The COLUMBIA REDIVIVA arrived in Canton, China, where she successfully traded for tea, returning to Boston in August of 1790 to become the first U.S. ship to circumnavigate the world. While in Canton, the Captain wrote a letter to the owners assuring them of their safe passage. He wrote: “We have safely arrived in Canton and are successfully trading for tea. While in Honolulu we purchased 5 casks of salted pork and 150 live hogs and proceeded on our seven week sail to Canton.”
Though the romantic sunset and escort by Hawaiian outriggers off Oahu depict the passage of the COLUMBIA REDIVIVA in idyllic fantasy, the letter quoted above reveals the true rigors of a sailor’s life aboard these early ships and belies any romantic notions we often hold of their voyages.