Tasso

Tasso (fl. 1840s), bark of 286 tons, with a crew of 21. From 1845-1848, Tasso engaged in the California sea otter trade.

Sailing schedule:

• August 13, 1844 left Boston
• February 12, 1845 arrived San Diego
• May 6, 1845 at San Francisco
• August 26, 1845 at San Pedro
• January 22, 1846 at San Diego
• March 8, 1846 left Monterey
• November 4, 1846 at San Francisco
• January 22, 1847 left San Diego
• September 10, 1847 at San Francisco
• June 5, 1848 at San Diego
• August 27, 1848 at San Francisco ~ vessel sold

Prior to her work in California, in 1936 under command of Captain Louis L. Conway, the Tasso brought immigrants from Scotland to New York. In 1844, the logbook of the bark Tasso details a voyage from San Diego to Boston (Jan. 1844-June 1844)under Captain Samuel S. Hastings. The log keeper was Thomas Dwyer. The daily log describes wind, weather, location, shipboard occupations, and sightings of ships.

» Typescript compilation of information regarding 22 vessels owned by the Boston, Mass., merchant firm William Appleton and Company, comprised of William Appleton and Samuel Hooper is available. Notes annotated by F. Gordon Dexter. Information includes builder, launching, tonnage, dimensions, and, in some cases, details of voyages and cargoes, for the ships: Admittance, Barnstable, Charlotte, Coromando, Courser, Cygnet, Delphi, Eben Preble, Edith Rose, Egeria, Hamlet, Horsburgh, Joshua Bates, Living Age, Loo Choo, Magenta, Mary Ellen, Milton, Nabob, Orion, and Oxnard, and the bark Tasso.

Of these, Admittance, Barnstable, and Tasso are known to have engaged in the California sea otter trade.

» Ogden, Aldele 1941 California Sea Otter Trade Berkeley: UC Press (1941)