The Grampus was commanded by Captain Thomas Gordon Caulfield, who had notions of discipline peculiar to himself, with which Sir James, who lived on shore with his family, did not interfere. The following anecdote will serve to show that these deviations from the laws and customs of the navy are seldom attended with success. It was Captain Caulfield's positive instructions that no boatswain's mate, or other petty officer, should carry a cane, the usual emblem of their authority; and that he would not punish any man unless convicted by the testimony of two witnesses, while the man himself might bring others to contradict the assertion of the officer making the complaint: in short, that the single testimony of an officer could not be taken without a majority of evidence in its support. The ship had just been manned by impressed seamen, and her complement was completed from the prisons: it may therefore be supposed, that these regulations were not calculated to bring the ship speedily into a state of discipline. It must be remembered that the captain had not the power of administering an oath, and, when a complaint was made, men were soon found who would come forward, and prove, according to this system, that the accusation was groundless; and thus the culprit always escaped. The ship accordingly fell into a complete state of insubordination. On one occasion a man was brought up on the quarter-deck in a state of intoxication, when the captain, as if he could not believe his own eyes, thought it necessary to call two of the officers as witnesses. The man was put into confinement; and next morning, at eight, he was brought up to be punished at the gangway. The offender being tied up, and the article of war under which he had fallen being read, the captain took the opportunity of assuring his assembled crew, that when _legally_ convicted they were sure of punishment; but that no man should be struck.