Autographs
1722 Rare “Sloop Africa” Ship’s Paper Signed by Colonial Royal Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Samuel Shute
SAMUEL SHUTE (1653-1742). Colonial Royal Governor of the provinces Massachusetts Bay and New Hampshire (1716-1723), English military officer. After serving in the Nine Years' War and the War of the Spanish Succession, he was appointed by King George I as Governor in 1716.
August 10, 1722-Dated, Early Colonial Period, Partially-Printed Document Signed, “Samuel Shute,” as Provincial Royal Governor of Massachusetts Bay in New England, at Boston, Choice Extremely Fine. Document measuring 12” x 7.75” (by sight), housed in a modern 14” x 9” decorative gilt-edged black wooden frame. This early Colonial Naval Ship’s Paper / Customs Style Document is extremely rare. It proclaims, in part: “no foreigner directly or indirectly hath any share or part or interest therein” in regards to the “Sloop Africa.” The Document has some expected light folds and even tone with bold deep black printed text to the laid period paper with clearly readable manuscript portions (not viewed out of its frame). All signatures are very clear. An impressive 1722 Colonial Massachusetts Naval Customs Document is the very earliest American Colonial Period Ship’s Paper we have offered. Royal Governor Samuel Shute was known as honest and well-meaning, but quite obstinate, being engaged in struggles with the Massachusetts Assembly, including appeals that were directed back to courts in England. Shute was actually on his way back from yet another court case in England in 1727 when the King died, leading to a new Royal Governor being appointed.
Samuel Shute (January 12, 1662 – April 15, 1742) was an English military officer and Royal Governor of the provinces of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. After serving in the Nine Years' War and the War of the Spanish Succession, he was appointed by King George I as governor of Massachusetts and New Hampshire in 1716.

His tenure was marked by virulent disagreements with the Massachusetts assembly on a variety of issues, and by poorly conducted diplomacy with respect to the Native American Wabanaki Confederacy of northern New England that led to Dummer's War (1722–1725).

Although Shute was partly responsible for the breakdown in negotiations with the Wabanakis, he returned to England in early 1723 to procure resolutions to his ongoing disagreements with the Massachusetts assembly, leaving conduct of the war to Lieutenant Governor William Dummer. His protests resulted in the issuance in 1725 of the Explanatory Charter, essentially confirming his position in the disputes with the assembly. He did not return to New England, being replaced as governor in 1728 by William Burnet, and refused to be considered for reappointment after Burnet's sudden death in 1729.

Thomas Hutchinson (Massachusetts royal governor in the early 1770s), in his history of Massachusetts, described Shute's tenure as governor as the most contentious since the Antinomian Controversy of the 1630s.