Salem Maritime

Salem Maritime Salem Maritime National Historic Site Massachusetts Moored at Derby Wharf is a full-size reconstruction of the three-masted, square-rigged East Indiaman Friendship (left). Detailed docu- National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior mentation of the original merchant vessel, built in Salem in 1796-97, made possible a historically accurate reconstruction. A b o u t Your Visit Salem Maritime National Historic Site is on Derby Street, Saiem, Massachusetts, 20 miles northeast of Boston. Groups may receive special service if advance arrangements are made at the site. For Your Safety Every effort has been made to provide for your safety, but you should be alert around the waterfront and on the wharves. Watch your children. For More Information Salem Maritime National Historic Site 174 Derby Street Salem, MA 01970 www.nps.gov/sama 6 Derby House (1762), built for shipowner Elias Hasket Derby, stood within sight of the owner's ships and wharves. The oldest surviving brick house in Salem, it was built about the same time as Derby Wharf. completed in its present form by Benjamin Hawkes, owner of a shipyard next to Derby Wharf. housing for Polish immigrants and new Polish residents in Salem until the 1960s. Touring the Site The wharves at Salem Maritime National Historic Site stretch out into the salt waters of Salem Harbor, testifying t o the city's former dependence on the sea. The once-busy wharves and the buildings facing the harbor are remnants of the shipping industry that prospered in Massachusetts Bay's oldest seaport well into the 19th century. The old waterfront area was designated a National Historic Site in 1938 because of the importance of commercial shipping to the early U.S. economy, the significance of the port of Salem (once the nation's sixth largest city), and the quality of the surviving seaport features. houses—14 on Derby Wharf alone. Some wharves were built by floating timber rafts, into position, then sinking them w i t h stones. Others were constructed of stone exterior walls filled w i t h earth. 1 Derby Wharf (1762), Hatch's Wharf (1819), and Central Wharf (1791) are typical of the many wharves that once lined Salem Harbor. They were covered w i t h dozens of ware- 2 Warehouses were an important asset to shipowners. The security provided by the locked and shuttered brick or wooden structures indicates the value of most imports, such as spices, coffee, tea, silks, India cotton, ivory, and gold dust. Though solid, the warehouses were relatively small, as enormous profits could be made from small amounts of high-value, low-bulk luxuries. Warehouses still remaining in Salem are the Public Stores (1819), the Central Wharf Warehouse (c. 1805), the Forrester Warehouse Foundation (pre-1832), and the Hawkes House (a warehouse from 1780 t o 1799). 3 The Custom House (1819) represented the U.S. Government in the port. Permits to land cargo, seamen's protection certificates, and ships' measurement certificates were issued here. Here also merchants paid customs taxes—then a large part of U.S. revenue. In return the government built lighthouses and beacons, protected shipping, and provided medical care to needy sailors. 4 The Scale House (1829) sheltered the large scales used by the Customs Service for weighing and taxing the innumerable shiploads of goods landed at Salem for distribution or re-export. Ships sometimes carried their own scales for use in ports of call. 5 At the West India Goods Store (c. 1800) and other shops, imported cargoes were sold at retail—an important but relatively small part of the distribution of goods. Besides the expected sugar, molasses, and tropical fruits from the Caribbean Islands, locally produced dried cod, nails, and fishhooks were sold here. 8 Narbonne House (167S) was home and shop for such craftsmen and tradesmen as a slaughterer and tanner, ropemaker, and centshop proprietor. 7 Hawkes House (1780) was used as a privateer prize warehouse by Derby during the Revolution. Designed by Salem's great architect Samuel Mclntire, it was purchased in 1801 and 9 St. Joseph Hall (1909) served as a religious, cultural, and social center from 1909 t o the 1980s. It also provided Customs Service scales were carted to wharves when ships arrived. The Public Stores received up to a thousand chests of tea from a single ship. 10 The Lighthouse on Derby Wharf, w i t h others at Pickering Point on Winter Island and Hospital Point in Beverly, was built in 1871 to "complete the system for the Harbor of Salem." ILLUSTRATION NPS/TRED FREEMAN Lighthouse "To the Farthest Port of the Rich East" The Waterfront Then and Now P E A B O D Y ESSEX M U S E U M , S A L E M For a f e w heady years w h e n t h e nation was young, Salem's name was synonymous w i t h t h e overseas luxury trade. The port's merchants t o o k great risks and reaped greater rewards, sending their ships on voyages " t o t h e farthest p o r t of t h e rich East," in t h e words of t h e city's m o t t o . They plied t h e eastern seas in search of t h e greatest profit, buying and selling t h e exotic goods t h a t earned f o r Salem its r e p u t a t i o n as t h e "Venice of t h e New W o r l d " — p r o b a b l y t h e richest American city per capita in 1790. Between t h e Revolutionary War and t h e War of 1812, t h e p o r t f l o w e r e d as a major maritime center. Shipwrights w e r e at w o r k in Salem soon after its f o u n d i n g as a plantation in 1626. In t h e 1630s Salem became one of a number of New England fishing ports. But shipping soon proved more lucrative t h a n fishing, and by 1643 Salem ships, mostly single-decked sloops and schooners, were running t h e coastal trade, carrying New England cod and lumber t o t h e West Indies, t h e n sailing w i t h molasses and r u m f o r h o m e or Europe, w h e r e they w e r e traded f o r manufactured goods. Salem prospered on this modest scale until duties, taxes, and restrictive t r a d e regulations imposed by England cut deeply into t h e merchants' profits. Shipowners, especially in Massachusetts, became t h e prime financial backers of t h e Revolution. W h e n t h e colonies declared independence, t h e Continental Navy's 25 vessels w e r e no threat t o the Royal Navy, so t h e Continental Congress issued hundreds of "letters of m a r q u e " t o shipowners, authorizing t h e m t o prey on enemy shipping f o r profit d u r i n g their commercial voyages. Congress also licensed privateers, which sailed w i t h t h e sole intent of t a k i n g prizes. Privateers, at first coastal and fishing vessels armed w i t h six- and ninep o u n d cannon and later more heavily armed brigs and ships, w e r e highly successful early in the war. They disrupted enemy communications, harassed British ports, and commandeered munitions and supplies. Salem was adept at this combination of profit and patriotism, supplying more sailors and ships (158) t h a n any other port. T h o u g h it was one of t h e f e w significant ports t o avoid capture by t h e British, many of its citizens w e r e t h r o w n o u t of w o r k by the war. Privateering provided a living f o r Salem's unemployed sailors and fishermen, w h o preferred t h e rewards and shipboard conditions of privateering t o t h e spartan naval service. After the w a r they competed f o r o f t e n lower-paying berths in t h e reduced shipping industry. The eagle atop the Custom House symbolized the Federal Government's presence in Salem. The Custom House and the Hawkes and Derby houses had a dear view of ships arriving in Salem Harbor. privateers w e r e unsuited t o t h e coastal trade. In any case, t h e British had closed their West Indies ports t o U.S. ships, and shipowners w e r e forced t o broaden their horizons. Merchants w i t h boldness and imagination, like Elias Hasket Derby and t h e Crowninshields, opened up distant ports, helping New England pull out of t h e depression and ushering in Salem's glory years. Derby's ship Grand Turk was t h e first Salem vessel t o venture beyond t h e Cape of Good Hope. It reached Canton in 1786, w h e r e its load of ebony, ginseng, g o l d threads, cloth, and betel nuts (obtained at lle-de-France in trade f o r native products ) was traded f o r tea, silk, spices, china, and cassia. This voyage opened the East t o Salem, but t h e Indies became t h e port's f a v o r i t e t r a d i n g grounds. So extensive w e r e Salem's contacts in India and t h e East Indies t h a t some traders there believed "Salem" t o be a sovereign n a t i o n . As n e w markets opened, American farms, forests, and fisheries produced more t o meet w o r l d d e m a n d , w h i l e such former luxuries as tea, coffee, and pepper became c o m m o n in American households. This trade was entrusted t o t h e w e l l constructed East Indiamen t h a t evolved f r o m t h e ex-privateers. Everyone seemed t o have a stake in these vessels, and shipping interests reigned. Most shipowners were Federalists—the party of strong central government and commerce. Their help in g e t t i n g t h e Constitution ratified and their support for the young government t h r o u g h customs duties w e r e rewarded w i t h tariffs t h a t drove f o r e i g n vessels f r o m their ports. This period of g r o w i n g fortunes was b r o u g h t t o an a b r u p t halt by Jefferson's 1807 embargo on shipping t o and f r o m England and France, imposed t o counter those countries' attacks on U.S. neutral carriers during the Napoleonic Wars. The embargo was meant t o save U.S. vessels, but most of t h e fleet was put o u t of commission by t h e closing of f o r e i g n trade. Smaller ports like Salem never recovered f r o m t h e blow, and t h e War of 1812 again deprived t h e m of markets w i t h a combination of embargo and enemy warships. Privateering played a much smaller role t h a n d u r i n g the Revolution, but Salem still supplied over a sixth of U.S. privateers, despite the unpopularity a m o n g Federalists of "Mr. Madison's War." Salem's maritime prominence was f a d i n g . A f t e r t h e w a r England was in no hurry t o o p e n its colonial ports t o t h e United States, and new markets in California, Australia, and South America t o o k a generation t o develop. A t home Salem The transition was also difficult for shipowners, couldn't compete w i t h New York and Boston for for w i t h peace came economic stagnation in New the new western markets because it lacked an England. The newly independent United States lost the ports, protections, and privileges they had inland transportation network. M a n u f a c t u r i n g was replacing shipping as t h e d o m i n a n t industry enjoyed as British colonies. American ships had been captured or destroyed in t h e last years of t h e in New England. By 1847, w h e n Salem's first war, w h e n t h e British clamped d o w n on privateer- large textile mill was built, voyages by Salem ships t o t h e Far East had virtually ceased, t h o u g h ing. Many of the surviving ships w e r e in need of regular voyages continued t o Africa and South repair. But if t h e war left New England shipping prostrate, it also provided t h e conditions by which America. Salem-owned ships called at f o r e i g n Salem was transformed f r o m a provincial port into ports until the early 1890s, w h e n t h e last squarerigger cleared Derby Wharf. a w o r l d - w i d e shipping center. The larger w a r t i m e PEABODY ESSEX M U S E U M , S A L E M Crowninshield Wharf (called India Wharf by owner George Crowninshield) was completed in 1802 and became one of the most important wharves in Salem. Salem's Millionaire Shipowners Elias Hasket Derby (1739-99) was Salem's most prominent merchant and probably America's first millionaire. When he took over complete control of the family business at 44, Derby knew every detail of overseas trading. Before the Revolution the Derbys were active in the European and West Indies trade and were among the first to outfit their vessels as privateers to fight the British. Probably more privateers sailed from Derby Wharf than from any other in the nation, and Derby was one of the few Salem merchants to emerge from the war in the black. After he took the lead in opening up new markets for Salem, "King" Derby's preeminence was undisputed. He was an imaginative and demanding shipowner who evoked great loyalty from his captains. He was also respected for his vast knowledge of shipbuilding and his "intuitive faculty in judging of models and proportions" of ships. William Gray (17501825), who owned 181 vessels in his lifetime, was one of the greatest shipowners in the United States, worth $3 million at the time of the 1807 embargo on foreign trade. A Federalist, he broke with his party when he supporter/the constitutionality of the embargo. For this stand he was ostracized by Salem merchants and accused of profiteering during the embargo. He left the party and moved to Boston in 1809. A man of influence and a friend of John Quincy Adams, he was elected lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts on the Republican ticket in 1810. During the War of 1812 he outfitted the frigate Constitution at his own expense. In peacetime Gray's ships specialized in the Mediterranean-toCalcutta trade. He was also one of America's principal traders with Russia, sending cargoes of tobacco, sugar, and cotton to the Baltic and bringing home sheetings, iron, and cordage. Lighthouse built in 1871 still guides vessels in Salem Harbor. The West India Goods Store served local Salem people as a major retail outlet for imported goods. Hawkes House Simon Forrester (17481817) came to Salem as an Irish seaman at 19 and left $174 million at his death. By 28 he had his own command and had become one of Salem's most successful privateers, capturing four British ships in 1776. After independence he turned merchant and shipowner. He was characterized as headstrong but honorable and generous. An early trader in the profitable Baltic area, by 1791 he owned a house and wharf on Derby Street. II Custom House officials could look out their window down the length of Derby Wharf. Author Nathaniel Hawthorne, who served three years as Customs Surveyor in Salem, occupied this office. Derby House r* •• ALL PHOTOS NPS Salem's Trade Empire The name Salem was known to traders all over the the world. The house flags of its merchants flew at ports in Russia, Europe, the Mediterranean, Canada, and South America, but its most extensive trade was around the Cape of Good Hope to the Far East and the "Indies"— India and the East Indies. From trade outposts at lie de France (now Mauritius) the ships fanned out across the Indian Ocean to the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, the China Mombasa (Kenya), Ceylon, lie de France, Mocha, Siam, Burma, and St. Helena Island. Sea, and beyond to o China, Japan, and Australia. Salem's san > •. captains were at home in these distant, sometimes dangerous waters trading the exotic good; (Mocha coffee, Indian cotton, and Sumatran pepper) for which the city was famed. Salem's ships opened many foreign ports to U.S. trade, including: Calcutta, Kronstadt (at St. Petersburg), Sumatra, Zanzibar, Bombay, Madras, Guam, Madagascar, Lamu and cargo of American and West Indian goods. After selling or trading part of the cargo at Capetown, he continued on to He de France, where, if the prices were right, he traded the rest for coffee, pepper, and tea or sold the whole ship and took the cash home. If prices were low he sailed for Bombay, where he picked up indigo and cotton, which he had heard would bring a good price in Batavia Whampoa Reach was the required anchorage for foreigners trading in Canton, 10 miles upriver. 1775-83 & 1812-15 1784-1870S 1818-1870s 1820s-present 1840s 1720s-1930s Privateers took British ships in the Revolution and War of 1812. East Indiamen produced new business worldwide in luxury cargoes. Packets provided scheduled transportation for freight and passengers. Steam technology supplemented then replaced sail as its problems were solved. Clippers were fast and beautiful but quickly grew obsolete. Coasting Schooners, w i t h small crews, moved goods cheaply between U.S. ports. A trusted captain was allowed much discretion by Salem shipowners. On a typical voyage he would sail with a full Boldface labels on map indicate Salem's main trading ports. 1626-1775 A variety of ships served the New England mari time industry. All except packets and clippers we: important to Salem's growth and prosperity. 4LM Colonial vessels, ranging f r o m sloops t o threemasted ships, traded w i t h the West Indies and Britain. Fish and timber were exchanged for molasses and manufactured goods. Valuable Cargoes The Ships and Their Crews The merchants of Salem were in business to make the highest profit on the smallest bulk. They were market speculators, not suppliers of necessities. Their ships carried native products such as dried fish, lumber, cotton, butter, beef, and tobacco, along with rum and molasses from the West Indies, to ports all over the world. They were traded for goods then considered luxuries, such as tea, coffee, sugar, pepper, and Indian cotton textiles. These were the mainstays of the trade, the goods that consistently brought a good profit at home or, as re-exported cargoes, in world markets where they were in demand. Cocoa, ginger, ivory, and gold dust were other goods often found in Salem's warehouses. Vessels of various sizes and rigs sailed from Salem Harbor, but most of those bound for distant Eastern waters were the East Indiamen—durable, full-bottomed, three-masted ships developed to meet the needs of post-independence commerce. Compared to European (and later American) merchantmen, they were small. A typical Salem East Indiaman was 100 feet long, 28 feet wide amidships, with a capacity of about 300 tons. (A typical cargo ship of today carries more than 10,000 tons.) They were slow, and even those considered good sailors had an average speed of not much more than five knots. A trip to China took more than 100 days in good weather. But speed was less important to Salem's merchants than seaworthy, maneuverable ships thzt could carry valuable Indian cotton fabrics and Chinese silks from ports ike Madras, Bombay, and Canton brought gocj prices in Americj markets. Among the most profitable of the goods unloaded at Salem'j^B wharves were: 1 Cloves 2 Tea 3 Sugar 4 Pepper 5 Ivory 6 Coffee Sandalwood (here being loaded in Timor), ginseng, and beche-de-mer (sea-slug) were gathered by Salem captains for trade in China. (now Jakarta). After the sale there, he might try to realize a little more profit by buying bird's nests and opium, which could be traded for tea in Canton on very good terms. Stopping at Capetown on the return voyage, he might fill any remaining cargo space with wines and possibly hides. The shipowner might expect at least a 100-percent profit. cargoes on one- or two-year voyages. Their smaller size was an advantage because they were generally easier to handle and drew less water— important when navigating unknown seas. It was also safer to distribute goods among several small ships so that everything was not riding on the safety of one vessel. The crews that manned these ships were surprisingly small, usually less than 20 men. They were also very young. It was not uncommon for a boy barely in his 20s to be master of a ship. Capt. Nathaniel Silsbee was 19 when he took command of the Derby ship Benjamin in 1792. His first mate was 20, his clerk 18. The crews could share in the profits of lucrative voyages, as most shipowners allotted varying amounts of cargo space for private trading—up to five tons for the captain in addition to his wages, percentage of outbound or inbound cargo profits, and occasional private freight payments. Most captains started their careers as common seamen, and "came up through the hawsehole," although some had been supercargoes—seagoing commercial agents—who "came in through the cabin window." Wise investments and good fortune allowed some captains to retire from the sea by age 30 to become merchants and shipowners. But the risks were great. Death by storm, accident, pirates, or contagious disease awaited the careless or unlucky. Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838), a Salem native, found 8,000 errors in the British navigational tables. He then published The New American Practical Navigator (1802), which incorporated his simplified formulas for determining longitude. The " B o w d i t c h " became the seaman's bible. Many Salem households were graced by fans, tea caddies, ivory carvings, and other fine objects brought back from Eastern ports by captains and crews. In the scene above, the John, w i t h its long boat and stern boat 1, lies directly on the harbor mud exposed at low tide around Derby Wharf 2. Dock workers off-load sugar f r o m lie de France 3 and cotton from India 4. Dunnage stacked by the bow of the John 5, was packed around the cargo in the hold to protect it and prevent shifting. Unloaded cargo is being weighed on the customs scales 6 and the merchant's tripod scales 7. A coastal schooner at far left has its hull coppered 8 t o ward off the w o o d boring teredo w o r m . E.H. Derby Jr.'s onehorse chaise is parked in f r o n t of his counting house 9, where "Derby's boys" worked as clerks until old enough to go to sea. Behind the counting house a lumber schooner 10 brings a load of timber to a shipyard 1 1 , where a brig is under construction. Mediterranean trader Monk (model at left), owned by Salem merchant William Orne, was captured by the British in the War of 1812. John Carnes (1756-96) was the successful captain of several privateer vessels during the Revolution and commodore of an impromptu West Indies privateer fleet formed in the last year of the conflict. After independence he became a merchant captain in the Indies trade. Crowninshield Wharf 19, was completed in 1802 by George Crowninshield after a lawsuit by E.H. Derby forced him to shorten an earlier wharf that Derby claimed was silting up the channel. A number of Crowninshield's and other merchants' ships are at India Wharf, including the Howard 20, Sukey 2 1 , Iris 22, Belisarius 23, Adventure 24, and Cruger 25. At the end of the wharf a stagecoach 26 awaits a shore party f r o m a visiting naval frigate 27. Coney Island 28 and the Baker's Island Light 29 are in the distance. Beyond India Wharf at far left is Becket's shipyard 30, where many of Salem's well-known vessels were built. The Crowninshield ship Fame rests on the ways from which it was launched in 1802. Wharves Alive Witfe (pomrrierce Salem's wharves were a rich and vital scene, especially when an East Indiaman like the ship John (foreground) arrived from around the Cape. Towering masts, criss-crossing yards and booms, stacked goods, rolling barrels and wagon wheels, and exotic fabrics were a kaleidoscope of color and movement. There was the incessant noise: shouted orders, creaking windlasses, tradesmen working in their shops on the wharves, fancy women beckoning from windows, and the sawing and pounding from nearby shipyards. The smells of cinnamon, pepper, cloves, coffee, and tea drifted on the air. The wharves were the focus of Salem's energy, the arteries through which its commercial lifeblood flowed. A Bermuda sloop 12 and the brig Badger 13 are alongside the w o o d en pier extending from the shipyard. The ship Monk 14 is docked in f r o n t of the home of Capt. Samuel Ingersoll 15, now known as the House of the Seven Gables and made famous by a Salem native, Nathaniel Hawthorne. A fishing boat 16 heads out past Orne's Wharf 17, where the ex-privateer Rhodes 18 is tied up. India Wharf, or r>GPO:2004—304-337/00048 Reprint 2004 Printed on recycled paper.