Humphreys

College of Philadelphia, probably the first Greek
text to be printed in the American colonies. The
following year he published one of the first sets
of books to be printed in what is now the United
States, the Works of Laurence Sterne, in five
volumes; and in January 1775 he began the
publication of a newspaper, The Pennsylvania
Ledger: or, The Virginia, Maryland, Pennsyl-
vania and New Jersey Weekly Advertiser. He
announced that his journal would be conducted
with political impartiality, but since he had previ-
ously taken the oath of allegiance to the British
king, he refused to bear arms against his govern-
ment In 1776 he published a pamphlet, Stric-
tures on Paine* s Common Sense, which went
through two editions "of several thousand copies"
in a few months.

Although Humphreys managed to keep his
newspaper going for a time, a writer in Towne's
Evening Post (Nov. 16, 1776) attacked him as a
Tory, and on other occasions Towne had pointed
the finger of suspicion against him. Humphreys,
accordingly, feeling that he might get himself
into serious trouble with the patriots, discon-
tinued his paper with the issue of Nov. 30, 1776,
and retired to the country, returning to Phila-
delphia only when the British took possession of
the city. Reestablished, Dec. 3, 1777, as The
Pennsylvania Ledger or the Philadelphia Market
Day Advertiser, the paper was issued twice a
week on market days until its final suspension,
May 23, 1778, When the British troops left
Philadelphia, Humphreys accompanied them to
New York, where he engaged in merchandising.
On the return of peace, he went to the Loyalist
colony of Shelburne, Nova Scotia, where he at-
tempted to establish another paper, the Nova
Scotia Packet. Success did not favor this enter-
prise, however, and he again became a merchant.
In this capacity he continued until 1797, when,
having suffered severe losses through the opera-
tions of French privateers, he decided to return
to Philadelphia, There he again opened a print-
ing house, and from that time until his death, ac-
cording to Isaiah Thomas, he "was employed in
book printing.'* Thomas adds, "A number of
valuable works have come from his press. He
was a good and accurate printer, and a worthy
citizen," He died in Philadelphia, in 1810, and
was buried in the graveyard of Christ Church in
that city. His wife was Mary Yorfce,

Humphreys

Hsatak Thomas, Tk* #w#, of Printing in America
(a *ols^ iSio), repub., 1874, as vols. V and VI of Tr ans.
Cafe Am. Ante. $oc. ; Wm. McCulloch, <4Addi-
t» Tfeotoas*s History of Printing/' Proc. Am.
. S*c.f s,s>, vol. XXXI {1922) ; A. B. Slausoa,
4 Cte* Lw# of Am. Newspapers in the Lib. of Cong.
. if PA Bi&g. Cat, of the Uefricubtes of

the College . . . 1749-1893 (1894); Paulson's Am.
Daily Advertiser, Feb. 3,1810.] j j

HUMPHREYS, JOSHUA (June 17, 175^
Jan. 12, 1838), ship-builder and naval architect,
was born in Haverford township, Delaware
County, Pa., the son of Joshua Humphreys, a
farmer and large land-owner, and Sarah (Wil-
liams) Humphreys. He came of substantial
Quaker stock, his ancestor, Daniel Humphreys,
having* emigrated from Merionethshire, Wales,
in 1682, to settle in Haverford township. At an
early age Joshua was apprenticed to a ship-car-
penter in Philadelphia. Before the completion
of his apprenticeship his master died and he was
placed in charge of the ship yard. Within a few
years he established his own yard and became
widely known as the leading naval architect in
America. He was commissioned to fit out the
fleet of vessels of the Continental Navy which
sailed from Philadelphia in 1776 under Esek
Hopkins [#.#.].

After the organization of the federal govern-
ment, the defenseless state of American com-
merce forced upon Congress the necessity of pro-
viding a navy; and on Mar. 27, 1794, an act was
approved providing for a naval force for the
protection of the commerce of the United States
from the Algerine pirates. On Apr. 12, 1794,
Humphreys wrote to General Knox, the secre-
tary of war, suggesting some radical and impor-
tant improvements which might be embodied in
the six frigates authorized by Congress as the nu-
cleus of the American navy. His idea was that,
since the number of ships which the United States
could support would for a long time be less than
the number in any of the large European navies,
such ships as the young nation did possess should
be fast-sailing enough to fight or run at will; and
when they chose to fight they should be equal,
ship for ship, to anything afloat. To accomplish
this end, he suggested, the new vessels should be
longer and broader than any previously con-
structed, but should not rise so high out of the
water. He maintained that a ship built accord-
ing to his suggestion could carry as many guns
on one deck as the others carried on two; could
work them to better advantage; and, being more
stable, could carry much more canvas. He was
asked to supply models constructed in accordance
with these ideas, and his plans were finally
adopted

On June 28,1794, he was appointed naval con-
structor and directed to have the models for the
six frigates prepared with all possible dispatch.
The United States was built under his personal
supervision at Philadelphia; the Constitution, by
George Claghorn [g,z>.] at Boston; the Chtsa-

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