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Partly-printed DS, signed "James Madison" as president and "Jas. Monroe" as secretary of state, one page, 20.75 x 16.25, December 28, 1811. Four-language ship's papers issued to Pearl Durkee, "master or commander of the schooner called Anon…lying at present in the port of Baltimore bound for Bordeaux and laden with Sugar, Pepper, Indigo, & Ivory.” Signed boldly in the central margin by both James Madison and James Monroe. Left portion bears two embossed paper seals. Impressively suede-matted and framed with engraved plates and portraits to an overall size of 46 x 25.5. In very good to fine condition, with light scattered staining and spotting, and some paper loss to the upper left corner.
This ship's paper was issued during a brief and fraught period in Madison's efforts to manage American neutral trade on the eve of the War of 1812. In 1811, Madison reinstated non-intercourse against Great Britain after Napoleon claimed to have revoked France's restrictive trade decrees as they applied to the United States. French ports, including Bordeaux, consequently remained open to American shipping, making the voyage authorized here, from Baltimore to Bordeaux, a legally sanctioned trade route at a time when commerce with Britain was prohibited. The document dates from early in Monroe's tenure as secretary of state, which had begun that April, and was signed less than six months before Madison asked Congress for a declaration of war against Britain in June 1812. Despite the protections represented by such maritime documentation, American vessels continued to operate amid mounting interference with neutral commerce that would contribute to the coming conflict.
This pass was issued to Pearl Durkee, a Baltimore mariner whose career would soon become intertwined with one of the celebrated American privateers of the War of 1812. In February 1813, little more than a year after this document was issued, Durkee became the first commanding officer of the schooner Chasseur, a Baltimore Clipper built by Thomas Kemp at Fell's Point and launched in December 1812. Originally intended for merchant service, Chasseur turned to privateering amid the Royal Navy's blockade of the Chesapeake and subsequently sailed under captains William Wade and Thomas Boyle, achieving particular fame under Boyle during cruises that ranged from the West Indies to the waters around Britain. Upon her return to Baltimore in April 1815, Chasseur was celebrated as the ‘Pride of Baltimore,’ a name later revived for two replica vessels built in her honor.
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