eful man, desiring him to
return, with a promise of pardon from the captain: In this affair I was
obliged to act very secretly. To-day, Mr Cozens, the midshipman, had a
dispute with the surgeon; the latter having some business in our tent,
which, when he had done, on his going away, Mr Cozens followed him; they
soon fell to blows, but the surgeon had so much the advantage of the
midshipman, that he tied his hands behind him and left him. In the evening
the captain sent for me and the carpenter to his tent: We found the
captain, lieutenant, purser, surgeon, and lieutenant H----n of marines.
Here we had a consultation, which was chiefly concerning the disturbances
among the people, as well in our tent as in the rest. Mr Cummins and I
assured the captain, that the people in our tent were generally very well
affected to him, and that we never would engage in any mutiny against him,
or any other officer that would act for the publick good, and his majesty's
service: The captain said, he had no reason to suspect us, for we were the
only two in the ship that he put any trust or confidence in. Strict orders
were given the centinel to keep a good look-out, and have a watchful eye on
the provisions. Notwithstanding all this precaution and care, there was
one-third part of a barrel of flour and half a barrel of gunpowder taken
away that night. It is to be observed, that this day's consultation was the
first that Captain C----p ever had with his officers; had he sometimes
consulted them aboard, we might probably have escaped our present unhappy
condition.

Wednesday the 10th, this day, serving the provisions, the boatswain's
servant, a Portuguese boy, talking bad English, and bringing in the
allowance of wine, the boatswain, Mr Cozens, midshipman, and the cook his
mess-mates, with some difficulty, understood by the boy's talk, that one of
the men had his allowance stopped; Mr Cozens went to know the reason; the
purser and he having some dispute two or three days before, the purser told
him, when he asked for his wine, that he was come to mutiny, and without
any farther ceremony, discharged a pistol at his head, and would have shot
him, had he not been prevented by the cooper's canting the pistol with his
elbow, at the instant of its going off; the captain and lieutenant H----n,
hearing the discharge of a pistol, the latter ran out with a firelock, then
called the captain out of his tent, telling him that Cozens was come to
mutiny; t