the
ship would return to the United States with a cargo worth a hundred
thousand dollars. Some of the most eminent merchants in Boston, in this
way, laid the foundation of their fortunes.

This trade was not carried on without risk. The north-west coast of
America at that period had not been surveyed; no good charts had been
constructed, and the shores were lined with reefs and sunken rocks,
which, added to a climate where boisterous winds prevailed, rendered the
navigation dangerous.

This traffic was attended with other perils. The Indians were
bloodthirsty and treacherous; and it required constant vigilance on the
part of a ship's company to prevent their carrying into execution some
deep-laid plan to massacre the crew and gain possession of the ship.
For this reason the trading vessels were always well armed and strongly
manned. With such means of defence, and a reasonable share of prudence
on the part of the captain, there was but little danger. But the
captain and officers were not always prudent. Deceived by the smiles and
humility of the natives, they sometimes allowed them to come on board in
large numbers, when, at a signal from their chief, they drew their arms
from beneath their garments and commenced the work of death. After they
had become masters of the ship, they would cut the cables and let her
drift ashore, gaining a valuable prize in the cargo, in the iron and
copper bolts, spikes, and nails with which the timbers and planks were
fastened together, and in the tools, furniture, clothing, and arms. A
number of vessels belonging to New England were in this way cut off by
the savages on the "north-west coast," and unsuccessful attempts were
made on others.

The "ower true tales" of disasters and massacres on the "north-west
coast" seemed to invest a voyage to that quarter with a kind of magic
attraction or fascination as viewed through the medium of a youthful
imagination; and a voyage of this description would give me an
opportunity to perfect myself in much which pertained to the sailor and
navigator.

After a delay of a few weeks the opportunity offered which I so eagerly
sought. The ship Packet was preparing for a voyage from Boston to the
north-west coast via Liverpool, and I succeeded in obtaining a situation
on board that ship before the mast. I hastened to Boston and took up my
temporary abode at a boarding house, kept by Mrs. Lillibridge, a widow,
in Spring Lane, on or near the spot on which