forever.  Years must pass before he could know whether the money he had invested, the cargo he had adventured, the stout ships he had dispatched, were to add to his fortune or to be at last a total loss.  Perhaps for months he might be going about the wharves and coffee-houses, esteeming himself a man of substance and so held by all his neighbors, while in fact his all lay whitening in the surf on some far-distant Pacific atoll.  So it was almost three years before news came back to Boston of these two ships; but then it was glorious, for then the “Federalist,” of New York, came into port, bringing tidings that at Canton she had met the “Columbia,” and had been told of the discovery by that vessel of the great river in Oregon to which her name had been given.  Thus Oregon and Washington were given to the infant Union, the latter perhaps taking its name from the little sloop of 90 tons which accompanied the “Columbia” on her voyage.  Six months later the two vessels reached Boston, and were greeted with salutes of cannon from the forts.  They were the first American vessels to circumnavigate the globe.  It is pleasant to note that a voyage which was so full of advantage to the nation was profitable to the owners.  Thereafter an active trade was done with miscellaneous goods to the northwest Indians, skins and furs thence to the Chinese, and teas home.  A typical outbound cargo in this trade was that of the “Atakualpa” in 1800.  The vessel was of 218 tons, mounted eight guns, and was freighted with broadcloth, flannel, blankets, powder, muskets, watches, tools, beads, and looking-glasses.  How great were the proportions that this trade speedily assumed may be judged from the fact that between June, 1800, and January, 1803, there were imported into China, in American vessels, 34,357 sea-otter skins worth on an average $18 to $20 each.  Over a million sealskins were imported.  In this trade were employed 80 ships and 9 brigs and schooners, more than half of them from Boston.

[Illustration:  THE SNOW, AN OBSOLETE TYPE]

Indeed, by the last decade of the eighteenth century Boston had become the chief shipping port of the United States.  In 1790 the arrivals from abroad at that port were 60 ships, 7 snows, 159 brigs, 170 schooners, 59 sloops, besides coasters estimated to number 1,220 sail.  In the Independent Chronicle, of October 27, 1791, appears the item:  “Upwards of seventy sail of vessels sailed from this port on Monday last, for all parts of the world.”  A descriptive sketch, written in 1794 and printed in the Massachusetts Historical Society collections, says of the appearance of the water front at that time: 

“There are eighty wharves and quays, chiefly on the east side of the town.  Of these the most distinguished is Boston pier, or the Long Wharf, which extends from the bottom of State Street 1,743 feet into the harbor.  Here the principal navigation of the town is carried on; vessels of all burdens load and unload; and the London ships generally discharge their cargoes....  The harbor of Boston is at this date crowded with vessels.  It is reckoned that not less than 450 sail of ships, brigs, schooners, sloops, and small craft are now in this port.”