p337  XXIII.

The China Voyage

Cold December winds, blowing contrarily up stream, held the Asia at Gloucester Point for three days. John Barry was too happy, with deck planks beneath his feet and towering spars overhead, to be fretful of delay. It was good to stride his own poop with the knowledge that, after an interval of four years, he would soon be at sea. Better still, there was anticipation of strange ports and scantily charted oceans. A voyage to China in 1787 was a great adventure.

"We're going to little known land, Patrick," he had told his seventeen‑year‑old nephew, "and you must keep a journal; not just a sea log, but an account of everything of moment. Observe it all and jot it down lad — strange occurrences, the customs and habits of the people, the nature of the trade, the appearances of the various countries."

As Patrick Hayes profited by this advice, his narrative of the voyage enables us today to follow the Asia on her course half‑way around the world.

They dropped down to Reedy Island, on December 17, where, for two days, the people were employed "in Clearing Decks and getting Stock on board and Sundry other preparations for Sea." With a brisk wind out of the northwest, they weighed, on the morning of December 20, and steered down the bay. Barry studied the Asia's performance.

"I can not say much for the Ships Sailing," he committed, "but She Steers very well which is a good quality. She is not so Stiff as I could wish but we must take the more care and she will be getting Stiffer every day."

Close observation of the crew convinced him he had chosen well, for, "my Officers and men please me very much . . . I can truly say I never had a Soborer Ships Company in my life."

 p338  These conclusions went into a letter to the owners, which the pilot took ashore at four o'clock that afternoon.

"We have a good prospect before us," the Captain wrote, and the Asia pushed out past the lighthouse on Henlopen, and poked her nose into the Atlantic. Violent squalls heralded her advent into the open sea. Great waves crashed across her to foam in the scuppers, and give Patrick Hayes a taste of what lay ahead.

"Our Ship very leaky," he penned that night in his journal, "our decks constantly Full of water."

But on the poop, John Barry sniffed deeply, delightedly, of the tangy salt air.

* * *

Tender sailer though she might be, the winds were kind to the Asia. They blew almost constantly out of the northwest, forcing her along, under double-reefed topsails, at eight, nine and ten knots per hour.º The course was east by south. Barry was steering for the Cape Verde islands, off the west coast of Africa, availing himself of the favorable breezes as long as they lasted before turning his helm southward toward the Cape of Good Hope.

On the long run across the Atlantic, he drilled his crew in the use of the four 6‑pounders. The little battery might prove very necessary in the waters adjacent to the northern Africa coast, where the Asia ran the hazard of meeting Barbary corsairs. For several years, the Algerians had returned to the piratical practices which had been suspended while the European powers had fleets at sea during the Revolution. Barry was familiar with the fate of two American vessels captured in 1785. He wanted no similar experience. He did not know that Portugal, at war with Algiers, had bottled the corsairs in the Mediterranean, and would hold them impotent for four years.

So, with no unpleasant experiences of this nature, the Asia rounded the Cape Verde islands, and stood southward between them and Africa, picking up the gentle northeast trade winds, and, on January 24, 1788, striking soundings off Cape Roxo, on the Guinea coast. They were deep in tropical weather in 13° north latitude.

A muffled pistol shot reached Barry's ears on the evening of  p339 February 3, and sent him headlong from his cabin to find a group of excited men gathered outside the locked cubby-hole which housed the third mate. They broke down the door and found Mr. Marsh sprawled within, a suicide. The tragedy appalled young Patrick Hayes.

"Mr March 3 Mate Shot himself in his Birth with a pistol," he entered in his journal. "Next day we committed his body to the waves with the usual ceremony the ball entered His right breast and came out through His back he left no wrightings behind him to Justify the Commission of so horrid a crime several days previous to his death he appeared very much dejected."

Life on shipboard thereafter was monotonous with only such peculiar phenomena to observe as "round black Spots on the Sun," and a sea that "seemed all on fire." The Asia crossed the Equator, on February 12, and met the southeast trade winds. Through the tropic of Capricorn the weather was pleasant, and fishing was, at first, a joy, and, later, a surfeit. Shoals of fish, "about the size of a Shad," were encountered daily, each surrounded by sharks and bonettas. The crew turned to catching these vultures of the deep, and, wrote Hayes, "we Lessoned the number of those Tyrants Who Spread terror and devastation amongst the inhabitants of the Ocean." Then fresh fish "became nauseous to us," probably because several hands were slightly poisoned by everything some "that lay in the Moon all night."

In mid‑March, in 28° south latitude, the southeast trade winds were succeeded by strong breezes from the north. Barry changed his course to the southeast, and the Asia ran into fresh gales, which continued until, on the morning of March 29, they spied the land some sixteen miles distant. Several albatross, which Hayes's journal described as "large Birds their Wings White the rest of them of a dark brown Colour," wheeled away from their patrol astern. Through morning and afternoon, the ship ploughed steadily closer to the African coast. Barry ordered the guns stowed below, the anchor on the gunwale. Night fell and the lights of Cape Town twinkled on the port bow as they came to a mile off shore in Table bay. Several cable-lengths away lay Thomas Truxtun's Canton. Numerous other ships were also in the capacious anchorage. The Asia had  p340 been three months and nine days in her passage from the Delaware capes.

* * *

While Barry arranged with the Dutch East India Company for permission to trade, found no market for the masts and spars he had brought from the Pennsylvania forests, and shipped a quantity of Saraki ginseng for delivery in Canton, young Patrick Hayes obeyed his uncle's injunction to see and record what he saw. During the two weeks the Asia lay in Table bay, Patrick was given liberty to stay on shore. His observations fill many pages of his journal, from descriptions of the imposing mountains — Table Land, Sugar Loaf and Lion's Rump — which guard the landward approaches of the colony, to boyish, but informative, word pictures of the inhabitants. Particularly was he impressed with the wonders of Cape Town.

"The Town is well built of Stone and bricks," he explained, "the howses two Stoury high with flat Roofs, others ar covered with Thatch the howses have from 40 to 60 foot the Streets are Straight and parallel the Town contains a bout 1200 howses They take a great deal of pains to keep their Howses Clean and elegant firnished and well painted."

Of the East India Company's garden he was enthusiastic, terming it "the Greatest ornament." The garden, said he, "is in the form of an oblong Square containing a boud •15 acres in which is the Governors howse." Walks, cutting each other at right angles, divided the garden into squares and each square was "Surrounded with oack trees of about 12 feet high planted close to each other." Within these squares were vegetable gardens whose produce went "for the use of the armeys." He could admire, too, "a well built Church with a steeple and two Clocks," but what really took his eye was the garden's "collection of Strange beasts and birds." No modern zoological garden, apparently, could boast a larger or more varied menagerie. We'll let young Hayes catalogue some of the occupants:

"the Ostrich the Casavory the Seketaws the Crown Birds likewise Owls hawks and parrots &c the beasts are the Baboon Zebra or the wlde ass the Jackall the Tygar Wolf the Tygar Cat, Leoparg Wolfs Hyenas Buffaloe the Hart Spring buck & Several others."

 p341  Patrick liked the Dutch. They were "generally well dressed," with "good complexions withawl," even though "the people are very corpulent." That they lived to a ripe old age, he attributed to the wholesome air.​a The natives amused him.

"the hottentots are not very black," he said, and, in the back country they proved as troublesome "as the American Indians do to the back Settlers in that Country." That the Hottentots should insist upon wearing a sheep skin over their shoulders, with the wool next the skin, convinced him that "their customs and manners are as in consistant with reason as their dress is with that of the Europeans."

Many more matters did the lad note:

"they have neither Loyers or Justises of peace here."

"the Sheep are remarkable for their large Tails which weigh from 4 to 6 pounds."

"the Small Sword and Cockade complate the dress of every Man who wishes to appear like gentleman."

"the country people come to town in waggons drawn by tene twelve and some-times by 14 large oxen."

"people Convicted of Capital crimes are broke on the wheel and gibbetted."

Throughout his journal one can sense the dominant, iron hand of the Dutch East India Company — miserable slaves, carrying "the heaviest burdens"; sentences of fifteen or sixteen years at hard labor "for the most trifling offenses"; and three gibbets on Robbins island, where, in sight of the shipping in Table bay, "hangs the bodyies of un fortunate men."

Meanwhile, John Barry had been completing arrangements for early departure. To replace the deceased Mr. Marsh, he had found a competent man — the sole survivor of the brig Navigator, of Baltimore, which had overset in a storm off the African coast. Some repairs had been necessary, chiefly fishing the bowsprit which had been weakened in the March gales. The Captain and his supercargoes had discovered leaky casks in the hold with the result that "fourteen Kegs of Cargo Rum is entirely out, and all the Spirits of Turpentine."

Truxtun had departed, on April 11, but the Asia was not in shape to accompany him. Two days later Barry weighed, and stood forth from Table bay, Canton bound.

* * *

 p342  The last long lap began with tragedy. One day out of Cape Town, with the wind blowing hard from the southeast, and the Asia pitching amid mountainous seas, Jack Kennedy, able seaman, was washed off the bows.

"We did all that was in our power to save him," reads Patrick Hayes's journal, "but it was to no pur pose."

Southward and eastward thereafter, the Asia worried her way through continuous rain, frequent squalls and "very Cold Weather." On April 24, the bowsprit was discovered to be sprung anew. Fortunately, the wind abated that night, enabling Barry to make quick repairs. The crew got runners and tackles to the foremast as preventers, and sent down jib, jib‑boom, fore-topgallant and mizzen-topgallant masts and yards. With tension eased, the bowsprit was again fished.

"the weather seemed to wate for us to complete this necessary Job," said Hayes.

That night and for the next week, the ship was lashed by "terrible Gales of wind." Finally, Barry abandoned his course — he had been trying to make his way due eastward on about the thirty-ninth parallel of south latitude — and veered to the north. On May 2, in 37° 45′ south latitude, he again turned eastward. With the wind from the northwest, progress was good, although the days were a procession of rain, hail and fresh gales. Sunday, May 11, was bright and serene, with a light breeze from the westward — the first pleasant day since leaving the cape.

"We dryed ourselfs and our Cloaths which were sufficennt Soaked," reported young Hayes. Off to the southward through the clear atmosphere loomed the island of St. Paul, a rugged rock, remarkably high and about six leagues in circumference. It was a landmark for ships in the East India trade. Those bound for China or the Dutch islands veered northeast at this point in their voyage; those hardy adventurers for New Zealand and the Pacific islands continued eastward.

Barry pointed the Asia's bow into the northeast. With the southeast trade winds blowing fresher, progress was good. They crossed the tropic of Capricorn in 103° east longitude, on May 25, and, a week later, were nearing the coast of Java.

"On the second June," recorded Patrick Hayes, "we got the  p343 anchor on the gunnal and mounted our guns and got the small arms on deack and cleand them."

Necessary precautions these, for piratical Malayan proas and Chinese junks lurked in the Dutch East India islands and in the South China sea awaiting defenceless merchantmen. No yellow freebooters, however, would catch John Barry unawares.

* * *

Java Head! Romance in the very sound of those two words. It came in sight on June 6, a rugged promontory that bore its name proudly. For three days before, the Asia had been skirting the Java coast, working slowly westward toward the mouth of the Strait of Sunda. Patrick Hayes caught the glamour, the mysticism of that point, and, when toward evening of the next day, the Asia stood close in, he prefaced his journal entry with the enti­cing phrase, "Wrote a Brest of Javahead."

Barry waited for daylight before venturing too near. He congratulated himself upon his foresight, for the ship, with little wind to aid, had to battle a strong current running out to sea through the channel between Princess Island on the north and Java Head on the south. It was eleven o'clock that night before they dropped anchor in Mew bay, to find there a Danish ship which had left the Cape of Good Hope several days before them.

"Next Morning we Saw Several Canoes but none of them came to us," Hayes wrote. "We gave chase to one of them in our Jolly boat and soone came up with her in her ware 4 Mayalons they had 2 Turtle Cocoa Nuts and plantains Benanoes & several Monkeys aboard they always go quite Naked save a piece of Stuf to cover their naked ness we under stud from their signs that the Dutch would put them to death if they Catched them Selling Turtle or dealing for any Sort of prodce to foreigners however with Some persuasions and the Sight of Some money they Sold us the Turtle for two Dollars."

Later that day, a Dutch officer came on board from the town of New Anjer to learn the name of the vessel and her destination. He had a lucrative post also as provisioner. From him Barry purchased nine turtles, some fruit and a barrel of flour. Passage through the Strait of Sunda began on the morning of  p344 June 10. Young Hayes went into considerable detail about it, with descriptions of both the Java and Sumatra shores, separated by six leagues of water.

"we had a grate number of canoes along Side every Day," he continued. "the Malayians did not Seeme in the Least Shy their canoes had out riggr to keep them from over Setting . . . their Sails made of mats in the form of an Oblong."

Midway in the passage, on June 11, they spoke Truxtun, in the Canton, and another Philadelphian, Captain Keane, whose ship is not identified. They were in company for only a day, as both Truxtun and Keane veered southeastward for an intermediate stop at Batavia before continuing on to Canton. Barry's way, once clear of the Strait, lay north-northeast, skirting the Sumatra shore. At noon, on June 15, he put the Asia's bow into the tortuous Strait of Banca, lying between the island of that name and Sumatra. For two days they fought flood and ebb tides which threatened to carry them on rocks or shoals. Each night monstrous bats arose from the eastern shore to flap their way like giant fish hawks to the island. At sunrise they returned, and young Hayes noted "their wings are •6 or 7 feet long and as wide as their body is long."

A Dutch sloop and schooner, stationed to guard the coast, were spoken in the passage of the Strait, which "looks very much like the Delaware Bay." On June 17, they came into open water. Ahead lay clear sailing. They crossed the Equator, on June 20, steered northeast by north to avoid the Anamba islands, and entered the South China sea. Squalls and abundant rain greeted them. Ten more days, with nary the sight of a possible pirate junk, and, as June ended, the Asia dropped anchor abreast of Macao, outpost of Canton, at the mouth of the great Sikiang river. The outward voyage was ended, and John Barry could now learn, at first hand, "the way of the heathen Chinese."

* * *

Numerous Chinese boarded the Asia before her cable had ceased running through the hawse hole. Barry was ready for them. Thomas Truxtun had forewarned him of what to expect; had, in fact, posted him upon the odd procedures involved in  p345 trading with the Hong merchants at Canton. From among the applicants, each with "good recommendations from those they had Served before," the Captain selected his comprador — the individual who, for commissions and a certain extra compensation known as a "cumshaw," would guide the destiny of the Asia up to Wampoa, that point on the Sikiang river beyond which no foreign vessel might proceed.

The Asia lay at Macao twenty-four hours while the comprador secured from Canton a Chop, or license to trade. With this and a pilot hired for forty dollars, the ship proceeded up the river to Bocca Tigres, where the Teng West river flows into the Sikiang to broaden the estuary that extends from Canton to the sea. Here another pilot was necessary, and two mandarin soldiers came on board. Darkness overtook them at Bocca Tigres, and the soldiers would not permit the Asia to ascend farther that night.

"These small gentlemen," as Barry amusedly referred to the soldiers, "are Very tenacious of their Case, the object of their [being] on board is to prevent Any Smuggling trade (the Ship now being in the limits of Canton), a worse inconvenience from their presence is that they cannot be Safely trusted when their are any light Articles of value but if a bottle of rum & some provisions are Given them they will return to their Boat which rides aStern and give no farther trouble."

Next day, the upward course continued until Wampoa was reached. Here the comprador earned his "cumshaw" by expeditious arrangements for a permanent berth for the Asia, and provisioning of the crew. Chinese boatmen offered to convey Barry on to Canton, but the Captain was not to be beguiled. He knew he could land in his own boat at no charge, but that if he went ashore as passenger in a local craft there would be a tax of four dollars for bringing in a foreigner — a tax he would have to pay. Leaving James Josiah in command with instructions to begin immediate repairs — particularly to get in a new bowsprit — the Captain and Supercargoes Frazier and Mifflin went up to Canton in the long boat. In that enormous and picturesque Oriental city, they learned that much involved negotiation had yet to be unravelled.

Fortunately, Barry was able to engage Chicqua, the best linguist in Canton for a "cumshaw" of $216. That smoothed  p346 the way in procuring one of the best factories in the quarter reserved for foreign captains. A factory was merely the quaint way in which the Cantonese designated a combination dwelling house, warehouse and trading store. The one rented by Barry was the best "in point of elegance," and the rental was $1200 for the season. He selected it because it contained also a treasury, namely, a strongly built apartment to keep his silver safe from robbers.

With a roof assured for over their heads, Barry, the supercargoes and Chicqua set off to contract with the security, or Hong merchant. There were nine such in Canton that summer, each specifically designated by the Chinese Imperial government to superintend foreign trade. The Hong merchants were answerable to government for all duties on imports and exports. Only through their consent could goods be landed or shipped, and, as a body, they were responsible for the failure of any of their members to execute his contracts. Also, while not compulsory to buy everything from them, they had a corner on most of the trading with foreigners.

"A free choice is allowed of either of the Hong Merchants," Barry explained, "& the Merchants Solicit the preference often with a good deal of earnestness. their is no Obvious emolument arising to the Security Merchant but the profit on his goods."

The Captain selected his Hong merchant, and they entered into a written contract. "When you have the name of a China man to his agreement," Barry commented, "he is much more observant of it."

One more step was necessary before actual trading could begin — determination of the port charges to be levied against the Asia. For this purpose, the Grand Hoppoo of Canton sent a deputy down to Wampoa to measure her. After the charge had been determined, Barry learned it had to be swelled by a "cumshaw" of better than $2700 to the Grand Hoppoo. In return for this costly bribe, that worthy presented the ship with "two Bulls a sack of dirty Sugar and a few bottles of Samshaw." Finally, the mandarin soldiers had to be presented with eighteen dollars each.

The cost of doing business in Canton was high, and the time to arrange for it was long. July was well nigh past before John Barry and his young supercargoes were able to get down to the  p347 actual trading in anticipation of which they had sailed so many weary months.

* * *

Negotiations for the sale of the Asia's cargo and conversion of the proceeds into china, silk and tea were largely in the hands of Messrs. Frazier and Mifflin. Barry counseled with them at all times, but his major concerns were the execution of the adventures entrusted to him by his friends, the purchasing of goods on his own account, and a close supervision of the Asia at Wampoa.

There was social life as well as business. Truxtun had arrived from Batavia. Samson, Dickson, Thompson and Page were other American skippers whose vessels lay at Wampoa. And there was a Robert Berry, a British merchant captain, whose friendship endured long after, culminating in later years with the gift to Barry of a fine young Malabar boy. Many an evening was spent luxuriously by these kindred spirits in the various factories, consuming good liquor, puffing strong tobacco, indulging in salty reminiscences and recounting humorous experiences in trading with the Chinese merchants.

The long boat was kept constantly in ply between Canton and Wampoa, and frequently Barry went down to the Asia to see that all was well. Josiah reported in the periods between visits, and some of his quaint letters have been preserved. Thus, on August 28, he wrote that "we have broke all the Casks out of the Hole, and stowd them in the tween Decks." Five more kegs of rum were found "intirely out," and a number of others "sounded Hollow." While the ginseng was still on board, he hoped to begin landing it next day. Almost a month later, on September 25, he recorded the arrival of some of the outbound cargo — sixty‑two boxes of china, weighing ten tons. He had stowed it in the forehold, and had room for as much more in the space from midway of the main hatch to the step of the mizzen mast. Several of the men were sick, and John Galt, the carpenter, had been discharged. On October 9, he reported numerous sundries sold to some of the other ships, and the delivery ashore of the last of the 247 spars and eighteen masts which had been brought from Philadelphia. Progress in repairing the Asia had been slow.

 p348  "We have got the mast and riggen Compleated," he said, "and are Employ'd about the Bottom, hope by the later end of the week if the weather is good to have the hull in tolerable order; the Carpenter has but Just finist the out side or should have begun it before."

Barry was having his own experiences shopping for his friends. Frequently he blessed that good lady, Mrs. Hazlehurst, with her china set to be matched. He had started out bravely on a round of the china shops in Canton, but the particular pattern was not to be found. The principal china merchant in the city had assured him it could be matched at Nanking, but an agent there was unable to fill the order. Another search of the Canton shops proved unavailing, and the Captain finally invested Mrs. Hazlehurst's fifty dollars in silks.

"I hope Madam you will not conceive an Idea, that I did not do every thing in my Power to serve you," he wrote her, "for, believe me, it has given me a great deal of uneasiness ever since the disappointment [at Nanking]."

Executing the commission of another lady, Mrs. Nathaniel Lewis, also provided Barry with plenty of trouble. The amount she had entrusted to him was insufficient to cover the goods she wanted.

"I am Persuaded both you and I would have been better Satisfied at this time," a letter to her explained, "had we Known the Price of Silks in China before I Sailed from Philada." The piece of satin she desired was not to be had at the price she expected. Rather than disappoint her, he was advancing the necessary additional money, and charging her seventy-five per cent interest. "Believe me," he concluded, "it is not as much as I could have made of the Money to have bought things in Canton and sold them in Philada."

All other orders and his own requirements were completed by the end of November, and a goodly portion of the main cargo had been shipped. Barry warned Josiah, on November 26: "As we have a Valuable part of our Cargo on Board, I expect that either you or Capt Sword will be always on board as I have dependence but on you & him."

During December, the last of the goods were sent down to the Asia, and Barry began to settle the accounts. These took as long as had been required for the preliminaries the preceding  p349 July, and gave the Captain and Messrs. Frazier and Mifflin many headaches. While they wrangled over them with merchant, comprador and linguist, Barry took time out to send invoices and bills of lading by another vessel to many of those for whom he had made purchases. One of the bills of lading, covering John Brown's ten bales of nankeens, exists today — a quaint old formal document which concludes, "and so God send the Good Ship to her desired Port in Safety."

Barry's and Truxtun's long boats carried them down to Wampoa for the last time on January 8, 1789. They had bid farewell to Canton — all business completed — and had agreed to sail in company through the South China sea, it being "the most dangerous part of the Voyage." It was January 12, when the Asia and Canton dropped down the Sikiang river to Macao, and cleared for home — two East Indiamen laden deep with silks, china, sugar and every variety of tea from Imperial Hyson to Bohea. Those precious cargoes were gratifying results of six months of laborious trading with the shrewd merchants of Canton.

* * *

No narrative from the pen of young Patrick Hayes enlivens the homeward voyage of the Asia. That young gentleman's journal ends abruptly in the closing days of the outward passage. If he continued it in another memorandum book, it has not been preserved. So, we have nothing from Patrick of the six months in Canton, nor of the long stretch back to Philadelphia. We must rely upon John Barry and the newspapers, and the former supplies the first information from North Island, in the Strait of Sunda, on January 27. The Asia and Canton had anchored there that morning.

"As soon as we fill a few Casks of Water We leave this in Company," he informed his owners in a letter which he entrusted to Truxtun. "How long we shall be in Sight of each other, I do not pretend to say; as the Canton sails much faster than the Asia. should she Arrive fifteen or twenty days before us I would Advise you not to be uneasy for there is that difference in the Sailing of both Ships. And the remainder of the passage is no more dangerous than the Common Occarunces of  p350 a Voyage at Sea . . . The Ship is in the best of order and we are all well on Board."

And now we come to a vivid demonstration of what a master mariner John Barry was. Through the Strait, around Java Head, southwest to the island of St. Paul, and so due westward to the Cape of Good Hope, he kept the Asia always in sight of the faster-sailing Canton. Blow high, blow low, the two ships clung together, and dropped anchor but a few hours apart in Table bay, off Cape Town, in March. A short stay for provisions and they stood forth on the last leg of the voyage.

Two days out of Cape Town, on March 23, a violent gale separated them. Barry conned his heavily-freighted ship with that skill for which he was famous. Northward through the tropic of Capricorn sailed the Asia, across the Equator, around the Cape Verde Islands, and then, out across the Atlantic, west by north. On June 3, they picked up the Delaware capes and entered the bay.

"Thursday last [June 4] arrived here the ship Asia, Captain John Barry," recorded the Pennsylvania Mercury and Universal Gazette of June 6, "in four months and twenty days from Canton in China."

Barry had beaten Truxtun home! Not until twenty-four hours later did the Canton arrive!

* * *

Before dusk of June 4, John Barry had ridden the •four miles to Strawberry Hill, to reach home and an overjoyed Sarah ahead of the news that the Asia was in port. He regaled his doting wife and Miss Betsy Keen with stories of Canton and the long voyage, and sent them into raptures of anticipation as he described the great punch bowl, the fine china sets and the gorgeous silks and satins that would soon come to hand from the ship. In turn, Sarah related all that had transpired during his absence — nothing of great moment save that Miss Keen had been rather desperately ill during January and February of 1788, but had been cured by their good friend, Dr. Benjamin Rush, who had made numerous professional visits to Strawberry Hill until his young patient was fully recovered.

It was this same Dr. Rush, whom the Captain met in Philadelphia  p351 several days later. They discussed the China trade, and Barry made one statement which that eminent physician felt worthy of a place in a little memorandum book in which he entered "Memorable facts — events Opinions — thots &c." Captain Barry informed him, wrote Rush "that in the course of his long Voyage out & home — consuming 28 [sic!] months — there had never been one dispute or angry word on board his vessel." This comment speaks much for the regard those who served under him held for John Barry, and for the manner in which he could command both discipline and respect.

Through June the cargo of the Asia was disgorged into the business houses of Philadelphia. By the time the Captain had finished his task, and turned the ship back to the seventeen owners, Jonathan Mifflin, father of one of the supercargoes, was advertising for sale in his shop on Second street below Walnut: "Best Imperial, Hyson & Souchong teas, Black and fashionable coloured lutestrings; black, white and ditto sattins; dark brown and silver grey damasks, of small figures; black paduasoys; black and coloured sewing silks; Pullicat silk romalls; black, cloth coloured and crimson twilled China silk handkerchiefs; and a few sets of very elegant tea china," all "imported in the Ship Asia, Capt. Barry, from Canton."

Nor was the return of the Asia and Canton without national import. The new Congress, sitting in New York, had under consideration tariff measures, which, as they provided heavy import duties, were finding tough going in that august body. Merchants of New York, Philadelphia and Boston, who had anticipated such measures, and had ordered heavily from foreign markets, were striving to delay passage until their ships came in. Dour Senator William Maclay, of Pennsylvania, an opponent to all privileges, particularly to the wealthy merchants', remarked drily to his diary, on June 8:

Despite his optimism, the mercantile interests managed to defer passage of the measures until July 4, and then not to become operative before August 1. By that time all the ships should be safely in port with duty free cargoes. There was vast  p352 outcry against the delay, with charges that government favored the money class. If, as some historians claim, this was the genesis of what later became Thomas Jefferson's Democratic party, it is odd indeed that John Barry should have been linked, even indirectly, with so momentous an event.

---

Thayer's Note:

a Compare Commodore Truxtun's observation, Truxtun of the Constellation, p82.

◂ previous						next ▸
Images with borders lead to more information. The thicker the border, the more information. (Details here.)
UP TO:		Gallant John Barry	American Naval History	American & Military History	History of the Americas	Home
A page or image on this site is in the public domain ONLY if its URL has a total of one *asterisk. If the URL has two **asterisks, the item is copyright someone else, and used by permission or fair use. If the URL has none the item is © Bill Thayer. See my copyright page for details and contact information.

Accessibility