Scarborough ships in the baltic - an article by John Rushton

Yorkshire was hungry for Baltic goods in the 18th century. Scarborough captains came to know the Baltic well. Flax was imported for the linen industry, that extended from Pickering Vale to Cleveland and for the sailcloth manufactories of Scarborough and Whitby. There was tar, rope, dyes and rye. Baltic timbers came in quantity for ship and house-building as the country’s forests dwindled. Several prominent Scarborough men entered the East-land trade in the sixties. Twenty years later, this had become a major branch of the east coast trade. S K Jones has listed Baltic shipping through the Sound in 1784 as Hull 358, London 342, Whitby, 311, Newcastle 280, Lynn, 116, Scarborough 103 and Liverpool 102 ships.

John Tindall’s Free Briton sailed for Russia in 1762-63 calling at St Peterburg. The mates were paid two to three shillings a day and the deck hands a shilling. Thomas Kendall, master of the Content called there in 1766. Captain Enoch Harrison took the Commerce into the Baltic in 1764. Robert Duesbery became a Russia merchant in partnership with Hugh Atkins of London and Jacob Regail of St Petersburg. He borrowed £4000 from his father, but was able to repay it by 1769. Robert Burn in the Exchange and George Hopper in the Ada were Baltic traders in 1770. Master Thomas Davison took the Holmpson to Riga in 1779 and James Tindall was with the Fortitude in the Baltic in 1783.

Yorkshire was hungry for Baltic goods in the 18th century. Flax was imported for the linen industry, that extended from Pickering Vale to Cleveland and for the sailcloth manufactories of Scarborough and Whitby. There was tar, rope, dyes and rye. Baltic timbers came in quantity for ship and housebuilding as the county's forests dwindled. Several prominent Scarborough men entered the Eastland trade in the sixties. Twenty years later, this had become a major branch of east coast trade. S. K. Jones has listed Baltic shipping through the Sound in 1784 as Hull 358, London 342, Whitby 311,Newcastle 280,Lynn.116,Scarborough 103.and Liverpool 102 ships.

Scarborough captains came to know the Baltic well. John Tindall' s "Free Briton" sailed for Russia in 1762-63 calling at St Petersburg .The mates were paid two to three shillings a day and the deck hands a shilling. Thomas Kendall master of the "Content" called there in 1766 . Captain Enoch Harrison took the "Commerce" into the Baltic in 1764. Robert Duesbery became a "Russia merchant", in partnership with Hugh Atkins of London and Jacob Regail of St Petersburg .He borrowed £4000 from his father but was able to repay it by 1769. Robert Burn in the "Exchange" and George Hopper in the "Ada" were Baltic traders in 1770. Master Thomas Davison took the "Holmpson" to Riga in 1779 and James Tindall was with the "Fortitude" in the Baltic in 1783.



OTHER ARTICLES
• When the Colliers came to Scarborough
• The port of Scarborough in the late 15th Century
• The German bombardment of scarborough in the First World War in 1914
• The Yorkshire smuggler - the smuggling of contraband
• Thomas Crimlisk - First of the Crimlisks
• A general history of Scarborough
• Shipbuilding at Scarborough - the wooden barques and schooners
• Whitbys early history - a fishing town
• Robin Hood's Bay - The Storm family website
• Scarboroughs first Lifeboat and its first rescue in 1801
• Luggers and yawls in the filey fishing industry
• Was there a roman port in scarborough? By John Rushton
• Scarboroughs Heyday of Inns,smuggling and illicit stills
• Events and newspaper clippings from Scarborough
• The Harwood and Bullamore fishing family history in Scarborough
• The Womens work in the Filey fishing industry
• Characters of Scarborough - colourful eccentrics and notorious drunks
• Sailors graves on the Scarborough coastline.
• Scarborough fishermen and the U-Boats by Godfrey Arthur