Letter from
Fishing Creek to Robert Smilie November 1762
It was cousin, Dal Smilie,
who found Rory Fitzpatrick’s book “God’s Frontiersmen, The Scots-Irish Epic”
and told me about it, leading me to John Smilie’s November 1762 letter to his
father, Robert, in Greyabbey, County Down, Ireland.
I had a phone conversation
with Rory Fitzpatrick which began an exchange of correspondence but Rory was
never able to find his Photostat of the newspaper image of the Belfast
News-Letter of John and Robert Smilie’s correspondence.
Rory Fitzpatrick's letter of 5 November 1996
Northern Ireland’s Library
Service was able to supply a copy of the original newspaper, with apologies for
the poor quality, but I was appreciative to receive what they supplied.
Belfast News-Letter
13 May 1763
To the Printers, etc.
Gentlemen, Greyabbey, April 23, 1763
As
many of my Friends and Countrymen are about to go to some of the Provinces of
North-America, I thought it my Duty to them, In Order, if possible, to prevent
their being treated, in the Passage, in so barbarious and inhumane a Manner, as
many were, last Year, who went on Board the S____y from Belfast, Capt. T_____r,
Commander; and to deter any such Ship-Captains or others, concerned in
transporting Passengers to America, who might be capable of such horrid
Villainy, from attempting it; by laying before the Publick a faithful Account
of what his Crew of Passengers suffered:
Being a Letter from my own Son (who was one of those unhappy People) a true Copy of which I herewith send you, begging you may communicate it to the
World, for the Good of Mankind, thro’ the Channel of your very useful
News-Letter; I have the Original, which I know to be genuine, and am ready to
produce it, for the Satisfaction of any Person of Worth, if required.—There are
many Letters in the Country, from others, to the same Purpose.
I
am, etc. Robert
Smilie
Fishing-Creek on Susquehana
Nov. 11. 1762
Honoured Father,
I account it my Honour and Duty
to give you an Account of myself and my Proceedings since I left you; which
have, I confess, been a little extraordinary. On the next Tuesday after I left you, I came on Board the S—y, on the
Monday following, being the 24th of May last, we sailed for America: On the 31st we lost Sight of Ireland,
having been detained ‘till then by Calms and contrary Winds, which seemed to be
doleful Presages of our after unhappy Voyage. We had our full Allowance of Bread
and Water, only for the first Fortnight; then we were reduced to three Pints of
Water per day, and three Pounds and a Half of Bread per Week, to each Person;
which it never afterwards exceeded the whole Passage. We had a South-west Wind, which drove us so
far North, that our Weather became extremely cold, with much Rain and hard
Gales of Wind: On the 5th of
July we had a hard Squal of Wind which lasted 3 Hours, and caused us to lie to;
on the 6th we had a Storm which continued 9 Hours, and obliged us lie
under bare Poles; on the 12th
we espied a Mountain of Ice of prodigious Size;
on the 13th our Weather became more moderate; on the 16th
we espied a Sail, which was along Side of us before either saw the other; she,
having the Wind right aft, crowded Sail, and bore away; we gave her Chase, and fired six Guns at her
but the Fog soon hid her from us. In
this manner did the Captain behave, giving Chase to all Ships he saw, whether
they bore off us East or West, it was all alike, the Motives of which caused
various Conjectures. August the first
our Weather became extremely warm, and the Crew very weak: The 10th Day our Allowance of Bread
came to two Pounds and a Half per week to each Passenger; next Week we had only
one Pound and a Half; and the next twelve Days we lived upon two Biscuits and a
half for that Time, and a half a Naggin of Barley each, which we ate raw, for
want of Water to boil it in: We had Beef,
but could make no Use of it, for Thirst; for we were a Week that we had but
half a Pint of Water per Day for each Person. Hunger and Thirst had now reduced
our Crew to the last Extremity; nothing was now to be heard aboard our Ship but
the Cries of distressed children, and of their distressed Mothers, unable to relieve
them. Our Ship now was truly a real
Spectacle of Horror! Never a Day passed
without one or two of our Crew put over Board; many kill’d themselves by
drinking Salt Water; and their own Urine was a common Drink; yet in the midst
of all our Miseries, our Captain shewed not the least Remorse or Pity. We were now out of Hopes of ever seeing
land. August 29th we had only
one Pint of Water for each Person, which was all we Passengers would have got,
and our Bread was done: But on that Day the Lord was pleased to sent the greatest
Shower of Rain I ever saw, which was the Means of preserving our Lives. After this we had fair Winds, and, for most Part,
Rains every Day; and tho’ we had no Bread, yet, we thought, we lived well. On the first of September we sounded, and
found ourselves in forty Fathom Water, and the next Morning, about eight o’clock,
we saw Land, to the inexpressible Joy of all our Ship’s Crew; and on Sunday Morning
the 4th of Sept. we came to an Anchor off Newcastle; so that we had
a Passage of fourteen Weeks and five Days.
You may judge of Captain
T—‘s Temper and Character by
this, that, notwithstanding all the Straits we were in for Bread and Water,
neither he, nor his Mistress, nor five others that were his Favourites, ever
came to Allowance. We had now, since the Time of our setting sail, lost
sixty-four of our Crew by Death. Monday
the fifth I came on Shore, and by the Blessing of God, in three Weeks Time I
got perfectly well; but indeed, few of our Ship’s Crew were so strong as I; for
notwithstanding all I suffered I enjoyed a good State of Health the whole Passage.
I am your dutiful Son,
John Smilie
A word of warning; a
flawed transcription of John’s letter appears on the Irish Emigration
Database. http://www.dippam.ac.uk/ied/records/28423 The IED transcription strips original capitalization
and punctuation and replaces it.
Adjectives are added, words are misinterpreted (‘naggin’, which is an
old Irish unit of measure is rendered ‘noggin’ the English word), words of
sentences are rearranged, etc. Rory
Fitzpatrick in God’s Frontiersmen
also took some minor liberties with the text.
What did John’s letter
tell us?
· John Departed Belfast “the Monday following, being the
24th of May” [Monday, May 24,
1762]
· John came on land in New Castle, Delaware on “Monday the
fifth” [September 5, 1762 was a Sunday, Monday the sixth]
· November 11, 1762, John was writing from Fishing Creek
on the Susquehanna[i]
1756 Lotter Map of Pennsylvania modified to show Fishing Creek,
Drumore Twp in red
[ii]
Rory Fitzpatrick, produced
“God’s Frontiersmen: The Scots-Irish Epic” a four part video series on Ulster
Television in 1988 with an accompanying book by the same title, using John’s
letter. Remember, in the video, other
than the ocean voyage, John is used as a fictional symbolic Ulsterman. Below is a Youtube link to an edited version
of the video “God’s Frontiersmen”. It
was originally produced in four segments so you will experience a few awkward
transitions. John's ocean voyage begins at the 23 minute mark.
The Video introduces
another concept that was not unusual in the period – indentured servitude. There are two things that would indicate that John did not
come to America as an indentured servant.
1. He landed in New Castle, Delaware on September 4, 1762 and approximately two months later on November 11, 1762 he is writing from Drumore Township, Lancaster County. If
he would have been indentured he most likely would have remained in Delaware or have gone to Philadelphia.
2. He is listed in the 1763 Drumore Township
King’s Tax list among the ‘Freemen’.
King’s Tax 1763
Drumore Township,
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
[iii]
[i] There are two “Fishing Creeks” that flow into the
Susquehanna. At the time, both would
have been in Lancaster County. John
settled in Drumore Township in southern Lancaster County. The other “Fishing Creek” is north of present
day Harrisburg in Dauphin County.
[ii] http://www.geographicus.com/mm5/cartographers/lotter.txt
[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
[iii] "Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
tax records, 1748-1855", FHL microfilm 1449278, viewed and downloaded at Doylestown, PA
FHC, 24 Jan 2015; also available at the Pennsylvania State Library, Harrisburg,
PA, and the Lancaster County Historical Society, Lancaster, PA
