crew performing duty before the mast. The room
allotted for the accommodation of the twenty men destined
for the establishment, was abaft the forecastle; a
bulk-head had been let across, and a door led from
the forecastle into a dark, unventilated, unwholesome
place, where they were all heaped together, without
means of locomotion, and consequently deprived of
that exercise of the body so necessary to health.
Add to that, we had no physician on board. In
view of these facts, can the complaints of the gallant
Captain be sustained? Of course Mr. Irving was
ignorant of these circumstances, as well as of many
others which he might have known, had some one suggested
to him to ask a few questions of persons who were
within his reach at the time of his publication.
I have (I need scarcely say) no personal animosity
against the unfortunate Captain; he always treated
me, individually, as well as I could expect; and if,
in the course of my narrative, I have been severe on
his actions, I was impelled by a sense of justice
to my friends on board, as well as by the circumstance
that such explanations of his general deportment were
requisite to convey the historical truth to my readers.
The idea of a conspiracy against him on board is so
absurd that it really does not deserve notice.
The threat, or rather the proposal made to him by
Mr. M’Kay, in the following words—“if
you say fight, fight it is”—originated
in a case where one of the sailors had maltreated a
Canadian lad, who came to complain to Mr. M’Kay.
The captain would not interpose his authority, and
said in my presence, “Let them fight out their
own battles:”—it was upon that answer
that Mr. M’Kay gave vent to the expression quoted
above. I might go on with a long list of inaccuracies,
more or less grave or trivial, in the beautifully written
work of Mr. Irving, but it would be tedious to go through
the whole of them. The few remarks to which I
have given place above, will suffice to prove that
the assertion made in the preface was not unwarranted.
It is far from my intention to enter the lists with
a man of the literary merit and reputation of Mr.
Irving, but as a narrator of events of which I was
an EYEWITNESS, I felt bound to tell the truth, although
that truth might impugn the historical accuracy of
a work which ranks as a classic in the language.
At the same time I entirely exonerate Mr. Irving from
any intention of prejudicing the minds of his readers,
as he doubtless had only in view to support the character
of his friend: that sentiment is worthy of a
generous heart, but it should not be gratified, nor
would he wish to gratify it, I am sure, at the expense
of the character of others.
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