The Halifax Fleet Correspondence

• Chapter 1 The Ledger of Salt and Scales
• Chapter 2 Dispatches from the Admiral's Wharf
• Chapter 3 The Cask at Sambro Light
• Chapter 4 Rumors on the Grand Banks
• Chapter 5 A Purser's Secret Account
• Chapter 6 The Schooner Peregrine Speaks
• Chapter 7 Intercepted at Canso Strait
• Chapter 8 Letters from an Unmarked Berth
• Chapter 9 Shadows in Chebucto Bay
• Chapter 10 The French Shore Manifests
• Chapter 11 Fog over the Outer Shoals
• Chapter 12 Depositions of the Press-Gang
• Chapter 13 The Merchant's Double Entry
• Chapter 14 Signals in the Rigging
• Chapter 15 A Courier Lost off Sable Island
• Chapter 16 The Lieutenant's Private Log
• Chapter 17 Contraband in the Cure
• Chapter 18 Night Sail from Lunenburg
• Chapter 19 Voices from the Fish Store
• Chapter 20 The Admiralty's Summons
• Chapter 21 The Halifax Postmaster's Breach
• Chapter 22 Dead Reckoning in the Basin
• Chapter 23 The Smuggler's Cipher Broken
• Chapter 24 The Raid

EXTRACT FROM THE CUSTOM HOUSE LEDGER, PORT OF HALIFAX
Collector of Customs Record Books — Vol. IV, November 1842
Entry No. 412: Outward Bound & Inward Manifests

LETTER FROM MR. NATHANIEL PYE, JUNIOR CLERK, CUSTOM HOUSE, HALIFAX, TO MR. JOSEPH WALLACE, SUB-COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS, LUNENBURG

Custom House, Halifax
November 4th, 1842

My Dear Mr. Wallace,

I take up my pen in the relative quiet of the late evening, while the lower offices of the wharf are mercifully cleared of the day’s mud, fish-slime, and the clamor of cod-merchants arguing over weight allowances. Mr. Hallowell has gone to his club, leaving me with the tallow candles and the ledgers for the autumn fishery returns.

It is precisely these ledgers that prompt my writing to you, under cover of private correspondence rather than the official navy packet. You will recall our conversation during your last visit to Chebucto Bay regarding the strange arithmetic of the south-shore fleet. I have spent the last three evenings running the tallies for the vessels arriving from the western fishing stations, and the figures simply will not lie straight in their columns.

Consider the case of the schooner Lady Mary, Thomas Coram, master. She returned to port two days past, reporting forty-five hogsheads of Liverpool salt expended upon a catch that yielded a mere two hundred and ten quintals of cured cod. My father was a salt-fish merchant in Bristol for thirty years, Mr. Wallace, and I need not remind a gentleman of your experience that forty-five hogsheads of coarse salt ought to cure nearly four hundred quintals of prime fish, even assuming the worst weather and the wettest hold. Where has the surplus salt gone? Or, more to the point, what was brought back in those casks that required such vast quantities of brine to disguise its weight?

When I brought this discrepancy to the attention of Mr. Hallowell this afternoon, he merely adjusted his spectacles, wiped a smudge of coal-dust from his coat sleeve, and informed me that young men from England are always too quick to suspect villainy in the provinces. He noted that the autumn storms off the French Shore were severe, and that much salt was likely lost to sea-spray washed through the hatches.

Yet when I weighed the sample casks from the Lady Mary’s lower hold—casks marked on Coram’s manifest as coarse dry-cured split cod—they sat in the scales with a curious heavy density. The fish on top was dry enough, certainly, well-dusted with white crust, but the cooperage of the lower casks is of a heavy American oak, bound with iron hoops rather than the customary willow. Captain Coram was exceedingly anxious to settle his wharfage dues and clear the vessel before the evening tide, going so far as to offer me a two-shilling piece to expedite the entry. I declined the coin, signed the temporary pass, but held back the final clearance pending your advice.

There is a rhythm to these ledgers, sir. For three months now, every fourth schooner entering from the western shores shows an identical pattern: salt consumption doubled, fish yields halved, and the casks consigned to the private cellars of Messrs. Lockyer & Sons along the upper slip. If this is merely bad fishing, then Nova Scotia is populated by the most clumsy mariners in the Empire. If it is not, then someone is bringing broadcloth, brandy, or foreign gunpowder through the fog without paying a penny to the Crown.

Keep an eye upon Coram when he puts into Lunenburg on his return leg. He claims he goes to refit his rigging, but his vessel carries brand-new canvas that never saw an English loft.

I remain, sir, your obedient and humble servant,

Nathaniel Pye
Clerk of the Imports

INTERCEPTED LETTER (COPIED BY THE CUSTOMS INFORMANT AT THE SUN TAVERN)
Original found in the pocket of a wet coat belonging to Barnabas Pike, Mate of the schooner 'Lady Mary'

Halifax, November 5, 1842

To Mr. R. L. at the Cove,

The clerk with the ink-stained cuffs at the watergate is smelling around the tail of the fish. He weighed the iron-bound casks himself this afternoon while the skipper was at the punch-house. He didn't pull the bungs, but he tapped the wood with his brass rule and looked twice at the tally sheet.

Tell the old man we cannot land the rest of the Liverpool barrels at the wharf on Monday if he stays on the desk. He knows too much about the salt-weight for a lad who has only been off the boat from London six weeks. We have eight casks of the fine French weave buried under forty quintals of slimy scale-fish in the fore-peak, and the bilge is so sour with pickle-water it would blind a dog. If they turn those barrels over on the stones, the salt on top won't hide the French marks on the header boards.

Coram says we anchor off Sambro if the wind holds north, and wait for the small boat from the cove. Send the boy with the lantern to the low point—two flashes if the cutter is in the harbour, three if the tide is clear. Do not write back by the mail-coach. The postmaster’s boy is cousin to the tide-waiter.

Give the note to the man who brings the oakum.

B. P.

MEMORANDUM FOR THE CHIEF INSPECTOR OF IMPORTS
Found pinned to the Desk of Nathaniel Pye, November 6th, 1842

Note: Pye—Leave the manifest for the Lady Mary upon my table and do not meddle further with the weigh-master's receipts for the Lockyer wharf. The merchants of this port are already severely pressed by the low prices of fish in the West Indies, and His Majesty’s government has no desire to harass honest traders over minor errors in salt allowances. The sea water in the hold accounts for the weight of the casks. If you spend as much time auditing the coal receipts as you do measuring fish-barrels, the stove in the clerks' office might actually be warm tomorrow morning.

— H.

NAVY REPORT: EXTRACT FROM THE LOG OF H.M. SLOOP-OF-WAR HARPY
Commander Francis Austen, Royal Navy, Commanding
Anchored off George’s Island, Halifax Harbour

November 7, 1842.

0600 — Wind W.N.W., fresh with thick haze over the outer passages. Boarded two fishing pinks from Mahone Bay; papers in order, carrying green cod and oil.

0930 — Observed a small schooner, deep in the water, standing off the eastern passage without showing colors. Sent the cutter under Lieutenant Vance to demand her name and port. Vessel proved to be the Lady Mary of Halifax, Thomas Coram, master, bound inward from the French Shore. Master reported he had lost his gaff in a squall off Prospect and was waiting for the flood tide to work up to the town wharves.

Lieutenant Vance notes the master showed great reluctance to allow the boarding party near the main hatch, claiming the hold was fouled by spoiled fish and high brine. Vance observed several heavy iron-bound casks in the waist of the vessel, not stowed in the customary manner for dry fish, but lashed securely with fresh hemp. Upon questioning, Coram asserted these contained salt pork purchased from a American trader off Canso for the crew's winter provisioning.

No naval contraband discovered, but the vessel's trim is remarkably low for a boat carrying only two hundred quintals of dry cure. Her waterline sits six inches below her marks. As we have no authority to seize for customs infractions without a tide-waiter present, allowed her to proceed under sail toward the town slips.

I have noted in the shore-book that this vessel requires a thorough examination by the Collector before her cargo is discharged. She carries too much wood and iron for an ordinary fishing craft, and her master has the surly manner of an old privateersman.

PORT OF HALIFAX — TALLY-SHEET FOR WHARFAGE DUES
Lockyer’s Upper Slip, 8th November 1842
Inspector on Duty: N. Pye (acting for J. Hallowell, indisposed)

Inspector’s Note appended to sheet:

The four casks detailed above were opened in my presence on the wharf-head at noon. The top six inches of each cask contained heavy, coarse-grained salt resting upon a layer of dried cod-tails of inferior quality. Below this layer, separated by a wooden header, each cask contained tightly rolled bolts of unbleached French linen and small, carefully packed kegs of fine gunpowder, wrapped in pitched canvas to exclude the wet.

Upon my raising the alarm, Master Coram abandoned his vessel and fled into the crowds along Water Street. The mate, Barnabas Pike, was apprehended near the fish-market by the boat’s crew of H.M. Sloop Harpy.

The vessel and her remaining cargo of forty-one casks have been seized in the name of the Crown and placed under the guard of the Customs Marines.

Nathaniel Pye
Custom House, Halifax

EXTRACT FROM THE ADMIRALTY STATION LOG, HALIFAX
Naval Yard Records, Royal Navy Station — Chebucto Bay
Log of Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Harvey, KCB, Commander-in-Chief, North American and West Indies Station
November 9th, 1842

0800 — Light breeze from the south-southwest, clear horizon, glass rising. H.M. Sloop Harpy riding at anchor off the naval yard slip. Received official communication from the Collector of HM Customs regarding the seizure of the schooner Lady Mary at Lockyer’s Wharf.

0930 — A detachment of Royal Marines, comprising one sergeant and twelve privates, dispatched under the command of Lieutenant Arthur Vance to secure the seized vessel, her contents, and the immediate precincts of the Lockyer warehouse.

1100 — Mr. Nathaniel Pye, clerk of the Customs, admitted to the Naval Yard by order of the Admiral. The individual appeared considerably disheveled, displaying marks of grease upon his coat and carrying a bundle of papers secured with tarred twine. Placed under temporary Admiralty protection following threats of violence reported near the watergate.

1400 — Dispatched order to the Senior Naval Officer at the Victualling Yard to prepare a full inventory of all seized military stores and iron-bound casks currently held aboard the Lady Mary.

DESPATCH FROM VICE-ADMIRAL SIR THOMAS HARVEY, KCB, TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORDS COMMISSIONERS OF THE ADMIRALTY, WHITEHALL, LONDON

Admiralty House, Halifax, Nova Scotia
November 10th, 1842

My Lords,

I have the honour to transmit to your Lordships a matter of considerable urgency which has arisen within the last forty-eight hours, involving the security of the coastwise trade in these provinces and the covert distribution of contraband military supplies through the agency of the local fishing fleet.

On the morning of the 8th instant, an intelligence-led seizure was effected at the upper wharves of this port by a junior officer of the Customs, one Mr. Nathaniel Pye, supported by a boat’s crew from H.M. Sloop Harpy. The vessel in question, a regional schooner named the Lady Mary, ostensibly returning from the autumn cod fishery on the French Shore, was found to be carrying a quantity of foreign gunpowder, fine French textiles, and unmanifested naval ironwork, skillfully concealed beneath a superficial layer of salted fish inside heavy timber casks.

While the civilian authorities initially treated this affair as a routine evasion of revenue duties, subsequent examination of the seized cargo by my flag-lieutenant reveals a far more sinister aspect. Among the gunpowder kegs—which bear the marks of the government foundry at Brest—my officers recovered three iron-hooped barrels containing forty Stand of French pattern flintlock muskets, fully assembled and greased against the salt damp, together with several hundred weight of lead shot.

It is now abundantly clear that the scale-fish trade of Nova Scotia is being utilized as a cover for systematic illicit traffic, not merely to defraud His Majesty’s revenue, but to introduce armaments into the province without the knowledge of the civil governor or the naval commander. The merchant firm of Lockyer & Sons, whose premises adjoin the slip where the vessel was tied, denies all knowledge of the contents of the casks, claiming they were received as a consignment for onward transmission to the West Indies. However, the arrest of the vessel's mate, Barnabas Pike, and certain papers recovered from his person, strongly indicate that a organized network of distribution exists, operating through the isolated coves of the South Shore and stretching as far as the Gut of Canso.

The civil police in Halifax are notoriously ill-equipped to deal with a conspiracy of this nature, which relies upon sea-borne logistics and the cover of the autumn fogs. I have therefore taken the responsibility of placing the vessel Lady Mary under the direct custody of the Royal Navy and have instructed Commander Austen of the Harpy to maintain a vigilant watch over all inward-bound fishing craft entering Chebucto Bay.

I have the honour to be, My Lords, your Lordships' most obedient, humble servant,

Thomas Harvey
Vice-Admiral and Commander-in-Chief

CONFIDENTIAL LETTER FROM LIEUTENANT ARTHUR VANCE, R.N., H.M. SLOOP 'HARPY', TO CAPTAIN FRANCIS AUSTEN, R.N.

Naval Yard Slip, Halifax
November 11th, 1842

Sir,

In accordance with your instructions of yesterday’s date, I have completed a detailed inspection of the hull, fittings, and remaining cargo of the schooner Lady Mary, presently moored alongside the Coal Wharf under guard of the Marines.

The vessel herself is a revelation. While her upperworks have been purposefully neglected—painted a dull gray with weathered spruce spars to resemble an ordinary, hard-driven coasting pink—her underwater lines are remarkably fine. Upon hauling her down at the slip to examine her bottom, I observed that her floor timbers are constructed of seasoned live oak, copper-fastened throughout, and her keel is plated with thick copper sheathings of French manufacture. She is, in truth, an American-built vessel of the Baltimore clipper type, reduced in her upper rigging to pass as a native fishing craft. She is capable of extraordinary speed when running close to the wind, a quality entirely unnecessary for the transport of cured codfish.

The main hatchway shows signs of recent, crude modification. The wooden coamings have been widened to admit barrels of unusual girth—specifically, the iron-hooped American oak casks mentioned in Mr. Pye’s report. Beneath the fish-well, we discovered a false bulkhead constructed of double-thickness pine planking, sealed with boiled pitch and horsehair to prevent the bilge-water from entering the hidden spaces.

In this concealed hold, which extends from the mainmast to the stern-post, we recovered the following items not listed on the Customs manifest:

First, sixteen quarter-casks of French brandy, marked with the brand of the house of Hennessy, Cognac, each wrapped in oiled sailcloth.

Second, forty-two bolts of superfine French broadcloth, blue and scarlet, undamaged by water.

Third, twelve kegs of fine-grained hunting gunpowder, manufactured at the Royal Arsenal at Brest, marked 1841.

Fourth, a canvas satchel containing several sets of forged clearance papers, blank Customs stamps for the ports of St. John’s, Newfoundland, and St. Andrews, New Brunswick, and a brass cipher wheel of foreign design.

I regret to report that the master, Thomas Coram, has not yet been apprehended by the town constables. It is the opinion of the harbour master that he was taken off the back of the spit late on Tuesday night by a small pulling-boat heading toward the Dartmouth shore. The mate, Pike, remains in custody at the town jail, but refuses all food and maintains an absolute silence, despite the best efforts of the magistrates.

I have placed Private John Mudge and three men aboard the vessel with loaded carbines, with orders to prevent any unauthorized person from approaching her by land or water. The clerk, Pye, remains in the yard officers' quarters; he appears thoroughly terrified by the consequences of his own diligence, but has provided me with further entries from his private pocket-book which I believe deserve your immediate attention.

I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient servant,

Arthur Vance