One hundred eighty-four residents of Accomack and Northampton counties complain about slave fishermen who come at night and gather oysters. As a consequence, they "neglect their labours in the day, and in the course of a short time are laid up with broken constitutions." White crews of oyster vessels, often from the lower counties in Maryland, encourage slaves in the Chesapeake region to pilfer from their owners, not only poultry but grain and "other things of value for which they always afford a ready market & hence the slaves are corrupted." The petitioners know that the legislature "can no doubt" offer protection "against abuses so easy of remedy and so loudly demanding its consideration."
Result: Referred to select committee.
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Repository: Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
