More about George Boyd

"Perhaps the most extensive shipbuilder of Portsmouth during the years immediately preceding the Revolution was Colonel George Boyd. Operating in Nathaniel Meserve's old yard on the North Mill Pond, on July 5, 1773 he had 'seven sail of new ships on the stocks.' In a letter to merchants in London and Bristol, he remarked that "...it takes one year to have a good ship build; the fall of ye year is the time to cutt the timber & the summer following to build the ship in.' A note to John Harris Couger, Esq. of New York asks him to take out 1200 pounds insurance on the 'Hull, Tackle & Apparel' of the 200 ton ship Aurora, and 600 pounds more on the cargo. The policy was to cover a voyage from Piscataqua to Jamaica and the West Indies, thence to North Carolina and from there"

"'to Bristol in Great Britain — with return of premium if she does not go to Jamaica.... I shall give Orders to the Master to sell her in the West Indies, in case a good price offers.... The underwriters are not to be Intitled to no more premium than they risque.'"

"The Aurora was wrecked in a hurricane on the voyage, and only the rigging and sails were saved."

"In August, 1773, writing about on Captain Cook, a West Indian correspondent, Boyd complained vigorously of Cook's failure to pay his bills. He threatened to protest and to demand interest and damages up to 16 per cent if the bills were not punctually paid."

"Colonel Boyd did not take life easily. Producing ten ships a year, handling a yardful of shipwrights, and endless correspondence with foreign merchants were occupations not designed to give him much peace. At times he almost tired of trying 'to get to windward' of his many customers. He complained that eight new ships were 'enough to break the heart of a stone, so much fatigue. For forty days I have been out of bead so Early that I did not know which was the right side to my Breeches of Stockings. I scarce have time to eat or sleep.' Such complaints are not surpising from a builder who reported on March 4, 1774, that the ship Glasgow had just sailed for Bristol, the ninth large new ship he had fitted out and sent to sea since November!

"Tired of constant haggling, plaguing, and insisting, Boyd bade farewell, on April 19, 1774, to Mr. Henry Cruger, a friendly Bristol merchant who had been visiting the colonies.

Adue, God bless us — may his kind providence keep & preserve us until we may have a happy meeting in England — if not, may we both be prepared for a happy meeting in Heaven, where all Duning & anxious fear of Loosing Money are at an end.

A week later Colonel Boyd sailed for London on the ship Felicity, Henry Nutter, master. The notice of his departure in the Gazette described him as a merchant who had built and outfitted more vessels in the course of ten years than any New Hampshire man had ever done in the same space of time — 'no less than 12 ships and 2 Brigs within a Year past. It may be said... that he is the most lucky Genius of the present Day in the mercantile Way...,' ... The Gazette might also have told of Boyd's humble beginning as a foreman at Myrick's ropewalk and his rapid rise to grandeur; of'White Village,' his magnificent mansion, the showplace of Portsmouth; and of his spacious gardens surrounded by a white open fence adorned with grenadiers' heads. But now the 'Portsmouth Croesus,' having named his new-born daughter Submit, sailed to England for the duration of a revolution for which he had no enthusiasm, to return in 1787 bringing 'an elegant monument' for a grave which he occupied within a week of his homecoming."