46 Kenneth S. Latoiirette, 



on their way home to unload cargoes of teas and to take on 

 freight for America. '- 



The opportunities afforded by the European wars and by the 

 fur and sandal wood trades would never have been fully seized 

 had it not been for the efficiency and daring of the American 

 merchant marine. When at Canton shortly after 1800,'^ Krusen- 

 stern remarked in wonder that the American vessels were "so 

 admirably constructed that they sail better than many ships of 

 •war, . . . [and] .... the captains of some of them at 

 Canton .... have made the voyage from thence to America 

 and back again in ten months." The ships were small, few 

 being of five hundred tons burden. The "Eliza," in which 

 Sturgis first went to the Northwest Coast, was one hundred 

 thirty-six tons,*** and some of Cleveland's voyages were made in 

 vessels of less than fifty tons."'^ 



The efficiency of the ships lay largely in the ability of the 

 men who manned them. The American crews were smaller than 



'* Typical examples of these are as follows: The "John Jay" of 

 Providence, 1794-5, touched at Bombay to try to get a cargo of cotton 

 for Canton. Kimball, E. India Trade of Providence, pp. 14-17. In 

 1797-8 the same ship touched at Batavia on its way out, and at Ham- 

 burg and St. Petersburg and Lisbon on its way back; and in 1800 it was 

 instructed to round New Holland and touch at Botany Bay. Weeden, 

 Early Oriental Commerce in Providence, pp. 242-253. There are manu- 

 script logs preserved of the voyage of the ship "Perseverance" of Salem, 

 Nathaniel Hawthorne (father of the author) master, to Batavia, Manila, 

 Canton, and return in 1796-8; of the ship "Ann and Hope" of Provi- 

 dence. Benjamin Page, master, which rounded New Holland in 1799- 

 1800; of the "Indus" to Canton in 1802-3, touching at Batavia on the 

 way back; of the ship "Derby" of Salem, Dudley S. Pickman, master, 

 in 1804-5, to Leghorn and Canton and return; of the ship "Eliza" of 

 Salem, William Richardson, master, in 1805-7, to the Isle of France, Port 

 Jackson (New Holland), Norfolk Island, New Zealand, Canton, and 

 return; of the "Hunter" of Salem, 1809-10, to Sumatra and Canton. 

 In Weeden, Early Oriental Commerce in Providence, pp. 261-266, men- 

 tion is made of the voyage of the ship "Arthur" of Providence, Septem- 

 ber 26, 1807, to June 3, 1809, to Rio Janeiro, Cape Town, Isle of France, 

 Canton and Providence. 



" Krusenstern, Voyage round the World, 2:332, 331. 



^" Loring, Memoir of Wm. Sturgis, in Proc. of Mass. Hist. Soc, 

 7 : 420-433- 



*' Cleveland's Vovages. 



