Accordingly, I stepped down to him, and was much surprised to find him extended out upon the hearth, uttering most dreadful lamentations; he stretched out his hand towards me and in a piteful tone of voice begg'd my assistance, and requested I would take pity upon a poor helpless abandoned wretch, who was not of the sex I had every reason to suppose.
But was an unfortunate Orkney girl pregnant and actually in childbirth, in saying this she opened her jacket and display'd to my view a pair of beautiful round white breasts...
[5] The father of the baby was reportedly John Scarth, an HBC employee who had been in frequent contact with Gunn during her postings in Rupert's Land.
Against her wishes, Gunn and her child were returned to Scotland on the Prince of Wales, the same boat that had brought her to Rupert's Land three years earlier, on 20 September 1809.
Gunn and Baby James would have been returning to a town that would have shunned the young family due to the sin of sex without the sanctity of marriage.