Shipping of Supplies to the Colonies

It was very difficult and time consuming to get supplies to the colonies, back then. Some items could be made by the settlers, though time was limited since their lifestyle was so labor intensive. Many items were brought over from England by ships that only came once per year, in the fall, for the harvested tobacco. Therefore, residents had to wait a long time for imported supplies, if they could afford them at all. Merchandise would be off-loaded at a port such as the one in Oxford, Maryland, and the tobacco loaded in its place. The ships remained at port through the winter until they could travel again, with their barrels of tobacco, back to England.  They would then return to America the next fall with the new batch of supplies which the colonists had ordered.