Introduction -- European despotism: The fisherman and the dodge of Venice -- Dutch merchants in eighteenth century New York: Freetraders and bankruptcies -- Colonial Albany: The ice breaks on the Hudson River -- The English merchant mentality: Life and death of a miser -- Birth of independence: The battle of Bunker Hill -- The old military mentality in the New World: The flogged Indian -- Trading off the South American coast: A ship is overrun and recaptured -- Strange predicament of a sea captain: A literary soiree in New York City -- Politics in the young republic: Money and morality -- Brutality on the high seas: An early-day sea wolf.
