258 CAPTAIN ZACHARY G. LAMSON 



hanged ; but he eluded capture, and in 1821 

 was cruising in the brigantine "Pride," 

 making the Island of Margarita his ren- 

 dezvous. Lafitte, however, was a man who 

 conducted operations on a large scale, and 

 hardly a type of the ordinary pirate of the 

 Caribbean Sea. Most of the piracy in the 

 West Indies at this time was conducted in 

 large boats or small sloops and schooners of 

 not over seventy tons. These vessels of shal- 

 low draught, manned by a motley crew of 

 Spaniards, Portuguese, and negroes, lurked 

 among the numerous keys, and levied toll 

 on passing ships. Although carrying one 

 or two heavy guns, the pirates relied chiefly 

 on boarding, neither expecting nor en- 

 countering resistance. 1 The captured ves- 

 sel was robbed of its cargo, but life was 

 rarely taken, 2 not from any conscientious 



1 In looking over the files of the Boston, New York 

 and Salem papers for the years 1820 to 1822 inclusive, 

 the writer found but two cases where organized resist- 

 ance was made to a piratical attack in the Caribbean 

 Sea. 



2 This was true as a rule, but in quite a number of 



