LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
489 
between the men and Capt Ross ; but that, as far as its conduct 
is concerned, it is wholly without reproach, and no more than 
could have been expected from the official members of one of the 
most important branches of the service of the country. 
The truth is, tbat Capt. Ross, on his return, found himself in 
a most unpleasant dilemma : he had, on his departure, calcu¬ 
lated upon an absence of about fifteen months, in which case, he 
would perhaps have been able to fulfil the engagements, which 
he had entered into with his men ; but a protracted absence of 
four years and a half, greatly increased the claims upon him; 
and the ultimate loss of the vessel contributed to diminish the 
means, which he possessed of discharging them. 
Under these circumstances, Capt. Ross thought that he had 
no other alternative, than to make an appeal to the Admiralty, 
to afford him the means of defraying obligations of so sacred a 
character. In his Letter to the honorable George Elliot, Capt. 
Ross says, “ It is true that, according to law, the men may not be 
able to compel the payment of their wages, after October 1831, 
when all hopes of saving the vessel, led to her abandonment, 
(there must here be a typographical error, as the Victory was not 
abandoned until the 28th May 1832,) but a sense of what is due 
to my character, as an officer of the navy, and a feeling of what 
is due to the men, whose constancy was never shaken under the 
most appalling prospects, and to whose fidelity and obedience 1 
owe so much, I should be ashamed of myself , if I could for a 
moment entertain a thought of any subterfuge, whereby I might 
evade the payment of their well-earned wages. I am anxious, 
however, with my slender means, to appeal to their lordships, in 
the first instance, in the confident persuasion, that an undertak¬ 
ing, so entirely of a naval nature, will receive their counte¬ 
nance and support; and that, under their lordships recommenda¬ 
tion, his Majesty’s government will be pleased to consider the 
voyage as so entirely directed to public objects, as fairly to 
claim, under the circumstances I have described, that the pay¬ 
ment of the officers and men should become a public charge.” 
The result of this Letter was, that Capt. Ross was called upon 
to deliver to the lords of the Admiralty, a list of the officers and 
21. 3 r • 
