China Trade in Boston is launched.

Columbia sails from Boston. Backed by Joseph Barrell and others, the ship, captained initially by John Kendrick then by Capt. Robert Gray, arrives in the Pacific Northwest in 1788. There, it exchanges its cargo of chisels for otter pelts, before arriving at Whampoa, China on November 17, 1789, where it subsequently exchanges the pelts for tea, silk, porcelain and other goods. The Columbia becomes the first U.S. ship to circumnavigate the globe and the 15th to return from China when it arrives back in Boston on August 9, 1790 [10].