Salem Harbor
During the American Revolutionary War, merchant ships were enlisted as privateers, an important role to augment the ill-prepared Continental Navy.
Now the harbor is used for commercial and recreational purposes and the Salem Maritime National Historic Site is very popular with tourists from around the world.
George Washington's Army numbered 11,000 men; there were 11,000 privateers at sea in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and between Ireland and England.
[3] Titus, a slave to Mrs. John Cabot of Salem, established a business and successfully recruited blacks as privateers during the war.
[3] During the late 18th and early 19th centuries made, international trade was conducted in Salem from the Atlantic coast "to the farthest ports of the rich east.
"[2] Salem was one of the leading international ports by the end of the 18th century, importing ceramics, furniture, decorative arts, artificial flowers, textiles, spices and dye.
[4] On 15 February 1935 the U.S. Coast Guard established a new seaplane facility at Salem because there was no space to expand the Gloucester Air Station at Ten Pound Island.
They flew in all kinds of weather and the radio direction capabilities of the aircraft were of significant value in locating vessels in distress.
In May 2011 and after years of legal battles, protests and one recent fatal accident has led the owner of the Salem Harbor Power Station to announce it will close down the facility permanently.
[13] Footprint said it plans to “remediate” a 63-acre waterfront site that has towering smokestacks, a coal pile and oil tanks.
The plan is to develop a natural gas plant on one-third of the property, reportedly a site along Fort Avenue near the city’s ferry landing.
Footprint said its plans are consistent with the recommendations of a city study completed earlier this year on the future use of the power plant site.
The main opponent fighting in court was the Conservation Law Foundation,[15] a leading environmental advocacy group intent on blocking the plant from being built.
[19] The “Nathaniel Bowditch”, is a 92-foot-high speed catamaran that travels from Salem to Boston in 50 minutes from May to October and had its maiden voyage on June 22, 2006.
[20] Since 2006 ridership increased every year, and peaked in 2010 with 89,000, but in 2011 service was cut back because of the dramatic rise in fuel prices.
[23] Because of the cutback in service during the 2011 season, Mayor Kim Driscoll is now seeking a new operator who can run the ferry seven days a week from May to October.
Another $200,000 was approved for the design of the new Salem wharf, a large pier planned for the landing, which officials said could be used by small cruise ships, commercial vessels and fishing boats.
In October 2010, Mayor Kimberley Driscoll announced that the city will formally acquire the Blaney Street[28] parcel from Dominion Energy, paving the way for the Salem Wharf project.
When finished, The Blaney Street pier will be home to small to medium-sized cruise ships, commercial vessels and The Salem Ferry.
[30] In 2010, examples of work to be finished in this early phase that will be complete for the 2011 Season, a contractor is running underground utility cables and erecting an interim terminal building that will be used by the Salem Ferry, replacing the current trailer.
In celebration of Nathaniel Bowditch and his work writing the New American Practical Navigator, first published in 1802, is still carried on board every commissioned U.S.
