Industry | Shipping and insurance |
---|---|
Headquarters | York Street, Philadelphia |
Key people | John Savage (1765-1834), Joseph Dugan (1766-1845) |
Savage & Dugan was a Philadelphia shipping and underwriting company.
Savage and Dugan operated ships ranging from Philadelphia to Puerto Rico, with a wide range of cargo needed in the early 19th century. [1] As businessmen, they invested in the early unsuccessful Philadelphia-based National Bank. [2]
The firm was operated by John Savage and Joseph Dugan. John Savage was born in Kingston Jamaica and was the son of William Savage and Jane Cooper (Demetris), marrying Jane Allen White. [3] Savage started business in Philadelphia as a grocer in 1791 with a shop on 324 South Front Street. In 1794 he had an established underwriter and merchant business. The practice of the time was for multiple companies to insure a fraction of a ship's value. Savage & Dugan started with the ship Nancy with nine other underwriters in 1794. By 1797 the company was creating policies on entire ships with fees as high as 7.5% percent of the value of the ship charged per trip from Philadelphia to Les Cayes, noting the hazard of sea travel at the time. By 1803 Savage had founded the Philadelphia Insurance Company. [4] Philadelphia sailor Commodore Joshua Barney and his son-in law Nathaniel F. Williams named the town of Savage, Maryland after John Savage. Barney's son-in law Cumberland Dugan Barney was named after Joeseph Dugan. [5] Joseph Dugan became a director in the Bank of the United States in 1816, which John Savage regularly purchased stock from. He retired to 10 Portico Square in Philadelphia. [6]
John Savage's son John Savage Jr. retired to a house on the Northwest corner of Eleventh and Spruce by 1846, with a net worth of $200,000. His niece married into the Pleasonton family. [6] [7] Augustus J. Pleasonton succeeded the partners, followed by Frank S. Pleasonton [8]
On 25 March 1799, the brig Liveley sailed out of Philadelphia en route to Puerto Rico captained by Micheal Alcorn. It was captured by the French privateer L'Alliance captained by Dupuy on 15 April 1799. The ship was condemned in Basseterre, Guadeloupe with a total loss of cargo which consisted of flour, copper, stills, lard, soap, candles, onions, cheese, oil, razor strops, and bags. A court case claimed the brig had a commission from the President to capture French armed vessels. The ship was insured for $7,000 and John Cadwalader Jr, and Frank S. Pleasonton, heirs to Savage and Dugan sued France for the amount in 1909, over 100 years after the incident. [9]
The same year, the 209 ton cargo ship Stranger owned by Cornelius Coolidge was captured by the French with Savage & Dugan cargo lost. [10]
In 1803 they had offices at 91 South Third Street and by 1806 they were located at Compting House at York Court. [11]
Ship name | Type | Year Built | Fate |
---|---|---|---|
Hope [12] | 157 ton Cargo - Captain Frencis Edmonston | In service with coffee cargo 1799 | |
Liveley | 114 ton six gun Brig value $4,000 - Captain Alcorn | 1789 - Philadelphia | Captured 15 April 1799 by the Captain Dupuy's L'Alliance [13] |
Sally and Betsey | Brig - Captain Worth | Captured on 8 January 1800, Condemned at Guadeloupe | |
Amelia | Cargo Brig fitted with 14 fake wooden guns - Captain James R. Callender | Captured in 1800 near Strait of Gilbralter by L'Adolphe and La Belle Poule | |
Hannah | 218 ton Cargo Brig - Captain James Yeardsley | Portsmouth, Virginia | In service 1804 with a cargo of Cashew Nuts from Kingston, Jamaica |
Susanna [14] | Brig - Captain Sammeul Casson | In service 1811 | |
The Quasi-War was an undeclared war from 1798 to 1800 between the United States and French First Republic. It was fought almost entirely at sea, primarily in the Caribbean and off the East Coast of the United States, with minor actions in the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean Sea.
L'Insurgente was a 40-gun Sémillante-class frigate of the French Navy, launched in 1793. During the Quasi War with the United States, the United States Navy frigate USS Constellation, with Captain Thomas Truxtun in command, captured her off the island of Nevis. After her capture she served in the United States Navy as USS Insurgent, patrolling the waters in the West Indies. In September 1800 she was caught up in a severe storm and was presumed lost at sea.
HMS Thunderer was a ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built in 1783. She carried 74-guns, being classified as a third rate. During her service she took part in several prominent naval battles of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars; including the Glorious First of June, the Battle of Cape Finisterre and the Battle of Trafalgar.
The Savage Mill is a historic cotton mill complex in Savage, Maryland, which has been turned into a complex of shops and restaurants. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. It is located in the Savage Mill Historic District. Buildings in the complex date from 1822 to 1916.
Révolutionnaire, was a 40-gun Seine-class frigate of the French Navy, launched in May 1794. The British captured her in October 1794 and she went on to serve with the Royal Navy until she was broken up in 1822. During this service Revolutionnaire took part in numerous actions, including three for which the Admiralty would in 1847 award clasps to the Naval General Service Medal, and captured several privateers and merchant vessels.
Brutus was a merchant ship built in 1780 at Bordeaux. She was commissioned as a privateer in 1793 at Bordeaux. However, the French Navy purchased her in September 1793 at Brest and classed her as a corvette. The French Navy later converted her to a brig. HMS Mermaid captured her on 10 October 1795.
HMS Lowestoffe was a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Built during the latter part of the Seven Years' War, she went on to see action in the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary War, and served often in the Caribbean. A young Horatio Nelson served aboard her shortly after passing his lieutenant's examination.
HMS Unicorn was a 32-gun fifth-rate Pallas-class frigate of the Royal Navy, launched in 1794 at Chatham. This frigate served in both the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, including a medal action early in her career. She was broken up in 1815.
HMS Hornet was a 16-gun ship-rigged sloop of the Cormorant class in the Royal Navy, ordered 18 February 1793, built by Marmaduke Stalkart and launched 3 February 1794 at Rotherhithe. Hornet saw most of her active duty during the French Revolutionary Wars. During the Napoleonic Wars she served for about six years as a hospital ship before being laid up in 1811 and sold in 1817.
HMS Adamant was a 50-gun Portland-class fourth rate warship of the British Royal Navy. She served during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars in a career that spanned thirty years.
HMS Nemesis was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. The French captured her in 1795 at Smyrna, but in 1796 a squadron led by Barfleur brought her out of the neutral port of Tunis. Throughout her career she served under a number of commanders who would go on to have distinguished careers. She was converted to a troopship in 1812 and was sold in 1814.
HMS Moucheron was a French privateer, built in 1799, that the British captured in 1801. The British government purchased her in 1802 for the Royal Navy. She foundered in 1807 in the Mediterranean without leaving a trace.
Robert was a 16-gun French privateer corvette launched in 1793 at Nantes. The British captured her in 1793 and named her HMS Espion. The French recaptured her in 1794 and took her into service as Espion. The British recaptured her in 1795, but there being another Espion in service by then, the British renamed their capture HMS Spy. She served under that name until the Navy sold her in 1801. Spy then became a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people, a merchantman to South America, and privateer again. The French captured her in mid-1805 and sent her into Guadeloupe.
HMS Duguay-Trouin was an 18-gun French privateer sloop launched in 1779 at Le Havre. Surprise captured her in 1780 and the British Royal Navy took her into service under her existing name. It sold Duguay-Trouin on 30 October 1783. She then became the West Indiaman Christopher. She captured several French merchant vessels. Later she became a Liverpool-based slave ship, making five voyages in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She was lost at Charleston in September 1804 in a hurricane.
Earl Spencer was the French privateer brig Aventurier, which the British Royal Navy captured in December 1799. The French prize became a British privateer in 1800. After the Peace of Amiens she became a merchant vessel that traded between London and Gibraltar. She apparently was condemned in 1802, perhaps after having received damage there.
HMS Sparrow was launched in 1780, almost surely under another name. She first appears in 1793 in readily accessible records as the privateer cutter Rattler. The British Admiralty hired her and employed her as HM Hired armed cutter Rattler. During this time she was present at the largest naval battle of the French Revolutionary Wars. The Navy purchased her in 1796 for the Royal Navy and renamed her HMS Sparrow. She was sold for breaking up in 1805.
The French brig Gironde was launched at Rochefort in 1793 as a Dédaigneuse-class gun-brig of the French Navy. In 1797 she was struck from the lists and sold. She became a privateer operating out of Bordeaux. The British Royal Navy captured her in 1800 but never commissioned her; it sold her in 1801.
Several vessels have been named Camilla:
Ranger was launched in 1791 in New Providence and immediately came to Britain. She generally traded between Liverpool and New Providence. She underwent grounding in 1795 and in 1796 her owners had her repaired, lengthened, and converted from a brig to a ship. A French privateer captured her in August 1797 after a single-ship action. In a process that is currently obscure, Ranger returned to British ownership circa 1799. She then became a West Indiaman. From 1803 on she became a Liverpool-based slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She made one complete voyage transporting enslaved people. Then French privateers captured her after she had embarked captives in West Africa but before she could deliver them to the West Indies. A United States citizen purchased her at Guadeloupe and renamed her Delaware. In 1805 the Royal Navy recaptured her. She was returned to her British owners who sailed her between Ireland and Newfoundland. She was last listed in 1814.
Golden Age was launched at Havana in 1779, almost certainly under another name. She was taken in prize circa 1783. From late 1783 she sailed from Liverpool as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She made four complete voyages. On her third her captives rebelled, but were unsuccessful. A French private frigate captured her in 1793 after she had disembarked her captives from her fifth enslaving voyage. Her captors took her into Philadelphia where she was sold to a French owner who named her Republican, and sailed her to France.