Trinidad had always been a hub of trade. Even in Pre-Columbian times, hardy and decorative Barrancoid pottery made in Erin and Palo Seco could be found by archaeologists in middens far from these ancient provinces, indicative of trade agreements. In 1783, Roume Rose de St Laurent enamoured with the prospects for cultivation, proposed to the Spanish crown via Governor Don Jose Maria Chacon, that a Cedula of Population be initiated.
While lengthy in its full form it basically allowed a land grant to any settler—white or free coloured—largely French Creole, who was a slave owner and Catholic, to immigrate to the island with a view to opening up rich hinterlands hitherto left to the forests.
These newcomers opened up the forested lands and began large-scale cultivation of sugar, cocoa, cotton, coffee, and other exportable items. Port-of-Spain boomed and these goods were shipped from the waterfront, which in those days was a row of warehouses and shops along the northern edge of Plaza del Marina, now Independence Square.
At that point in time, land reclamation had not yet begun and the sea came right up to where the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception now stands. These mercantiles were not just exporting goods, but also importing every imaginable product ranging from hardware to salted goods and wines. Indeed, the price of saltfish was major news as Dr LAA De Verteuil wrote in 1857:
“We import from the British Colonies of North America and the United States, besides cod or saltfish (local term), mackerel, herrings, and salmon, to the amount of about one million two hundred thousand pounds value 14,700 sterling. Saltfish may be said to be the staple of the animal diet of the population; the richest as well as the poorest inhabitant of Trinidad must have his saltfish at breakfast, and many use it at dinner also. So constant and extensive is its use in the rural districts, that it has long borne the flattering designation of “Planter's Ham.” Salt beef, pork, and hams are imported from the British Isles and the United States; corned fish, salted hog, and tasajo or jerked beef, from Venezuela; from England, Martinique, and St Thomas, we get our supplies of butter, oil, and preserves; the total amount of annual importation being 15,200 sterling.”
The trade between Trinidad and the US and Britain was almost never done in cash but rather by bills of exchange. Each POS merchant had correspondents in the United States and London. These agencies would receive the produce of the island and in turn, ship out what was needed.Planters who had credit with the merchants could take their due in hardware and estate supplies with credit against the next crop or a surplus paid in other goods. The balance of payments situation in this hectic period was described by De Verteuil:
“The commercial movement consists mainly, if not entirely, of imports and exports. In the year 1783, the whole trade of the island was carried on in a vessel of 150 tons, a little cacao and indigo being bartered for some coarse clothes and other necessaries. In 1797, fourteen years after the granting of the second cedula, the colony exported 7,800 hogsheads of sugar, 330,000 pounds of coffee, 96,000 pounds of cacao, and 224,000 pounds of cotton the produce of 159 large sugar plantations, 130 coffee, 6 cacao, and 103 cotton farms.”
The advertisement here shows an American newspaper notice for the Boston firm of Neil and Getty of Union Street in 1798. This was a company that, according to the Boston Directory, dealt in Irish linens, hardware and sundries. As can be seen, Trinidad had links with Boston from whence salted fish came to the island, since the cod was fished at the Grand Banks off Massachusetts. These were then sent to Boston for marketing and export.
Neil and Getty seems to have had considerable commerce with Trinidad since it advertised 106 hogsheads of sugar, 30,000 hundredweight of cocoa, 34 hogsheads of molasses, eight hogsheads of high proof rum among other produce which probably emanated from Venezuela such as 400 hides. Hardware and cloth are also advertised, which was probably the bulk of the firm’s exchange with its agents in the tropics such as “linens, checks and cambricks,” 26 casks assorted glassware and 68 tierces of rice which was also probably bound for Trinidad. It is also printed that sale will be conducted in cash or approved notes the latter of which was the case with Trinidad since bills of lading offset in value against the produce exported were used instead of currency.