874 CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 



what might have been their distress had the Molly Adams encoun- 

 tered storms or head winds. 



I am confident that Her Majesty's Government, than which none 

 has more generously fulfilled the obligations of the unwritten code 

 of seafaring humanity, will hasten to rebuke the treatment of Cap- 

 tain Jacobs at the hands of the local authorities of Nova Scotia, by 

 exhibiting gratitude for his act in saving seventeen of their own peo- 

 ple from death, and tendering him compensation for the delays and 

 expenses he has undergone through the breaking up of his legitimate 

 fishing venture. 



The closing part of Captain Jacobs's letter may serve to show the 

 irresponsible and different treatment he was subjected to in the several 

 ports he visited, where the only common feature seems to have been a 

 surly hostility. At Port Hood, for instance, Captain Jacobs being 

 sick, his brother landed and reported in his stead, and, after paying 

 the regular fee, was told that his report was a nullity, and that the 

 vessel would be liable to penalty for unauthorized landing of her 

 crew unless her captain reported in person, which, although ill, he was 

 compelled to do, and the fee was thereupon levied a second time. 

 This is a small matter measured by the amount of the fee, but it is 

 surely discreditable and has a tendency which cannot be too much 

 deplored. 



In my late correspondence I have treated of the necessary and 

 logical results of permitting so irritating and unfriendly a course of 

 action, and I will not therefore now enlarge on this subject. 

 I have, &c., 



T. F. BAYARD. 



[Inclosure.] 



Captain Jacobs to Mr. Bayard. 



GLOUCESTER, November 1%, 1886. 

 The Hon. SECRETARY OF STATE. 



SIR: I would most respectfully ask your attention to the following 

 facts as showing the spirit and manner of the application of law on 

 the part of the officials of the Dominion of Canada. 



Oh or about the 26th of September, when off Malpeque, Prince Ed- 

 ward Island, I fell in with the British schooner Neskilita, of Locke- 

 port, Nova Scotia, which had run on Malpeque bar in making the 

 harbor. It was blowing very heavy; sea running high. The crew 

 was taken off by my vessel about 12 o'clock at night. There were 

 seventeen men in all. We took care of them, and fed them for three 

 days. The Neskilita became a total wreck. We saved some of the 

 material. 



The cutter Critic, Captain McClennan, one of the Canadian cruis- 

 ers, was lying in the harbor of Malpeque. The captain boarded my 

 vessel, and I reported to him the facts of the wreck and the condition 

 of the men. They had saved a portion of their clothing. He neither 

 offered to care for the wrecked crew, to feed them, nor to give them 

 or myself any assistance whatever. Having some of the wrecked ma- 

 terial on board, I asked the captain of the cutter for permission to 

 land it. He referred me to the local collector. I went to the col- 

 lector, and he referred me back to the captain of the cutter. As the 



