NARRATIVE
OF THE LIFE OF
PAUL CUFFE,
A descendant of an Indian family, which formerly resided in the eastern part of Connecticut and constituted a part of that fierce and warlike tribe of Indians called Pequots, of whose exploits in the early Wars of New-England, the reader may become acquainted by perusing “Trumbull's History of the Indian Wars.”
The subject of this narrative was born in the town of
Westport, in the State of Massachusetts. His father, Paul Cuffe,
was a sea-faring man, and had the command of a number of
merchant vessels. It was with him that I made my first
voyage, when a boy twelve years old. This was in the year 1808.
On the morning of a pleasant day in the month of May, of that
year, we hoisted sail and stood out for sea. There were 16
hands on board. This was new business to me, and with the
novelty attending a sea voyage I was highly pleased. Nothing
uncommon attended this voyage, which was made to
Passamaquaddy, for Plaster of Paris. We made this voyage down
in about 10 days. After loading our vessel, which took two
weeks, we again set sail for Wilmington, in Delaware, at which
port we safely arrived in 16 days, discharged our freight, took
in ballast and 300 bushels of apples, and sailed for Savannah,
in Georgia, where we arrived without any accident to mar the
pleasure of the voyage, in about twenty days, where we again
discharged our freight and reloaded our vessel with Cotton,
