One of my ancestors: “There was a Captain W.T. Walker of New Bedford who, in 1847, bought for a song a ship so old that she was about to broken up for junk and no insurance broker would look at her. In this rotten relic he shipped a crew and went sailing in the Pacific. Miraculously keeping afloat, this Envoy of his was filled to the hatches with oil and bones, twice running, before she returned to her home port. She earned 138,450 on a total investment of eight thousand dollars (3.57 million on an investment of 217,000 in 2012 dollars!)