To James Madison from Thomas Newton, 11 December 1806
From Thomas Newton
Collrs. office Norfolk Decr 11. 1806
Sir
Inclosed are the reports I have received from Capt. Ham of the Cutter Jefferson, they explain themselves.1 I beg leave to inform you that, I have heard that Capt. Douglass of the Belona has purchased two large pilot built boats, has fitted them out & they carry Brittish Colours, it is further said our Citizens, pilots are imployd in them, one of these boats were complaind off as bought by Jno Cooper for a privateer the other is equal to her & was fitted by a Wm Williams I am inform’d, Mr Hope of Hampton supplied them with the one said to be built for Cooper,2 I have no doubt these boats are intended as tenders or Cruizers & suppose they will be arm’d, I have directed the Officers of the Cutter to keep a good look out, & find the persons citizens, that aids them & also to examine if they are arm’d, they are not (the Ships) in this district, I have advised Mr Brodie collector at Hampton, to attend to them & inform you of what occurs—the Capt of the Cambrian frigate, on the officer of Cutters enquiring of him from whence he came, of what nation &C said it was the Cambrian Frigate & comes & goes when she pleased; You will please to give instructions in what manner we are to act, they lying near Hampton Mr Brodie the Collr. will see their actions, & will report to you accordingly. I am very respectfully Yr Obt Servt
Thos Newton
Collr.
RC and enclosure (DNA: RG 59, ML). Docketed by Wagner as received 19 December, with his notes: “The Cambrian refuses to report.” and “Purchase of tenders.” For enclosure, see n. 1.
1. Newton enclosed a copy of William Parrish to Capt. William Ham, 11 Dec. 1806 (1 p.). Parrish reported that he had gone aboard the British frigate Cambrian, in accordance with Ham’s instructions, to request a report of the ship. The captain of the Cambrian had refused to deliver the report, declaring that the Cambrian “is his Maggesties ship Cambrian goes When She pleases & Coms when She pleases.” On the verso of Parrish’s letter is an undated, unaddressed note, signed by Ham, presumably transmitting Parrish’s letter to Newton: “The within is a Report made to me by Mr. ⟨W⟩ Parrish first mate of the Jefferson.”
2. George Hope was a major shipbuilder in the Hampton Roads area during the late 1700s and early 1800s, initially building for the Virginia Navy on the Chickahominy River. In 1794 he purchased the Barron shipyard, where he built vessels for the U.S. Navy (James Tormey, The Virginia Navy in the Revolution: Hampton’s Commodore James Barron and His Fleet [Charleston, S.C., 2016], 146).