China, America and the Pacific

Robert H Waters was born in New Haven, Connecticut, on 27 February 1826. According to his obituary in the Salem Register of 24 July 1881, the source of much of the following information, Waters came to Salem in 1843 at the age of 17 to join the Merchant Marine. After a period before the mast, learning the trade of navigation, he was engaged by Brookhouse and West, a large shipping house. His first command was the barque Imaum and then the Vaspasian. From 1855-1861 he sailed for Theodore and George Chase, Boston shipowners engaged in the China Trade, commanding the Buena Vista, Industry and Eagle Wing. In 1861 Waters joined in partnership with Luther H Felton, a Boston distiller. John Banchor was the commission merchant and business agent for Felton and Waters during the 1860s, working from New York. Waters later went on to own the Bay State Sugar Refinery. By the year of his death he was listed in the Boston Business Directory as a commission merchant.

Please note that some of the metadata for this document has been drawn from the Peabody Essex Museum catalogue.