Description:

From Bonner and Middleton’s Bristol Journal – editorials all talk of either rebellions in America or French wars.

Adverts for sale by auction of the ship, the Friendship, with all her Guiney stores as she came last from sea, and the ship, the Betsy, rebuilt in Bristol and properly calculated for the African or Newfoundland trade.

In 1776, the thirteen American colonies began fighting for independence from Britain. France, Spain and Holland supported the Americans. North America supplied the Caribbean islands with large amounts of food and supplies. The American colonies also bought a large amount of the sugar, rum and molasses produced. The resulting war seriously disrupted transatlantic trade, and Bristol merchants were affected by this. In the Caribbean, 3,000 slaves died as a result of food shortages caused by the war.

Date: Mar 18th 1775

Copyright: Copyright BCC Library Service