Salem was Massachusetts's second port, and during the Revolution it became the colonies' most effective naval weapon. While Boston was besieged and occupied, Salem's merchant fleet converted to privateering on a scale no other town matched. Over the course of the war, Salem-based privateers captured more than 450 British vessels, disrupting supply lines and funneling captured munitions directly into the Continental cause.
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HISTORICAL VOICE
The Merchant Who Waged War at Sea
Elias Hasket Derby never went to sea himself. He was a counting-house man, a merchant who understood ledgers and markets and risk. But from his wharf on Salem harbor, he waged a private war against th...
MODERN VOICE
What the Ledgers Tell Us
People come to Salem expecting witches. They leave, sometimes, understanding privateers. The maritime collections here at the Peabody Essex Museum contain thousands of documents from Salem's Revoluti...