Ralph Devereaux Papers

Ralph Devereaux Papers

Account book and loose bills, receipts and other papers from Captain Ralph Devereaux's career at sea. The account book contains summary accounts for the bark ORCHILLA between 1858 and 1863. These set the bark's income from freight charges agains expenses for customs fees, provisions, repairs, wharfage, wages, etc., calculated in each port. During this period, the ORCHILLA called at ports like New York, Bucksport, Havana, Glasgow, and Genoa, even making a trip to New Orleans from Cuba after the start of the Civil War. Most of the loose accounts are from the brig LIBERTY, dating from the 1860s to the 1880s. These include bills for customs clearances, provisions, ship supplies, repairs on chronometers, and other specific goods and services employed in domestic and foreign ports, as written by the customs officers and merchants. There are also a few documents from the Devereaux family, including a house lease signed by Devereaux's father, family estate papers, and a letter from Devereaux's brother-in-law, Albert Harriman, about managing his investment in a bark.