Savage & Dugan

Last updated
Savage & Dugan
IndustryShipping and insurance
HeadquartersYork Street, Philadelphia
Key people
John Savage (1765-1834), Joseph Dugan (1766-1845)
John Savage 1765-1834.jpg
John Savage
Joseph dugan - sully.png
Joseph Dugan
Portraits by Thomas Sully

Savage & Dugan was a Philadelphia shipping and underwriting company.

Contents

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]

Philadelphia in 1796. HillsMap1796.jpg
Philadelphia in 1796.

Ships

Summary of Ships owned by Savage & Dugan [5]
Ship nameTypeYear BuiltFate
Hope [12] 157 ton Cargo - Captain Frencis EdmonstonIn service with coffee cargo 1799
Liveley114 ton six gun Brig value $4,000 - Captain Alcorn1789 - PhiladelphiaCaptured 15 April 1799 by the Captain Dupuy's L'Alliance [13]
Sally and BetseyBrig - Captain WorthCaptured on 8 January 1800, Condemned at Guadeloupe
AmeliaCargo Brig fitted with 14 fake wooden guns - Captain James R. CallenderCaptured in 1800 near Strait of Gilbralter by L'Adolphe and La Belle Poule
Hannah218 ton Cargo Brig - Captain James YeardsleyPortsmouth, VirginiaIn service 1804 with a cargo of Cashew Nuts from Kingston, Jamaica
Susanna [14] Brig - Captain Sammeul CassonIn service 1811

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HMS <i>Adamant</i> (1780) British Portland-class fourth rate warship

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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.

References

  1. Thomas Sergeant, William Rawle. Reports of Cases Adjudged in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, Volume 11. p. 64.
  2. Walter Lowrie. American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive Volume 3. p. 374.
  3. Thomas Sully (1922). Catalogue of the Memorial Exhibition of Portraits. The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
  4. Christopher Kingston (2009). Marine Insurance in Philadelphia during the Quasi-War with France, 1795-1801. p. 10.
  5. 1 2 Congressional Edition, Volume 2168. p. 132.
  6. 1 2 AUTO-BIOGRAPHY OF SOME OF THE WEALTHY CITIZEINS OF PHILADELPHIA, WITH A FAIR ESTIMATE OF THEIR ESTATES— FOUNDED UPON A KNOWLEDGE OF FACTS. WITH AN APFExNDIX: CONTAINING PARTICULAR ACCOUNTS OF THE LIVES OF STEPHEN GIRARD, JACOB RIDGWAY, and OBED COLEMAN, OBTAINED FROM AUTHENTIC SOURCES. BY A MERCHANT OF PHILADELPHIA. BOOKSELLER'S. 1846.
  7. Charles Morris. Men of the Century, an Historical Work: Giving Portraits and Sketches. p. 300.
  8. United States. Congress. Congressional edition, Volume 6757. p. 393.
  9. United States Congressional Serial Set. p. 214.
  10. Greg H. Williams. The French Assault on American Shipping, 1793-1813. p. 330.
  11. "1803 directory" . Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  12. "Ship Hope" . Retrieved 3 September 2014.
  13. Greg H. Williams. The French Assault on American Shipping, 1793-1813. p. 221.
  14. Peter Arrell Brown. Reports of Cases Adjudged in the Court of Common Pleas Volume 2. p. 178.

Bibliography