How then were we to decide this important question? for it was said, that no white man was ever permitted by the natives to go up in these canoes.  On mentioning accidentally the circumstances of the case, as I have now stated them, to a friend, immediately on my return from my last journey, he informed me, that he himself had been in company, about a year before, with a sailor, a very respectable-looking man, who had been up these rivers.  He had spent half an hour with him at an inn.  He described his person to me.  But he knew nothing of his name, or of the place of his abode.  All he knew was, that he was either going, or that he belonged to, some ship of war in ordinary; but he could not tell at what port.  I might depend upon all these circumstances, if the man had not deceived him; and he saw no reason why he should.

I felt myself set on fire, as it were, by this intelligence, deficient as it was; and I seemed to determine instantly that I would, if it were possible, find him out.  For if our suspicions were true, that the natives frequently were kidnapped in these expeditions, it would be of great importance to the cause of the abolition to have them confirmed; for as many slaves came annually from these two rivers, as from all the coast of Africa besides.  But how to proceed on so blind an errand was the question.  I first thought of trying to trace the man by letter.  But this might be tedious.  The examinations were now going on rapidly.  We should soon be called upon for evidence ourselves.  Besides, I knew nothing of his name.  I then thought it to be a more effectual way to apply to Sir Charles Middleton, as comptroller of the navy, by whose permission I could board every ship of war in ordinary in England, and judge for myself.  But here the undertaking seemed very arduous; and the time it would consume became an objection in this respect, that I thought I could not easily forgive myself, if I were to fail in it.  My inclination, however, preponderated this way.  At length I determined to follow it; for, on deliberate consideration, I found that I could not employ my time more advantageously to the cause; for as other witnesses must be found out somewhere, it was highly probable that, if I should fail in the discovery of this man, I should, by moving among such a number of sea-faring people, find others, who could give their testimony in our favour.

I must now inform the reader, that ships of war in ordinary, in one of which this man was reported to be, are those, which are out of commission, and which are laid up in the different rivers and waters in the neighbourhood of the King’s dock-yards.  Every one of these has a boatswain, gunner, carpenter, and assistants on board.  They lie usually in divisions of ten or twelve; and a master in the navy has a command over every division.

At length I began my journey.  I boarded all the ships of war lying in ordinary at Deptford, and examined the different persons in each.  From Deptford I proceeded to Woolwich, where I did the same.  Thence I hastened to Chatham, and then, down the Medway, to Sheerness.  I had now boarded above a hundred and sixty vessels of war.  I had found out two good and willing evidences among them.  But I could gain no intelligence of him, who was the object of my search.