For several days the captain seemed very much out of humor.
Nothing went right, or fast enough for him. He quarrelled with the
cook, and threatened to flog him for throwing wood on deck, and
had a dispute with the mate about reeving a Spanish burton; the
mate saying that he was right, and had been taught how to do it by
a man who was a sailor! This the captain took in dudgeon, and they
were at swords' points at once. But his displeasure was chiefly
turned against a large, heavy-moulded fellow from the Middle
States, who was called Sam. This man hesitated in his speech, was
rather slow in his motions, and was only a tolerably good sailor,
but usually seemed to do his best; yet the captain took a dislike
to him, thought he was surly and lazy, and ``if you once give a
dog a bad name,''-- as the sailor-phrase is,-- ``he may as well
jump overboard.'' The captain found fault with everything this man
did, and hazed him for dropping a marline-spike from the
main-yard, where he was at work. This, of course, was an accident,
but it was set down against him. The captain was on board all day
Friday, and everything went on hard and disagreeably. ``The more
you drive a man, the less he will do,'' was as true with us as
with any other people. We worked late Friday night, and were
turned-to early Saturday morning. About ten o'clock the captain
ordered our new officer, Russell, who by this time had become
thoroughly disliked by all the crew, to get the gig ready to take
him ashore. John, the Swede, was sitting in the boat alongside,
and Mr. Russell and I were standing by the main hatchway, waiting
for the captain, who was down in the hold, where the crew were at
work, when we heard his voice raised in violent dispute with
somebody, whether it was with the mate or one of the crew I could
not tell, and then came blows and scuffling. I ran to the side and
beckoned to John, who came aboard, and we leaned down the
hatchway, and though we could see no one, yet we knew that the
captain had the advantage, for his voice was loud and clear:--
``You see your condition! You see your condition! Will you ever
give me any more of your jaw?'' No answer; and then came wrestling
and heaving, as though the man was trying to turn him. ``You may
as well keep still, for I have got you,'' said the captain. Then
came the question, ``Will you ever give me any more of your jaw?''
``I never gave you any, sir,'' said Sam; for it was his voice that
we heard, though low and half choked.
``That's not what I ask you. Will you ever be impudent to me
again?''
``I never have been, sir,'' said Sam.
``Answer my question, or I'll make a spread eagle of you! I'll
flog you, by G---d.''
``I'm no negro slave,'' said Sam.
``Then I'll make you one,'' said the captain; and he came to the
hatchway, and sprang on deck, threw off his coat, and, rolling up
his sleeves, called out to the mate: ``Seize that man up, Mr.
Amerzene! Seize him up! Make a spread eagle of him! I'll teach you
all who is master aboard!''
The crew and officers followed the captain up the hatchway; but it
was not until after repeated orders that the mate laid hold of
Sam, who made no resistance, and carried him to the gangway.
``What are you going to flog that man for, sir?'' said John, the
Swede, to the captain.
Upon hearing this, the captain turned upon John; but, knowing him
to be quick and resolute, he ordered the steward to bring the
irons, and, calling upon Russell to help him, went up to John.
``Let me alone,'' said John. ``I'm willing to be put in irons. You
need not use any force''; and, putting out his hands, the captain
slipped the irons on, and sent him aft to the quarter-deck. Sam,
by this time, was seized up, as it is called, that is, placed
against the shrouds, with his wrists made fast to them, his jacket
off, and his back exposed. The captain stood on the break of the
deck, a few feet from him, and a little raised, so as to have a
good swing at him, and held in his hand the end of a thick, strong
rope. The officers stood round, and the crew grouped together in
the waist. All these preparations made me feel sick and almost
faint, angry and excited as I was. A man-- a human being, made in
God's likeness-- fastened up and flogged like a beast! A man, too,
whom I had lived with, eaten with, and stood watch with for
months, and knew so well! If a thought of resistance crossed the
minds of any of the men, what was to be done? Their time for it
had gone by. Two men were fast, and there were left only two men
besides Stimson and myself, and a small boy of ten or twelve years
of age; and Stimson and I would not have joined the men in a
mutiny, as they knew. And then, on the other side, there were
(beside the captain) three officers, steward, agent, and clerk,
and the cabin supplied with weapons. But beside the numbers, what
is there for sailors to do? If they resist, it is mutiny; and if
they succeed, and take the vessel, it is piracy. If they ever
yield again, their punishment must come; and if they do not yield,
what are they to be for the rest of their lives? If a sailor
resist his commander, he resists the law, and piracy or submission
is his only alternative. Bad as it was, they saw it must be borne.
It is what a sailor ships for. Swinging the rope over his head,
and bending his body so as to give it full force, the captain
brought it down upon the poor fellow's back. Once, twice,-- six
times. ``Will you ever give me any more of your jaw?'' The man
writhed with pain, but said not a word. Three times more. This was
too much, and he muttered something which I could not hear; this
brought as many more as the man could stand, when the captain
ordered him to be cut down, and to go forward.
``Now for you,'' said the captain, making up to John, and taking
his irons off. As soon as John was loose, he ran forward to the
forecastle. ``Bring that man aft!'' shouted the captain. The
second mate, who had been in the forecastle with these men the
early part of the voyage, stood still in the waist, and the mate
walked slowly forward; but our third officer, anxious to show his
zeal, sprang forward over the windlass, and laid hold of John; but
John soon threw him from him. The captain stood on the
quarter-deck, bareheaded, his eyes flashing with rage, and his
face as red as blood, swinging the rope, and calling out to his
officers: ``Drag him aft!-- Lay hold of him! I'll sweeten him!''
&c., &c. The mate now went forward, and told John quietly to go
aft; and he, seeing resistance vain, threw the blackguard third
mate from him, said he would go aft of himself, that they should
not drag him, and went up to the gangway and held out his hands;
but as soon as the captain began to make him fast, the indignity
was too much, and he struggled; but, the mate and Russell holding
him, he was soon seized up. When he was made fast, he turned to
the captain, who stood rolling up his sleeves and getting ready
for the blow, and asked him what he was to be flogged for. ``Have
I ever refused my duty, sir? Have you ever known me to hang back,
or to be insolent, or not to know my work?''
``No,'' said the captain, ``it is not that that I flog you for; I
flog you for your interference, for asking questions.''
``Can't a man ask a question here without being flogged?''
``No,'' shouted the captain; ``nobody shall open his mouth aboard
this vessel but myself,'' and began laying the blows upon his
back, swinging half round between each blow, to give it full
effect. As he went on, his passion increased, and he danced about
the deck, calling out, as he swung the rope: ``If you want to know
what I flog you for, I'll tell you. It's because I like to do it!--
because I like to do it!-- It suits me! That's what I do it for!''
The man writhed under the pain until he could endure it no longer,
when he called out, with an exclamation more common among
foreigners than with us: ``O Jesus Christ! O Jesus Christ!''
``Don't call on Jesus Christ,'' shouted the captain; ``he can't
help you. Call on Frank Thompson! He's the man! He can help you!
Jesus Christ can't help you now!''
At these words, which I never shall forget, my blood ran cold. I
could look on no longer. Disgusted, sick, I turned away, and
leaned over the rail, and looked down into the water. A few rapid
thoughts, I don't know what,-- our situation, a resolution to see
the captain punished when we got home,-- crossed my mind; but the
falling of the blows and the cries of the man called me back once
more. At length they ceased, and, turning round, I found that the
mate, at a signal from the captain, had cast him loose. Almost
doubled up with pain, the man walked slowly forward, and went down
into the forecastle. Every one else stood still at his post, while
the captain, swelling with rage, and with the importance of his
achievement, walked the quarter-deck, and at each turn, as he came
forward, calling out to us: ``You see your condition! You see
where I've got you all, and you know what to expect!''-- ``You've
been mistaken in me; you didn't know what I was! Now you know what
I am!''-- ``I'll make you toe the mark, every soul of you, or I'll
flog you all, fore and aft, from the boy up!''-- ``You've got a
driver over you! Yes, a slave-driver,-- a nigger-driver! I'll see
who'll tell me he isn't a NIGGER slave!'' With this and the like
matter, equally calculated to quiet us, and to allay any
apprehensions of future trouble, he entertained us for about ten
minutes, when he went below. Soon after, John came aft, with his
bare back covered with stripes and wales in every direction, and
dreadfully swollen, and asked the steward to ask the captain to
let him have some salve, or balsam, to put upon it. ``No,'' said
the captain, who heard him from below; ``tell him to put his shirt
on; that's the best thing for him, and pull me ashore in the boat.
Nobody is going to lay-up on board this vessel.'' He then called
to Mr. Russell to take those two men and two others in the boat,
and pull him ashore. I went for one. The two men could hardly bend
their backs, and the captain called to them to ``give way,''
``give way!'' but, finding they did their best, he let them alone.
The agent was in the stern sheets, but during the whole pull-- a
league or more-- not a word was spoken. We landed; the captain,
agent, and officer went up to the house, and left us with the
boat. I, and the man with me, stayed near the boat, while John and
Sam walked slowly away, and sat down on the rocks. They talked
some time together, but at length separated, each sitting alone. I
had some fears of John. He was a foreigner, and violently
tempered, and under suffering; and he had his knife with him, and
the captain was to come down alone to the boat. But nothing
happened; and we went quietly on board. The captain was probably
armed, and if either of them had lifted a hand against him, they
would have had nothing before them but flight, and starvation in
the woods of California, or capture by the soldiers and Indians,
whom the offer of twenty dollars would have set upon them.
After the day's work was done, we went down into the forecastle,
and ate our plain supper; but not a word was spoken. It was
Saturday night; but there was no song,-- no ``sweethearts and
wives.'' A gloom was over everything. The two men lay in their
berths, groaning with pain, and we all turned in, but, for myself,
not to sleep. A sound coming now and then from the berths of the
two men showed that they were awake, as awake they must have been,
for they could hardly lie in one posture long; the dim, swinging
lamp shed its light over the dark hole in which we lived, and many
and various reflections and purposes coursed through my mind. I
had no apprehension that the captain would try to lay a hand on
me; but our situation, living under a tyranny, with an ungoverned,
swaggering fellow administering it; of the character of the
country we were in; the length of the voyage; the uncertainty
attending our return to America; and then, if we should return,
the prospect of obtaining justice and satisfaction for these poor
men; and I vowed that, if God should ever give me the means, I
would do something to redress the grievances and relieve the
sufferings of that class of beings with whom my lot had so long
been cast.
The next day was Sunday. We worked, as usual, washing decks, &c.,
until breakfast-time. After breakfast we pulled the captain
ashore, and, finding some hides there which had been brought down
the night before, he ordered me to stay ashore and watch them,
saying that the boat would come again before night. They left me,
and I spent a quiet day on the hill, eating dinner with the three
men at the little house. Unfortunately they had no books; and,
after talking with them, and walking about, I began to grow tired
of doing nothing. The little brig, the home of so much hardship
and suffering, lay in the offing, almost as far as one could see;
and the only other thing which broke the surface of the great bay
was a small, dreary-looking island, steep and conical, of a clayey
soil, and without the sign of vegetable life upon it, yet which
had a peculiar and melancholy interest, for on the top of it were
buried the remains of an Englishman, the commander of a small
merchant brig, who died while lying in this port. It was always a
solemn and affecting spot to me. There it stood, desolate, and in
the midst of desolation; and there were the remains of one who
died and was buried alone and friendless. Had it been a common
burying-place, it would have been nothing. The single body
corresponded well with the solitary character of everything
around. It was the only spot in California that impressed me with
anything like poetic interest. Then, too, the man died far from
home, without a friend near him,-- by poison, it was suspected,
and no one to inquire into it,-- and without proper funeral rites;
the mate (as I was told), glad to have him out of the way,
hurrying him up the hill and into the ground, without a word or a
prayer.
I looked anxiously for a boat, during the latter part of the
afternoon, but none came; until toward sundown, when I saw a speck
on the water, and as it drew near I found it was the gig, with the
captain. The hides, then, were not to go off. The captain came up
the hill, with a man, bringing my monkey jacket and a blanket. He
looked pretty black, but inquired whether I had enough to eat;
told me to make a house out of the hides, and keep myself warm, as
I should have to sleep there among them, and to keep good watch
over them. I got a moment to speak to the man who brought my
jacket.
``How do things go aboard?'' said I.
``Bad enough,'' said he; ``hard work and not a kind word spoken.''
``What!'' said I, ``have you been at work all day?''
``Yes! no more Sunday for us. Everything has been moved in the
hold, from stem to stern, and from the water-ways to the
keelson.''
I went up to the house to supper. We had fríjoles (the perpetual
food of the Californians, but which, when well cooked, are the
best bean in the world), coffee made of burnt wheat, and hard
bread. After our meal, the three men sat down by the light of a
tallow candle, with a pack of greasy Spanish cards, to the
favorite game of ``treinte uno,'' a sort of Spanish
``everlasting.'' I left them and went out to take up my bivouac
among the hides. It was now dark; the vessel was hidden from
sight, and except the three men in the house there was not a
living soul within a league. The coyotes (a wild animal of a
nature and appearance between that of the fox and the wolf) set up
their sharp, quick bark, and two owls, at the end of two distant
points running out into the bay, on different sides of the hill
where I lay, kept up their alternate dismal notes. I had heard
the sound before at night, but did not know what it was, until
one of the men, who came down to look at my quarters, told me it
was the owl. Mellowed by the distance, and heard alone, at night,
it was a most melancholy and boding sound. Through nearly all the
night they kept it up, answering one another slowly at regular
intervals. This was relieved by the noisy coyotes, some of which
came quite near to my quarters, and were not very pleasant
neighbors. The next morning, before sunrise, the long-boat came
ashore, and the hides were taken off.
We lay at San Pedro about a week, engaged in taking off hides and
in other labors, which had now become our regular duties. I spent
one more day on the hill, watching a quantity of hides and goods,
and this time succeeded in finding a part of a volume of Scott's
Pirate in a corner of the house; but it failed me at a most
interesting moment, and I betook myself to my acquaintances on
shore, and from them learned a good deal about the customs of the
country, the harbors, &c. This, they told me, was a worse harbor
than Santa Barbara for southeasters, the bearing of the headland
being a point and a half more to windward, and it being so shallow
that the sea broke often as far out as where we lay at anchor. The
gale for which we slipped at Santa Barbara had been so bad a one
here, that the whole bay, for a league out, was filled with the
foam of the breakers, and seas actually broke over the Dead Man's
Island. The Lagoda was lying there, and slipped at the first
alarm, and in such haste that she was obliged to leave her launch
behind her at anchor. The little boat rode it out for several
hours, pitching at her anchor, and standing with her stern up
almost perpendicularly. The men told me that they watched her till
towards night, when she snapped her cable and drove up over the
breakers high and dry upon the beach.
On board the Pilgrim everything went on regularly, each one trying
to get along as smoothly as possible; but the comfort of the
voyage was evidently at an end. ``That is a long lane which has no
turning,'' ``Every dog must have his day, and mine will come by
and by,'' and the like proverbs, were occasionally quoted; but no
one spoke of any probable end to the voyage, or of Boston, or
anything of the kind; or, if he did, it was only to draw out the
perpetual surly reply from his shipmate: ``Boston, is it? You may
thank your stars if you ever see that place. You had better have
your back sheathed, and your head coppered, and your feet shod,
and make out your log for California for life!'' or else something
of this kind: ``Before you get to Boston, the hides will wear all
the hair off your head, and you'll take up all your wages in
clothes, and won't have enough left to buy a wig with!''
The flogging was seldom, if ever, alluded to by us in the
forecastle. If any one was inclined to talk about it, the others,
with a delicacy which I hardly expected to find among them, always
stopped him, or turned the subject. But the behavior of the two
men who were flogged toward one another showed a consideration
which would have been worthy of admiration in the highest walks of
life. Sam knew John had suffered solely on his account; and in all
his complaints he said that, if he alone had been flogged, it
would have been nothing; but he never could see him without
thinking that he had been the means of bringing this disgrace upon
him; and John never, by word or deed, let anything escape him to
remind the other that it was by interfering to save his shipmate
that he had suffered. Neither made it a secret that they thought
the Dutchman Bill and Foster might have helped them; but they did
not expect it of Stimson or me. While we showed our sympathy for
their suffering, and our indignation at the captain's violence, we
did not feel sure that there was only one side to the beginning of
the difficulty, and we kept clear of any engagement with them,
except our promise to help them when they got home.[1]
Having got all our spare room filled with hides, we hove up our
anchor, and made sail for San Diego. In no operation can the
disposition of a crew be better discovered than in getting under
way. Where things are done ``with a will,'' every one is like a
cat aloft; sails are loosed in an instant; each one lays out his
strength on his handspike, and the windlass goes briskly round
with the loud cry of ``Yo heave ho! Heave and pawl! Heave hearty,
ho!'' and the chorus of ``Cheerly, men!'' cats the anchor. But
with us, at this time, it was all dragging work. No one went aloft
beyond his ordinary gait, and the chain came slowly in over the
windlass. The mate, between the knight-heads, exhausted all his
official rhetoric in calls of ``Heave with a will!''-- ``Heave
hearty, men!-- heave hearty!''-- ``Heave, and raise the dead!''--
``Heave, and away!'' &c., &c.; but it would not do. Nobody broke
his back or his handspike by his efforts. And when the
cat-tackle-fall was strung along, and all hands-- cook, steward,
and all-- laid hold, to cat the anchor, instead of the lively song
of ``Cheerly, men!'' in which all hands join in the chorus, we
pulled a long, heavy, silent pull, and, as sailors say a song is
as good as ten men, the anchor came to the cat-head pretty slowly.
``Give us `Cheerly!''' said the mate; but there was no ``cheerly''
for us, and we did without it. The captain walked the
quarter-deck, and said not a word. He must have seen the change,
but there was nothing which he could notice officially.
We sailed leisurely down the coast before a light, fair wind,
keeping the land well aboard, and saw two other missions, looking
like blocks of white plaster, shining in the distance; one of
which, situated on the top of a high hill, was San Juan
Capistrano, under which vessels sometimes come to anchor, in the
summer season, and take off hides. At sunset on the second day we
had a large and well-wooded headland directly before us, behind
which lay the little harbor of San Diego. We were becalmed off
this point all night, but the next morning, which was Saturday,
the 14th of March, having a good breeze, we stood round the point,
and, hauling our wind, brought the little harbor, which is rather
the outlet of a small river, right before us. Every one was
desirous to get a view of the new place. A chain of high hills,
beginning at the point (which was on our larboard hand coming in),
protected the harbor on the north and west, and ran off into the
interior, as far as the eye could reach. On the other sides the
land was low and green, but without trees. The entrance is so
narrow as to admit but one vessel at a time, the current swift,
and the channel runs so near to a low, stony point that the ship's
sides appeared almost to touch it. There was no town in sight, but
on the smooth sand beach, abreast, and within a cable's length of
which three vessels lay moored, were four large houses, built of
rough boards, and looking like the great barns in which ice is
stored on the borders of the large ponds near Boston, with piles
of hides standing round them, and men in red shirts and large
straw hats walking in and out of the doors. These were the Hide
Houses. Of the vessels: one, a short, clumsy little hermaphrodite
brig, we recognized as our old acquaintance, the Loriotte;
another, with sharp bows and raking masts, newly painted and
tarred, and glittering in the morning sun, with the blood-red
banner and cross of St. George at her peak, was the handsome
Ayacucho. The third was a large ship, with top-gallant-masts
housed and sails unbent, and looking as rusty and worn as two
years' ``hide droghing'' could make her. This was the Lagoda. As
we drew near, carried rapidly along by the current, we overhauled
our chain, and clewed up the topsails. ``Let go the anchor!'' said
the captain; but either there was not chain enough forward of the
windlass, or the anchor went down foul, or we had too much headway
on, for it did not bring us up. ``Pay out chain!'' shouted the
captain; and we gave it to her; but it would not do. Before the
other anchor could be let go, we drifted down, broadside on, and
went smash into the Lagoda. Her crew were at breakfast in the
forecastle, and her cook, seeing us coming, rushed out of his
galley, and called up the officers and men.
Fortunately, no great harm was done. Her jib-boom passed between
our fore and main masts, carrying away some of our rigging, and
breaking down the rail. She lost her martingale. This brought us
up, and, as they paid out chain, we swung clear of them, and let
go the other anchor; but this had as bad luck as the first, for,
before any one perceived it, we were drifting down upon the
Loriotte. The captain now gave out his orders rapidly and
fiercely, sheeting home the topsails, and backing and filling the
sails, in hope of starting or clearing the anchors; but it was all
in vain, and he sat down on the rail, taking it very leisurely,
and calling out to Captain Nye that he was coming to pay him a
visit. We drifted fairly into the Loriotte, her larboard bow into
our starboard quarter, carrying away a part of our starboard
quarter railing, and breaking off her larboard bumpkin, and one or
two stanchions above the deck. We saw our handsome sailor,
Jackson, on the forecastle, with the Sandwich-Islanders, working
away to get us clear. After paying out chain, we swung clear, but
our anchors were, no doubt, afoul of hers. We manned the windlass,
and hove, and hove away, but to no purpose. Sometimes we got a
little upon the cable, but a good surge would take it all back
again. We now began to drift down toward the Ayacucho; when her
boat put off, and brought her commander, Captain Wilson, on board.
He was a short, active, well-built man, about fifty years of age;
and being some twenty years older than our captain, and a thorough
seaman, he did not hesitate to give his advice, and, from giving
advice, he gradually came to taking the command; ordering us when
to heave and when to pawl, and backing and filling the topsails,
setting and taking in jib and trysail, whenever he thought best.
Our captain gave a few orders, but as Wilson generally
countermanded them, saying, in an easy, fatherly kind of way, ``O
no! Captain Thompson, you don't want the jib on her,'' or ``It
isn't time yet to heave!'' he soon gave it up. We had no
objections to this state of things, for Wilson was a kind man, and
had an encouraging and pleasant way of speaking to us, which made
everything go easily. After two or three hours of constant labor
at the windlass, heaving and yo-ho-ing with all our might, we
brought up an anchor, with the Loriotte's small bower fast to it.
Having cleared this, and let it go, and cleared our hawse, we got
our other anchor, which had dragged half over the harbor. ``Now,''
said Wilson, ``I'll find you a good berth''; and, setting both the
topsails, he carried us down, and brought us to anchor, in
handsome style, directly abreast of the hide-house which we were
to use. Having done this, he took his leave, while we furled the
sails, and got our breakfast, which was welcome to us, for we had
worked hard, and eaten nothing since yesterday afternoon, and it
was nearly twelve o'clock. After breakfast, and until night, we
were employed in getting out the boats and mooring ship.
After supper, two of us took the captain on board the Lagoda. As
he came alongside, he gave his name, and the mate, in the gangway,
called out to Captain Bradshaw, down the companion-way, ``Captain
Thompson has come aboard, sir!'' ``Has he brought his brig with
him?'' asked the rough old fellow, in a tone which made itself
heard fore and aft. This mortified our captain not a little, and
it became a standing joke among us, and, indeed, over the coast,
for the rest of the voyage. The captain went down into the cabin,
and we walked forward and put our heads down the forecastle, where
we found the men at supper. ``Come down, shipmates![2] come down!''
said they, as soon as they saw us; and we went down, and found a
large, high forecastle, well lighted, and a crew of twelve or
fourteen men eating out of their kids and pans, and drinking their
tea, and talking and laughing, all as independent and easy as so
many ``woodsawyer's clerks.'' This looked like comfort and
enjoyment, compared with the dark little forecastle, and scanty,
discontented crew of the brig. It was Saturday night; they had got
through their work for the week, and, being snugly moored, had
nothing to do until Monday again. After two years' hard service,
they had seen the worst, and all, of California; had got their
cargo nearly stowed, and expected to sail, in a week or two, for
Boston.
We spent an hour or more with them, talking over California
matters, until the word was passed,-- ``Pilgrims, away!'' and we
went back to our brig. The Lagodas were a hardy, intelligent set,
a little roughened, and their clothes patched and old, from
California wear; all able seamen, and between the ages of twenty
and thirty-five or forty. They inquired about our vessel, the
usage on board, &c., and were not a little surprised at the story
of the flogging. They said there were often difficulties in
vessels on the coast, and sometimes knock-downs and fightings, but
they had never heard before of a regular seizing-up and flogging.
``Spread eagles'' were a new kind of bird in California.
Sunday, they said, was always given in San Diego, both at the
hide-houses and on board the vessels, a large number usually going
up to the town, on liberty. We learned a good deal from them about
the curing and stowing of hides, &c., and they were desirous to
have the latest news (seven months old) from Boston. One of their
first inquiries was for Father Taylor, the seamen's preacher in
Boston. Then followed the usual strain of conversation, inquiries,
stories, and jokes, which one must always hear in a ship's
forecastle, but which are, perhaps, after all, no worse, though
more gross and coarse, than those one may chance to hear from some
well dressed gentlemen around their tables.
[1] Owing to the change of vessels that afterwards took place,
Captain Thompson arrived in Boston nearly a year before the
Pilgrim, and was off on another voyage, and beyond the reach of
these men. Soon after the publication of the first edition of this
book, in 1841, I received a letter from Stimson, dated at Detroit,
Michigan, where he had reentered mercantile life, from which I
make this extract: ``As to your account of the flogging scene, I
think you have given a fair history of it, and, if anything, been
too lenient towards Captain Thompson for his brutal, cowardly
treatment of those men. As I was in the hold at the time the
affray commenced, I will give you a short history of it as near as
I can recollect. We were breaking out goods in the fore hold, and,
in order to get at them, we had to shift our hides from forward to
aft. After having removed part of them, we came to the boxes, and
attempted to get them out without moving any more of the hides.
While doing so, Sam accidentally hurt his hand, and, as usual,
began swearing about it, and was not sparing of his oaths,
although I think he was not aware that Captain Thompson was so
near him at the time. Captain Thompson asked him, in no moderate
way, what was the matter with him. Sam, on account of the
impediment in his speech, could not answer immediately, although
he endeavored to, but as soon as possible answered in a manner
that almost any one would, under the like circumstances, yet, I
believe, not with the intention of giving a short answer; but
being provoked, and suffering pain from the injured hand, he
perhaps answered rather short, or sullenly. Thus commenced the
scene you have so vividly described, and which seems to me exactly
the history of the whole affair without any exaggeration.''
[2] ``Shipmate'' is the term by which sailors address one another
when not acquainted.