Exploration of the Contents of Nutter's Prison Notebook

When first looking at the arithmetic book we started by searching for direct references to Jacob Nutter.  Here are clips from the scanned journal of what we found in no particular order:

 

You may click on the images to enlarge them.

The first clip is a reference to the death of Volentine (Valentine) Nutter in 1786; clearly a note made six years after Jacob returned home from France.  Valentine was one of Jacob's older siblings.  Other genealogical records confirm this as the date of Valentine's death.

The second clip appears to be in a child's hand and has the words Kittery and Berwick.  There are some other scribbles elsewhere in the book and some abc's perhaps indicating a child had been given the book to  practice their handwriting.

The third clip shows Jacob Nutter's name along with the well written "Kittery January 21st AD 1806.  It is not clear whether Jacob wrote this, or perhaps it was his son, Jacob Jr. who was born in 1776.

The fourth clip shows Jacob's notation about purchasing the book at Mill Prison the 24th day of August.  Prise one Shilling.  It is not clear which year he bought the book but based on my research I believe it was 1778.  There is another notation "Jacob Nutter his hand and his...:  Then, "Cear of the Shoresman Samuel Clarck for Curon of the Same"  Dated 1786.  I am not exactly sure what it means, but I believe that curon is an older english word related to the word currency, or something of equal value.  If anyone knows, I would like to understand more.

The fifth clip, in pencil says "Received of the Purser 2 Shirts 1 Pare of Shoos 1 frock 1 Pair of trowsers the 23 of June.  There is no year listed but the only June possible would have been June of 1780 while Alliance lay at L'Orient Harbor just before weighing anchor for America.

The sixth and last clip directly related to Nutter or his family is a clarification of the note above and clearly written after the fact.  It reads "Received of the Purser of the Continental Ship Alliance June the 23 1780 Two Shirts Wone Pare of Shoos Wone Frock Wone pare of trowsers  From which I Served the 30 of aprill 1779 Untill the year 1780 September 6".  Perhaps he made better note of government goods supplied upon his discharge on 6 September 1780.

Nutter Journal - Physical Description

Before I dive into the content of Jacob Nutter's Journal, I would like to provide a physical description of the notebook.  Here is a scan of the outer cover.

As can be seen, it was in pretty bad shape.  However, onsidering that no special care had been taken to preserve this book it's amazing that is in as good a shape as it is.  The book currently consists of 88 handwritten pages.  I say currently, because it is evident that a few of the pages have unfortunately been lost.  The pages are quite fragile and it was a bit of a decision whether to attempt to scan them.  In the end, it seemed that scanning was the best way to preserve this historical document and my aunt and I spent the better part of day scanning every page.

I noticed an interesting feature by holding the book so that light could shine through a page.  Each page had a watermark.  I made a sketch as well as I could of the watermarks and include scans of them here.

 

The Britannia-style watermark was on one page and the F&T water mark on the facing page.  I have done some research into these marks as I understand you can determine when and where the paper was manufactured.  I had no luck in finding this exact watermark but I did find similar ones from the mid to late 1700's in England.

When I hold this book I am instantly transported back to the time that it was written by its original owners and begin to imagine life at Mill Prison and life on the Alliance.  Amazing!

My Connections to Jacob Nutter

As I mentioned in the last post, Jacob Nutter is one of my great, great, great, great, great grandfathers.  According to his coast guard enlistment records he was born in 1747 to Valentine and Mary Nutter in Portsmouth NH.  Valentine was a carpenter and shipwright.  Jacob was orphaned during his teen years when his mother died in 1765.  Valentine had died earlier in in 1756 or 57.  William Earl Treadwell of Portsmouth was granted guardianship of Jacob  on Jan 18, 1765.  We don't know much about what Jacob did or what happened to him until his enlistment in the Coast Guards in 1775 at the coastal defenses at Kittery Point ME.  He must have taken to the seafaring life early on because his enlistment record shows his occupation as "mariner" by 1776.

The following image is from "A Return of the Number & Names, Age in the Mattross Company under the Command of Capt. Titus Salter Stationed at Ft. Washington as Mustered by Major George Gains Feby 17th 1776", from Footnote.com (see their add at the top of this page).  By the way, a mattross worked on a cannon crew and in this case the cannons were positioned to protect the channel of the Piscataqua river downstream of Portsmouth.  Click on the image to see more.

You can also see that by February of 1776, Jacob lists his town of residence as Kittery.  We are not sure when he married his wife Rebecca but it was apparently in the early 1770s as their first child was born and baptized in 1774.

Jacob's militia service included a couple of stints at Kittery point in 1775 in Capt. Shapleigh's company and also Col. Edward Cutts.  Then, for some reason he went across to the south side (NH side) of the Piscataqua River to serve under Capt. Salter at Fort Washington.  Militia enlistments were for short duration.  The next image, also from Footnote, shows Jacob Nutter, assigned to Gun #9 at Fort Washington, a 32 pounder with a crew of 7 under Capt. John Williams.

Background and References to Jacob Nutter's Story

Over the course of the next few months I will be posting about the historical references and firsthand accounts that were used to compile Jacob Nutter's Journal.  Hopefully, this will help others interested in this fascinating story and perhaps others to learn more about their own ancestors.  During the course of this research and posting of Nutter's story in serial form on the web I have come across a number of very interesting people, some of whom have provided me with additional detail for this story, others looking for information that would help them to locate the wreck of the Bonhomme Richard, and many others just looking for genealogical reasons.

Hello, my name is Doug Hawks and you can view my profile on Blogger.  Several years ago I knew absolutely nothing about Jacob Nutter, did not know he was my ancestor and nothing about American privateer and naval activities and actions in the European theater during the American Revolution.  This exploration began about six years ago when I was visiting my Aunt in Massachusetts.  She showed me a very old handwritten notebook that contained scribblings, notes and arithmetic.  The penmanship was difficult to read as it was in an old style and the paper was in very bad shape.  My aunt had been able to decipher the name of the original owner of the book as Jacob Nutter who we knew nothing about.  The book had apparently been in our family for a very long time. 

The book was full of arithmetic calculations, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.  There was also a puzzling reference to the "Rule of Threes", the "Rule of Threes Inverse" and more.  Being an engineer with a mathmatical background, I became intrigued and began researching just what this book was about.  Here is an image showing the first two pages of Nutter's book, including his handwritten name

You can click on the image above to see an enlarged view.  In the upper left corner see that Nutter noted on this page that he purchased this book at Mill Prison for the "prise of one shilling".

More about what we found about Jacob Nutter's history and our connection to him in my next post.

September 5. 1780
By the grace of God I have finally arrived back on American soil after nearly four years. Alliance now lies at Long Wharf in Boston where we have been docked since about Aug. 21st. Although most of the crew and many of the officers have long since departed this ship I have continued in my post as quartermaster but will be discharged tomorrow. I am making arrangements to book passage down east to Portsmouth in a coastal packet as soon as possible and will soon see my family again. I have already sent word to them that I am alive and well.

It was a difficult voyage with much unrest among the crew and officers. After departing L’Orient Captain Landy announced that he intended to sail for Philadelphia rather than here to Boston as he originally promised. His reasoning was that he wanted to return Alliance to the Congress who had commissioned him. Since many of the crew are from New England and many had been in prison for 2 years his plans were not well received. On August 5th some of the crew became mutinous and refused to follow his orders but rather decided to steer their own course. After this Captain Landy fell into black moods claiming to be ill and would not show his face for days at a time. Finally on Aug. 11 after facing a second mutiny the passengers, including Mr. Lee, and the officers made a decision to appoint Lt. Degge as acting commander although Degge was at that time under arrest. Degge accepted this responsibility. Course was steered for the nearest port, that being Boston, due to the dangerous situation on board. Alliance made landfall near the Isle ‘O Shoals on Aug. 13th where we nearly ran ashore in breakers when Landy came on deck and began quarrelling with Degge about who was rightful commander. The crew was confused and did not know who to obey. Eventually the crew followed Degge who ordered to wear ship and we were able to clear the rocks. The day after we arrived at Nantasket Roadstead and a few days later we arrived here at Long Wharf.

Captain Landy has kept to his cabin since our arrival despite orders from the Navy Board to appear before them. Captain Barry has been on board ship along with many others carrying messages and trying to convince Landy to leave the ship.

I do not know what will happen but it is of no real matter to me now. I am nearly home.

THE END

July 14. 1780
Tonight while on my watch Captain Landy came on the quarter deck after the officers’ dinner and gave Lt. Degge orders to trim the sails properly as she was running one point large upon the wind. Lt. Degge refused saying the Captain Landy wanted to lose sight of the Luzerne. Degge was in liquor and Cap. Landy ordered him below to his cabin under arrest. He refused and there was a scuffle between the two on the gangway. Degge went forward to the forecastle and Captain Landy sent Lt. Warren of the marines after him with two men. Warren returned saying that Degge was on the bowsprit with a pike in hand telling everyone to standoff or he would run them through. Eventually he went over the bow of the ship and through the head doors into the cabin below and is there now under arrest.

On the 12th instant Captain Landy came on the quarterdeck and gave orders to Capt. Parke that all officers, gunner, carpenter, boatswain, master and midshipmen be allowed only one quart of water per day but all of the rest of the people could have as much as they liked as long as they did not carry any away from a scuttle cask which was placed on the quarterdeck.

July 11. 1780
Today we are at sea, bound for America. We departed Groix on the 8th instant, sailing in company with the Luzerne, Captain Bell, a brig, Captain Montgomery, a lugger, Mr. Smith, and a schooner, Mr. Kardle; we acting as escort for these other ships. On board Alliance we also carry Mr. Arthur Lee, one of the American Commissioners to France.

The lugger sprung her mainmast and spars in some foul weather we have encountered today and Captain Smith has decided to return to France. Mr. Lee’s nephew and some other passengers were traveling on board the lugger so we sent a boat to bring them to the Alliance at Mr. Lee’s request.

We did not leave the roadstead at Groix until the 8th as Captain Landais said he was expecting to receive our prize money; but in the end it did not come. Despite this we were all in high spirits, looking forward to the time, God willing, when we would soon be home, many of us having been gone nearly four years.