John Jay Papers
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https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jay/01-04-02-0257

From John Jay to John Marsden Pintard, 18 August 1787

From John Marsden Pintard

New York 18th. August 1787

Sir,

In my late tour to Boston I engaged with Messrs Joseph Barrell, Crowel Hatch of Boston and Mr. John Derby of Salem on a Voyage to the Northwest coast of America on discoveries and for which we are preparing two Vessels, the Ship Columbia about 220 Tons burthen, and the Sloop Lady Washington of about 90 Tons burthen, under the Command and direction of Captain John Kendrick. As there is the greatest prospect that this undertaking will turn out greatly to the advantage of the Commerce of the United States, and perhaps open a new source of Trade for their advent[u]rous Merchants and a Nursery for their Seamen, as none but Americans are concerned in the Voyage, and the owners are determined that none but such shall go in any capacity whatever in the Vessels, we hope for the encouragement and patronage of the Honorable Congress. Will you therefore permit me Sir, to request the favour of you to procure a Sea Letter for the said Vessels from Congress, which will lay the owners under an obligation that shall always be acknowledged.1 I have the honor to be with the most perfect Esteem &c.

(signed) John M. Pintard

LbkC, DNA: Domestic Letters description begins Domestic Letters of the Department of State, 1784–1906, RG59, item 120, National Archives (M40). Accessed on Fold3.com. description ends , 3: 270–71 (EJ: 2165).

1. On 22 Sept. 1787, a committee consisting of Melancton Smith, Nathan Dane, and John Kean was appointed to review Pintard’s letter. On 24 Sept. 1787, the committee reported that the ship Columbia Rediviva, Capt. Robert Gray, and the sloop Lady Washington, Capt. John Kendrick, and their cargoes were “the property of citizens of the United States and that they are navigated principally by inhabitants of the United States and are bound on a voyage to the Northwest coast of America.” Congress then resolved to grant the sea letters in “the usual form.” JCC, description begins Worthington C. Ford et al., eds., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789 (34 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1904–37) description ends 33: 514, 515. After acquiring a cargo of furs, the Columbia arrived at Canton on 18 Nov. 1789, and departed 8 Feb. 1790. See PRM, description begins E. James Ferguson et al., eds., The Papers of Robert Morris, 1781–1784 (9 vols.; Pittsburgh, Pa., 1973–99) description ends 8: 881n70; Richards, United States Trade with China, description begins Rhys Richards, United States Trade with China in the First Two Decades, 1784–1814 (Salem, Mass., 1994) description ends 12; and Jim Mockford, “The Lady Washington at Kushimoto, Japan, in 1791,” in William S. Dudley and Michael J. Crawford, eds., The Early Republic and the Sea: Essays on the Naval and Maritime History of the Early United States, (Washington, D.C., 2001), 83–99.

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    Jay Papers
    Title
    From John Jay to John Marsden Pintard, 18 August 1787
    Author
    Jay, John
    Recipient
    Pintard, John Marsden
    Date
    18 August 1787

    Reference

    Cite as
    “From John Jay to John Marsden Pintard, 18 August 1787,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jay/01-04-02-0257. [Original source: The Selected Papers of John Jay, vol. 4, 1785–1788, ed. Elizabeth M. Nuxoll. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2015, p. 541.]

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