View source for Pearl (19th century)


<span style="color:#0066cc">''' ''Pearl''</span> fl. 1808-1809 


The American Captain John Suter on the ship ''Pearl'' in 1808 and 1809 collected 6,000 skins on the Northwest Coast and sailed for Macao. With his profits he purchased a desirable cargo for resale in Boston: porcelain, tea, Chinese cottons and silks. This netted him $206,000 after all expenses and customs duties were paid. The initial value of his ship, fittings, supplies and outgoing cargo had been less than $40,000. 


'''» Morison,  Samuel Eliot.''' The Maritime History of Massachusetts 1783-1860 (Cambridge: The Riverside Press,1921 ), 70, 71. 

'''» Howay,  F. W.'''   A List of Trading Vessels in the Maritime Fur Trade, 1785-1825, ed. Richard A. Pierce (Kingston, Ontario: The Limestone Press, 1973), 82. Howay indicated Captain Suter's cargo to Macao as 6,000 sea otter skins, the largest catch on record for a single voyage.