From John Marsden Pintard to Bartholomew Dandridge, Jr., 17 July 1795
John Marsden Pintard to Bartholomew Dandridge, Jr.
Madeira [Portugal] 17th July 1795
Sir
The foregoing is copy of my Respects to you under date of the 19th Ultimo.1 I have now the Pleasure to hand you Invoice and Bill of Loading for the Two pipes of wine Shiped by me per your order On Board the Ship Ganges Thomas Tingey Commander for acct and Risque of the President of the United States and for their amt, Being Eighty Pounds Sterling I have this day drawn on you at thirty days Sight in Favour of My Father Lewis Pintard Esqr. which draft you will be Pleased to accept and discharge at Maturity.2 you may assure the President that these two Pipes of wine are of a Superiour Quality as I have been very Particular in the choice of them In the month of November 1793 I shiped a pipe of wine on the American Ship John Capt. Folgerin Bound to the East Indias and Boston I addressed the pipe to Thomas Russell Esqr. of that Town and directed him to hold it at the disposal of the President of the United States provided he thought proper to take it3 I at the Same time wrote Mr Lear what I had done and Requested him to Inform me whether the President chose the wine or not4 but never had any answer from Mr Lear I must therefore Request the favour of you to Inform my Father Lewis Pintard of New Rochell whether the President takes that pipe of wine or not & If he does you will be pleased to Settle with my father for its amount being [ ]£ Sterling as per enclosed Invoice I am with great Respect Sir your Most obedient and very Humble Servt
John M. Pintard
ALS, DLC:GW; LS (marked “Copy”), DLC:GW. The ALS is preceded by a copy of Pintard’s letter to Dandridge of 19 June (see n.1 below) and was addressed to Dandridge at Philadelphia. The LS, which evidently did not include a copy of the 19 June letter, was originally addressed to Dandridge at “Philadelphia” and changed to “Mount Vernon.” The LS cover bears a stamp of 10 Sept. and contains a note that reads: “paid by the Barrer 1—10½.” The covers of both the ALS and the LS are docketed by GW.
1. In his letter to Dandridge of 19 June, Pintard wrote that he had received Dandridge’s of 14 April by the ship Ganges and had placed two pipes of “Superiour Madeira wine” on GW’s account. Pintard would send an invoice and bill of lading. Anticipating that GW might need a resupply of madeira, Pintard had sent a pipe to him in care of Pettit & Bayard of Philadelphia a few weeks earlier. He instructed them to offer the pipe to GW if he desired it. Pintard promised to ship another pipe in the same manner by the next vessel that sailed to Philadelphia. Pintard wanted the president to know that he sought “to Supply His Table with the first wines that this Island affords.” He insisted the wine be tasted before GW received a shipment, “and if not found of this description I beg that it may be Returned to my agents Mess[r]s Pettit & Bayard and another Shall be Sent in its Stead” (ALS, DLC:GW; copy, DLC:GW).
Dandridge had written to Pintard on 14 April that since the Ganges would stop at Madeira on her voyage to the East Indies, the ship’s owners “have been so good as to offer to take from Madeira a couple of pipes wine for the P. U.S. The President therefore directs me to request the fav: of you to put on board said ship for his account Two pipes of best Mada Wine; the cost of which shall be pd to your order” (ADfs, DLC:GW; LB, DLC:GW).
2. Two invoices and bills of lading from Pintard, dated 16 July, are in GW’s papers; presumably one set sent with the ALS and the other with the duplicate. The invoices record shipment of “Two Cased Pipes of Best old Particular Madeira Wine,” charging £76 for the wine and £4 for the cases (both DS, DLC:GW). In the bills of lading, Thomas Tingey signed for two pipes “mark’d and numbered,” for which GW was to pay freight “at the rate of Twenty pounds Sterling ⅌ pipe with Primage and Average accustom’d” (both DS, DLC:GW).
GW’s household accounts record a payment on 5 Nov. to “Elias Boudinot pr order of Lewis Pintard a bill of Exchange £80 sterling for 2 pipes of Madeira Wine shipped for the East Indies on board the Ganges Cap: Tingey by Jno. M. Pintard for the President” (PHi).
3. About this earlier shipment, see Pintard to GW, 20 Nov. 1793, and notes 1 and 2 to that document.
4. Pintard’s letter to Tobias Lear has not been identified.