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.
