Access
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Processing Note
Preferred Citation
Acquisition Information
Historical or Biographical Note
Collection Scope and Content
Collection Arrangement
Title: George S. Payne 1835-1840 journals onboard Niantic (built 1835; ship, 3m)
Date: 1835-1840
Identifier/Call Number: HDC1656 (SAFR 23812)
Creator:
Payne, George S.
Physical Description:
4 items.
Online items available.
Repository:
San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, Historic Documents Department
Building E, Fort Mason
San Francisco, CA 94123
Abstract: The George S. Payne 1835-1840 journals onboard NIANTIC (built 1835; ship, 3m), (SAFR 23812, HDC 1656) consists of four handwritten
journals containing the observations and musings of able seaman and second mate George S. Payne while sailing on four year-long
voyages from New York City to China and back. The digitally scanned pages of the journals are available for use.
Physical Location: San Francisco Maritime NHP, Historic Documents Department
Language(s):
In English.
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This collection is open for use unless otherwise noted.
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Preferred Citation
[Item description], [Location within collection organization identified by Collection Number/Series Number/File Unit Number/Item
Number], HDC1656 (SAFR 23812), George S. Payne 1835-1840 journals onboard Niantic (built 1835; ship, 3m), San Francisco Maritime
National Historical Park
Acquisition Information
SAFR-02207
Journals were received as a gift.
Historical or Biographical Note
The NIANTIC (built 1835; ship, 3m) is one of the most famous storeships of the Gold Rush Fleet and has periodically returned
to public attention long after fire consumed the ship down to the waterline in 1851. Rediscoveries of the buried wreck, in
1872, 1907, and again in 1978, have ensured that the ship continues to be remembered as one of the first of the ships that
were hauled ashore and converted to "other uses" in the frenzied growth of the San Francisco waterfront in 1849 and 1850.
Mr. Thomas Childs, of Chatham, Connecticut built the NIANTIC for the New York mercantile company N.L. & G. in 1835. She was
one hundred nineteen feet long and displaced approximately ninety tons. Described as having a square stern, round neck, two
decks and a simple billet head, she was a typical full-bodied cargo carrier with a twenty nine foot beam and a twenty foot
depth of hold with a nearly flat bottom. She was built for capacity, not for speed, and used that capacity in her lifetime
in the China Trade, as a whaler in the South Pacific and finally on land as a warehouse, the substructure of a hotel and ultimately
as part of the foundation of the Trans-America Pyramid in the heart of the financial district of San Francisco.
NIANTIC's first incarnation was as a ship engaged in the China Trade, making four trips to the ports of Canton, Linton, Whampoa
and Hong Kong in China and Manila in the Philippines, returning to New York after approximately twelve months. Packed with
tea, porcelain, silks and other commodities, she was a major factor in the financial success of her owners as each of the
four voyages between 1835 and 1840 is estimated to have made the company nearly $400,000 profit on each trip.
One of the most lucrative aspects of the China Trade was the illicit, but extremely profitable trade in opium. A trade in
which British and American firms transported the drug from India to China. It was a controversial source of conflict between
China and foreign traders, especially the British, who in response to the Chinese closure of the port and destruction of a
massive cache of the narcotic, invaded and occupied Hong Kong in the First Opium War. Writing in his journals, George Payne
records the Chinese preparations to repel the invaders in the fall of 1840, including the beheadings of westerners involved
in the trade. Fortunately for Payne and his crewmates, the Niantic made her money through the export of tea and not the importation
of opium. As a result she was delayed but allowed to sail home as a relatively unmolested witness to the conflict.
George Silliman Payne, born in Cornwall Connecticut sailed onboard the first four voyages of the NIANTIC, keeping a journal
of his adventurers onboard, advancing from able seaman to the rank of Second Mate over the course of his five year seafaring
career. After leaving the ship in 1840, Payne served for a time in the US Army and attained the rank of Captain. Ending up
in south Florida at the conclusion of the Second Seminole War, he was running a trading post in Seminole Indian territory
in the summer of 1849 when he was violently murdered by a band of outlaw Indians in what came to be known as the Massacre
at Payne's creek. This massacre turned out to be the opening salvo in the buildup to the Third Seminole War and Payne's gravestone
is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is located on the grounds of a Florida State Park.
After 1840, NIANTIC was sold and converted to a whaler in the South Pacific. Nine years later, after coming to San Francisco
in the Gold Rush, NIANTIC was dragged across the mudflats of Yerba Buena Cove to become one of the most famous and important
warehouses in the booming city of San Francisco. In that same year of 1849 across the continent in the everglade swamps of
Florida, George S. Payne's death started a chain of events which resulted in the Third Seminole War and the virtual destruction
of the native population of Florida. These journals provide a unique glimpse into the young lives of both George S. Payne
and the ship NIANTIC.
Collection Scope and Content
The George S. Payne 1835-1840 journals onboard NIANTIC (built 1835; ship, 3m), (SAFR 23812, HDC 1656) consists of four handwritten
journals containing the observations and musings of able seaman and second mate George S. Payne while sailing on four year-long
voyages from New York City to China and back. The digitally scanned pages of the journals are available for use.
Built in 1835 for the mercantile company N.L & G. of Chatham Connecticut, NIANTIC was put to sea in New York City for the
first time in October of that year. Engaged in the China Trade, she made four trips in the second half of the 1830's to the
ports of Canton, Whampoa, and Hong Kong in China and Manila in the Philippines, returning to New York after each year-long
voyage.
The journals written by the young George Payne, show his growth from a naive eighteen year old kid with no sailing experience
to five years later, a confident sailor clambering up the masts in a gale to reef sails and repair lines. The journals also
describe in intense detail the adventures of Payne and his shipmates on NIANTIC, including the murder of the Captain's steward
by the ship's cook, the dress and religion of the Chinese, the threat of Malaysian pirates, the beauty and terror of an erupting
volcano in the Philippines, a devastating outbreak of malaria on the ship, and the tensions between the Chinese and the British
Empire surrounding the beginning of the First Opium War in 1840. Payne makes a diary entry about twice a week through the
four voyages, noting the weather and the ship's position by latitude and longitude, enabling the reader to feel the voyages
as if onboard.
Collection Arrangement
Four journals and nine compact discs housed in a 15.5" by 10.5" oversize box.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Sailing ships
Payne, George S.
Niantic (built 1835; ship, 3m)
South Sea Islands
China, Southwest
Diaries
Journals (accounts)
Sailors
Sailing