TAKING CARE OF THE GROVES

SAMUEL MERCER wrote to Leslie Grove with this news on 16 March 1776. The two men corresponded regularly since at least 1768, when Grove married Mercer's daughter Sally at the parish church of St Olave Jewry in the City of London. The letter Mercer wrote on 16 March was fairly typical of this correspondence both in terms of format and content. Two pages in length and written in a legible hand, Mercer's letter touched on the cargo for an intended shipment of goods, the delivery of a cask of rum, recent activity on Grove's account with the house and, more particularly, the movements of Sir Robert Ainslie who was planning a trip to Constantinople (Istanbul) where he would begin his new post as British ambassador to the Ottoman Porte. Ainslie had not yet decided which ship he would sail on and Mercer sensed an opportunity.

Leslie Grove was a ship's captain, at this time the commander of The Thynne, a packet boat the government commissioned to deliver mail between Britain and the West Indies. Grove received a salary for this service, but also was able to trade on his own account with Samuel Mercer, which explains the references to cargoes and deliveries in the letter noted above. Grove had been plying the Atlantic since 1761 and had built up a network of correspondents in Madeira, the West Indies, North America and Ireland. He also had knowledge of goods and markets, and experience navigating the storms, both natural and political, that made crossing the water such a dangerous enterprise. But conflict with the American colonies made Mercer increasingly anxious about his son-in-law's safety, not only because Grove was the father of his grandchildren (all of whom Mercer doted on), but also because Mercer had come to regard Grove as his own beloved son. These fears were on Mercer's mind when he attended the Turkey Company's dinner in February where he met Sir Robert Ainslie and learned about his impending voyage to Constantinople.