This post is made possible with the help of Walter Lewis, who brought this source to my attention at a recent meeting of the Canadian Nautical Research Society. Walter is a prolific historian of Great Lakes and Canadian steamships, and this document emerged from his study of Great Lakes steamships that were involved in various ways in the US Civil War. Much thanks are also due to the Great Lakes Maritime Collection and the C. Patrick Labadie Collection , hosted at the Alpena County George N. Fletcher Public Library. This is an incredible collection of photos and data about Great Lakes shipping. This first Discuss-A-Doc post will examine a record related to the steamship Arabian
Illustration of the steamship Arabian
The steamship Arabian is an interesting example of an early Canadian steamship. Built in Niagara in 1851, it was first used on the Great Lakes, running from Hamilton to Montreal, and then from Rochester, NY to Cobourg, ON. In 1862,it was purchased by Robert Sawyer & Ramon Menerdez, of Nassau, BWI. It was rebuilt in New York, and placed under British registry. When registered, it had dimensions 174′ x 24′ x 18.4′, and displaced 263 tons. It was used to smuggle goods to North Carolina, and it was wrecked on its third voyage, when it carried cotton 1.
On one of the two successful voyages, the Arabian‘s cargo was listed in the Daily Progress, the newspaper in Raleigh, North Carolina on 10 July 1863. It is a mixture of commercial goods that can be immediately consumed, and other goods that must be processed before consumption are required for industrial or commercial processes. This post will go through the list of items for auction, and provide some context.
Section 1: Foodstuffs and Household Goods
149 Cerooms Muscovado Sugar
18 bbls Crushed Sugar
15 Tierces Molasses
100 boxes Star Candles
25 kits Mackerel
25 ” Salmon
This group is pretty straight forward. The first three are from the Caribbean, clearly. Although I’ve not been able to ascertain what a ‘ceroom’ is as a measure of quantity. However, bbl is an acronym for barrel. Further, a Tierce is a type of barrel with a volume of approximately 42 gallons. Further, a kit is a measure used in the fishmonger trade, and equals 10 stone, or 140 pounds. I’m guessing very much that the Salmon and Mackerel are salted, and may be cargo acquired in New York.
Section 2: Chemicals and Ingredients
20 boxes Hull & Sons’ Brown Soap
20 boxes Extract Logwood
45 bbls Coperas
Extract Logwood is a type of dye, and Coperas is Iron (II) sulfate, which was used for mordant (dye fixative).
10 kegs Bi. Carb. Soda
20 bbls ” ”
Bicarbonate of Soda is Baking Soda- the same as we use in our kitchens today. Amongst other things, it would have been used for making Corn Bread.
5 Bales Hops
18 bbls Epsom Salts
12 cases Seidlitz Powders
Hops were certainly used for beer making- and while Epsom Salt (Magnesium Sulfate) is now used as a medicine and for improving soil for tomatos, it can also be used as a brewing salt, or for a host of other uses around the home. Seidlitz powders are a combination of Tartaric acid, Potassium Sodium Titrate and Sodium Bicarbonate. When mixed with water, it was used as a mild laxative or digestive regulator
1 case Antimony
1 flask Quicksilver
1 case Phosphorus
4 ” Spt. Ether, nit. P.L. Opt
14 Drums Castor Oil
1 case Eth. Sulph. Rect.
Gross Ess. Peppermint, Gross Ess. Lemon
This is a fascinating group of products. Most of this is harder to break down or understand. For example. Spt. Ether is Spirit of Ether- a mixture of one part ether and three parts alcohol, which was used as a painkiller. Unfortunately, I’ve not been able to decipher “P.L. Opt”. Likewise, Eth. Sulph. Rect is Sulpheric Ether, which was also used as an anesthetic in surgery. Rectification is the process of using distillation to isolate a liquid component from a solution.
Section 3: Consumer Goods
10 bales Dundee Bagging
2 cases Children’s Fancy Hose
3 ” Ladies’ Gaiters
4 ” Note, Letter and Cap Paper
1 ” Envelopes
20 cases matches, 27 gross each
30 prs super English Hames
3000 lbs Sole Leather
1 case Briar Root Pipes
This is an interesting mix of goods. Dundee Bagging would be jute (Thank you to Prof. Graeme Morton for teaching me about Jute, Jam and Journalism). Hames are the wooden frames that create a collar for horses, and are attached to the traces.
Section 4: Booze
10 casks Ale, pints
10 ” “, quarts
20 casks E.I. pale, do
300 cases French Ale, quarts
105 cases Geneva Gin, quarts
10 3/4 pipes Holland Gin
10 1/4 casks Cognac Brandy
6 1/4 casks Cognac Brand, 3d proof
35 1/4 casks St. Croix and Jam. Rum
10 pipes St. Croix and Jam. Rum
80 cases St Julien Claret
50 cases Cognac Brandy
10 casks Alcohol
This is quite a substantial section. If I understand things properly, the difference between those marked pints and quarts had to do with the strength of the beer as in that marked pints would be stronger than that marked quarts. E.I Pale would be similar to what’s now known as an IPA (India Pale Ale) . French ale could be similar to ‘Biere de Garde’. It is likely that ‘Gevena Gin’ refers to Jenever/Genever, while ‘Holland Gin’ would be what we consider gin. A pipe is a substantial barrel- half a tun- or approximately 1000 pints. It’s really interesting to see such a wide variety of different types of alcohol, and of both European and Caribbean origins.
Section 5: Other goods
40 boxes English Cheese
30 Kegs nails
300 sacks Turks Island Salt
For me, this document is fascinating because of the sheer variety of goods that were smuggled from the Bahamas to North Carolina aboard the Arabian.
