Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1914-07-29

name and fame of their home town
the world over. The world has made
a great hero Of Paul Jones, but there
were half a dozen young sea captains
out Of Salem In revolutionary times
who did all that he did and more, yet
did It so unostentatiously and SO much
as a part of the days work that the
records Of 1t are hard to trace and for
the most part have been lost. During
the revolution Salem sent out 15S
armed vessels carrying more than
1000 guns. They took AS prizes, los
ing In return 81 Of their own feet.
Jonathan Harraden, for instance.
sailed from Salem in the privateer
General Pickering, 18 tons, carrying
Ia six-pounders and crew of less
than 80 men. Thus manned and
equipped they captured British pri-
vateer of % guns. Harraden put part
of his crew on the captured vessel and
the two sailed on. Off the coast of
Spain they sighted vessel bearing
down upon them and the captive Brit
ish captain laughed as he told Har-
raden that this was the British frigate
Achilles of AZ guns.
We'll. / shall not run from her."
said Harraden, stoutly; and he did
not. The big frigate soon recaptured
little Pickering laid up alongside Of
her at nightfall, when tho battle
ceased for want Of light. Harraden
went to bed and got good nights
sleep In the morning the battle be-
gan again so near the coast that 10O,-
with spectators. The disparity in size
OF the two vessels was UGH that an
eye witness said it was like q ships
long boat attacking a man-o'-war. But
the little boat won the battle, and not
only the big frigate but the recaptured
prize struck to the indomitable Salem
captain and his fearless Salem crew.
The battle was no sooner over than
the sea was black with the boats OF adj.
miring Spaniards, who came out in
great numbers, and later took Captain
Harraden ashore and carried him
about the city on their shoulders.
salem's important Foreign Trade.
1t was in November, 1875, that the
Grand Turk. belonging to Elias Derby
and commanded by Ebenezer West,
cleared for Canton, China. the first
American ship to seek this round-the-
world port. Seventeen months after
she returned, the result Of her voy-
age, for one thing, being a cargo that
brought her owners twice more capital
than she had carried out. The Salem
merchants often sold not only the car
go but the ship itself in these far-dis-
tant ports, and later the Grand Turk
was thus disposed OF in India, Derby
building another and a larger vessel
of the same name. In 1894 Salem
owned 100 vessels Of a tonnage total
ing 1878 tons. In 1905 this number
had increased to 81 ships, IS barks.
70 briggs and Sc schooners, Of which
48 were employed in trade around the
Cape of Good Hope. In 1906 there were
70 ships. II barks and 48 briggs, all
engaged In foreign trade, which gave
SUCH 5plSuO1G OPpOAtuAAIy AOA o0fCA-
ture and such princely returns. Car
goes have been brought into Salem
port that realized 800 per cent on the
capital invested. and from 1900 to
1907, inclusive, 1,542 vessels In foreign
trade arrived, paying an annual av-
erage duty Of 1856. 1890. and this at
the reasonable rate of those days.
In the story of this Salem shipping
from ITS to 1875, is an odyssey that
some latterday Homer may yet ring
down the future ages. The captains
and crews of these ships needed all
the courage and wisdom of Ulysses,
nor had sea-worn Odysseus so wide
wanderings or so strange adventures
as they.