Appointed on September 9, 1709, Colonel Robert Hunter was the new governor of New Jersey and New York, replacing the now deceased Lord Francis Lovelace who had died during his term in New York.⁵⁹ A month after Hunter’s appointment as governor, Secretary Sunderland, on November 29, brought to the attention of the Board of Trade a proposal by Hunter relating to the settlement of 3,000 Palatines in New York to produce naval stores.⁶⁰

This is believed to be a portrait of Governor Robert Hunter.

Naval stores is a term applied to the cordage, mask, resin, tar and timber used in building wooden sailing ships. It also includes products extracted from the pine tree, e.g. pine oil, pitch, rosin, tar and turpentine.⁶¹ Naval stores were currently being produced in New England, but none in New York. There was not enough naval stores being manufactured to meet the demands of the Navy Board who wanted to build more ships. They no longer wanted to buy naval stores from Sweden, who had established a foreign monopoly and was in complete control of their supply of naval stores. England was quickly becoming the "undisputed empire of the sea," after the War of the Spanish Succession, or known as Queen Anne’s War. Sweden realized this, deciding to take advantage of this opportunity and began to charge excessive prices for their naval stores.⁶²

During this time period, Europe operated under the mercantile system, which was an economic system that increased a nation's wealth by government regulation of all of the nation's commercial interests. Colonies were formed in North America for this purpose--the colonies would produce raw materials to send back to Europe where the government would use the materials for building.  In this case, raw materials such as tar and timber would be extracted from the pine trees in New York and shipped to England where they would use the raw material to build ships.  Colonists were not permitted to build anything with the raw materials they produced.

Governor Hunter’s proposal was that New York was the most logical place to set up a naval stores industry and employ approximately 3,000 Palatines to work in the naval stores. His proposal included the hiring of four people, who were skilled in the methods of manufacturing naval stores, to instruct and supervise the Palatines. Also, he wanted commissaries and clerks of stores, in addition to other officers. He was unsure about the exact number of Palatine families who would be transported to New York, so he suggested that 600 tents be sent along with them. He thought it was necessary that the Palatines be armed with 600 firelocks and bayonets with a proportional quantity of gunpowder and shots since the Palatines would be situated on the frontier. He believed it was absolutely necessary to build a storehouse due to the fact that ships would be touching port at different sites along the river and there would be a considerable amount of time for loading and offloading.⁶³

The Board of Trade considered and accepted Governor Hunter’s proposal, deciding that the proposal was the solution to their problems—a low supply of naval stores and the rising Palatine population in England. Since the Palatines would be living on the frontier, they would be an "additional strength and security" against the French in Canada and the scattered Indian nations. The Board of Trade decided that the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers were the best sites in New York to produce naval stores because there was an abundant supply of pine trees in the region. The Board proposed that John Bridger be hired as tar instructor for the Palatines. Mr. Bridger was the Surveyor General of Your Majesty’s Woods and had been residing in New England for the past four or five years. Bridger would then bring with him to New York, three or four people who were also skilled in the trade.

The Board recommended the hiring of supervisors to reside among the Palatines and oversee their work, and that the hiring would be left up to Hunter because it would depend on how many Palatine settlements would be built. They also recommended that a storehouse be built at each settlement in order to house the stores until they could be sent up to New York where there would be a general storehouse for shipping off for the port of London. A storekeeper or commissary, appointed in New York, was to keep a faithful account of all such stores received, people who produced or paid for the stores, and the delivery of the stores. The person would report to the governor and await instructions. An agent would be appointed here in England and be in charge of billing and payment for Palatine subsistence and stores for the Palatines, and receipt and sale of all stores consigned to him. The Board suggested that once the Palatines arrived at New York, they were to be naturalized "without fee and reward" and have the same privileges and rights like the citizens of New York.⁶⁴

Governor Hunter devised a contract, with a few corrections by Attorney-General James Montague, in which the Palatines were to sign before they sailed for New York.⁶⁵ The contract stated that the British government would pay for subsistence, transportation and settlement of the Palatines in New York. The Palatines were to repay the government with the produce of their labors in the naval stores. Once the government was repaid, each Palatine would be rewarded with forty acres of land, free from taxes, quit rents or any other manner of services for seven years.⁶⁶ However, there was no set limit for length of service; nevertheless, the Palatines signed the contract before they sailed for New York.⁶⁷

The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel Parts, a voluntary missionary organization, was interested in the spread of the Anglican faith in New York and searched for a minister who was interested in assimilating the Germans. A candidate, Reverend John Frederick Haeger, was chosen at the request of several Palatines.⁶⁸

The captains and the owners of the ten ships to take the Palatines to New York were to have the ships ready for embarkation between the 25^th and 29^th of December 1709, but the ships did not leave right away for New York. Accounts vary about when the ships actually set sail for New York, but the general consensus is sometime around April 10^th, 1710.⁶⁹

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