Chapter II: Part 2

In a reply by Sir William Berkeley, Governor of Virginia, to an inquiry by the Lords Commissioners of Foreign Plantations, in 1671, as to the number of ships that trade yearly with the colony, he answered that there were a number of ships from England and Ireland and a few ketches from New England, but never at one time more than two Virginia-owned vessels, and they not more than twenty tons burden. He stated further that the severe Act of Parliament which excluded the colony from commerce with any other nation, was the reason why "no small or great vessels are built here." But other records of the time contradict Berkeley's statement as to the number and size of vessels built in the colony. In addition to those mentioned above, there is found in the records of York County, an itemized cost of building a sloop, the total amount being 4,467 pounds of tobacco. The various materials were furnished by the owners: Richard Meakins, 950 feet of plank; Mr. Newell, the rigging; Captain Sheppard, the sail; and Mr. Williams, the rudder iron. About four months were required to complete the vessel, charges for food running that length of time, during which a cask of cider was consumed. Some sloops were made large enough to hold as many as fifty hogsheads of tobacco, and could sail outside the coast. The sloop _Amy_, with fourteen hogsheads of tobacco, sailed from Virginia to London in 1690.

Dr. Lyon G. Tyler in _The Cradle of the Republic_ wrote that as early as 1690, ships of 300 tons were built in Virginia, and trade in the West Indies was conducted in small sloops. Lieutenant John West of the Eastern Shore, stating that he had built a vessel of forty-five tons, decked and fitted for sea, petitioned the court for a certificate to the Assembly as encouragement for so doing. Two other shipwrights, Thomas Fookes and Robert Norton, testified as to the weight of the vessel. West was evidently seeking the subsidy of fifty pounds of tobacco for building a vessel "above twenty and under fifty tons," under the law of 1662.

John West was evidently considered an excellent boatwright and carpenter, for in an indenture of the year 1697, made between him and Robert Glendall, late of Elizabeth City County, West is enjoined by the court to do his utmost to instruct Glendall in sloop and boat building, and in such other carpenter's work as he was "knowing in."

In his testimony before the Board of Trade on September 1, 1697, as to the manufactures in Virginia, Major Wilson stated that very good ships were built in Virginia of 300 tons and upwards; but cordage, iron, and smith's work were "brought thither." During that year, a group of merchants in Bristol, England, had a number of ships constructed in Virginia. They were influenced by the fine quality of timber and the small cost of the work, as compared with the cost of similar work in England. Also, a matter of no small importance, a cargo of tobacco was ready for each completed ship.

The wills of deceased persons sometimes revealed ownership of vessels. Of particular interest is the will of Nathaniel Bacon, Senior, in which he left to his wife and his nephew, Lewis Burwell, "all ships or parts of ships ... to me belonging in any part of the world." These were to be disposed of by Abigail, his wife, and the nephew as they saw fit. An inventory of the estate of one Thomas Lloyd of Richmond County, on October 27, 1699, lists one decked sloop on the stocks, unfinished, of about thirty tons; one small open sloop newly launched, not finished, of twenty-five tons; one new flat, one old ditto; one old barge; one parcel of handsaws, etc.

Sir Edmund Andros, Governor of Virginia, in answering the inquiries of the Council of Trade and Plantations, the clearing house for colonial affairs, in the year 1698, stated that there were 70,000 inhabitants in Virginia, and the number of vessels reported by the owners were four ships, two barks, four brigantines, and seventeen sloops. His report for the previous year had named eight ships, eleven brigantines, and fifteen sloops that had been built for which carpenters, iron work, rigging, and sails had been brought from England.

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY SHIPBUILDING

The building of ships, barkentines and sloops in Virginia, during the early years of the eighteenth century, had so increased that the Master Shipbuilders of the River Thames addressed a petition to the King in 1724, stating that by the great number of ships and other vessels lately built, then building, and likely to be built in the colonies, the trade of the petitioners was very much decayed, and great numbers of them for want of work to maintain their families, had of necessity left their native country and gone to America. They felt that not only British trade and navigation had suffered thereby, but danger existed in fitting out the Royal Navy in any extraordinary emergency. This petition applied to the northern colonies particularly, as they were far ahead of Virginia in shipbuilding, but the southern colonies were included. As we have seen, many shipwrights came to Virginia and acquired large tracts of land and became planters.

In the narrative of his travels in Virginia, with some companions early in the eighteenth century, Francis Louis Michel of Berne, Switzerland, related that when he was within fifty miles of the coast, he saw two ships, the larger, one of the most beautiful merchantmen he had ever seen. Because it was built in Virginia, it was named _Indian King_ or _Wild King_, he did not remember which. Three years before, it had fallen into the hands of pirates, so the narrative related, but had been rescued by the British warship _Shoreham_, and sixty pirates of all nations taken prisoners, all of whom were hanged in England.

How many vessels were built or repaired at the Point Comfort shipyard is not known. At a meeting of the Council of Virginia in May, 1702, a letter from Captain Moodie stated that he had fitted up a very convenient place at Point Comfort for careening Her Majesty's ships of war, or any other ships that came to the colony; and he proposed that some care be taken and some person appointed to have charge of the situation. This arrangement was confirmed by a letter from Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood to the British Admiralty on October 24, 1710, in which he wrote that for the convenience of careening, there is a place at Point Comfort which, with a small charge, could be fitted up for that purpose; H.M.S. _Southampton_ had careened there, and there may be served the largest ships of war, which Her Majesty will have occasion to send to Virginia as cruisers or convoys. This careening site at Point Comfort provided long-needed facilities for careening vessels for repairs and scraping bottoms. As early as 1633, David Pietersz de Vries from Holland, arrived at Jamestown with a leaky ship, but found no facilities in the colony for careening vessels. He found it necessary to sail to New Netherlands for such repairs. As late as 1700, when the _Shoreham_, a fifth rate frigate, was the Chesapeake Bay guardship, Captain Passenger, her commander, wrote to Governor Nicholson: "I have only to offer (may your Excellency think convenient) about the latter end of September to careen the _Shoreham_. She is at present very foul, and the rudder is loose, which I fear before the next summer, may be of dangerous consequences which cannot be removed, without careening or lying ashore, which I presume there is no place in Virginia, that will admit of." It is thought, however, that there must have been careening places in the colony for the smaller vessels, or how else could the pinnaces and sloops have been kept in repair.

Sloops became popular in the eighteenth century, and a number of them were built in Virginia to be disposed of in the West Indies. After the sloop was finished, she received a cargo of tobacco, and vessel and tobacco were sold together. Because of the danger from pirates and Spanish interference, the sloops for the West Indies trade were designed especially for speed and maneuverability. The pilot boat evolved in the colony quite early. An advertisement appeared in the _Virginia Gazette_, on July 22, 1737, for a pilot boat stolen or gone adrift from York River. The boat was twenty-four feet keel, nine feet beam, with two masts and sails, and was painted red. Another advertisement in September, 1739, concerning a boat stolen from Newport News, on the James River, by one James Hobbs, a carpenter. The boat was about fifteen feet keel, had two masts, and was payed with pitch. It had a new arch thort of black walnut, and a tarpaulin upon the forecastle.

Norfolk became one of the busiest ports in Virginia, both in shipbuilding and ship repair work. A shipyard had been established on the Elizabeth River in 1621 by John Wood and work had been almost continuous, though at times very slow, throughout the seventeenth century. An inventory in 1723, listed one brigantine, three sloops, and three flats owned by Robert Tucker. One of the sloops was forty feet in length and valued at 230 pounds sterling. Captain Samuel Tatum owned the ship _Caesar_, which was said to be worth 625 pounds sterling, and the sloop _Indian Creek_ valued at twenty-five pounds. William Byrd in his _History of the Dividing Line_, states that he saw at Norfolk, in 1728, twenty sloops and brigantines. Some of them were quite evidently of English origin. In 1736, the sloop _Industry_, "lately built in Norfolk," was loaded with tobacco in the James River to take to London.

Captain Goodrich, master of the ship _Betty_ of Liverpool, which was built on the Elizabeth River for the Maryland trade, was permitted by the Council of Virginia, to sail to Liverpool without the payment of the usual port duties. The firm of John Glasford and Company contracted with Smith Sparrows in 1761, for a ship built at Norfolk, sixty feet in length, sixteen feet in the lower hold, and four feet between decks, the price being fifty shillings per ton.

Many of the shipwrights, who came to Virginia and became land owners, settled in Norfolk. That port was especially known for this kind of citizen, ranking next to the merchant in wealth and influence. Among house owners were some ship-carpenters who carried on their trade, receiving for a day's work four shillings and a pint of rum, more wages than the salary of some clergymen. Several shipwrights listed in Lower Norfolk were large property owners. Abraham Elliott owned land both in Virginia and England. One John Ealfridge owned one-half interest in a mill, and acquired a plantation for each of his two sons in addition to his own.

To secure a large sum of money due Robert Cary of London, Theophilus Pugh of Nansemond County mortgaged his lands, slaves, and vessels with all their boats. The vessels were listed as follows: ships, _William and Betty_, _Prosperous Esther_; sloops, _Little Molly_, _Little Betty_; schooners, _Nansemond Frigate_, _Pugh_. If the average planter had owned the equivalent of two ships, two sloops and two schooners, the total number of vessels in Virginia in the middle of the eighteenth century would have far exceeded any inventory reported.

The frame of a snow, which was to have been built by Thomas Rawlings, a ship-carpenter, for Mr. John Hood, merchant of Prince George County, was advertised for sale in 1745. The snow was to have been sixty feet keel; twenty-three feet, eight inches beam; ten feet hold; and four feet between decks. Also advertised for sale about the same time was a schooner, trimmed and well-fitted with sails and rigging to carry fifty hogsheads of tobacco. In March, 1746, the sloop _Little Betty_, burden fifty tons, was offered for sale with her sails, anchors, furniture, and tackle.

The advertisements of Virginia-built vessels in the 1750's, and in the 1760's, show a steady increase in the size of sloops and ships. The following are mentioned: a brig of eighty tons; several snows, one to carry 250 hogsheads of tobacco; and several schooners. Schooner rigged boats appeared in the colony early in the eighteenth century, and gradually increased in size and importance. During the second half of the eighteenth century, the schooner displaced the sloop as the principal coastwise vessel, and emerged during the Revolution as a distinctive American type. "The most spectacular event in the history of naval architecture in the eighteenth century was the emergence of the Chesapeake Bay clipper-schooner," says Arthur Pierce Middleton.

In April, 1767, John Hatley Norton came from London to be his father's agent with headquarters in Yorktown. He wrote home that his cousins, the Walker Brothers, had a shipyard at Hampton, and were building ships of new white oak, well calculated for the West Indies trade. A letter from John M. Jordon & Company, London, in 1770, reads in part as follows: "Mr. William Acrill desires you will make insurance of his brig, _America_, Captain William C. Latimer; in case of loss to receive four hundred pounds. She is chartered by a gentleman on the Rappahannock; and is now in Hampton Roads, and will sail tomorrow or next day; and in case she arrives safe, you are to receive her freight, and sell the vessel, provided you can get four hundred pounds for her."

Occasionally, we find an account of the use of a vessel of some kind or other for pleasure. In Fithian's _Journal and Letters_, the author writes in 1773, that his employer, Mr. Robert Carter of Nomini, prepared for a voyage in his schooner _Harriot_ (named for his daughter), to the Eastern Shore of Maryland for oysters. The schooner was of forty tons burden, thirty-eight feet in length, fourteen feet beam, six feet in depth of hold, carried 1400 bushels of grain, and was valued at forty pounds sterling. Again from the _Journal_: "From Horn Point, we agreed to ride to one Mr. Camel's, who is Comptroller of the customs here. Before dinner, we borrowed the Comptroller's barge, which is an overgrown canoe, and diverted ourselves in the river which lies fronting his house."

The manner of makinge their boates in Virginia is verye wonderfull.
For wheras they want Instruments of yron, or other like vnto ours,
yet they knowe howe to make them as handsomelye, to saile with whear
they liste in their Riuers, and to fishe with all, as ours. First
they choose some longe, and thicke tree, accordinge to the bignes of
the boate which they would frame, and make a fyre on the grownd
abowt the Roote therof, kindlinge the same by little, and little
with drie mosse of trees, and chipps of woode that the flame should
not mounte opp to highe, and burne to muche of the lengte of the
tree. When yt is almost burnt thorough, and readye to fall they make
a new fyre, which they suffer to burne vntill the tree fall of yt
owne accord. Then burninge of the topp, and bowghs of the tree in
suche wyse that the bodie of the same may Retayne his iust lengthe,
they raise yt vppon potes laid ouer cross wise vppon forked posts,
at suche a reasonable heighte as they may handsomlye worke vppó yt.
Then take they of the barke with certayne shells: thy reserue
the innermost parte of the lennke, for the nethermost parte of the
boate. On the other side they make a fyre accordinge to the lengthe
of the bodye of the tree, sauinge at both the endes. That which they
thinke is sufficientlye burned they quenche and scrape away with
shells, and makinge a new fyre they burne yt agayne, and soe they
continue sometymes burninge and sometymes scrapinge, vntill the boate
haue sufficient bothowmes. This god indueth thise sauage people with
sufficient reason to make thinges necessarie to serue their turnes.

From Hariot's _Virginia_.

Indian Dugout Canoe]

Early Shipbuilding Tools used in Sweden and Other Countries

1--English Broad Axe. 2--Compass. 3--Compass with Chalk Holder.
4--Chalk Line on Roller. 5--Compass. 6--Axe for Holes. 7--Ruler.
8--Tongue on Ruler 1-1/2 ft. 9--Dutch Ruler. 10--Tongue on Ruler for
Ship layout. 11--Swedish Cutting Axe. 12--Trimming Hatchet. 13--Hook
for removing old calking. 14--English Adz. 15--Adz. 16--Swedish or
Dutch Adz. 17--English Handsaw. 18--Handsaw with Handle. 19--Mallet.
20--Hammer. 21--Claw Hammer. 22--Circle Saw. 23--Auger. 24--Dutch
Brace Auger. 25--English Wood Chisel. 26--Wood Chisel. 27--English
Mallet. 28--Gouge. 29--Swedish Mallet. 30--Gouge. 31--Gouge.
32--Gouge. 33--Calking Mallet. 34--Calking Tool. 35--Spike Iron.
36--Calking Tool. 37--Calking Mallet. 38--English Gouge. 39--Calking
Iron. 40--Lubricating Tool, also for removing pitch. 41--Hook for
removing oakum or old calking. 42--Calking Iron. 43--Calking Iron.
44--Tool used to clean out seams. 45--Calking Iron. 46--Calking
Iron. 47--Scraper.]

TRADING TOWNS AND PORTS

In the early days of the colony after tobacco had become a commodity for export, ships moored at the wharves of the plantations along the James, York and Rappahannock rivers and their estuaries. As trade increased, larger ships were used which anchored in the channels of the rivers, and the tobacco and other exports were carried to them by small boats--shallops, sloops, and barges. The government complained that it was losing revenue by this individualistic and unorganized shipping of the planters, and steps were taken to correct this. In 1633, it was enacted by the General Assembly that all goods entering in any vessel--ship, bark or brig, should discharge at Jamestown. This Act applied to the colonists in their exports as well, but the law was disregarded.

In 1680, places were selected in the different counties that had the advantage of accessibility and deep water where ships could gather to receive and discharge their cargoes. The establishment of these trading towns, as they were called, was by an Act as follows:

The General Assembly having taken into consideration the great
necessity, usefulness and advantages of cohabitation ... and
considering the building of storehouses for the reception of all
merchandizes imported, and receiving and laying ready all tobacco
for exportation and sale ... that there be in every respective
county fifty acres of land purchased by each county and laid out
for a town and storehouses....

The price of the fifty acres of land was set at 10,000 pounds of tobacco and casks. Lots of one-half acre were to be sold to individuals by a stated time at the price of one hundred pounds of tobacco. Twenty places were named in the counties where trading towns were to be established:

Henrico, at Varina. Charles City, at Flower de Hundred opposite
Swinyards. Surry, at Smith's fort. James City, at James City. Isle
of Wight, at Pate's Field, Pagan creek. Nansemond, at Huff's
point. Warwick, at the mouth of Deep creek. Elizabeth City, west
side of Hampton river. Lower Norfolk, on Nicholas Wise's land.
York, on Mr. Reed's land. New Kent, at the Brick House.
Gloucester, at Tindal's point. Middlesex, west side of Wormley's
creek. Rappahannock, at Hobb's hole. Stafford, at Peace point.
Westmoreland, at Nomini. Accomack, at Onancock. Northampton, north
side of King's creek. Lancaster, north side of Corotomond creek.
Northumberland, at Chickacone creek.

The towns were building up. Warehouses, churches, and prisons were erected in many of them, as well as private dwellings. An occasional court house could be found where legal proceedings were enacted. In 1691, however, an Act of the General Assembly changed many of the trading towns to ports, but was suspended later until the pleasure of the King and Queen on the subject should be learned. No definite action was taken until 1705, when Queen Anne, who ascended the throne in 1702, expressed approval. Then an Act for ports of entry and clearance was passed to be in use from the 25th of December, 1708. This Act provided that naval officers and collectors at the ports should charge Virginia owners of vessels no more than half of the fees required for the services of entering and clearing. The sixteen towns to become ports were named as follows:

Hampton. Norfolk. Nansemond. James City. Powhatan (Flower de
Hundred). Yorktown. Queensborough, at Blackwater. Delaware, at
West Point. Queenstown, at Corrotoman. Urbanna, at Middlesex.
Tappahannock, at Hobb's hole. New Castle, at Wicomico. Kingsdale,
at Yohocomoco. Marlborough, at Potomac creek. Northampton, at
King's creek. Onancock.

The names of some of the trading towns were changed when they became ports, and soon became important and well-known throughout the country. Hampton, known first by the Indian name Kecoughtan (spelled in various ways) was settled in 1610. Although the name had been changed to Elizabeth City by the Company in May, 1620, upon the petition of the colonists, the old Indian name was still in use occasionally in the 18th century. In papers relating to the administration of Governor Nicholson is a list of vessels about to sail from "Keccowtan" in July 1705, sixty-seven sail of merchant ships bound for various ports of Great Britain. The names Kecoughtan, Elizabeth City, Lower James, and even Southampton were used interchangeably, and shown on records of the colony, until the Act of 1705, named the port Hampton. In British colonial records of 1700, we find Hampton Town, Elizabeth City and Keccowtan used in the same chapter.

F. C. Huntley in his _Seaborne Trade in Virginia in Mid-Eighteenth Century_, published in the _Virginia Magazine of History_, vol. 59, makes the statement that in the 18th century, Port Hampton handled the largest amount of shipping of all the Virginia ports, judging from the total tonnage of vessels entering and clearing as given in the records of the Naval Officers. He uses 1752, as a normal trade year of which he gives interesting statistics. He states that the tonnages that entered and cleared the Port Hampton naval office were distributed among five different types of rigging. Cleared: 64 sloops, 46 schooners, 16 ships, 20 brigs, 10 snows. Entered: 59 sloops, 40 schooners, 40 ships, 18 brigs, 12 snows. Of these a goodly portion were built in Virginia.

After taking part in laying the dividing line between Virginia and North Carolina, William Byrd II wrote on March 28, 1728:

Norfolk has most the air of a town of any in Virginia. There were
more than 20 brigantines and sloops riding at the wharves and
ofttimes they have more. It has all the advantages of a situation
requisite for trade and navigation. There is a secure harbor for a
goodly number of ships of any burthen. The town is so near the sea
that a vessel can sail in and out in a few hours. Their trade is
chiefly to the West Indies whither they export abundance of beef,
pork, flour and lumber.

In the _Journal_ of Lord Adam Gordon, Colonel of the 66th Regiment of Foot, stationed at the West Indies from 1763 to 1775, is extracted the following: "Norfolk hath a depth of water for a 40-gun ship or more, and conveniences of every kind for heaving down and fitting out large vessels; also a very fine ropewalk. There is a passage boat from Hampton to Norfolk and from York to Gloucester." In the third quarter of the 18th century, Norfolk became the principal seaport of Virginia.

Yorktown was founded on land patented about 1635 by Nicholas Martiau, a Walloon who had come to Virginia in the summer of 1620. His grandson, Benjamin Read, sold fifty acres to the colony in 1691, and here Yorktown as a port built the first custom house, not only in Virginia, but in the country. A two-story brick building, erected about 1715, by Richard Ambler, who occupied the building as collector of customs for Yorktown in 1720. It became a port of entry for New York, Philadelphia and other northern cities, the importance of which was destroyed by the Revolutionary War. York County was one of the eight original shires in 1634, under the name, Charles river, changed in 1643 to York. The old custom house is still standing and is used as a museum for colonial and revolutionary relics.

The location of Alexandria on a large circular bay in the Potomac river soon gave that town great importance as a port and shipyard. For generations, tobacco and grain were shipped from there, and imports of many kinds brought in. Master shipbuilders turned out vessels manned, owned and operated by Alexandrians. From her ropewalk came the rope to hoist the sails made in her sail lofts. On May 19, 1760, George Washington went to Alexandria to see Col. Littledale's ship launched. He tells of another launching he attended there on October 6, 1768, when he "stayd up all night to a ball."

The two creeks flowing from near Williamsburg to York river on one side and the James on the other, played an important part in early colonial history. From York river sloops, schooners, barges and all manner of flat-bottomed craft sailed up Queen's creek to Queen Mary's port with its Capitol Landing within a mile of Williamsburg. The same kind of watercraft sailed from James river up College creek to Queen Anne's port with its College Landing near the city. Cargoes of mahogany, lignum vitae, lemons, rum, sugar and ivory were discharged. Received in return were tobacco, grain, flour and other commodities. Vessels on Queen's creek were required to pass through the custom house at Yorktown after that office had been established.

Because of a general complaint by masters of ships that there were neither pilots nor beacons to guide them in Virginia waters, the General Assembly appointed Captain William Oewin chief pilot of James river in March, 1661, to be paid five pounds sterling for the pilotage of all ships above eighty tons if he be employed, and if not employed due to the presence of the ship's pilot who guided the vessel, he received forty shillings. The pilot was required to maintain good and sufficient beacons at all necessary places, and toward this expense, the master of every vessel that anchored within Point Comfort, having or not having a pilot, was required to pay thirty shillings. Later the pilot or the company to which he belonged was required to keep one pilot boat of 18 foot keel at least, rigged and provided for use at all times.

EARLY FERRIES IN VIRGINIA

During the first quarter of the seventeenth century, the settler in Virginia used any kind of craft he possessed to cross the streams that separated him from his neighbor or for transacting business. Canoes, flatboats, scows, even sailing boats were pressed into service. These he propelled himself until he acquired a slave or two. Communication was aided by bridges across the smaller streams, and when horses became available, by crossing the rivers at the fords whenever possible.

The steady increase of settlers, however, created a demand for public transportation across creeks and rivers at the most travelled points. One of the first public ferries on record was started as a private enterprise in 1636, by Adam Thoroughgood. A skiff was rowed by slaves across the waters of Lower Norfolk, between what are now the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth. In a few months the demand for transportation became so strong that the ferry was taken over by the county, increased to three hand-powered vessels and supported by a levy of six pounds of tobacco on each taxable person in the county.

A second early ferry was that of Henry Hawley in 1640, when he was granted a patent by the court to keep a ferry at the mouth of the Southampton River in Kequoton, now Hampton, for the use of the inhabitants and other passengers during his natural life, not exacting above one penny for ferriage according to the offer in his petition.

"For the more ease of travellers," it was enacted by the General Assembly in January 1642, that the country provide and maintain ferries and bridges and the levy for payment to the ferrymen be made by the commissioners where the ferry is kept. This Act, establishing ferries at public expense, was repealed later and the court of each county given power to establish a ferry, or ferries in the county where needed at the instance of individuals. The court had authority to appoint and license the ferry keeper, to require of him a bond of twenty pounds sterling payable to His Majesty as security for the constant use and well-keeping of the boats. It was the duty of the court to order and direct the boats and hands in use at the ferries.

To encourage men to engage in operating ferries, it was enacted in 1702 that all persons attending on ferryboats should be free from public and county levies and from such public services as musters, constables, clearing highways, impressment, etc., and should have their licenses without fee or paying a reward for obtaining them. And if the ferryman desired to maintain an ordinary (public inn) at the ferry, he should be permitted to do so without fee for the license, but should be required to give bond for security. No other person should be permitted to establish an ordinary within five miles of such a ferry keeper. A warning was issued that any person not a ferryman who for reward should set any person over the river where there was a ferry, except for going to church, should pay for every such offense five pounds sterling, one-half to go to the ferryman and one-half to the informer, the full amount to the ferryman should he be the informer.

The county court was authorized in 1705 to make an agreement with the keeper of the ferry to set over the county militia on muster days and to raise an allowance for this in the county levy. All public messages and expresses to the government were to be allowed to cross ferry free. The adjutant general with one servant and their horses were exempted in 1738 from any payment on any ferry in the colony. Ministers of the church were likewise exempt from paying ferriage.

Dugout canoes of the Indians were among the first ferries used in Virginia and when more space was needed, two canoes were lashed together and secured by means of heavy cross pieces. In the _Journal_ of Thomas Chalkley, a traveller in Virginia, he tells of a ferry crossing made at Yorktown in 1703: "We put our horses into two canoes tied together, and our horses stood with their fore feet in one and their hind feet in the other." Later, flatboats, scows, barges, and more carefully planked boats were put into use. Rope ferries were necessary wherever the current was swift, but used as little as possible on navigable rivers because of the obstruction to navigation.

The number of ferries in the colony increased steadily from year to year. At nearly every session of the General Assembly some law was enacted "for the good regulation of ferries." In 1705, the Assembly published a list of ferries with corresponding rates of ferriage that crossed the James, York, and Rappahannock Rivers and their branches. The ferries but not the rates are given herewith as follows:

Ferries on JAMES RIVER and branches thereof--

Henrico county at Varina.

Bermuda hundred to City Point.

Charles City county at Westover.

Appomattox river near Col. Byrd's store.

Prince George County at Coggan's point, and Maycocks.

Powhatan town to the Swineherd landing.

Surry county, Hog island to Archer's Hope.

Sicamore landing by Windmill point to the widow Jones's landing at
Wyanoke.

Mouth of the Upper Chipoake's creek over to the Row, or Martin's
Brandon.

Swan's point to James Town.

Crouche's creek to James Town.

James City county at James Town to Swan's point.

James Town to Crouche's creek.

Williamsburg, Princess Ann port to Hog island.

Chickahominy, at usual place on each side of river.

John Goddale's to Williams's neck, or Drummond's neck.

Nansemond county, Coiefield's point to Robert Peale's near Sleepy
hole.

Elizabeth City county at Hampton Town from Town point to Brookes's
point.

Hampton Town to Sewell's point.

Norfolk town to Sawyer's point or Lovet's plantation.

Ferries on YORK RIVER and branches--

New Kent county, Robert Peaseley's to Philip Williams's.

Brick House to West point.

Brick House to Graves's.

King William county, Spencer's over to the usual landing place.

Thomas Cranshaw to the usual landing place.

Philip Williams's to Peaseley's point.

West point to Brick House.

Abbot's landing over Mattaponi river.

West Point to Graves's.

York Town to Tindal's point (Gloucester Point). This ferry was in
continual operation until 1952 when a fine new bridge was opened
for travel across the York. The ferriage in 1705 was seven pence
half penny for a man, fifteen pence for man and horse.

Queen Mary's port at Williamsburg to Claybank creek in Gloucester
county.

Captain Matthews's to Capahosack.

Tindal's point to York town.

Capahosack to Matthews's landing or Scimmino creek.

Bailey's over the Peankatank.

King and Queen county, Graves's to West point.

Graves's to Brick house.

Burford's to old Talbot's.

Captain Walker's mill landing.

Middlesex county, over Peankatank at Turk's ferry.

Ferries on the RAPPAHANNOCK RIVER--

Middlesex county, Shelton's to Mottrom Wright's.

Brandon to Chowning's point.

Essex county, Daniel Henry's to William Pannell's.

Bowler's, at the usual place, to Sucket's point.

Tappahannock to Webley Pavies, or to Rappahannock creek.

Henry Long's to the usual place.

Richmond county, William Pannell's over the Rappahannock.

Sucket's point to Bowler's.

POTOMAC RIVER--

Stafford County, Col., William Fitzhugh's landing to Maryland.

EASTERN SHORE--

Port of Northampton to the port of York.

Port of Northampton to the port of Hampton.

Rates on these ferries were fixed by courts and varied according to distance. Across the Southampton River in Hampton the rate was one penny, while from the Port of Northampton to Hampton, the price was fifteen shillings for a man and thirty shillings for a man and horse.

In 1740, the ferry from Hampton to Norfolk was described as follows: "From the town of Southampton, across the mouth of the James River, to the borough of Norfolk and Nansemond town; from the borough of Norfolk and Nansemond town, across the mouth of the James river, to the town of Southampton." The fare for this trip for a man passing singly was seven shillings, six pence; for a man and horse, five shillings each.

By February 1743, the ferries across the Chesapeake Bay had been expanded, and were described as follows: "From York, Hampton and Norfolk towns, across the Bay to the land of Littleton Eyre on Hungar's river in Northampton County; from the land of Littleton Eyre on Hungar's river in Northampton County, across the Bay to York, Hampton and Norfolk." The rate for a man was twenty shillings, for a man and horse, fifteen shillings each.

In 1748, another list of ferries, published in Hening's _Statutes_, showed that the number had more than doubled since 1705. The Potomac river had added fourteen to the number given at that time. Two ferries had been established on Nottaway: "From Thomas Drew's land to Dr. Brown's, and from Bolton's ferry to Simmons' land." The ferries in addition to those of 1705 are the following:

JAMES RIVER and branches--

Land of Henry Batte in Henrico County, to the Glebe land at
Varina.

Westover in Charles City county, to Maycox, or Coggins point, and
from Maycox to Westover.

Kennon's to Maye's on Appomattox river, and from Maye's to
Kennon's.

Joseph Wilkin's or John Hood's land in Prince George county, to
John Minge's land in Wyanoke.

Hog-Island, in Surry county, to Higginson's landing on Col. Lewis
Burwell's land.

Jamestown to Swan's Point.

Cowle's to Williams's.

Cowle's to Hamner's point.

Crawford's to Powder point.

Boiling's point in Henrico county, over Appomattox river.

City point to Shirley hundred, at the ship landing, and from the
said landing to City Point.

Ship landing at Shirley to Bermuda hundred.

Bermuda hundred to City Point.

Hemp landing at the falls of James river, to Shocoe's, on the land
of William Byrd, esq.

Land of Stephen Woodson, in the county of Goochland, to Manacon
town.

Henry Cary's land, over the river, to the land of the said Cary.

Henry Batte's, in the county of Henrico, to Alexander Bollings, in
the county of Prince George.

Land of Col. Richard Bland, in the county of Prince George, to the
land of Mrs. Anderson, in the county of Charles City.

Land of William Pride called the store landing, in the county of
Henrico, to Anthony's landing, in the county of Prince George.

Store landing over Persie's stile creek, to the land of Peter
Baugh.

Warehouse landing at Warwick, to the land of Thomas Moseley.

Mulberry island point in the county of Warwick, to Cocket's in
Isle of Wight, and from Cocket's to Mulberry island.

Land of Richard Mosby in Goochland county, to the land of Tarlton
Fleming, opposite to Mosby's landing.

Land of Tucker Woodson, to the land of Paul Micheaux near the
court house.

Land of Bennet Goode to the land of Col. John Fleming.

Land of James Fenly to the land of William Cabbell, cross the
Fluvanna.

Charles Lynch's plantation in Albemarle county, on the Rivanna,
cross the said river, to the land of Richard Meriwether.

Land of Mr. Benjamin Cocke, cross the said river, to the land of
the said Benjamin Cocke.

Land of Ashford Hughes on the north side of James River, near the
mouth of Willis Creek, cross the river to the land of Robert
Carter, and from the said Carter's to the said Hughes's.

Land of Lemuel Riddick, adjoining the public wharf in Suffolk,
cross Nansemond river, to Samuel Jordan's land.

Land of William Pride in the county of Herrico, on Appomattox
river, above the narrow falls, to the land of the said Pride over
the river, in Prince George county.

Land of William Cabbell, in Albemarle county, at the mouth of
Swan's creek, over the Fluvanna, to the land of Samuel Spencer; or
from the said Cabbell's, over Tye river, to his land opposite.

Additional ferries on the YORK RIVER--

Chamberlayne's to Williams's.

Brick House to Dudley's, or Dudley's to Brick House.

Webb's to Lyde's, formerly Spencer's, in King William county.

Temple landing, over Mattaponi river.

West Point to Dudley's, or Dudley's to West point.

Capahosic to Scimino.

Seaton's over Piankatank.

Frazier's to Broach's, and from Broach's to Frazier's.

Walker town to Waller's, or Waller's to Walker town.

Turk's ferry over Piankatank.

Robert King's over Pamunkey to Blackwell's, or from Blackwell's to
King's.

Sweethall to Claiborne Gooch's, or from Claiborne Gooch's to
Sweethall.

George Dabney's over Pamunkey river.

Taylor's in King William to Garland's in Hanover.

William Pulliam's in Hanover, to John Holliday's in Caroline.

Richard Littlepage's to Thomas Claiborne's land, over Pamunkey, and
from Claiborne's to Littlepage's.

Todd's warehouse landing, in King and Queen, to the land of Robert
Armistead Bird, in King William.

Ferries on the RAPPAHANNOCK RIVER--

Whiting's to Gilbert's.

Land of Thomas Ley to Robinson's, or from Robinson's to Ley's.

Byrd's to Williams', or Williams' to Byrd's.

Tappahannock town to Carter's, or to Rappahannock creek, on either
side thereof.

Tankersley's over Rappahannock river, to the usual place.

Germanna over the Rapid Ann.

Ray's plantation to Skinker's.

Urbanna to Chetwood's.

Urbanna, from the ferry landing to Locust point, on the land of
Ralph Wormley, esq.

Johnston's plantation in Spotsylvania, to Washington's in King
George.

Taliaferro's plantation of the Mount, to the land of Joseph Berry.

Philemon Cavenaugh's ford.

Wharf above the mouth of Massaponax creek, to the opposite landing
upon Mr. Ball's land.

Fredericksburg warehouse to the land of Anthony Strother, or from
Strother's to Fredericksburg.

Roy's warehouse to Gibson's warehouse.

William Lowry's to the land of Benjamin Rust, or from Rust's to
Lowry's.

Falmouth to the land of Francis Thornton, in Spotsylvania.

Hackley's land in King George to Corbin's in Caroline.

Lot of Joseph Morton, in Leeds town, to the lands of Mrs. Brooke.

Lower side of Parrot's creek to Teague's creek, on the land of
Baldwin.

Matthews Smith, and from that creek to the lower side of Parrot's
creek.

Ferries on the POTOMAC RIVER--

Col. William Fitzhugh's land at Boyd's hole, over to Maryland.

Hoe's to Cedar point.

Tripplet's land below the mouth of Quantico creek, over to
Brooks's land.

Robert Lovell's in the county of Westmoreland, over to Maryland.

Land of William Russel on Sherendo, cross into the fork, or cross
the main river.

Kersey's landing on Col. Carter Burwell's land, to the land of
Col. Landon Carter.

Gersham Key's land, to the land of the Honourable William Fairfax.

Williams' Gap, from the land of the Right Honourable the Lord
Fairfax, where John Melton now lives, to the land of Ralph
Wormley, Esquire.

Plantation of George Mason, opposite to Rock creek, over to
Maryland.

Plantation of John Hereford in [Doegs?] neck, over the river, to
the lower side of Pamunkey in Maryland.

Hunting creek warehouse to Frazier's point, or Addison's.

Land of Ebenezer Floyd to Powell's.

Evan Watkin's landing, opposite to Canagochego creek, to Edmund
Wade's land in Maryland.

Land of William Clifton to the land of Thomas Wallis.

Land of Hugh West to Frazier's, or Addison's.

The county courts were required to appoint proper boats to be kept at the ferries where needed for the transportation of wheeled vehicles--carts, chaises, coaches and wagons. The rates for these vehicles were based upon the rates for horses. For every coach, chariot or wagon, the price was the same as for the ferriage of six horses; for every cart or four-wheeled chaise, the price was the same as for four horses; and for every two-wheeled chaise or chair, the same as for two horses. For every hogshead of tobacco, the rate of one horse was charged. For ferrying animals, every head of neat cattle rated as one horse; every sheep, lamb or goat, one-fifth part of the rate for a horse; for every hog, one-fourth of the ferriage of a horse.

Should the ferryman exceed the legal rates, he was penalized by having to pay to the party aggrieved, the ferriage demanded and ten shillings. In February 1752, a free ferry for any persons and their commodities was established from the town of Port Royal over the Rappahannock river to the land of John Moore in King George County. In 1757, there were five ferries from Norfolk over her various bodies of water, one of which was established as a free ferry supported by the county to enable the poor people of the community to have free passage to market.

In the _Virginia Gazette_ for March 31, 1768, the following advertisement appeared: "I have boats for the use of my ferry equal to any in the government, and can give ferry dispatch greater than any other ferry keeper on the Potomac river." In the late seventeenth century, the Henrico county ferry was run by a woman. The county levy for that year was the sum of 2,000 pounds of tobacco to be paid to Mrs. Sarah Woodson for keeping the ferry for one year.

The county courts continued to establish new ferries and to discontinue others through the Revolution and after. Now and then bridges would take the place of ferries across the smaller streams. An interesting instance of such a change is told in the _Richmond Times-Dispatch_ for August 20, 1939. "For a century from 1650, ferries were maintained across the two branches of Pagan river at Smithfield in Isle of Wight county. In 1750, these ferries were abandoned for toll bridges." From year to year, ferries gradually gave way to bridges and now, when we have passed the middle of the twentieth century, there are few ferries left in Virginia. These are large, fine steamboats capable of carrying hundreds of passengers, but are no more necessary to the welfare of the people than were the little dugouts in the early days of the colony.

SHIPBUILDING IN THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLUTION

At a Convention of delegates and representatives of the counties and corporations of the Colony of Virginia on July 17, 1775, there was established a Committee of Safety consisting of ten prominent men for putting into execution the ordinances and resolutions of the Convention. That committee was authorized to provide as many armed vessels as they judged necessary for the protection of the Colony in the war that seemed to threaten. Advertisements for ship-carpenters and other operatives were made, and every inducement held out to them in order that the building of vessels might immediately commence.

Between December, 1775, and July, 1776, the Committee established a small navy by purchase of several armed, schooner-rigged vessels from the owners of the merchant fleet; and contracts were made for a number of galleys to be constructed on the different rivers of the Colony. The Potomac was to be protected by the construction of two row-galleys and the purchase of three boats. George Minter was elected master of a row-galley to be built on the James River under the direction of Colonel Cary. He was requested to recommend proper persons to be mate, two midshipmen, gunner, and to enlist forty seamen.

John Herbert, a master shipbuilder, was employed to engage any number of ship-carpenters that he could procure upon reasonable terms, and to examine such places upon the James River or its branches as he thought proper and convenient for erecting shipyards, and to report to the Committee.

Caleb Herbert was retained as the master builder of a shipyard on the Rappahannock River, and Reuben Herbert for such a yard on York River. Each of them was desired as soon as possible to engage a proper number of workmen for building two row-galleys to be employed in the two rivers to transport troops. It was recommended that a committee at Norfolk engage a proper person to take direction and employ a number of ship-carpenters for at least a year, to build vessels for the Colony.

George Mason, in a letter to George Washington on April 12, 1776, mentioned that he had under his charge two row-galleys of 40 or 50 tons burden, each to mount light guns, three and four pounders; and the sloop, _American Congress_, a fine stout vessel of 110 tons burden, mounting fourteen carriage guns, four and six pounders, and was considering mounting two 9-pounders upon her main boom.

On June 6, 1776, the Committee of Safety appointed Christopher Calvert to superintend the building of two row-galleys for the protection of Virginia and North Carolina, to engage a master workman and as many men as he should need to work expeditiously. The two vessels, _Caswell_ and _Washington_, were built at the South Quay Shipyard on the Blackwater River near the North Carolina line. A North Carolina sloop had been seized in Ocracoke Inlet in April, 1776. Sometime later, a warrant for £100 was issued to Argyle Herbert for the use of Captain Calvert upon account to pay the carpenters employed on his galley.

At the convention of delegates held at the Capitol in Williamsburg on May 6, 1776, resolutions were passed dissolving the Government from Great Britain, establishing Virginia as a Commonwealth or State. A Board of Navy Commissioners composed of five members was appointed to superintend and direct all matters relating to the Navy. Their peculiar duties were defined as follows: To superintend and direct the building and repairing of all vessels; provide the necessary outfits, ordnance, provisions and naval stores; control the public rope walks; erect dockyards; contract for and provide all timber necessary for building purposes; and supervise the shipyards.

On September 12, 1776, this Commission was requested to engage the proper persons for building "in the most expeditious manner", 30 boats for the transportation of troops on the rivers, each boat to be the proper size for carrying a complete company of 68 men with their arms and baggage. Those were small boats without masts but broad and strong enough to transport troops across rivers and to carry from point to point large quantities of ammunition and provisions as they were required. The small boats had been found indispensable in retreats, in rapid marches, and in concentrating land forces.

The Commissioners were authorized in October to provide the necessary plank and timber for the building of four large galleys fit for river and sea service, and to be mounted with proper guns. And for manning these galleys and others being built, the Commissioners were requested to raise the number of men needed, not to exceed 1300 to serve three years.

The Continental Congress directed that two frigates of 36 guns and of 500 tons burthen be built in Virginia, and the Navy Board ordered the work done at Gosport Shipyard in Norfolk County. The following excerpts from a letter of Richard Henry Lee of the United States Congress to James Maxwell, Chief Superintendent of Construction on December 1, 1776, give directions for building the frigates:

The Congress has resolved upon building two ships-of-war of 36
guns each.... You, Sir, have been recommended as a person of great
fitness for this business.... I do, in the name of the committee,
request you will ... determine a most fit place to put these ships
upon the stocks at. Safety against the enemy is a very necessary
object, proper water for launching, and convenience for getting
timber you will consider.... A master builder with four or six
workmen will soon go hence to Virginia for this business, and I
have no doubt other workmen will be had in that State to carry on
the work briskly.... The builder desires that trees be felled
immediately whilst the sap is down, that a quantity of locust
trunnels be split one and one-half inches and from 18 to 30 inches
in length; that sawyers be employed to get out white oak plank of
3-1/2 inches. These things and whatever else may be immediately
necessary for this business you will take care to have done....
The builder tells me that cedar, locust, pitch pine, or wild
cherry will be the proper timber for the upper works.

On Wednesday, December 18, 1776, it was resolved by the General Assembly that the Governor be desired to write to the Maryland Council of Safety to inform them that four galleys of eighty odd feet keel, intended for the protection of Chesapeake Bay and adjacent capes and coasts, were then building in Virginia and in great forwardness, and that the General Assembly have directed four more galleys, much larger, be immediately built and equipped for the same purpose. The hope was expressed that the sister state, equally interested in mutual defence, would supply a proper quota of galleys to act in concert with those of Virginia. Chesapeake Bay was the chief theatre of action by the enemy because of the principal tories residing near its waters. To watch their movements and prevent intercourse with the enemy became the duty of these galleys.

Two galleys, the _Accomack_ and _Diligence_, were built in 1777 on Muddy Creek near Guilford in Accomack County, and stationed on the Eastern Shore. These large galleys were about 90 feet in length and each carried two 18-pounders, four 9-pounders, and several swivels, in all ten guns.

The State built and operated in 1777, a ropewalk at Warwick in Chesterfield County about five miles below Richmond, where ducking, sail-cloth, and rope were manufactured under the charge of Captain Charles Thomas. Several important warehouses had been established there. The place was totally destroyed in the British raid of April, 1781.

There were numerous places in Virginia where shipbuilding was carried on during 1776 and 1779. Vessels were built and equipped on the Eastern Shore, the Potomac, the Rappahannock, Chickahominy and James Rivers; at Hampton, Gosport in Norfolk County, South Quay on the Blackwater near the Carolina line, Frazier's Ferry on the Mattaponi, and Cumberland on the Pamunkey. This last shipyard was discontinued at the suggestion of Thomas Jefferson in 1779 because of the enormous expense attending its support. There was also a shipyard in Gloucester County owned by John Hudgens. Construction was carried on chiefly at the Chickahominy and Gosport yards.

The shipyard on the Chickahominy was located about twelve miles from its mouth and chosen partly because of its sheltered location and the fine timber that grew near by. The Navy Board had purchased 119 acres of land for the sum of £595 in April, 1777, and it became one of the busiest shipyards in the State. The ship _Thetis_, and the armed brig _Jefferson_, and many others were built in this yard. This establishment suffered the same fate as the Warwick ropewalk during Arnold's raid in 1781. A few posts are still standing in the water to mark the spot.

Just before the breaking out of the Revolution, the British Government had established a marine yard at Portsmouth, Virginia, for the use of its Navy, and named it for the dockyard Gosport near Portsmouth, England. This yard was confiscated by Virginia when the war began, and enlarged in 1801, by the purchase of 16 acres of the estate of Andrew Sproule, the British Navy Agent, for $12,000. The ship _Virginia_ was built here and the two frigates laid on the stocks, with a number of other vessels.

Early in May, 1779, a British fleet with a large force of frigates and transports passed through the Capes and on into Hampton Roads, under the command of Sir George Collier. Unable to meet such a formidable enemy, the Virginians withdrew their small fleet up the river for safety. The following extract is said to be from the _Journal_ of H.M.S. _Rainbow_, commanded by Sir George Collier: