and cargo.

Now there dwelt in Salem one of the great men of his time, Elias
Hasket Derby, the first American millionaire, and very much more
than this. He was a shipping merchant with a vision and with the
hard-headed sagacity to make his dreams come true. His was a
notable seafaring family, to begin with. His father, Captain
Richard Derby, born in 1712, had dispatched his small vessels to
the West Indies and Virginia and with the returns from these
voyages he had loaded assorted cargoes for Spain and Madeira and
had the proceeds remitted in bills of exchange to London or in
wine, salt, fruit, oil, lead, and handkerchiefs to America.
Richard Derby's vessels had eluded or banged away at the
privateers during the French War from 1756 to 1763, mounting from
eight to twelve guns, "with four cannon below decks for close
quarters." Of such a temper was this old sea-dog who led the
militia and defiantly halted General Gage's regulars at the North
River bridge in Salem, two full months before the skirmish at
Lexington. Eight of the nineteen cannon which it was proposed to
seize from the patriots had been taken from the ships of Captain
Richard Derby and stored in his warehouse for the use of the
Provincial Congress.

It was Richard's son, Captain John Derby, who carried to England
in the swift schooner Quero the first news of the affair at
Lexington, ahead of the King's messenger. A sensational arrival,
if ever there was one! This Salem shipmaster, cracking on sail
like a proper son of his sire, making the passage in twenty-nine
days and handsomely beating the lubberly Royal Express Packet
Sukey which left Boston four days sooner, and startling the