196 SEIZURE OF THE ARGONAUT AT NOOTKA. [1789. 



circumstances, the conduct of Martinez must be considered as nearly 

 equivalent to piracy. From these accounts it would appear that the 

 ship was treacherously seized, without any reasonable ground, or 

 even pretext, and with the sole premeditated object of plundering 

 her ; and that the most cruel acts of violence, insult, and restraint, 

 were wantonly committed upon the officers and men during the 

 whole period of their imprisonment. Colnett relates * — that, when 

 he presented his papers to Martinez in the cabin of the Princesa, 

 the commandant, without examining them, pronounced them to be 

 forged, and immediately declared that the Argonaut should not go 

 to sea — that, upon his " remonstrating [in what terms he does not 

 say] against this breach of good faiih, and forgetfulness of word 

 and honor pledged" the Spaniard rose, in apparent anger, and 

 introduced a party of armed men, by whom he was struck down, 

 placed in the stocks, and then closely confined — that he was after- 

 wards carried from ship to ship like a criminal, threatened with 

 instant execution as a pirate, and subjected to so many injuries and 

 indignities as to throw him into a violent fever and delirium, which 

 were near proving fatal — and that his officers and men were impris- 

 oned and kept in irons from the time of their seizure until their 

 arrival at San Bias, where many of them died in consequence of ill 

 treatment. Meares, in his Memorial, makes the same assertions, 

 many of which are supported by the deposition of the officers and 

 seamen of the North- West America, taken in China, and appended 

 to the Memorial. On the other hand, Gray, the captain of the 

 Washington, and Ingraham, the mate of the Columbia, both of 

 whom were at Nootka during the occurrence of the affair, " were 

 informed by those whose veracity they had no reason to doubt," f 

 that Colnett, in his interview with Martinez on board the Princesa, 

 denied the right of the Spaniards to occupy Nootka, and endeav- 

 ored to impose upon the Spanish commandant, by representing 

 himself as acting under direct orders from the British government ; 

 and that he afterwards insulted the Spaniard by threatening him 

 and drawing his sword. Colnett himself says that he attempted to 

 draw his sword on the occasion, but that it was in defence against 

 those who assailed him ; and it must be allowed to be very difficult to 

 "remonstrate" with a man upon "his breach of faith, and forgetful- 



* Account of his Voyage in the Pacific in 1793, note at p. 96; also Vancouver's 

 Journal, vol. iii. p. 492. These two accounts differ in some points. 



t Letter of Gray and Ingraham, in the Proofs and Illustrations, letter C. 



