Columbia and Washington medal
Copper medal designed by Joseph Barrell; dies attributed to Joseph Callendar, 1787
40 mm
After the Revolution, New England merchants were eager to trade with the East Indies, and Canton, China in particular. The ship Columbia-Rediviva and the sloop Lady Washington opened the Boston-China Trade in 1787 by sailing around Cape Horn to the Northwest coast, where they traded for sea otter furs, highly prized in China. During the course of their voyage to Canton, the crews of the Columbia and Lady Washington distributed copies of a medal commemorating their "adventure on the Pacific Ocean." The sponsors also sent this copy to the recently founded Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston. When the Columbia returned to Boston by sailing across the Indian Ocean and around the Cape of Good Hope, it became the first American ship to circumnavigate the globe.
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