Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Marine Room of the Peabody Museum of Salem The site chosen for Salem in 1626 decided its maritime character; the fishing industry and the building Of vessels began almost with the settlement. Before 1650 Salem vessels were trading in Virginia, the Bermudas, the West Indies and in England. Josselyn in 1664 says that in Salem are some very rich merchants. The vessels before 1700 were Of forty tons displacement or less, although one ship is recorded Of 200 tons. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.