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
The governor, Mr. William Adrian van Este, notwithstanding extreme
ill-health, became so anxious about us that I saw him before the
appointed time. He received me with great affection and gave me the
fullest proofs that he was possessed of every feeling of a humane and
good man. Sorry as he was, he said, that such a calamity could ever have
happened to us, yet he considered it as the greatest blessing of his life
that we had fallen under his protection and, though his infirmity was so
great that he could not do the office of a friend himself, he would give
such orders as I might be certain would procure us every supply we
wanted. A house should be immediately prepared for me, and with respect
to my people he said that I might have room for them either at the
hospital or on board of captain Spikerman's ship which lay in the road;
and he expressed much uneasiness that Coupang could not afford them
better accommodations, the house assigned to me being the only one
uninhabited and the situation of the few families that lived at this
place such that they could not conveniently receive strangers. For the
present till matters could be properly regulated he gave directions that
victuals for my people should be dressed at his own house.
On returning to Captain Spikerman's house I found that every kind relief
had been given to my people. The surgeon had dressed their sores and the
cleaning of their persons had not been less attended to, several friendly
gifts of apparel having been presented to them.
I desired to be shown to the house that was intended for me, which I
found ready with servants to attend. It consisted of a hall, with a room
at each end, and a loft overhead; and was surrounded by a piazza with an
outer apartment in one corner and a communication from the back part of
the house to the street. I therefore determined, instead of separating
from my people, to lodge them all with me; and I divided the house as
follows: one room I took to myself, the other I allotted to the master,
surgeon, Mr. Nelson, and the gunner; the loft to the other officers, and
the outer apartment to the men. The hall was common to the officers and
the men had the back piazza. Of this disposition I informed the governor,
and he sent down chairs, tables and benches, with bedding and other
necessaries for the use of everyone.
The governor when I took my leave had desired me to acquaint him with
everything of which I stood in need; but it was only at particular times
that he had a few moments of ease, or could attend to anything, being in
a dying state with an incurable disease. On this account I transacted
whatever business I had with Mr. Timotheus Wanjon, the second of this
place, who was the governor's son-in-law, and who also contributed
everything in his power to make our situation comfortable. I had been,
therefore, misinformed by the seaman who told me that captain Spikerman
was the next person in command to the governor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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