Europe, the East and West Indies and South America. In his later
years he went into banking. Of the size of his fortune we are left in
ignorance.

A GLANCE AT OTHER SHIPPING FORTUNES.

These are instances of rich men whose original capital came from
privateering, which was recognized as a legitimate method of reprisal.
As to the inception of the fortunes of other prominent capitalists of
the period, few details are extant in the cases of most of them. Of the
antecedents and life of Thomas Russell, a Boston shipper, who died in
1796, "supposedly leaving the largest amount of property which up to
that time had been accumulated in New England," little is known. The
extent of his fortune cannot be learned. Russell was one of the first,
after the Revolution, to engage in trade with Russia, and drove many a
hard bargain. He built a stately mansion in Charleston and daily
traveled to Boston in a coach drawn by four black horses. In business he
was inflexible; trade considerations aside he was an alms-giver. Of
Cyrus Butler, another shipowner and trader, who, according to one
authority, was probably the richest man in New England[44]--and who,
according to the statement of another publication[45]--left a fortune
estimated at from three to four millions of dollars, few details
likewise are known. He was the son of Samuel Butler, a shoemaker who
removed from Edgartown, Mass., to Providence about 1750 and became a
merchant and shipowner. Cyrus followed in his steps. When this
millionaire died at the age of 82 in 1849, the size of his fortune
excited wonderment throughout New England. It may be here noted as a
fact worthy of comment that of the group of hale rich shipowners there
were few who did not live to be octogenarians.

The rapidity with which large fortunes were made was not a riddle. Labor
was cheap and unorganized, and the profits of trade were enormous.
According to Weeden the customary profits at the close of the eighteenth
century on muslins and calicoes were one hundred per cent. Cargoes of
coffee sometimes yielded three or four times that amount. Weeden
instances one shipment of plain glass tumblers costing less than $1,000
which sold for $12,000 in the Isle of France.[46]

The prospects of a dazzling fortune, speedily reaped, instigated owners
of capital to take the most perilous chances. Decayed ships,
superficially patched up, were often sent out on the chance that luck
and skill would get them through the