Nestled between the beconing finger of Cape Cod and the granite face of Cape Ann, Boston has long been home to seafaring folk. Necessity, not choice, sent Bostonians to sea. Faced with the need to eek out a living where the soil is grudging and the climate harsh, the early settlers quickly turned to the sea. They did well, and soon from their countinghouses lining the town's wharves, Boston merchants instructed their captains "to trye all ports." By the early eighteenth century, Boston was one of the great seaports of the world.