ight ear, swore that if he did
not they would blow out his brains, while a third held a couple of forks
at his breast, and terrified him with the continual apprehensions of
having them stabbed into him. Whereupon he told them that he had four
young infants in England, to whom he thought it his duty to return, and
therefore begged to be excused as having reason to decline their
service, as well as a natural dislike to their proceedings. Upon which,
he said, he called his captain to take notice that he did not enter
voluntarily amongst them. Upon this the pirate said they found out a way
to satisfy themselves by signing for him, and this, he constantly
averred, was the method of his being taken into the crew of the _Night
Rambler_, where he insisted he did nothing but as he was commanded,
received no share in the plunder, but lived wholly on the ship's
allowance, being treated in all respect as one whom force and not choice
had brought amongst them.

But to return to the _Perry_ galley, which the pirates carried to the
Island of Aruba, a maroon or uninhabited island, or rather sand bank,
where they sat the crew ashore and left them for seventeen days without
any provision, except that the surgeon of the pirate now and then
brought them something in his pocket by stealth. On the tenth of
December the pirates saw a sail which proved to be a Dutch sloop, which
they took, and on board this Upton and two others who had been forced as
well as himself were put, from whence as he said, they made their
escape. After abundance of misfortunes and many extraordinary
adventures, he got on board his Majesty's ship _Nottingham_, commanded
by Captain Charles Cotterel, where he served for two years in the
quality of quartermaster. He was then taken up and charged with piracy,
upon which he was indicted at an Admiralty sessions held in the month of
May, 1729, when the evidence at his trial appeared so strong that after
a short stay the jury found him guilty.

But his case having been very differently represented, I fancy my
readers will not be displeased if I give them an exact account of the
proofs produced against him.

The first witness who was called on the part of the Crown was Mr.
Dimmock, who had been chief mate on board the _Perry_ galley, and he
deposed in the following terms:

On the twelfth of November, 1725, we sailed from Barbadoes on the
_Perry_ galley bound for England. On the 14th, about noon, we were
taken