Salem and Sumatra

In 1795, an intrepid Yankee sea captain, Jonathan Carnes, sailed from Salem, Massachusetts to the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Once there, he managed to circumvent the then Dutch monopoly and make direct contact with native spice growers. With backing from a wealthy Salem family, Carnes returned two years later with a cargo of pepper that made 700 per cent profit and gave America its stake in the world spice trade. Over the next eighty years, fleets of speedy American clipper ships scudded their way across the oceans on the 24,000-mile round trip to Sumatra, returning with lucrative cargoes of pepper.