|
 |
Norfolk Highlights 1584 - 1881
By George Holbert Tucker
Chapter 28
Flags of Fortune
The painted recognition flags on the sides of a fragile Liverpool pitcher,
now owned by Barton Myers III of Toronto, Canada, preserve one of the
most interesting records of Norfolk's late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth
Century commercial prosperity.
Recognition flags were oblong or pennant-shaped pieces of bunting on
which the color code or the symbol of the merchant who owned the vessel
were displayed. Since the pitcher bears the initials "T.W.,"
and since Thomas Willock's bunting is among those depicted, it is reasonable
to assume that it originally belonged to him. Somewhere along the line,
however, the pitcher came into the possession of Moses Myers, another
prominent Norfolk merchant of that era. And its present owner is one
of his direct descendents.
The pitcher dates from the late Eighteenth or early Nineteenth Century
period when Norfolk enjoyed a span of tremendous commercial prosperity.
With the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, ending the Revolutionary
War, foreign merchantmen began to enter the Capes again. And it was
not long before Norfolk resumed its place as the chief port of entry
and export for Virginia.
All of those whose flags and names appear on the pitcher amassed large
fortunes from brisk trade with the West Indies during the Napoleonic
Wars. And almost all of them went bankrupt or lost most of their fortunes
because of national and economic complications later. But that was all
in the future when the pitcher bearing the Norfolk merchant's recognition
flags was new. And, in the meantime, prosperity reigned in the countinghouses
and warehouses along Norfolk's waterfront.
As a result of the French Revolution, war broke out all over Europe,
and as the merchant fleet of Great Britain was too busy conveying military
supplies to ports other than the West Indies, the people of those islands
were faced with starvation unless vital foodstuffs were imported from
the United States.
Since Virginia had those supplies in abundance, the governing bodies
of the islands disregarded the Navigation Acts, which forbade the importation
of commodities into the British dependencies in other than British bottoms,
and welcomed the ships of the Norfolk merchants.
In exchange for grain, flour, beef, pork, lumber, and other supplies,
the Norfolk vessels brought back all manner of exotic cargoes, ranging
from great logs of Santo Domingo mahogany to puncheons of St. Kitt's
rum.
But Norfolk's commercial supremacy of that period was short-lived.
President Jefferson's embargo on foreign trade as a retaliatory measure
against Great Britain; the War of 1812; the capture of Norfolk vessels
by French privateers (the French Spoliation); and the opening of the
Erie Canal, which easily gave New York precedence over all of the Atlantic
ports -- each contributed to the ruin of Norfolk's once prosperous merchants.
The following observation, taken from the Norfolk Gazette and Public
Ledger of January 4, 1815, is sufficient comment on what happened:
"Some years ago walking through Wide Water Street, I was much
incommoded by rum puncheons, sugar hogsheads, bales of goods, flour
and tobacco hogsheads. I heard the bawling of Negroes as they hoisted
these goods in and out of vessels, and I got the odor of tar and turpentine.
I was in constant danger of breaking my shins on the skids of passing
drays. Recently I again went through Water Street, Market Square, and
Main Street. No rum puncheons, no bales of goods, no sugar and tobacco
hogsheads, no bawling Negroes, no drays passing. Instead of plodding
merchants, and busy clerks, I saw only some military officers, ten or
twelve idle youths, a few recruits, and a group of Negroes. From the
nearby dram shops came the fumes of egg-nog and cigars, and the sound
of fiddles and tamborines."
 Chapter
29
Decatur Drinks a Famous Toast
|
