d the Dutch East India companies
insolently claimed a monopoly of the trade of the Orient, when American
merchant seamen had never ventured beyond the two Atlantics, this was a
conception which made of commerce a surpassing romance and heralded the
golden era of the nation's life upon the sea.

His Grand Turk of three hundred tons was promptly fitted out for a
pioneering voyage as far as the Cape of Good Hope. Salem knew her as
"the great ship" and yet her hull was not quite one hundred feet long.
Safely Captain Jonathan Ingersoll took her out over the long road, his
navigating equipment consisting of a few erroneous maps and charts, a
sextant, and Guthrie's Geographical Grammar. In Table Bay he sold his
cargo of provisions and then visited the coast of Guinea to dispose of
his rum for ivory and gold dust but brought not a single slave back,
Mr. Derby having declared that "he would rather sink the whole capital
employed than directly or indirectly be concerned in so infamous a
trade"--an unusual point of view for a shipping merchant of New England
in 1784!

Derby ships were first to go to Mauritius, then called the Isle of
France, first at Calcutta, and among the earliest to swing at anchor off
Canton. When Elias Hasket Derby decided to invade this rich East India
commerce, he sent his eldest son, Elias Hasket, Jr., to England and the
Continent after a course at Harvard. The young man became a linguist
and made a thorough study of English and French methods of trade. Having
laid this foundation for the venture, the son was now sent to India,
where he lived for three years in the interests of his house, building
up a trade almost fabulously profitable.

How fortunes were won in those stirring days may be discerned from
the record of young Derby's ventures while in the Orient. In 1788 the
proceeds of one cargo enabled him to buy a ship and a brigantine in the
Isle of France. These two vessels he sent to Bombay to load with cotton.
Two other ships of his fleet, the Astrea and Light Horse, were filled
at Calcutta and Rangoon and ordered to Salem. It was found, when the
profits of these transactions were reckoned, that the little squadron
had earned $100,000 above all outlay.

To carry on such a business as this enlisted many men and industries.
While the larger ships were making their distant voyages, the brigs and
schooners were gathering cargoes for them, crossing to Gothenburg and
St. Petersburg for iron, duck, and h