Their patriotism was no recommendation to Captain Thorn, who adopted every means in his power to annoy and thwart them. To any person who has been at sea it is unnecessary to mention how easy it is for one of those nautical despots to play the tyrant, and the facilities which their situation affords, and of which they too often avail themselves, of harassing every one who is not slavishly subservient to their wishes.
Messrs. M'Kay, M'Dougall, and the Stuarts, had too much Highland blood in their veins to submit patiently to the haughty and uncivil treatment of the captain; and the consequence was, a series of quarrels and disagreeable recriminations, not merely in the cabin but on the quarter-deck.
They touched at the Falkland Islands for a supply of water; and while Mr. David Stuart and Mr. Franchere, with a party, were on shore, the captain, without any previous intimation, suddenly gave orders to weigh anchor, and stood out to sea, leaving the party on one of the most desert and uninhabitable islands in the world. The gentlemen on board expostulated in vain against this act of tyrannic cruelty, when Mr. Robert Stuart, nephew of the old gentleman who had been left on shore, seized a brace of
