The Grand Turk should be familiar to many Americans if only because she is
depicted on bottles of Old Spice aftershave lotion. But her role in American
nautical history if far more important. The Grand Turk was not the first
American ship to reach the Orient - the Experiment and The Empress of China
preceded her - but she was America's first great merchant ship, the ship that
helped make America's first millionaire, ship owner Elias Haskett Derby, who was
also the first (and perhaps only) shipping magnate recorded as having one brown
and one blue eye.
A 300-ton, three-masted vessel boasting 22 guns, the Grand Turk was built at
Salem for Derby, who had her designed as a privateer. She did not disappoint,
taking many British ships as prizes, including the 400-ton Pompey of London.
After the Revolutionary War in 1783, the Grand Turk with her crew of 11 was sent
from Salem to Cape Town, where in a roundabout manner she exchanged a cargo of
rum, ginseng, and other commodities for tea from China, making a 100 percent
profit, despite the $3,500 in taxes that the grand customs official called the
Hoppo levied. (This figure was arrived at by measuring the ship's length and
breadth, multiplying them, adding 100 percent for cumshaw or tips and 50 percent
more for an "opening barrier" fee).