Salvation on the high seas: 1884 share certificate for a famed missionary vessel

The original Morning Star, sponsored by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, was financed through a simple but highly effective plan: individual shares would be sold for ten cents each, enabling even children to participate in "saving" the souls of unfortunate Micronesians. Some 120,000 individuals chipped in their dimes, providing not only ample funds for building the ship, but also plenty for operating expenses and repairs. The ship, a "hermaphrodite brig," was built in Chelsea, Massachusetts in the span of twelve weeks and set sail from Boston Harbor on December 1, 1856. The ship rounded Cape Horn in the following February and finally reached Hawaii in April 1857. The Morning Star sailed on several more missions before it was sold in 1866. However, the great success of the missions led to the building of several more ships, similarly financed and of the same name, over the next several decades.

The present certificate, for a share in one of the subsequent Morning Stars, was issued to one Nettie A. Sanford.

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