300TH pORT BATH SOUVENIR BOOKLET CONTENTS 5.5.15 PRINTERS PROOF

3

3

CONTENTS

INNER COVER Map of Historic Bath By S. Credle 1968

i… Table of Contents ii.... 300th Anniversary of Port

Bath Spring ’16 Community Events LETTERS OF GREETING 1… N.C. Senator Bill Cook 2… N.C. Rep. Paul Tine 3… City of Washington Mayor 4… City of Washington City Manager 5… Historic Port of Washington

Museum Project. 6… Ocracoke Preservation Society 7… AERIAL PHOTO OF BATH PENINSULA By M. Buchanan 8… HISTORY OF PORT BATH

CREEK by M. Buchanan 23... BRIDGE TO BRIDGE PHOTO

TOUR of HISTORIC BATH By M. Buchanan

31… BUSINESS & INDIVIDUAL

COMMEMORATIVE BOOKLET SPONSORS

32… SPONSOR ADS

T H A N K Y O U F O R Y O U R S U P P O R T

COVER IMAGE CREDIT: Cartouche containing a port scene in the colonial south, by Joshua Fry and Peter Jefferson 1775. Library of Congress, Washington: 1975 Figure 602. ABOVE IMAGE: Port of New York, 1727.

300th ANNIVERSARY PORT BATH AUGUST 1ST 1716-2016

SPRING SCHEDULE OF COMMUNITY EVENTS

The COLONIAL PORT of BATh NC’s first British-American official Port of Entry 1716-1790

SAT MAR 22 6:30PM LECTURE by Gill H. Jones 300th Anniversary of Colonial Port Bath. NC Estuarium, Washington

SAT APR 9 10 AM LECTURE by Jim McKee, Historian, Port Bath/Port Brunwick and Colonial Shipping Channels

at Bath State Historic Site Visitor Center. Free

SAT APR 16 9:30-1:30 PM HISTORY DISPLAY EXHIBIT OPENING RECEPTION The History of Port Bath 1716-1790,

sponsored by Historic Port of Washington Museum Project, non profit org. under umbrella of Arts of Pamlico, Venue

132 S. Market Street Historic Downtown Washington every Sat 9-1:30. Donations at the Door.

SAT APRIL 30 11 AM LECTURE Pamlico Age of Sail and Age of Steam , Venue NC Estuarium. $5 donation at the door.

sponsored by NC Estuarium and Historic Port of Washington Museum Project, Speakers R. Zablocki and G. Jones,

SAT MAY 7 10:30 AM LECTURE “Port Bath, Sea Shanties, Sea Songs & Scottish reels & Jigs” SPECIAL GUEST MUSICIAN

TIM STANBAUGH Port Bath Mini series, Historic Bath Visitor Center Auditorium - free

SAT May 14 10:30 AM LECTURE “Port Bath, British Colonial Customs Service & Sailing ships” SPECIAL GUEST BILL DUNN,

Port Bath Mini series, Historic Bath Visitor Center Auditorium - free

SAT May 21 10:30 AM “The Men, Women, and Children of Colonial Port Bath” Port Bath Mini series, Venue Historic

Bath Visitor Center Auditorium - free –

SAT May 21 12:00 noon “Let’s Set Sail for Port Bath “ Hands On History 30 minute fun activities, A look at children,

young people, and Port Bath trades, For children and the entire family. Venue Bath Community Library, Bath – free

SAT MAY 28 ALL DAY & EVENING! BathFest/300TH ANNIVERSARY PORT BATH 10-3 PM BathFest with Crafts Vendors, Living History at the Bath State Historic Site, Customs House Interpretation,

Naval Stores, Tar Kiln Demo, Crafts, All BathFest events Free

10-1 Bath Creek Harbor Tours aboard the Skipjack Ada Mae, Harding’s Landing Tkts $10

430 PM Town of Bath/GBF’s Tent Reception, 122 Catnip Point Ticketed Event open to Public Tkts $100

630 PM JIM QUICK & COASTLINE BAND concert, Skydiving & Fireworks at Bonner Point Free

SAT JULY 16 10-4pm PIRATES IN THE PORT! ANNUAL FREE EVENT 10-4PM Living History at the Bath State Historic

Site, pirates, soldiers, colonial trades, historic home tours, historic interpreters and re-enactors.

LINKS TO ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://townofbathnc.embarqspace.com/

http://www. ncpedia.org/port-bath

http://www.nchistoricsites.org/bath/

www.bathfest.org

www.hpow.org

To reserve your copy of the new Community 300th Port Bath Anniversary Souvenir Program (volunteer produced 32 page

booklet $10 fundraiser - proceeds to Historic Bath Foundation & free copies for Bath Elem. 4th graders) contact GH Jones

[email protected] or local telephone inquiries to Marti Buchanan 252 923 7501.

MARCH 22 - SAT6:30 PM LECTURE by Gill H. Jones "300th Anniversary of Colonial Port Bath". NC Estuarium, Washington, Tickets: $4

APRIL 9 - SAT10 AM LECTURE by Jim McKee, Historian, "Port Bath/Port Brunwick and Colonial Shipping Channels" at Bath State Historic Site Visitor Center - FREE

APRIL 14 - THUR6:30-8:00 PM HISTORY DISPLAY EXHIBIT OPENING RECEPTION "The History of Port Bath 1716-1790" sponsored by Historic Port of Washington Museum Project, non profit org. under umbrella of Arts of Pamlico, Venue 132 S. Market Street Historic Downtown Washington. Open every Sat 9-1:30 PM. Donations at the Door.

APRIL 30 - SAT11 AM LECTURE "Pamlico Age of Sail and Age of Steam" Venue NC Estuarium. Donation accepted at the door. Sponsored by NC Estuarium and Historic Port of Washington Museum Project, Speakers R. Zablocki and G. Jones

MAY 7 - SAT10:30 AM LECTURE “Port Bath, Sea Shanties, Sea Songs & Scottish Reels & Jigs” SPECIAL GUEST MUSICIAN TIM STANBAUGH Port Bath Mini series, Historic Bath Visitor Center Auditorium - FREE

MAY 14 - SAT10:30 AM LECTURE “Port Bath, British Colonial Customs Service & Sailing ships” SPECIAL GUEST BILL DUNN, Port Bath Mini series, Historic Bath Visitor Center Auditorium - Free

MAY 21 - SAT10:30 AM LECTURE "The Townspeople of Colonial Port Bath” Port Bath Mini series, Venue Historic Bath Visitor Center Auditorium - FREE

MAY 21 - SAT12:00 NOON “Let’s Set Sail for Port Bath “ Hands On History 30 minute fun activities, A look at children, young people, and Port Bath trades, For children and the entire family. Venue Bath Community Library, Bath – FREE

MAY 28 - SAT ALL DAY & EVENING! BathFest/300TH ANNIVERSARY PORT BATH CELEBRATION 10-3 PM BathFest with Crafts Vendors, Living History at the Bath State Historic Site, Customs House Interpretation, Naval Stores, Tar Kiln Demo, Crafts, All BathFest events - FREE 10-1 PM Bath Creek Harbor Tours aboard the Skipjack "Ada Mae", Harding’s Landing Tickets: $104:30 PM Town of Bath/GBF’s Tent Reception, 122 Catnip Point, Ticketed Event open to Public Tickets: $1006:30-9:30 PM JIM QUICK & COASTLINE BAND concert, Skydiving & Fireworks at Bonner Point - FREE

JULY 16 - SAT10-4 PM PIRATES IN THE PORT! ANNUAL EVENT Living History at the Bath State Historic Site, pirates, soldiers, colonial trades, historic home tours, historic interpreters and re-enactors - FREE


http://www. ncpedia.org/port-bathhttp://www.nchistoricsites.org/bath/

www.bathfest.orgwww.hpow.org

To reserve your copy of the new Community 300th Port Bath Anniversary Souvenir Program (volunteer produced) 32 page booklet $10 fundraiser - proceeds to Historic Bath Foundation & free copies for Bath Elem. 4th graders. Contact GH Jones [email protected] or local telephone inquiries Marti Buchanan 252 923 7501.






























www.bathfest.org

www.hpow.org

































www.bathfest.org

www.hpow.org




THE COLONIAL PORT of BATHNC's First British - AmeriCAN oFFiCiAl Port oF eNtry 1716 -1790

THE COLONIAL PORT of BATH

300TH ANNIVERSARY PORT BATH

Poster designed and printed by - Ingalls Printing / 252.975.2056 / www.printerested.com

LINKS TO ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://townofbathnc.embarqspace.com/ http://www. ncpedia.org/port-bath http://www.nchistoricsites.org/bath/ www.bathfest.org www.hpow.org

Mayor

History of Port of Bath 1716-1790

©2016 G Hookway-Jones MBA rev 5.3

Many North Carolinians and visitors know of Bath’s important role in the development of colonial North Carolina, the state’s first town chartered 1705. But did you know that 300 years ago Bath was also the state’s first British-American official seaport town?

Colonial coastal ports of entry were designed to serve British and foreign maritime commerce in general, with an emphasis on imports and exports between the mother country and her colonies. The Bath settlement known as Pamtico had a Port Pamtico customs collector commissioned as early as 1703. As the Albemarle inlets filled with sand from hurricanes, the Lords Proprietors recognized in 1716 the continuing importance of the district. The port officials were commissioned from London to enforce Navigation and Trade laws passed by British Parliament. Monitoring ethical and consistent maritime trade practices up and down the coast was vital for increasing merchant confidence in the growing region between coastal Virginia and Charleston. A sea captain, merchant, or vessel discovered violating Port of Bath jurisdiction commerce law chanced civil and Vice-Admiralty court penalties like jail, fines, and vessel and cargo seizure, even hanging for piracy.

INTRODUCTION The British-American colonial Port of Bath was considered a North Atlantic seaport town, one of many along the North Atlantic coast in the British customs district network. The decree dated August 1, 1716 was issued from St. James Palace. Shortly after its creation Governor Charles Eden sailed from England back to BathTowne with the decree along with newly approved 1715 laws, passed the previous autumn by the provincial government. The Lords Proprietors held veto power over any new colonial legislation so copies were typically hand carried during long sea voyages by the Governor twice each year, spring and fall, before and after plantation planting and harvest.

When Eden returned with the London news he then lived in BathTowne at his plantation “Thistleworth,” located on Archbell Point at the mouth of Bath Creek. At that time the town of Bath was the county seat of the old Bath County, and also Bath was the nominal capital of our State. Bath County, created in 1696, is the state’s second oldest county and predecessor to Beaufort, Pitt, Hyde, Martin and many other North Carolina counties. Port Bath vessel traffic and its commerce were key to the “southern frontier” early growth.

Even though colonial BathTowne was almost 50 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, the Colonial Port of Bath was the mandated port of entry for ships with Pamlico Sound, Pamlico River, and Neuse River destinations. Its

Port Bath district Map indicating late 18th cPort Bath, drawn by Mark Moore, DCR, Dept of Archives & History, Raleigh NC.

inland location on a peninsula with high bluffs and the tricky approach from Ocracoke Inlet, protected by sound shoals known only to local skilled pilots, both were considered advantages at the time - due to constant threat from Indians and attacking Spanish and French. Port Bath officials were charged with clearing through customs all entering and departing sailing vessels. The port also inspected cargo exiting and entering North Carolina through Ocracoke Inlet, whether colonial, British, or foreign. Initially the new port’s jurisdiction included the Pamlico Sound, the east coast’s largest body of inland water, the Pamlico River, the Neuse River, and all navigable upstream waters leading into the growing interior of the new colony. Eventually Port Bath with its five wharves (below) became one of five North Carolina official British-American colonial ports. Each port was associated with an inlet from the Atlantic Ocean: Port Currituck with Currituck Inlet (inlet closed 1730), Port Roanoke with Roanoke Inlet, Port Bath with Ocracoke Inlet, Port Beaufort with Old Topsail Inlet, created 1722, and Port Brunswick with Cape Fear, created 1730.

PORT BATH EXPORTS Bath County new settlers lived in the countryside outside of town on farms and plantations where they raised livestock and crops. They usually purchased or leased land with access to creek and river landings for transport goods. Surviving records show early exports from fur traders were furs, skins, and hides Later 17th c. surviving Port Bath export records show the fur trade was replaced by the lumber trade, products harvested from local East Carolina woods and forests. The top export categories in fact from port records1768-1790 in rank order are as follows: shingles, naval stores (turpentine, pitch, rosin, masts excluding tar), pork, rum, tobacco, skins, merchandise, tar, sugar, scantling, corn, salt, peas, and hides. Note that shingles, not tar or naval stores, was the top export; also note three of the top export items are actually re-exports: West Indian rum, sugar, and Turks/Caicos salt.

18th c. outward bound ports (exports from Bath): Annapolis, Antigua, Baltimore, Barbados, Boston, Barbados, Bristol, Charleston, Dominica, Gibraltar, Greenock, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Halifax NS, Hispaniola, Honduras, James River VA, Kingston, Liverpool, London, Mogador, Morocco, Montserrat, Nevis, New York, Norfolk, Perth Amboy, Philadelphia, Piscataqua NH, Plymouth GB, Providence RI, Rappahannock VA, St. Croix, Savana la Mar, South Potomac VA, Tortola, Turks Is., York VA (Angley 1981).

PORT BATH IMPORTS Only the wealthiest planter-merchants like the Carolina Governors, and local merchant such as Seth Pilkington, Robert and William Palmer, and the Blount brothers had their own large ships to directly import and export. But every Bath community resident had access to a boat (one can put a boat in a ship, but not vice versa). In early colonial Port Bath most farmers and planters had rafts, canoes,

The 1806 Hoyle/1766 Forbis Map of BathTowne showing five Water Street wharves: Marsh, Scott, Oden, Willis and Adams. Courtesy of Ms. Leigh Swain, State Historic Site Visitor Center Bath, NC.

1733 Moseley Map, Annotated, Joyner Library, East Carolina University Greenville NC

and periaugers to transport goods and passengers. Pending arrivals of scheduled merchant ships with luxury import goods, passengers and mail from both larger colonial ports and foreign ports were exciting events for merchants and families of plantations and remote farms. Surviving records show rum and sugar and assorted manufactured merchandise were Port Bath’s top three import categories. The top imports from port records 1768-1790 were as follows in rank of cargo tonnage: rum, sugar, merchandise, molasses, salt, coffee, wine, linen, and tea, woolens, in ballast, chocolate, gin, brandy, powder and dry goods. 18th c Ports of Lading (Imports to Bath) included: Annapolis, Antigua, Bahamas, Baltimore, Barbados, Bedford MA, Belfast, Bermuda, Beverly MA, Bordeaux, Boston, Bristol, Cape Francais Haiti, Charleston, Cork, Dartmouth MA, Demerara British Guiana, Dublin, Glasgow, Greenock, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Hispaniola, Kingston Jamaica, Liverpool, London, Marblehead MA, Martinique, Mole-St. Nicholas Haiti, Montserrat, Nantes, Nantucket, Nevis, Newburyport, New York, Norfolk, Paramaribo Dutch Guiana, Philadelphia, Piscataway NJ, Plymouth MA, Pointe a Pitre Guadeloupe, Port Au Prince Haiti, Portsmouth NH, Providence RI, Roanoke Island, St. Bartholomew, St. Croix, St. Eustatia, St. Lucia, St. Martin, St. Thomas, Salem MA, Santa Crux, Savannah, Trinidad, Turks I., York VA (Angley 1981).

POPULATION OLD BATH COUNTY When Port Bath was created the North Carolina proprietary colony had only a handful of towns and three official British American Ports of entry (Ports with a capital P). According to a cartouche on a 1708 map drawn by Edward Moseley there were only 350 adult males 16 you+ in the old Bath County and 1250 adult males in the Albemarle County. Below is a section of the Lambeth Palace map from an exhibit catalog featuring 400 years

of treasures owned by the Bishop of London. The map was drawn by Moseley and taken by an Anglican missionary apparently seeking funding to build a church in Queen Anne’s Creek, now Edenton. Only a few names from the Bath community appear: Port Pamtico collector James Leigh and Landgrave Gov. Daniels, Christopher Gale, French Bunting/Bunting and Merchants Birkenhead and Daw (annotated image below).

PRE-REVOLUTIONARY PORT BATH To imagine what the little town looked like in the late 1760’s coming in from sea, the Town of Bath is fortunate to have the 18th century Claude Sauthier map ordered drawn by Royal Governor William Tryon. Similar maps were drawn for New Bern, Wilmington, Edenton and other key towns of the period. The Sauthier map clearly shows a fenced palisade around the town and a relatively open waterfront with many merchant cellars. Col. Robert Palmer’s large home is clearly labeled, as is the courthouse, the church, the burial ground and jail. All Port Bath officials like Bath’s much-esteemed Col. Robert Palmer were the commissioned British customs officers reporting directly to the British Treasury, the London Customs Commissioners and Board of Trade. Port officials received a percentage of all seized vessels and cargo as incentive compensation as well as an annual salary. Customs duties were collected from vessels

SAUTHIER MAP - Port Official Col. Robert Palmer's home and large wharf. Shows formal orchard and garden parterres, his town pen. Map courtesy of Brown Library, Washington NC

based on tonnage as well as on enumerated cargo (special tax surcharge on rum, sugar, and molasses). Occasionally collectors received the King’s 10th portion of fish or whale oil shipment proceeds from royal fishing grounds or proceeds from seized vessels and cargo, but a North Atlantic port collector’s official annual wages were issued by the English Exchequer in London. Sixty British pounds annually was the norm, although Palmer’s yearly wage rate was 200 British pounds. In Port Bath’s case all duties collected were used to pay Bath customs house rent, wages to Bath wharf stevedores and Ocracoke pilots, maintenance of channel beacons and buoys from the Atlantic Ocean to Ocracoke, around the Pamlico Sound Royal Shoals and on to Bath Creek’s harbor. Sometimes duties were collected in swan shot, musket gunpowder and weaponry to protect the port. Port Bath usually operated in the red, so very little money was ever sent to London with the exception of regular sixpence per month per seaman donations collected from visiting ships for the Greenwich Seaman’s Hospital. This hospital outside London on the Thames River cared for wounded British sailors and children of sailors killed or lost at sea, British Merchants and the Royal Navy.

FOUR KEY BRITISH PORT CUSTOMS OFFICIALS Of the known dozen Port Bath customs collectors and naval officers, four men below might be considered particularly important to maritime commerce and history of early Port Bath: James Leigh, Col. Robert Quary, Col. Robert Palmer, and Capt. Nathan Keias. James Leigh’s port records are lost although we have a document from his deputy customs collector (see image below), Quary’s letters survive from Philadelphia and London and he appears in the Beaufort County Deed book Vol. I., a few port records have survived in Robert Palmer’s beautiful handwriting, and numerous Nathan Keias port records in his hand are extant in the Raleigh state archives. James Leigh was the first known customs collector sworn in to Bath office 1703 by Christopher Gale and Col. Robert Quary, Surveyor General of the Customs for North Atlantic. At the time Leigh and Quary, a former SC Governor and soon to be vice-admiralty judge, both owned area riverfront

Ocracoke Pilot Lookout Tower, Shell Castle Island supervised by Gov. Wallace (meaning supervisor), beside Ocracoke Island. Image from John Gray Blount’s Brig Tulley Ceramic Pitcher, made in Liverpool, Courtesy Historic Port of Washington Museum Project, Washington NC.

Directions to Sail into Ocracoke Inlet and Port of Bath from the Great Western Ocean 35th Latitude Okerecock. Make towards the Bar and You’ll see a flag staff or a flag hoisted which the Pilot is generally do on the W End of the Island when they see a ship off . Then make towards Okerecock I bring Beacon I to Bear W by N. That Course will lead you close to the Breakers in 17 fe. For Beacon Island keeping close to the said Island till you come towards the N. End. Then steer away E NE for Teache’s Hole in 4 fathom. Come to an Anchor & take in a Pilot. Harbour serves for Albemarle Sound … Pamlico.

SOURCE: The Chart of his Majesties Province of North Carolina Map by James Wimble drawn 1729 for the Lords Proprietors - scale of 15 leagues.

1704 seizure of Pamtico Adventure by Deputy Collector Barrow

plantations almost facing one another on opposite shores of the Pamlico River. At this time the Bath settlement was named Pamtico, named after local Algonquin Indians, as well as the river port named Port Pamtico. Quary had the first known Bath store between Adams Creek and Romney/Rumley Marsh. Important for Bath trade was Quary’s coastal merchant connections and his partnership in the New Pennsylvania Company with Micajah Perry, a successful London tobacco merchant (who became Lord Mayor Of London). Leigh’s plantation on the south shore of the Pamlico River was not far from the post road to New Bern. The LEIGH plantation name and his deputy surveyor BARROW may be seen today on the 1733 Moseley map at ECU’s Joyner Library or online https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/1028. James Leigh’s signature on court documents appears frequently in numerous N.C. archive documents and early 1700’s Beaufort County Deed book transactions. Leigh’s deputy William Barrow seized a vessel, sloop Pamtico Adventure, for unloading merchandise illegally in Durham Creek without first clearing customs in Bath, resulting in the Port’s first vice-Admiralty case in 1704, one year before Town of Bath was chartered in 1705.

Col. Robert Palmer served 1753-1772 as Royal Port Bath customs collector for 20 years of its 74-year

operation lifetime; although for the later years his son was the acting official. Originally from Dumfries, Scotland Col. Palmer also held other important colonial posts under Governor Tryon such as Surveyor General. His home on the old Water Street, now Main Street, is open to the public today. Palmer’s two homes have survived in Bath and New Bern: his Bath 1751 home built by merchant Michael

Coutanche features a side entry opening to Water Street trade. His New Bern Georgian home built 1769 is now known as the Palmer-Tisdale which he built while Surveyor General and aide de camp to Governor Tryon. Both homes are open to the public six days a week. His wife Lady Margaret died a few years before he built a second home in New Bern; she is buried at St. Thomas Church in Bath. Two vessels associated with Palmer and his son are Schooner Tryon, 40 tons with a crew of 10, built in 1763, owner William Palmer and Co. and the Brig Elizabeth 160 tons, crew of 8, chartered by Robert Palmer of Westminster 1773 for cargo of tar and turpentine on joint account of Palmer and Walters. For additional details on Robert Palmer and the Palmer Marsh Georgian home links http://ncpedia.org/biography/palmer-robert and http://www.nchistoricsites.org/bath.

Capt. Nathan Keias served with the Continental Army 2nd Regiment, North Carolina Line. In 1777-1790 he was the very last known Port Bath Customs Collector, as well in 1790 was very first Port of Washington Customs Collector. Keais served through the transition to Continental Impost American Customs service and died in 1795 in Washington. When he and his wife moved from Bath to Washington, they bought a Water Street lot next to his friend Port Bath Commissioner

John Gray Blount. Capt. Keais’s life and service is commemorated at St. Peter’s churchyard in

Washington with a graveside plaque, as well as mentioned in New Bern in a state historic marker about the Revenue Cutter Diligence, one of the first revenue cutters ordered by Continental Congress. Keias and Alexander Hamilton worked with the New Bern port collector to fund and build the Continental revenue cutter Diligence, the forerunner of today’s Coast Guard cutters. To this day a Diligence Coast Guard cutter serves in Wilmington.

ORIGINS OF BRITISH COLONIAL CUSTOMS SERVICE IN THE FIRST BRITISH-AMERICAN COLONIES. The British Customs administrative network began in 1673, following King Charles II and his 1660 restoration to the throne. Carolina, Pennsylvania and New Jersey were chartered during his reign. By 1710 the British Customs Commissioners and Board of Trade had created thirty four customs districts between New Found

Revenue Cutter Diligence I. http://www.usscg.mil/history/articles/h_CGatwar.asp.

hpph

St. Peter's Cemetery by Ron Daily from www.ncgenweb.us/beaufort. Keais grave with plaque at St. Peter’s Episcopal.

land and Charleston, South Carolina, staffed by forty two permanent officials. Col. Robert Quary who at one time was an admiralty judge for the middle colonies, he eventually followed Edward Randolph as Surveyor General of Customs for North America. Robert Quary/Quarry was an ardent Anglican and loyalist had a well known quarrel with Quaker William Penn related to claims of misgovernment in Pennsylvania (c. 1689). .

Parliament’s Navigation and Trade Acts were designed not to raise revenues, but rather to encourage trade flows in directions to benefit the mother country. The flow of raw goods and silver and gold in, with finished goods out to the colonists was drawn from the economic theory of the day called Mercantilism or Bullions. Because the Atlantic coastline to patrol was so vast and the numbers of customs officers so few, historians refer to the impact of customs collectors on minor smuggling of luxury items as salutary and/or benign neglect. Most legitimate merchant shippers complied, finding the services and amenities of the entry ports to their advantage for conducting financial and legal transactions and/or for provisioning, sailor shore leave, not to mention repairs. The customs officers typically referred the most egregious statute offenders to civil and Vice-Admiralty higher courts. Penalties were either monetary or jail time, with the occasional vessel and

cargo seized and sold. Pirates were sometimes hung. Violators of royal interests were referred to English Admiralty Court. There was little to no resentment from merchants or individuals expressed about customs policies or shipping duties for the most part up until the revolutionary customs and duties reforms of 1764 by King George III which were not just regulatory. His reforms increased taxes and stirred up American revolutionary fever. Earlier monarchs like Queen Anne and George II actually gave monetary incentives per pound or duty waivers to encourage export of certain items like tar and pitch, or to encourage Carolina shipbuilding. The British colonial customs policies were designed to benefit wealthy London and British American merchants, visiting intra-coastal captains, local Bath captains, and foreign merchants alike. They all would find the same procedures and same services when entering or exiting Liverpool, Gibraltar, Boston, Charleston, Port Royal Jamaica or Port Bath. In other words entering, clearing customs, and exiting were mandated by law to be the same process in any 18th c. proprietary or Royal Crown colony port.

Image: English Sailing Vessels 1750s, Oil by Dominic Serres AYCBAIG10313603740 Official ports of entry for entering and exiting merchant vessels were usually located in the biggest town in the county,

since visiting crew and ship owners relied on convenient town amenities to conduct business, buy and sell cargo, re-provision, find crew, and make repairs. Bath received its town charter in 1705 and was considered county seat of Bath County and nominal capital of the province for a number of years until Governor Eden moved to Edenton.

Following a major Customs re-organization in 1710, Port Bath joined the network in 1716. Due to growth of the coastal region the original 1716 Port Bath district was cut in half in 1730. At that time the Neuse River basin and New Bern shipping was re-assigned to Port Beaufort, created 1722. Due to resentment over King George III’s new taxes and the colony rebellion, the British customs administration collapsed in 1775, but Port Bath officials and its district carried on monitoring shipping and maritime commerce between Ocracoke, along Pamlico Sound, and Pamlico River

using the same name. “Port Bath” moved upstream to Washington in the mid 1780’s and was known as the new Port Bath Continental Impost district until 1790.

Port Bath was but one link in a British Treasury network of British North Atlantic customs districts between New Found land and Charleston including some of the British sugar plantation islands in Bermuda and ports in the Caribbean. The customs duties (taxes) were levied based on ship tonnage. The duties were primarily used to defray customs house expenses, wages, and maintenance of pilot boats, beacons and buoys. Only the larger commercial ports like New York and Charleston posted a profit after expenses: smaller ports rarely sent a surplus back to the mother country’s London Custom House. The imposing London Customs House was built by the same architect who built St. Paul’s Cathedral and its wharves were located on the north side of the Thames River between the old London Bridge and the Tower of London. (See back cover image courtesy of Tryon Palace, New Bern NC). Every quarterly and annual report of shipping by Port Bath officials was sent to London in duplicate, usually on two different ships due to threat of loss at sea.

Each district usually had one customs collector and at least one deputy collector with several riding surveyors, a customs sloop, and several pilot boats. Each port district usually had a customs house office near the courthouse and docks. By 1760 little of the structure had changed when King George III took the throne: the responsibility for enforcement of the Acts of Trade and Navigation passed by British Parliament and North Carolina law in the 17th/18th century relied on the officials of the customs service in each colony. By 1760 Port Bath was one of only forty five British-American districts, including those of the new colonies of Georgia and Nova Scotia.

Port Bath’s district joined the other customs officials monitoring maritime commerce along the 1200 miles of coastline from Newfoundland down through the Carolinas, and out to Bahamas and Bermuda. Many of the official Port of Bath records were lost or burned in North Carolina during the American Revolution. A fire in the “Plantations” section of the London customs House in 1814 created more gaps (Barrow 1967). Fortunately because the Customs Department itself was a branch of the English Treasury, many customs house documents have survived among Treasury papers. Other records outside North Carolina have been

View of the Customs House with part of the Tower, taken from ye River Thames, London 1753. Maurer (artist) Bowles (engraver, National Maritime Museum, London

identified by researchers like retired NC Department of Archives and History historian Wilson Angley (see references).

WHERE WAS BLACKBEARD IN 1716? At the time of the Port Bath decree of 1716, Governor Charles Eden was colonial Governor living on Bath Creek’s plantation row on Archbell Point. About this time pirate Blackbeard, Edward Teach, when he was not sailing with his crew elsewhere, was believed to have had a home on Bath Creek opposite from Eden on Plum Point. No doubt he sailed in occasionally on his periauger, while he conducted business or strolled the streets of old BathTowne. Recent research says Blackbeard may have served on board the HMS Windsor as a young man. According to author Baylus Brooks “by 1716, Teach was then [probably] living in Kingston, had an eight-gun sloop and was sailing in consort with Benjamin

Hornigold, master of sloop Delight. They were both busy fishing Spanish wrecks on the coast of Florida.” The deposition of Capt. Henry Timberlake, master of the Lamb, sailing from Boston to Jamaica late in 1716 mentions Blackbeard the pirate as follows: June of 1718 he came to Bath to receive the King’s pardon. New records found 2008 in Nantes, France describe his capture of the Rose Emelye and the Toison d’Or merchant ships outside Martinique August 23, 1718 (Smithsonian 2014).

As every North Carolina school child knows, only a few months later Blackbeard was ordered by Virginia Lieut. Governor Alexander Spotswood to be killed or captured. British officers from the HMS Lyme and HMS

Pearl in Hampton, Virginia were given two North Carolina pilots along with two fast sloops Ranger and Jane chartered by Virginia Gov. Spottswood. November 1718 British wounded sailors arrived in Bath. Taken to Virginia by Lieut. Robert Maynard, Blackbeard’s head was, displayed to all dangling from Ranger’s bowsprit.

ROLE OF THE PORT AFTER THE AGE OF PIRACY Port Bath in the 18th century was used most often by sea captains and merchants on legitimate official business, primarily because its town had amenities like the courthouse and a county clerk to record

schooners, brigs, and merchant ships going in and out of Ocracoke Inlet presented ship’s papers immediately upon arrival or before departure from Bath. Papers were presented to the Customs Officer, the Deputy Customs Officer or the Naval Officer before unloading cargo or departing with new cargo. At first the customs officer and naval officer had different duties, as a double check, one reported to the English Colonial Customs Surveyor General and one to the colonial Governor. In reality because the district was so large we are told both ended up helping one another.

Customs and navigation and trade violation consequences varied with the nature of the crime…. like stealing an anchor, “breaking bulk” or smuggling, or piracy. Offences were referred to either civil or regional Vice-Admiralty courts. Violations concerning holdings of the King or Queen were referred to London British Admiralty court. Prizes, (French or Spanish vessels with cargo seized by privateers and brought to the port),

Map inset of Ocracoke Inlet from 1733 Moseley Map, deeds, wills, promissory notes, and insurance.All sloops, Courtesy of ECU Joyner Library, Greenville NC

would be presented to Vice-Admiralty court and if condemned for sale, usually a percentage of proceeds went to the private ring captain and the customs officials. Even the Governor and the Crown took a tenth of the sales proceeds, standard practice of the day.

CREATION OF A NEW PORT Besides the will of Colonial government with approval by Lords Proprietors, local planter merchants and visiting sea caption needed access to a courthouse by the docks and a court clerk for recording personal and business documents before a long voyage, for example wills, credit terms, bills of sale, and especially promissory notes financing the purchase of ships and cargo. Especially critical for merchants and sea captains were bonds issued prior to customs clearance and departure, warranting cargo delivery before voyages. Insurance was usually only taken out when a ship was overdue and feared lost at sea. Bath as a seaport town also offered taverns and inns important to merchants, port tradesmen and sailors as well as travelers. The town also offered equally important medical care by a doctor as well as a missionary priest to conduct marriages, burials, and christenings. An equally important reason for creation of Port Bath was mother nature: the Currituck and Roanoke Inlets of the state’s oldest Albemarle County to the north were filling up with sand from storms and hurricanes inconveniencing intercoastal and foreign trade. The second oldest county of Bath provided access to the interior via twin rivers Pamlico and Neuse after entering Pamlico Sound via Ocracoke Inlet. Port Beaufort and Port Brunswick were not yet created.

PORT BATH’S KNOWN SAILING VESSELS British American shipping records of Port Bath from the first half of the 18th

century have not survived for the most part. Historian Wilson Angley in his unpublished report summarized all the archive records he could find, from Raleigh, microfiche copies from British Records, and archive records from other colonies that traded with Port Bath including colonies in the West Indies. Angley points out the lack of port records from the early proprietary years “when Bath reached is height as a commercial center” (Angley 1981). The summary of extant records below from 1768-1790 indicates probable average sizes of merchant vessel clearing Port Bath customs. The majority appears to be less than 50 tons, and many locally owned were as small as 3-20 tons, similar to the Bermuda-rigged sloop. The most common vessels in Bath Creek would have been planter-merchant small craft, canoes, rafts, shallops and periaugers, and the larger sloops and schooners. The count of 2443 vessels for the 22-year period (chart below) includes records from two Port Bath customs houses, in other words port officials were in Bath 1768-1785, and following opening of the new courthouse in Washington 1786-1790. For the earliest period see Table 2 drawn from Beaufort County Vol. I Deed book in the Exhibits section. Port Pamtico and Port Bath records are lost 1699-1760 time periods with a few exceptions (Angley 1981).

Bermuda-rigged sloop on the Spanish Main late 18th c.

Approximately 85% of vessels recorded as clearing Port Bath were one-masted sloops and two-masted schooners, average size capacity 33 tons and 41 tons burden (tonnage) respectively. (Sloop and schooner images courtesy of Michael Alford). Well-known expert in NC maritime commerce, historian Charles

Crittenden states colonial vessels clearing Port Bath averaged 50 tons burden. (Crittenden 1936) Large brigs and ships over 150 tons clearing Port Bath were apparently rare, but not unknown. Port records show clearly larger two-masted brigs and snows did enter the district, one as large as 178 tons. Also at least twenty-two three-masted merchant ships average 136 tons, and at least one known large merchant ship of 250 tons burden sailed over the Ocracoke bar and up to Port Bath. (Angley 1981). Vessel name, type ship, tonnage were important features for customs collectors and naval officers to record in their shipping records and reports. Customs duties (taxes) were calculated by the collector and charged to the visiting vessel captain based on burden (tons) or burthen…. for ex. 3 shillings and 4 pence per ton. At one time Customs duties were called “powder duties,” collected in the equivalent of gun powder and ammunition, swan shot or lead, all of the latter being stored in Bath cargo warehouses and used as needed to protect the port.

Port Bath maximum vessel tonnage capacity (178 to 250 tons) as indicated in the table above shows author Wingate Reed’s History of Beaufort County (1962) seemingly understated the capability of brig and ships to enter Port Bath. Reed said “the narrow inlets to the sound and the shifting, shallow channels of the sound and river limited passage to sloops, schooners, brigantines, and brigs of 150 gross tons, and a draft of six to eight feet.” (Ch. XV p. 161). What about the size of vessels of Blackbeard, Bath’s most infamous sea captain? The 18th century Carolina captain and pirate very much associated with early BathTowne was known for his flag ship far exceeded the known size of known vessels clearing the port but one of his known sloop at 80 tons s fit nicely in the upper range for sloops burden, 10-95 tons. (Table 1). The Queen Anne’s Revenge, formerly known as the French slaver frigate Concorde, was believed to have been up to 299-300 tons, 100 feet long, 24 feet beam and very unlikely to ever attempt Ocracoke Inlet passage and cross the Pamlico Sound to Bath. (See www.QARonline.com). Blackbeard’s smaller less known vessel was a Jamaica-rigged sloop named Adventure. No doubt Adventure did sail between Bath and Ocracoke. Adventure was a more typical intra-coastal merchant vessel with a cargo burthen of 80 tons, a beamy 20 feet, and under 60 foot length. Compare

TABLE 1. Drawn from Extant Records NC STATE ARCHIVES 1768-1790 PORT BATH

Count (%)

Min Avg.

Max # Tons Burden

Sloop

1080 44.2079 10 33 95 Schooner

1006 41.1789 6 41 126

Brig/Snow 335 13.7126 40 80 178 Ship

22 0.9005 90 136 250

2443*

Total vessels

Adventure with Governor Cary’s 46 foot sloop built at Harding Landing and Governor Daniel’s brig Martha or John Gray Blount’s brig Talley moored often in Bath Creek. (Use two tables 2 and 3 comparing early 1700’s known vessels from the Bath/Beaufort County Deed book 1699-1729 to a later 1700’s sampling from Wilson Angley’s 1981 repot.)

COMPARING COLONIAL BURTHEN, BURDEN TONNAGE TO RECREATIONAL VESSELS TODAY. Burden or burthen is a special term related to a formula for cargo capacity in tons, i.e. how much a vessel can carry without compromise of its water line. Port collectors had to know the cargo burthen in order to charge the correct amount of duty tax. Most vessels today over 25 feet in length will weigh over five tons to give you some idea. Even today all vessels of five or more net tons used in coastal trade, (also Great Lakes trade, or the fisheries, on the navigable waters of the U.S.) must be documented by the U.S. Coast Guard. The common recreational practice is for vessel number to be issued by state of registration.

PORT OF BATHS LEGACY As the entry port in the capital of old Bath County, Port Bath supported the towns along the coast below the old Albemarle County and westward to the Piedmont and mountains as they grew and grew. Trees from the Pamlico and Neuse River basins turned into roofing shingles, lumber, masts, scantlings, and barrel staves to transport goods during the expansion. Eventually the old Bath County split into 90% of today’s 100 counties, not including seven counties in Tennessee purchased by the Blount family of Beaufort County. (Corbett 1996). Small craft would have been launched directly from Bath’s sandy shoreline and from the few wharves built close to the 1723 customs house, gaol and. Port Bath would have been full of rafts, skiffs, periaugers, shallops, Bermuda-rigged and Jamaica-rigged sloops, Chesapeake-rigged schooners, and the occasional larger brig, snow or three-masted oceanic ship. Bath’s colonial merchants and port tradesmen contributed uniquely to the success of new settlers, fur traders, farmers and planter-merchants before the state capital was moved to Edenton, New Bern and then on to Raleigh. Port Bath ultimately played a pivotal role in the new colony’s maritime commerce as it expanded from the Albemarle region southward. Be sure to visit the State Bath Historic Site and come to the annual May and July outdoor events like Bath Fest and Pirates in the Port. They are fun and educational for all ages. Local residents and visitors alike always enjoy the house tours and grounds with living history, or just strolling along the quiet streets on the peninsula in one of the most beautiful small villages in eastern North Carolina. This year in 2016 the Town and the State of North Carolina will be celebrating not only the creation of Port Bath by the Lords Proprietors in 1716 but also acknowledge the people who lived and worked in 18th century colonial Port of Bath: men, women, and children, tradesmen, apprentices, slaves, and servants, merchants, planters, and ship crew … and last but not least pirates!

FAIR WINDS! GHJ

Passengers Disembarking, Yale British Art Center, New Haven CT

REFERENCES Angley, Wilson. Unpublished Historical Research Report Port of Bath, 1981. Bath Historic Site Visitors Center. Barrow, Thomas. Trade and Empire, 1967. Brooks, Baylus. “‘Born in Jamaica of Very Creditable Parents’ or ‘A Bristol Man Born’? Excavating the Real Edward Thache, ‘Blackbeard the Pirate’,” North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. XCII, No. 3, July 2015. Corbitt, David L. The Formation of the North Carolina Counties 1663 to 1943, 1996. Crittenden, Charles. Carolina Commerce, 1936. Bath Community Library, Gene Roberts Collection. Hill, Michael. The Governors of North Carolina, 2007. Leveler, H. T. and A. R. Newsome. North Carolina: The History of a Southern State ,3rd ed. 1973. Lefler, H. T. and W. S. Powell, Colonial North Carolina: A History, 1973. McCusker, John J. Money and Exchange in Europe and America, 1600-1775: A Handbook, Chapel Hill, 1978. Nathan, Sidney Ed. Natives and Newcomers, the Way We Lived in NC Before 1770, 1983. Price, Jacob M. Perry of London, A Family and Firm on the Seaborne Frontier, 1992. Stephen, Leslie, Sir. Dictionary of National Biography. London, Smith, Elder, & Co., 1885-1901. Ubbelohde, C. W. The Vice Admiralty Court of Royal North Carolina 1729-1759 May 1, 2015. http://www.ncpublications.com/colonial/nchr/subjects/ubbelohde.htm. Vol. 31 (1954), 517-528. Watson, Alan D., Latham, Bea and Samford, Patricia, Bath the First Town in North Carolina 2005. Wheeler, J. H. ed., Historical Sketches of North Carolina from 1584 to 1851 (1964). Wiesenberger, Dennis L. Native American in Early North Carolina, A documentary History. 2013. Woodard, Collin, Smithsonian Magazine, February 2014. Retrieved from http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/last-days-blackbeard-180949440/?no-ist.

EARLY COLONIAL GOVERNORS: Carolina Colony Deputy Governors (North Carolina) John Gibbs 1689-1690 Thomas Jarvis 1690-1694 Thomas Harvey 1694-1699 Henderson Walker 1699-1703 Robert Daniell 1703-1705 Thomas Cary 1705-1711 refused to abandon his office to Glover) William Glover 1706-1710 Carolina Colony Governors (South Carolina) Philip Ludwell 1690-1693 Thomas Smith 1693-1694 Joseph Blake 1694 John Archdale 1695-1696 (at one point governed from the North) Joseph Blake 1696-1700 James Moore 1700-1703 Nathaniel Johnson 1703-1709 Edward Tynte 1709-1710 Robert Gibbes 1710-1711 Governors of Proprietary Province of North Carolina, 1711-1731 Edward Hyde 1711-1712 Thomas Pollock 1712-1714 (acting) Charles Eden 1714-1722 Thomas Pollock 1722 (acting) William Reed 1722-1724 (acting) George Burrington 1724-1725 Richard Everard 1725-1731 Royal Crown Colony of North Carolina, 1731-1775 George Burrington 1731-1734 Nathaniel Rice 1734 (acting) Gabriel Johnston 1734-1752 Nathaniel Rice 1752-1753 (acting) Matthew Rowan 1753-1754 (acting) Arthur Dobbs 1753-1765 William Tryon 1765-1771 James Hasell 1771, 1774 (acting) Josiah Martin 1771-1775

PORT BATH INSTRUCTIONS from LONDON 1703-1723 1703 Appointment and Instructions from Lords Proprietors: James Lee/Leigh was appointed collector of her Majestie’s customs in Pamtico & Neuse Rivers in Bath Co NC by commission dated 2 Nov 1703…Our will is that you take Entries of all Ships or Vessells Inward bound or outward bound from our said Province of Carolina that you take an account of their Lading their Bottom (if Brittish or no) what men navigated withal and all other matters required to be done of Naval Officers by the several acts of Parliament relateing to trade & navigation. You are to obey all such Instruction and directions as you Shall at any time receive Either from us or from the Commissrs of his Majestys Customs in London. (Spelling here is verbatim.) 1709 Instructions from Lords Proprietors to Colonel Edward Tynte, Gov. South & North Carolina on Trade and Navigation Law in Carolina: You…are required to take care, and give charge that no goods or commodities whatsoever be imported or exported in any ship or vessels but in such whereof the Master and three fourths of ye Marriners at least are English, during the War changed to the Master and one Moiety of the Marriners to be English. 1716 Letter from Lords Proprietors to Council and Assembly of North Carolina upon receipt of Nov. 1715 laws revised by NC biennial Assembly: We will carefully look them over…. Mr. Eden has sent to us a Petition from the Freeholders and Inhabitants of Bath Town in the County of Bath….. we have therefore order’d our Secretary to draw an Instrument to signify to the Custom House here (Ed. in London) our Pleasure that the Town of Bath shall be made a Sea Port Town, and to send a Duplicate of said Instrument to you that you may lay the same before the Surveyor General of the Customs when he shall arrive in our Province of North Carolina. Aug 1st 1716. 1716 Proclamation from Lords Proprietors of Carolina concerning Seaport at Bath: …..All ships and vessels whatsoever coming into or going out of the said Port of Bath Town in the County of Bath aforesaid, and lading or unlading any Goods or Comodities there, and the Masters and Commanders thereof and their ladings shall be subject and liable to the same Duties and Visitations, Searches, Penalties and Forfeitures, as any Ships and their Ladings…. by virtue of any Act or Acts of Parliament relating to Trade and Navigation in any other Sea Port whatsoever in any of his Majesty’s Provinces Colonies or Plantations in America. August 1 1716 1723 Appointment Letter and Orders from Lords Proprietors to John Dunston Esq. newly appointed naval officer: We appoint you naval officer of that part of our Province of Carolina that lyes North and East of Cape Fear…. all ships and Vessell Inward bound to or outward bound that part of our said province of Carolina. You are upon your arrival in our Province to take the Oath appointed by act of Parliament. You are to obey all such instruction from us or from the Commissrs of his Majestys Customs in London…You are to have your accounts audited once every three months by the Governor and Council who are to transmit the same to our Secretary in London, You are twice in every year to transmit your Entries of Ships or Vessels to his Majestys Commissionr of the Customs in London the forme of which you may find in the Custom house. You are at the same time to transmit to our Secretary in London Copys of such Entries and accounts as you send to the Commissionrs of the Custom. June 3, 1723

TABL

E 1

NON

PORT

but

Ves

sel r

elat

ed T

rans

actio

ns re

cord

ed b

y Co

unty

Cou

rtho

use

Cler

k, B

ath

Sou

rce:

Dee

dboo

k Vo

l I B

ath

Coun

ty D

ates

169

6-17

29

Ve

ssel

Nam

e

Type

/# to

ns

Capt

ain/

or S

elle

r

O

wne

r/or

Buy

er

Ho

mep

ort

De

stin

atio

n

Car

go /I

nfo

Da

te

1.

--

Smal

l kee

lboa

t Se

ller J

. Rat

liff,

Bost

on m

arrin

er

Buye

r Ed

Mus

son

Bo

ston

Curr

otuc

k 17

’ w/ r

iggi

ng, s

ails,

oar

s 16

99

2.

Pink

Adv

entu

re

Pin

k/Sn

ow

Jere

mia

h Go

odrid

ge, C

omm

. 30

0 ac

. Old

tow

n cr

eek

unk/

poss

Bat

h un

k

la

nd &

POA

-Wm

. Bar

row

17

02

3.

Pam

lico

Sl

oop

Le

vi T

ruew

hitt

Le

vi T

ruew

hitt

Bath

Dere

ham

Crk

sund

y m

erch

andi

se,

1704

Ad

vent

ure

4.

Jam

es

Sl

oop

Ca

pt. J

ohn

Low

Ca

pt. J

ames

Bea

rd

Bath

NY

Un

k

17

04/0

8 5.

--

Sh

allo

p

Thom

as M

orris

of B

ath

W

illis

Hanc

ock

of B

ath

Bath

--

17 ½

’ bar

ter 3

50 a

cres

17

07

6.

Trya

ll

Sloo

p

Capt

. Jam

es B

eard

/Wilk

ins

Ths .

Pete

rson

cred

itor

Bath

SC w

ill, d

ebt 1

1.12

.8

1707

7.

M

arth

a

Brig

Unk

Go

v. R

ober

t Dan

iel

Bath

Char

lest

on

100

Brrls

. & G

oods

17

09

8.

Spee

dwel

l*

Sloo

p/7

Jo

hn R

yall,

Mas

ter,

4 m

en

Debt

or E

dmun

d Pe

arce

Bo

ston

Pam

tico/

Bath

PO

A, d

ebt c

olle

ctio

n 17

10

9.

---

-

Sloo

p

Orde

r to

Bath

ship

wrig

ht

Go

v. T

hom

as C

ary

Bath

--

to b

e bu

ilt b

y Ha

rdin

g 17

10

10.

Jam

es o

f NY

Sloo

p/10

Ca

pt. J

ohes

Low

Ca

pt. J

ames

Bea

rd

Bath

NY

28

’W, 8

’ hol

d, 4

6’ L

1711

-12

11

. Co

nten

t

Sloo

p/13

He

nry

Salte

r, M

aste

r

Capt

. Jam

es B

eard

Ba

th

Ch

arle

ston

Un

k

17

11

12.

Trya

ll

Sloo

p

Capt

. Jam

es B

eard

, mas

ter

Capt

. Jam

es B

eard

Ba

th

Bo

ston

75.3

.5 g

oods

NE

mon

ey

1712

13

. Se

aFlo

wer

Sc

hoon

er

Thom

as E

vere

nden

, Mas

ter

J.Und

erw

ood,

Misc

. un

k/po

ss B

ath

-

POA

witn

ess J

.Lei

gh

1717

14

. Nu

estr

a Se

nora

Sp

anish

Shi

p Ca

pt. O

thni

el .

Davi

s

cond

emne

d

Spai

n

Char

lest

on

Prize

Car

go

17

18

15.

--

Perr

iaug

er+

Edw

ard

Teac

h

Te

ach

aka

Blac

kbea

rd

Bath

Ocra

coke

la

rge

perr

iaug

er

17

18

16.

--

Fren

ch p

rize

Edw

ard

Teac

h,

Teac

h ak

a Bl

ackb

eard

Ba

th

Sc

uttle

d

Burn

ed n

ear B

ath

1718

17

. Re

veng

e Sl

oop

St

ede

Bonn

et,

rena

med

Roy

al Ja

mes

Ba

rbad

os

Tops

ail

To

ok P

ardo

n fro

m E

den

1718

18

. Th

omas

& Jo

hn

Sloo

p

Thom

as H

ardi

ng, m

aste

r

Thom

as H

ardi

ng

Bath

Phil.

POA,

re a

mar

riner

17

19

19.

Eliz

& M

arth

a Sl

oop

Jo

hn B

. Ash

¼ in

tere

st

So

ld 3

oth

er in

tere

sts

Ba

th

@

shar

e 60

GB

NA

17

20

20.

Mov

ill T

rade

r M

an O

f War

* Ca

pt. O

thni

el D

avis

Sel

ler

Q

trm

aste

r R. K

enyo

n SC

Bath

*

Price

200

Ste

rling

GB

1720

21.

Batc

hello

r Sl

oop

Ge

o.St

ephe

n, M

arin

er

Mar

y Gr

een

M

aryl

and

Phila

delp

hia

Unk

1720

22

. Tr

yal

Sl

oop

Th

omas

Wor

sley,

Mer

chan

t D

.l Ol

iver

, Mer

chan

t Bo

ston

NE (B

osto

n)

200

GB ½

shar

e slo

op

1720

/21

23.

The

Adve

ntur

e Lg

. Per

iaug

er

Capt

. Jos

. Her

ott

John

Wes

t

Built

in B

ath

--

Carg

o pi

tch

wha

le o

il

1725

/26

24.

Eagl

e

Sloo

p

Unde

r Cor

neliu

s Fow

ler

Sa

me

Bath

NC

Go

ods,T

ar,P

itch

17

26

25

. Ra

chel

Sloo

p

Unde

r Tho

mas

Pip

pen

Th

omas

Pip

pen

Ch

arle

ston

NC

Tar,

pitc

h, g

oods

17

26

26.

Virg

inity

Sl

oop/

30

2 vo

yage

s und

er Jo

hn W

est

John

Wes

t

Bath

NC

1)

Tar,

pitc

h, tu

rp.

“

“

2)M

illst

ones

, tal

low

, wax

17

26

27.

The

Happ

y Lu

ke

Brig

antin

e In

will

Edw

ard

Salte

r

Bath

--

In w

ill p

roba

te 1

734

c. 1

730

28.

---

Pe

riaug

er

In w

ill sa

ys la

rge

peria

uger

Ed

war

d Sa

lter

Ba

th

--

W

ith sa

ils

c.

173

0 Ve

ssel

s Cou

nt (

27 T

otal

)

Des

ign

Type

…..S

mal

lcraf

t (5)

, Sl

oope

s (1

5 ) b

urde

n 7

to 3

0 to

ns ,

Scho

oner

( 1),

Brig

s( 2

), Sh

ip/P

ink

(1),

Man

of W

ar/P

rivat

eer*

( 1)

, Spa

nish

priz

e (1

) F

renc

h pr

ize (1

) Ho

me

Port

s

(27

Tota

l)

Ba

th (1

6), B

osto

n(3)

, Cha

rlest

on/S

C (2

), M

aryl

and

(1),

Spai

n (1

) Bat

bado

s (1)

u

nk/p

oss B

ath

(2) F

ranc

e (1

) Un

nam

ed

(

5)

sl

oop

(1)

shal

lop

(1) p

erria

uger

(2) s

mal

l kee

lboa

t (1)

N

ot in

clud

ed in

the

abov

e: Ja

ne/R

ange

r Sl

oops

Ca

ptai

ned

by N

C Pi

lots

Cha

rter

ed b

y Go

v.Sp

otsw

ood

Ham

pton

VA

Ocra

coke

Lie

ut R

obt.

May

nard

17

18

TABL

E 2

Vess

el a

ctiv

ity P

ORT

SAM

PLE

reco

rded

in B

ath,

Nor

th C

arol

ina

S

ourc

e: W

ilson

Ang

ley’

s 198

1 un

publ

ished

repo

rt p

otpo

urri

sect

ion

1725

-178

7

Vess

el N

ame

Ty

pe/#

tons

Ca

ptai

n/ o

r Sel

ler

Ow

ner/

or B

uyer

Hom

e Po

rt

De

stin

atio

n

Car

go /I

nfo

Da

te

1.

Adve

ntur

e Pi

ragu

a

Capt

. Jos

eph

Herr

ot

Jo

hn W

est

Ba

th

Ba

th /

York

VA

pitc

h &

pos

s wha

le o

il 17

26

2.

Rang

er

Sc

hoon

er/5

Ow

ner/

Capt

. Jos

ias L

ittle

Josia

s Litt

le

Re

g. B

ath

So

uth

Poto

mac

Ta

r, sk

ins,

rice,

tallo

w

1737

3.

3

Frie

nds B

ath

unk/

70

Ca

pt Ja

mes

Elli

son

cr

ew o

f 7 m

en

Bat

h

Engl

and

Gr

eenw

ich S

eam

en H

osp.

174

0 4.

Br

ittan

ia

Sloo

p/50

Un

der S

imon

Wad

e

6000

shin

gles

Bost

on

Ki

ngst

on Ja

m.

Barr

. Tar

, Pitc

h, T

urp,

Fish

174

9 5.

Sp

arro

w

Sloo

p/5

Un

der W

m. P

ledg

er

He

nry

Lyon

New

Yor

k Pe

rth

Ambo

y Ta

r and

stav

es

17

51

6.

Drap

er

un

k/12

0

Capt

. Wm

. Wia

tt

cr

ew o

f 13

men

Liver

pool

Ne

vis

pa

id G

reen

wich

Hos

p ta

x 17

51

7.

New

Burn

slo

op/1

00

Unde

r Jam

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BRIDGE TO BRIDGE WALKING TOUR WELCOME TO

HISTORIC BATH

Port of Bath Historic MarkerHwy 92 by the bridge entering town

The first port of entry intoNorth Carolina was in 1716.

The colony’s first shipyard and agrist mill were established in the town.

Bath Commemorative Marker. C. 1924 - North Main Street.

The original location was in the center of Main and Carteret Streets.

The marker reads Bath originally the Indian town of Pampticough

was settled by the white men about 1690. It is the oldest town in North

Carolina.

Enterting Bath on the left is a public green

space. . Historic Bath Foundation purchased

the land in 2004 to build the Bridge Park for public access to the Bath

Creek

Historic Bath 1705 Entry sign by bridge

Oldest Town in North CarolinaIncorporated 1705

European settlement nearthe Pamlico Riverin the 1690’s led to

the creation of Bath.

Matthew Rowan Historic Marker Acting governor, 1753-1754. Councilor,

Assemblyman, and Surveyor General. Merchant in the Irish Trade, made Bath a regular port of call and “caryed to Ireland one hundred pounds silver money” on one voyage. . . He later settled in Bath Town.

Former SchoolhouseC. 1900

This building and house next door were once one building that the

community’s school until 1921. T.A. Brooks later had it cut in half for

employee housing.

Built for Timothy Augustus Brooks. The Brooks Grocery became the

core of Bath’s business district. In 1938 became the Swindell Cash Store, saved by the Historic Preservation of

N.C. 2005

Former Bath Town Office c. 1960

109 South Main StreetBuilt for the Tankard’s Barber Shop. Purchased in 1995 by the Town of Bath to be used as a Town Office.

Private residential use today.

East side of South Main Street Built by French Captain Michael Coutanche 1751 as Bath Town’s most gracious Georgian

residence and bought by Port Collector Col. Robert Palmer and his wife Lady Margaret in 1764. Palmer owned 300 acres, warehouses and wharves plus a 1200 acre plantation. Two- story features include twin chimneys

and a full length kitchen cellar.

Palmer Marsh House

James Adams Floating Theatre

Brought theatre and vaudeville to Bath and the eastern Pamlico tributaries. Inspired

Edna Ferber’s novel “ShowBoat” which later inspired the Broadway musical, two movies

and a play.

South Main Street.A buried millstone honors Edmund

Harding 1890-1970 , champion of Bath restoration during the 1950’s and 1960’s.

Wrote the play “Queen Anne’s Bell” and narrated Bath’s 250th anniversary

celebration in 1955.

Private Residence South Main Street

Former pool hall/dance hall Harding Landing

Thomas Harding shipwright, built a 46 foot sloop for Governor Thomas Cary, vestry of St. Thomas Church, owned a plantation outside Bath.

The State’s dock is there today.

Former Post Office and Drug Store c. 1940 –

Main StreetBuilt by Charles Bowen as commercial rental property. The first occupants were post office and Leland Brooks Drugstore.

First Public Library andfree school Historic Marker

South Main Street Established when Thomas Bray and

the Society for Propagation of Gospel in Foreign Parts sent books to St. Thomas Parish in 1700-1701. A free school for

Indians and blacks was also created

First Post RoadHistoric Marker

South Main StreetThe mail arrived from Boston to Charleston, linking Bath to New

Bern and Bath to Edenton by ferries. This was originally an

Indian trading path between the Pamlico and Neuse rivers .

Edmund H. Harding Monument

John F. TompkinsHistoric Marker

South Main Street Antebellum owner of Glebe house in

the 1840’s. Tompkins was a noted NC agricultural reformer and a founder of the NC State Fair. Also published the “Farmer’s Journal “ 1852-53 in Bath .

Bath County Courthouseand Jail.

South Main Street The vacant lot once held a 1723

courthouse and jail. An early 20th century Bath Town Hall and in 1955 “Queen Anne’s Bell” performed here

seen by 5000 people.

Williams Glebe House c. 1762 200 South Main Street

First parish glebe house in NC with a glebe of 300 acres. Currently owned by the Episcopal Church Diocese of East

Carolina and used for St. Thomas Church administration.

St. Thomas Church c. 1734Craven Street

Queen Anne’s bounty gave its bell, King George II presented the church silver cande-labra, Bishop of London Gave the commu-nion service. The church was completely

finished by 1762. Flemish-bond brick brought from English set in oyster-shell

lime. Still in use today.

Stone bust from Longleat House c. 16th Craven Street, Near the entrance of St. Thomas

From the frieze of the home of the Marquess of Bath in England Ped-estal built of ballast stones, retrieved from Bath Creek once held in the

cargo holds of old sailing ships to add stability on the seas.

Queen Anne’s Bell c. 1732Craven Street, Church grounds of St.

Thomas ChurchSet in a small English type belfry, cast

in 1732 and paid by Queen Anne’s Bounty, founded 1704 for the purchase

of church furnishings and charity. Cast in England and recast in Troy New York 1872. Twenty one years older than the 1753 Liberty Bell in

Philadelphia.

Bath United Methodist Church c 1891206 South Main Street

The bell in the belfry obtained from a vessel in the harbor used to alarm the town of fire. Pulpit and pews original to 1892. Two older churches existed on the site

built 1825 and 1832

Dr. T. J Nicholson House c 1890

213 South Main Street Dr. believed to have performed the

first Cesarean section in NC in 1893, both mother and child survived.

Edward Teach Historic MarkerSouth Main Street

Notorious Pirate known as “BlackBeard” who lived in Bath while Charles Eden was governor. Killed at Ocracoke November 22, 1718 by British Naval Lieut. Robert

Maynard .

John Lawson Historic Marker

South Main StreetAn English surveyor, fur trader and author of “New Voyage to Caroli-na” published in 1709. Captured in 1711 by the Tuscarora Indians on a Neuse Tributary and killed.

His home overlooked Bonner Point and brick ruins are believed to be from his home with wife Hannah

and daughter Isabella. Today John Lawson’s walk extends around the northern boundary of his original town plan drawn in 1706-1710.

Bonner House c. 1830Front Street Built by Joseph Bonner as a second home, owner of a turpentine distillery. Original features include hand blown glass panes, wide pine floor boards, and delicate hand carved mantelpieces.

Front Street Beautiful view across Bath Creek

to Plum Point, Archbell Point, and out to Pamlico River owned by the State of North Carolina, available

for picnics anytime. Inquire at the visitor center about special events or

weddings by appointment.

107 S. Harding Street Organized by

Bath native W. O. Winfield, the

congregation moved to this new sanctuary

in 1909. Beautiful stained glass window.

Bath Christian Church c. 1905Bonner Point on Bath Creek

Van De Veer House c. 1790Carteret Street

Gambrell roofed with double-shoul-dered Flemish bond chimneys at each end. Originally on North Main Street, moved in 1970, believed to be built by Ephraim Whitmore, altered by Jacob

Van De Veer who purchased the home in 1824. Van De Veer had a rope walk

on the outskirts of town and was a business partner of Joseph Bonner.

Bath Community Libraryest. 1956

102 S. Harding StreetThe current Beaufort Hyde Martin Regional Library

is today located in the East wing of the old Bath High School. The dedication and grand opening was March 15, 2014. Since the 1715 legislation of the state’s first

lending library the library has had many homes, includ-ing 1956 in the Glebe House, the A.C.D. Noe Library building constructed by the Episcopal Diocese in 1976

and 100 Carteret Street in 1989.

Bath High School c. 1921 102 South Harding

Graduated sixty five classes from 1925-1989. Saved in 2005, then listed

on the National Register of Historic Places January 30, 2008. A community owned preservation project. BHSP final payment to the Town of Bath was made

December 13, 2014.

Original Visitors Center of the Bath State Historic Site c. 1934

South Main and Carteret Street First built as a dwelling house, after World War II became Braxton Burbage’s candy store and later as

Rachel Tankard’s store.

NC State Historic Bath Visitor Center c. 1970Carteret Street

NC Department of Cultural Resources operates the visitor center as part of the state historic site.

Established 1933 as a state historic site.

Christopher Gale Historic MarkerHwy 92 South

First Chief Justice of the colony and his plantation overlooking Back Creek was known as Kirby Grange.

Bath Town’s Back BridgeHighway 92 South

Reverend and evangelist George Whitfield’s legend: Upon leaving Bath Tow he dusted the dirt from his boots and stated that Bath was cursed

and would never prosper. To this day the town has less than 300 people.

Research* shows that Beaufort County Community College ranks FIRST among community colleges in Northeastern North Carolina and SECOND among all the state’s 58 community colleges for the future wage earnings of students! Our students can expect, on average, to see their salaries increase by 40 percent upon leaving the college, compared to when they began their studies. And it’s also proven that BCCC can signi� cantly reduce the cost of your education, whether to earn a four-year degree or for shorter-term career training!Call us to get the facts...then join us today to grow your future earnings!

BEAUFORT COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE5337 Highway 264 East, Washington, NC 27889

252-946-6194 • wwwbeaufortccc.edu

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300th PORT BATH COMMEMORATIVE BOOKLET SPONSORS

LORDS PROPRIETORS $500 BEAUFORT COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE

CITY OF WASHINGTON FARM BUREAU Washington-Belhaven-Chocowinity

SERVPRO OF BATH - Cindy Baldwin IN HONOR OF FALLEN SHIPMATES D.T.S. - Bill Dunn

DEPUTY GOVERNORS $250 PORT CUSTOMS COLLECTORS $100 ADAMS AND ASSOCIATES, INC. Anonymous Gift Michael L. Adams , RFC Mr. Bobby E. & Mrs. Elaine B. Roberson Bath Harbor Motel & Marina, Inc In Memory Of My Grandparents, B.A. Paul Minor Brooks, Mayor & Ruth F. Brooks In Memory of Leland H. & Myrtle I.Wallace Everette Treasurer. William E.”Bill“ Tankard

Mauri F. Evans Insurance Agency, Inc. Lowry Heirlooms Paolo Everette Roma Smocking Classes in Historic Bath

The Family of William E. and Polly S. Cox BIG BARGAIN FURNITURE & APPLIANCES THE RICH COMPANY BILLY JEFFERSON

# 1 in Real Estate Rachel K’s Bakery Gillian Hookway-Jones STEWART’S JEWELRY STORE

OCRACOKE PILOTS $50 DOCKHAND STEVEDORES $25 Anonymous Gift Cabbages and Kings,

Donald Gurganus English Inspired Gifts and Cards LOW TIDE REALTY Congratulations from Washington-Beaufort

Sandy & Glenn Holt County Chamber of Commerce Old Town Country Kitchen Corky House, Broker/Appraiser

Century 21 The Realty Group Cottage Treasures 100 Main Street, Bath

436 Carteret Street, Bath Ridgewood Manor Rehab & Nursing Center The Inn on Bath Creek In Honor of Dennis & Josie Hookway Pamlico River Antiques

Devil Men of Cape Fear IN MEMORY OF Mr. Bobby Ray Mangum

& Mr. Jerry Wayne Wemberly Rebecca (Beck) Rogers

Photo courtesy of Bill Dunn, Queen Elizabeth moored in Bath Creek during an April snow.

State Farm, Bloomington, IL

Family.Friends.Community.

We’re all in this together.

1211007

Get to a better State®.

Mauri F Evans Ins Agcy IncMauri Evans, Agent521 W 15th Street

Washington, NC 27889Bus: 252-946-5114

State Farm® has a longtradition of being there. That'sone reason why I'm proud tosupport the 300thAnniversary, Port of Bath.

Education

300TH pORT BATH SOUVENIR BOOKLET CONTENTS 5.5.15 PRINTERS PROOF