Folios 293-295: James Bowen, Woolwich. Responding to a request for comment on a report...

Folios 293-295: James Bowen, Woolwich. Responding to a request for comment on a report sent to the Admiralty by the carpenter of HMS Argo, John Mclachlan. He says most of the man's statement is false - the ill-treatment he claims to have received from Mr Coats was, upon enquiry, found to be chiefly due to his own conduct. Says had he finished the job in the forenoon, when he was sober, the incident would not have happened, but a dispute arose over the method Coats had devised for stowing the water. He has questioned the carpenter's mate and other men who were present - they said there was a fight, but would not say who struck first, and did not intervene as the two were their superiors. Coats claimed that the the carpenter had abused him severely and struck him, whereupon he had returned the blows, but was very sorry and conscious of the disgrace. Bowen rebuked him, and told the carpenter to get on with his work. However, he had again to reprimand him for not attending to his duty, at Ascension, and again shortly after leaving Barbados, when he was drunk before 7am and being insolent to the lieutenant. His conduct was so often bad that only his long service and the fact that the war was over, induced Bowen not to bring a court martial against him. He considers him a worthless good-for-nothing, and says in a PS that no other warrant officer will mess with him or speak to him except on duty.