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Everyone knows about Marblehead's connection to the American Revolution but how much do you know about the town's connection to the cod revolution and Bilbao Spain?
Historian Don Carleton, guest curator of the "Bilbao Bound" exhibit now on display at the Marblehead Museum was a displaced New Englander living in southern Europe when he stumbled across a connection between his roots on the North Shore and a city in Northern Spain – cod.
The North Shore’s forgotten lifeline to Spain
Carleton grew up on the North Shore but said when he moved to France, about 12 years ago, he was struck by the fact that he was finding cod in Mediterranean cuisine. He said he knew New Englanders were shipping cod but he wondered what ports they were sending it to.
After finding an article by historian James Lydon that looked at the early American trade with southern Europe, Carleton said he learned that the most important port for New Englanders was Bilbao, Spain. At the time, Carleton said all he knew about the town he calls the Pittsburgh of Spain is that as part of an ambitious urban renewal project the Guggenheim had opened there and there is a famous Kurt Weill song called "Bilbao."
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So he did what everyone does when they're wondering about anything really, he went online.
"And I saw this Maritime Museum, and I emailed the Maritime Museum some general questions," he said.
The director of the museum, Jon Ruigomez Matxin, not only got right back to him, he invited him to come by for a tour and Carleton, who was on his way home to the Bay State for the summer, took him up on the offer.
"He and I really hit it off and he said, 'you know, geez, this would be a great subject for an exhibition,'" Carleton said.
And although he had just finished a museum exhibition that left him swearing off doing another, Carleton admitted that he was hooked. When he got home he went to the Peabody Essex Museum's library and said he was stunned by what he found.
"It was like as soon as you started digging there was just this avalanche of material documenting this whole history of trade, which really connected the North Shore to Bilbao and other ports … for almost 200 years, starting in the mid 17th century, going almost up into the mid 19th century," he said.
Carleton said he knew a fair amount of North Shore maritime history, but people often talk about trade with China and the importance of the tragic history of slavery in the development of new world economies, but no one ever talked about trade with Spain, he said.
"I was like, wow, this is a whole hidden story, a whole hidden dimension of the North Shore's maritime heritage that's sort of been forgotten yet there's piles of documentation for it," he said.
Initially Carleton sought to put together a project involving Marblehead, Salem and Beverly that explored the history and legacies of the cod trade. And just when it seemed things were moving forward the pandemic hit followed by some other minor derailments.
But what emerged was a spark that took hold in Marblehead and a close working partnership with Marblehead Museum Executive Director Lauren McCormack, Carleton said.
When Marblehead cod fueled a transatlantic trade
The exhibit is an interesting mix of materials. Some items are directly from Bilbao, like a compartment door from the cabinets of the Bilbao Consulado and some are closer to home, like an old scale used to weigh fish that was found across the street languishing in the basement of the Lee Mansion, Carleton said.
Walk in the front door of the Washington Street museum and straight ahead is the introductory exhibit. It will give visitors a bit of history of the salt code trade and how trade connections between Marblehead and Bilbao actually opened doors to getting Spanish aid during the early phases of the Revolutionary War. To the right is a replica of a 1740 painting showing a treacherous pass voyagers had to navigate to get to Bilbao.
A large display case to the left showcases items including a record book from their Port Authority, the aforementioned Bilbao Consulado.
"They kept really, really super good records," Carleton said.
There is a record book that shows the arrival, departure, commander and cargo of virtually every North Shore vessel to sail to Bilbao. It was kept by the merchants organization, which governed the port's operations for some 300 years. There is also a bill of lading, a legal document issued to shippers that serves as a receipt of goods and a contract for transportation, on display.
"This is from 1647 and it went over with the fish, and the Bill of Lading stayed in Bilbao ever since, this is the first time it's been back home in Massachusetts, as best as we can tell," Carleton said, indicating the 378 year old document.
There are also items on display from Marblehead Museums own collection, such as a "portledge bill," a list of crew members on a voyage from Marblehead to Spain or Portugal, their ranks and pay rates.
"Every time you had a voyage, you'd have this list," Carleton said.
Among the correspondence and records there is a model of a 17th century barge, "beam of scales" used to weigh fish, an olive jar and the large set of scales, an olive jar and among other things a photo display, on loan from the Eastern Yacht Club. Carleton said in 1910 the yacht club hosted a series of Spanish American yacht races between Marblehead and Bilbao. It was long after the trade had vanished into memory, he said, adding, "it's just a sort of fun little coda of this story of Marblehead's connection to Spain that is very cool."
The exhibit is open now thru Dec. 24, 2025; Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., 170 Washington St.
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