Throughout the various changes of management the Black Ball liners carried a crimson swallowtail flag with a black ball in the centre; the Dramatic liners, blue above white with a white L in blue and a black L in white for the Liverpool ships, and a red swallowtail with white ball and black L in the centre for the New Orleans ships; the Union Line to Havre, a white field with black U in the centre; John Griswold’s London Line, red swallowtail with black X in centre; the Swallowtail Line, red before white, swallowtail for the London ships, and blue before white, swallowtail for the Liverpool ships; Robert Kermit’s Liverpool Line, blue swallowtail with red star in the centre; Spofford & Tillotson’s Liverpool Line, yellow field, blue cross with white S. T. in the centre. These flags disappeared from the sea many years ago. The packet captain, no matter what his age might be, was usually spoken of as “the old man,” a title frequently embellished by the crew with vigorous epithets, which seemed to them appropriate, but which must now, I fear, be left to the imagination of the reader. Few if any Americans sailed regularly before the mast on board of these vessels, the crews being largely composed of the most abandoned scoundrels out of British and continental jails. I shall have something further to say concerning these interesting beings in connection with their exploits on board of the California clipper ships. Among the famous New York packet captains, and there were many of them, were Charles H. Marshall, of the _South America_, _James Cropper_, and _Britannia_; N. B. Palmer, of the _Siddons_, _Garrick_, _Huntsville_, and _Hibernia_, and his brother, Alexander, later of the _Garrick_; F. A. De Peyster, of the _Columbus_ and _Ontario_; John Collins, an uncle of E. K. Collins, of the _Shakespeare_; John Eldridge, of the _Liverpool_, and his brother Asa, of the _Roscius_, and Oliver, another brother, who was mate with Captain John; Ezra Nye, of the _Independence_ and _Henry Clay_; William Skiddy, an older brother of Francis Skiddy, of the _New World_; Benjamin Trask, of the _Virginia_, _Jamestown_, and _Saratoga_; Joseph Delano, of the _Columbia_ and _Patrick Henry_; John Britton, of the _Constitution_, later United States consul at Southampton; Ira Bursley, of the _Hottinger_; Philip Woodhouse, of the _Queen of the West_; James A. Wooton, of the _Havre_; William H. Allen, of the _Virginia_, _Waterloo_, _West Point_, and _Constellation_; E. E. Morgan, of the _Hudson_ and _Victoria_; John Johnston, of the _Rhone_ and _Isaac Bell_; and of a later period, Robert C. Cutting, of the _Adelaide_; and Samuel Samuels, of the _Dreadnought_.