How does the doctor and the squire handle the captain’s complaints

chapter 9

The first thing that Captain Smollett makes it clear that he is unhappy with both the cruise and the men that Mr. Trelwney has selected to go on the expedition. Confused, the doctor intervenes and concocts that the reason that Captain Smollett is angry is for two reasons. First, he was not told the reason behind the expedition but all his hands were. Once he found out that it was a treasure hunt, he was more upset because of the dangers involved. Second, he was upset because he was not able to choose his own crew. He believes that the first mate is far too friendly with the crew, "soft," to have proper authority over the rest of the crew. At the conclusion of this conversation, in order to scare the men and make them believe that this is a dangerous trip, the captain reveals that he has overheard the exact longitude and latitude identified on the map. Trelawney protests that this was not possible because he has not revealed it to anyone, and, naively, the narrator believes him.