and my warm gratitude to Mr. Marsden,
when this clew to hitherto unpublished facts concerning Hudson was
placed in my hands.

Following it has not led me so far as, in my first enthusiasm, I
hoped that it would lead me. The search that I have caused to be
made in the Record Office, in London, has not brought to light even
all of the documents referred to by Mr. Marsden. The record of the
trial is incomplete; and, most regrettably, the most essential of
all the documents is lacking: the judgment of the Court. So far as
the mutineers are concerned, all that these documents prove is that
they actually were brought to trial: what penalty was put upon
them, or if any penalty was put upon them, still remains unknown.

But in another way these documents do possess a high value, and are
of an exceptional interest, in that they exhibit the sworn
testimony of six eye-witnesses to the fact as to the circumstances
of Hudson's out-casting. Five of these witnesses now are produced
(in print) for the first time. The sixth, Abacuck Prickett, was the
author of the "Larger Discourse" that hitherto has been the sole
source of information concerning the final mutiny on board the
"Discovery." That Prickett's sworn testimony and unsworn narrative
substantially are in agreement, as they are, is not surprising;
nor does such agreement appreciably affect the truth of either of
them. Sworn or unsworn, Prickett was not a person from whom pure
truth could be expected when, as in this case, he was trying to
tell a story that would save him from being hanged. Neither is the
corroboration of Prickett's story by the five newly produced
witnesses--they equally being in danger of hanging--in itself
convincing. But certain of the details (e.g., the door between
Hudson's cabin and the hold) brought out in this new testimony,
together with the way in which it all hangs together, does raise
the probability that the crew of the "Discovery" had more than a
colorable grievance against Hudson, and does imply that Prickett's
obviously biased narrative may be less far from the truth than
heretofore it has been held to be.

The summing up of the Trinity House examination gives the crux of
the matter: "They all charge the Master with wasting [i.e.,
filching] the victuals by a scuttle made out of his cabin into the
hold, and it appears that he fed his favorites, as the surgeon,
etc., and kept others at ordinary allowance. All say that, to save
some from starvi