120 CAPTAIN ZACHARY G. LAMSON 



the length and character of the voyage. 

 The American system by which sailors 

 were allowed to carry adventures on their 

 own account, not only increased the effi- 

 ciency of the crew to a marked degree, but 

 also added to their wages. From cabin boy 

 to master each seaman might carry his own 

 private venture, unlimited as to value, but 

 restricted as to space. 1 Sometimes a certain 

 weight was allowed, sometimes the sailor 

 was restricted to his own chest; but, what- 

 ever the privilege granted, it made the sea- 

 man a partner in the voyage and interested 

 in its success. 



From 1800 to 1812, while the United 

 States was the neutral carrier for the world, 

 wages of American seamen were very high. 

 In 1806 Admiral Willaumez writes to the 

 French minister at Washington, "I have 



1 On the ship "Franklin," which sailed from Boston to 

 Batavia in 1798, the first and second mates were allowed 

 two and a half tons privilege and the third mate one ton 

 and the sailors what they could carry in their chests. 

 Hist. Coll. Essex Institute, 1860, p. 207. 



