DIARY OF CAPTAIN lAMSON 229 



Archangel at that time was the only free 

 port in Russia. The difficulty with the 

 continental powers in regard to the passage 

 of Elsinore made it unsafe to pass that way 

 for St. Petersburg. The produce at Arch- 

 angel was transported to Moscow for sale ; 

 and the fire at Moscow our merchants too 

 well remembered who had their goods 

 shipped there, as it was a total loss to many. 

 Fortunately I closed my voyage and was 

 almost the only one who got away with their 

 funds. 



Archangel was a busy place at that time 

 and by having an army of ten thousand 

 men stationed there they kept the place 

 quite lively. The disposition of the mer- 

 chants was to enjoy themselves, so that with 

 some, the day and night was hardly dis- 

 tinguishable. I was quite tired of the place, 

 being all the time employed, and, it being 

 all daylight I had but little sleep and till I 

 doubled the North Cape and got to the 

 South and West, I did not feel myself in 

 my proper element. I had about a seventy 



