Thomas Robison from Thomas Hodges regarding illegal slave trade, Les Cayes, April 6, 1791
Item 102023 info
Maine Historical Society
In 1791, Thomas Hodges left his father-in-law's ship, the Eagle, in the care of its captain at Îles De Los, Guinea. He traveled to Aux Cayes, Hispaniola (Les Cayes, Haiti), where he sold a cargo of African slaves and wrote a letter to his father-in-law, Thomas Robison of Portland, Maine.
This letter sheds some light on the decisions made by Thomas Hodges as he skirted the law in order to sell slaves on Robison's behalf. Since the French colony of Hispaniola did not accept slaves from American ships, Hodges chartered a French vessel to gain access to the port of Aux Cayes. After selling the slaves, Hodges hesitated to return to America with the cash proceeds. He had to decide whether to invest the money in expensive sugar or cheap coffee. West Indian sugar would be used to produce rum at Robison's distillery in Portland, while coffee could be sold to Portland's residents.
Hodges letter includes a postscript referring to his wife Jane, who was Thomas Robison's second daughter.
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