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Letter from Wilkinson and D’Ayrault to Captain David Lindsay

Newport [Rhode Island] June 19th 1754

S'r, you being Master of our Schooner Siralone and ready to sail, our orders are that you Imbrace the first oppertunity of wind and weather and Proceed for the Coast of Africa, when plese God you arrive there Dispose of your cargoe on the best terms you Can for Gold, Good Slaves etc when you have finished your trade on the Coast (wch we desire may be with all Convenient Dispatch) Proceed for the Island of Barbadoes where you will find Letters Lodged for you in the hands of Mr. Elias Merivelle with whom Consult in regard to the Sale of your Slaves and if they will fetch Twenty Six pounds Sterling p head round you may dispose of them there and Invest the Produce as pr your orders you will find Lodged there, but If you cannot sell at the above price, Proceed without Loss of time to St. Vincents there dispose of your Slaves. If they will fetch five hundred Livres round in Money, and In case you sell there you may purchase as much Cocoa as you can Carry Under your halfe Deck and proceed to St. Eustatia their Load with Molasses and If any opportunity of Fraight ship the remainder of the nett proceeds in Molasses to this Port or to Boston If to Boston Consign it to Messrs Steyh[?] and Wm. Greenleafe. Should you find it will detain you long at St. Eustatia to accomplish this send the Schooner home as soone as Possible after She is Loaded and Come Passinger after you have finished your business but If they will not fetch the above Price Proceed directly for the Island of Jamaica, there you will find orders Lodged for you and dispose of your Slaves on the best terms you can and Invest amount of

(From Elizabeth Donnan, Documents Illustrative of the History of the Slave Trade to America -Volume III – New England and the Middle Colonies. New York: Octagon Books, Inc., 1965, pp. 148-149, originally published in 1932).

SOURCE: Colonial Triangular Trade: An Economy Based on Human Misery, Perspectives on History Series Edited by Phyllis Raybin Emert, Discovery Enterprises, Ltd.