Fanning & Coles

Fanning & Coles was an American firm engaged in the Old China Trade and related Maritime fur trade. The two principal partners were sea captain Edmund Fanning and financier Willet Coles. The firm existed from 1798 to 1815, owning several large mercantile vessels. Sailing from New York City to South America and later the Pacific Ocean, the American vessels would gather and purchase seal skins throughout southern Atlantic and Pacific. These valuable pelts included hides from the South American fur seal. After a successful voyage around Cape Horn and enough animal furs were gathered, the vessels from Fanning & Coles then typically sailed for the Qing Dynasty port of Guangzhou, China. Here valuable Chinese manufactured goods were purchased, which included nankeens and porcelain, in addition to stockpiles of tea commonly valued and sold for $40,000 in profits annually.

On the 1798 voyage of the Betsey they caught 100,000 seals which were sold in China.

On several voyages they discovered new uncharted islands such as Fanning Island and Palmyra Atoll. Coles and Fanning secured permission President James Madison for an expedition to the Fiji Island to buy rare woods for trade with China.

The firm built the 290 ton Tonquin. The firm sold the Tonquin to John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company for $37,000 in 1810. The Tonquin was sent to the Northwest to trade furs.

Willett Coles also owned a manhattan rum distillery with his father Stephen Coles. He is listed in 1811 as a founding member of a group that chartered the original Bank of America in NY. Coles was one of the first presidents of the New York City Fire Department (1808). The Coles were descendants of original settler Robert Coles who founded the settlement of Glen Cove, NY. ( originally called Musketa Cove)

Sources are the books written by Edmund Fanning on the voyages of the Betsey, national archives of the US, presidential documents of Jefferson, Monroe and Madison.