262 CAPTAIN ZACHARY G. LAMSON 



the channel of Caye de Sucre, near the 

 coast of Cuba, he spoke the TJ. S. schooner 

 "Alligator." This vessel, together with 

 the "Shark" and "Grampus," had been 

 detailed by the government to cruise in 

 the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico to 

 put a stop to the piracies which threatened 

 to ruin American trade in those waters. 

 Captain Lamson boarded the "Alligator," 

 and learned from her captain the particu- 

 lars of an engagement which that vessel 

 and the "Grampus" had sustained with 

 several piratical vessels the day before, and 

 had the pleasure of watching from the deck 

 of the "Alligator" the chase of another 

 pirate by Captain Stockton in the tender, 

 "Jane." Although Captain Lamson, in 

 that part of the log of the "Belvidere" 

 which we quote, narrates what he saw and 

 heard on this occasion, still the account of 

 these same events given in the " Charleston 

 City Gazette and Commercial Daily Ad- 

 vertiser" of May 21, 1822, is so much more 

 comprehensive that we give it in full. " The 



