Wharves in the Early 1800s

In the late seventeen hundreds and early eighteen hundreds, Salem’s waterfront was crowded not only with ships and exotic cargo but also with the artisans and craftsmen vital to its fleets, including sail makers, riggers, rope makers, and blacksmiths. At the height of Salem’s trade, the area along Derby Street included Derby Wharf, begun in 1762, with its three-story warehouses, while other historic wharves also lined the harbor. Along the shore stood a shipyard where a hull was being built, and nearby were the Turner-Ingersoll mansion, later known as the House of Seven Gables, and the counting house of ship owner Elias Hasket Derby, Jr. The waterfront scene included ships returning from the East Indies, cargoes such as sugar from Isle de France, cotton from India, hides, hemp, tea, tallow, nutmeg, coffee, molasses, pepper, wine, sugar, chinaware, and fireworks, and work such as unloading, weighing cargo on U.S. Customs and merchant’s scales, coppering a schooner’s hull against teredo worms, and constructing vessels in the shipyard. Fishing boats, lumber schooners, merchant ships, a visiting naval frigate, and stagecoaches and shore parties all reflected the activity of a port at its commercial peak. An Essex Register advertisement of March 13, 1811, placed Isaac Cushing, a ship joiner, in Store no. 15 on Derby Wharf, where he offered work in his line and kept patent binnacles and skylights for sale.

Salem, Massachusetts · United States