Can anyone help Bill Trout on this query?

Bill Trout, a member of the Virginia Canals & Navigations Society, is 
interested in what we call "The Great James River Batteau Robbery" in 
1809 when Jefferson's papers were vandalized while being shipped up the 
James to Monticello. A reference to it is in Dumas Malone's /Jefferson 
and His Time: The Sage of Monticello/, p.5, footnote 7, and in fiction 
in Clive Cussler and Paul Kemprecos' /The Navigator/, pp.28-29. Has 
anyone studied this incident, beyond the references cited by Malone? I'm 
trying to find more details, including where the theft took place, for 
an article in the canal society's quarterly, and to make the site a stop 
to honor Jefferson during our annual James River Batteau Festival in June.
Friends of Jefferson may be interested in attending the canal society's 
2013 annual meeting on April 26-28, which will celebrate the 250th 
anniversary of Jefferson's canoe trip down the Rivanna River in 1763, 
which started him on his career in politics. On Saturday we will canoe 
the same section of river, I hope accompanied by "Jefferson" in a dugout 
canoe. See www.vacanals.org <http://www.vacanals.org/> for registration 
details or e-mail Brian Coffield at [log in to unmask] 
<mailto:[log in to unmask]>.

William E. Trout, III, Ph.D.
Volunteer Consulting Canal Detective
417 Phillips Street, Edenton NC 27932
252-482-5946, [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>


Richard E. Dixon Editor Jefferson Notes 571-748-7660 TJHeritage.org

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