United States Merchant Marine Academy - Midships Yearbook (Kings Point, NY)

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what A ,av ,- --Q' p incur Derby's pride, the Grand Turk, was known as the great ship because of her size, yet she -A was less than one hundred feet long. The ship Columbia sailed from Boston in 1787. She found that furs of the seal otter were the one readily sale- able commodity which America could offer the Orient. NEW BEGINNINGS As a new nation, the United States was beset with new problems. Not the least of these was an adverse maritime position. Not only was the fleet decimated, but it was excluded from British markets. These problems led enterprising men like Elias Hasket Derby to search out new markets. The greatest impact on the maritime commerce of the United States was realized from the voyages of the Empress of China and the Columbia. Together these vessels solved the riddle of a successful Oriental trade by discovering the one commodity, fine furs, for which the Chinese would trade. The tremendous profits of this trade brought about rapid port development and new ships, and presaged a golden era for the American Merchant Marine. 1 ' fi ' -. 'M' , ' s'-.,'f', -If-' J, 'V 5.3,-,,..f.'., :'4 .,,?.v, -?,1'gf','..f J' f .., ,UM -Aft. 'fi I, ,v3,.,t ,mf-n .,.', if ,an-... -.Lf ,-x ,L..-it--if - ,, . t 12.3 -g. ' 4,1 51 A -f ' f 1,9 f . , ,, 'i A- Elias Hasket Derby built up - s ' y s a fleet of merchantmen that l blazed the trail to the Indies. He was America's first A 5 millionaire. MS. vi fb- F35 ill' Th, growth of Ampncan ports gugh as Boston shown above, was stimulated by the China Trade. I X 13

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More than two thousand American privateers did much damage to British shipping John Barry began his sea career in the Merchant Marille at the age of eleven. In 1775 Congress appointed ' Eselc Hopkins as Commander- r in-Chief of its little navy. THE REVOLUTION When the Revolution came in 1775, it found the colonies with no navy. However, mariners were eager to go to sea and fight the British. Every colony commis- sioned privateers, more than two thousand mer- chant vessels in all. When a navy was organized at the end of 1775, its heroes were from the ranks of the Mer- chant hflarine. The first Commander-in-Chief, Esek Hopkins, had sailed the World over. John Barry had been to sea since 1756. The greatest hero of them all, John Paul Jones, had gained a great deal of his experience in the American trade routes. John Paul Jones carried his conntry's new ensign to dazzling lxeiglrts.

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