To George Washington from Capel & Osgood Hanbury, 20 March 1761
From Capel & Osgood Hanbury
London, March 20. 1761
Esteemd Friends
Since we wrote ⅌ the Industry thy favr of Aug: 10 is come to hand.1 Thy Account has Credit for thy proportion of the Average of the Goods in the Supply £5.13.0 & is the whole that will ever come out of that troublesome & useless Affair.2 We are yet without a Bill of Lading for 20 Hhds Tobo lost in the Deliverance.3 the not forwarding it or an attestd Coppy of it ⟨illegible⟩ for the underwriters will not pay the loss without a proper proof [of] interest on board the Ship, by this delay a loss has already happen’d by the Bankruptcy of one of the Insurers—We are very sorry that We have no Tobacco from thee ⅌ the latter Ships; hope for it ⅌ the Joseph Capt. Esten4 & We assure thee that strict attention shall be had to thy Interest in the sale therof.
All circumstances indicate at least one bloody Campaign now at least. We are with much Esteem, Thy Assur’d Friends,
C. & O. Hanbury
LS, ViHi: Custis Papers. The letter is addressed to GW on the York River “⟨⅌⟩ the America Capt. Jno. Lewis.” The America was owned by the Hanburys, London merchants with whom the Custises had dealt for many years.
1. See GW to Hanbury, 14 July 1761, n.1, for reference to the letter by the Industry.
2. This is tobacco taken in the Anna by the French in 1758 and recaptured by three privateers. See GW to Capel and Osgood Hanbury, 12 June 1759, n.4, and Hanbury to GW, 4 April 1760. The Custis accounts list “By Hanbury & Co. for 17 hhds Tobacco Insurd upon the Ann—251.8.8.” and “[ditto] for Goods in the Supply taken retaken & sold at Bristol for 5.8.7” (doc. IV-A, in Settlement of the Daniel Parke Custis Estate, 20 April 1759–5 Nov. 1761). The following entry appears in GW’s , folio 66, “To Cash Recd for Goods retaken in the Supply and sold at Bristol for [£]5.13.”
3. For the tobacco lost in the Deliverance, see GW to Hanbury, 25, 30 Nov. 1759, and Hanbury to GW, 4 April 1760.
4. The ship Joseph, Capt. James Esten, entered the York River on 12 June 1761 and cleared for London on 18 Sept. with 312 hogsheads of tobacco and 1,600 staves. GW shipped fourteen hogsheads of tobacco in the ship. The Joseph, a French prize, was retaken by the French on its homeward journey.