Description:

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

Advert. For sale by auction of the cargo of the ship St Lorenzo, Spanish prize, taken with a cargo of sugar, hides, Cocoa, beeswax, tortoiseshell and tobacco.

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.

Chocolate was first used as a drink, sweetened with sugar to mask the bitter flavour of the chocolate. Later it was used for making eating chocolate. At this period, most people drank beer, wine or spirits. Water was not safe to drink, tea coffee and chocolate were expensive. Quakers promoted drinking chocolate as an alternative to alcohol.

Date: Jan 15 1780

Copyright: Copyright BCC Library Service