Table of Contents
Preface xiii
1 America and the Atlantic World 1
Age of Reconnaissance 2
"Islands of the Indian Sea" (1493) Christopher Columbus 3
"The Abundant New World" (1584) Arthur Barlow Philip Amadas 9
"Visualizing Virginia" (circa 1588-1595) Thomas Hariot Theodor de Bry, 15
"Hudson Explores a River" (1609) Robert Juet 20
Mercantilism in the 1600s 27
"New England Fisheries" (1614) John Smith 28
"Preservation and Prosperity" (1629) Dutch West India Company 33
"England's Treasure by Forraign Trade" (circa 1630s) Thomas Mun 37
Parliament, "Encourageing and Increasing of Shipping and Navigation" (1660) 47
Colonial Merchants and Trade 51
"Navigation Discourag'd" (1714) Samuel Mulford 52
"Accounting for the Slave Trade" (1774) Robert Champlin 56
"Never See Cash So Scarce" (1768) Benjamin Wright 64
"A Nantucket She-Merchant" (1782) J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur 66
Atlantic Crossings 70
"Letter from James Town" (1609) Gabriel Archer 70
"Margaret's Ship" (1679) Jasper Dankers 73
"Journey to Pennsylvania" (1750) Gottlieb Mittelberger 77
"Dispers'd Among His Majesty's Colonies" (1755) Charles Lawrence 82
Colonial Seafarers 87
"Runaways and Deserters" (1695) Edward Randolph 87
"The Sea Is a School of Vice" (1700) Cotton Mather 90
"Simple Whalemen" (1782) J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur 93
Piracy and Colonial America 100
"Piracy Proclamation" (1699) William Penn 101
"Pirates on the James River" (1720) Alexander Spotswood 103
"The Life of Mary Read" (1724) Charles Johnson 106
"Pirate Articles" (circa 1720s) Various 113
Enslaved Africans and Seafarers 116
"Galling of the Chains" (circa 1750s) Olaudah Equiano 117
"Out of the Paw of the Lion"(1760) Britton Hammon 123
"Run Away" (1745-1766) Various 130
Unruly Jack Tars 136
"Knowles Riot" (1747) William Shirley 137
"Burning the Gaspee" (1773) William Dickinson 144
"Philadelphia Resolves" (1773) Anonymous 148
2 Revolution And Republic 154
Revolution Afloat 155
"Common Sense" (1776) Thomas Paine 156
"The Present State of Our Navy" (1776) Robert Morris 159
"Instructions to Commanders of Privateers" (1776-1778) Continental Congress 162
"Log-book of the Oliver Cromwell" (1778) Timothy Boardman 165
Maritime Political Economy 171
"Occupation of the Ocean" (1785) Thomas Jefferson 172
"Federalist No. 11" (1787) Alexander Hamilton 174
"A Navigating People" (1793) Fisher Ames 180
"Free Navigation of the Mississippi" (1793) John Breckinridge 185
Merchants and Entrepreneurs 189
"A Little Particular in These Orders" (1789) Elias H. Derby 190
"Pepper Trade" (1802) George Nichols 194
"The Steamboat Business" (1807) Robert Fulton 197
Protecting American Shipping and Seamen 202
"Instructions to Revenue Cutter Commanders" (1791) Alexander Hamilton 203
"Barbary Corsairs" (1793) Samuel Calder 207
"Naval Armament Act" (1794) Congress 209
"Impressment of American Seamen" (1803) James Madison 212
The War of 1812 218
"War Message" (1812) James Madison 218
"Surgical Account of the Battle on Lake Erie" (1813) Usher Parsons 224
"Sailors' Rights and Free Trade" (1814) Zebulon R. Shipherd 228
Westward by Boat 232
"Memorial to the Legislature of the State of New York" (1816) De Witt Clinton 233
"By Steamboat to Cincinnati" (1825) Carl Bernhard Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach 240
"Launching the Henry Clay" (1825) Black Rock Gazette 243
Racial Divisions in the Early Republic 246
"Trading on the Tonquin" (1811) Kasiascall 247
"His Voyages Are All Over" (1817) Peter Williams Jr. 251
"South Carolina vs. Daley" (1824) Charleston Courier 256
3 Antebellum Seafaring 261
The Golden Age 262
"A Commercial and Enterprising People" (1828) Jeremiah N. Reynolds 263
"Born to Rule the Seas" (1831) Alexis de Tocqueville 267
"Memorial to Congress" (1851) Edward Knight Collins 270
"The Present Spirit of Navigation" (1855) Robert B. Forbes 274
Perils of Seafaring 277
"Explosion on the Helen McGregor" (1830) Anonymous 278
"Lexington Testimony" (1840) John Clark 283
"Wreck of the St. John" (1849) Henry David Thoreau 286
"Whaling Journal" (1849) Samuel Millet 292
Launching Social and Labor Reform 299
"Temperance Ship" (1828) Joseph Bates 300
"Flogging on the Pilgrim" (1840) Richard Henry Dana Jr. 305
"The Fisherman's Song" (1851) Anonymous 311
"Arbitrary and Unjust Demands" (1863) Master Shipwrights Association 314
Sailors and Women 317
"The Wives of Nantucket" (1843) Anonymous 318
"Sailor's Adieu and Return" (1847) Nathaniel Currier 321
"Land Sharks" (1848) Joseph G. Clark 323
Pacific Expansion 328
"Whaling Wife" (1851) Nancy Bolles 329
"The Winds and Currents of the Seas-Fast Sailing" (1853) Matthew Fontaine Maury 336
United States "Treaty of Kanagawa" (1854) 341
New York Daily Tribune, "A Heroine of the Sea" (1857) 344
Slaves and Sailors 348
"Escape from Slavery" (1838) Frederick Douglass 349
"The Suspicious Looking Schooner" (1839) New London Gazette 354
"Escape on the Pearl" (1848) Daniel Drayton 360
"A Suspected Slaver" (1853) C.R.P. Rodgers 372
Civil War 376
"Battle of Hampton Roads" (1862) Franklin Buchanan 377
"Battle at Plum Point Bend" (1862) J. E. Montgomery and S. L. Phelps 383
"Blockade Runners" (1863) S. C. Hawley 387
"CSS Shenandoah Logbook" (1864-1865) James Iredell Waddell 390
