This cache is located at the Perkins House Museum. Simeon Perkins was an original settler of Liverpool. He was a businessman, politician and a privateer owner, but he is peobably best known for hes diary. He wrote a diary of the everyday occurances in Liverpool in the 1700's and early 1800's. His diary chronicals what life was like in a town striving to become established at a time when there were numerous wars. Liverpool was a town caught between Brittain, of which we were a colony, and the fledgeling United States which was our closest neighbour and where most of the settlers had come from.
There were many here who had family back in the US and many who had relocated here as loyalists to the crown. It caused conflict in the town and led to one case of an American Privateer being let in to capture the town garrison.
Privateering was a way for people who made a living on the sea to continue to make a living in time of war. With warships and privateers patrolling off the coast, it was nearly impossible to earn a livelihood from fishing or trading. As a response to privateers patrolling off our coast, Letters of Marque were granted to private citizens. A Letter of Marque allowed a private ship owner to arm their ship and go cruising for enemy ships. Once an enemy ship was captured it was sailed to it's home port by a prize crew and the local navy authority would determine if the prize was actually an enemy ship and qualified for capture. If the ship qualified, it and its contents were auctioned off and the proceeds were split among the government, the owners and the crew. Most crew signed on not for wages, but for shares. The more valuable your trade was to the enterprise the higher your share percentage. If the ship was determined to be inelligible for capture it was released to continue it's voyage and the Captain of the privateer could be fined or imprisoned as a pirate for breaking the Letter of Marque.
The Liverpool Packet was the most famous Privateer of the War of 1812. It disrupted shipping along the New England coast and captured more than 50 ships. Many a fortune were made by this ship for the governemnt and the owners and crew. It is even claimed that the Cape Cod Canal was finally built in response to the number of ships captured by the Packet off the tip of Cape Cod.
Inside the museum is a 1/2 scale model of a portion of the deck of the Liverpool Packet. If you have time after finding the cache it might be worth a trip inside to tread the decks like a privateer of old and live vicariously the thrill of a naval engagement.