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The South Australian REGISTER published a letter on October 3rd, 1849,
supposedly from a passenger on board the JOHN MUNN.
No fewer than twelve sail are hovering round us, and one homeward bound ship came in close astern of us, with the evident design of receiving our letters; but the captain took no notice of the kindly purpose, and would not allow a boat to be put off. His conduct has excited great dissatisfaction, and given rise to the opinion that he is fearful of the accounts which are likely to be sent home.
(extract from a Passenger's Journal, dated June 29th, 1849)
Surely, if the proceedings on board this wretched vessel ever come before the public, as they can scarcely fail to do, the JOHN MUNN will pass into a proverb for everything that is discreditable and vile in regard to the conduct of emigration ships and emigration agents (bid. under date August 20th, 1849)
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The October 10th, 1849 issue published a response by Captain Pearson:
Gentlemen, In your paper of the 3rd instant you have inserted a letter without any signature, on the subject of the treatment of the passengers by the JOHN MUNN, of which vessel I am the master, in which your anonymous correspondent (who I suspect might add "Reverend" to his name) does not hesitate to affirm that "the charges brought against the Captain of the INDIAN, are, with scarcely an exception, equally valid with respect to the practices in the JOHN MUNN." The treatment of the passengers generally, and of the cabin passengers in particular, has been fraudulent in the extreme" and he alleges several other charges against me.
Now, Sir, I must emphatically deny that there is a word of truth in any part of the aforementioned letter, but as I do not wish that the denial should rest on my own assertion only, I enclose you a copy of a testimonial signed by 79 of the most respected of the passengers by the JOHN MUNN, being more than half of the whole number of 140 [including 40 children]. I have no hesitation in saying that, with the exception of the reverend slanderer himself and his family, scarcely a passenger on board the vessel would have refused to sign the testimonial which, you can see from the date, was not prepared as an answer to the foul and false charge contained in the reverend gentleman's letter.
Captain Pearson went on to invite his passengers to meet him in Adelaide at the "Southern Cross Hotel", where he reminded them that he had nothing to do with victualling the ship.
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This report makes interesting reading, and includes a response from William Trolloppe dated October 6th 1849.
He refused to admit or deny being the author of the letter dated October 3rd, 1849.
The report went on to say: And what does it amount to? Scarcely anything. No one impugns his nautical skill, but did he deny his vessel was badly provisioned, and that in port many of his passengers were provisioning themselves? Did he deny the open sale of spirits from the cuddy, during the voyage - even on the Sabbath Day? Did he deny the prevalence on drinking, gambling and smoking between decks? Did he deny the connivance at immoral conduct? Did he discountenance the foolish and dangerous use of firearms by way of pastime on deck? And is he ignorant of the fact that the ship was more than once in danger of being set on fire by such practices? Does he mean to say that, having signed the necessary certificate that the required quantity of provisions was on board, he was not to blame when the passengers were put on short allowance of water and provisions? Does he deny the use, by himself and his officers, of vulgar, profane, and abusive language towards his passengers?
All we can say is that we have carefully perused the journal of a passenger, and believe that the Captain will find it difficult to exonerate himself from any of the charges we have inuendoed.
As to the charterers, no language is sufficient to characterise their conduct as it deserves. They have evidently been making a traffic in the life and health of every passenger they succeeded in gulling, and for which a day of reckoning will surely overtake them.
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