LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS 
695 
sooner heard of the generous and liberal conduct of Capt, Ross 
than they declared, that if he could not find a better place 
for an individual, who had been maimed in his service, than 
the petty one of 12s. a week, he should come down to their 
premises at Liverpool, at a salary of 25s., as a reward for his 
honorable and faithful services previously to his going out, to 
u e their own terms, upon such a dishonorable undertaking. 
The man, however, who had the greatest claim upon the 
liberality and bounty of Capt. Ross, was Anthony Buck, who 
lost his sight from the unwholesomeness of the food, which 
Capt. Ross persisted in administering to his crew, in despite of 
the daily proofs, which were presented to him, of the injurious 
effects, which it had upon the health of his crew. There is, 
however, something unaccountably unkind in the behaviour of 
Capt. Ross to this man. A promise was made to him that on his 
arrival in London, he should be sent to a celebrated oculist, 
with the hope of some means being adopted, by which his eye¬ 
sight could be restored. Two months was Buck kept in London, 
spending the hard earnings of four years severe service, in daily 
expectation of the letter from Capt. Ross in the fulfilment of his 
promise, but the proffered aid was never received, when at last 
Buck was recommended to consult the eccentric Abernethy, by 
whom he was very abruptly dismissed with the very consoling 
information, that as he had become blind, he was likely to 
remain so for the remainder of his life. The circumstance, how r - 
ever, which reflects the greatest discredit upon Capt. Ross, in 
regard to this man, is, that after repeated applications to him for 
the fulfilment of his promise, respecting placing him under 
medical advice, he at last received an answer, the purport of 
which was, that as he had brought his blindness upon himself, 
he could not do any thing for him. Now this answer could 
not but be considered as an aggravation of the case, for it was 
well known that the fits, which were the precursors of Buck’s 
blindness, were caused solely by the poisonous nature of the 
food, which Capt. Ross persisted in furnishing to his crew, and 
therefore, there can only be one opinion respecting the answer, 
which he sent to Buck, declining to afford any assistance to the 
