This month's document is the registration form for the schooner Maria, which was built in Alexandria in 1796. The ship was registered to Henry Bowcock of Alexandria and Christopher Edrington of Westmoreland County, Virginia on May 24, 1796. None of our indexes to Alexandria vital records had any further information about Henry Bowcock, but he did place an advertisement in the Columbian Mirror and Alexandria Gazette on May 24, 1796 offering the Maria "for Freight or Charter to Philadelphia or New York". Alexandria's port played a major role in the city's early history, and the newspaper is filled with similar advertisements, as well as information about which ships had arrived and sailed on any given day.

The registration for the Maria is located in the Manuscript Collection, Box 240 VF Ships and Shipping.