, July 20, Aug. 3, and Sept. 12, 1782. I957 THE SEA CAPTAINS CLUB 57 office. James Bryson, Assistant Postmaster General of the United States, conceived a method which would insure proper care of all such correspondence, and be of benefit to the Society. A handbill, carrying his name and issued October 25, provided40: That for each letter and packet, brought from beyond sea, and left at this office, the subscriber will pay one penny to the person bringing them, if he chooses to receive it; but, if not, an exact account shall be kept of the number of letters left by him and the amount of them shall be paid at the expiration of the quarter to the Treasurer of the society for the relief of poor and distressed masters of ships, their widows and children. Ship letter bags may be left here, and letters and packets to be put in them will be received, and proper care of them taken, upon payment of one penny, with each letter or packet. Bryson personally presented the first results to the Society at the annual meeting on January 6, 1783. It amounted to £1 19^. 3^. for the months of November and December. Naturally, he received the thanks of the chairman "for his readiness to Sarve the Said Society." From this small beginning, subsequent quarterly payments in 1783 ran to £6 6s., £15 12s. 2d., and £153^. yd.y respectively. As a further step to bolster income, the Society voted in January of that year to increase the admission fee by twelve shillings. During the later war years (1779-1783), thirty-eight members had been added to the roll, including men figuring largely in the maritime history of the port, men like John Angus, Joshua Barney, Alexander Cain, Stephen Decatur the elder, James Josiah, Roger Keane and Matthew Lawler. Membership losses totaled fifty-six—eleven delinquents and forty-five deaths. Of the latter, William Moore had died in the Old Jersey prison ship in New York harbor in 1782, and ten had been lost at sea while commanding letters-of-marque or priva- teers: Isaiah Robinson, Peter Brusstar, Alexander Henderson, Wil- liam Gamble, James Johnston, Alexander Ogelvie, Charles Alexan- der, John Craig, John Taylor and Richard Inkson. Benevolent payments were withheld after the British evacuation of Philadelphia until the Society got its books in order in 1780. Then, Ann Spain, widow of Captain Edward Spain, who had been lost at sea in 1776, and Joanna Simpson, widow of Captain William Simp- son, the first pensioner, who had died in March, 1777, and had been 40 A copy of this handbill is among the papers of the Society. 58 WILLIAM BELL CLARK January buried at the Society's expense, petitioned for help. They were allotted, respectively, £75 and £100 in Continental currency. Quar- terly payments continued to Ann Spain until her death in 1784. Widow Simpson also virtually became a pensioner as had her husband before her. That the Society could be lenient in its charity to the worthy was evidenced at a meeting of the managers in April, 1781. A petition for assistance was received from John Ross, "a former Member who had Neglected to pay his Quarterages for Nine or Ten Years, which it Appeard Proceeded from Inabillity to pay." The managers voted, 9 to 2, that he had therefore not forfeited his membership, and awarded him "ten pounds Heard money." One of those stark tragedies which illustrated the need for the Society was spread upon the minutes on January 8, 1782: Took up the Case of the Widow of Wm Gamble a Late member who was lost at Sea and whos widow now lays dead haveing left three Children one A Boy of 16 years now sick, A Garil 13 years Old and a Child of Eighteen months Old—When it was agreed that 2 of the Managers, Cap* Wm Davis and Cap* John Woods Should be a Comitee to tack Charge of the Funeral and Children, and to Tack An Invertory of the things in the House And to make a report to the Next meeting of the Managers.

Later the committee was increased to four and was empowered, with the consent of the "Chife Justes," to act as guardians for the children and to dispose of such part of the estate as might be necessary for their upbringing. A somewhat similar case developed in June of the same year when Ann Scull, sister-in-law of Captain Peter Brusstar, who had been lost in the sloop Queen of France in 1780,41 petitioned in behalf of his three daughters. Quarterly funds were thereafter supplied for their education. Apart from the care of their own deceased members' children, the Society on October 7, 1782, took steps to alleviate the suffering of a number of ill and disabled seamen who had been brought into the port in August by two cartel ships from England.42 The managers were authorized to petition the Pennsylvania Assembly to establish a hospital for them. Joseph Blewer, president of the Society that year,

41 Papers CC, 196, XII, 36. 42 The cartel ships Symmetry and Tiger arrived at Philadelphia on Aug. 13 and 19, 1782. "Diary of Robert Morris in the Office of Finance," II, 162, 169, Papers CC. THE S i957 EA CAPTAINS CLUB 59 elected to call first upon Robert Morris, acting agent of marine. He was advised, as he reported, that ''proposals were under Considera- tion of Congress to set on foot a general Contenantol Hospitol for Al Seamen and Expected that it whold be soon Astablished their for declining any farther prosedings on the former resolve of the Seventh consarning a State Hospitol." The final benevolent act of the war period was a loan to Catherine Atkinson, wife of Captain George Atkinson, who had been released from the Old Jersey prison ship, "and which she promises to be repaid Should her afor said Husband be reinstated in his Health and Circumstances." In the early postwar years, the Society seems to have thrived handsomely. Fifty-three members attended the April 7, 1783, meeting at the Free Mason's lodge room, their first gathering after definite news of peace reached Philadelphia. Even with twenty-one members recorded as "at Home and Fineable," the clerk collected quarterages and fines of better than £20, and "Mr Tench Cox Merchant of this City Presented the Society with A Order on the Banck for the Sum of ten Pounds which he Prayed their Acxeptance of." Good attendance continued at the remaining quarterly meetings of 1783, and at all in 1784. Receipts also were high, with an average of £20 in quarterages and fines, numerous donations in small amounts, better than £17 quarterly from the post office, subscription money from six new members, and some £30 received from ship surveys. Despite Robert Morris's optimism in 1782, the Continental Con- gress had done nothing about a hospital for sick seamen. At the annual meeting on January 5, 1784, the managers were authorized to appoint a committee to wait upon the Pennsylvania Assembly in "Behalf of Seamen Belonging to this porte." Nathaniel Falconer, John Hazlewood, Francis Faries and Joseph Blewer were named on January 7, in the words of Nathaniel Gait who had succeeded Simmons as clerk, "to Wate on the Merchants Commity at the City Tavern to Consult with them Respecting Petitioning the Assembly for a Lew to Be passed Obleeding Every Seaman belonging to this port To pay [blank] for Erecting an Hospital for the Distresed Sea- men"—a slightly different version than the Society had authorized, but, in any case, leading to no results. 60 WILLIAM BELL CLARK January Petitions for charitable support—other than the quarterly ones of Joanna Simpson, Ann Spain, and Ann Scull in behalf of Captain Peter Brusstar's daughters—were not numerous in 1783 and 1784. Two of them, interestingly enough, related to the shipmasters who had carried Benjamin Franklin to England in 1764 and brought him back in 1775. On May 1, 1783, James Robinson, with whom Franklin had embarked on November 7, 1764,43 applied to the Society for a loan, "being in a Very low state of health." The loan was granted. Two months later he was dead, and his widow Rachel became a recipient of aid. In the spring of 1784, Elizabeth Osborne, widow of the captain who had commanded the ship Pennsylvania 'Packet from which Franklin landed in Philadelphia on May 5,1775,44 appealed for help. Osborne had been lost at sea in the same ship in 1776. Both widows became frequent recipients of charitable payments. Postwar problems, mostly of a financial nature, began to harass the Society and its managers in 1785. Donations and legacies were fewer despite £100 left to the Society by the will of Samuel Emlen, a few ship survey fees, and "the Donation of a Struck Jurey Case [of] Lewis & Caresden" amounting to £3 10s. As an economy measure, it was proposed that the Society give up the use of the Mason's lodge room, with its annual rental and the five shillings payable to the janitor each time the room was occupied. A special meeting of the Society on January 18, 1785, decisively rejected this proposal. The economically minded minority persisted, however, and the room was relinquished finally in October, 1786, when the Society convened in the "Babtist Meeting in Lodge Alley." No rental was mentioned, but six months later Secretary Gait recorded a communication from "A Cometee from the Society of the Free Babtists Requesting the Consideration of the Society Consarning their Situation finding themselves De- ficiant in the payment of the Meeting House therefore Requesting what Donation for them as be found Conveniant." In lieu of a donation, the managers approved an annual rental of £4. Since they were shortly thereafter also paying an average of seven shillings for "Attendance & Candle light," the savings effected by their change of meeting place seems to be inconsiderable.

43 Rachel Robinson to Benjamin Franklin, Oct. 25, 1785, Franklin Papers, XXXIII, 228, American Philosophical Society. 44 Pennsylvania Packet, May 8, 1775. THE SEA I957 CAPTAINS CLUB 6l Numerous private loans to members and others were in default, or were yielding interest in Continental dollars which had reached an appalling low level of value. As a result, the treasurer in 1787 was directed to accept only hard money payments. Delinquency grew more frequent, leading to instructions that the clerk provide a list of delinquents for the consideration of the annual meeting, and that he send notices to all who were nine months in arrears. Laying aside financial worries, the Society joined in the great Federal procession of July 4, 1788, which heralded the ratification of the Constitution of the United States. Special meetings were held by the managers to perfect arrangements, and all members who were not at sea gathered at Captain John Hazlewood's house in Southwark at 8 o'clock in the morning of that momentous day. The Society held the thirty-first position in the mile and a half line which an hour later moved northward in Third Street from Cedar (now South) Street.45 Leading off was aged William Greenway, bearing a globe, and behind him, striding along abreast, came William Heysham and Rickloff Alberson, carrying spyglasses. Ten captains, five in a row, representing the ten states which had ratified, came next, each holding a Godfrey quadrant. They were followed by the rest of the members of the Society, eighty-nine in all, numbering many who had joined since the war's end, notably Richard Dale, Stephen Girard, William Jones, Thomas Tingey, and Elisha Warner. In the hatband of each was a cardboard replica of a ship. The members carried trumpets, spyglasses, charts and "sundry other implements of their profession." Sixty shipmasters, who were not members, joined them in the march. The minutes do not mention the cold collation and oratory at Bush Hill at the end of the day, but Charles Biddle remarked that "No accident happened, and the utmost harmony prevailed."46 Interest payments upon the Continental Loan Office certificates continued in default. In January, 1787, two of the managers, Charles Biddle and Leeson Simmons, had been appointed to examine the treasurer's books and had recommended that the Continental certificates be exchanged for state certificates. This was no easy task. Ultimately, they were converted into new Federal bonds, to be paid

45 Pennsylvania Journal, July 12, 1788. 46 Biddle, 225-228. 62 WILLIAM BELL CLARK January off at par and accrued interest; the Society's Continental currency was funded at the ruinous rate of one hundred for one. Other monies accumulated in the treasury were, by advice of counsel, to be invested in the "Six pr Cent Funds of the United States." Treasurer Stiles reported in January, 1792, that "owing to a Rapid rise in the Six pr Cent publick stock he had not been able to procure them." Charles Biddle, William Allibone, and William Heysham were called to his assistance. They recommended that Bank of North America stocks be purchased if public securities were unavailable. In July, Stephen Girard and Nathaniel Falconer were appointed to assist Stiles in purchasing bank stocks. Eventually most monies were laid out in government bonds and bank stocks. The financial burden, however, had been too much for the treasurer. Joseph Stiles's "111 Health & great age" prompted his resignation. Captain James King took the post in September, 1792. Three years in the office were enough for King, who was succeeded in 1795 by Captain William Jones. The calls of the needy multiplied, adding to the financial worries of the Society, as the century moved along toward its close. The managers, however, never faltered in their responses to the petitions of the widows, orphans, and aged and needy members. Aid was extended also to nonmembers when circumstances warranted. The funeral expenses of the widow of Captain William Barber were paid in 1786, although the captain, who had been lost at sea during the Revolution, had been removed from the rolls as a delinquent.47 The following year, Mrs. Mary Mitchell, relict of Captain Alexander Mitchell of London, whose death had occurred in Philadelphia, was awarded £10 to convey her and her two children home to England. In 1788, Captain Samuel Hawke's widow, who had forfeited her rights by a second marriage, being "an Object of Distress," was presented with four pounds. A Captain Brown of New London, whose ship had been wrecked on the Jersey coast, was awarded £7 10s. in 1790. Another shipwrecked master, Robert Atkins of Bristol, Massachusetts, was advanced sixty dollars on loan in 1795.

47 Barber sailed as second officer of the ship Shellalah, which left Philadelphia in December, 1780, with William Palfrey, appointed as American consul-general in France. The ship was never heard from after she left the Delaware capes. Wyoming [County, Pa.] Historical and Genealogical Society, Proceedings and Collections (1902, 1903), VIII, 181-291. THE SEA i957 CAPTAINS CLUB 6$ Several years later, Captain Godfrey Sweet of Rhode Island, who had escaped from a French prison in the West Indies and was making his homeward way, promised to repay thirty dollars bestowed upon him to help him upon his journey. Generally, the calls from members for relief came almost upon their deathbeds—Jacob Hanse in 1784, John Dougherty who "died in the hospital" in 1785, John Earle in 1791, Samuel Wilson in 1795, and Nathaniel Gait, the long-time clerk and collector, stricken in the late winter of the same year. There were exceptions. Captain Alexander Hamilton was virtually a pensioner from 1785 to 1795. John Macpherson, the eccentric who had finally joined the Society in 1779, petitioned for help in 1790. He received quarterly payments until brought up short by the following pronouncement in July, 1791: Resolved that the Managers are of Opinion the late conduct of Capn John McPherson towards his wife and family are not consistant with the Char- acter of a prudent man and that until an evident alteration takes place in that respect, they cannot consistant with what they conceive to be their duty, Grant any further Supplys from this Society but what shall be for the common benefit of his wife & children with himself.

Apparently the captain did not mend his ways, nor did the managers change their minds. Only after McPherson's death in 1793 were payments renewed, and these were to his widow. Saddest of the cases was that of John Hazlewood, who in 1797 had been threatened with expulsion for nonpayment of dues. He had been a member since 1766, a sea-fighter during the Revolution and a manager of the Society from 1780 to 1789. His letter of explanation (continuous illness), read by the managers on January 4, 1798, "was thought Sufficient appology for his not paying his arrearages." Hazlewood was a proud man, too proud to go beyond his explanation of illness and explain his dire straits. But the managers, with real insight, investigated, and in July they took into Consideration the Information they had received from the neigh- bours of Cap* Jn° Hazlewood respecting his distressed Situation having been for some time past Struck with the Palsey, and all his goods now being under Seizure—agreed to Grant him Some relief for the present—accordingly An order was drawn in his favour on Wm Jones Treasurer for Fifty Dol- lars and Cap* George Ord and John Lockton were appointed a Committee to deliver him the money 64 WILLIAM BELL CLARK January Further, the managers a year later presented him with an order for thirty dollars for himself and wife and were willing that both should "be Continued as Quarterly pensioners." It was not for long for the captain; he died in 1800. Widows' wants multiplied as the years rolled along. To Joanna Simpson, Rachel Robinson, and Elizabeth Osborne had been added the relicts of some thirty-five shipmasters who had passed away between 1785 and 1800, or had been lost at sea during the Revolution. The Society cared for them all, and when Mrs. Simpson died in March, 1795, attended her funeral services in a body.48 Nor were the many orphans neglected. Among them were some interesting cases. One was young Septimus Robinson, son of the deceased Captain James Robinson, who wanted in 1788 to follow his father's profession. The managers arranged it, laid out the necessary funds for his outfit, and bound him to Captain William Brewster "to larne the Art & Mistrey of a Maraner." Similarly, two children of Captain Samuel Davidson, who had died in 1789, were apprenticed that year and the next—Eleanor, to learn the art and mystery "of a Miliner Mantimaker And Shopkeeper," and Robert, to be trained as a sailmaker. Rachel Brusstar, eldest of the three daughters of Cap- tain Peter Brusstar, reached the age of eighteen in 1790 and was also apprenticed to become a mantuamaker. The managers agreed to pay the yearly expense of clothing and feeding these apprentices until they were twenty-one. Then, there was young Ephraim Warner, whose father Elisha had died in the spring of 1790, and whose appeal for help was so poignant that a committee (Charles Biddle, William Heysham, and Leeson Simmons) hastened "to Obtain Justice for the said petitioner." They found him ill with smallpox, and agreed to bear his expenses until he had recovered. They then investigated further, and reported on June 23: That they had Made [what] inquiry they could concerning the said Elishas Property at the time of His Dece's which appeared to be princibly in his two last Adventures the one at Sett [Cette, France]—the other he had with him in His last Voyage & left at Haver de grass his Wearing Appirel and Some Cash Dilivered into the hands of Mr Joseph Donaldson the Administrator in Philada for the better security of which and the Futur

48 Pennsylvania Gazette, Mar. 4, 1795. THE SEA i957 CAPTAINS CLUB 65 well fair of the said Ephraim Warner Who is Above the Age of 17 Years we Earnestly Recommended it to Him to apply to the Next Orphans Court after he shall be well to Appoint a Sutable person as A guardean.

Upon the question of responsibility, once an orphan attained majority, the Society turned for legal advice to two Philadelphia lawyers, Alexander J. Dallas and Jared Ingersoll. In July, 1795, these attorneys defined the word "children" in the title of the act of incorporation as meaning minors, and advised that the Society's obliga- tion ended when the son or daughter of a ship captain reached the age of twenty-one.49 This was reassuring to the managers, who, several years before, had extended help to Hannah Warden, who was past that age but "Verey 111." They had assumed then that they had "Descresenal Power in Case of Nessesity to grant Relief to the Child or children of a Decesed Member after the Same shall Come of full Age." This decision, along with other circumstances, had led to an over- haul of the by-laws in 1792 by a committee which reported at the October meeting. The principal change approved was the electing of new members by ballot instead of by show of hands. The clerk was instructed to procure a ballot box "and a sufficient number of balls for the purpose." Subsequently, additional by-laws provided that four fifths of the members present must approve each applicant; that no person who had commanded a vessel out of the port of Philadel- phia for seven years before applying for membership should be eligible; that any member proposing a new member must be respon- sible for the admission fee; and, to prevent members slipping out before adjournment, that all business of the Society be transacted before the collection of dues and fines. This latter by-law restored the original meeting plan which had fallen into disuse. The Society forsook the Baptist meetinghouse after April, 1793, for reasons not given in the minutes. Temporarily, on July 1, it met in the "School House in Videll's Alley." Thereafter, it moved to "Carpenters Hall in the Cort going to the United States Bank," at a rental of £1 10s. a meeting. Attendance was practically nonexistent at the first meeting in Carpenters Hall on October 7, 1793, because the great yellow fever epidemic had struck Philadelphia. "The Meet-

49 Copies of these letters are in the papers of the Society. 66 WILLIAM BELL CLARK January ing of the Society was Published in Mr Browns News paper As the Law Directs/' read the minutes, "but owing to the Malignant fevur Ranging in the City there was but two Attended therefore there was no Business done." Six managers met at Captain George Ord's store three days later and agreed that no fines would be demanded for the last quarter. Upon subsequent severe visitations of the dread fever in 1797 and 1798, attendance was little better, there being so few in 1798 that "not having Sufficient members to do Business" the meeting adjourned. By then Mr. Adams' undeclared war with France was in full swing, and a number of the members were serving their country in the new American navy. John Barry commanded the frigate United States, built in Philadelphia and launched in 1797. David Ross and John Mullowney, Jr., who had joined the Society in 1795, were serving as first and second lieutenants under him.50 Stephen Decatur, Sr., was captain of the converted merchantman "Delaware, with Thomas Baker and William Keith as lieutenant and sailing master, respectively. Richard Dale commanded another converted merchantman, the Qanges, and later was succeeded in her by Thomas Tingey. Finally, William Bainbridge was appointed commander of the sloop Retaliation, formerly a French privateer captured by Decatur.51 Other sea captains had armed their vessels under letter-of-marque commissions, while some, like the unfortunate Captain Robert Knox, had been "prisoners for sometime past in the West Indies." France was the recognized enemy, although Captain James L. Cathcart, who would join the Society a year later, tried to stir up interest against the Tripoli tan pirates on May 8, 1798, in a letter read at the July meeting. Cathcart had been a prisoner in Tripoli since 1785, and had been released in 1796 to return to America to facilitate delivery of the present, or tribute, made annually to the bashaw.52 The letter was aimed at arousing the public from its apathy, and proposed that the Society prepare an address to the President of the United States. Eleven years before, at the April meeting in 1787, Charles Biddle had called the Society's attention to 50 William Bell Clark, Gallant John Barry (New York, 1938), 368, 387, 396. 51 Dudley W. Knox, Qjuasi-War with France, Naval Operations From December, 1800 to December, 1801 (Washington, D. C, 1938), 316, 325, 336, 353- 52 Dudley W. Knox, Naval Documents Related to the United States Wars with the Barbary Powers (Washington, D. C, 1939), I, ISTI$6. THE SEA i957 CAPTAINS CLUB 67 the plight of the suffering American prisoners in Tripoli. His efforts had resulted in the appointment of a committee to consider the matter, but the committee never reported and the subject was dropped. Now, Cathcart's recommendation met a sharp rejection, "the Society Considering themselves as a Charitable Institution to have nothing to do with affairs of a political nature." Beginning with the year 1796, the spelling in the minute book im- proved. After the death of Nathaniel Gait, the Society elected Benjamin Loxley, Jr., as clerk, with Samuel Crawford to do the outside collecting. Loxley's ill health prompted his resignation within the year, and he died in 1797. John Burrows, Jr., was his successor, and both minute and collection books showed the better handiwork of the new clerk. By the end of the century, membership strength stood practically where it had been at its inception more than thirty years before. The rolls showed only three survivors of the little group who had met and organized at the Coffee House on July 5, 1765: George Atkinson, who had suffered in the Old Jersey prison ship during the Revolution, John Burrows, Sr., who would outlive his son, the new clerk, and Nathaniel Falconer, who had served as a manager during twenty years of the long period. From 1783 to and including 1800, a total of two hundred and seventy-six members had been added. At the end of the century, fifty members who had joined before 1783 still lived. There had been one hundred and two deaths, seventeen dropped as delinquents, and seven resignations. Thus, the net membership was an even two hundred. The financial picture was in sharp contrast to the early days when charity payments had been postponed from year to year. Now the Society was receiving interest from stock of the United States and bank dividends amounting to better than $1,000 annually. Yearly donations through the post office were adding an average of $225. New member subscriptions were running in excess of $400. Dues and fines were contributing almost the same amount. In the capital account, the Society owned five shares in the Bank of North America, six in the Bank of Pennsylvania, four in the Bank of the United States, four in the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike, more than $9,000 in United States stock certificates, and $1,700 in private bonds. 68 WILLIAM BELL CLARK January Administration of funds and charity payments for the beginning of the nineteenth century was in the hands of a capable and experi- enced board of managers: Nathaniel Falconer, George Ord, Leeson Simmons, William Davis, Robert Bethell, Charles Biddle, John Lockton, Stephen Girard, John Hunn, John Lownes, Robert Gill and Henry Hawkins, listed in order of seniority. Strong in members, management, and finances, and backed by a tradition of benevolent service, the old Sea Captains Club had triumphed over adversity and dangerous times to survive as an active, useful organization.

"Brevardy ^A(. C. WILLIAM BELL CLARK