132 CAPTAIN ZACHARY G. LAMSON 



and an adaptability which the English 

 lacked. They were really in 1800 the picked 

 men of a picked race, and their ranks were 

 continually reinforced by a stream of green 

 awkward youths who poured in from the 

 country, boys too ambitious to endure the 

 dull life of the farm or boys impatient of 

 restraint who had run away from home, - 

 in other words, the most active and enter- 

 prising of the district. 



In what, strictly speaking, constitutes a 

 skilled sailor, in knowledge of the mech- 

 anism of a vessel and the ability to get the 

 best results from that knowledge, there was 

 little to choose between the English and 

 American; but the motto of the one was 

 conservatism, of the other progress. Partly 

 from his nature, still more from social 

 barriers, the English sailor was satisfied to 

 remain a sailor or perhaps a petty officer, 

 while the American regarded the forecastle 

 as the mere stepping-stone to the master's 

 berth. 1 This possibility, almost certainty, 



1 In or about 1800 Captain Lamson sailed in the brig 



