Salem Marine Society


"Where Virtue Reigns, the Unfortunate Find Relief"
Many of the most important citizens of Salem during the port's Golden Era of 1775-1807 were members of the Society, and their descendants still grace the rolls two hundred years later. Among the many distinguished members of the Society was Nathaniel Bowditch, one of America's first important contributors to the sciences. His manuals on navigation represented an enormous advance from earlier books. By the time he died in 1838, his works had circulated throughout the English-speaking world.
The Society has published two volumes: A History of the Marine Society at Salem, and Portraits of the Marine Society at Salem in New England, which will satisfy those interested in the society's history and genealogists looking for their own ancestors among its members. Copies are available in the Salem Room of the Salem Public Library and in the Phillips Library of the Peabody-Essex Museum.