Of the three Silsbee brothers, "each of us obtained the command of vessels and the consignment of their cargoes before attaining the age of twenty years, viz., myself at the age of eighteen and a half, my brother William at nineteen and a half, and my brother Zachariah before he was twenty years old.

Each and all of us left off going to sea before reaching the age of twenty-nine years." How resourcefully these children of the sea could handle affairs was shown in this voyage of the Benjamin.

While in the Indian Ocean young Silsbee fell in with a frigate which gave him news of the beginning of war between England and France.

He shifted his course for Mauritius and there sold the cargo for a dazzling price in paper dollars, which he turned into Spanish silver.

An embargo detained him for six months, during which this currency increased to three times the value of the paper money.