And we think it is a global market these days....

[LesleyB]

Found the following whilst searching the NAS catalogue - was quite surprised at the "global" nature and wide variety of goods of this one merchant's trade. I expect he was not the only one trading as widely as this:

CS96/2008 Andrew Hunter, merchant, Leith
Hunter and Smith, merchants, Leith. Letter books 1780-1786

Hunter formerly apprentice to James Inglis, junior, merchant, Edinburgh. Partner with Thomas Smith, junior, merchant, Leith. Trading in hemp and flax (imported from St Petersburg), tar (from there and Bergen), timber (from these, Memel and Libau), iron (from St Petersburg and Gothenburg), lintseed (from Rotterdam), spirits, sugar, butter, fruit (from Malaga), wine (from Bordeaux, Cadiz, Lisbon, Malaga, Oporto, St Lucar), meal and beef (from Caithness), and fish, hides and beef (from Shetland). Shetland stockings sent to Hamburg because war cuts off American trade. Wine and barley sent as adventure to Jamaica. Coals and linen exported. Ship 'Industry' insured in London, sails from Cork to Gibraltar and Cadiz. Correspondents in all these places and also Bristol, London, Amsterdam, Campveer, Elsinore, Archangel, Riga. Cordage for ship to New York. Advice on bribery in the Baltic. Ships seized by Spaniards: shipmaster McNaughton Ramsay imprisoned in Cordova.

also:
CS96/2250, James Inglis, junior, merchant, Edinburgh. Letter books
Dates 1772-1774

Trust by Trust Disposition and Settlement. Inglis died in 1775. Trustees appointed Andrew Hunter, merchant, Leith, as Factor.
Inglis owned ship 'the Bachelor'. Imported timber (from Memel, Onega, and Norway), wine and fruit (from Bordeaux and Oporto), hemp (from St Petersburg), rum, iron, grain, tar. Adventure in rice (consigned to Amsterdam for sale). Trading also in cloth, stockings, watches, books, tobacco, tea, salt, oats, herring, lead, coals, flax. Goods consigned to Gothenburg, Copenhagen, Elsinore, Uddevalla, Fredrikshald, Oporto, Grenada, Boston, Philadelphia, Wilmington, Charleston (South Carolina), London, Lerwick, Kirkwall, Staxigoe, Wick, North Uist. Correspondents in England, Dublin, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Elsinore, Danzig, Konigsberg, Memel, Onega, Revel, St Petersburg, Bordeaux, Oporto, Madeira, Charleston, Wilmington. Debtors include in North Carolina and Lisbon. Creditors include in Narva and St Kitts. Payments to emigrants. Eldest son's apprenticesh
Ship taking emigrants to North Carolina runs ashore at Vailo Sound, Shetland. Schedule of prices of timber offered for building a new repository for the records of Scotland. Death in Edinburgh of Thomas Hoyland, a young man from Charleston.

[Anne H]

Hi Lesley,

Global indeed and todays lot think they invented it all!

Schedule of prices of timber offered for building a new repository for the records of Scotland.

Is this timber for the NAS??

Regards,
Anne H

[AndrewP]

Global indeed and todays lot think they invented it all!

Schedule of prices of timber offered for building a new repository for the records of Scotland.

Is this timber for the NAS??

Certainly the right era for General Register House (the main home of NAS).

http://www.nas.gov.uk/about/history.asp

All the best,

AndrewP

[Anne H]

Thanks, Andrew, that was interesting reading. It's a wonder any of the early records survived with all that moving about.

Regards,
Anne H

[LesleyB]

Schedule of prices of timber offered for building a new repository for the records of Scotland.

I was so dazzled by the lists of foreign places and the variety of goods that I'd completely overlooked that bit, Anne. Well spotted!

[Anne H]

That little bit just caught my eye, Lesley. I was dazzled too by all the different places and goods.

This searching for ancestors is a great way to get an education in history!
Regards,
Anne

[david macdiarmid]

Edward 1st,Cromwell and Thatcher have a lot to answer for in the destruction of Scotland It would have wonderful looking at these records today if they had not been destroyed such is life,David