SALEM MARITIME NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE . MASSACHUSETTS ble for Salem to provide more men and ships channels of trade to Africa, Australia, and The same year the Grand Tur\ was dis­ by Hawthorne as a customs officer have been for privateering than any other port in the South America were explored. After the dis­ patched to the Cape of Good Hope and upon preserved. In the southeast room of the Cus­ United Colonies. From the beginning of covery of gold in California, Salem shipown­ her return, in 1785, was started on a voyage tom House are exhibits and panels which 1776 to the end of 1782, Salem averaged 50 ers were among the first to reap profits from that took her through the Indies and across illustrate and interpret for you the fascinating vessels continually at sea preying on enemy the trade around Cape Horn to San Francisco. the Sea to Canton. These were but the history of Salem's oceangoing commerce. shipping and engaging enemy ships. However, the great increase in the size of first of a succession of voyages made into dis­ At the end of the war, the energy that had vessels which came with the decade of the tant seas before 1800. After this period of The Derby House been shown in privateering found an outlet in clipper ship, 1850-60, brought Salem's mari­ glory there followed a century of neglect, until THE Derby House, now the oldest brick a worldwide search for new markets. Pio­ time cycle abruptly to a close. Her land­ the sea walls of Derby Wharf were recon­ dwelling in Salem, was erected in 1761-62, neering voyages were made by Salem ship­ locked harbor was too shallow to accommo­ structed by the National Park Service in 1938. by Capt. Richard Derby for his son, Elias masters into the Baltic and beyond the Cape date the large new ships, and as a result her Warehouses for the storage of cargoes from Hasket Derby. The latter, who was married Salem of Good Hope to the fabulous and commerce was rapidly absorbed by the deep- overseas formerly stood in a long row on the in 1761, occupied the house until the early China—voyages which helped to usher in the water ports of and New York. wharf, which was also used briefly for ship­ years of the Revolutionary War. A later resi­ first golden age of American foreign trade building. The first six warehouses were dent was Capt. Henry Prince, a master in the and to achieve for Salem the reputation of a Derby Wharf erected by the Derbys between 1767 and 1799 Derby fleet, who, in 1796, sailed to Manila on "New World Venice." On some of these DERBY WHARF, which extends nearly 2,000 on the portion of the wharf now nearest the first voyage made to the Philippines by an Maritime voyages, vessels were away as long as 2 years feet into Salem Harbor, is one of the most Derby Street. Two Derby vessels, the second American vessel. Some interior restoration and might take on and dispose of several important survivals from the great days of Grand Tut\ and the brig Henry, were built of this historic structure has been necessary. NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE cargoes before returning to their home port Salem shipping. It was begun by Capt. here in 1790-91. The second Grand Tur\ The original paint colors of the various rooms from the Far East. Richard Derby soon after 1762, and during was the largest ship launched in Salem up to and the ornate staircase in the front hall are of The embargo imposed on American ship­ the Revolution was used by his son, Elias that time. unusual interest. Among the furnishings are American maritime greatness, the outgrowth of pioneering enterprise upon the sea and a pillar of ping by President Jefferson in 1807 and the Hasket Derby, as a base for fitting out priva­ objects associated with the Derbys, including strength to the young Nation, is memorialized in this site War of 1812 were severe blows to Salem and teers. After the war, the wharf became one of The Custom House some family portraits. were the first of several factors which led to the great mercantile centers of the young DIRECTLY opposite Derby Wharf is the Cus­ NTIL the great West was opened and and made into rum. Gradually the orbit of the decline of her commerce. However, dur­ Other Structures republic, as Elias Hasket Derby took the lead tom House, built in 1819 for the officers of began to yield to the pioneer after the trade was extended to , for the most ing the War of 1812, privateering took the U among American merchants in developing an the customs revenue. THE Rum Shop, a building probably erected Revolution, most Americans lived within part to Portugal and Spain which offered a place of trade as it had in the Revolution, and extensive trade with Europe, the East Indies, worked here as Surveyor of the Port of Salem in 1800 or soon after, stands on the corner east reach of the ocean and naturally turned to it ready market for dried fish and supplied salt, at the end of hostilities the pioneering instinct and China. In 1784, Derby's ship Light from 1846 to 1849. During these years he of the Derby House. The Hawkes House, for adventure, a livelihood, and even riches. wine, fruit, iron, and Spanish dollars in return. that had been shown at the close of the War Horse visited during the first voyage gathered material for his greatest novel, The just west of the Derby House, was originally The sea, indeed, provided the first frontier as of Independence was again in evidence. New This trade and that with the of an American vessel into the Baltic Sea. Scarlet Letter, including the famous introduc­ designed about 1780 by Samuel Mclntire, well as the first highway. From the begin­ thrived until 1763 when the long struggle tion in which the Custom House and its occu­ Salem's great architect, as a sumptuous man­ ning, colonists were dependent upon the between France and England for the mastery The Derby House pants and surroundings are inimitably sion for Elias Hasket Derby. Capt. Benjamin ocean for communication with the homeland of the American Continent finally came to an described. The desk and other objects used Hawkes, a shipbuilder and merchant, bought and with other colonies. liter­ end and the government in England began ally grew up on the sea and for more than two to enact and enforce new measures which centuries aggressively followed its calling. stringently limited the commercial intercourse of the American Colonies. Under these con­ Historical Background of Maritime ditions the economic life of Salem, like that Salem of all continental ports along the Atlantic sea­ board, was brought to a standstill, engender­ FOUNDED in 1626 by Roger Conant as the ing a discontent which grew into resistance An plantation of Naumkeag and established 2 and eventually resulted in rebellion. interior years later as the first town in the Colony of During the Revolution, important aid was view Massachusetts Bay, Salem owed its early given to the colonial cause through privateer­ of the start to a seaboard location. From the start ing. Swift and formidable ships were built, Derby House her colonists engaged in maritime pursuits mounted with guns, heavily manned, and and soon made fishing and shipping the lead­ directed against British commerce. Salem ing industries of the community. As early as was the one American continental port of sn 1643, fi ) lumber, and provisions were being significance that did not fall into the hands of sent to the West Indies in exchange for sugar the British at one time or another during the and molasses, staples that were brought home course of the war. Consequently, it was possi­ northeast of Boston. From Boston and points south, Salem is reached by automobile over State Routes iA and 107 through Fynn and SALEM MARITIME also by State Route 129 along the shore from NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE . MASSACHUSETTS Fynn through Marblehead. The Boston & Maine Railroad, 5 minutes' walk west of the site, provides frequent serv­ ice to and from North Station, Boston. Buses, operated by the Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway, stop on Essex Street, one block north of the Custom House. Groups can receive special service if ad­ vance arrangements are made with the super­ intendent. The site is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day except Thanksgiving, December 25, and January 1. Derby Wharf with Central Wharf in upper left Administration the structure in 1801 and completed it in its Salem Maritime National Historic Site, 9 present form. acres bordering Salem Harbor, is administered Extending into the harbor, parallel to and by the National Park Service, U.S. Depart­ west of Derby Wharf, but only one-third as ment of the Interior. long, is Central Wharf, first constructed in The National Park System, of which this 1791-92 by Simon Forrester, captain of a site is a unit, is dedicated to conserving the Derby privateer in the Revolution and subse­ great historical, natural, and recreational quently a prominent merchant. John Bert­ places of the for the benefit and ram, the last of the great Salem merchants to engage in worldwide trade, and his partners enjoyment of all the people. were in business at Central Wharf, 1840-59, A superintendent, whose address is Custom occupying a brick warehouse built by the For­ House, Derby Street, Salem, Mass., 01970, is rester family before 1832. The Bertram- in immediate charge of the site. owned bark Eliza was among the first vessels THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR—the to round Cape Horn and to reach California Nation's principal natural resource agency— in the Gold Rush of 1849. The walls of the has a special obligation to assure that our ex­ warehouse were reduced and stabilized in pendable resources are conserved, that our 1948. renewable resources are managed to produce About Your Visit optimum benefits, and that all resources con­ tribute to the progress and prosperity of the SALEM Maritime National Historic Site is on United States, now and in the future. Derby Street, Salem, Mass., about 20 miles

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

Revised 1967 U.S.GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1967—0-257-357