Series I. Benjamin Pickman (1763-1843) Shipping Papers contain shipping papers from 1789 to 1857. The ships' papers, arranged alphabetically by name of vessel, contain records of ships that Benjamin owned or in which he consigned cargo. Included are papers of Benjamin's whaling vessels, the ships Bengal and Catherine. Of interest in the ships' papers is master's correspondence from the ship Martha that describes an 1800 plague in Turkey and Bonaparte's defeat in Italy that same year. Also of note are two Samuel McIntire receipts, signed by the son of the Salem architect, for the figureheads and decoration of the ship Asia (1803) and the ship Derby (1806). The general shipping papers contain a letterbook, account books, miscellaneous merchant correspondence, and shipping accounts. Included are Derby/Pickman receipts generated from Benjamin and William Pickman's work as agents for Elias Hasket and John Derby.