150 CAPTAIN ZACHARY G. LAMSON 



English war ships, twice captured by pi- 

 rates and three times beating them off, 

 following his fortune in South America 

 with alternate success and failure, Captain 

 Lamson played the game of commerce for 

 all it was worth ; but the cards were staked 

 against him and when he died in Granada, 

 C. A., at the age of sixty-three, he was poor 

 in all but experience. 



The fragmentary account of his life 

 which we publish was written at an un- 

 known date and had for its title, "The 

 Diary of Zachary Gage Lamson written by 

 himself." The " Diary," including a slight 

 reference to childhood, covers his life from 

 the time he shipped as cabin boy aboard 

 the bark "Essex" in 1797 to and including 

 part of his voyage in the brig "Isabella" in 

 1814. Though the "Diary" was written 

 long after most of the events recorded, 

 Captain Lamson was very accurate in his 

 dates, and the files of the Boston and 

 Salem papers confirm his facts. Although 

 his style was at times labored and his sen- 



