ECONOMIC SOCIAL 123 



cent on what you purchase." * In 1813 Cap- 

 tain Coggeshall of the schooner "David 

 Porter" received five per cent primage, and 

 a commission of two and a half per cent on 

 sales. 2 When we consider that a ship of 

 two hundred tons might easily carry a cargo 

 worth sixty to eighty thousand dollars, the 

 value of primage and commissions can be 

 readily appreciated. 



Although the pay received by an Ameri- 

 can captain in the early part of the last cen- 

 tury was large, as measured by the cost of 

 living and the remuneration accorded to 

 other professions, yet the time during 

 which he might reasonably expect to receive 

 this pay was short. Cholera in the East and 

 yellow fever in the West Indies, malarial 

 fever on the African coast and typhus fever 

 in the unsanitary ports of Europe, in addi- 

 tion to the ordinary perils of the sea, car- 

 ried off hundreds of mariners while yet in 

 the prime of life. Out of 634 members who 



1 Currier, History of Newburyport, p. 452. 



2 Coggeshall, History of American Privateers. 



