the hearts of the merchants of Salem, and those who sailed their ships over the ocean. Broad-minded and generous, the owners recognized the exigency of the times and turned their vessels into privateers, arming them with cannon; and their gallant crews volunteered to man them. Out upon the deep they sailed, with hearts of courage and daring, to meet in mortal combat the powerful navy of England.

Not only did they use the vessels already built, but the merchants had larger and better ones constructed, equipped and manned for this very service. During the war more than one hundred and fiftyeight vessels were thus sent out from Salem. They carried upward of two thousand guns in all, averaging about fourteen each, and were manned by several thousand seamen. They took four hundred and forty-five prizes, an average of nearly three to each vessel. The story of these privateers upon the ocean is a very important, and the most interesting, fascinating and romantic part of the history of the struggle for independence. The secluded conflicts at sea, between single vessels, had few witnesses, and little, compared with the amount of knowledge we have of the battles fought on land, is therefore known of the history of the capture of these four hundred and forty-five prizes. Little commerce in the way of trade had been carried on during the seven years of war, and on the return of peace the merchants found themselves possessed of many swift-sailing vessels larger than any they had used prior to the Revolution. They were too large to be profitably employed in domestic commerce or in the short voyages to their hitherto visited European and other ports. The merchants determined to visit new and more ⚫ distant countries, and begin trade with their peoples.

Many hundred seamen were idle, as they would accept no employment but that which was compatible with the spirit they had imbibed during the seven strange years that had just come to an end, leav

ing them stranded. They had sailed the Spanish main, and had had frequent meetings with the buccaneers of the ocean for years. Perilous voyages were the most attractive. Most of the sailors were still young, and full of life and daring. The prospect of voyages to distant and unknown countries was fascinating to them, and when the merchants announced their intention of opening up trade with the remote parts of the globe there was no lack of seamen.

The snow-white sails of the merchantships of Salem were soon seen in every water of the then known world, and Salem became famous in the uttermost parts, its name becoming as widely known as that of America.

Many of the voyages of the merchantships were not less exciting and dangerous than the experiences of the privateers in the Revolution. The history of the period is crowded with incidents of daring and adventure in unknown seas and in ports never before visited by Americans, encounters with pirates and tribes of cruel and treacherous savages, who were ready to commit any atrocity for plunder, contests with the armed ships of France and England, imprisonment among the Algerines and in the dungeons of France and Spain. Now and then Salem crews fell victims to the pirates and cruel Malays. Even the most romantic imaginations fail to conceive the parallel of those times.

It has already been said that the seamen were young, but it will not be learned from that statement alone how very youthful some of them were. When the first vessel to the East Indies set sail from Salem, neither the captain nor his mates were out of their teens; yet, with imperfect mathematical instruments, and without charts except of their own making, they carried through coral reefs and along strange shores ship and cargo safely to their destination. The importance of the position of these boys did not alone lie in the navigation of the vessel. They had the selling of the outward cargo, and the

purchase of another to bring home with them. The whole financial success of the voyage depended upon them, as there was no communication with the owners during the year and a half covered by the voyage, and no news of them received at home until they came sailing back again. The telegraphic cable long ago destroyed the romantic interest which the mystery of silence wove around these trips.

Derby street, the great commercial thoroughfare of the town, was filled with the bustle of business. Vessels crowded at the wharves, some having their cargoes of silk from India, tea from China, pepper from Sumatra, coffee from Arabia, spices from Batavia, gum-copal from Zanzibar, and hides from Africa, removed to the warehouses on the wharves, and others were being laden with American goods for the foreign trade.

At every lounging place, on every street corner and about the doors of the numerous sailor boarding houses, were seamen fresh from Eastern countries, and others about to sail thither, having all the peculiarities of the true rover of the seas.

The sail-makers with their curious thimbles fastened to the palms of their hands, sat on the smooth floor of their lofts busily stitching the great sheets of white canvass that should carry many a gallant vessel through storm and tempest to seas before unplowed by American keels. The shops of the ship-chandlers were also busy places, as well as the shop of the old maker of mathematical instruments, with his swinging sign of a quadrant. The shops and stores were full of strange and unique articles, brought from distant lands. Parrots screamed and monkeys and other small animals from foreign forests gamboled at will in the back shops. Suggestions of foreign lands met the vision at every turn. The collection of rare and unique curiosities which constitute the East India Marine museum was one result of these voyages.

The ship America, Capt. Jacob Crowninshield of Salem, master and owner, brought home from Bengal, in 1796, the

first elephant that was ever seen in the United States.

The maritime section of the town was well worth visiting. Salem was one of the principal depots for the distribution of foreign merchandise. For instance, in the year 1800, more than eight million pounds of sugar alone was imported and sold to traders from various sections of the country. The streets were alive with teams loaded with goods. Draft wagons and drays came from long distances, somtimes more than a hundred miles, for this was long before the period of railroads, and all merchandise had to be transported overland in this arduous and tedious manner.

In the taverns, teamsters from many parts of Northwestern New England were ever to be found on chilly evenings sitting around the hearth-fire, discussing politics. or current news, or becoming cheerful over frequent potations of New England rum, which was then manufactured in Salem in' great quantities.

The first new trade opened, after the Revolution, was with Russia. In 1784, the bark Light Horse, commanded by Capt. Buffington from Salem, opened the American trade at St. Petersburg. The trade with that country became extensive, but greatly declined after the embargo. The last entry in Salem of a cargo from Archangel was in 1820, from Cronstadt in 1836, and from St. Petersburg in 1843.

The Cape of Good Hope trade was also opened in 1784. The first voyage was made in the Grand Turk, a fast-sailing ship of three hundred tons. It was built by Elias Hasket Derby, in 1781, as a privateer, and carried twenty-two guns. In 1784, Mr. Derby dispatched the vessel, under command of Capt. Jonathan Ingersoll, on the first voyage from Salem to the Cape, the exportation being New England rum, and the return cargo Granada

rum.

The next year (1785), Mr. Derby opened the trade with China by sending to Canton the Grand Turk, which was then commanded by Capt. Ebenezer West.

He there competed with the European syndicates of merchants for the native trade.

The ship Grand Turk was also the first New England vessel to open trade with the Dutch of the Isle of France. This was in 1787. Sugar was the principal article of Dutch exportation. In 1794, the ship Aurora brought from there a cargo of four hundred and twenty-four thousand and thirty-four pounds of sugar, it being consigned to William Gray.

The East India trade was also opened by Mr. Derby, in 1788, by the ship Atlantic, which was commanded by his son. This was the first vessel to display the American ensign at Surat, Bombay and Calcutta. The next year, he imported the first cargo of Bombay cotton brought to this country. In 1798, the ship Belisarius brought a cargo of ten thousand, seven hundred and sixty-seven pounds of sugar and one hundred and eighteen thousand, two hundred and fifteen pounds of coffee from Calcutta and the Isle of France. In 1803, the ship Lucia brought from Calcutta a cargo of sugar, indigo and cheroots, on which the duty was $24,001.08. In 1805, the ship Argo brought a cargo of sugar, from the same port, on which the duty was $32,799.47. In 1812, a duty of $51,526.33 was paid on the cargo of the Restitution from Calcutta. The Calcutta trade was afterwards carried on principally by Joseph Peabody, by the famous ship George, which made twenty-one voyages to Calcutta, and who paid $651,743.32 duties on its cargoes.

The first American vessel to open trade with Batavia was the Salem brig Sally, Benjamin Webb, master, in 1796, who purchased of the people there pepper and sugar. Salem vessels were the first to display the American flag at the Island of Java, near Sumatra, in the Indian ocean. The ship Margaret, Samuel Derby, master, was the first (in 1802) Salem vessel, and second American vessel to visit Japan; and the ship Franklin of Boston, commanded by Capt. James Devereux of

Salem, was the first American vessel to trade with Japan, though commercial intercourse was not opened between the two countries until half a century later.

Salem merchants sent the first vessel that ever sailed direct from this country to Sumatra, and the first to bring a cargo of pepper from that island. This trade originated from the discovery, by Capt. Jonathan Carnes of Salem, at the port of Bencoolen, who was there in 1793, that pepper grew wild on the northwestern coast of Sumatra. He sailed for Jonathan Peele, the merchant, who, upon the discovery of Capt. Carnes, built the schooner Rajah and sent him in it to Sumatra for a cargo of pepper in 1795. He took, for the purpose of trade, a cargo of brandy, gin, iron, tobacco and salmon, and in 1796 brought back the first cargo of pepper to be imported into this country in bulk. The cargo sold at seven hundred per cent. profit. The merchants were greatly excited over Mr. Peele's success, and endeavored to learn where the pepper had been obtained, but it was kept a secret for several years. The cargoes of pepper sometimes contained as much as six hundred tons.

The ship Eliza, James Cook, master, brought into the port of Salem, from Sumatra, a cargo of one million, twelve thousand, one hundred and forty-eight pounds of pepper, on which a duty of $66,903.90 was paid. At one time the trade with Sumatra was almost entirely carried on by Salem merchants, and a large proportion of the pepper consumed was obtained at, and through the port of Salem, which was the distributing point for that article to all countries. Cargoes of pepper were regularly brought to Salem from Sumatra until 1846. Salem vessels were at Sumatra for the last time in 1860; and the last American vessel that visited that coast was commanded by a Salem captain. This was in 1867. Since then there has been no direct trade between that place and the United States.

The Manilla trade was opened in 1796. The ship Astrea, of Salem, Henry Prince, master, in that year entered the harbor of

Manilla, the capital city of the Philippine Islands, situated on the island of Luzon, and returned to Salem with a cargo of seventy-five thousand pounds of sugar, sixty-three thousand, six hundred and ninety-five pounds of pepper and twentynine thousand seven hundred and sixtyseven pounds of indigo, the import duty at Salem being $24,020. The ship St. Paul was almost as famous in the Manilla trade as was the ship George in the Calcutta trade. The last entry in Salem from Manilla was the bark Dragon, in 1858, with a cargo of hemp.

The Mocha trade was opened in 1798 by the ship Recovery, of the port of Salem, Joseph Ropes, master. It was the first American vessel to display the American flag in that region of the world. The natives were amazed at the vessel, with its, to them, strange shape and rig, and large size. The ship Franklin, in 1808, brought from there a cargo of five hundred and thirty-two thousand, three hundred and sixty-five pounds of coffee, consigned to Joseph Peabody, on which was paid a duty of $26,618.25.

Trade with all those distant shores was firmly established and flourishing at its height, when, in 1808, the embargo was placed upon our seaports. The whole trade was thus suddenly stopped, in some instances never to be re-opened, and in all its branches to be pursued with less vigor and in a less degree.

The trade in wine and brandy with Spain and Portugal, which had continued for a century was wholly stopped by the embargo, the last entry being from Bilboa, in 1809.

Of the trade with all the other principal European ports, which began prior to the War of 1812, the last entry from Bordeaux occurred in 1815, from Copenhagen in 1816, from Amsterdam in 1823, from Hamburg in 1828, from Rotterdam in 1834, from Antwerp in 1836, and from Gottenburg in 1837.

The Mediterranean trade existed principally before that war, the last entry, with a cargo of wine, brandy and soap, from

Marseilles being in 1833, and the last from Leghorn in 1841. Trade with Messina ceased in 1831.

Among the places early traded at by the colonists, the last entry from the West Indies was from Havana in 1854. The last entry in Salem from the Rio Grande was made in 1870.

The South American trade, which also began early, finally ended in 1877, the last entry in Salem from Para occuring in 1861, the cargo consisting of rubber, hides, cocoa, coffee and castana nuts. The trade with Montevideo, in hides and horns, which began in 1811, also ended in 1861. The sugar trade with Pernambuco ended. in 1841. Among the places of South America visited by Salem merchants were Guayaquil, Lima, Patagonia, Rio Janeiro, Surinam and Valparaiso.

Trade on the west coast of Africa, which began soon after the close of the Revolution, by conveying thither New England rum, gun-powder and tobacco, closed in 1873.

The Feejee Islands trade was first opened in 1811 in the period between the embargo and the war, by the bark Active, Capt. William P. Richardson. Salem was a name familiar to the cannibals of those islands during the first half of this century, as well as to the savages of Africa and Madagascar, being the synonym for all the rest of the world. The trade continued as late as 1854, when the bark Dragon brought from there a cargo of eleven hundred and seventy bales of hemp.

After the close of the war, the Salem merchants attempted to supplement the unparalleled commercial record of the port by opening trade with several new places.

The first American vessel to trade at Madagascar was the Salem brig Beulah, Charles Forbes, master, in 1820. In 1827, Salem merchants extended this trade to Zanzibar. The Salem vessels were the first to trade there as at Sumatra and Madagascar. Gum-copal was its staple article of export. The last cargo to arrive at Salem from Zanzibar entered in 1870.