The Card Brothers
James and Jonathan Card, sons of a North Kingstown ship captain, are typical examples of Rhode Islanders who benefitted from the mahogany trade. Each served aboard vessels in Rhode Island’s merchant marine from an early age.
After working in the transatlantic slave trade, James was hired to command ships owned by Captain Oliver Ring Warner, an affluent Newport merchant. While in the role of captain, James returned to the coastal trade, including transporting enslaved individuals among various locations. From his home base in Newport, he supported his family and pursued a successful maritime career, including regular voyages to fetch mahogany from the Bay of Honduras.
Jonathan, meanwhile, served under Captain William Cahoone, who retired from the sea in the 1750s and settled in the Bay of Honduras, joining the Bay’s motley population of Anglo woodcutters, enslaved Africans, and Indigenous peoples. Following in his mentor’s footsteps, Jonathan established a mahogany works in the 1760s, staying there during the dry season and hunting for mahogany trees in the rainforest. He purchased enslaved workers to fell the massive trees and soon began exporting timber to New England and Europe.
Although their vantage points differed, the Card brothers variously took the roles of mariner, woodcutter, merchant, slave trader, enslaver, and consumer of mahogany.
Receipt for six enslaved people, bought by James Card from Owen Nash, April 2, 1772. “Seasoned” in this context was an enslaver’s term referring to the process of adjusting the enslaved Africans to their new climate, diseases, violent and harsh labor conditions, and social order. Enslavers believed that if enslaved people survived this brutal and dehumanizing period of seasoning, they were less likely to die and were more easily controlled.
- Primrose a seasoned Man — £60
- Jack a seasoned Boy — £50
- Betty a seasoned Girl — £50
- Phillis a seasoned woman Girl — £50
- March a new Negro man — £50 Jenny a new Negro woman Girl — £50
This bill of lading lists cargo (including about 300 gallons of rum and a cask of gunpowder) that James Card was carrying to the Bay of Honduras on a voyage to obtain mahogany. A bill of lading was a standard maritime document signed by the shipmaster, acknowledging receipt of the cargo described on the document. There were usually three copies created: one each for the master, shipper, and consignee.