Friendship

The Friendship was a three-masted Salem "East Indiaman" merchant ship built by Enos Briggs, who also built the USS Essex, sister ship to the Constitution. The original Friendship was built in 1797 and traded around the world, in China East Africa and Western Europe, trading timber and raw fish for finished goods like crockery, silk and lacquer ware. A merchant ship, the Friendship had cannon to defend herself, but was captured by the British during the war of 1812 and no one knows what ultimately happened to the ship.
In 1998, with the help of federal money, private donations and a big push from local schoolchildren, a replica which today is docked at Derby Wharf, was recreated. The Salem Partnership was instrumental in promoting the ship.One memorable fundraiser was the selling of bricks with the donor's name on them for $250.00 a brick.
The original plans were lost, so the ship was reconstructed using period paintings, the ship's log and a model of the vessel made in 1804.
The new ship was made to look authentic to the 18th century, but used modern space age materials to make her handicapped accessible, and water tight. The ship is part of the Salem Maritime National Historic Site.
The new Friendship leaves port three or four times a year, journeying up and down the coast of New England.

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