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The Virginia Gazette Domestic News August 24, 1739
Richmond, Richmond, Virginia
What is this article about?
War with Spain is confirmed: the governor of Virginia received orders to grant commissions of marque and reprisals, war has been proclaimed in England and several colonies, and royal ships are ordered to cruise against Spanish vessels.
Quality green show the numbers
Measured from the scan
— how cleanly the OCR engine read the characters
- Mean ink quality
- 99.0% The length-weighted average confidence across the OCR lines — the mean of exactly the per-line scores whose tails the two figures below report. Typical is 99%.
- Illegible ink
- 0.0% Text sitting in OCR-detected lines that scored below 80% confidence — very shaky reads. Weighted by line length, so one long bad line counts for more than a short one.
- Uncertain ink
- 0.0% Text in lines that scored 80–90% — somewhat shaky reads.
- Matches source
- 96.52% How closely the served text matches the raw OCR of the same boxes, letter by letter, after collapsing spacing and case. This measures agreement, not correctness: the OCR is often wrong and the extractor corrects it, so 100% does not mean perfect, and a low figure usually means poor scan text was rewritten rather than that text was lost (length vs source shows loss).
- Length vs source
- 98.82% Below 100% means text was dropped from the OCR; above means text was added to make it read.
Assembled by the extraction model
— whether the stitched-together text holds up; catches layout and segmentation errors, which the scores above cannot see
- Transcription confidence
- 98.0% (typical 96%) How cleanly the extractor could assemble what it was given. Low here with clean ink scores points at layout analysis — the characters were read correctly but grouped or ordered wrongly.
- Comprehension
- 95.0% Whether the piece reads coherently start to finish. Can stay high while transcription confidence drops, when only part of the component is affected.
Clipping
Full Text
WILLIAMSBURG, Aug. 1.
On Tuesday last, His Honour, the Governor, receiv'd a Packet from one of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, with Orders and Instructions of great Moment in the present Situation of Affairs, between Great-Britain and Spain: In Consequence of which, His Honour has been pleased to Publish his Readiness to grant Commissions of Marque and Reprizals to any of His Majesty's Subjects, for Fitting out Vessels for Seizing and Taking the Ships, Vessels, and Goods, belonging to the King of Spain, or his Subjects. This Packet came by the Tartar Man of War, Capt. Durell, to Boston, who was dispatch'd with Orders and Instructions to the several Governors, and Commanders of, His Majesty's Ships, in the Northern Parts of His American Dominions. And by a Sloop, which arriv'd two Days ago at Hampton, from Barbadoes, we learn, That a small Ship of War was arriv'd at that Island from England, with Advice, That War was proclaim'd in England, against Spain. She brought Orders and Instructions to the Governor of that Island; and is proceeded to some of the other Islands with the like Dispatches: That 5 Days before the above-mention'd Sloop left Barbadoes, War was proclaim'd there against Spain: And we are inform'd, by Letters from the Norward, and Ships that came down the Bay, that War is Proclaimed, at New-York, Amboy, Philadelphia, Annapolis, &c. --- We hear, That His Majesty's Ships on this Station, have received Orders from the Right Hon. the Lords of the Admiralty, to cruise forthwith on this Coast, and to take, sink, burn, destroy, or otherwise annoy, any Ship or other Vessels belonging to the King or Subjects of Spain, where-ever they meet with them. So that it's beyond Doubt that War is proclaim'd in England; of which we daily expect further Accounts. -- Several of our Merchants have been long complaining of the Difficulties and Dangers they underwent in sending their Vessels to Sea, lest they should be taken by the Spaniards; they have now a fair Opportunity of redressing their Grievances, by making Reprizals on their Enemies; and it is not doubted but there are Men of Spirit as well as Ability, in this Colony, who will fit out Vessels for that Purpose, to the Honour and Interest of themselves and their Country.
On Tuesday last, His Honour, the Governor, receiv'd a Packet from one of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, with Orders and Instructions of great Moment in the present Situation of Affairs, between Great-Britain and Spain: In Consequence of which, His Honour has been pleased to Publish his Readiness to grant Commissions of Marque and Reprizals to any of His Majesty's Subjects, for Fitting out Vessels for Seizing and Taking the Ships, Vessels, and Goods, belonging to the King of Spain, or his Subjects. This Packet came by the Tartar Man of War, Capt. Durell, to Boston, who was dispatch'd with Orders and Instructions to the several Governors, and Commanders of, His Majesty's Ships, in the Northern Parts of His American Dominions. And by a Sloop, which arriv'd two Days ago at Hampton, from Barbadoes, we learn, That a small Ship of War was arriv'd at that Island from England, with Advice, That War was proclaim'd in England, against Spain. She brought Orders and Instructions to the Governor of that Island; and is proceeded to some of the other Islands with the like Dispatches: That 5 Days before the above-mention'd Sloop left Barbadoes, War was proclaim'd there against Spain: And we are inform'd, by Letters from the Norward, and Ships that came down the Bay, that War is Proclaimed, at New-York, Amboy, Philadelphia, Annapolis, &c. --- We hear, That His Majesty's Ships on this Station, have received Orders from the Right Hon. the Lords of the Admiralty, to cruise forthwith on this Coast, and to take, sink, burn, destroy, or otherwise annoy, any Ship or other Vessels belonging to the King or Subjects of Spain, where-ever they meet with them. So that it's beyond Doubt that War is proclaim'd in England; of which we daily expect further Accounts. -- Several of our Merchants have been long complaining of the Difficulties and Dangers they underwent in sending their Vessels to Sea, lest they should be taken by the Spaniards; they have now a fair Opportunity of redressing their Grievances, by making Reprizals on their Enemies; and it is not doubted but there are Men of Spirit as well as Ability, in this Colony, who will fit out Vessels for that Purpose, to the Honour and Interest of themselves and their Country.
What sub-type of article is it?
Military
Politics
What keywords are associated?
War With Spain
Commissions Of Marque
Letters Of Marque
Williamsburg
Privateering
What entities or persons were involved?
His Honour, The Governor
Capt. Durell
Where did it happen?
Williamsburg
Domestic News Details
Primary Location
Williamsburg
Event Date
Aug. 1
Key Persons
His Honour, The Governor
Capt. Durell
Outcome
war proclaimed; commissions of marque offered; orders to cruise against spanish shipping.