On her first return voyage, the EMPRESS of CHINA arrived at Table Bay, Cape Town South Africa, to rest in the safe harbor of the Cape of Good Hope. Here , to her surprise and delight, she found another American ship, The GRAND TURK out of Salem, Massachusetts. The GRAND TURK was an ex-privateer sailing for the Salem firm of Hasket Derby. She had departed Salem on Dec. 5, 1785 and after encountering the homeward bound EMPRESS of CHINA in Cape Town, she was greatly inspired to make the journey to China herself. Thus, the GRAND TURK became the second ship to arrive in China carrying the Stars and Stripes. She sailed on from Cape Town to Macao, up the Pearl River to arrive at Wampoa in September 1786. When the GRAND TURK arrived home in Salem on May 22, 1787, she showed such a princely profit for the House of Derby, that it set Elias Hasket Derby on the road to becoming, some authorities claim, the first American millionaire.
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