The research that underlies Young Men and the Sea is mainly embodied in a series of related data files originally constructed within a Paradox 8 database program and converted to three MySql databases for use on this web site. These databases are based around a series of core voyage files that included 10,451 man-voyages between 1641 and 1850. Mariners qualified for inclusion in these files if they could be identified by name and rank on a voyage of known date; and unless otherwise specified, each mariner was counted for each voyage on which he sailed. The sources for these voyages include:

1. Legal Records. George Francis Dow and Mary G. Thresher, eds., Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts, 1636-1686, 9 vols. (Salem, Mass., 1911-1975); "A Volume Relating to the Early History of Boston Containing the Aspinwall Notarial Records from 1644-1651," in Registry Department of the City of Boston, Records Relating to the Early History of Boston (Boston, 1903), vol. 32; Archie N. Frost, comp., Verbatim Transcriptions of the Records of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts, 1636-1694, 57 vols. (Salem, Mass., 1939); Files of the Essex County Inferior Court of Common Pleas, property of the Supreme Judicial Court, Division of Archives and Records Preservation, on deposit at the James Duncan Phillips Library;, Peabody-Essex Museum, Salem, Mass.; "Essex County Notarial Records, 1697- 1768," Essex Institute Historical Collections, 41 (1905):, 182-192, 381-398; 42 (1906):, 152-168, 245-256, 346-354; 43 (1907):, 49-64, 223-232; 44 (1908):, 89-92, 147-152, 325-331; 45 (1909):, 90-96, 130-136, 212-220; 46 (1910):, 81-96, 114-128, 273-288, 325- 332; 47 (1911):, 124-132, 253-260, 333-340; 48 (1912):, 72-78, hereafter cited as E.I.H.C.; Records of the Court of Admiralty of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, 1718-1747, 3 vols., Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives, Suffolk County Court House, Boston, Mass.

2. Town Histories. Sidney Perley, The History of Salem, Massachusetts, 3 vols. (Salem, Mass., 1924-1928); James Duncan Phillips, Salem in the Eighteenth Century (Boston, 1937); James Duncan Phillips, Salem in the Seventeenth Century (Cambridge, Mass., 1933).

3. Account Books. George Corwin, Account Book, 1663-1672, 1671-1684, Curwen Family Papers, 1641-1902,; Philip English Account Books, 1664-1718, 1697-1710, English/Touzell/Hathorne Papers, 1661-1851; William Pickering, Account Book, 1695- 1718,; Joseph Orne, Account Book, 1719-1744, Timothy Orne, Account Book, 1738- 1758, 1762-1767, Orne Family Papers, 1719-1899; Richard Derby, Account Book, 1756- 1790, Derby Family Papers, 1716-1921, all in James Duncan Phillips Library, Peabody- Essex Museum, Salem, Mass.

4. Customs Records. Naval Officer Shipping Lists for: Massachusetts, 1786-1765, C.O. 5/848-851; Barbados, 1678-1737, C.O. 33/13-16; Leeward Islands, 1683-1720, C.O. 157/1; Nevis, 1704-1729, C.O. 187/1, 2; Bermuda, 1716, C.O. 41/6, and Jamaica, 1683- 1702, C.O. 142/13, 1709-1722, C.O., 142/14; Maryland, 1689-1754, C.O. 5/749; Harriet Silvester Tapley, ed., Early Coastwise and Foreign Shipping of Salem: A Record of the Entrances and Clearances of the Port of Salem, 1750-1769 (Salem, Mass., 1934); Salem Crew Lists, 1803-1850, Crew Lists for Salem, 1805, 1815, 1825, 1835, 1850, Massachusetts, Records of the U.S. Customs Service, National Archives Northeast Region, Waltham, Mass.

5. Shipping Papers. Curwen Family Papers, 1641-1902; English/Touzell/Hathorne Papers, 1661-1851; Orne Family Papers, 1719-1899; Ward Family Papers, 1718-1945; Derby Family Papers, 1716-1921; Felt Family Papers, 1717-1915; Goodhue Family Papers, 1684-1858; Cabot Family Papers, 1712-1862; Townshend Family Papers; ????-????; Benjamin Pickman Family Papers, 1763-1843, all in James Duncan Phillips Library, Peabody-Essex Museum, Salem, Mass.

6. Vital Records. Vital Records of Salem, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year, 1849, 6 vols. (Salem, Mass., 1916-1925); Vital Records of Beverly, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year, 1849, 2 vols. (Topsfield, Mass., 1906-1907); Vital Records of Gloucester, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year, 1849, 3 vols. (Topsfield and Salem, Mass., 1917- 1924); Vital Records of Newburyport, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year, 1849, 2 vols. (Salem, Mass., 1911).

7. Ship Registries. Massachusetts Vessel Registrations, 1697-1714, Massachusetts Archives, 7:19-515.

8. Provincial Records. The Acts and Resolves, Public and Private, of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, 21 vols. (Boston, Mass., 1869-1922); Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, 5 vols. (Boston, Mass., 1853-1854).

9. Tax Records. Salem Tax Valuation List, 1758, 1762, Salem Tax and Valuation Lists, 1689- , microfilm copy in possession of James Duncan Phillips Library, Peabody-Essex Museum, Salem, Mass.

1. Tax Records. Salem Tax Valuation List, 1758, 1762, Salem Tax and Valuation Lists, 1689- , microfilm copy in possession of James Duncan Phillips Library, Peabody-Essex Museum, Salem, Mass.