226 CAPTAIN ZACHARY G. LAMSON 



mingham, my merchant, that the American 

 property was in jeopardy. I, consequently, 

 with Augustus Aspinwall made an arrange- 

 ment with the house of De Taslet & Co. 

 to cover our property by a fictitious sale, 

 which they did at three per cent on the 

 property saved. I immediately began dis- 

 charging, though raining and blowing hard, 

 to the astonishment of all the Americans 

 there, and had got one half of my cargo on 

 shore when every vessel and cargo the next 

 day was sequestered by order of Napoleon, 1 

 and guards placed on board all our ves- 

 sels. 2 I saved one fourth of my adventure, 

 which netted me $1900. 3 As the orders in 



1 Confiscated under the Rambouillet Decree of March 

 23, 1810, not published until May 14, 1810. 



2 "French paper of Nov. 27 states, advertised to be 

 sold on Dec. 15, 1810 at Bayonne, the * Wells' and many 

 others. The * Wells ' is owned by his honor Lt. Gov. 

 Gray." Columbian Centinel, Jan. 19, 1811. 



3 "What magnanimity and loving proof of French 

 kindness. Ship ' Wells/ bought by a carpenter for sake 

 of her spars, brought 4500 francs, one thousand dollars; 

 Owned by Hon. William Gray of Boston. It appears that 



