Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1914-07-24

unheard of before and carried the
name and fame of their home town
the world over. The world has made
a great hero of Paul Jones, but there
were half dozen young sea captains
out of Salem in revolutionary times
who did all that he did and more. yet
did 1t SO unostentatiously and SO much
as part Of the days work that the
records of it are hard to trace and for
the most part have been lost. During
the revolution Salem sent out 1853
armed vessels carrying more than
1000 guns. They took 445 prizes, los
ing In return 81 of their own feet.
Jonathan Harraden, for instance.
sailed from Salem in the privateer
General Pickering, Is tons, carrying
IA six-pounders and crew of less
than 30 men. Thus manned and
equipped they captured a 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
ish captain laughed as he told Har-
raden that this was the British frigate
Achilles of AZ guns.
We'll, l shall not run from her."
said HarradenS stoutly; and he did
not. The big frigate soon recaptured
the prize with its short crew, but the
little Pickering laid up alongside Of
her at nightfall, when the 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 100,-
900 Spaniards made the hills black
with spectators. The disparity In size
of the two vessels was such that an
eye witness said it was like 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 ad-
miring Spaniards, who came out in
great numbers, and later took Captain
Harraden ashore and carried him
about the city on their shoulders.
saIem'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 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 larger vessel
of the same name. In 1894 Salem
owned 160 vessels of tonnage total
ing 1878 tons. In 1906 this number
had increased to "a 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
10 1Altp6, IL UdI hb dllu 40 U4ASot 49,
engaged In foreign trade, which gave
such splendid opportunity for adven-
ture and such princely returns. Car
goes have been brought into Salem
port that realized 500 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 1855. 1890, and this al
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 woe
wanderings Or so strange adventures
as they.