Description:

(KING GEORGE'S WAR: FRENCH AND SPANISH PRIVATEERS IN DELAWARE BAY)
RYVES HOLT (1696-1763) Naval officer of the Port of Lewes, Delaware and High Sherriff of Sussex County. Later served as Chief Justice of the Three Lower Counties (Delaware). Very fine content A.L.S. 2pp. 4to., Lewes, Sept. 25, 1747 addressed to the President of the Pennsylvania Provincial Council (Delaware was nominally part of Pennsylvania until 1776) requesting protection from the threat of French and Spanish privateers operating off the North American coast. He writes, in part "...It is with an agreeable satisfaction we observe yrs. Hounours good will & readiness, to afford us what ever Protection Lays in Yr Power…We are glad to find that the Message we sent up to Philadelphia, to Wit: ... that the Enemy's of His Majesties Crown & Dignity were Hovering about this Coast, was well read by Yrs Honour, and the Councills of the Province, I will ask Leave Sir, to Assure you, that we shall always be read to approve ourselves Kind & Friendly Neighbours to Our Fellow Subjects of Pennsylvania, By Dispatching away the most Early Intelligence we can get, of any approaching danger..." The threat was not an idle one, The Pennsylvania Gazette reported on Sept. 24, 1747 a number of seizures in Delaware Bay including "on the 10th the ship Delaware, Capt. Lake, of this place, for Maryland (mentioned in our last) and the ship Bolton, likewise of this port, Capt. Eves, inward bound from Jamaica; the two last were taken in our bay, where the privateer lay at anchor four days. She sent some of her hands to water at Cape Lookout, in North-Carolina, when they plundered a small town (Blueford) and set it on fire..." Back blank leaf separated, usual folds, else fine condition.

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June 3, 2010 11:00 AM EDT
Stamford, CT, US

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