The Iselin family archive, Basel

It is clear from the document that the Maryland foremost transported cloth. A considerable quantity of it was carried in the cargo bay, where more than $1,800 of women's shoes alone were stored.

The sales record of the Maryland was compiled retrospectively. This is suggested by the title as well as by the fact that the account seems to be closed. It is interesting that Iselin calls the voyage of the Maryland an «adventure», even as the title for such a prosaic document as a cargo list. Iselin seems actively to be linking the voyage and his travelogue to a wider late–eighteenth and early–nineteenth century literature of exploration.

What is unclear from this excerpt is where the trade was committed and with whom.

This brings to an end the exercise about the Iselin family archive in Basel. Continue with the Archival exercise «Isaak Iselin in Hawaiʻi, 1807» which follows up on this exercise and examines Iselin's sojourn in Hawaiʻi from a global history perspective.

Boarding the Maryland – Comment

Transcript (excerpt)
«General and concise review / of the adventure by the ship Maryland from Newyork to the Pacific Ocean & Canton.

Original shipment per invoice (quantities, kinds of goods, cost) / Sold during the voyage (quantities, proceeds) / Unsold per inventory quantities, cost) / Result (loss, profit)

Broad cloth / printed cambres / cotton velvets / dimities / muslin / cotton hose / jeans / casimirs [sic] / sheeting / handkerchiefs / bombazeles etc. / silk velvets / shawls / pins / india persions / busselettes / buttons / [unreadable] etc. / [unreadable] / tapes & bobbins / millinery / satin / combs / taffetas etc. / women shoes / sew. & emb. silk»

Each row in the cargo list describes different kinds of cloth and garments.