Navigating the Lower Saint Lawrence in the 19th Century.
Quebec Gazette #3551 14/07/1825 Page 2, Col. 2B. | ||
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| First Tea Ships from China. | ||
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The arrival at this port of two ships from China forms a
remarkable epoch in the annals of Canadian commerce. The Moffatt
and the Julianna are the first vessels that ever entered the St.
Lawrence from the immense continent of Asia, the largest and most
populous quarter of the world. They sailed from London on the
12th of August last, left Portsmouth on the 24th of that month,
and arrived at Canton on the 24th January. On the 24th February
they sailed for Quebec, kept company 20 days and separated off
Java, met again off the Cape of Good Hope, separated, and arrived
the same day off St. Helena. After leaving that island they did
not see one another till their arrival at Quebec, within a few
hours of each other, a most extraordinary proof of good
management and the perfection of the art of navigation on board
of both ships. The space traversed by them in ten months has
been about 38,000 miles. The Moffatt is about 600 tons, the
Julianna about 500; the former has 9,941 chests of tea, the
latter 5,900, forming in all 15,841 chests. Both vessels are in
high order, and take cargoes from hence to London. The amount of provincial duties on the teas brought by these vessels will be about sixty thousand dollars; the gross amount of the sales of the tea will probably be about eight hundred thousand dollars. The quantity imported may, however, be too great for the consumption, although it will increase with the lowness of the price. According to the regulations of the East India Company, to which the two cargoes belong, the sales are public, at stated periods, and no delivery is made till the quantity to be delivered is paid for. The East India Company having a monopoly of tea, it is obvious, that the price will eventually be regulated by the cost of procuring a similar article from the United States by smuggling, which it is the interest of the company to break up, but which cannot be done with present and increasing facility of internal commercial intercourse between these Provinces and the American seaports, otherwise than by underselling. The consumers of tea will of course be gainers by the new competition: for the smugglers were almost beginning to have a monopoly. |
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| G.R. Bossé© 1998-2003. |
Posted: Nov. 1st, 1998. |
Updated: July 15, 2003. |
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