DIARY OF CAPTAIN LAMSON 179 



gan to think of another, and in my next 

 selection I sought one who repaid all loss 

 I could have anticipated. I began soon to 

 fit out the ship for the Mediterranean with 

 a cargo of sugar and coffee and now was 

 hailed first captain, and being only twenty 

 years and six months old, it was thought 

 my prospects were very flattering, but 

 thorns were already in the path of com- 

 merce which were quickly to appear. In 

 July 26, 1805, I sailed from Salem for 

 Marseilles, 1 Leghorn and a market, and 

 my sworn cost of cargo was $76,000 and 

 proceeded on about twenty-eight days. 

 When abreast of Tangiers, in the strait, I 

 was captured by the H. B. M. Frigate, 

 Naid, Captain Thomas Dundas, 2 eleven 

 days from England, with orders to capture 

 all vessels bound to a French port. I need 

 to say only that we were carried to Gibral- 



1 " Ship 'Wells,' Lamson, cleared from Salem for Mar- 

 sailles." Salem Gazette, July 26, 1805. 



2 The "Naid," 36, Captain, afterwards Vice-Admiral, 

 Sir Thomas Dundas. 



