the
forecastle; a bulk-head had been let across, and a door led from the
forecastle into a dark, unventilated, unwholesome place, where they were
all heaped together, without means of locomotion, and consequently
deprived of that exercise of the body so necessary to health. Add to
that, we had no physician on board. In view of these facts, can the
complaints of the gallant Captain be sustained? Of course Mr. Irving was
ignorant of these circumstances, as well as of many others which he
might have known, had some one suggested to him to ask a few questions
of persons who were within his reach at the time of his publication. I
have (I need scarcely say) no personal animosity against the unfortunate
Captain; he always treated me, individually, as well as I could expect;
and if, in the course of my narrative, I have been severe on his
actions, I was impelled by a sense of justice to my friends on board,
as well as by the circumstance that such explanations of his general
deportment were requisite to convey the historical truth to my readers.

The idea of a conspiracy against him on board is so absurd that it
really does not deserve notice. The threat, or rather the proposal made
to him by Mr. M'Kay, in the following words--"if you say fight, fight it
is"--originated in a case where one of the sailors had maltreated a
Canadian lad, who came to complain to Mr. M'Kay. The captain would not
interpose his authority, and said in my presence, "Let them fight out
their own battles:"--it was upon that answer that Mr. M'Kay gave vent to
the expression quoted above. I might go on with a long list of
inaccuracies, more or less grave or trivial, in the beautifully written
work of Mr. Irving, but it would be tedious to go through the whole of
them. The few remarks to which I have given place above, will suffice to
prove that the assertion made in the preface was not unwarranted. It is
far from my intention to enter the lists with a man of the literary
merit and reputation of Mr. Irving, but as a narrator of events of which
I was an EYEWITNESS, I felt bound to tell the truth, although that truth
might impugn the historical accuracy of a work which ranks as a classic
in the language. At the same time I entirely exonerate Mr. Irving from
any intention of prejudicing the minds of his readers, as he doubtless
had only in view to support the character of his friend: that sentiment
is worthy of a generous heart, but it should not be gratified, n