Voyage of the Frolic New England Merchants And the Opium Trade

In 1850 the clipper ship Frolic,Ó a sailing ship built for the Asian opium trade, had wrecked on the Mendocino coast, where the Indians salvaged its cargo. Layton unearthed the business records of its owners, A. Heard & Co., which showed that respectable Bostonians had made their fortunes running opium from India to China. Layton describes the political, financial, & logistical aspects of the profitable enterprise before the intro. of steam vessels into the opium trade in 1849. Families of the Frolic'sÓ owners preferred to forget the source of their fortunes, but in 1965 divers discovered the remains of the opium clipper, & 134 years after its wreck an archaeologist-anthropologist was inspired to pursue its colorful history. Illustrations.Layton, Thomas N. is the author of 'Voyage of the Frolic New England Merchants And the Opium Trade', published 1997 under ISBN 9780756787646 and ISBN 0756787645.