Lamb, James (1746-ca. 1822) to Henry Knox
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.05159 Author/Creator: Lamb, James (1746-ca. 1822) Place Written: Boston, Massachusetts Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 15 September 1791 Pagination: 2 p. : address ; 30.5 x 18.3 cm. Order a Copy
Creator listed as "James & Thomas Lamb & Concerned." States that they have just completed a 150 ton copper bottomed ship called the "Margaret." It was built by Edmond Hartt of Boston, and will travel around Cape Horn to the northwest coast of America. Says that James Magee is the principle owner and will travel in the ship himself. Knows that Knox is well acquainted with Magee's credentials and honor. Encloses a copy of a letter from Vice President Adams to Don Joseph De Viar in Philadelphia asking for letters of introduction and protection from the Spanish Minister for the voyage (not included). They have also asked Henry Jackson to write to Knox on their behalf (see GLC02437.05158). Would like to have help procuring proper sea letters. Reports that the ship will be ready to sail by 1 October, but will wait for the letters.
Relates to the Boston house of James & Thomas Lamb. These two brothers formed a partnership in 1781, immediately after the death of James Lamb, Sr., who had been head of the house of James Lamb & Son for some years previous. Thomas Lamb, who was born in Boston in 1753, became agent for this latter firm in the year 1776, but when the Revolutionary War broke out he received a commission signed by John Hancock as First Lieutenant in Colonel Henry Jackson's regiment. The first notice contained in the Lamb papers of the North West Coast adventures is September 1791, and gives an account of the ship "Margaret," Captain James Magee, built in Boston, and owned by James Magee, Thomas H. Perkins, and James & Thomas Lamb. In 1792 the Lambs write to Captain Magee that Thomas H. Perkins has heard through Captain Ingraham of his success in reaching China in fourteen months, and of his cargo of fourteen hundred skins.
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