Partly-printed vellum DS, signed “James Monroe” as president and “John Quincy Adams” as secretary of state, one page, 11.25 x 14.5, March 1, 1823. Scallop-topped ship’s paper issued for the “Schooner Imperial of New York, James Gill master and commander…mounted with two guns navigated with eight men.” Signed at the conclusion by Monroe, and countersigned by Adams. White paper seal tattered and toned but still affixed to lower left corner. In very good condition, with heavy wrinkling and creasing, scattered toning and stains, intersecting storage folds (one passing through a single letter of Monroe’s signature), and several small holes. Despites its flaws, both signatures remain clear and essentially unaffected.
On the date of this document, Monroe sent a message to the House of Representatives requesting information on what was being done to stop ‘an illegal blockade of the ports of the Spanish Main, and to depredations of privateers fitted out from Porto Rico and other Spanish islands on the commerce of the United States.’ Incidentally, the Imperial is mentioned in George Coggeshall’s 1852 book, Voyages to Various Parts of the World from 1799 till 1844. The vessel also is known to have participated in the Seminole Wars. An impressive early presidential pairing.
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