heretofore it has been held to be.

The summing up of the Trinity House examination gives the crux of
the matter: "They all charge the Master with wasting [i.e.,
filching] the victuals by a scuttle made out of his cabin into the
hold, and it appears that he fed his favorites, as the surgeon,
etc., and kept others at ordinary allowance. All say that, to save
some from starving, they were content to put away [abandon] so
many." It was from this presentment that the Elder Brethren drew
the just conclusion--as we know from Prickett's characteristic
denial under oath that he "ever knew or heard" such expression of
their opinion--that "they deserved to be hanged for the same."

In the testimony of Edward Wilson, the surgeon--one of the
"favorites"--the point is made, credited to Staffe, that "the
reason why the Master should soe favour to give meate to some of
the companie and not the rest" was because "it was necessary that
some of them should be kepte upp"--in other words, that some
members of the crew, without regard to the needs of the remainder,
should receive food enough to give them strength to work the ship.
This is an agreement, substantially, with the charge preferred
against Hudson in the "Larger Discourse"; upon which Dr. Asher made
the exculpating comment: "But even if this charge be a true one,
Hudson's motives were certainly honorable; with such men as he had
under his orders it was dangerous to deal openly. Their crime had
no other cause than the fear that he would continue his search and
expose them to new privations: and it seems that in providing for
this emergency, he had even increased his dangers." Dr. Asher's
excuse, I should add, refers more to concealment of food than to
unfair apportionment.