page_title: Crowninshield family
section_title: Seafaring
hierarchical_section_title: Crowninshield family / Influence in America / Seafaring
caption_attribution_description: English: Cleopatra's Barge was a yacht built in Massachusetts in 1816 which sailed across the Atlantic (including a visit to Napoleon). It was then sold to King Kamehameha II of Hawaii, who used it as a royal yacht. It sunk in the Hawaiian Islands in 1824 off the northern coast of Kaua'i on Hanalei Bay.
context_page_description: The Crowninshield family is an American family that has been prominent in seafaring, political and military leadership, and the literary world. The founder of the American family emigrated from what is now Germany in the 16th century. The family is one of several known collectively as Boston Brahmins.
context_section_description: Shortly after moving to Essex County, Massachusetts, and especially the town of Salem, the Crowninshields began to make their impact on American seafaring.  They helped settle Salem and led it to seafaring prominence, helping turn it into an important seaport as well as a settlement for affluent families by the late 18th century. George Crowninshield (1733–1815) founded the Crowninshield & Sons shipping business with his five sons.
  In Salem, the family built Crowninshield's Wharf, one of three major town wharfs at the time.  As a result, the Crowninshields became highly influential in the international trade in tea (including Bohea from as far as China), cod, molasses, Madeira wine, Valencia oranges, Málaga grapes, salt, iron, and other goods.  The family was responsible for starting the first major pepper sea trade. The earlier pepper trade between Asia and Europe had been land-based.
  Lieutenant Benjamin Crowninshield (b. 1757) served from 17 October 1778 on the American privateer Black Prince during the American Revolution, which raided Fishguard and disrupted British merchant shipping. He was a son of Jacob Crowninshield (1732–1774) and Hannah Carlton (1734–1824). A son of George Crowninshield (b. 1733), sea adventurer George Crowninshield Jr. (1766–1817) built and sailed the yacht Cleopatra's Barge, named after the ancient ship used by Cleopatra VII.  It became the first yacht to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
caption: 1818 painting of Cleopatra's Barge by George Ropes, Jr. in Peabody Essex Museum
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