creditable way, I felt
excessive pleasure in finding myself out of sight of that fatal
island, which has been the grave of so many Europeans: and, as I was
accommodated with everything to make the passage agreeable, I resolved
to enjoy myself as much as the insolence of Crampley would permit. This
insidious slanderer had found means already to cause a misunderstanding
between the surgeon and captain, who, by his age and infirmities, was
rendered intolerably peevish, his disposition having also been soured
by a long course of disappointments. He had a particular aversion to
all young men, especially to surgeons, whom he considered unnecessary
animals on board of a ship; and, in consequence of these sentiments,
never consulted the doctor, notwithstanding his being seized with a
violent fit of the gout and gravel, but applied to a cask of Holland
gin, which was his sovereign prescription against all distempers:
whether he was at this time too sparing, or took an overdose of his
cordial, certain it is, he departed in the night, without any ceremony,
which indeed was a thing he always despised, and was found stiff next
morning, to the no small satisfaction of Crampley, who succeeded to the
command of the vessel. For that very reason, Mr. Tomlins and I had no
cause to rejoice at this event, fearing that the tyranny of our new
commander would now be as unlimited as his power. The first day of his
command justified our apprehensions: for, on pretence that the decks
were too much crowded, he ordered the surgeon's hencoops, with all his
fowls, to be thrown overboard; and at the same time prohibited him and
me from walking on the quarter-deck.

Mr. Tomlins could not help complaining of these injuries, and in the
course of his expostulation dropped some hasty words, of which Crampley
taking hold, confined him to his cabin, where, in a few days, for want
of air he was attacked by a fever, which soon put an end to his life,
after he had made his will, by which he bequeathed all his estate,
personal and real, to his sister, and left to me his watch and
instruments as memorials of his friendship. I was penetrated with grief
on this melancholy occasion; the more because there was nobody on board
to whom I could communicate my sorrows, or of whom I could receive the
least consolation or advice. Crampley was so far from discovering the
least remorse for his barbarity, at the news of the surgeon's death,
that he insulted his memory in the