On the Ocean 35 



excusable, and gross ignorance of a good many 

 facts does not invalidate a man's testimony with 

 regard to some others with which he is acquainted ; 

 but a wilful and systematic perversion of the truth 

 in a number of cases throws a very strong doubt on 

 a historian's remaining statements, unless they are 

 supported by unquestionable authority. 



But if British historians have generally given Por 

 ter much less than his due, by omitting all reference 

 to the inferiority of his guns, his lost top-mast, etc., 

 it is no worse than Americans have done in similar 

 cases. The latter, for example, will make great 

 allowances in the case of the Essex for her having 

 carronades only, but utterly fail to allude to the 

 Cyane and Levant as having suffered under the same 

 disadvantage. They should remember that the rules 

 cut both ways. 



The Essex having suffered chiefly above the wa 

 ter-line, she was repaired sufficiently in Valparaiso 

 to enable her to make the voyage to England, where 

 she was added to the British navy. The Essex 

 Junior was disarmed and the American prisoners 

 embarked in her for New York, on parole. But 

 Lieutenant McKnight, Chaplain Adams, Midship 

 man Lyman, and n seamen were exchanged on the 

 spot for some of the British prisoners on board the 

 Essex Junior. McKnight and Lyman accompanied 

 the Phoebe to Rio Janeiro, where they embarked on 



