The ships and sailors of old Salem

by Ralph Delahaye Paine

“Captain Nathaniel West was born in Salem, Jan. 31, 1756, and died here December 19, 1851. His elder brother, Ebenezer, and his younger, Edward, as well as himself, were possessed of great energy and enterprise, and all three early selected the ocean for their field of action. Ebenezer was for nearly four years during the Revolution a prisoner of war, and was exchanged shortly before peace was proclaimed. He subsequently had command of E. H. Derby’s famous ship, the Grand Turk, and in her completed the second voyage by an American vessel to Canton, returning to Salem in 1786.

“Capt. Edward West, the youngest, was in command of his brother Nathaniel’s ship, Hercules, seized in Naples in 1809, and had the good fortune to obtain her release in order to transport Lucien Bonaparte and family to Malta, thus saving his ship from confiscation. He died at Andover, June 22, 1851, six months before his brother Nathaniel, at the age of ninety-one.

“In 1775, Nathaniel, at the age of nineteen, being in command of a merchant vessel in the West India trade, was captured by a British frigate, and was soon recognized by Capt. Gayton, her commander, as the son of an old friend, and was compelled to serve as midshipman on board a British seventy-four, under the command of Capt. Edwards. Of their personal kindness he often spoke in after life. Being on shore as officer of a press gang, he effected his escape in London, and made his way to Lisbon, where he embarked on board the Oliver Cromwell, a Salem privateer of sixteen guns, and returned to this port. On the passage, having been closely pursued for three days, he narrowly escaped being captured by a British frigate. Aware of his impending fate, if taken, he encouraged and stimulated the crew to the use of the sweeps, himself tugging at the oar, and by his energy and incessant diligence was mainly instrumental in saving the ship.

He made several cruises in the Oliver Cromwell and other armed vessels, and took many prizes. He participated with the famous Captain of the privateer Black Prince, carrying eighteen guns and one hundred and fifty men. On one occasion, with Capt. Nathaniel Silsbee as his Lieutenant, he put into Cork on a dark night and cut out and took away a valuable prize.

Capt. West subsequently embarked in commerce and pursued it with continued success until he had amassed a large fortune. He was among the pioneers in various branches of trade, the Northwest, China, East India, etc.—and knew their origin and progress through their various stages. In 1792, he built and despatched the schooner Patty, commanded by his brother, Capt. Edward West, and she was the first American vessel to visit Batavia. His ship Prudent (in 1805) was among the first of the very few American vessels that visited the Dutch Spice Islands, Amboyna, etc. His ship Minerva was the first Salem vessel to circumnavigate the globe, having sailed from here in 1800 for the N. W. coast and China. His ship Hercules, under his brother Edward’s command, on the conclusion of the war with Great Britain in 1815, was the first vessel to sail from the United States for the East Indies, under the terms of the treaty. The Hercules, built for Capt. West in 1805, was a few years since doing good service as a whaler out of New Bedford, and is, we believe, still in existence.

Nathaniel West

“His age so nearly approximated an hundred years that we may say he flourished during four generations of his race, in the most active and enterprising walks of life. In person, Capt. West was of fine figure, and of a majestic mien and gait. He never forgot the dignity which belonged to his years and station. He was a gentleman of the old school in manners and dress, and adhered with scrupulous tenacity to the costume of his early years. His physical powers were so little impaired, even in his extreme old age, that he was frequently seen driving along in his gig, or walking with vigorous and elastic step, until a very short time before his death; and many of our readers can recall his commanding and dignified appearance in our streets. He united in himself personal frugality, economy, and untiring industry; and his favorite maxim was, ‘without these none can be rich, and with these few would be poor.’”

When Mr. Derby decided to push out for a share of the East India commerce he sent his eldest son, Elias Hasket, Jr., to England and the Continent as soon as he was graduated from Harvard College. There the young man remained until he had become a linguist and had made a thorough study of the English and French methods of trade with the Far East. Having laid this thorough foundation for his bold venture, Elias Hasket, Jr., was now sent to India where he lived three years in the interests of his house, and firmly established an immensely profitable trade which for half a century was to make the name of Salem far more widely known in Bombay and Canton than that of New York or Boston. A little later the Derby ship Astrea was showing the American flag to the natives of Siam.

How fortunes were won in those brave days may be learned from the record of young Derby’s activities while in the Far East. In 1788 the proceeds of one cargo enabled him to buy a ship and a brigantine in the Isle of France (Mauritius) in the Indian Ocean. These two vessels he sent to Bombay to load with cotton. Two other ships of his house, the Astrea and the Light Horse he filled with cargoes at Calcutta and Rangoon, and sent them home to Salem. Then he returned in still another ship, the brig Henry.