In pursuing my objects, I found that reports were current, that the crew of the Alfred slave-vessel, which had just returned, had been barbarously used, but particularly a young man of the name of Thomas, who had served as the surgeon’s mate on board her.  The report was, that he had been repeatedly knocked down by the captain; that he had become in consequence of his ill usage so weary of his life, that he had three times jumped over board to destroy it; that on being taken up the last time he had been chained to the deck of the ship, in which situation he had remained night and day for some time; that in consequence of this his health had been greatly impaired; and that it was supposed he could not long survive this treatment.

It was with great difficulty, notwithstanding all my inquiries, that I could trace this person.  I discovered him, however, at last.  He was confined to his bed when I saw him, and appeared to me to be delirious.  I could collect nothing from himself relative to the particulars of his treatment.  In his intervals of sense, he exclaimed against the cruelty both of the captain and of the chief mate, and pointing to his legs, thighs, and body, which were all wrapped up in flannel, he endeavoured to convince me how much he had suffered there.  At one time he said he forgave them.  At another, he asked if I came to befriend him.  At another, he looked wildly, and asked if I meant to take the captain’s part, and to kill him.

I was greatly affected by the situation of this poor man, whose image haunted me both night and day, and I was meditating how most effectually to assist him, when I heard that he was dead.

I was very desirous of tracing something further on this subject, when Walter Chandler, of the society of the Quakers, who had been daily looking out for intelligence for me, brought a young man to me of the name of Dixon.  He had been one of the crew of the same ship.  He told me the particulars of the treatment of Thomas, with very little variation from those contained in the public report.  After cross-examining him in the best manner I was able, I could find no inconsistency in his account.

I asked Dixon how the captain came to treat the surgeon’s mate in particular so ill.  He said he had treated them all much alike.  A person of the name of Bulpin, he believed, was the only one who had escaped bad usage in the ship.  With respect to himself, he had been cruelly used so early as in the outward bound passage, which had occasioned him to jump overboard.  When taken up, he was put into irons, and kept in these for a considerable time.  He was afterwards ill used at different times, and even so late as within three or four days of his return to port.  For just before the Alfred made the island of Lundy, he was struck by the captain, who cut his under lip into two.  He said that it had bled so much, that the captain expressed himself as if much alarmed; and having the expectation of arriving soon at Bristol, he had promised to make him amends, if he would hold his peace.  This he said he had hitherto done, but he had received no recompense.  In confirmation of his own usage, he desired me to examine his lip, which I had no occasion to do, having already perceived it, for the wound was apparently almost fresh.