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MERCHANT
VENTURERS

/* Old (-Jd /em

Robert E. Peabody

MERCHANT VENTURERS OF OLD SALEM

SHIP MOUNT VERNON ENGAGING A FRENCH PRIVATEER OFF GIBRALTAR

From the painting by Come in the Peabody Museum, Salem

MERCHANT VENTURERS
OF OLD SALEM

A History of

The Commercial Voyages of a New
England Family to the Indies and
Elsewhere in the XVIII Century

ROBERT E. PEABODY

WITH PORTRAITS AND
OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS

BOSTON AND NEW YORK

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY

Ofte tttoerjti&e $re& Cambribge

1912

Published October IQIZ

PREFACE

This book describes how commerce was carried on
by American merchants in the early years of our his-
tory and illustrates how contemporary political events
in America and Europe, affected American trade.
By tracing the career of a typical family of New Eng-
land merchants a picture is obtained of that romantic
period when diminutive ships, manned often by mere
boys and laden with homely cargoes of rum, fish, cheese,
or lumber, sailed away for the distant markets of the
East, to return years later, their holds filled with teas,
spices, or rich silks.

Many thanks are due to Prof. Edward Channing,
of Harvard University, for his assistance in obtaining
much of the information in these pages, and also to
Dr. Richard Derby and Mr. Roger Derby, of New
York, Hon. George P. Wetmore, of Newport, Rhode
Island, and Mr. George F. Dow, of the Essex Insti-
tute, Salem, Massachusetts, for the use of manuscripts
and records in their possession. The blocks of all the
illustrations have been kindly loaned by the Essex
Institute.

MARBLEHEAD, MASS.?
September, 1012.

253391

CONTENTS

I. A CHAPTER OF COLONIAL COMMERCE ... I

II. A SALEM MERCHANT'S PART IN THE REVOLU-
TION 28

III. PIONEERS OF AMERICAN COMMERCE IN THE

FAR EAST 51

-*-

IV. A CHAPTER OF EAST INDIA VOYAGES ... 97

V. VOYAGES DURING THE EARLY NAPOLEONIC

WARS 125

VI. A GREAT MERCHANT 148

ILLUSTRATIONS

SHIP MOUNT VERNON ENGAGING A FRENCH PRIVA-
TEER OFF GIBRALTAR. (See page 138) . . Frontispiece

PORTRAIT OF RICHARD DERBY 8

PORTRAIT OF CAPTAIN JOHN DERBY 36

PORTRAIT OF ELIAS HASKET DERBY 52

SHIP GRAND TURK 72

SHIP RECOVERY 100

PORTRAIT OF CAPTAIN NATHANIEL SILSBEE . . .108

PORTRAIT OF NATHANIEL BOWDITCH 118

SHIP JOHN 132

SHIP MOUNT VERNON ENCOUNTERING A FRENCH

FLEET 136

SHIP MOUNT VERNON 146

THE DERBY MANSION 164

MERCHANT VENTURERS
OF OLD SALEM

CHAPTER I

A CHAPTER OF COLONIAL COMMERCE •

IN these days when the modern steamship and
the cable bind the whole world closely together,
it is hard for us to realize the dangers and dif-
ficulties that beset commerce two hundred years
ago. The ships of that time were mostly small and
unseaworthy, charts were few and imperfect, and
the science of navigation little known. Those
craft which survived the perils of the deep still ran
the added risk of capture, for not only did the seas
swarm with pirates, but the constant wars of that
period made the ships of almost any nation the
rightful prey of an enemy's men-of-war. More-
over, the entire system of commerce was so bound
round by Navigation Acts and other restrictive
legislation that it was practically impossible for a
vessel to make a foreign voyage without breaking
the laws of some country. It was during these
troubled times, however, that the foundations of
American commerce were laid.

2 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

From earliest colonial days our people were
deeply concerned in shipowning, shipbuilding, and K
other marine pursuits. The only communication
of the first settlers with the rest of the civilized
world was by sea, and for many years, on account
of lack of roads, almost all traffic between the
colonies was by water. Thus we became at an
early date a seafaring people. This was especially
the case in New England, where the shores
abounded with fish, and where the forests which
grew down to the water's edge formed a boundary
to inland progress and at the same time offered
material for building ships. Many a sturdy little
craft, fashioned from the convenient timber and
manned by a few hardy and energetic colonists, \
sailed for Europe or the West Indies freighted with V
fish or lumber. From Europe such vessels brought /
home the many necessities of life, and from the V
West Indies great quantities of sugar and molasses,
which were quickly converted into that eighteenth
century staple of commerce, New England rum.

As early as 1660 England's Navigation Acts
restricted to English and colonial vessels the trade
between the colonies as well as the trade to the
mother country, and this exclusion of foreign
vessels was a great boon to colonial shipping. So

A Chapter of Colonial Commerce 3

industriously did the American merchants extend
their trade and so rapidly did their ships increase
in number, that in 1775 Burke declared, "The
commerce of your colonies is out of all proportion
beyond the numbers of the people." Of the fisher-
ies he added, "Neither the perseverance of Hol-
land nor the activity of France nor the dexterous
and firm sagacity of English enterprise ever car-
ried this most perilous mode of hardy industry to
the extent to which it has been pushed by this
recent people, — a people who are still, as it were,
but in the gristle, and not yet hardened into the
bone of manhood." Although the middle colonies
were actively engaged in shipping, it was in New
England that the largest number of the colonial
ships were owned. In fact, so absolutely did New
England depend upon her commerce that when in
1764-68 the duties and regulations of the Gren-
ville and Townsend Acts imposed heavy burdens
upon her hitherto practically untaxed trade, her
merchants were among the very first to rise up
against the policy of the British Government,
making New England the scene of the first strug-
gles of the war for independence. The Revolution,
however, hindered but slightly the rapid growth
of American commerce, for within ten years after

4 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

the war American merchants were sending their
vessels to India, China, Africa, Russia, — in fact to
every part of the known world, — and were reap-
ing handsome profits from this lucrative trade.

In no American port was this commercial enter-
prise developed to a greater extent than in Salem,
Massachusetts. Although to-day not a single
ocean-going vessel hails from this place, between
one hundred and one hundred and fifty years ago
it was one of the leading American ports, and be-
tween the Revolution and the War of 1812, the
period of its greatest prosperity, Salem was well
known in many parts of the East Indies and the
South Seas where no one had ever heard of New
York or Boston.

Of all the Salem merchants who helped give
their town this early commercial supremacy none
were more active than those of the Derby family.
Roger Derby, the founder of the family in America,
came to this country in 1671, and settled at Salem,
where he engaged in maritime trade. This occupa-
tion was continued by his descendants until the
early part of the nineteenth century. Richard
Derby, the grandson of Roger, was an example of
the many New England merchants of the colonial
period. By tracing his career one obtains an inter-

A Chapter of Colonial Commerce 5

esting view of the manner in which these early
merchants carried on their business, and of the
effect on American commerce caused by the Eng-
lish Acts of Trade and Navigation and by the
Revolution. Moreover, Elias Hasket Derby, the
son of Richard, was one of the pioneer American
merchants in the trade to the Far East, and a study
of his life and operations shows us how American
commerce was extended to the distant markets
of the Orient during the early years of our national
history.

Richard Derby was born in Salem in 1712. His
father had been a sea captain and merchant, but
died while Richard was an infant, and the boy was
reared by an energetic mother. Practically nothing
is known of his childhood, but early in 1736, at
the age of twenty-four, he appears as master of the
"slope Ranger on a voige to Cadiz," Malaga, etc.,
taking a cargo composed principally of fish. With a
mate and a crew of four men, young Derby made
a successful voyage, and having exchanged his
fish for oil, fruit, and handkerchiefs, returned to
Salem in the latter part of May. In September
he sailed again to Spain in the Ranger on a similar
trip, and in the winter of 1739 he went as master
of the " skoner Ranger" to the island of St. Martins

6 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

in the French West Indies, where in April he sold
his cargo for £2178. 4. o.

This voyage of the Ranger to a French West
India island was contrary to the laws of France,
for the governments of Spain, Holland, Denmark,
and France prohibited foreign vessels from trading
with their colonies. Nevertheless, the laws of these
countries were easily evaded. Customs officials
were readily induced to sell registries that would
make a New England vessel French, Spanish,
Dutch, or Danish to suit the case, and by means
of "a little greasing" of the proper authorities at
these islands a colonial captain could obtain a right
to trade wherever he wished. A duty of four and
one half per cent was levied on all goods exported
from the English islands, while the export duty
from the French islands was but one per cent. This
alone was reason enough for the extensive trade to
the French West Indies.

On December 6, 1741, Captain Richard Derby
sailed for St. Martins as master and part owner of
the schooner Volant, and the following extract from
his sailing orders shows how the New England
merchants evaded the regulations of foreign coun-
tries : —

"If you should go among the French Endeavour

A Chapter of Colonial Commerce 7

to gett Sale at St. Martins but if you should fall
so low as Statia; & any Frenchman Shou'd make
you a good Offer with good Security, or by making
your Vessel a Dutch Bottom or any other means
practicable in order to your getting among ye
French embrace it among whom if you Should ever
Arrive be sure to give strict orders amongst your
men not to sell the least Trifle unto them on any
Terms least they shou'd make your vessel liable
to a Seizure, — also Secure a permit so as for you
to Trade there the next Voyage wch you may Un-
doubtedly do by your Factor & a little greasing
some others ; — also make a proper Protest at any
Port you Stop at."

Written on the margin of the sailing orders is
the following note: —

"Capt Derby if you Trade at Barbadoes buy
me a Negroe boy about Siventeen years old which
if you do advise Mr. Clarke of y* he may not send
one also —

"BENJ. GERRISH JR."

Captain Derby must have made a successful
trip, for on July 5 following he sailed again in the
Volant, "for Barbadoes and elsewhere." The
manifest of the Volant's outward cargo on this

8 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

voyage is still preserved, and may be taken as a
typical cargo for the West Indies, except that cod,
mackerel, and other fish are usually more in evi-
dence. Its main items were 54,000 feet of boards,
34,500 shingles, 3500 staves, 10 barrels of shad,
1 6 horses, 78 bags of corn and 20 of rye, and 32
empty hogsheads for water.

It is needless to follow each and every voyage
of Captain Derby, and it is sufficient to say that
he continued in the capacity of master till 1757,
when, having laid up a comfortable fortune and
become owner or part owner of a number of ves-
sels, he gave up a sea life and established himself
as a merchant in Salem. In 1755 he had been
granted the upland, beach, and flats at Ober's or
Palmer's Head on Winter Island in Salem Harbor,
for a wharf and warehouse for one thousand years
at one shilling per year. But he does not appear to
have used this site, for soon after he began the
construction of the present Derby Wharf, whence
he and his descendants during the next fifty years
sent vessels to all parts of the world.

Mr. Derby now began to build up a thriving
trade with the Spanish Peninsula, especially with
Bilboa on the Bay of Biscay, and was constantly
sending his smaller vessels on trading voyages

RICHARD DERBY

1712-1783
From a copy by Weir, after the portrait by Col. Henry Sargent

A Chapter of Colonial Commerce 9

through the West Indies, as well as on occasional
trips to Virginia and the Carolinas. Between 1757
and 1764 he had the brig Neptune, the ship Ante-
lope, and brig Ranger trading regularly to Spain
and the Madeiras, and a number of his smaller
vessels made occasional voyages to the Peninsula.
His Bilboa agents, or "factors," as they were
called, were Gardoqui & Company. On the arrival
of one of his ships they would see to the disposal
of the cargo to the best advantage and arrange
with the merchants in the interior of Spain for
whatever commodities the captain wished to pur-
chase for the return cargo. Often the captain
would take bills of exchange on London in return
for part of the outward cargo, as these bills sold
at a premium in America and helped to pay
for importations from England to the colonies.
Gardoqui & Company always kept an account
with Mr. Derby, so if ever one of the Derby cap-
tains wished any cash, this house would supply
him and draw against the account for the amount.
Although Mr. Derby appears to have had no
trade with England, he very early established an
account with Messrs. Lane & Fraser, of London,
always leaving with them a considerable balance
which his captains, wherever they might be, could

io Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

draw upon by means of letters of credit. Thus,
when the outward cargo of the ship Antelope did
not realize a sufficient amount for the captain to
procure a full return cargo, R. Anderson & Com-
pany at Gibraltar wrote to Salem: "We shall
supply him with whatever sum he may be deficient,
against his Bills on London where he tells us he
has a Credit lodged for that Purpose."

In the trade to the West Indies Mr. Derby con-
stantly had a number of small vessels employed.
This fleet included the schooners Pembroke, Three
Brothers, Three Sisters, Mary, and Charming
Kate, and the sloops Betsy and Sally. These little
craft would load with fish, lumber, or grain, and
take besides a few horses, cows, or sheep, and then
sail down through the West Indies, disposing of
their cargoes little by little wherever they found a
market. In the same way they would pick up a
return cargo wherever they could with advantage,
generally bringing back sugar, molasses, cotton,
indigo, or fruits. Sometimes Mr. Derby would
send a vessel on a triangular voyage, of which we
have an example in the case of the ship Antelope.
She took a cargo of fish, lumber, and rum from
Salem to Cadiz, disposed of it there, crossed to
Tangier and loaded a cargo of mules, carried them

A Chapter of Colonial Commerce 1 1

to the West Indies, and thence returned to Salem
with sugar and molasses.

The management of all these voyages was left
largely in the captain's hands. Mr. Derby always
gave his captains, when they sailed, directions
how to dispose of the cargo and in what commodi-
ties to invest the proceeds for the return voyage,
but they were allowed to use their judgment in
changing their orders to benefit the voyage. In
order to ensure the hearty interest of his captains,
Mr. Derby usually employed them "on primage,"
that is, he gave them a certain percentage of the
profits of the voyage over and above their monthly
wage. Among the Derby papers there have been
preserved a great many wages accounts, or port-
ledge bills, and from these we can observe the rate
of pay of officers and seamen in those days. From
1760 to 1783 masters received monthly wages
varying from £2.8.0 to £3.7.0; mates, from £2.5.0
to £3.0.0; able seamen, £2.8.0 to £2.14.0; and
common seamen, £1.17.0 to £2.8.0. Cooks re-
ceived from £1.7.0 to £2.6.0, and cabin-boys were
usually paid £1.4.0. Both officers and crew were
shipped for the round voyage and received one
month's wages before sailing and the balance on
their return home.

12 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

In 1756 the Seven Years' War broke out, and
thus, with France the enemy of England, it became
unlawful for the American colonists, as subjects
of the English Crown, to trade with the French
West Indies. The profits of this trade, however,
were very great at that time, because the French
islands were so absolutely dependent on the prod-
ucts of the American colonies that had this source
of supply been cut off, they would hardly have
been able to subsist. Quite regardless, therefore,
of the rules of war, all the colonial merchants
continued to carry on an active commerce with
these islands. At first thought, it seems strange
that the leading merchants and most respected
men in the community should have been actively
engaged in feeding and supporting the enemy's
colonies. Mr. Derby was an honored member of
the Massachusetts Council, and yet the largest
part of his business during the wars was with
the French West Indies. Apparently this trade
with the enemy was not looked upon as treason
by the American colonists, but the merchants
who engaged in it seem to have been regarded
simply as daring business men who ran great
risks in hope of large profits. The seas swarmed
with English privateers, mostly owned in the Brit-

A Chapter of Colonial Commerce 13

ish West Indies, which, if they could find colo-
nial vessels evading the rules of war by trading
with the French, looked on them as legitimate
plunder. French men-of-war at the same time
lay in wait to capture American vessels as na-
tural enemies. The merchant who evaded these
varied perils was merely successful in a hazardous
game.

The dangers were too great for Mr. Derby to
continue this lucrative commerce long without a
loss. In July, 1759, his schooner Three Brothers,
fifty-six tons, Captain Michael Driver, sailed from
Salem for the French West India island of St.
Martins, with a cargo of fish, wine, oil, raisins,
and lumber. When but one day out of Salem she
was chased by a British privateer. Captain Driver
hoisted his English colors, but the privateer never-
theless fired nine shots at him, made him heave
to, and her captain ordered Driver to come aboard
with two of his crew. In the mean time the Eng-
lishman sent his lieutenant with several men on
board the Three Brothers, and they took away "a
quantity of fish and 797 pieces of eight" out of
Driver's chest. Captain Driver was then returned
to his vessel, a prize crew was put on board, and

14 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

the course was laid for Spanishtown.1 Here the
privateersmen discharged and sold as much of the
cargo as they pleased, and then the lieutenant of
the privateer took the schooner to Antigua, which
was his home port. For three days Driver was
confined on board his vessel. When he finally
was allowed to land he was soon convinced that
he could obtain no redress from the owners of the
privateer. He accordingly left the schooner and
what remained of her cargo at Antigua and took
the first vessel for Salem. Mr. Derby then regis-
tered a protest and claim for £1334.13.4 for ship
and cargo. But as the Three Brothers had been
bound on a voyage to a French colony for the pur-
pose of trading with the enemy, it is extremely
doubtful whether his claim was allowed by the
admiralty courts. No record remains to show that
he ever received any compensation, and unless the
vessel was insured, the whole must have been
lost.

A few years later, in 1762, Captain Driver was
again captured, this time by a Frenchman. Re-
turning home to Salem from the West Indies in
the sloop Sally, his vessel was seized by the French

1 Probably Virgin Gorda, one of the Virgin Islands. Span-
ishtown, the only settlement on the island, was a favorite ren-
dezvous of the buccaneers.

A Chapter of Colonial Commerce 15

privateer, La Tigre. His captor was lenient, and
after taking the first mate as security for the de-
sired amount of ransom, he allowed the Sally to
proceed to Salem. Mr. Derby thereupon fitted out
his schooner Mary, as a cartel to sail under a flag
of truce to Cape St. Francois 1 and pay the ransom.
He was joined in this venture by Messrs. Furlong
and Titcomb, of Newburyport, who also had a
man held by the French as hostage for a captured
vessel. The Mary sailed on June 2, 1762, with
Captain Driver in command, and all the necessary
specie and papers for the ransom. When passing
down by the Bahamas, the Mary fell in with the
English privateer Revenge, which captured her,
took all her specie and two of the crew, and sent
her into Nassau, on the ground that she was
bound to Cape St. Francois, which was a French
colonial port. Captain Driver entered a protest
stating that from the nature of the voyage, being
bound as a cartel and in ballast, he was not violat-
ing the rules of war; and after about two months
of delay, on August 12, by an order of the Court of

1 Cape St. Francois was the capital of Hayti, the western por-
tion of Hispaniola, and at that time French territory. The city
was sacked and destroyed in 1793 during the revolutionary war
in Hayti.

1 6 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

Admiralty at Nassau, his rights were recognized
and the ship and specie returned to him.1 Two
days later he sailed for Cape St. Francois, where he
arrived on August 27. The ransom was paid, the
two hostages taken on board, and Captain Driver
started back to Salem. However, his troubles were
not yet over. As he was about to leave the harbor,
the commanding officer of the port came aboard
the Mary, took off the unfortunate hostages, and
placed them on board of a French frigate just sail-
ing for Santiago de Cuba, and putting a prize crew
on the Mary, compelled Captain Driver to sail to
Santiago with the frigate. Here the Mary was
detained for over three months, and when on
December 3 the hostages were at last set free and
the Mary was allowed to depart, her provisions
were nearly gone. Moreover, during her long stay
in port the teredos, or shipworms, had so eaten
into her bottom that she was very leaky. Captain
Driver accordingly crossed over to Port Royal,

1 In the mean time Mr. Derby had been active at home in
trying to gain the Mary's release, and on September 21, 1762,
the Massachusetts General Court instructed its "agent to use
his Endeavours that said Vessel and the Monies sent in her be
restored to the owners, and to take effectual care that all
Proceedings of this kind be prevented for the future." But by
that time the Mary had been set free. — Mass. Archives, vol. 66,
p. 226.

A Chapter of Colonial Commerce 17

Jamaica, where he careened his vessel and repaired
her bottom, then, having taken on board provi-
sions, he sailed for Salem, where he at last ar-
rived in safety. The losses incurred by Mr. Derby
and Messrs. Furlong and Titcomb by this ill-
fated voyage amounted to about £300 more than
they had sent out as ransom, or £800 between
them.

Perhaps the most exasperating seizure that
Mr. Derby suffered during the war of 1756-63 was
that of his ship Ranger. With the proceeds of
several successful cargoes to Spain he purchased
at Gibraltar a French prize ship of three hundred
tons, which had been condemned to be sold by the
British Admiralty Court. He gave her the name of
Ranger and sent Captain George Crowninshield
out to take command of her, with instructions to
load with wine for the West Indies. Crowninshield
fulfilled these orders and on arrival in the West
Indies exchanged his wine for sugar and sailed for
Leghorn in Italy. But hardly had the Ranger
cleared the islands when she was captured by four
English privateers and carried into Nassau. She
was condemned by the Court of Admiralty, in the
first place because she had no register, which,
having been a foreign prize, she could not obtain

1 8 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

until her arrival in an American port; and secondly,
because she was bound from a French island. The
capture greatly aroused Mr. Derby, as, had the
vessel reached Leghorn, she could have been sold
with her cargo for fully $70,000. On the advice of
the leading Massachusetts lawyers, he sent his son
John to Nassau, in a small vessel, with specie and
a letter of credit, but he found he could do nothing.
Mr. Derby accordingly wrote to his counsel in
London, to try to obtain redress from the home
government. In this letter he stated that in three
years fully two hundred colonial vessels had been
taken into Nassau, that all had been condemned
except those that were able to pay the court more
than the captors, and that Admiralty Judge Brad-
ford and Governor Shirley, who had gone to the
Bahamas in poverty, left for home with fortunes
of £30,000. He added that these captures had
"set the country on fire," and would soon be taken
up by the Province, and concluded by advising
that no pains be spared to reverse the decree of the
court. For a number of years Mr. Derby continued
his appeal. He sent another vessel to Nassau to
serve an inhibition on the courts, but he never
got any satisfaction, and it is safe to say that,
except for a moderate insurance, this voyage,

A Chapter of Colonial Commerce 19

which might have doubled his fortune, was a
total loss.1

These cases clearly show the risks under which
the colonial merchants carried on their trade, for
Mr. Derby's losses were not exceptional cases and
many others suffered far more than he. In fact,
during the sixteen months between July I, 1760,
and November I, 1761, no less than twenty-three
Salem vessels trading to the West Indies were
captured by the French. But New England ves-
sels ran as much risk of seizure by English ships
as by French. Within three years, as has been
stated above, fully two hundred colonial vessels
had fallen into the hands of English privateers.

In view of all these dangers to American ship-
ping, it is interesting to observe what the rates of
marine insurance were in those days. It happens
that there have been preserved a few old insurance
bills of Mr. Derby's in account with John Higgin-

1 It is difficult to understand why Mr. Derby should have
expected to obtain redress in this case. His vessel was clearly
guilty of trading with the enemy. She may have had a Dutch
or Spanish registry and on this technicality should have been
considered a neutral. It is probable, however, that in those
days almost any unarmed American vessel sailing through the
West Indies, regardless of where she was bound, ran a risk of
being captured and carried into Nassau and condemned, un-
less she could pay the court a satisfactory sum to be released.

20 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

son, agent, for the period of the Seven Years' War.
Insurance on the ship Lydia to Madeira in 1760
was quoted at eleven per cent. The following year,
on the same vessel from Salem to Jamaica, it was
fourteen per cent, and ten per cent for the return
voyage. The higher rate on the Jamaica voyage
was probably due to the greater likelihood that
the ship might fall in with a French armed vessel
while sailing through the West Indies than while
on the broad Atlantic. It is noticeable also that
the homeward rate from Jamaica was lower than
the outward, a condition due probably to the fact
that on the return voyage, when once a vessel could
get away from the islands unnoticed, she was
practically safe, while on the outward voyage as
she approached the West Indies there was no telling
when she might be captured. The highest rate of
insurance recorded during this period was twenty-
three per cent on the schooner Three Sisters,
bound from Salem to Monte Cristo,1 Santo Do-

1 Monte Cristo is a small town, with an open roadstead on
the north coast of Santo Domingo, and only a few miles from the
boundary of Hayti. During the French wars it was illegal for
American vessels to trade with the French in Hayti, but the
Yankee merchants eluded this by loading and unloading their
vessels at Monte Cristo, which was Spanish territory, and
carrying the goods across into Hayti in lighters. The place
was known as "the Mont," and in 1760 Admiral Holmes re-

A Chapter of Colonial Commerce 21

mingo, while fifteen per cent is quoted for the
return voyage.

With such excessively high rates of insurance,
the profits of these voyages must have been pro-
portionally large. But it is difficult to learn how
great they were; for though we have plenty of
accounts of the sales of cargoes in foreign ports,
we have no evidence to tell us how much the good
originally cost. Mr. Derby would buy a certain
amount of lumber here and a certain amount of
rum there, some horses in one place, grain in an-
other, and fish elsewhere, and then store them on
his wharf. When one of his vessels was ready to sail
on a voyage he would select from his stock on hand
various commodities in such amounts and propor-
tions as he thought might suit the market to which
she was bound. Thus, we have no basis on w
to form an estimate of the exact profits of any one
of his voyages, but we can safely assume that he
carried on a very successful business in spite of
his numerous losses.

By 1763 Mr. Derby appears to have been recog-
nized as one of the leading citizens of Salem. Not
far from his wharf he had built a substantial brick

ports seeing ninety-one Yankee vessels lying in the roads at
one time.

22 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

house surrounded by pleasant gardens, where he
lived with his wife and family of three daughters
and three sons. His eldest son, Richard, and his
youngest, John, in early age had been trained
to the sailor's life. At twenty-four, Richard was
master of his father's brig Neptune, while John
was master of a vessel bound to the West Indies,
when only twenty-three.1 His second son, Elias

1 Letter from John Derby to his father after starting on his
first voyage as master: —

IN SIGHT OF THE ROLSERFER
28 March — 1763

HOND. SIR. — I am about to wright a Letter that is not agre-
able to me. Nither will it be to you I beleave. I met with the
misfortune of loosing all my anker on the Banck & was ablidged
to put back to Providence to refit & sailed from there 2 days ago
& this day met Capt. Boudetch from the Havana who tells me of
the bad marckets there is there. & now Sir I am undertaking a
thing grait consequence but Sir I hope it will turne out for the
best but Sir if it does not I hope it will be overloocket by you.
That is I am about to put away for Charlestown in South Caro-
lina. I whould have proseaded as far as Havana as it was but
being afraid of lenthening time & of our wines growing bad
thought it best to mack the best of our way for Charlestown which
is all the marckets we have to trust too now. I shall endever to
macking payable on my arivall at Charlestown. If I should
think of any whare else that was lickly for a better market I
whould prosead let it be whare it whould. Excues haist as night
is coming on. Capt. Boudetch can enform you of aney particulars
relaiting to my affairs. My duty to you and my mother.

Your dutiful son

JOHN DERBY.

A Chapter of Colonial Commerce 23

Hasket, however, never went to sea, but when a
young man entered his father's counting-room and
began to master the ways of his father's business.
Mr. Derby not only engaged extensively in foreign
trade, but also kept a large wholesale and retail
store and did a considerable banking business. In
those days banking was a rather crude operation,
and in the lack of better facilities was largely car-
ried on by the merchants. Mr. Derby kept accounts
with a large number of people in Salem, and if one
man owed another a certain sum he would give
his creditor a note on Mr. Derby and the creditor
could then demand the amount either in cash or
dry goods or rum or any article he wished, since
Mr. Derby acted as retail merchant as well as
banker. Accordingly there may be found among
the Derby papers many such notes which served
the purpose of modern bank checks and of which
the following are some early examples : —

SALEM, February 13. 1760.

"Friend Derby Pleas to let Barer have the sum
of six shillings and eight pence in goods and charge
the same to account of

"JONATHAN DEANE."

24 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

"SALEM, November i6th 1738.

"Capt darby. Be plesd to let Mr. Robert Smith
heve one gallon of Rum and Charge the Same to
the account of yours to Sarve

"BENJ JONES."

Up to 1764 Mr. Derby's prosperous commerce
seems to have been but slightly affected by the
trade regulations enacted in England for the colo-
nies. In 1733, to be sure, Parliament had passed
the so-called "Molasses Act," which placed practi-
cally prohibitory duties on all foreign molasses,
sugar, and rum imported into the colonies, the
object being to check the trade of the colonies with
the French West Indies and divert it to the Eng-
lish West India islands. This act, however, had
never been enforced with any thoroughness and
was easily evaded; for, as a recent writer on this
period very truly says, "Smuggling in the eight-
eenth century was a respectable and profitable
occupation."1 The customs system of the colonies
had from the very beginning been lax and ineffi-
cient. The collectors had no power to enforce
the payment of duties, and many of the officials
were very unscrupulous. Some even held their

1 Henry Belcher's First American Civil War.

A Chapter of Colonial Commerce 25

offices and drew their pay, although they stayed
at home in England. Besides all this, the colonists
were not unwilling to evade taxes that they thought
unjust. In 1764, however, the first Grenville Act
was passed, the purpose of which was to raise a
revenue for "defraying the necessary expences of
defending, protecting, and securing the British
colonies and plantations in America." The act
contained many provisions for raising revenue by
impost duties, but the taxes which most seriously
affected Mr. Derby and other colonial merchants
were those on foreign molasses. Under the Act of
1733 the duty on foreign molasses imported into
the colonies had been sixpence a gallon, and was
so high that, had it been enforced, the trade with
the French islands would probably have been dis-
continued. In order to make the new act create a
revenue, this duty was reduced from six to three-
pence a gallon and was actually collected, for the
most important part of the new policy was the
means for its enforcement. The customs system
of the colonies was thoroughly reorganized and
placed on a stable footing. Capable officers were
appointed and given the authority and power to
enforce the payment of duties and to bring smug-
glers to punishment. Mr. Derby gives us an inter-

26 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

esting insight into the operation of this legislation
on his trade. "The late Act of Parliament," he
writes in 1765, "has put it out of the people's power
to pay money for the necessaries of life, because
the duties, arising by the late act, have almost
deprived us of our gold currency already; for all
the money that is paid for duties is sent home and
will finally put a stop, if not entirely ruin the trade
of the country and the people in it."

The Grenville Act also provided for a great
increase in the duty upon foreign wine, in order
that the colonies might be obliged to obtain their
wine in England rather than directly from the
Azores or Madeiras. As a result of this legislation,
we find Mr. Derby ordering the captain of his
schooner Patty at Madeira not to load wine for
the return voyage but to obtain good bills of
exchange on London or Lisbon, and if wine was
the only return cargo procurable, to buy it at one
fourth less than the previous year or it would not
pay the cost of the duties. The Grenville Acts
laid many other duties, and in 1767-68 the Town-
send Acts further inconvenienced colonial trade
by a large number of burdensome customs regu-
lations. The restrictions of this new policy greatly
reduced the profits of the colonial merchants, and

A Chapter of Colonial Commerce 27

the Grenville and Townsend Acts were among the
causes for the demand of "No taxation with-
out representation," which helped to bring on the
Revolution.

CHAPTER II

A SALEM MERCHANT'S PART IN THE REVOLUTION

BY 1774 affairs with the mother country had
begun to assume a serious aspect. The attempts
to enforce such legislation as the Grenville, Town-
send, and Stamp Acts had roused the colonies to
the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea-Party,
and in 1774 the Srst Continental Congress had
assembled and resolved upon retaliatory measures
to meet those of England. On October 20 of that
year, the American Association was established,
which resolved not to import any goods from
Great Britain into the Continental Colonies after
December I. Its rules prohibited the importation
from the British West Indies of molasses, syrups,
paneles, coffee, pimento, and indigo, and commit-
tees were chosen in every county, city, and town
to oversee the carrying-out of this policy against
England and her West India colonies. The per-
sons most severely affected were of course the
merchants, for this was another restriction on
their trade in addition to the Grenville and Town-
send Acts. As time went on, many of the leading

A Merchant's Part in the Revolution 29

merchants and wealthy people in the Provinces,
especially those who expressed any partiality for
the royalist cause, began to find the difficulties of
trade in America too great and most of them,
preferring to remain loyal to the home government,
began to leave for England. At the same time many
of the wealthy American merchants were ardent
supporters of the Provincial cause, and by lend-
ing and giving freely of their resources to the Con-
tinental Congress were largely instrumental in
bringing about the successful outcome of the Revo-
lution. Of this latter class, none were more promi-
nent than the Derbys, who lent both guns and ships
to the Continental Government, fitted out priva-
teers, and in many ways took an active part in the
defence of their country. In 1774 and 1775, young
Richard was a member of the Provincial Congress,
and old Mr. Richard Derby, his father, one of the
Massachusetts Council.

It is not unnatural, therefore, to find the Derby
name connected with one of the first actions that
led to the Revolution. In February, 1775, General
Gage sent to Salem a regiment of British soldiers
under Colonel Leslie, to capture some cannon.
The soldiers were met at the North River Bridge
in Salem by a large body of citizens, and tradition

30 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

says that when the demand was made to deliver
up the cannon, old Mr. Derby came forward
and boldly replied, " Find them if you can ! Take
them if you can ! They will never be surrendered ! "
This answer appeared to voice the attitude of the
constantly increasing crowd and the troops prud-
ently withdrew.

Less than two months later the battle of Lex-
ington plunged the Provinces into what Joseph
Warren termed "the horrours of a most unnatural
war." At the time few people in America had any
idea of seceding from England and setting up a
new nation, but it was felt that this affair at Lex-
ington was the result of the constant and oppress-
ive measures of the British ministry. The Amer-
icans claimed that the engagement had been
started by the English, and that, far from being
the aggressors, the Provincials simply had defended
themselves and their property and were entirely
within the law. On April 24, five days after the
battle, General Gage had sent his despatches and
account of the fight at Lexington and Concord to
England by the ship Sukey, Captain Brown. The
members of the Provincial Congress became aware
of this fact, and in order to prevent the Sukey's
despatches from operating "a publick injury" for

A Merchant's Part in the Revolution 31

the colonies, and in order to keep the English
people from getting only "a fallacious account of
the tragedy which they have begun," it was
resolved to send a fast vessel to England with the
colonial version of the affair. Every colonist who
was in the fight was then required to write a per-
sonal description of the battle, showing that the
English had begun the engagement, and these depo-
sitions, together with a public letter to the English
people, were all to be sent to Franklin and Lee, the
colonial agents in London. They were to spread them
broadcast in all the papers and thus bring the Eng-
lish people to sympathize with the colonial cause.

Captain Richard Derby, Jr., who was at that
time a member of the Provincial Congress, com-
municated this plan to his father, and old Mr.
Derby immediately offered Congress one of his
vessels for this service. Accordingly, on April 26,
the Congress ordered that "Ye Honabl Richd
Derby, Esqr be & he hereby is impowered to fit out
his vessel as a packet to Great Britain in ye Serv-
ice of this Colony & to Charge ye Colony with ye
Hire of ye Vessel & all other expenses which he shall
be at for port charges Victuelling, necessaries &c." *

The vessel selected by Mr. Derby for this voy-
1 Massachusetts Archives, vol. 66, p. 546.

32 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

age was the little schooner Quero1 of sixty-two
tons, a fast sailer, and one that could be quickly
fitted out without causing any suspicion. For her
master he selected his son John. On April 27 Con-
gress gave him his orders as follows : —

"In Committee of Safety, April 27, 1775. Re-
solved, That Captain Derby be directed, and he
hereby is directed, to make for Dublin, or any
other good port in Ireland, and from thence cross
to Scotland or England, and hasten to London.
This direction is given, that so he may escape all
cruisers that may be in the chops of the channel,
to stop the communication of the provincial intel-
ligence to the agent. He will forthwith deliver his
papers to the agent on reaching London.

"J. WARREN, Chairman.

"P.S. You are to keep this order a profound
secret from every person on earth."

The following day Captain John Derby took the
depositions and letters, and during the night of
the 28th of April he sailed on his voyage, bearing

1 We do not find the Quero mentioned in any of Mr. Derby's
papers except in connection with this voyage. Possibly this was
a vessel hired by him, or it may have been one of his many West
India traders with her name changed just for this voyage.

A Merchant's Part in the Revolution 33

news which was destined to throw a country into
consternation. The expedition had been organized
with the utmost secrecy so that the British cruisers
patrolling the coast would not get wind of it, and
it is even stated that the crew did not know where
they were bound until they were off the Banks of
Newfoundland. As the Quero carried no cargo
and had favorable winds, she arrived off the Isle
of Wight after a passage of twenty-nine days. On
May 28, Captain Derby appeared in London and
deposited his written affidavits1 of the battle in
the hands of the Lord Mayor. General Gage's
despatches had not yet arrived, and thus Captain
Derby brought to England the first news of the
commencement of hostilities. The effect it pro-
duced may be best observed by quoting from
contemporaries. Ex-Governor Hutchinson of
Massachusetts, who was then in London, wrote
in his "Diary": "Capn. Darby came to town last
evening. He is sent by the Provincial Congress in
a vessel in ballast, to publish here their account of
an action between the troops and the inhabitants
on the iQth of April. A vessel which sailed four
days before with dispatches from Gage is not

1 The originals of these affidavits are now among the Arthur
Lee manuscripts in the Harvard Library.

34 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

arrived. The opposition here rejoice that the
Americans fight, after it had been generally said
they would not. I carried the news to Lord Dart-
mouth,1 who was much struck with it. The first
accounts were very unfavorable, it not being
known that they all came from one side. The
alarm abated before night, and we wait with a
greater degree of calmness for the accounts from
the other side." 2 A private letter from London
dated a few days later said, "The intelligence of
Captain Darby of the defeat of General Gage's
men under Lord Percy by the Americans on the
iQth of April last has given very general pleasure
here, as the newspapers will testify. 'T is not with
certainty that one can speak of the disposition of
people in England with respect to the contest with
America, though we are clear that the friends of
America increase every day, particularly since the
above intelligence. It is believed the ministers
have not as yet formed any plan in consequence
of the action of April 19. They are in total confu-
sion and consternation and wait for General Gage's
despatches by Captain Brown."3
These two extracts illustrate the excitement

1 Secretary of State. 2 Hutchinson's Diary , p. 456.

8 Essex Institute Historical Collections, vol. 36, p. 10.

A Merchant's Part in the Revolution 35

into which England had been thrown by Captain
Derby's arrival. Stocks fell and general uneasiness
prevailed. Many people, however, especially in
official circles, were inclined to discredit the report,
or at any rate to consider it a gross exaggeration.
In order to dispel any doubt on the matter, Arthur
Lee, the Massachusetts agent, published a state-
ment in the London papers to the effect that any
one calling at the Lord Mayor's could see the
affidavits and the copies of the Salem "Gazette"
giving an account of the engagement.

Two days later Lord Dartmouth, the Secretary
of State, summoned Derby to come before him
and give a verbal account of the affair, for a gen-
eral desire had been expressed that the bearer of
such alarming news should be "taken up and
examined." But Captain Derby was nowhere to
be found. He had disappeared as suddenly and
as quietly as he had come. The interest in his
actions is shown by the following extract from
Hutchinson's "Diary": "It is said that Darby
left his lodgings the first instant and is supposed
to have sailed and that he had a letter of credit
from Lane on some house in Spain. Mr. Pownall1
sent to Southampton to inquire, and the collector
1 Assistant Secretary of State.

36 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

knew of no such vessel there. It is supposed he
left her in some small harbor or inlet and came in
his boat to Southampton. Pownall was of opinion
Darby was gone to Spain to purchase ammuni-
tion, arms, &c. Darby has said to some that he
had a vessel gone or going to Spain with a cargo of
fish: to others that he was going for a load of
mules."1 It was not till June 9, or two weeks after
Derby had delivered his news, that the Sukey
arrived with General Gage's despatches, which
confirmed the previous accounts of the battle. In
the meantime, Captain Derby was well on his way
home again. Leaving London on June I, he had
gone by post-chaise to Falmouth, where he joined
the Quero and set sail before England had got over
the first excitement caused by his information. On
July 1 8 he arrived in Salem, and proceeding imme-
diately to Headquarters at Cambridge, gave Wash-
ington the first account of the effect produced
in London by the news of the battle. Captain
Derby's statements of expenditures on this interest-
ing voyage are still preserved in the State House
at Boston and include his bill for personal time
and service, which he modestly puts down as "o."
Though the colonies now found themselves

1 Hutchinson's Diary, p. 464.

CAPTAIN JOHN DERBY

1741-1812
Merchant of Salem ^From the portrait painted in 1809 by Gilbert Stuart

A Merchant's Part in the Revolution 37

engaged in a war with the mother country, the
conditions of trade were not yet particularly
affected. The following letter from Mr. Richard
Derby, Senior, to one of his captains in the West
Indies gives an interesting idea of affairs at that

time: —

SALEM, May ye 9, 1775.

"Capt. Danl. Hathorn of Schooner Patty, West
Indies.

" I suppose you will be glad to hear from home,
but things are in such a confused state I know not
what to write you. Boston is now blocked up by at
least 30,000 men. We have had no action since
ye 19 of April which was very bloody. They, ye
Regulars, came out in ye night, silently up Cam-
bridge river, and got almost to Concord before
day, so that ye country had a very short time to
get out. Had we had one hour longer not a soul
of those bloodthirsty creatures would ever have
reached Boston. However, they got a dire drub-
bing so that they have not played ye Yankee tune
since. We have lost a number of brave men but we
have killed, taken and rendered justice, I believe,
at least 8 to I, and I believe such a spirit never was,
everybody striving to excel. We have no Tories,
saving what is now shut up in Boston or gone off.

38 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

There hath not been as yet any stopping of ye
trade, so I would have you get a load of molasses
as good and cheap and as quick as you can and
proceed home. If you have not sold and ye markets
are bad where you are, you have liberty to proceed
any other ways, either to ye Mole, Jamaica, or to
make a fresh bottom, or anything else that you
may think likely to help ye voyage, but always to
keep your money in your own hands."

The Derbys, however, were not destined to con-
tinue their prosperous commerce during such
turbulent days without interruption, and in the
winter of 1775-76 they began to suffer a number
of serious losses. The first of these was the capture
of their schooner Jamaica Packet, Captain Inger-
soll. While on a passage to Salem from the north
side of Jamaica she was taken by a British cruiser
and carried into Boston. Mr. Derby thus describes
the affair: "The captain who took him [i. e., Cap-
tain Ingersoll] deprived him of all his papers, and
kept them until the trial came on, when the bill
of stores was missing from the papers. The court
condemned one cask of rum and one cask of sugar
for want of the bill of stores, but acquitted the
vessel and cargo. Captain Ingersoll could not get

A Merchant's Part in the Revolution 39

leave to sell the cargo. He applied, from time to
time, to have the interest delivered, and could not
succeed; but after a time, and when the enemy
were near leaving Boston, he obtained leave to
sell so much of his cargo as would be sufficient to
repair his vessel, with a view to leave Boston with
the fleet, which he was desirous of doing, hoping
thus to save the interest. When the fleet and army
were leaving Boston, they came and took most of
the rum on board the transports; the soldiers and
sailors, and others, came in the time of confusion
and cut his sails from the yards, and made them
into bags ; they cut the hoops from the hogsheads
of sugar, and took most of it away. Not being
satisfied with that, the day they quitted the town
they came and cut the fasts from the wharf, when
the schooner drove down river and went ashore
on one of the islands, and was there burned by
the British, by which I lost better than £3000
sterling."

By this time practically the entire business of
the house was managed by Mr. Derby's second son,
Elias Hasket, and the old gentleman had largely
retired from active affairs. The capture of this
vessel made young Mr. Derby very nervous lest
he should lose more of his property, for he had

40 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

three vessels in the West Indies ready to sail for
home. They were at Hispaniola, in charge of Cap-
tain Nathaniel Silsbee, one of his most trusted
shipmasters. During February, 1776, the Derbys
sent Captain Allen Hallet to St. Nicholas Mole,
Hayti, in the schooner Nancy, with a credit for
£500 to £1000 to be laid out to the best advantage.
A long letter was also sent to Captain Silsbee in
regard to the management of the vessels in his
charge. This letter fortunately has been preserved,
and not only shows the anxiety felt by the Derbys
for the safety of their property, but gives an
insight into the methods of carrying on com-
merce during the Revolution. Elias Hasket Derby
writes : —

"If this letter should meet you at the Mole, you
may ship me, by any vessels bound to Cape Ann,
Newbury, Ipswich, or near to it, some cotton,
cocoa, sugar, molasses, duck, cordage, powder,
or any other article you think may answer, as I
make no doubt that any goods will make 100 per
cent. But do not send any indigo, as that is con-
trary to the association, but any foreign goods you
have a right to bring.

"Worsted stockings & Middleing Linen for
shirting is at Present much wanted, as is Pins,

A Merchant's Part in the Revolution 41

Silk & Cotton Handkfs. & writing Paper, all which
articles is worth at least 150 per cent, more than
common, and £150 Sterling well layd out in such
articles will leave more Proffitt than any Westindia
goods, but they must not come (in a vessel) with
an English Clearance, & neither must any of them
be taken from Jamaica, as it would be in direct
Violation of the Association, which I do not mean
to break." 1

Of Captain Hallet he writes : —

"I shall depend on your advising him in all mat-
ters. He has no Clearance & therefore suppose it
not safe to go to Jamaica for a Clearance, but you
will judge of that. He has two Registers & if you
think it safe & Best he may go down to Jamaica
as from the Mole in Ballast belonging to Dominica,
but I suppose he may be as safe with a Cargo of
Molasses, Sugar, Cocoa, & Cotton from the Mole
without any Clearance at all, Provided it is con-
signed to some Merchant in Nova Scotia & the
French Clearance to agree with that. The reaison
of my wanting his Papers so, is I think if he is
taken there, he must be safe if he is leased to that
government. I have ordered Hallett to throw all
the Papers over in case he gets taken, but I do not

1 The American Association. See page 28.

42 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

think of loosing her as the Schooner sails very fast.
If not taken & if he meets an Easterly Wind, as it
will be the right season of the year for it, he will
stand a good chance to get into some of our Har-
bours on the North Shore, & I am well assured if
he does well & has a good Cargo of Goods, he will
make not less than 100 per cent after Paying the
Insurance and charge which at present is high.
I have insured the Schooner out & while she lay
at the Mole against all Risques at ten per ct. but
if she goes to Jamaica it is to be 5 per ct. more, so
that the Insurance down will be not less than 100
Dollars. At present I have not made Insurance
home as suppose I cannot at this time get it
done under 25 per ct. & shall not make any at
present for by the last acct. from England it seems
they are tired of this unnatural War, but of that
you can form a much better judgement than we
can here, as it is seldom we have accounts that are
to be depended on.

"There are many difficulties in carrying on busi-
ness at this time, and I should be sorry to hear of
your going to Halifax, or of doing anything, how-
ever small, contrary to the Association of the Con-
tinent; and you may depend upon it, that if the
present dispute should continue the next summer,

A Merchant's Part in the Revolution 43

that there will be no less than 100 sail of privateers
out from the continent, and I suppose the interest
of mine, as Jamaica or Halifax property, must
share the fate of other things, if taken. But may
the Almighty Disposer of all things order the coun-
cils of the wicked administration to come to
naught."
Mr. Derby concludes by saying: —

"The times at present are such I cannot deter-
mine what will be for the best, and must therefore
leave it wholly to you, not doubting the business
will be conducted with care. Should so large a
fleet come on this coast in the spring as is talked of,
I should think it not best to ship so much to the
Northward or otherwise: but it is now said that
commissioners are appointed to come over to ac-
commodate affairs, but I doubt it. I commit you
to the Almighty's protection, not doubting that
we shall once more carry on business at Salem in
peace and safety.

"From your friend

"ELIAS HASKET DERBY."

Captain Silsbee disposed of Captain Hallet's
cargo, quickly procured a return one for him, and

44 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

about March 20, the Nancy started for home. In
the latter part of April she arrived safely at Fal-
mouth (now Portland), Maine, where the cargo
was sold to great advantage. Captain Silsbee sent
word to Mr. Derby by Captain Hallet that he
would "visit Jamaica to learn the latest news,"
and govern himself accordingly, and that he would
not ship the principal part of the property until he
could do so with safety. But it was impossible to
carry on commerce at that time in safety, and
though Silsbee used his best judgment, the vigil-
ance of the British cruisers was too great. During
the spring, when he sent the three Derby vessels
North, two of them fell into the hands of the
enemy. This disaster brought Elias Hasket Derby
to a decision. Up to that time he had indulged in
peaceful commerce alone; henceforth, if he wished
to retain his position on the seas, he must meet
the enemy with force.

In June, 1776, he fitted out his schooner Sturdy
Beggar, of ninety tons, as an armed vessel, with six
carriage guns and a crew of twenty-five men. On
June 13, the Massachusetts Council gave Peter
Lander his commission to command the vessel and
"to make Reprisals on the Enemys of the united
Colonys of North America agreeable to the Laws

A Merchant's Part in the Revolution 45

and Regulations of this Country." 1 A few days
later the Sturdy Beggar sailed from Salem, being
one of the first privateers commissioned in Massa-
chusetts during the Revolution. Of this voyage
no record now remains, but in September Mr.
Derby fitted out, in company with Miles Green-
wood, of Salem, his West India trader Revenge,
armed with twelve guns, which made a very suc-
cessful cruise, taking "four Jamaicamen, laden
with 733 hogsheads of sugar, besides other
cargo."

One might suppose that this success would have
encouraged Mr. Derby to engage more extensively
in privateering, but he does not appear to have sent
out another armed vessel till the following year.
By the autumn of 1777 all hopes of a peaceful
settlement between England and the Provinces
had disappeared, and Mr. Derby became one of
the most active men in New England in fitting out
privateers. Of the one hundred and fifty-eight
armed vessels equipped at the port of Salem dur-
ing the Revolution, he appears as owner or part
owner of twenty-five, and without doubt he had
shares in twice as many more.2 At the same time

1 Massachusetts Archives, vol. 164, p. 391.

2 Armed vessels fitted out by Elias Hasket Derby during the

46 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

he continued to send some of his vessels on trading
voyages, for every sort of commodity was in great
demand and high prices awaited the merchant
who was courageous enough to engage in foreign
commerce. These vessels were always well armed
and equipped with a "letter of marque" which
allowed them to capture any of the enemy's ves-

Revolution, with dates when commissioned (Massachusetts
Archives) : —

1776

June 13

Sch. Sturdy Beggar,*

privateer,

1776

Sept. 4

Sloop Revenge,

X777

Oct. 8

Sloop Rover,

1777

Dec. 19

Schooner Congress,

letter of marque

1777

Dec. 22

Sch. Centipede,

privateer

1778
1778

Jan. 21
Feb. 25

Sloop Patty,
Sch. Scorpion,

I7?8

Apr. 10

Sch. Lexington,

1778
1778

Apr. 18
May 22

Brigt. Franklin,
Sch. Centipede,

1778

July 20

Sch. Congress,

1778

July 23

Sch. Scorpion,

1778

Oct. 16

Brigt. Franklin

1779
1779

Mar. 29
Mar. 30

Ship Oliver Cromwell,*
Brigt. Franklin,

1779

Apr. 15

Ship Hunter,

1779

Apr. 15

Brigt. Fame,

1779

Aug. 3

Brigt. Roebuck,

1779

Aug. 3

Sch. Centipede,

1779

Oct. 28

Ship Three Sisters,

letter o

marque

1779

Nov. 25

Ship Salem Packet,

^770

Nov. 25

Sloop Nancy,

1780

Mar. 22
Apr. 18

Brigt. Basket & John,
Brigt. Lexington,

1780

Apr. 18

Brigt. Fame,

1780
1780

Aug. $
Sept. 25

Brigt. Hasket & John,*
Sloop Morning Star,

privateer

1781

June 13

Ship Grand Turk,

i?8i
1781
1781

Sept. 4
Sept. 29
Sept. 29

Brigt. Young Richard,
Ship Grand Turk,
Ship Patty,

letter of marque
privateer
letter of marque

1781

Nov. 29

Ship Salem Packet,

1781

Nov. 29

Brigt. Lexington,

1782

Feb. 12

Ship Exchange,*

1782
1782

Feb. 2
May 9

Sch. Fly,
Brigt. Lexington,

privateer

1782

June 29

Ship Patty,

letter of marque

1782

June 29

Ship Salem Packet,*

1783

Dec. 16

Ship Astrea,

owner
part owner

part

owner

* Captured by the enemy.

A Merchant's Part in the Revolution 47

sels they might fall in with while on the voyage.
As a result of these many ventures, Mr. Derby
found the Revolution a period of great profit. To
be sure, five of his vessels were captured, but his
privateers took many valuable prizes and his
trading vessels, sailing as "letters of marque,"
made a number of profitable voyages. Samuel
Curwen wrote of Salem in 1780: "Those who five
years ago were the meaner people, are now, by a
strange revolution become almost the only men
of power, riches, and influence. The Cabots of
Beverly, who, you know, had but five years ago a
very moderate share of property, are now said to
be by far the most wealthy in New England;
Hasket Derby claims the second place in the list."
He adds, "E. H. Derby's province tax is £11,000,
and his neighbors complain he is not half taxed."1
As the war progressed, however, Mr. Derby
began to engage less in privateering, and, convert-
ing most of his ships into "letters of marque," he
sent them trading with fully as much chance of
material profit as though he had continued in
privateering. A glance at the prices of standard
commodities during the war shows how much was
to be gained by a successful commercial voyage.
1 S. Curwen's Journal and Letters, p. 234.

48 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

In 1780 Curwen wrote: "In New England a dollar
bill is worthy only 2 2-3 of an English half penny.
Pins at is. apiece, needles at 2s., beef 2s. 6d., veal
25., mutton and lamb, is. 6d., butter 6s. per lb.,
rum eight dollars per gallon, molasses two dollars,
brown sugar IDS. per lb., loaf sugar 155., Bohea
tea seven dollars per lb., coifee five dollars, Irish
pork sixty dollars per barrel, lemons 35. apiece,
wood twenty dollars a cord, ordinary French cloth
twenty-two dollars a yard, hose nine dollars a pair.
A suit of clothes which cost five guineas here (Eng-
land), would cost five hundred dollars in Boston."
Although, as the war went on, Mr. Derby grad-
ually withdrew his vessels from privateering, in
1781 he had a large ship of three hundred tons
built at Salem expressly for a privateer. This
vessel was the Grand Turk and was destined to be
one of the most famous ships ever owned in Salem.
She was designed for speed and yet had good carry-
ing capacity, and her armament of twenty-four
guns made her a regular man-of-war. On June
13, 1 78 1, Thomas Simmons received his commission
to command her, and such was the general desire
to be a member of her crew that, within three days
after the notices were posted, more than one hun-
dred of the one hundred and twenty men required

A Merchant's Part in the Revolution 49

had signed the articles. No record has been pre-
served of her first cruise, but in September she
sailed again under the command of Captain Joseph
Pratt, and making her way towards the English
Channel, she fell in with the sugar-laden ship
Mary, off the Irish coast. The vessel was home-
ward bound from Jamaica and was an easy prey
for the Grand Turk. A prize crew was placed on
board, and the two vessels started for Bilboa, but
before they reached that port they fell in with the
brig John Grace, which the Grand Turk captured.
On arrival at Bilboa the two prizes were sold and
netted $65,802. On her return to Salem, the
Grand Turk refitted and sailed on another cruise
under Captain Pratt, this time to the West Indies.
Again she captured several prizes, one being the
twenty-gun ship Pompey, from London. These
vessels were all carried into the French West India
islands and sold, and the proceeds were remitted
to Salem.

In the mean time Mr. Derby had another ship
constructed which was even larger than the Grand
Turk. He named her the Astrea and fitted her out
as a "letter of marque" under the command of his
brother, John Derby. During the latter part of
December, 1782, she sailed for France, and made

So Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

the passage across the Atlantic in the fast time of
eighteen days, although she stopped to capture an
English brigantine on the way. Shortly after her
arrival at Nantes, the preliminaries of peace be-
tween England and the United States were signed
at Paris. Captain Derby, therefore, made all haste
to discharge and reload. On March 12, after some
delays, the Astrea finally got to sea, and twenty-
two days later arrived in Salem. Until then no
knowledge of the peace had reached the United
States, and thus Captain John Derby, who had
the distinction of being the first to carry the news
of the outbreak of hostilities to England, was also
the first to bring to America the news of the declar-
ation of peace. A fortnight after Captain Derby's
arrival, hostilities ceased and the war came to a
close.

CHAPTER III

PIONEERS OF AMERICAN COMMERCE IN THE FAR
EAST

THE successful voyages of the Derby vessels,
cruising as privateers or trading as "letters-of-
marque" during the Revolution, had materially
increased the wealth and importance of the house
and placed it in a position to carry on a far more
extensive commerce than in colonial days. At the
close of the war the Derby fleet consisted of the
ships Grand Turk and Astrea, and the brigs Henry,
Three Sisters, and Cato, in place of the seven small
sloops and schooners of which it consisted in 1775.
Previous to the Revolution the principal part of
the Derby trade had been to the West Indies, the
Spanish Peninsula, and the Western Islands, and
with his little sloops and schooners Mr. Richard
Derby, Senior, had built up a comfortable fortune
in commerce to those places. A few months after
the end of the war the old merchant died, honored
by his townspeople and all who knew him. It was
fortunate that he lived to witness the independence
of his country, for he was always a sound Whig

52 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

and an ardent patriot, and during the Revolution
both lent and gave freely his vessels, guns, money,
and other property to the Continental Govern-
ment. At his death, his son, Elias Hasket Derby,
who since 1772 had largely managed the affairs
of the house, took entire charge of the business.
Hostilities had ended, and that short period of
peace which lasted in western Europe from 1783
to 1793 was beginning. With a fleet of five staunch
ships Elias Hasket embarked at once upon new and
broader fields of commerce, and under his skilful
and energetic management, his vessels within a few
years were carrying the Derby flag to the distant
markets of the Far East, and the Derby house had
become one of the leading mercantile establish-
ments of America.

Elias Hasket took charge of the business of the
house in the summer of 1783, and one of his first
ventures was to send the Astrea to London. She
was the first Derby vessel to go to England on a
commercial voyage. The ship left Salem in August,
1783, first proceeding to Alexandria, Virginia,
where she loaded with tobacco. Mr. Derby con-
signed the cargo to Messrs. Lane & Fraser, of
London, with whom his father in colonial days
always had lodged funds which could be drawn

ELIAS HASKET DERBY
1739-1799

Merchant of Salem. From the portrait by James Frothingham in the
Peabody Museum, Salem

American Commerce in the Far East 53

upon by his captains wherever they might be.
On arrival in London the tobacco was sold at a
good profit. A return cargo of English goods was
then shipped, and the vessel returned to Salem.

Encouraged by the success of the Astrea's voy-
age, Mr. Derby now decided to enter more ex-
tensively upon the trade to Europe. The following
season he seems to have sent two of his brigs to
England with tobacco. At the same time he de-
cided on a voyage to a part of the world hitherto
unvisited by a vessel bearing the American flag.
In the spring of 1784 he bought a fine English-
built ship of two hundred and sixty-six tons named
the Light Horse, which had been captured during
the war. Having loaded her, he despatched her
from Salem on June 15, for St. Petersburg, Russia.
"This vessel and her cargo of sugars," wrote Mr.
Derby to Lane & Fraser, "cost me £8000 sterling,
. and as the voyage is new to us in this quarter of
the world, I wish you to make me £3000 sterling
insurance." In August the Light Horse reached
Cronstadt, the port of St. Petersburg, and was the
first ship to display the Stars and Stripes in the
Baltic Sea. Unfortunately, however, her sugar did
not meet with a ready sale, and Jiad to be disposed
of at a loss. The funds received were laid out in a

54 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

return cargo of canvas, duck, hemp, and iron.
Towards the end of September the Light Horse
sailed for Salem, where she arrived November 28,
1784. Although this pioneer voyage had not been
a success financially, it was certainly valuable as a
means of teaching Mr. Derby the character of the
Baltic market. Messrs. Gale, Hill & Carzalet, of
St. Petersburg, who managed the business of the
Light Horse while at Cronstadt, wrote to Mr.
Derby a letter of advice for his guidance if he
should send another vessel to those parts. They
told him that it was better to have letters of credit
on London than to bring goods with which to buy
a cargo, for practically the only saleable articles
at St. Petersburg were coffee, sugar, and rice, and
even for these commodities only a very limited
market was offered. The principal goods for export
were hemp, sailcloth, duck, cordage, and iron.

There are several reasons to account for this
sudden expansion of Mr. Derby's trade. One cause
was that the declaration of peace made it possible
to carry on commerce with England and North
Europe without much fear of capture. Before
the Revolution the trade between the colonies and
England was to a considerable extent carried on in
English bottoms, whereas in the decade after the

American Commerce in the Far East 55

Revolution, at Salem at least, practically no Eng-
lish vessels arrived or cleared. This was probably
due to the fact that the American merchants pre-
ferred to use their own vessels and did their best
to exclude English ships from American trade.
This feeling towards England expressed itself in
Massachusetts in an act of June 23, 17,85, which
prohibited the exportation of any goods from that
state in British vessels. Furthermore a duty of
seven shillings a ton in addition to the regular
tariff was levied on all goods which were imported
into Massachusetts in a foreign vessel. Although
this act was repealed a year later, being "rendered
inefficacious for want of cooperation of our Sister
States," it shows the attitude of the people of
Massachusetts at that time. Another reason why
Mr. Derby had extended his business to new
fields was the exclusion of American vessels from
trade to the British West Indies. Under the Eng-
lish Navigation Acts, the colonial ships had shared
with English vessels a monopoly of the commerce
to those islands. But when the United States
achieved her independence, her ships, like those of
any other foreign nation, were not permitted to
trade with these British colonies. Thus a valuable
market for American commerce was lost, and a

56 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

new field for the employment of vessels hitherto
in that trade had to be sought.

Taking these facts into account, it is not sur-
prising to find that in November, 1784, five months
after the Light Horse had sailed for the Baltic,
Mr. Derby cleared his ship Grand Turk for the
Cape of Good Hope, under the command of Cap-
tain Jonathan Ingersoll. This was the first voyage
from Salem to that part of the world, although
not the first from the United States. In the latter
part of the seventeenth and the early years of the
eighteenth century, a number of New York mer-
chants carried on a fairly extensive trade with the
pirates who infested the seas about Madagascar.
American products were taken out in New York
vessels and exchanged for Eastern goods which
the pirates had captured from vessels in the Indian
seas.1 Philadelphia also seems to have had some
trade beyond the Cape of Good Hope before the
v\ f Revolution. In 1783 the ship Empress of China
I had sailed from JNew York tor Canton, being the
first American vessel to go to China. When, in
March, 1785, she stopped at the Cape of Good
Hope on her way home, she found the Grand Turk
lying there. Major Samuel Shaw, the pioneer

1 Channing's History of the United States, vol. u, pp. 263-71.

American Commerce in the Far East 57

American merchant in the China trade and after-
wards United States Consul to China, was super-
cargo of the Empress of China, and in his journal
tells of the Derby ship. "Captain IngersolPs
object," writes Major Shaw, "was to sell rum,
cheese, salt provisions, chocolate, loaf sugar, but-
ter, &c., the proceeds of which, in money, with
a quantity of ginseng, and some cash brought with
him, he intended to invest in Bohea tea; but as the
ships bound to Europe are not allowed to break
bulk on the way, he was disappointed in his expec-
tations of procuring that article, and sold his
ginseng for two thirds of a Spanish dollar a pound,
which is twenty per cent better than the silver
money of the Cape. He intended remaining a
short time to purchase fine teas in the private
trade, allowed the officers on board India ships,
and then to sail to the coast of Guinea, to dispose
of his rum, &c., for ivory and gold-dust, thence,
without taking a single slave, to proceed to the
West Indies, and purchase sugar and cotton, with
which he would return to Salem. Notwithstanding
the disappointment in the principal object of the
voyage and the consequent determination to go
to the coast of Guinea, his resolution not to
endeavor to retrieve it by purchasing slaves did

5 8 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

the captain great honor, and reflected equal credit
upon his owner, who, he assured me, would rather
sink the whole capital employed than directly or
indirectly be concerned in so infamous a trade." *

Captain Ingersoll, having disposed of all his
cargo except his rum, was about to sail for the
Guinea Coast when the British East Indiaman
Calcutta came into port. Her captain had on
board two hundred chests of Hyson tea on his own
account, which Captain Ingersoll persuaded him
to exchange for the Grand Turk's New England
rum and a small amount of specie. Ingersoll on
his part agreed to deliver the rum for the English-
man at St. Helena. Accordingly as soon as he had
loaded the tea, Ingersoll set sail and on May 4
arrived at the island of St. Helena where he landed
the rum. From there the Grand Turk proceeded to
the West Indies to complete her cargo by loading
sugar, and on July 26 she arrived at Salem.

Although, like the voyage of the Light Horse
to the Baltic, this first venture of Mr. Derby's to
the southern hemisphere did not result in great
profits, it gave him an idea of the state of the mar-
kets in distant parts of the world. While at the

1 Journals of Major Samuel Shaw (edited by Josiah Quincy),
p. 208.

American Commerce in the Far East 59

Cape, Captain Ingersoll had learned of the possi-
bilities of trade at the Isle of France, or Mauritius.
This small island and its neighbor, the Isle of Bour-
bon, lie in the Indian Ocean about five hundred
miles east of Madagascar, directly in the sailing
route around the Cape of Good Hope to the
East Indies. In/j^i, at the advice of Colbert at
the French Court, France took possession of the
islands, and a settlement was made first on the
Isle of Bourbon. In 1722 Port Louis, on the Isle of
France, was founded, which soon became import-
ant as a way station for ships of the French East
India Company bound from France to the French
possessions in India. The culture of sugar, coffee,
and other products was established; and before
long considerable trade grew up. The French
Company, however, held a monopoly of the trade
of all the French possessions in the East Indies,
so that theirs were practically the only commercial
vessels that ever called at the islands. However,
in 1783 France had extended to American vessels
the privilege of touching at the Isle of France for
provisions, and in a decree of November 30, 1784,
this privilege was further extended by permitting
American vessels to land American produce at the
Isles of France and Bourbon and to load the pro-

60 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

duce of those islands or the East Indies in return.1
Mr. Derby was not slow to appreciate the advan-
tages of this decree and the possibility of a lucra-
tive trade. Accordingly, soon after the return of
the Grand Turk from the Cape of Good Hope in
July, he decided to despatch her in the fall to the
Isle of France. In the mean tinljp he began gather-
ing together a miscellaneous cargo of brandy, rum,
butter, cheese, flour, beef, pork, candles, and vari-
ous groceries. During the summer he wrote to
Messrs. Lane & Fraser in London asking them to
insure the vessel, and their reply of May 4, 1786,
shows how such a voyage was regarded by the
underwriters : —

"We could not effect the Insurance you ordered
on the Ship Grand Turk & Cargo, Ebenr West
Master, from Salem to the Isle of France & back;
our Underwriters are not fond of the risque, it
being a new trade to the Americans most of the
Ships in this kind of business are very particularily
describ'd, & the Masters & Seamen well acquainted
with Navigation, besides there was another material
objection which was the uncertainty how long
Capt. West was likely to be out as it might not be
in his power to procure a loading at the Isle of

1 Auber's Constitution of the East India Company, p. 1 1.

American Commerce in the Far East 61

France; in short we do not think that under the
most favourable circumstance of Ship & Crew we
should have been able to have cover'd your prop-
erty under 10 gs. per ct. we give you the earliest
notice of this that you may get part of your
property insured at Boston or Salem."

The command of the vessel was given to Captain
Ebenezer West, and Mr. William Vans was ap-
pointed supercargo. On December 3, 1785, the
Grand Turk sailed, being, so far as any records
show, the first vessel to clear from Salem for ports
beyond the Cape of Good Hope. The following is
the manifest of her cargo: —

INVOICE OF MERCHANDISE SHIFT ON BOARD
THE GRAND TURK, EBEN* WEST MASTER
BOUND FOR THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE &c.
CONSIGNED TO WILLIAM VANS & EBEN-
EZER WEST FOR SALES & RETURNS ON MY
ACCOUNT.

£. s. d.

10 Bbls. of Pitch 12 o o

10 " Tar 8 10 o

75 " Superfine Flour 180 o o

6 Tierces of Rice 38 i 4

35 Hogsheads Tobacco 686 10 9

49 Furkins New York Butter 140 4 2

20 Casks Claret Wine 90 o o

483 Bars Iron 300 o o

62 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

£.

12 Hogsheads Loaf Sugar

50 Cases of Oil

20 Boxes Chocolate

22 " Prunes

20 Crates Earthenware

166

26 Casks Brandy

206

163 1-2 bbls. of Beef

293

9 Casks Ginsang

194

30 Puncheons Granada Rum

464

42 Casks Coniac Brandy

823

7 " Bacon & Hams

7 Boxes English Mold Candles

50 " Spermacety Candles

199

100 " Mould Candles

233

27 " Tallow Candles

32 " Soap

478 Furkins Butter

1157

579 Boxes Cheese

123 1-2 Bbls. Pork

252

38 Kegs of Beef

25 Baskets Aniseed

14 Hogshds New Eng. Rum high

proof 152

20 1-2 " " " " "

" 132

6 Casks Cheese

20 Hogshds Fish

184

42 Bbls. of Beer

126

4 Tierces of Bottled Beer

4 " " Porter

9 Kegs of Pork

Amount of Cargo

£7183

American Commerce in the Far East 63

"~Z 7. I
Ship Turk with Stores Wages &

outfits for Voyage 2000 o o

Light Cash 16 14 5

£9200 o o

After a rather stormy passage, the Grand Turk
arrived at the Cape of Good Hope on February 23.
Here a small part of the cargo was sold and a
consignment of hides taken in exchange, to be
called for on the return voyage. On March 17
she continued on her way, and about a month
later arrived at the Isle of France. Unfortu-
nately the demand for the cargo was not so
great as Captain West and Mr. Vans had anti-
cipated, so they decided to wait for better pro-
spects. They wrote Mr. Derby that if the market
continued bad they might go on to Batavia, in the
Dutch East Indies. The cargo, however, was grad-
ually disposed of at the Isle of France, but the
price of coffee and sugar, which were the two im-
portant exports of the island, remaining high, Mr.
Vans was at a loss to obtain a return cargo. While
thus situated, he was approached by a French
merchant of the island, Sebier de la Chataignerais
by name, who offered to charter two thirds space
in the Grand Turk to carry freight from the Isle of

64 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

France to Canton, and thence back to Boston, and
agreed to pay all the port charges in China. Mr.
Vans, seeing in this a chance to make a profitable
voyage out of a poor one, accepted the merchant's
offer, and having taken on board the freight, the
Grand Turk sailed in July for China, with the
French merchant as passenger. Early in Septem-
ber the ship arrived at Whampoa, the port of Can-
ton, where she was the second vessel to display the
American flag.

In order to understand the dealings of the Grand
Turk at Canton one must know the peculiar meth-
ods of carrying on foreign trade with China in
those days. Until 1842, Canton was the only port
in China where foreigners were permitted to trade,
and the whole system of complicated customs and
duties, with the observance of endless formalities
from the moment a foreign vessel arrived until she
left, would have been enough to discourage all
foreign commerce but for the great profits of
the China trade. On the arrival of a foreign ship
at Whampoa, a Chinese security merchant had
to be engaged before any cargo could be un-
loaded or the least business transacted. Practi-
cally the entire business of the ship was carried
on through him. He received her cargo into his

American Commerce in the Far East 65

warehouse on the Canton river front, sold it for
the ship's account, and then furnished the out-
ward freight. He paid the import and export
duties on the goods himself; for in all buying
and selling with foreigners the Chinese merchants
made their prices with that understanding. In
1786 there were about twelve of these merchants.
in Canton. They were called " Hongs," and were
known collectively as the "Co-Hong." In return
for the annual payment of a large sum to the
Government, they were given the exclusive privi-
lege of trade with foreigners, but at the same time
were responsible for the good conduct of the for-
eigners with whom they transacted business and
for the full payment of all duties and taxes in con-
nection with the foreign trade. The "Hongs" had
large establishments, including docks and ware-
houses on the river front at Canton, and were men
of great wealth and influence. In their business
dealings they seem to have maintained a very
honest and respectable character.

Having engaged a "Hong" merchant to act as
security or fiador for the ship and to manage her
affairs, the next thing for the ship's supercargo to
do was to engage a "linguist." This individual
was not necessarily, as his name might imply, a

66 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

master of languages. His duties were to report on
all goods loaded or unloaded from the ship, to pro-
vide the "sampans" in which the cargo was car-
ried to the "Hong's" wharf in Canton, and to act
as a sort of messenger in transacting the ship's
business with the custom-house or the "Hong"
merchant. In this last capacity he was indispens-
able, as no foreigners were admitted to any part of
the city of Canton, except to a very small section
on the river front, where the foreign merchants
were allowed to live while their vessels were lying
at Whampoa.

Soon after arriving, every foreign ship had to
be measured by the "Hoppo," or collector of cus-
toms. This official was commissioned by the Em-
peror to act as the Government's superintendent
of foreign trade. He received a nominal salary, but
made his fortune by exactions and fees. To quote
from the journal of Major Samuel Shaw: "When
the Hoppo goes to measure the shipping he is
attended by the Co-Hong. On these occasions the
captains produce their clock work and other curi-
osities, of which the Hoppo lays by such as he
likes, and the fiador (Hong security merchant) of
the ship is obliged to send them to him. Sometime
after, the Hoppo demands the price, for he will

American Commerce in the Far East 67

not receive them as a present. The merchant, who
understands the matter perfectly, tells him about
one twentieth part, or less, of their value, and takes
the money. As soon as the ship is measured, the
fiador takes out a permit for unloading, and the
linguist provides two sampans to receive the goods,
which are hoisted out of the ships in presence of
two mandarins, who live in their sampan along-
side. When the goods arrive at Canton, one of the
principal mandarins, with his assistants, attends
to weigh, measure, and take account of everything,
after which liberty is granted to sell. Such articles
as the fiador or the Co-Hong do not want may be
disposed of to any other person, from whom the
linguist receives the duty, and settles with the
fiador. When the return cargo is to be sent on
board, the mandarins attend, as before, and each
package must have the seller's 'chop' (mark) upon
it, in order that the linguist may know where to
apply for the duty; otherwise, the purchaser is
himself obliged to pay it. The expense of unloading
is paid by the Europeans, and the Chinese deliver
the return cargo alongside the ship free of all duties
and charges whatever. All merchandise must be
unloaded and loaded by Chinese sampans." 1

1 Shaw's Journals, p. 176. 4

68 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

The principal article of export from Canton in
those days was tea. The teas for the foreign mar-
ket were purchased by agents of the "Hong" mer-
chants from the growers in the Bohea or Sunglo
regions, about three hundred and fifty miles north
of Canton. The first consignments arrived in Can-
ton in July and the last in November, after a
long and costly trip of about eight hundred miles
across hills on porters' backs and down rivers on
rafts. On arrival in Canton the teas were re-sorted
and re-packed in decorated chests marked with
"chops" indicating the place of growth and the
seller's name. These chests were then sold to for-
eigners by the "Hongs" in lots of one hundred to
one thousand.

/ After this general description of the methods of
/ carrying on trade in Canton it will be easier to
understand the operations of the Grand Turk
\ while there. The Derby ship arrived at Whampoa
^ early in September and found that the ship Em-
press of China of New York had just arrived on her
second voyage to Canton. Soon the two American
vessels were joined by three more: the ship Canton
from Philadelphia, and the ship Hope and the sloop
Experiment from New York. When it is realized
.that only one American vessel

American Commerce in the Far East 69

in China before this season, it is interesting
to note five American vessels thus gathered at^
'this new market for American commerce. All
,except the Grand Turk had come as a result of
the^enthusiastic reports brought by the Empress
of China on her return from the first voyagejo
;^-€Bma~Ewo years before.) Soon after their arrival
at Whampoa, Captain West, Mr. Vans, and M.
Sebier, the merchant from the Isle of France, pro-
ceeded up to Canton, where with the captains and
supercargoes of the other American ships they
rented a "factory" or place of business for the

season.»Thus for the first time there was an Ameri-

can iactory^_pn.

company with the establishments of the English,

Dutgh, French, Danish, and other nations. ""

One of the first things done by Mr. Vans and
Captain West was to engage a "Hong" merchant
to act as fiador and security for the Grand Turk,
and to manage her affairs while in China. An
arrangement was made accordingly with the
"Hong" merchant Pinqua for this purpose. Soon
after arriving in China, M. Sebier, for some reason,
appears to have given up his charter of the Grand
Turk from Canton to Boston and to have settled
his affairs with Mr. Vans by giving the latter

yo Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

an order for $10,039, but he, nevertheless, held
himself to his original contract to pay all the
Grand Turk's port charges at Canton. As these
amounted to nearly $10,000, it was certainly a great
saving. As soon as the Frenchman had paid the
$10,039, Mr. Vans made a contract with Pinqua to
lay out this sum in Bohea tea " at the price paid by
the Danish and Dutch companies this season," to
be delivered free of duties on board the Grand Turk
within sixty days. This contract was made on Sep-
tember 26. On November 28, one of the American
vessels being about to sail for home, Captain West
and Mr. Vans wrote to Mr. Derby as follows : —

"In our last Letter from the Island of France
we acquainted you that we had taken a freight for
China & that the Cargo was answerable for that
Freight. Since when we have the pleasure to Inform
you" of our arrival at Canton. Although the Cargo
was made over to us for the freight the situation
of the Gentleman & Customs of Canton obliged
us to give up the Cargo and take 3800 dollars in
full for the Contact & freight from Island of France
to this place he paying all charges except Manning,
Victualing, & Rigging the Ship. The particulars
of this affair will be two long for a letter we shall

American Commerce in the Far East 71

therefore wait our arrival in America. We are
now taking a Cargo for America on your Account
Consisting of the following Articles. China Ware
— Table sets Tea & Coffee ditto & Cups & Saucers
the whole amounting to about 2000 dollars (suffi-
cient to floor the ship) 30 or 40 pukle of Cassia
Cinnamon at 24 dollars per pukle — 300 large
chests Bohea Tea ami1"* to ab* 15000 dollars —
Hyson Single & Congo Teas to Compleat the Cargo
the whole of which will amount to abt 21000 dol-
lars at Canton which place we hope to leave by
20th December. We shall stop at the Cape G.
Hope & take as many Hides as will fill the ship &
compleat our Cargo & from there make our best
way home. The Duties Charges & Presents which
every Ship has to pay make it very expensive being
here a Vessel of 30 tons pays the same as a ship of
looo tons. — The person who freighted the ship
Turk will pay neer 10,000 dollars for charges duties
& presents to hoppo. We hope to be in America in
all May & conclude with wishing ourselves a safe
arrival & good Reception.

" Yr. very humble servants

"WM. VAN'S &
"E. WEST.
"per Sloop Enterprise Capt. Dean."

Cxf. AlAXxivCA* 1

72 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

In the mean time, while the Grand Turk -was
sailing the distant seas and visiting the new mar-
kets of the East, what had Mr. Derby been doing
at home? The Grand Turk had left Salem in
December, 1785, her destination being the Isle
of France. In July he heard that she had ar-
rived at the Isle of France in April, and therefore
as the autumn advanced he began to expect her
back. He appears to have heard nothing more
of the ship till February, 1787, when he received a
letter from Captain West, dated at the Isle of
France in the previous June, which told of the
Grand Turk's charter to M. Sebier for a voyage
to Canton and thence back to Boston. Mr. Derby
immediately communicated with his insurance
agents and had the ship's policy changed so as to
cover this extension of the voyage, but it is appar-
ent that he had much difficulty in getting under-
writers to take the risk even at so high a rate as
nine per cent.

Early in May the sloop Experiment arrived at
New York from Canton, bringing the letter from
Captain West and Mr. Vans which stated that
the Grand Turk was about to sail for home with
a full cargo of teas and Chinese goods. What
must have been Mr. Derby's feelings on the

6 g

American Commerce in the Far East 73

morning of May 22, 1787, when on looking from
the window of his counting-house he beheld the
Grand Turk under a full press of canvas standing
into Salem Bay and up the Beverly shore? As
the ship came to off Naugus Head and dropped
anchor a salute was fired, and before the smoke
had cleared away it is safe to say that half
the population of Salem, including friends, re-
latives, and those actuated simply by curiosity,
had put off to the ship in every available row-
boat or skiff. The Grand Turk was the first Salem
vessel to arrive from ports beyond the Cape of
Good Hope and one of the first American ves-
sels to come back from China. Crowds of people
thronged her decks listening to the crew's accounts
of the strange Chinese manners and customs or
examining the curios brought from the distant and
almost mythical East by these eighteenth-century
Marco Polos.

Although the curios and stories probably en-
tertained Mr. Derby, it was the cargo tightly
stowed beneath the hatches that most seriously
demanded his attention. The ship could not have
been at anchor long before he had retired to the
cabin with Captain West and Mr. Vans, and over
a good bottle of Madeira looked through the ship's

74 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

manifest. This document has fortunately been
preserved and is given below: —

MANIFEST OF THE CARGO ON BOARD SHIP GRAND
TURK EBEN WEST MASTER FROM CANTON

22ND MAY, 1787

(Showing costs at Canton)

240 Chest Bohea Tea )

175 i Chests" « f

2 Chests Hyson " 95

52 " Souchong 521

32 " Bohea Congo 459

130 " Cassia 779

10 " Cassia Bud 85

75 Boxes China 1923

945 Ox Hides 1050

100 Shammy Skins \

50 Buck Skins I 184

130 Ordinary Hides J

10 Casks Wine 568

I Box paper 44

$23218

Adventures : —

13 Chests Bohea tea $650
6 " Canzo 300

6 Boxes China 135

24 pkgs. Bandanna Hdkfs. 72

24 Chests of muslins

American Commerce in the Far East 75

It would be interesting for us to know how great
were Mr. Derby's profits on the Grand Turk's
trip. Felt, in his "Annals" of Salem, says, "Her
voyage was very profitable, yielding twice more
capital than she carried out."1 However true this
may be, it is certain that the voyage was a very
successful one, but it is practically impossible to
estimate the profits with any exactness. At that
time foreign exchange was an extremely variable
figure, both on account of the unstable condition of
American currency and of the constant deprecia-
tion of the Spanish dollar, which was then the one
great worldwide medium of exchange. The cargo
of the Grand Turk had been purchased at Canton
with Spanish dollars, and was sold to people in
Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania, in
each of which states the currency was in pounds,
shillings, and pence of a different value. A rough
estimate of the value of the New York pound and
the Spanish dollar of the time would place the rate
of exchange at about £i = $2.60. Applying this to
the cost of the Bohea tea, which was bought at Can-
ton at about $53 .40 per chest and sold in New York
for about £48 per chest, we see that the gross profit
per chest was about $70, or nearly fifty per cent.
1 Felt's Annals, vol. n, p. 292.

76 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

Of course, all the expenses of manning, victualling,
and maintaining the ship during the voyage, and
the insurance, would have to be deducted from
this gross profit, but, even allowing for these
expenses, the return must have been considerable.
The arrival of the Grand Turk in May, 1787,
found Mr. Derby already well started in the trade
to the Cape of Good Hope and beyond. In August,
1786, he had despatched the brig Three Sisters to
the Cape of Good Hope and the Isle of France with
a cargo of miscellaneous provisions, and in Janu-
ary, 1787, he had sent the Light Horse on the same
voyage with a similar cargo. The opening of the
trade to the Isle of France to American vessels in
1784 has already been mentioned, but it has been
seen that the Grand Turk did not find business at
the island very profitable. In 1785, however, a
new French East India Company was chartered,
with a monopoly of French trade to all the French
East Indies except the Isle of France. The small
port of L'Orient, about sixty miles north of the
mouth of the Loire, thereupon was designated as
the only French port through which private
French merchants could carry on this trade with
the Isle of France. The result was that two hitherto
unimportant places suddenly became the centres

American Commerce in the Far East 77

of a very extensive commerce. L'Orient changed
from an insignificant seaside town to a thriving
port of entry, and the Isle of France from a thinly
settled agricultural colony to a populous com-
mercial centre where the goods of the East Indies
were exchanged for those of Europe. French mer-
chants established commercial houses in the
island, and crowds of discontented Frenchmen of
broken fortune and doubtful character hastened
to the island in hope of making great wealth in
trade and at the same time to escape from the
mother country, which already was beginning to
show signs of the great Revolution. This tremend-
ous rush of population to the island soon became
too much for its natural resources. Practically
the only commodity produced in any great amount
was coffee, and it soon became necessary to import
many of the staples of life.1 New England at that
time exported few manufactured goods, but her
products were principally fish, meat, butter, lard,
rum, flour, and other provisions, and all these com-
modities were greatly wanted at the Isle of France.
Accordingly a very brisk trade sprang up between
New England and that island. When the Grand
Turk was at the Isle of France in the spring of

1 McPherson's Annals of Commerce, vol. iv, p. 81.

78 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

1786 this rush of population had hardly started
and the great demand for provisions had not be-
gun. In the winter and spring of 1787, however,
when the Three Sisters and the Light Horse were
at the island, the "boom," to use a modern
phrase, was just beginning. The two vessels sold
their cargoes of provisions at high prices, and after
loading coffee and some Eastern goods returned to
Salem, where they both arrived in January, 1788.
About two months before they returned, Mr.
Derby had despatched the Grand Turk once more
for the Isle of France with a cargo of provisions
valued at £6424. The command of the vessel he
gave to his eldest son, Elias Hasket Derby, Jr., a
young man of about twenty-one years. John
Williamson, who had been first mate of the Grand
Turk on the Canton voyage, went with him as
sailing master, but to Elias Hasket, Jr., all the
management of the voyage was given. The young
man had left Harvard in 1786 and sailed as pas-
senger in the Light Horse on a voyage to the
Baltic, and after an extended tour through Europe
had returned to Salem to enter on a mercantile
career. It was Mr. Derby's intention to have his
son remain at the Isle of France after selling the
ship's cargo, to act as his agent. Mr. Derby was

American Commerce in the Far East 79

fully aware of the chances of profitable business
at this island, and the great Derby fortune was
practically founded on Mr. Derby's trade to the
Isle of France during the early years of its
"boom."

When the Grand Turk sailed, Mr. Derby gave
his son permission to sell the ship if a profitable
opportunity offered, promising to send two more
vessels out to him during the year. The Grand
Turk left in November, 1787, and in January,
1788, Mr. Derby despatched the ship Juno to the
Isle of France with a cargo of provisions con-
signed to his son. This ship had been purchased
by Mr. Derby expressly for this voyage. When
only forty hours out, the vessel sprang a leak and
began to sink so rapidly that the crew had only
time to take to the boats before the vessel went
down. They were soon picked up by a sloop bound
to Demerara and eventually arrived safely in
Salem. Although the vessel was a total loss, the
cargo was largely covered by insurance. It is a
remarkable fact that of all the vessels owned by
Mr. Derby during his long mercantile career, this
is the only one, so far as the records show, that
he ever lost at sea. Undaunted by this misfor-
tune, Mr. Derby bought another ship to take

8o Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

the place of the Juno. This vessel he named the
Atlantic, and in September he cleared her for the
Isle of France with a cargo of provisions con-
signed to his son. About the same time he de-
spatched the Light Horse for the same place, fol-
lowing up these two vessels in November with
the brig Henry.

Thus within the space of a single year Mr.
Derby had sent four vessels to the Isle of France
with cargoes of lumber, beef, pork, butter, cheese,
wine, rum, beer, and miscellaneous groceries, to
meet the overwhelming demand for all these com-
modities caused by the rapidly increasing popula-
tion of that island. The Grand Turk arrived at the
Isle of France in January, 1788, and young Mr.
Derby disposed of her cargo for about .$27,000,
which gave a very considerable profit, and enabled
him to purchase a brigantine named the Sultana,
together with her cargo of cotton with which she
had just arrived from Bombay. He then began to
procure a home cargo for the Grand Turk, but
while he was thus engaged a French merchant of
the island offered him $13,000 for the ship just as
she was. As this was nearly twice the amount at
which his father valued the Grand Turk, young
Mr. Derby was not slow to take advantage of this

American Commerce in the Far East 81

flattering offer, and the deal was soon closed.1
With the proceeds of this profitable transaction
Elias Hasket, Jr., purchased an American ship
named the Peggy which was then in port and
loaded both her and the brigantine Sultana,
which he had previously bought, with general
cargo for Bombay. About the middle of August,
1788, the two vessels left the Isle of France, Elias
Hasket, Jr., going in the Peggy, and on September
8 they arrived at Bombay, being among the very
first American vessels to be seen at that port.
There was then no treaty between Great Britain
and the United States permitting American ves-
sels to trade at British ports in India, nor was
this privilege granted until Jay's Treaty in 1794.
The Americans, however, had been given permis-
sion to trade at the French, Dutch, Portuguese,
and Danish settlements by the local governments

1 Nathaniel Bowditch writes at the Isle of France in 1789:
" Ships of almost every kind will sell well here, but those of about
300 tons and that have a great height between decks are generally
preferred. Such a ship well furnished with good accommodations,
a head quarter gallery & sound house would sell for II or 12
thousand dollars. The ship Grand Turk tho' not so well arranged
sold for 13000 but it was to a man who wanted very much such
a ship. But such a one would always fetch 10000 doll. A great
deal depends upon the beauty of a ship & upon her sailing. A
copper bottom always adds 1500 or 2000 dollars to her value."

82 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

of these settlements. Therefore, fearing that these
foreigners would get all the trade of the Amer-
icans, the British Indian Government extended
a similar privilege to American vessels as early as
1785. This was only a gratuitous license and revo-
cable at pleasure, but, nevertheless, in 1788, during
the regime of Lord Cornwallis, American vessels
were treated as the most favored foreigners.1

On arrival at Bombay the cargoes of the Peggy
and Sultana were unloaded and sold and two full
cargoes of Indian cotton and blackwood bought.
While engaged in loading, young Derby learned
that a pirate vessel, well known on the Malabar
Coast, had heard when his two ships expected to
sail and was preparing to capture them as they
left the harbor. Derby, therefore, decided that
the safest thing to do was to sail immediately,
before the pirate expected. Accordingly, with the
two vessels about half loaded with cotton and leav-
ing behind about $5000 worth of his blackwood,
Derby sailed from Bombay. Without even sight-
ing the pirate, the two vessels arrived safely at
the Isle of France on December 5. The Sultana's
cotton was now transferred to the Peggy, and
thus with a full cargo of nothing but cotton the

1 Milburn's Oriental Commerce ', vol. n, p. 137.

American Commerce in the Far East 83

Peggy sailed for Salem. She arrived June 21, 1789,
bringing the first cargo of Indian cotton that ever
arrived in America. This proved to be a rather
unfortunate importation. The elder Mr. Derby
writes: "My ship Peggy has arrived here from
India with a cargo of cotton which I find to be
very unsaleable owing to our people being unac-
quainted with the kind. If sold at publick sale it
would not bring more than one shilling as cotton is
more plenty in this State than it has been these
10 years past." He greatly laments the fact that
the Peggy brought no coffee, which was then com-
manding a high price.

Soon after young Derby's return from Bombay
to the Isle of France, the Atlantic and the Light
Horse arrived from Salem. He sold their cargoes
of provisions at a good price and then despatched
them to Bombay to load the blackwood he had
left behind him there, and also some cotton with
which they were to proceed to Canton, where he
figured that at prevailing prices they should net
nearly one hundred per cent profit. He then
loaded the Sultana for Madras. In the mean
time Mr. Derby's brig Henry had arrived from
Salem under Captain Benjamin Crowninshield,
young Derby's first cousin. Her cargo was also

84 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

sold at a good profit, and joining Captain Crownin-
shield on the Henry,Derby sailed for Madras. Here
they found the Sultana, and together the two vessels
proceeded to Calcutta, where the Sultana was sold.
The Henry was then loaded with a full cargo
of India goods, sailing thence direct for home.
After a very long passage she arrived at Salem on
December 31, 1790. Elias Hasket, Jr., had been
absent from home three years, and the result of his
transactions in the Isle of France and India was a
profit of nearly $100,000, a very large sum for those
days. Moreover, his long stay at the Isle of France
had established the Derby house as the most promi-
nent of all American houses trading with that island.
In his visits to Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta
he formed a large acquaintance with the leading
merchants, which was a great aid in the extensive
Indian trade subsequently developed by the
Derbys.

In the mean time, while building up this large
business at the Isle of France, Mr. Derby, Sr., was
turning his attention to still more distant markets.
The profits of the Grand Turk's China voyage had
convinced him that a direct voyage to that part
of the world ought to be a successful venture.
Accordingly, in 1788 he decided to despatch two

American Commerce in the Far East 85

more of his vessels, one on a direct voyage to
Batavia, and the other to Batavia and Canton.
The ship Astrea and the brig Three Sisters were
selected for the purpose. Thus the brig Cato was
the only vessel of his fleet that had not already
sailed or was not about to sail for ports beyond
the Cape of Good Hope. A China voyage in those
days was quite an undertaking, for it required
nearly six months to collect a cargo suitable for
the Canton market. The Astrea was sent to Got-
tenburg, Stockholm, and Copenhagen after iron,
and the Cato to Madeira for wines, and Mr. Derby
endeavored to buy in New England, New York,
and Pennsylvania all the ginseng that he could,
since this was one of the leading exports from
America to China.1

The Three Sisters was the first of the two vessels
to start on the long voyage. On December 4, 1788,
she sailed for Batavia under the command of Cap-
tain Benjamin Webb, with Mr. Samuel Blanchard
as supercargo and young Nathaniel Silsbee, who
later became United States Senator, as clerk. The

1 Ginseng is a root or herb easily grown in New England,
which was used by the Chinese in compounding nearly all their
medicines. In the early days of the Canton trade it was in con-
stant demand and almost always brought a high price.

86 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

Astrea on her voyage back from the Baltic encoun-
tered very bad weather. Owing to the weight of
her cargo of iron she was somewhat strained
and had to put in to St. John's, Newfoundland.
After landing part of her cargo she returned to
Salem, where she was given a thorough overhaul-
ing and was passed through a survey of three
eminent merchants who pronounced her fit for
her long voyage. In the mean time Mr. Derby
attempted to insure the Astrea for the trip but the
lowest rate he could obtain was ten per cent. In
writing to Messrs. Ludlow & Gould, of New York,
in regard to this matter, he said: "Another remark
I must make to you as a friend is that I have five
Vessels out to that part of the World & this Ship
is the sixth — which rather rubs hard to get her
away with so large a stock as I am putting into her.
Therefore if the insurance is made I shall not
expect to take up the Premium Notes till the risque
is off." Having been put in first-class condition,
the Astrea loaded her cargo of provisions, ginseng,
specie, and miscellaneous articles, and on Febru-
ary 1 6, 1789, she sailed for Batavia and Canton
under the command of Captain James Magee, with
Mr. Thomas Handasyd Perkins, of Boston, as
supercargo.

American Commerce in the Far East 87

One hundred and forty days out from Salem the
Astrea passed in by Java Head, and on July 13
she cast anchor in the harbor of Batavia. Here
she found the Three Sisters, which had arrived
about a fortnight before, but owing to the govern-
ment regulations had not been permitted to land
any cargo. The Dutch East India Company,
which held the monopoly of trade of the island,
would allow no foreign vessel to land any cargo
without a permit from the governing council of
Java at Batavia. Such a permit had been very
difficult to obtain, especially by Americans, who
were just beginning to visit the island, but at that
time the power of the Dutch East India Company
was fast falling and there was much corruption in
the government. Mr. Blanchard, the supercargo
of the Three Sisters, and Mr. Perkins dined several
times with the governor and members of the coun-
cil and were so tactfully insistent in their demands
that they finally obtained permission to sell their
respective cargoes. While at Batavia Mr. Perkins
kept a journal. A few extracts from it describing
the place, its people, and commerce during the
last years of the Company's rule will not be out of
place here.

"Batavia," writes Mr. Perkins, "which is the

88 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

warehouse of the Dutch East India Company, and
the most important by far of all their possessions
round the Cape of Good Hope, is about fifty
leagues from the entrance of the Straits of Sunda
and about twelve leagues from Bantam. It has a
fine harbor, which is well defended from the winds
by the many small islands which surround it. The
latitude of Batavia is 6° south, and about 106° east
longitude. It is at this time well guarded by a stone
wall, which is well built, and about twelve feet
high. These walls are well stored with guns and
the necessary appendages, which are always kept
in order in case of necessity. The bastions are so
laid out, that they would be serviceable as well
against an insurrection as an invasion. The one
or the other they would have great reason to fear,
had either the Chinese, who were inhumanely cut
off here, or the original inhabitants, who have
always been under the lash of the present possess-
ors, courage enough to retaliate; but fortunately
for the Dutch, they have a people to deal with, in
the Chinese, who do not appear to have the pas-
sions which govern men in general. They appear
to have no resentment in their composition.

"There are said to be forty thousand Chinese
in Batavia and its vicinity. They are governed

American Commerce in the Far East 89

by their own officers, but are all restricted to the
general outlines of the Dutch policy. Many of them
are immensely rich, and enter very largely into
trade; have stores in town, and elegant country
seats without the gates. They parade about in
their carriages with a great degree of state, and
seem to feel their consequence. They are the prin-
cipal mechanics, and the best husbandmen. Their
merchants deal for the largest and the most
trifling article; for the same man who will sell you
to the amount of fifty thousand dollars will bring
you a pot of sweetmeats which cost a couple of
ducatoons. Great care, however, is to be used in
purchasing from them; for they are in some in-
stances employed as spies upon the conduct of
strangers by the Dutch Company; and in others
they will deceive you in whatever they sell, if they
find you are a green hand; so that it is necessary
to have one's eye well about one to deal with these
people, the character of whom is to me unfathom-
able.

"The Chinese have a free trade to Batavia,
where they bring tea, china, japanned wares,
nankins, silks, &c., and take, in return, Spanish
dollars and ducatoons, though the former are pre-
ferred. Spices, bird's-nests, pepper, tin, sugars,

90 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

coffee, candy, beeswax, oil, hides, burning-canes,
ratans, sandal-wood, and, when there is probability
of scarcity in China, rice, which will always pay a
good freight, are exported.

"There is at Batavia a great medley of inhab-
itants. The principal persons in business, after
the Hollanders, are the Moormen. Many of them
are very rich. They have an ease of address and
an air of good breeding which one would not expect
to find in their countrymen. They are the best
shaped of any of the Eastern nations whom I
observed while there; their complexion nearly the
same as that of the aboriginals of America ; their
features regular and well-set, with the most pierc-
ing eye of any people I ever saw. Their religion is
Mohametanism. They carry on a great trade to
the different islands in the Indian seas, and by
their traffic make great fortunes."1

The Astrea's stay at Batavia lasted about a
month. On August 15, after unloading part of
her cargo, she sailed for Canton. The Three Sis-
ters, on the other hand, disposed of her entire
cargo at Batavia and accepted a charter to carry
to Canton for a Batavian merchant a cargo of
sandalwood, beeswax, rattans, betel nuts, and

1 T. G. Gary's Thomas H. Perkins, pp. 23-41.

American Commerce in the Far East 91

spices. On September 18, the Astrea arrived at
Whampoa and Mr. Perkins proceeded to Canton,
engaged a "Hong" merchant to secure the cargo,
and attended to the many formalities already
described in the account of trade conditions in
China. The unloading of the cargo was well under
way, when, on October 5, to the surprise of the
Astrea's crew, two American ships were observed
coming into the anchorage at Whampoa. They
both were flying the Derby house flag, and proved
to be the Atlantic and the Light Horse. These
two ships, it may be remembered, had left Salem
in August and September, 1788, for the Isle of
France with cargoes of provisions consigned to
Elias Hasket Derby, Jr., who was then resident at
that island. Having disposed of their cargoes at
the Isle of France, young Derby had sent them to
Bombay to load cotton and blackwood for Canton.
The two ships reached Canton on October 5, and
two days later the Three Sisters arrived from
Batavia. Thus there were four Derby vessels lying
at Whampoa, although only the Astrea had been
despatched for China by Mr. Derby.

Unfortunately it happened that this season there
were more American ships at Canton than ever
before, or for some years after. No less than

92 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

fifteen sail of American vessels were lying in
the anchorage at Whampoa in November, 1789,
among them being the ship Columbia, from the
Northwest Coast, on her famous voyage around
theworld.1 The price of ginseng and other American
products fell considerably on account of the large
amount thus put on the market, and the price of
teas rose somewhat under the increased demand.
The result was that the hopes of the Derby cap-
tains and supercargoes for a successful voyage were
much dampened. After conferring together, it was
decided best for Mr. Derby's interests to sell two
of the vessels and bring home the property in teas
in the two remaining ships. Accordingly the At-
lantic was sold to a Parsee merchant for $6600
and the Three Sisters to an Armenian for $4000,
and the proceeds invested in teas and Chinese
goods. No less than 728,871 pounds of tea were

1 The ship Columbia sailed from Boston in October, 1787,
for the Northwest Coast of America via Cape Horn. She ar-
rived on the coast in August and remained there a year barter-
ing her cargo to the Indians for furs. She then sailed for
Canton, where she exchanged her furs for teas, and returned
via the Cape of Good Hope to Boston, where she arrived in
August, 1790, being the first American vessel to circumnavigate
the world. In September she sailed again for the Northwest
Coast, and on this voyage discovered the river which bears her
name. Mr. Derby's son John was a part owner of the Colum-
bia.

American Commerce in the Far East 93

loaded on board the Astrea and the Light Horse,
together with a large assortment of Chinese goods.
The crew of the Atlantic took passage on the Light
Horse and that of the Three Sisters on the
Astrea, and on January 22, 1790, the two vessels
left Whampoa for home with their valuable car-
goes.

In December, Mr. Derby had heard that the
Astrea and Three Sisters were at Batavia in the
previous July, but of the Atlantic and the Light
Horse he had heard nothing except that in the
spring of 1789 his son had despatched them from
the Isle of France to Bombay. His anxiety must
have increased as the spring of 1790 wore on, for
nearly all his property was in these four vessels.
Not a single word did he hear from them till June
I, 1790, when the Astrea was sighted in the bay,
and was soon anchored in Salem Harbor. The Light
Horse, having left China with the Astrea, was now
momentarily expected, and on the afternoon of
June 15 she too appeared in the offing. The wind,
however, died away as the ship neared the land,
and there being no tugboats in those days, she
was forced to come to anchor oil Marblehead.
During the night while in this exposed position
a very sudden and heavy storm sprang up from the

94 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

east. The ship was too near the land to beat
offshore and so it was necessary for her to ride out
the gale at anchor. Early in the morning she began
to drag, and before long had drifted within a few
feet of the rocks. Nearly the whole population of
Marblehead gathered on the shore waiting to see
the vessel go to her destruction. Mr. Derby hur-
riedly drove over from Salem in his postchaise, ex-
pecting to see his valuable argosy, which had come
safely half around the globe, lost at his very
doorstep. But his good fortune, which had kept
him so free hitherto from marine disasters, once
more stood by him. When the ship was within
only a few yards of the rocks the anchors held and
continued to hold until the storm subsided. The
Light Horse was then brought around into Salem
Harbor and safely moored beside the Astrea.

One of the most valued treasures of the old
Salem Custom-House is the manifest of the Astrea
for her inward cargo on this voyage, a document
no less then eight feet long. Together the Astrea
and Light Horse were assessed $25,000 in duties
on their cargoes. In their absence in China the
present form of government in the United States
had been established, and the original tariff of
1789 had gone into operation. The import duties

American Commerce in the Far East 95

of the national tariff were considerably in excess
of those of the Massachusetts state tariff which
had previously been in force, and the duty on teas,
which were the principal items of the Astrea and
Light Horse cargoes, had increased from five per
cent ad valorem in the Massachusetts tariff of
1786 to from six to twelve cents a pound in the
national tariff. Moreover, this duty had taken
immediate effect, no allowance being made for
cargoes on the way. The result was that Mr.
Derby found himself in a difficult position. The
importation of tea into the United States in
1790 was unprecedented, amounting to 2,601,852
pounds, and of this total 728,871 pounds had come
in the Astrea and Light Horse to Mr. Derby's
account. As the annual demand for tea in the
United States had rarely if ever exceeded a million
pounds, this tremendous importation sent down
the price to a very low figure, and Mr. Derby saw
the only way to save himself from a great loss was
to keep his teas in his storehouse until the quantity
on the market had decreased and the price had been
restored to a remunerative level. At that time,
however, there was no bonded warehouse system
whereby a merchant could keep his goods stored
and pay the duty on them as he sold them. Mr.

g6 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

Derby accordingly addressed a memorial to Con-
gress asking to be permitted to pay the duties on
his tea as he from time to time succeeded in selling
it. Congress immediately granted his request, and
by keeping his teas until prices rose, it is probable
that Mr. Derby eventually realized considerable
profit from his great importation.

These early voyages beyond the Cape of Good
Hope encouraged Mr. Derby to embark more ex-
tensively in commerce to that part of the world,
and he soon became recognized as one of the lead-
ing American merchants in the trade to the East.

CHAPTER IV

A CHAPTER OF EAST INDIA VOYAGES

FROM 1790 to his death in 1799, Mr. Derby
devoted his main energies to commerce with the
Far East. His principal business was with the Isle
of France, and he soon became the leading Amer-
ican merchant trading to that island. To-day
people in this country know little of the Isle
of France, or Mauritius, as it is now called, but in
the days of sailing-ships it was a very important
port, as nearly all the vessels bound out to the
East Indies used to stop there on the way. Saint-
Pierre, the French writer, visited the Isle of France
in the late eighteenth century, and a very good )
description of this beautiful tropical island is found^
in his "Voyage a PIsle de France" and also in his
well-known story, "Paul et Virginie," the scene
of which is laid there. The principal products
of the place were sugar and coffee, but there
was also a large exchange of European and Indian
goods. It has been shown before how an extens-
ive trade in provisions had sprung up between
New England and the Isle of France to supply the

98 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

growing population. This trade was checkered with
unexpected profits and losses. One of Mr. Derby's
vessels, with a shipment in her cargo of twelve
thousand plain glass tumblers, costing one thousand
dollars in Salem, arrived at the Isle of France when
there was no glassware on the island and sold her
shipment for twelve thousand dollars. Another
Derby vessel, with a cargo largely composed of
common wine from Madeira, arrived at a time
when this commodity was in great demand and
sold her cargo at a price sufficient to load two
vessels with coffee which was then worth twenty-
five cents a pound in America. Nevertheless,
occasional voyages entailed considerable loss. The
disturbed state of affairs in France leading up to
the Revolution was reflected in the Isle of France.
An active Jacobin Club was formed, and for a
time gained control of the government. The mem-
bers erected a guillotine in the public square, mur-
dered Admiral McNamara of the French fleet
at the island, and in many other ways copied the
actions of their brethren at home. Such proceed-
ings naturally inconvenienced trade. Vessels and
property were often seized, and the frequent
embargoes were of great expense to those ships
that were unfortunate enough to be detained. A

A Chapter of East India Voyages 99

number of losing voyages resulted from these
causes, but on the average Mr. Derby's ventures
to the Isle of France were very profitable.

Although Mr. Derby carried on most of his busi-
ness with the Isle of France, he occasionally sent
a vessel on a direct voyage to Batavia, Manila, or
Calcutta, and many of his ships that carried
goods out to the Isle of France proceeded to India
for a return cargo. After 1794 American vessels
trading to India enjoyed many advantages, for in
that year the privileges accorded to them by the
Indian Government in 1787 were confirmed by the
British authorities in Jay's Treaty. Moreover,
after 1793, when war broke out between France
and England, American vessels enjoyed a great
advantage from their neutrality. In the decade
from 1794 to 1804 the number of American ships
trading to India increased several times over.
Many of these ships flew the Derby flag, and in
the last ten years of his life Mr. Derby carried on a
very extensive commerce with Calcutta.

In 1793 his ship Astrea, while on a voyage in
the Indian seas, took a cargo of rice from Madras
to Rangoon. At the last-named port she was
impressed by the Sultan of Pegu to carry troops
to Siam, with which country he was then at war.

ioo Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

Captain Gibaut, her commander, was kept as a
hostage at Rangoon while the first mate navigated
the ship to Siam, where the American flag was
displayed for the first time. After performing
transport service to the satisfaction of the Sultan,
though at a financial loss of about $10,000 to the
ship's owner, the Astrea was returned to Captain
Gibaut and permitted to resume her original voy-
age. Another Derby ship, the Recovery, visited
Mocha, in Arabia, in 1799, and was the first
American craft to visit that part of the world.
A Salem historian tells us that "the arrival of
the strange ship was viewed with great interest
by the authorities who could not divine from
whence she came, and made frequent inquiries to
know how many moons she had been coming." *
Besides the ships engaged in this Eastern com-
merce, Mr. Derby employed a number of vessels
in trade to the Baltic, Hamburg, France, England,
the Spanish Peninsula, the Western Islands, and
the West Indies, and in the space of nine years
from 1790 to 1799 ne appears to have increased
his property at least fivefold.

It would be interesting, indeed, to relate the
story of many of Mr. Derby's voyages, but the

1 Felt's Annals of Salem.

-- F

- — 1

~ IT ~

! /

, /

«^*

^?*i\

4 SH

SHIP RECOVERY OF SALEM

From'the painting by William Ward in the Essex Institute, Salem'

A Chapter of East India Voyages 101

records of very few remain. One of the most
remarkable incidents in the history of the American
merchant marine was the voyage of the Derby ship
Benjamin to the Isle of France in 1792-94. Al-
though all the officers of the vessel were under
twenty years of age, the venture proved to be one
of the most successful and profitable ever under-
taken by Mr. Derby. Captain Nathaniel Silsbee,
who later became United States Senator from
Massachusetts, was but nineteen when he sailed
in command of the Benjamin, and his first mate,
Charles Derby, was the same age. Moreover, the
captain's clerk, Richard Cleveland, the grand-
father of President Cleveland of later days, had
not reached his nineteenth birthday when the ship
left Salem. Two very interesting accounts of this
voyage have been left us in the journals of Silsbee
and Cleveland,1 and the story is best told in their
own words : —

"On the nth of December, 1792," writes Cap-
tain Silsbee, "I sailed from hence in the new ship
Benjamin of one hundred and sixty tons burden,
and with a cargo consisting principally of merchan-

1 Richard J. Cleveland's In the Forecastle, or Twenty Five
Years a Sailor. 1842.

Personal Recollections of Nathaniel Silsbee. Essex Institute
Historical Collections, vol. xxxv, 1889.

102 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

disc which cost about eighteen thousand dollars
(then considered a large stock for such a ship) for
the Cape of Good Hope and India, and with such
instructions as left the management of the voyage
very much to my own discretion. On leaving home
every dollar I possessed was much less than I
wished to leave with my mother for the comfort
of herself and family during so long a voyage as I
had then undertaken; therefore in addition to all
my own small means, I left with her also some
money which I hired for that purpose; conse-
quently (as heretofore) I had no property with me
beyond what I had hired upon a respondentia-
bond, to enable me to pay my five per cent of the
cost of the outward cargo, my perquisites, as con-
signee of the cargo, being to put in five per cent of
the outward cargo, and to receive, at the close of
the voyage, ten per cent of the return cargo. Nei-
ther myself nor the chief mate of the ship for that
voyage (Mr. Charles Derby) had attained the age
of twenty-one years when we left home on that
voyage (I was not then twenty years of age) and it
was remarked to me by the naval officer (the late
Mr.Wm.Pickman) on taking the ship's papers from
the Custom House that it was the first instance in
which papers had been issued from that office to

A Chapter of East India Voyages 103

a vessel to the East Indies the captain and chief
mate of which were both minors.

"In an intensely cold and severe storm on the
first night after leaving home, our cook (a colored
man somewhat advanced in age) having preferred
his cooking house on deck to his berth below, for a
sleeping place, had his feet so badly frozen as to
cause gangrene to such an extent as to render
amputation of all his toes on both feet absolutely
necessary for the preservation of his life. Having
neither surgical skill nor surgical instruments on
board the ship, the operation, which had become
necessary, was a very unpleasant and a very
hazardous one, so much so that no one on board
was willing to undertake the direction of it, and I
was most reluctantly compelled to assume, with
the aid of the second mate, the responsibility of
performing the surgical operation, with no other
instruments than a razor and a pair of scissors,
and which, in consequence of the feeble state of
the cook's health, required two days to accom-
plish. The cook was very desirous to be landed
and left at one of the Cape de Verde Islands, and
for that purpose I proceeded to the Island of St.
Jago where I found, at anchor, an English frigate,
the surgeon of which, at my request, came on

104 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

board our ship and examined the cook's feet and
(to my great satisfaction) pronounced the operation
upon them well performed, assured me that there
remained no doubt of his recovery, furnished and
prescribed some future dressings and advised me,
by all means, to keep him on board ship under
my own care, in preference to putting him ashore.
With the cook's approbation I followed the sur-
geon's advice, and in the course of a few weeks
thereafter the cook was able to resume his duties,
recovered his usual health and made several sub-
sequent voyages.

"After the transaction of some business at the
Cape of Good Hope, and while on the passage from
thence to the Isle of France, we fell in with a
French frigate bound to that island from France,
from the officers of which vessel I obtained inform-
ation of the war which had then recently taken
place (and which was of long duration and of great
vicissitudes) between France and England. That
frigate reached her port of destination a few days
in advance of me and the news of which she was
the bearer caused such a change in the commercial
market of the place as was beneficial to my voyage
by enabling me to dispose of the merchandise of
which my cargo was composed at much higher

A Chapter of East India Voyages 105

prices than could have been obtained before. On
my arrival at the Isle of France, it was my intention
to proceed from thence to Bengal for the purpose
of procuring a return cargo, and, with this view,
as fast as my goods were sold, the proceeds were
converted, from the paper currency of the place,
into Spanish dollars. On the arrival of the afore-
said frigate, an embargo was laid on all foreign
vessels in port and was continued for more than
six months, in the course of which time the Span-
ish dollars which I had purchased had become
worth more than three times as much of the
currency of the colony as they had cost me, whilst
the price of the products of the island, in the same
currency, had advanced comparatively but little.
Finding myself enabled, by that circumstance, to
purchase considerably more than double the quan-
tity of those products than I could have done at
an earlier period, I relinquished the plan of pro-
ceeding to Calcutta, and concluded to sell my
Spanish dollars and invest the proceeds of them in
coffee and spices and return from the Isle of France
direct to the United States."

The account of the remainder of the voyage we
will quote from the narrative of Richard Cleve-
land.

106 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

"In the mean time," writes Mr. Cleveland, "all
the ships being sheathed with wood, the worms
were making such havoc, that a long detention
would be scarcely less worse than confiscation.
There is probably no place in the world surpassing
Port North-West, now so called, for the destruc-
tive power of the worm. On going into the hold
of a ship when empty, I was astonished at the noise
they made; not unlike a multitude of borers with
augers; but fortunately when they had pierced
the sheathing their further progress was arrested
by the hair which is placed between the sheathing
and the bottom of the ship.

"On the 6th of July, several American ships
being ready for sea, their masters went together
on board of the Admiral's ship, and had an inter-
view with him on the subject of obtaining leave
to sail; but this he refused them, on the ground
of its endangering somewhat the safety of some
merchant ships then on the point of sailing for
France. A second application was made on the
3 1st of July with like result; nor was it till the
arrival of the American ship Pigou, with French
passengers, direct from Bordeaux, on the 2Oth
of November, that the authorities were satisfied
that America would maintain a neutral position,

A Chapter of East India Voyages 107

and, as a consequence, were willing to raise the
embargo.

"Being thus relieved from a painful state of
anxiety, and from an embargo of nearly six months'
duration, we sailed from the Isle of France on the
25th of November, being only partly laden; and
proceeded to the Isle of Bourbon to take on board
a quantity of coifee already prepared for us.
Having anchored at St. Dennis, and taken on
board a part, we proceeded to St. Benoit, and took
in the remainder. The anchorage at this latter
place is so bad that it is rare that any other than
small coasting vessels attempt to land there. We
came to in fifty fathoms, the cable being nearly
up and down. The Benjamin was the first foreign
vessel that had ever anchored in that port; and
having fine weather and a very smooth sea, and
receiving every facility from the agent on shore,
we succeeded in the accomplishment of our object,
after remaining four days at this dangerous
anchorage. We then sailed on the yth of December
for the Cape of Good Hope, touching again at St.
Dennis for the settlement of accounts, which caused
a detention of a few hours only.

"Our passage from St. Dennis to the Cape of
Good Hope was attended with no circumstances

io8 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

worthy of note. It was performed in about thirty
days and we arrived there on the 4th of January,
1794. A few days afterward the ship Henry arrived
from the Isle of Bourbon, only partly laden; and
on the same day the brig Hope arrived from Salem.
Such a coincidence was not lost on the enterprising
mind of Captain Silsbee, who seizing the advantage
presented by it, determined on returning to the
Isle of France with a cargo of Cape produce, which
was greatly wanted there; and on freighting home,
in the above vessels, the cargo then on board.
Having made arrangements for carrying this plan
into execution, he caused to be shipped in these
vessels, to the owner in Salem, such portion of the
cargo from the Isle of France as would consider-
ably more than pay for the cost of our ship and of
her whole outward freight; and the proceeds of the
remainder, beyond what was put on board the
Henry and the Hope, were invested in wine and
other articles suited to the market of the Isle of
France.

"A few days before the completion of our busi-
ness at the Cape the British frigate Diomede an-
chored in the bay; which was rather an alarming
incident, as at that period the thirst for plunder
among the officers of the British navy, and their

CAP'T. NATHANIEL SILSBEE

Salem ship-master and merchant and United States Senator. From the portrait by Chester Harding

A Chapter of East India Voyages 109

consequent annoyance of neutrals, were very great.
It was soon afterwards rumored that they had
information of our intention of going to the Isle
of France, and meant to prevent it: although we
had not violated any known law or regulation of
the place, or compromised any of the rights of neu-
trals, nor was the island blockaded. Our exertions,
therefore, were unrelenting to be off with the least
possible delay. Accordingly, being ready for sea,
we went on board in the afternoon of the 4th
of February, in a strong southeaster, and with a
prospect of its increase. We had been on board
but a short time before we saw a boat put off from
the Diomede and row towards us. If it had been
their intention to board us, as we supposed to be
the case, they were unable to do so, from the vio-
lence of the wind, and they landed about a mile to
leeward. As, in going out of the bay, we should be
obliged to pass the Diomede, we waited till after
dark for this purpose. In the mean time the gale
had increased to such a degree, that, when we
attempted to heave ahead, we found it to be
entirely impossible, and as the only alternative,
we slipped our cables, hoisted the fore-topmast
staysail and were soon at sea, out of the reach of
molestation.

no Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

"Arriving safely at the Isle of France on the I3th
of March, our cargo was disposed of immediately
to great advantage. The ship was again loaded
with a cargo of the produce of the island, and we
sailed for home on the 8th of April; having been
only twenty-six days in selling and delivering one
cargo, purchasing and lading another, and getting
off. Here again we had to leave rather abruptly
and a day or two sooner than had been contem-
plated, in consequence of information which was
received on a Sunday morning that at a meeting,
the preceding evening, of the Jacobin club (which
then governed the place), it had been decreed that
an embargo should be laid on Monday morning on
all the foreign vessels then in port. Having pre-
viously, as has been seen, suffered here from a six
months' embargo, it was determined, if possible,
to escape another such detention, even at some
hazard.

"In pursuance of this determination, a number
of sailors were hired, and brought on board; one
of the pilots of the port, who was an influential
member of the Jacobin club, was, by means of an
exorbitant price for his services, and by a little
stratagem which was acquiesced in by him, pre-
vailed upon to be on board the ship and to conduct

A Chapter of East India Voyages 1 1 1

her out of port; the ship's papers were procured
from the government bureau by an officer of the
port, for which he was rewarded by a free passage
to Salem; and all other preparations being made,
— as soon as the port bells rang to call the popu-
lace to dinner, the three topsails with the jib and
spanker, were hastily bent, the cables slipped and
the ship put to sea before their return, — the long-
boat being given to the hired sailors, to convey
themselves and the pilot on shore. Not having a
sufficiency of provisions on board for a passage to
America, no other alternative was left us but to
stop at the Isle of Bourbon; accordingly with only
one anchor and one cable left, we anchored the
next day in the roads of St. Dennis. The account
of the transactions here I copy from Captain Sils-
bee's notes : —

"'On landing at St. Dennis, I called on the
Governor of the island (whose residence was imme-
diately contiguous to the wharf, and who was one
of the old Royalists), as was usual, though not
obligatory; and, immediately after leaving him,
devoted myself exclusively to the procurement of
such provisions as I could find, and the addition
of a few bags of coffee to the cargo; which business
was not accomplished until towards night, — when

ii2 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

just as I was stepping from the wharf into my boat,
with a determination to be at sea before morning,
the Governor ordered me to his presence; which
order I obeyed from necessity, and with strong
apprehension that some restraint was to be placed
upon me. On meeting the Governor, he asked, —
"How long do you contemplate staying at Bour-
bon?" My answer was, "No longer than is neces-
sary to complete my business." He added, "Can't
you leave here to-night?" I replied, "I can do so
if you wish it." He then said to me, "As you had
the politeness to call on me this morning, and as I
should be sorry to see you injured, hearken to my
advice and leave here to-night, if practicable." I
thanked the Governor for his advice and was on
my way towards my boat, when he called me back
and said, "Let no one know what I have said to
you." I was in my boat and on board the ship as
soon as possible after leaving the Governor. There
was a brig-of-war at anchor in the roads, a little to
windward of our ship. Towards midnight I caused
the anchor to be hove up without noise, and let the
ship drift to leeward (the wind and current being
favorable) without making sail, until from the
darkness of the night we had lost sight of the brig;
when we made all sail directly from the land. At

A Chapter of East India Voyages 113

daylight in the morning the brig was out and in
pursuit of us; but in the course of the day gave up
the chase.

"'I never knew the cause of the Governor's
advice, but attributed it to an apprehension on his
part, that my stopping at Bourbon might be sup-
posed by the populace to be for the purpose of
taking off the French admiral, St. Felix (another
of the old royalists), who had rendered himself
obnoxious to them, and who was known to be then
secreted somewhere on the island; and that this
suspicion might compel him, the Governor, to
cause the detention and perhaps the seizure of my
ship, if I remained there until the next day.'

"Whatever might have been the Governor's
motive, we could perceive in his advice only a disin-
terested and friendly act to us; by means of which
mischief was probably averted. Pursuing our
course to the westward, we struck soundings in
fifty-five fathoms on L'Agulhas Bank, the 4th of
May; passed the Cape of Good Hope the next day,
and on the 3Oth came to anchor at the Island of
Ascension. The time we passed here in fishing,
catching turtle, shooting wild goats and rambling
about the island, formed a pleasing and healthy
interlude to the monotony of our voyage. Having

ii4 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

obtained a good supply of all such refreshments as
the island afforded, we left it on the first of June,
and after a very pleasant passage, anchored in
Salem harbor on the tenth of July; having been
absent nineteen months; and having the satisfac-
tion of returning all our men, in health, to their
families and friends.

"This voyage, thus happily accomplished, will
be viewed, when taken in all its bearings, as a very
remarkable one, — first from the extreme youth
of him on whom the whole duty and responsibility
of conducting the enterprise rested; aided by a
chief mate younger than himself and by a second
mate but a few years older. Captain Silsbee was
not twenty years old when entrusted with this
enterprise; the chief mate, Charles Derby, had not
entered on his twentieth year; and the second mate,
who was discharged at the Isle of France, and whose
place I afterwards filled, was about twenty-four
years old. Secondly, — from the foresight, ingenu-
ity, and adroitness manifested in averting dangers,
in perceiving advantages, and in seizing them op-
portunely and turning them to the best account;
and thirdly, from the great success attending this
judicious management, as demonstrated by the
fact of his returning to the owner four or five times

A Chapter of East India Voyages 115

the amount of the original capital. Mr. Derby
used to call us his boys and boast of our achieve-
ments; and well might he do so; for it is not prob-
able that the annals of the world can furnish an-
other example of an enterprise of such magnitude,
requiring the exercise of so much judgement and
skill, being conducted by so young a man, aided
by only those who were yet much younger, and
accomplished with the most entire success."

Another interesting voyage of a Derby vessel
was that of the ship Astrea II to Manila in 1796-97.
She had as her supercargo Dr. Nathaniel Bow-
ditch, the great mathematician, who for a number
of years sailed in Mr. Derby's employ. The log
of this voyage was kept by Dr. Bowditch himself
and is at present preserved in the Boston Public
Library. It is not much larger than a standard
octavo volume, but every page contains enough
calculations to cover several pages of print. Each
day Dr. Bowditch ascertained the vessel's position
by a number of different observations which are all
worked out in great detail and in almost micro-
scopic figures, and the data which he obtained on
this voyage formed the basis for his noted works
on navigation which to the present time remain
standard authorities.

n6 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

The Astrea sailed from Salem in March, 1796,
about half loaded with provisions and miscella-
neous cargo. She proceeded first to Lisbon, where
she took on a quantity of wine and a large sum in
Spanish dollars. Thence she went to Funchal,
Madeira, where she completed her cargo by loading
wines. On May 17 she sailed from Madeira, and
on September 7 passed Java Head and entered
the Straits of Sunda. The voyage through- the
Java Sea, the Straits of Banca, the South China
Sea, and the Palawan Passage to Manila required
the most careful navigation. As the way was filled
with countless coral reefs and the chart was very
inaccurate, progress was difficult. The lead was
kept going steadily and Dr. Bowditch made con-
stant observations on every point of land to correct
the errors in his chart. It was necessary to anchor
at night for fear of running upon a reef, and calms
and head currents caused much delay. Malay
pirate proas often came near the ship, but a dis-
charge of cannon usually kept them off. On Octo-
ber 3 the Astrea arrived at Cavite and the next day
anchored off Manila.

Dr. Bowditch and Captain Prince then took up
their residence ashore in Manila at the house of a
Mr. Kerr, an American and a native of Philadel-

A Chapter of East India Voyages 117

phia, who had been living in the Philippines for
some time. Kerr acted as broker for American
vessels that came to Manila, as it was almost im-
possible for foreign captains to do business without
such a middleman. An arrangement, therefore, was
made with him to take charge of the Astrea's
affairs, and for the use of his storehouse on the
river front. Dr. Bowditch was greatly disap-
pointed in the demand for his wine and brandy,
"there not being above 3000 Europeans in the
city and suburbs who make use of liquors." The
market was already overstocked and his fine
Madeira wine brought no better price than the
very poorest wine on the market. He was obliged
to sell some of it at a very low figure and barter
off the rest at a great sacrifice. The remainder of
his cargo was disposed of at fairly good prices,
including some compasses which cost only two
dollars in Salem and which he sold for eight. The
large consignment of Spanish dollars, however,
which had been taken on at Lisbon was easily con-
verted into goods. Dr. Bowditch writes, "In gen-
eral vessels ought never to bring anything to
Manilla but Dollars." He was very fortunate
in his purchases. The largest part of his cargo he
laid out in sugar, which he bought in small lots

n8 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

from various merchants. He also secured a con-
siderable amount of indigo and a consignment
of hides. Molasses of a very fine quality was pro-
curable at so low a cost that he obtained a few
hogsheads. "It is worth so little," he wrote, "that
a woman offered eight hogsheads of it as a present
if we would only take it away."

While he was purchasing his cargo, a Malay
trading proa arrived at Manila from Borneo with a
very valuable consignment of pepper. Dr. Bow-
ditch made a visit on board the vessel and thus
described her: "The Proa mounted 16 guns, 2 & 4
pounders. Great numbers of people belong to her
all of them having each his adventure. They are
nearly of the same color as the natives here & not
much different in their dress, wearing a turban &
trousers. The captain of the Proa was fond of
showing the scars he had received in War. On
being asked whether he ever made prizes of Euro-
pean vessels he replied that the only prizes he ever
made was from the earth by cultivating pepper
& bringing it to Manilla to sell, but it is said that
the moment the Proa is out of port she would
attack a vessel if she met with a good opportunity."
With view to a good bargain, Dr. Bowditch offered
to purchase a large part of the proa's cargo of

NATHANIEL BOWDITCH

Mathematician and navigator

A Chapter of East India Voyages 1 19

pepper, and the Malay captain agreeing, Bowditch
procured seven hundred peculs of this valuable
commodity at a price which netted a very high
return in Salem.

In his journal Dr. Bowditch gives a very inter-
esting account of Manila. He describes in de-
tail the city, its fortifications, and the harbor,
and touches on the mode of government, the great
power of the church, and the methods of trade.
His stay at Manila lasted about two months, and
on December 10, 1796, after loading her cargo of
sugar, indigo, pepper, and hides, the Astrea weighed
anchor and sailed for home. She arrived in Salem
in May, 1797, and sold her cargo at a great profit.

At present, when one can rush across the Atlantic
in four and a half days, it is interesting to look
through some of the old log-books in which the
incidents of these long East India voyages are
quaintly recorded by the captains. For weeks at a
time when the vessel bowled along before the fair
trade wind and the sails needed no tending, the
monotony and the absence from friends must have
been hardship. At other times when caught in
heavy gales, the courage and clever seamanship of
the captain was necessary to bring the ship through
safely. An old log-book kept by Captain Hodges,

1 20 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

of Mr. Derby's ship Grand Turk II on a trip to
India and back, is still preserved, and a few
extracts give us an idea of one of these voyages : —

"Sunday nth March 1792. At 3 P.M. weighed
Anchor and came to sail. The wind West &
a strong Gale which occasioned the Gentlemen
that accompany'*1 me onbod to leave the Ship
immediately. Great numbers of our Friends
assembled at the old Fort, & expressed their
good Wishes in the old English custom of three
Huzzas which was cheerfully returned by all on
board.

"May 3 ist. Passed Tristan d'Acogna.

"June 22. Passed Cape of Good Hope.

"June 3Oth. A ship passed us that hath been in
sight 6 days — an imperious Englishman and
would not speak us.

" May 4th. Our rigging keeps us constantly em-
ployed being made of bad Hemp. It streaches
down to nothing it is impossible to keep it
taught.

"July 5th. In letting reef out M. T. Sail split in
three places, bent a new one at 4 A.M. & in four
hours the canvas was so much Broake at the
foot of the sail was obliged to replace it with

A Chapter of East India Voyages 121

a spair Fore topsail. Our Salem Sail cloth has
proved very rotten in all our Sails.
"Wed. July i8th. These 24 hours blowing rainy
weather, for three days we have not seen Sun
or Stars. The clouds Low & very Gloomy.

" The darkened sky how thick it lowers
Troubled with stormes & big with showers
No cheerful gleam of light appears
But nature pours forth all her tears

" Long passage dark Gloomy weather, very
unpropitious the Blue Devils hover round.
Neptune seems determined to be unfavorable.
" Saturday August i8th, in the afternoon the Grand
Turk anchored off the mouth of the Hoogly
River and took on a pilot. The wind began to
blow a strong gale from the northeast and the
next day greatly increased. At 9 A.M. started
our anchor and dropt the Best Bower.
Brought up in 5 fathoms Water which made
our Situation very unfavorable & brought us
in the Horse of our Pilot Schooner which
obliged him to cut his cable, our ship rides
hard & pitches Bowsprit under. Oblige to
expend the Pump Leather that is in Cargo for
the Service of our Cables. The wind wears
easterly the Gale continues extreme hard & a

122 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

most terrible sea which breaks over the ship.
Towards sun setting the wind moderated &
veered southerly & soon increased & blowed
harder than it had from the N. E. — which
made our situation very dangerous. All hands
kept constantly employed attending our ca-
bles. In the morning found our Nable Woods
of the Horse Holes split. The wind moderated
some & the tide favourable began at daylight to
heave in our cables which were badly situated
from the shift of wind & tide which took an
elbow in them. We soon found it necessary
to cut one for the preservation of the other &
the ship then pitching Forecastle under ren-
dered it impossible to pass a Hawser round the
other cable by which had it been practicable
we might have saved the anchor. The wind
S W and appearance of blowing hard. At 3 P.M.
we got our anchor after much difficulty, the
cable much strained, the more as it is much
under size. The ship then came to anchor in
the river mouth, and the next morning started
up for Calcutta which was reached August
24th.

"December 3Oth the Grand Turk left Calcutta
and dropped down river to Culpee where she

A Chapter of East India Voyages 123

was detained three days by calms. Our
boats went on shore & procured considerable
wood & saw many Dear, Wild Hens & Cocks
the same as our domestick Fowles & many
Tyger Tracks. The Tyger here is very danger-
ous & it is necessary to be cautious & not
adventure in the Woods. Our people killed
one Dear which is a proof they are not very
shy.

"Jan. yth. Cleared the Hoogly for Madras.

"Jan. xyth. Arrived at Madras.

"Feb. 2nd. Left Madras for Salem.

"March Qth. Everything favourable yet feal two
great wants, namely Society & Exercise.

"March I3th. Fine wind & weather. The ship we
saw yesterday came up & spoke us. She
proved to be the Cornetta from Bengali &
spoke the Ponsborn E. I. Co. ship three days
ago. The Ponsborne left Madras 8 days after
us & must now be ahead of us as she outsailed
the Cornetta which outsails us a knot in 6.
This is most certainly discourageing.

"April 2nd. Passed Cape of Good Hope.

"April I9th. Passed St. Helena.

"April 24th. Passed Ascension.

"June 12, 1793, the Grand Turk arrived safely

124 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

home in Salem, after a voyage of one year
and three months."

One might relate the history of many more
interesting voyages of Derby ships, but from the
three which have been described we have obtained
a good idea at first-hand of the manner in which the
trade of the East Indies was carried on in those
days.

CHAPTER V

VOYAGES DURING THE EARLY NAPOLEONIC
WARS

IN a previous chapter it was shown how in
colonial days the New England merchants carried
on their commerce, and how their trade was
affected by the regulations of France and England,
by the French and English wars, and by the Ameri-
can Revolution. Under the provisions of the Eng-
lish Navigation Acts, colonial vessels had shared
with English ships a monopoly of the commerce of
the British West Indies, but when the United States
became an independent nation, her vessels, like
those of any other foreign country, were excluded
from this trade. On the other hand, in 1778 France
had thrown open the commerce of her West India
islands to American ships, although colonial vessels
had traded there for a century or more contrary to
the laws of France. Thus the legal status of Amer-
ican shipping in the West Indies was completely
reversed from the situation in colonial days.

From 1783 to 1793 there was a short period of
peace in western Europe, but in 1793 England and

126 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

France once more took up arms in the great strug-
gle which soon involved all the nations of Europe
and that did not terminate till Waterloo. With
these two nations at war, American vessels soon
became among the most important neutral car-
riers on the Atlantic, and as such transported a
large amount of the commerce of both France and
England. In May, 1793, the French Convention
issued a decree authorizing French men-of-war to
capture vessels of any nation bound to an English
port, but, in deference to the treaties and amicable
relations between France and the United States,
American vessels were excepted. In June, England
retaliated by authorizing English men-of-war to
seize all vessels loaded with provisions and bound
for France, and in November ordered further that
any vessel loaded with the produce of a French
colony should be captured. The effect that these
decrees of England had on American shipping can
be observed by some extracts from Mr. Derby's
correspondence.

On February 22, 1794, he wrote to Captain
Moseley of his ship Grand Turk, about to sail from
Virginia to Hamburg: "Capt. Thos. Webb arrived
here last Evening from St. Eustatia in 25 days, he
brings advice that the Frigates & British Cruisers

Voyages during Napoleonic W^ars 127

in the West Indies is taking every American vessel
that is going to or coming from the French West
India Islands. — this is done in consequence of a
Proclimation from England of the sixth of No-
vember. There was 20 Sail in at St. Kitts, 15 at
Mont Serat — the most of these if not all will be
condemned. — of course it will bring on a War.
I therefore order you to come with the Ship to
Salem as soon as you can — even if the Ship is not
quite loaded. I do not think there is immediate
danger on this coast, but it is best to keep from
any Vessels you see on the passage home."

In the following month he wrote to his insurance
agent in New York as follows : —

•"SALEM 22nd March 1794

"Mr. Edward Goold,
"SiR,—

"I do not yet get the arrival of either of my
Ships from India — I much fear those pirats the
British have them in possession — You say in your
last there is but very little danger of a War —
when great Britain will give instruction to their
ships to take our Vessels — & not publish those
instructions till two Months after they are given
out & some time after they have been put in Exe-
cution — I do not see that we have anything to

128 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

expect but War from such a piraticall Nation —
I have two valuable Vessels I believe among the
number Captured — Should my Ship arrive I
think the risk even from here to N York would be
too great to Venture — I have offer'd 6 C on
Capt. Mosely from Virginia to Salem & cannot get
any Insurance on him at that premium —
"FromYrhumbleServt-

"ELIAS HASKET DERBY."

About the same time Mr. Derby wrote Hon.
Benjamin Goodhue, the Congressman of the Dis-
trict, in regard to the capture of American vessels
by the English. "I trust my Government," he
says, "will never submit to such treatment, while
we have it in our power to make them due us Jus-
tice. We have spirit & ability to stand in our own
defence. I am sure there is a disposition to do every
thing Congress may think for the best & I hope
you will not suffer us to be further insulted by
those Pirats."

In Parliament it was stated that nearly six hun-
dred American vessels were detained, and many
of them seized between November 6, 1793, and
March 28, I794.1 Mr. Derby did not escape un-

1 McPherson's Annals of Commerce^ vol. iv, p. 285.

Voyages during Napoleonic W^ars 129

harmed, for no less than three of his vessels were
captured. His old brigantine Rose, in which so
many of his captains made their first voyages, was
seized in the West Indies, as was his schooner
Hope; and his famous ship Light Horse, which had
made the first voyage to Russia and one of the first
to the East, was captured on a voyage to France.
The mission of Jay to England in the summer of
1794 was the means of somewhat improving condi-
tions between the United States and England, for
in the treaty drawn up in November of that year
England allowed the United States $10,000,000
for her capture of neutral American vessels. Mr.
Derby appears to have benefited by this, for he
eventually received damages for the loss of the
Light Horse, and probably for the loss of the Rose
and the Hope as well. Another provision of Jay's
Treaty was the opening of the trade between the
United States and the British West Indies to ves-
sels of under seventy tons. Although it had been
hoped in America that Jay would obtain free
trade to these islands for all American vessels, the
opening of this commerce, which had been closed
since 1783, was a boon to American merchants,
even if it was restricted to such small craft. The
result of the treaty was somewhat to lessen the

130 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

ravages of British men-of-war and privateers on
American commerce. England, nevertheless, re-
tained her order authorizing the capture of vessels
trading to France, although her payment of $10,-
000,000 to the United States was virtually an
acknowledgment that this policy was in violation
of neutrality.

During all this time American vessels had been
carrying on a brisk trade with England, and this
was looked upon by the French as a breach of their
treaty of 1778 with the United States. Moreover,
the "Genet affair" had somewhat strained rela-
tions between the two countries, and in the mean
time England had been freely seizing American
vessels bound to France. In July, 1795, therefore,
France decreed that American ships if found trad-
ing to England would be captured like those of any
other nation. In March, 1797, she went further
and decreed that any American vessel, wherever
bound, might be seized unless she carried a "Role
d'Equipage" made out in a form prescribed by the
French Government. To require that neutral ves-
sels carry a French document to save them from
capture was certainly a bold demand for France to
make, but she nevertheless proceeded to carry it
out.

Voyages during Napoleonic W^ars 131

In August, 1797, while on voyage from the Isle of
France to Salem, Mr. Derby's ketch John was cap-
tured by the French sloop-of-war Jean Barb, as
she had no "Role d'Equipage." A prize crew was
put on board and the John started for the French
West India island of Guadeloupe. While on her
way there she fell in with the British frigate
L'Aimable, which captured her on the ground that
she was French property and thus a lawful prize.
The John was carried into the English West India
island of Tortola and condemned by the British
vice-admiralty court at that place. On October 3 1,
Mr. Derby wrote from Salem, "I have a report
that the Ketch is taken by a French privateer and
ordered for Porto Rico — it is said for not having
the role d'equipage. Ever since I have known such
a paper to be requisite I have not let a ship of mine
go without it. At the time the Ketch sailed from
Salem I never heard of such paper, and when the
Captain Derby sailed from Bordeaux there was no
such paper required, and when the Ketch left the
Isle of France such paper was not heard of there."
Mr. Derby immediately sent an agent to Tortola,
but he was unable to obtain the release of the ves-
sel until he had paid the captors a sum of money
equal to over one fourth the value of the vessel and

132 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

her cargo. In 1800, however, as a part of a treaty
with France, the United States assumed the finan-
cial responsibility for the, so-called, "French Spoli-
ation Claims." These were the claims of American
merchants for damages for the depredations of
France on American property during the Napole-
onic wars. Taking advantage of this circumstance,
Mr. Derby's descendants made four different
efforts to obtain from the United States Govern-
ment compensation for the expenses incurred by
the seizure of the John, and finally, in November,
1904, one hundred and seven years after the cap-
ture, the Court of Claims allowed the heirs of Elias
Hasket Derby $12,962. 92. 1

By 1798 affairs between France and the United
States had reached such a stage that war seemed
almost inevitable, and the United States Govern-
ment had authorized the construction of several
frigates. Much difficulty was experienced in ob-
taining the money to pay for these ships, as the
Government was unable to borrow except at a very
high rate of interest. In June, 1798, therefore,
Congress passed an act authorizing the President

1 Up to the present time this sum of money has not been
received by the heirs, because Congress has never passed the
bill authorizing the payment of this just claim of one hundred
and fifteen years* standing.

9 ••'

SHIP JOHN, BENJAMIN BULLOCK, MASTER

From the painting by Corne in the Essex Institute, Salem. The John was originally rigged as a ketch

Voyages during Napoleonic W^ars 133

to accept such vessels as citizens might build for
the national service, and to give in return six per
cent notes. During the summer the patriotic peo-
ple of Salem decided to build a frigate for the navy,
and in October subscriptions were opened. Mr.
Derby and his fellow townsman and merchant,
William Gray, headed the list with $10,000 each.
Within a very short time $75,000 had been col-
lected, which amply covered the cost of the vessel.
Enos Briggs, who had built most of Mr. Derby's
fleet, was given the contract for the construction
of the frigate, and on September 30, 1799, the fine
new ship was launched. She was named the
Essex, and Mr. Derby's nephew, Richard Derby,
was selected as her captain, but, as he was then
absent on a foreign voyage, the command was given
to the famous Captain Preble. The Essex proved
to be one of the best as well as one of the cheapest
vessels in the navy. In her eventful career she won
many creditable victories and captured nearly
$2,000,000 worth of property from the enemy.

The difficulties with France having grown by
this time into an informal war, Mr. Derby was
seized with some of his old Revolutionary spirit,
and in 1798 had built in Salem a fine ship of three
hundred and fifty-five tons which he named the

134 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

Mount Vernon. She was a veritable little frigate,
being equipped with twenty guns and carrying
a crew of fifty men. Her first voyage was to Havana
and back in the winter of 1799, an<^ on July 14 of
that year she sailed for the Mediterranean under
the command of Mr. Derby's son, Elias Hasket, Jr.
Europe was at that time disrupted by the Napole-
onic wars, and a favorable opportunity was offered
for a profitable voyage to the Mediterranean, as
the devastations of the war and the requirements
of the great armies in the field had created a heavy
demand for commodities of every sort. The Mount
Vernon carried a cargo of sugar and other provi-
sions valued at $43,275, and under the able man-
agement of young Mr. Derby made a remarkably
profitable voyage. As her log- and letter-book are
still preserved, we have thus an excellent record
of a most interesting voyage. The Mount Vernon's
first port of call was Gibraltar. On arrival there,
Captain Derby wrote to his father the following
letter giving an account of the Mount Vernon's
narrow escape from capture by a French fleet: —

"GIBRALTAR, 1st August, 1799.

"E. H. Derby, Esq., Salem:

"HONORED SIR: — I think you must be sur-
prised to find me here so early. I arrived at this

Voyages during Napoleonic W^ars 135

port in seventeen and one-half days from the time
my brother left the ship. In eight days and seven
hours we were up with Carvo, and made Cape St.
Vincent in sixteen days. The first of our passage
was quite agreeable; the latter, light winds, calm,
and Frenchmen constantly in sight, for the last
four days. The first Frenchman we saw was oil
Tercira — a lugger to the southward. Being un-
certain of his force, we stood by him to leeward on
our course, and soon left him. July 28th, in the
afternoon, we found ourselves approaching a fleet
of upwards of fifty sail, steering nearly N. E. We
run directly for their center; at 4 o'clock found
ourselves in their halfmoon; concluding it impos-
sible that it could be any other than the English
fleet, continued our course for their center, to
avoid any apprehension of a want of confidence in
them. They soon dispatched an i8-gun ship from
their center, and two frigates, one from their van
and another from the rear, to beat toward us, we
being to windward. On approaching, under easy
sail, the center ship, I fortunately bethought my-
self that it would be but common prudence to steer
so far to windward of him, as to be a grapeshots
distance from him, to observe his force and man-
euvering. When we were abreast of him, he fired

136 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

a gun to leeward, and hoisted English colors. We
immediately bore away, and meant to pass under
his quarter, between him and the fleet, showing
our American colors. This movement disconcerted
him, and it appeared to me he conceived we were
either an American sloop-of-war or an English one
in disguise, attempting to cut him off from the
fleet; for while we were in the act of wearing on his
beam, he hoisted French colors, and gave us his
broadside. We immediately brought our ship to
the wind, and stood on about a mile — wore
toward the center of the fleet — hove about, and
crossed him on the other tack about half grape-
shot distance, and received his broadside. Several
of his shot fell on board of us, and cut our sails —
two round-shot striking us, without much damage.
All hands were active in clearing ship for action,
for our surprise had been complete. In about ten
minutes we commenced firing our stern-chasers,
and in a quarter of an hour gave him our broadside,
in such a style as evidently sickened him; for he
immediately luffed in the wind, gave us his broad-
side, went in stays in great confusion, wore ship
afterward in a large circle, and renewed the chase
at a mile and a half distant — a maneuver calcu-
lated to keep up appearances with the fleet, and to

SHIP MOUNT VERNON

From the painting by Come owned by Charles S. Rea, Esq., of Salem, showing the encounter with the
French fleet on July 29, 1799

Voyages during Napoleonic W^ars 137

escape our shot. We received seven or eight broad-
sides from him, and I was mortified at not having
it in my power to return him an equal number,
without exposing myself to the rest of the fleet;
for I am persuaded I should have had the pleasure
of sending him home, had he been separate from
them.1

"At midnight we had distanced them, the chas-
ing rocket signals being almost out of sight, and
soon left them. We then kept ourselves in constant
preparation till my arrival here; and, indeed, it has
been requisite, for we have been in constant
brushes ever since. The day after we left the fleet,
we were chased till night by two frigates, whom we
lost sight of when it was dark. The next morning,
off Cape St. Vincent, in the latitude of Cadiz, were
chased by a French lateen-rigged vessel, apparently
of 10 or 12 guns — one of them an i8-pounden
We brought to for him; his metal was too heavy
for ours, and his position to windward, where he
lay just in a situation to cast his shot over us, and
it was not in my power to cut him off: we, of
course, bore away, and saluted him with our long

1 Without doubt this was the French fleet under Admiral Bruix
returning from its fruitless dash into the Mediterranean while
Napoleon was in Egypt. The fleet arrived at Brest on August
13 and must have been in this neighborhood about this time.

138 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

nines. He continued in chase till dark, and when
we were nearly by Cadiz, at sunset, he made a sig-
nal to his consort, a large lugger whom we had
just discovered ahead. Having a strong breeze,
I was determined to pass my stern over him, if he
did not make way for me. He thought prudent so
to do. At midnight we made the lights in Cadiz
city, but found no English fleet. After laying to
till daylight, concluded that the French must have
gained the ascendency in Cadiz, and thought pru-
dent to proceed to this place, where we arrived at
12 o'clock, popping at Frenchmen all the forenoon.
At 10 A.M., oif Algesiras Point, were seriously
attacked by a large latineer, who had on board
more than 100 men. He came so near our broad-
side as to allow our six-pound grape to do execu-
tion handsomely. We then bore away, and gave
him our stern guns in a cool and deliberate manner,
doing apparently great execution. Our bars having
cut his sails considerably, he was thrown into con-
fusion, struck both his ensign and his pennant. I
was then puzzled to know what to do with so many
men: our ship was running large, with all her
steering-sails out, so that we could not immedi-
ately bring her to the wind, and we were directly
off Algesiras Point, from whence I had reason to

Voyages during Napoleonic Wars 139

fear she might receive assistance, and my port
(Gibraltar) in full view. These were circumstances
that induced me to give up the gratification of
bringing him in. It was, however, a satisfaction to
flog the rascal in full view of the English fleet, who
were to leeward. The risk of sending here is great,
indeed, for any ship short of our force in men and
guns — but particularly heavy guns. Two nines
are better than six or eight sixes; and two long
twelves, or thirteen pounders, do better than
twenty sixes, and could be managed with few men.

" It is absolutely necessary that two government
ships should occasionally range the straits and lati-
tude of Cadiz, from the longitude of Cape St. Vin-
cent. I have now, while writing to you, two of our
countrymen in full view, who are prizes to these
villains. Lord St. Vincent, in a 5O-gun ship bound
for England, is just at this moment in the act of
retaking one of them. The other goes into Algesiras
without molestation.

"I find that nothing is to be done here to ad-
vantage, except to obtain information from above.
I have been offered $30 to deliver my sugar at
Naples, where I think I shall go; but I rather ex-
pect to sell at Venice, Constantinople, or Genoa,
in case the French are driven from there. I have

140 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

concluded to touch at Malaga, with Capt. Young,
of Boston, and obtain what information I can;
and think I may direct Mr. White how to lay out
the property in his hands, against my return, as I
think it for your interest to have it out of Spain.
You need have but little apprehension for my
safety, as my crew are remarkably well trained,
and are perfectly well disposed to defend them-
selves ; and I think, after having cleared ourselves
from the French in such a handsome manner, you
may well conclude that we can effect almost any
thing. If I should go to Constantinople, it will be
from a passport from Admiral Nelson, for whom I
carry a letter to Naples.

"Your affectionate son,

"ELIAS HASKET DERBY."

Captain Derby was about to sail for Naples to
dispose of his cargo there, when he met in Gibraltar
a certain Mr. John Williams, of Baltimore, who
had just sold a cargo of brandy and was anxious
to invest the proceeds in a new venture. Williams
persuaded Derby to join him in chartering and
loading for Naples the American brig Three
Friends, which was then in port. The brig was
loaded with sugar, coffee, cocoa, and tobacco, and

Voyages during Napoleonic Wars 141

Derby paid for his share by means of notes on
London. On August 10, the two vessels sailed for
Naples in company with the ships Governor Sum-
ner, of Boston, and Elizabeth, of Baltimore. The
four kept together for mutual protection, the
Mount Vernon being the flagship, but no hostile
craft troubled them, and on August 23 the little
squadron arrived at Palermo. Finding the markets
here to be poor, they once more got under way, and
on September 2 anchored off Naples. On the pass-
age from Gibraltar the chartered brig Three
Friends proved to be such a slow sailer that most
of the way she was towed by the Mount Vernon,
but the log tells us that even with "the brig in tow
the Mt. Vernon sails \ faster than the other
ships."

The markets for all commodities at Naples
proved to be very high, and the sale of the cargo
of the Mount Vernon and Derby's share in that of
the Three Sisters amounted to no less than $120,-
ooo. Under date of October 29, 1799, Derby wrote
from Naples to his father as follows: —

"NAPLES, 29th October, 1799.

"HONORED SIR: — That this may find you in
better health than when I left you, is my sincere

142 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

wish. It has been an unhappy circumstance in my
voyage, that I cannot bring it to a close, agreeable
with your wishes, this fall, without too great sacri-
fices. My manufactured silks cannot be ready, and
the red wine of Port lolo is not yet in season to ship.
My sales have been handsome, though not so great
as I could have wished. I have been obliged to use
a great deal of address, and exercise all my patience
to effect them.

"They are now complete, all to 200 quintals of
roll tobacco, brought by Capt. Allen from Gibral-
tar, who is discharged, and is now on his passage
from Palermo to Charleston. They will amount,
with the tobacco, to $120,000. I have bought 16
brass guns, at one shilling sterling per pound,
expecting them to be as good a return as almost
any thing. Also 65 boxes of manna, containing
about 8,332 pounds, together with $50,000 con-
tracted for principally in ormazine silks, satins,
and about 700 casks of wine, in 58 gallons (French-
fashioned casks), at about $12, which I expect will
compose the Mount Vernon's cargo for America.
In the mean time, whilst the silks are in the loom,
I have thought it for your interest to purchase two
polacca-rigged ships, of 290 and 310 tons — both
of them very fine ships, almost new, and great

Voyages during Napoleonic W^ars 143

sailers. They are now ready to proceed with the
Mount Vernon for Manfredonia, to take, on your
account, cargoes of wheat to Leghorn, which, from
the rising state of the market, I thinkwill more than
clear the ships. They cost, with all expenses, about
$16,000. By means of the brass guns, and others
bought with them, they mount 12 and 14 sixes.
Wages, $9 per month. I think, if I have the good
fortune to bring them home, you will allow either
of them to equal the Mount Vernon. My present
intention is, to make all the dispatch in my power,
to return with the three vessels to this port, and
load them with wine for Salem — which will be
in some preparation for them. I hope the arrange-
ment will meet your approbation, for I assure you
I did not know how I should otherwise invest my
funds.

"Exchange on London, besides the uncertainty
of it, is very disadvantageous. To invest $100,000
in silks, would not certainly do; and to leave pro-
perty in a distracted country like this, where they
guillotine six a day, three or four times in a week,
would be madness. Mr. Bruce takes the Lucy, and
Mr. Dana the Nancy, named for my sister Pick-
man. They are both well off for officers; and I
trust, with Mr. Collins and others, I shall do per-

144 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

fectly well. If we are fortunate, I shall be here in
two months, or, at farthest, I hope, in ten weeks,
to take my manufactures and wines for home, as I
think, with good voyage. We are all in fine health
and spirits.

" I am, with many wishes for you and the family's
welfare, your affectionate son,

"ELIAS HASKET DERBY, JR.

"P.S. The English minister, Lord Nelson, and
Commodore Trowb ridge, have been very polite
to me."

While making these profitable transactions at
Naples, Captain Derby several times enjoyed the
hospitality of Lord Nelson and the beautiful Lady
Hamilton. The English fleet was then idly lying
in the bay, although at the very moment Napoleon
was safely making his way from Egypt to France.
One of Captain Derby's descendants thus describes
an amusing incident that took place at one of these
functions : "Mr. Derby was invited by Lord Nelson
to dine with him and the officers of the fleet at
Naples, and was called upon to relate his encounter
with the French fleet, for which he was much com-
mended. In the course of the evening, one of the
English officers, becoming a little excited, began

Voyages during Napoleonic fFars 145

to inveigh against the ingratitude of the United
States, in throwing off her allegiance to the mother
country. Mr. Derby disarmed his opponent and
restored the good-humor of the company by stating
that they did not understand the true causes of
the Revolution; that the. colonists, like themselves,
had a great fancy for punch and Madeira and were
disturbed by a set of custom-house harpies, who
were constantly seizing their wine and spoiling
their lemons by running their rapiers through the
boxes, and they fought, as any true Briton would,
for their punch and their Madeira." Nelson aided
Captain Derby to quite an extent in the success of
his business while at Naples and gave him a signed
passport which is still one of the cherished heir-
looms of the Derby family.

On November 8 the Mount Vernon sailed from
Naples for Manfredonia, accompanied by the two
newly bought polacca ships. All three vessels were
in ballast, and for most of the voyage around the
south of Italy and up the Adriatic they were forced
to beat against strong head winds. When off Cape
Otranto the little fleet was attacked by two Turkish
ships, which attempted to capture thepolaccas,but
afewbroadsides fromtheMount Vernon drove them
off. Manfredonia was reached on November 28,

146 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

and arrangements were made to load three full
cargoes of wheat. On December 27 the little fleet
sailed for Leghorn, and, after a tediously long pass-
age around the south of Italy and up the west
coast, arrived at their destination early in Febru-
ary and sold the wheat at great profit. The two
polacca ships by this voyage netted in two and a
half months a gain of $30,000 over and above the
cost of the vessels and their cargoes. After un-
loading their wheat, the fleet sailed for Naples on
March 8, and forty hours later passed in by Capri.
One of the polacca ships was now sold, and the
other loaded with miscellaneous goods for Gibral-
tar. In the mean time Mr. Derby's brig Cruger had
arrived from Salem and had sold her cargo at a
good price; and as the wines, silks, and satins for
which Captain Derby had contracted had now been
delivered, they were loaded on board the Mount
Vernon and the Cruger. When nearly ready to
sail, Captain Derby was approached by a young
Italian artist, Michael Felice Corne, who weary of
his service in the Italian army against Napoleon,
asked to be allowed to take passage for America
in the Mount Vernon. Derby consented, and thus
there came to this country a man who soon estab-
lished a reputation as the leading marine artist of

SHIP MOUNT VERNON, ELIAS HASKET DERBY, JR., MASTER

From the painting by Corne, owned by Charles S. Rea, Esq., of Salem

Voyages during Napoleonic ff^ars 147

the day. Corne made paintings of many Salem
ships, but the Mount Vernon was his favorite sub-
ject. He depicted the ship during her engagement
with the latineers off Gibraltar,1 with the French
fleet, and in many other situations.

Towards the end of April the Mount Vernon and
Cruger sailed from Naples, accompanied by the
remaining polacca, and after a two weeks' passage
arrived at Gibraltar. Here the polacca and her
cargo were sold, and on May 28 the Mount Vernon
and Cruger sailed for home. The former arrived
at Salem on July 7, 1800, and the latter on August
I . The result of the Mount Vernon's voyage was a
net profit of over $100,000 on an investment of

The owner of the Mount Vernon, however, was
destined never to enjoy the fruits of this prosperous
venture. On September 8, 1799, at the age of
sixty, Mr. Elias Hasket Derby had ended his
eventful career.

1 See Frontispiece.

CHAPTER VI

A GREAT MERCHANT

ELIAS HASKET DERBY was a man of rare ability,
and the large and successful business which he
created was due to his remarkable energy, wisdom,
and skill. At his death his house was one of the
largest mercantile establishments in the United
States, and his extensive trade to the East Indies
had done much to stimulate American commerce
with that part of the world. In these days, when
the telegraph and the cable so greatly facilitate the
transaction of business, it is difficult to imagine
how foreign commerce was carried on without these
modern necessities. A general survey, therefore,
of the manner in which Mr. Derby built up his
large trade and of the causes of his success may
not be out of place.

While employing his larger vessels in the trade
to the East or to Europe, Mr. Derby always had
a number of small schooners plying to New York,
Philadelphia, Virginia, South Carolina, or the West
Indies, gathering or distributing the cargoes of his
large ships. On the arrival of a ship from the East,

A Great Merchant 149

only a small part of her cargo would be disposed of
in Salem. Much of it would be sent to Boston,
New York, or Philadelphia to be sold, and often,
when certain imported goods came to a bad market
in America, Mr. Derby would send them to Europe
in one of his vessels in hope of obtaining a better
price abroad. Thus we find coffee from the Isle of
France, which arrived at Salem when the price was
low, being exported to the Baltic, and cotton from
India, which could not find a purchaser in America,
being sent to London.

In many of his voyages Mr. Derby employed a
simple system of barter. The outward cargo was
exchanged for the return cargo. Often, however, it
was impossible to obtain a return shipment at the
same port or from the same merchant who had
received the inward cargo. In such cases Mr.
Derby's captains and supercargoes paid their bal-
ances by letters of credit on London, where Mr.
Derby always had a considerable sum deposited for
the purpose. In many places in the East, however,
Spanish dollars were the only medium of exchange
for foreign merchants. Specie of all kinds was very
scarce in the United States in the decade following
the Revolution, and therefore, when Mr. Derby
despatched vessels to the East Indies, he often sent

150 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

them first to Lisbon, where they obtained a supply
of Spanish dollars in exchange for drafts on London.

Mr. Derby usually insured his vessels and car-
goes only in part, and by dividing his risks over his
extensive property he could afford occasionally to
lose a ship. As a matter of fact, he enjoyed great
immunity from loss at sea, for although during
the American Revolution and the early period of
the Napoleonic wars several of his vessels were
captured, we have but one record of his losing a
ship by marine perils. This good fortune may well
be considered as one of the causes of Mr. Derby's
success, but there were many other reasons for the
rapid growth of his business.

In the first place, the United States Government
had from the very beginning adopted a policy of
fostering and protecting American shipping. The
First Congress had provided in the original tariff
act that all goods imported in American vessels
should be admitted at a ten per cent ad valorem
reduction in the duty. The effect of this measure
was greatly to encourage the importation of goods
in American rather than in foreign bottoms, and
Mr. Derby and other American shipowners accord-
ingly benefited greatly. In fact, in the ten years
from 1789 to 1799 the proportion of our combined

A Great Merchant

imports and exports carried in American vessels
increased from twenty-three and one half per cent
to eighty-eight and one half per cent. Moreover,
in the period which we are now describing, Ameri-
can vessels could be built and operated at about one
half the cost of similar English ships.1 These advan-

1 COMPARISON OF COST OF OPERATION OF AN AMERICAN
WITH THAT OF AN ENGLISH VESSEL, EACH OF 250
TONS, IN 1805.

On a voyage between England and America and return
Cost of American vessel of 250 tons, £2000.
Cost of English vessel of 250 tons, £4000

A ship of 250 tons would carry 3000 bbls. of flour at 95. £1,350
The average freight from England back 600

£1,950

American Charges £ s. d.
Insurance out and home

on £2500 @ 4! % 95

8 men, 5 months @ £5 200

Captain and mate

@ £10 each 100
2400 Ibs. bread

@i6s. 19 4

Beef 10 bbls. @ 323. 16

Pork 10 bbls. @ 503. 25

150 gallons rum 1 6 17
Interest of £2000,

5 months 41 13 4

513 14 4

English Charges £ s. d.
Insurance out & home

on £4000 @ 6% 360
12 men, 5 months

©£5 300

Captain and mate

£10 each 100

360 Ibs. bread
for 14 people for
5 months @ 325. 57 1 2
15 bbls. of beef

©£4 60

15 bbls. pork @ 905. 67 IO
220 gallons rum @ 55. 55
Interest on £4000

5 months 83 6 8

1083 8 8

(Report of the Committee of Correspondence on Trade with
the East Indies and China, British Parliamentary Papers, 1815.)

1 52 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

tages naturally were of great aid to American mer-
chants in meeting foreign competition. Mr. Derby,
however, owed his success primarily to the thorough
and able manner in which he managed his business.
The vessels of Mr. Derby's fleet were all of good,
seaworthy model, and he always exercised great
care and forethought in their maintenance and
equipment. This is well shown by the following
extract from his papers : —

"Orders for B. Hodges mastr £sf Jos Moseley mate of
Ship Grand Turk 7 Mar. 1792.

"CAPT. HODGES, —

"In such a Voyage as you are now going upon
there are many things that you must ever bare in
mind — a few that respects the safety of the Ship
I will mention. Never suffer any spirit to be drawn
after night — nor at any time under Deck — but
at the Store Room — nor allow of any Powder to
be kept in any place except in the Magazine on
Deck — Make it a constant practice every Satur-
day to have the Chimney of the Galley swept down
least by this neglect it might set the Ship on Fire
— and I believe it will be safer for the Ship with-
out the Funnel — Keep a constant watch on Deck
while in Port & the more so on acct. of the danger

A Great Merchant 1 5 3

of fire in the Galley — You must make the Ship
leak so much as to give two good spells a Day at
least — Keep the Hatches open so as to keep the
ship cool & have a wind sail if there is occasion, as
heat in the hold will damage the Ship — Have the
hold & Decks examined every Day, as perhaps
after some Gale you may find some defect & may
prevent the damage of considerable of the Cargo —
Be very careful in the Dunnage of the Ship to take
in her cargo — there need be no ballast left in
provided there is very particular care taken in
making Stowage of the Sugar in Bags & Hogsh6*,
the ship will I suppose load without much on the
Gun Deck — let the Ginger, pepper & every light
article be on that Deck — When the ship is un-
loaded in Calcutta I wish you tor make 2 or 3
Hogshds of very strong pickle & let some of your
hands take a cloth & wash the Ship in the hold &
in the lower Deck in every part, the same as you
would scower of a Floor & if you have any Salt left
put it on the Knees."

Captain Richard Cleveland, who was long in
the Derby employ, writes of the great merchant
as follows, — "Without possessing a scientific
knowledge of the construction and sparring of

iS4 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

ships, Mr. Derby seemed to have an intuitive fac-
ulty in judging of models and proportions ; and his
experiments, in several instances, for the attain-
ment of swiftness of sailing were crowned with a
success unsurpassed in our own or any other coun-
try."1 Perhaps the best vessel ever owned by
Mr. Derby was theAstrea. She was a ship of three
hundred and sixty tons, built in Salem in 1783,
and was distinguished for her great speed. On her
maiden voyage she went from Salem to France in
eighteen days and returned in twenty-two, and
later on a voyage to the Baltic, it is said, she ran
from Salem to the Irish coast in eleven days. If
this is true it is one of the fastest trans-Atlantic
passages ever made under sail.2 TheAstrea was in
Mr. Derby's service for many years and was sold in
Calcutta in 1793. Many advancements in ship-
building were made by Mr. Derby. His ship Grand
Turk II of five hundred and sixty-four tons, built
in Salem in 1791, was said to have been the largest

1 Richard J. Cleveland's Narrative of Voyages and Commer-
cial Enterprises, 1842.

2 Capt. Clark in his book, The Clipper Ship Era, states that
in 1854 the American-built clipper ship Lightning ran from Bos-
ton Light to Eagle Island, on the Irish coast, in just ten days.
This is probably the fastest land-to-land trans- Atlantic voyage
under sail. Unfortunately the Astrea's eleven-day passage is
founded only on tradition.

A Great Merchant 155

merchant vessel constructed in America up to that
time. He also was the first shipowner in America
to copper-bottom his vessels, which was soon done
on all ships frequenting tropical waters.

Mr. Derby's success in trade was due, more than
anything else, to the officers and men he employed
on his ships. His captains and supercargoes were
nearly always young and energetic men, and be-
sides paying them well he made it a practice to
give them a large interest in the voyage. The crew
also were often entitled to "privilege and adven-
ture," that is, they were allowed a certain space
in the vessel's hold in which they might carry out
and bring back goods on their own account. On
the vessePsportledge bill, or pay-roll, it would then
be stated that a certain seaman was entitled to so
many tons or hundredweight of "adventure" or
"privilege" in addition to his wages. At the same
time other persons in all walks of life would often
send out "adventures" by entrusting the super-
cargo with a certain sum of money or a small con-
signment of goods to be exchanged in the distant
markets for valuable articles. Even the merchant's
minister turned over his hard-earned savings to
the supercargo and eagerly awaited the return of
the ship, while the young Hepsibahs and Mary

156 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

Janes of the old Puritan town shrewdly invested
their "pin-money" in adventures to be brought
home in the form of India shawls and trinkets.

The sailors who made up the crews of Mr.
Derby's vessels nearly all lived within a few miles
of Salem. As many of them had large families
dependent upon them, we find a considerable
number of agreements among the Derby papers
like the following: —

"Whereas Henry Neill is gone in the Ship Grand
Turk as Mariner, & has left a family in Marble-
head I agree to pay said Family eight dollars every
three months, the first payment to be on the first
day of June next, the second payment the first
day of September next, and so on until the Ship
shall arrive at Salem, excepting we hear of any
accident happening to said Ship then the quarterly
payment to cease.

"ELIAS HASKET DERBY."

"SALEM 2 March 1792."

Among the officers who sailed for Mr. Derby
were Dr. Nathaniel Bowditch, Captain Benjamin
Bullock, Mr. Samuel Blanchard, Captain Richard
Cleveland, Captains Benjamin and Jacob Crown-

A Great Merchant 157

inshield, Captains Richard, Jr., Elias Hasket, Jr.,
and Samuel Derby, Captain James Gibaut, Cap-
tain Benjamin Hodges, Captain Jonathan Inger-
soll, Captain James Magee, Captains Ichabod and
Jacob Nichols, Mr. Thomas Handasyd Perkins,
Captain Stephen Phillips, Captain Joseph Pratt,
Captain John Prince, Captain Joseph Ropes, Hon.
Nathaniel Silsbee, Captain Benjamin Webb, and
Captains Benjamin and Ebenezer West. Many of
these gentlemen, who began as boys in Mr. Derby's
employ, rose to be wealthy and influential mer-
chants. They usually left school when about fifteen
and then served several years in Mr. Derby's
counting-house. Here they received free instruc-
tion in the art of navigation from an old retired
mariner, Captain Jonathan Archer, whom Mr.
Derby employed for the purpose. Each was then
sent on several voyages as captain's clerk, and later
would be promoted to a position as supercargo
of some small vessel. For many years Mr. Derby
owned an old brig named the Rose which traded
regularly to the West Indies. On this ship he
always sent his young men making their first
voyage as supercargo. After they had made a trip
or two in the Rose, Mr. Derby would then put
the young men in charge of vessels bound to the

158 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

East Indies, giving them such a large interest in
the voyage that it was possible for them very soon
to amass a sufficient sum of money to set up for
themselves as merchants.

Among those who sailed as officers for Mr.
Derby and later became successful merchants were
Benjamin and Jacob Crowninshield. While in com-
mand of one of Mr. Derby's vessels, Jacob Crown-
inshield, with the proceeds of the sale of his cargo
at the Isle of France, bought a ship of about one
hundred and seventy-five tons named the Henry.
On the return of the new vessel to Salem, Mr. Derby
sold her to Benjamin and Jacob for $10,500, the
payment to be made after the Crowninshields had
made a round trip to India with the ship. Of this
generous transaction, Jacob writes as follows : —

"Ben no doubt informed you that we had bot
the Henry, the ship I came home in. Mr. Derby
gives Ben and myself a credit for her till she re-
turns, with our notes upon interest and the policy
of insurance lodged in his hands. The price was
10,500 dollars, the 500 dollars to be paid in two
months. Thus we have a good ship without paying
for her this 18 months and in that time I calculate
she will more than clear herself in India. Do not
you think it extraordinary that Mr. Derby should

A Great Merchant 159

trust us so long for 3000 pounds, however 't is good
money at interest. We only bought her yesterday
and five minutes after might have sold her for
3500 pounds, but Mr. Derby made it an express
condition to the contrary when we bot her." x

This generosity of Mr. Derby's was the means
of establishing the Crowninshields in business for
themselves, and their house soon became one of
the largest and most influential in Salem.

Another gentleman who grew up in Mr. Derby's
service was Hon. Nathaniel Silsbee, for many
years United States Senator from Massachusetts.
Mr. Silsbee's father had sailed as captain for the
Derbys, and at his death his young son entered
Mr. Derby's counting-house as clerk. So rapidly
did the boy learn the methods of trade that in
1788, when only fourteen years old, he went as
supercargo's clerk on the Three Sisters to Batavia
and Canton. On his return Mr. Derby sent him on
a couple of trips to Madeira, and then, although
but nineteen years of age, gave him command of
the ship Benjamin bound to the Isle of France.
The story of this remarkable voyage has already
been told in a previous chapter and clearly shows
to what a great extent Mr. Derby's success was
1 Letter in possession of W. C. Endicott, Esq., of Boston.

160 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

due to the very able men he placed in charge of his
ships.

The most noted person ever in Mr. Derby's
employ was Dr. Nathaniel Bowditch. Mr. Derby
was always his great friend and patron, and the
famous mathematician made four long voyages in
Derby ships. Although Dr. Bowditch knew little
about actual seamanship, he was one of the world's
greatest authorities on navigation. While at sea he
used to employ his time by instructing the crew in
navigation, until all hands, even down to the cook,
were proficient in the art. In this connection, Rev.
Alexander Young, in his memorial of Bowditch,
tells an amusing incident in the voyage of the
Astrea II to the Philippines: "On their arrival at
Manilla, a Scotchman, by the name of Murray,
asked Captain Prince how he contrived to find the
way there, through such a long, perplexing, and
dangerous navigation, and in the face of the north-
east monsoon, by mere dead reckoning, without the
use of lunars, — it being a common notion at that
time, that the Americans knew nothing about
working lunar observations. Captain Prince told
him that he had a crew of twelve men, every one
of whom could take and work a lunar observation
as well, for all practical purposes, as Sir Isaac New-

A Great Merchant 161

ton himself, were he alive. Murray was perfectly
astounded at this, and actually went down to the
landing-place one Sunday morning to see this
knowing crew come ashore. Mr. Bowditch was
present at this conversation, and as Captain
Prince says, sat 'as modest as a maid,' said not a
word, but held his slate-pencil in his mouth."

To quote again from Mr. Young: "Captain
Prince says that one day the supercargo said to
him, 'Come, Captain, let us go forward and see
what the sailors are talking about, under the lee
of the long-boat.' They went forward accordingly,
and the captain was surprised to find the sailors,
instead of spinning their long yarns, earnestly
engaged with book, slate, and pencil, and discuss-
ing the high matters of tangents and secants, alti-
tude, dip, and refraction. Two of them in partic-
ular were very zealously disputing, one of them
calling out to the other, 'Well, Jack, what have
you got ? ' ' I Ve got the sine,' was the answer. * But
that ain't right,' said the other, 'I say it is the
cosine.' At Salem it was considered the highest
recommendation of a seaman, that he had sailed
in the same ship with Mr. Bowditch, and this fact
alone was often sufficient to procure for him an
officer's berth. In illustration of this statement, on

1 62 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

his second voyage the first and second mates had
been sailors in the same ship on the previous
voyage."

By administering his business with great ability,
by keeping his fleet up to the highest standard, by
giving his crews large interests in their voyages,
and by employing such capable officers as Silsbee
or Bowditch, Mr. Derby created one of the great-
est mercantile establishments in the United States.
In 1799 his fleet consisted of six ships, one bark,
four brigs, one ketch, and one schooner, aggre-
gating 2280 tons.1 He died, leaving an estate of
over $1,000,000, one of the largest fortunes amassed
in America up to that time.

The last few years of his life Mr. Derby was
an invalid, often for several weeks at a time be-
ing unable to go to his counting-house. In April,
1799, Mrs. Derby had died, and her loss was
a blow from which he did not recover. Mr.
Derby's family life appears to have been a most
happy one, and his affection for his wife and

1 Although Mr. Derby was one of the principal American
shipowners of his time, the tonnage of his entire fleet was not
as large as that of one modern five-masted schooner. The big-
gest ship he ever owned was only 500 tons and he sold her
because she was too large. Many of his craft which voyaged
to the Far East were no larger than fishing smacks.

A Great Merchant 163

his seven children was unbounded. Although
blessed with great riches he disliked ostentatious
display. It is said, however, that nothing gave
him more pleasure than on Sunday afternoons to
drive out to his estate at Danvers with Mrs. Derby
in his coach, followed by his children and grand-
children on horseback. Here, a few miles out of
Salem, he had an extensive farm where he carried
on agriculture on scientific principles. The place
was under the supervision of a famous German
horticulturist named Heussler, who was brought
from Europe for the purpose. During most of his
life Mr. Derby had lived in a house of fairly modest
proportions, but towards the end of his days he
had erected a magnificent mansion, the finest in
Salem. The plans of the house were drawn by Mac-
Intyre, to whom we are indebted for much of our
best colonial architecture. The spacious grounds
extending from Essex Street to the river were
laid out with walks, terraces, and gardens; an ex-
tensive conservatory, where rare plants were cul-
tivated, surrounded the main house. The plan-
ning of this elaborate establishment was due
principally to Mrs. Derby, as she was more ambi-
tious for show and elegance than her husband. In
1798 Mr. Derby wrote his agents in London: "Mrs.

164 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

Derby wants something to complete her house;
she will write you. It is business I know nothing
of. I have given her an order for £120; you will do
as she may direct with it." The great mansion
was magnificently furnished, and a choicely bound
collection of books was imported from England for
the library. Mr. and Mrs. Derby, however, en-
joyed their new home for but a short time, as it
was not finished till a short time before their deaths.
No better memorial of Mr. Derby exists than
that which was written by his son-in-law, Hon.
BenjaminPickman, and which gives a fitting sketch
of the great merchant: —

[The Salem Gazette of September 10, 1799.]

"Died, in this town, on Sunday last, at the age
of 60, Elias Hasket Derby, Esq., having survived
his amiable consort but a few months. Though
Mr. Derby's natural disposition led him rather to
retire from public observation, yet his character
had been of too much importance in the commun-
ity of which he was a member, for his departure
out of life not to be sensibly felt and regretted. By
a regular application to commercial pursuits, by a
careful attention to all parts of his business, and
by a remarkable course of good fortune, he arrived

IZ u

o -s

I !

Q ^
w JJ

A Great Merchant 165

to a high degree of opulence. He possessed an
uncommon spirit of enterprise, and in exploring
new channels of commerce has frequently led his
countrymen to sources of wealth. He was among
the first who embarked in the trade beyond the
Cape of Good Hope, which has since become so
extensive and lucrative; he made various improve-
ments in navigation, and the many excellent ves-
sels, built according to his own plans and under
his immediate direction, are proofs of his skill in
naval architecture.

"If that man is deserving of the gratitude of his
country 'who makes two blades of grass grow where
one only grew before,' the memory of Mr. Derby
has a claim to the affectionate regards of his fellow-
citizens, for he possessed a good taste in gardening
and agriculture, and most judiciously — both for
his own enjoyment and the benefit of his country
— applied a part of his wealth to improvements
in that department. By his successful experiments
in his excellent garden and farm, in Danvers, he
taught the neighboring farmers that their lands
are capable of productions which they had before
thought could be prepared only in more genial
soils. It was in these improvements that Mr.
Derby found some of his most tranquil enjoyments,

1 66 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

and they imparted delight to all who had the curi-
osity to visit them.

"In his dealings, Mr. Derby uniformly regarded
the principle of justice, and his engagements were
sacredly fulfilled. In the possession of riches, he
did not forget the duties of charity. Providence
had blessed him with abundance, and others par-
took of the gift; his hand often cheered the heart
of poverty and affliction, and his charities were
always applied with judgment — often in secret,
never with ostentation. His deportment was
modest and grave. In the hours of relaxation he
was affable, mild, and cheerful.

"In the interesting domestic character of hus-
band and father, he was particularly amiable, and
possessed the unbounded affections of his family.
He was a sincere believer in the Christian relig-
ion, which he evinced by an habitual regard to its
precepts, by a uniform attendance upon public
worship, and by a firm expectation — expressed
through his last sickness — of inheriting its pro-
mises. In short, he has well discharged the duties
of life, and we trust he is removed to a better
world."

Mr. Derby's children did not maintain the great

A Great Merchant 167

business which he had established. It had al-
ways been carried on personally in his name, and
at his death the vessels and other property were
sold at auction and converted into cash. His
sons undertook several mercantile ventures. Elias
Hasket, Jr., made a number of voyages, and the
second son, John, was one of the owners of the
ship Margaret, which was the second vessel to go
from America to Japan. The great fortune, how-
ever, was scattered, and Mr. Derby's sons be-
ing discouraged by several losing ventures, turned
their attention to industries ashore. After the
embargo of 1807 the Derby flag disappeared en-
tirely from the high seas and the Crowninshields,
Peabodys, and others succeeded the Derbys as the
leading mercantile establishments of Salem. But
to-day even the names of these great houses are
but memories. Derby Wharf stretches out into
Salem Harbor without a vessel moored at its side.
The old warehouses which once held the riches of
the East are fast decaying and rotting away. To-
day not a single ocean-going vessel hails from
Salem. Her harbor, where once ships with rich
cargoes arrived almost daily from all parts of the
world, is now never visited except by unromantic
coal schooners and barges from Philadelphia or

1 68 Merchant Venturers of Old Salem

Norfolk. With the growth in the size of ships
Salem's harbor was too shallow, and the better
railroad connections of her neighbor, Boston, soon
lost for her the great commerce she had once
enjoyed.

The student of our national history is familiar
with the names of our great statesmen and military
and naval heroes. To them alone he is apt to
attribute the growth and prosperity of our coun-
try in its early years. He forgets that, while
Washington or Jefferson was holding the reins of
government and Green or John Paul Jones was
winning victories ashore and afloat, the foaming
wakes of our merchant vessels were showing the
way for American commerce to all parts of the
world. The country owes great credit to those
venturesome merchants and bold navigators who
in the early years of our national existence carried
the Stars and Stripes to the markets of Europe,
Africa, and the East, extended American influence
to the most distant parts of the globe, and created
a world-wide respect for the new nation.

press

CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS
U . S • A

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY
BERKELEY

Return to desk from which borrowed.
This book is DUE on the last date stamped below.

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NOV 20 1957

253391

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Full text of "Merchant venturers of old Salem; a history of the commercial voyages of a New England family to the Indies and elsewhere in the XVIII century"

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