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STORYBOOK |
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From
Humble Beginnings | The
Young Captain | Le
Lacheur & Co | Costa Rica –
The Early Years Costa Rica – The Early Years The barque MONARCH was launched from Sebire’s yard in February 1841, sailing to Brazil on her maiden voyage with William in command. She continued from Brazil to Texas in October 1841, when it is thought that William first heard of the possibility of a cargo on the west coast of Central America. This was a time of global recession, which may explain William’s decision to pit his ship and crew against the seas around Cape Horn - some of the most treacherous in the world - in search of a cargo. He succeeded and the MONARCH returned to London safe and sound in September 1842 from the Gulf of Fonseca, Honduras. She set sail again on 30 October for Pernambuco, Brazil and is next recorded leaving Valparaiso, Chile, on 2 March 1843, for Central America (which then encompassed Costa Rica and its adjoining countries). Up until this time, Costa Rican coffee was always imported into Europe through middlemen, usually in Valparaiso. History was made on 19 October 1843, when the MONARCH docked in London from Puntarenas with the first cargo of coffee to be brought directly from Costa Rica to Europe. William’s voyages from London to Puntarenas typically took four to five months, with no trading stops en route. Once clear of the English Channel, his boats sailed close to the Azores and then set a course straight down the Atlantic. They stood well off from Cape Horn before sailing north through the Pacific, directly to Puntarenas. Breaks, if necessary, were always at Valparaiso. After all, trade was extremely competitive and the aim was to complete each leg of the journey as quickly as possible. Whilst in Central America in early 1842 William made the acquaintance of Herr Steipel, a shipping and commission agent in San José, the capital of Costa Rica. Steipel probably introduced him to the coffee producing family of Montealegre, whose son had studied engineering in England with George Stephenson, creator of the first locomotive The Rocket. This son spoke English, which was significant, as William did not speak Spanish. William returned to Costa Rica in early 1843 and is thought to have traveled from Puntarenas to the capital, San José, where he was reunited with the Montealegre family. It is likely that they introduced him to Santiago Fernandez, their uncle and one of the most important coffee producers of his day. The MONARCH was loaded with a full cargo of coffee: 5,505 quintals (1,211,100 lbs) in 4,393 bags. Santiago Fernandez sailed with William to England with this full cargo, along with 72 dry hides. William, it seems, did not waste an inch of space. The job of the captain was to complete the voyage as safely – and as quickly – as possible. To avoid distractions, the buying and selling of cargoes in port was left to a person known as the ‘supercargo’: a post filled by Senor Fernandez on the first direct coffee shipment. However there is no record of this happening again, which suggests that the Costa Ricans trusted William to do it himself. The coffee was sold to the London Coffee House
for 36,700 pesos, paid in silver sixpences and packed into small
barrels. This unusual payment method may have resulted from the
shortage of coins circulating in Costa Rica at that time. William
returned to Puntarenas, where Costa Rican officials confiscated
the sixpences, reimbursed the producers in local money, overstamped
some of the sixpences with the crest of Costa Rica and probably
melted down the rest and reissued it in Costa Rican denominations.
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