Note 23 — CHAP. XXV. A NAVAL STUDY—continued.
Reading edition
In his subsequent evidence Mr. Stokes admitted that he had never sounded there at all previous to the action!
Question.—“Had you any knowledge of that anchorage previous to the 12th of April?”
Mr. Stokes.—“None whatever!”—Minutes, p. 148.
He swears that everything on his chart is accurately described—then, that “the distance between the sands,” which was one of the most important points of the court-martial, was copied from a French MS.! the name of whose author he does not think proper to communicate, nor does the court ask him! nor was any MSS. produced in Court. Yet, as master of the Admiral’s flagship, Mr. Stokes must have navigated her by the French charts supplied by the Admiralty, though these when tendered by me to the Court had been rejected. The fleet could, in fact, have had no other for its guidance, as no British survey of Aix Roads was in existence. Such charts were surely a better guide in any case than an anonymous MSS.