Part II – The Sloop Sea Gull

The Youle billhead is particularly interesting in that what it itemizes. The purchaser was the Sloop Sea Gull dated December 18, 1822. Youle put one set of sleigh shoes on the sloop and also charged for cartage. The billhead is signed by Mr. George Youle, Jun.

The Sea Gull was built as the river steamer built Enterprise by the Connecticut Steam Boat Company of Hartford CT. It was launched in November, 1818. In December, 1822 it was purchased by the US Navy for $16,000 for use as a shallow water operating against pirates along the coast of Cuba. It was renamed the Sea Gull, only the second steamship in the US Navy and the first to serve actively as a warship. The Sea Gull served as a dispatch boat in Commodore Porter’s “Mosquito Fleet,” employed in the West Indies for the suppression of piracy in 1823-1824.

The Sea Gull served in the West Indies looking for pirates until 1825, when she was declared unfit for service and fitted out as a receiving ship in Philadelphia until she was sold in 1840 for $4750.

I believe that the Sea Gull mentioned on the Youle billhead is one and the same. First, the sloop throws me off a little, but the fact that it was purchased and outfitted in New York, and Youle was a well-known and top notch founder makes it likely that his firm might have done some work on the steamer to make it fit for service in the Navy. The December, 1822 date of the billhead is right on the money for when the Sea Gull was in the city being retrofitted.

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Baking Powder Billheads

In 1843 the first modern version of baking powder was discovered and manufactured by Alfred Bird, a British chemist. In 1846, Justus Von Liebig in Germany experiments with yeast made from sodium bicarbonate and hydrochloric acid with explosive results. In 1885, Eben Horsford and George Wilson manufacture chemicals which eventually became the Rumford Chemical Works. Horsford formulated and patented Rumford Baking Powder, the first calcium phopshate baking powder. In 1889, William Wright and chemist George Rew developed a double-action baking powder marketed under the name Calumet Baking Powder. Below find some examples of baking powder billheads.

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