Note XXIX‑39 — Chapter XXIX · CORSAIRS IN THE SOUTH SEA. 1671-1682.

As 'a Man who was as Valiant and Couragious as any could be, and likewise next to Capt. Sharp, the best beloved of all our Company, or the most Part thereof.' Bucaniers of Amer., ii. 33-4. Sharp was not a general favorite among the buccaneers. Burney says that 'Ringrose was not in England when his narrative was published; and advantage was taken of his absence to interpolate in it some impudent passages in commendation of Sharp's valor.' He goes on to say that in the MS. of Ringrose's Journal, preserved in the Sloane Collection, British Museum, the passage quoted concerning Sawkins' character runs: 'Captain Sawkins was a valiant and generous spirited man, and beloved above any other we ever had among us, which he well deserved.' Burney's Discov. South Sea, iv. 104-5. The inference suggested by Burney, therefore, is that Sharp, or somebody in his interest, foisted in the passages characterized as 'impudent.'