346 
SOUTH SEA 
give them up to the guard, or in suffering them to be 
flogged at all, particularly in a foreign country, where 
their cause was not likely to be fairly heard. 
The consequences of these things were, that the crew 
neglected, or became careless of the best interests of the 
voyage, so that the ship, after having been out her full 
time, returned to England with scarcely two -thirds of 
a cargo, which unfortunate event may be mainly attri- 
buted to the misconduct and tyranny of one man, the 
captain of our ship, who first abused, and then assailed, 
and even caused to be flogged, six of his own country- 
men, whose only crime was that they desired to see 
their old friends whom they had so accidentally met in 
that distant part of the world, as I have before stated. 
Affairs were also getting into a very disturbed state on 
board our own ship, in consequence of the captain’s 
violent and intemperate conduct to the men. Our first 
mate had left the ship, our second mate had lost his 
arm, and by this time several of our best seamen had 
also deserted, so that we who remained had but a poor 
prospect of success in our forthcoming Japan whaling 
season ; the hope, however, of better things in some 
degree sustained our spirits. On the 6th of April 1832, 
having procured a quantity of yams and other refresh- 
ments from the shore, and also having shipped the, best 
seaman we could find to fill the berth of our first mate, 
we set sail from this place at which we had been so 
unfortunate; and, as we passed to the northward, we 
enjoyed a fine view of all the other islands, which form 
the group of the Ladrones, On the 7th, we were off 
