AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 2783 



memory, you fail to remember where the Scotland went in 1866 1 A. 

 Well, I can recollect events that happened 40 and 50 years ago better 

 than anything which happened yesterday. I had everything that 

 occurred as I went along, until I was burned out; until then I had 

 manuscripts referring to all my voyages and cruises, and everything 

 else that I did ; and in this statement I have given the facts just as they 

 occurred, as well as my memory serves me. I give you the truth on 

 both sides just as faithfully as I would if I were to die this very minute. 

 I want to give you the exact truth. 



Q. I don't dispute that. A. That is it. 



Q. I am not charging you with making any willful mistake; but I wish 

 to see whether you are in error. A. I may be in error. 



Q. You say that all the memoranda which you kept concerning your 

 voyages have been lost ; why did you keep such written memoranda ? 

 A. I always kept them, in order to know what I did, whereabouts I was, 

 and how much money I made, as I most always owned the whole of all 

 the vessels I had, though I did not own the whole of the Scotland. I 

 never kept such account further than concerned what expenses were 

 paid, and what balance belonged to me ; and in this way I knew how 

 much I made, after I had completed my voyage and paid all charges ; 

 then if 1 made $1,000, 1 thus knew that I made it such a year ; and if I 

 made $2,000, 1 put that down for such or such a year, clear of living and 

 expenses. Sometimes it was more, and sometimes it was less ; but such 

 as it was, I made a memorandum of it, to which I could refer and know 

 jnst exactly where I stood. I never went into debt, and I always paid 

 as I went. 



Q. After you made such memoranda, you would have no occasion to 

 refer to them again ? A. No ; but I always could do so if any questions 

 arose rendering it desirable. 



Q. Had you occasion to refer back to them ; nothing occurred to make 

 this necessary until this occasion arose ? A. No. 



Q. When did you last read them ? A. I have not read any paper 

 concerning my voyages since I knocked off fishing, and my last year's 

 fishing was in 1868. I have not thought of doing so. 



Q. I presume that when you read the record of 1868, or of 1867, you 

 would not have gone back to the extent of 30 years previously to 1837, 

 or 1838? Nothing had then happened to call your attention to such 

 matters? A. No; nothing has occurred in the fishing business in 

 which I have been in any way or shape interested, since I left off fish- 

 ing, and 1868 was my last year. 



Q. In 1868, when you made your last memorandum on the subject of 

 your fishing voyages, you had no occasion to turn over and read your 

 manuscripts as far back as 1837 1 A. Well, then I had no manuscripts 

 to refer to. 



Q. Did you make memoranda concerning what you did in 1868? A. 

 After my manuscripts were burned up, I never made any such memo- 

 randa at all. 



Q. When were they burned up ? A. In 1863 or 1864, I think. 



Q. Then you did not make any such memoranda afterward ? A. No. 



Q. I suppose you made memoranda respecting what you did in 1863, 

 or 1862 ? A. They were burned up. 



Q. Did you do so in 1862 ? A. I think so. 



Q. When you had done so, did you then have occasion to refer back 

 to previous entries as far back as 1837 ? A. No. 



Q. After you had made an entry for any particular year, nothing ever 

 occurred to call your attention back to those entries until after the books 



