54 CAPTAIN ZACHARY G. LAMSON 



seaport towns had become pronounced. 

 Sailors, as a class, are not provident, and 

 when we consider that just before the em- 

 bargo, the United States owned 1,200,000 

 tons of shipping, manned by eighty thou- 

 sand sailors, it is evident it could not be 

 otherwise. Part of our seamen were em- 

 ployed on American vessels abroad, and 

 part in coasting and fishing, but the crews 

 that should have manned two thirds of the 

 American marine were idle or serving on 

 British vessels. 1 One of the jokes of that 

 day on the embargo and the papers are 

 full of them refers to the emigration to 

 Canada : " Where are you going, Jack ? To 

 Halifax, by gum, I can't stand this dam'- 

 bargo any longer." Those of the sailors 

 who remained at home, and the small 

 tradesmen and mechanics, suffered, and 

 suffered severely. 



1 "The British packet 'Prince Adolphus' sailed from 

 New York last Saturday for Falmouth, England. Her 

 decks were crowded with seamen going to England to 

 seek employment." New York Herald, March 22, 1808. 



