(From the Shipping and Mercantile Gazette.)

Central Criminal Court, July 8, [1846]

Mr. William Graham, master of the ship Grange, from Sydney, was charged with assaulting T. Singleton, a man of colour, and J. Bain, cook and seaman, on board the above named vessel. As the case has been so lately before the public, under the head of the Thames Police reports, the following brief statement will suffice:

Shortly after the vessel's leaving Sydney, the prisoner's tyrannical conduct raised an ill-feeling among the men against him, When off the Cape of Good Hope, he without provocation knocked Bain down, and then ordered him to go below, to be placed in irons. Bain refusing to do so, was fastened by the leg with a rope and dragged to the companion ladder and thrown down into the cabin, where he was placed in irons and kept so during three days and two nights, receiving only two biscuits for his sustenance during that time. While in his confinement the master brutally assaulted him, jumping on him. Upon going again on deck after being released from his confinement, the master assaulted him, and sent him back into confinement, where he was kept in irons for thirty days, fourteen of which he was only allowed half a pound of broad a day, being equal to one biscuit and a half. The master came to him several times while he was confined, and told him be might go and do his duty if he wished, and made him, when he was able, take exercise for a short time on deck. Complainant refused to go to his work again, as he was not strong enough ; some days he was in such a weak state as not to be able to leave the cabin. Singleton was cruelly used the whole time the voyage lasted, the prisoner at times beating him with a riding whip, which lacerated his back very much. He showed the marks of the stripes he had received, which, although having been inflicted a month back, still showed to what extent he had been beaten. The Jury acquitted the prisoner on the first count in the indictments, but found him guilty on the second.

The Common Serjeant said the Court always lent its aid to protect merchant masters, but at the same time it was a paramount duty to protect poor seamen from brutal conduct. In this case the prisoner had behaved so brutally that the Court would not pass a lenient sentence upon him. The prisoner was then sentenced to six months' imprisonment in Millbank Penitentiary.

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