Elias Hasket Derby

Known as America’s first millionaire, Derby was a successful merchant and ship-owner who ran one of the greatest maritime enterprises although he never went to sea himself.

He was born in Salem, Massachusetts, as the son of Richard Derby, Sr., a Salem sea captain and ship-owner. Trained as a merchant in a family counting house, at the age of 15 he was already in charge of his father’s accounts. Following his father’s retirement, he inherited the family shipping and trading business.

Shipping was a profitable, but also dangerous activity in coastal New England in the mid-18th century. The Derby ships carried New England products, such as lumber and fish, to the West Indies, where they would take on cargoes of molasses, sugar, and coffee, then sail on to Spain, Gibraltar, and Portugal for luxury goods, such as wine, furniture and fine textiles. Interestingly, he never participated in the slave trade.

Since the merchant ships were target of pirate attacks, the Derbys were among the signers of a petition to the colonial governor requesting a convoy for protection of the commercial fleet. During the American Revolution War, Derby engaged the firm's ships in privateering. It is known that he underwrote more privateering ventures than any other individual in the American colonies, with only one lost ship in these ventures. When the war ended he was a wealthy man.

Since the American ships were no longer restricted by the British East India Company’s commercial monopoly, he was able to expand on the east. His ships were among the first American vessels to reach the Baltic, India, the East Indies, and China buying and selling cargoes of tea, spices, silks, and porcelain. By 1785 he was the wealthiest merchant in Salem.

Derby was the first Salem merchant to employ a supercargo (business agent) on his ships to relieve the sea captain of the commercial concerns of the voyage. He was reputed as a benevolent employer who took care of the families of his employees who died or were disabled.

One part of his wealth was spent on commissioning and building a number of Salem’s important Federal-style houses.