NEWPT RI, First Federal Newport Handstamp, 1812 Folded Letter

Black "NEWPT RI SEP 5" circular datestamp on folded letter to Bath, MA with manuscript "Sh 19." Manuscript "Brig Rebecca Capt. Abbot Via Boston"

Letter datelined "London June 30th 1812" from Samuel Harding while on business in GB with his wife Lucy at their home in Bath Mass (now Maine). He says that he "arrived in Chatham...on the 15th May." He had written "6 or 7 letters since which however have been stopped by the Repeal of the Orders in Council as the vessels by whom I wrote returned to take cargo for the U.States."

The "Orders in Council" were three executive orders issued from
1807 to 1809 prohibiting trade with France. In an attempt at reconciliation with the US, GB repealed them on June 23, 1812, but it was too late. War had already been declared.

It appears that this letter was on the Brig Rebecca when it was intercepted by the privateer Commodore Barney of the "swift clipper-built schooner Rossie" on August 10 while the Rebecca was on its way to Boston.

Barney reportedly spent 45 days at sea and intercepted 14 ships, including the Rebecca. He destroyed 9 of the ships, but not the Rebecca. The Rebecca was seized for a breach of the non-importation law.

Ships captured by privateers were typically brought to a port by a prize crew from the privateer ship. However, Barney might have kept the mail and taken it to the Newport post office, perhaps pocketing the ship fee himself.

Barney was reported to have arrived in Newport on August 30. He got new supplies and left Newport on September 7. The circular datestamp is dated September 5, which puts it in the time period when Barney was at Newport.

The ship must have been US registered because it is typically described as "the Brig Rebecca, of Saco.", presumably the reason why he did not burn or sink the Rebecca.