In some way this scheme fell down; probably he could not raise the capital. But it is worth telling, as showing the drift of affairs in our slave territory at that time.
As to his proposal to introduce Africans as apprentices for life, to evade the letter of the law, he said in a letter to Secretary Cobb, in 1858: "I would land the cargo on the levee in New Orleans and test the legality of the matter in the courts of the United States." And because Cobb refused to sanction such a plan, Lamar asked sternly in another letter, "Has Northern public opinion, then, acquired the force of law?"
The yacht Wanderer, of which Lamar makes mention, was without doubt the most notable slave-smuggler known to the trade, and her story is therefore well worth giving here.
According to the records of the New York Yacht Club, the Wanderer was built by James G. Baylis, at Port Jefferson, L. I., for Mr. J. D. Johnson, a wealthy member of the club. She was launched in June, 1857. Her dimensions were: Length over all, 104 feet; keel, 95; beam, 26.5; depth of hold, 10.5; draught, 10.5. Her mainmast was 84 feet long and its topmast 35. The main boom was 65 feet long, and its gaff and the main gaff 35. The bowsprit was 23 feet outboard.
Captain Thomas Hawkins superintended her while on the blocks, and "to hear him tell it." said one of his friends to me, "you'd think she could fly instead of sailing." He added: "She was, however, a very fast schooner." A beautiful painting of the Wanderer hangs in the Yacht Club's reception room at this writing (1900).
Mr. Johnson sold the schooner to Captain W. C.
