''Empress of China'', also known as ''Chinese Queen'', was a three-masted, square-rigged sailing ship of 360 tons,Tantillo, Len. (2000)

''The Hudson River in the Age of Sail'' (exhibition). Hudson River Maritime Museum. initially built in 1783 for service as a

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

. After the

Treaty of Paris Treaty of Paris may refer to one of many treaties signed in Paris, France: Treaties 1200s and 1300s * Treaty of Paris (1229), which ended the Albigensian Crusade * Treaty of Paris (1259), between Henry III of England and Louis IX of France * Trea ...

brought a formal end to the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, the vessel was refitted for commercial purposes. She became the first American ship to sail from the newly independent United States to China, opening what is known today as the

Old China Trade The Old China Trade () refers to the early commerce between the Qing Empire and the United States under the Canton System, spanning from shortly after the end of the American Revolutionary War in 1783 to the Treaty of Wanghia in 1844. The Old C ...

and transporting the first official representative of the American government to Canton.

First voyage

The first American merchant vessel to enter Chinese waters left New York harbor on Washington's birthday, February 22, 1784. The ''Empress'' returned to New York on May 11, 1785 after a round voyage of 14 months and 24 days. The success of the voyage encouraged others to invest in further trading with China. President Washington bought a set of Chinese porcelain tableware from the ship. The ship's captain John Green (1736–1796) was a former U.S. naval officer, its two business agents (

supercargo A supercargo (from Spanish ''sobrecargo'') is a person employed on board a vessel by the owner of cargo carried on the ship. The duties of a supercargo are defined by admiralty law and include managing the cargo owner's trade, selling the merchand ...

s), Samuel Shaw (1754–1794) and Thomas Randall (1723–1797), were former officers in the U.S. Continental Army, and its syndicate of owners, including Robert Morris (1734–1806) were some of the richest men in the new nation.Giunta, Mary A. and J. Dane Hartgrove. (1998)
''Documents of the Emerging Nation,'' p. 237
Smith, p. xvii.

Legacy

* In 1986, China minted a silver 5- yuan to commemorate the voyage of the ''Empress''

Notes

References

* Giunta, Mary A. and J. Dane Hartgrove. (1998)
''Documents of the Emerging Nation.''
Wilmington, Delaware: Rowman & Littlefield.
OCLC 37783076
* Smith, Philip Chadwick Foster. (1984)
''The Empress of China.''
Philadelphia: Philadelphia Maritime Museum.
OCLC 11089953

External links

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

Two Hundred Years of U.S. Trade with China (1784-1984)
* US Dept. of State

* Meng, Xingyu Dr. (2014). ttps://www.theempressofchina.org ''The Legend of Empress of China.''International Culture and History Project based on the ship Empress of China. {{Robert Morris, state=collapsed Sailing ships of the United States Age of Sail merchant ships of the United States

First voyage

Legacy

See also

Notes

References

External links