er-roll, to see if I
could find the name of such a man. On examination I found it to be the last
on the list. John Dean, it appeared, had been one of the original crew,
having gone on board, from Bristol, on the twenty-second day of July, 1785.

On inquiring where Dean was to be found, my informant told me that he had
lately left Bristol for London. I was shown, however, to the house where he
had lodged. The name of his landlord was Donovan. On talking with him on
the subject, he assured me that the report which I had heard was true; for
that while he resided with him he had heard an account of his usage from
some of his ship-mates, and that he had often looked at his scarred and
mutilated back.

On inquiring of Donovan if any other person in Bristol could corroborate
this account, he referred me to a reputable tradesman living in the
Market-place. Having been introduced to him, he told me that he had long
known John Dean to be a sober and industrious man; that he had seen the
terrible indentures on his back; and that they were said to have been made
by the captain, in the manner related, during his last voyage.

While I was investigating this matter farther, I was introduced to Mr.
Sydenham Teast, a respectable ship-builder in Bristol, and the owner of
vessels trading to Africa in the natural productions of that country. I
mentioned to him by accident what I had heard relative to the treatment of
John Dean. He said it was true. An attorney[A] in London had then taken up
his cause, in consequence of which the captain had been prevented from
sailing, till he could find persons who would be answerable for the damages
which might be awarded against him in a court of law. Mr. Teast further
said, that, not knowing, at that time, the cruelty of the transaction to
its full extent, he himself had been one of the securities for the captain
at the request of the purser[B] of the ship. Finding, however, afterwards,
that it was as the public had stated, he was sorry that he had ever
interfered in such a barbarous case.

[Footnote A: I afterwards found out this attorney. He described the
transaction to me, as, by report, it had taken place, and informed me that
he had made the captain of the Brothers pay for his barbarity.]

[Footnote B: The purser of a ship, at Bristol, is the person who manages
the out-fit, as well as the trade, and who is often in part owner of her.]

This transaction, which I now believed to be true, had the