Excerpt from Abraham Howard of Marblehead, Mass;, And His Descendants Towards the end of the century he again took part in a public Spirited enterprise. In July, 1798, the inhabitants of Salem opened a subscription, at the Salem Insurance Office, for the building and equipment of a large frigate to be presented to the United States Government, for resisting the encroachments of the British and the French on American shipping. The subscription amounted to nearly of which the sail-making firm of Buffum Howard sub scribed $450. The keel of the Essex was laid April 13, 1799, she was launched Sept. 30, and was at sea before the end of the year. All the inhabitants who brought in timber or other supplies for her construction made it a point of honor to select the best that could be found. Capt. George Henry Preble, in his account of the first cruise of the Essex, said, The sails were made in the most careful manner by Messrs. Buffum Howard, from duck manufactured expressly for the purpose. It was noticed that the frigate never sailed so well afterward as she did under her first suit of sails. This he considered remarkable, since she was not coppered until her return. Capt. David Porter, in his report of the loss of the Essex in 1814, said, To possess the Essex it has cost the British Govern ment near six millions of dollars. So she rendered a good account of herself, on behalf of her Salem donors. 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.