DIARY OF CAPTAIN LAMSON 183 



on him, and I suppose he saw the dejection 

 of my spirits, for he encouraged me and 

 told me to keep up good spirits and I should 

 be off again shortly. In about three weeks 

 I sailed again for them for Alexandria 1 with 

 a half cargo of hemp, candles, sailcloth, 

 and consigned to Lewis Deblois for sale. 

 My order was to take in a cargo of flour 

 and proceed to Hamburg, then occupied by 

 French troops and blockaded by the Eng- 

 lish cruisers. I had a short passage to Alex- 

 andria say seven days and on the 

 fifty-sixth day I was captured on the River 

 Elbe just below Cuxhaven. 2 



The particulars were, that when about 

 twenty leagues from the Elbe I was boarded 

 by his Majesty's cruiser, L'Aimable Frig- 



1 Alexandria was an important port in 1800, exporting 

 large amounts of wheat and tobacco. 



"An Alexandria, Virginia, paper says that in three 

 months 36,000 barrels of flour were inspected at that port 

 and between fifty and one hundred vessels are lying in 

 harbor, waiting to load." Salem Gazette, Sept. 22, 

 1797. 



2 Cuxhaven, the port of Hamburg. 



