Captain's Clerk Loses His Ears

From Cook's journal and footnotes from Beaglehole.

Wednesday, 23 May 1770: Last Night sometime in the Middle watch a very extraordinary affair happened to Mr. Orton my Clerk, he having been drinking in the Evening, some malicious person or persons in the Ship took the advantage of his being drunk and cut off all the cloths from off his back, not being satisfied with this they some time after went into his Cabbin and cut off a part of both his Ears as he lay asleep in his bed. The person whome he suspected to have done this was Mr. Magra one of the Midshipmen, but this did not appear to me upon inquirey. However as I know'd Magra had once or twice before this in their drunken frolicks cut of his Clothes and had been heard to say (as I was told) that if it was not for the Law he would Murder him, these things consider'd induce'd me to think that Magra was not altogether innocent. I therefore, for the present dismiss'd him the quarter deck and susspended him from doing any duty in the Ship, he being one of those gentlemen, frequently found on board Kings Ships, that can very well be spared, or to speake more planer good for nothing. Besides it was necessary in me to show my immediate resentment against the person on whom the suspicion fell lest they should not have stoped here.

Beaglehole notes a passage from Parkinson's (one of the ship's company) journal regarding the incident.

This day the captain's clerk had his ears cut off, and his clothes also cut off his back. The captain and officers offered, some time after, at Batavia, a reward of fifteen guineas, to anyone who should discover the person or persons who had cut off his ears, and fifteen gallons of arrack, to any one that should discover him or them who had cut off his clothes.

One of our midshipmen ran away from us here [Batavia], and it was suspected that he was the person that cut off Orton's ears.