What do Bostonian merchants, Spanish pirates who hate tax evasion and Chinese goods have in common? They’re all present in the story of George Washington Eayrs, a New England merchant caught in the crossfires of contraband conflicts in New Spain.
On Nov. 13, Professor Marie Duggan held a talk at Keene State’s Putnam Science Center titled “A New England Merchant Seized by Spanish Pirates in California.” It discussed the story of George Washington Eayrs, a merchant from Boston who was seized by pirates in 1814. Duggan also discussed some of the history of New Spain and its internal conflicts over accepting contraband goods.
“I gave another lecture … online and some people heard it, they were in the audience, and they had this 800-page document from the Los Angeles Public Library,” said Duggan.
The document was about Eayrs’s case trying to get compensation, written in Spanish. Duggan was asked to translate it.
“First I was like, ‘Oh sure, that’ll be great.’ Then I was like, ‘Oh wait a minute, I don’t have time to do an 800-page document,’” Duggan continued, “I did translate about 100 pages … I was really interested in his relationships with the Spanish [people].”
Duggan is a professor of business management at Keene State and was able to take a sabbatical to research this topic.
She said she was able to incorporate her knowledge of business into a lecture about history.
“Among historians, my work stands out because I do talk about incentives a lot, which is what economists think about,” said Duggan. “Like, what’s the incentive to go to the Pacific and how are the profits made?”
“I think of history as just something fundamental,” continued Duggan. “They say you either look at the world as, ‘Where are we coming from?’ or ‘Where are we going to?’ and I tend to look at where are we coming from.”
The lecture discussed how war would drive a New England mariner to do business in the Pacific Ocean, and how Eayrs’ trade route in New Spain was legally complicated.
She explained that Eayrs was captured by pirates hired by the Spanish government because he was selling contraband goods he bought in Canton, China. Although some people he was selling to were happy with the agreement, others were not. The Spanish government at the time wanted everyone in New Spain to get their goods from them. If they did not, then they might be able to avoid paying certain taxes on those items.
KSC students and members of the community were able to attend in person or via a Zoom call. Students expressed their interest in the talk and of learning something new.
“I thought [the lecture] was really interesting, especially seeing parts of history that haven’t been discussed yet, and we’re still finding new things about,” said senior Charlie Grace.
“I chose to come because … Marie Duggan, she’s very smart,” said senior Joseph Caggiano. “When she said she was having a talk about something I didn’t really know too much about, I was like … might as well come and learn.”
Students also discussed enjoyment at the variety of information included.
“It was pretty interesting to listen to her talk and it’s fascinating how much information she pulled from something that happened just shy of 200 years ago,” said senior Timothy Kelleher.
This lecture is not the first of its kind at Keene State. Michael Welsh, a KSC professor of political science, held a series of lectures during the COVID-19 pandemic where he invited Keene State professors to talk about their interests and passions. These lectures were broadcast to the Keene community and, according to Duggan, were a hit. Now, Duggan is attempting to bring them back.
“I really enjoyed learning about what my colleagues were doing,” said Duggan. “So I was thinking I could do it again.”
“I think I would need somebody to help me with the technology so we have to see if there’s funding for that,” continued Duggan. “I would really like to hear about some of my colleagues’ work … so I thought, ‘Well, I’ll do this today and see how it goes and then I’ll see if I could arrange some other ones.’”
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