A voyage to the South Sea : $b Undertaken by command of His Majesty for the purpose of conveying the bread-fruit tree to the West Indies in His Majesty's ship the Bounty commanded by Lieutenant William Bligh; including an account of the mutiny on board the said ship and the subsequent voyage of part of the crew in the ship's boat from Tofoa, one of the Friendly Islands, to Timor, a Dutch settlement in the East IndiesBligh, William
History
A voyage to the South Sea : $b Undertaken by command of His Majesty for the purpose of conveying the bread-fruit tree to the West Indies in His Majesty's ship the Bounty commanded by Lieutenant William Bligh; including an account of the mutiny on board the said ship and the subsequent voyage of part of the crew in the ship's boat from Tofoa, one of the Friendly Islands, to Timor, a Dutch settlement in the East Indies
Bligh, William
Bounty (Ship); Bounty Mutiny, 1789; Oceania -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800; Voyages and travels
Much altercation took place among the mutinous crew during the whole
business: some swore "I'll be damned if he does not find his way home, if
he gets anything with him," (meaning me) and, when the carpenter's chest
was carrying away, "Damn my eyes he will have a vessel built in a month."
While others laughed at the helpless situation of the boat, being very
deep and so little room for those who were in her. As for Christian he
seemed as if meditating destruction on himself and everyone else.
I asked for arms but they laughed at me, and said I was well acquainted
with the people among whom I was going, and therefore did not want them;
four cutlasses however were thrown into the boat after we were veered
astern.
The officers and men being in the boat they only waited for me, of which
the master at arms informed Christian, who then said: "Come, captain
Bligh, your officers and men are now in the boat and you must go with
them; if you attempt to make the least resistance you will instantly be
put to death" and, without further ceremony, with a tribe of armed
ruffians about me, I was forced over the side where they untied my hands.
Being in the boat we were veered astern by a rope. A few pieces of pork
were thrown to us, and some clothes, also the cutlasses I have already
mentioned; and it was then that the armourer and carpenters called out to
me to remember that they had no hand in the transaction. After having
undergone a great deal of ridicule and been kept some time to make sport
for these unfeeling wretches we were at length cast adrift in the open
ocean.
I had with me in the boat the following persons:
John Fryer: Master.
Thomas Ledward: Acting Surgeon.
David Nelson: Botanist.
William Peckover: Gunner.
William Cole: Boatswain.
William Purcell: Carpenter.
William Elphinston: Master's Mate.
Thomas Hayward, John Hallet: Midshipman.
John Norton, Peter Linkletter: Quarter Masters.
Lawrence Lebogue: Sailmaker.
John Smith, Thomas Hall: Cooks.
George Simpson: Quarter Master's Mate.
Robert Tinkler: A boy.
Robert Lamb: Butcher.
Mr. Samuel: Clerk.
There remained on board the Bounty:
Fletcher Christian: Master's Mate.
Peter Haywood, Edward Young, George Stewart: Midshipmen.
Charles Churchill: Master at Arms.
John Mills: Gunner's Mate.
James Morrison: Boatswain's Mate.
Thomas Burkitt, Matthew Quintal, John Sumner, John Millward, William
McKoy, Henry Hillbrant, Michael Byrne, William Musprat, Alexander Smith,
John Williams, Thomas Ellison, Isaac Martin, Richard Skinner, Matthew
Thompson: Able Seamen.
William Brown: Gardener.
Joseph Coleman: Armourer.
Charles Norman: Carpenter's Mate.
Thomas McIntosh: Carpenter's Crew.
In all 25 hands, and the most able men of the ship's company.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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