'I also informed Mr. Hayward of my intention; and on his dropping a hint to me that he intended to knock Churchill down, I told him I would second him, pointing to some of the Friendly Island clubs which were sticking in the booms, and saying, "There were tools enough": but (he adds) 'I was suddenly damped to find that he went into the boat without making the attempt he had proposed.' He then appeals to the members of the Court, as to the alternative they would themselves have taken:--'A boat alongside, already crowded; those who were in her crying out she would sink; and Captain Bligh desiring no more might go in--with a slender stock of provisions,--what hope could there be to reach any friendly shore, or withstand the hostile attacks of the boisterous elements? The perils those underwent who reached the island of Timor, and whom nothing but the apparent interference of Divine Providence could have saved, fully justify my fears, and prove beyond a doubt that they rested on a solid foundation; for by staying in the ship, an opportunity might offer of escaping, but by going in the boat nothing but death appeared, either from the lingering torments of hunger and thirst, or from the murderous weapons of cruel savages, or being swallowed up by the deep. 'I have endeavoured,' he says, 'to recall to Mr. Hayward's remembrance a proposal he at one time made, by words, of attacking the mutineers, and of my encouraging him to the attempt, promising to back him. He says he has but a faint recollection of the business--so faint indeed that he cannot recall to his memory the particulars, but owns there was something passed to that effect. Faint, however, as his remembrance is (which for me is the more unfortunate), ought it not to do away all doubt with respect to the motives by which I was then influenced?' And, in conclusion, he says, 'I beg leave most humbly to remind the members of this honourable Court, that I did freely, and of my own accord, deliver myself up to Lieutenant Robert Corner, of H.M.S. _Pandora_, on the first certain notice of her arrival.' _William Muspratt's Defence_