The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism. Volume 1Whymper, Frederick
History
The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism. Volume 1
Whymper, Frederick
Adventure and adventurers; Arctic regions; Ocean; Voyages around the world
The _Pandora_ reached Matavia Bay on the 23rd of March, 1791. The armourer
and two of the midshipmen, Mr. Heywood and Mr. Stewart, came off
immediately, and showed their willingness to afford information. Four
others soon after appeared, and from them the captain learned that the
rest of the _Bounty’s_ people had built a schooner, and sailed the day
before for another part of the island. They were pursued, and the schooner
secured, but the mutineers had fled to the mountains. A day or two
elapsed, when they ventured down, and when within hearing were ordered to
lay down their arms, which they did, and were put in irons. Captain
Edwards put them into a round-house, built on the after part of the
quarter-deck, in order to isolate them from the crew. According to the
statement of one of the prisoners, the midshipmen were kept ironed by the
legs, separate from the men, in a kind of round-house, aptly termed
“Pandora’s Box,” which was entered by a scuttle in the roof, about
eighteen inches square. “The prisoners’ wives visited the ship daily, and
brought their children, who were permitted to be carried to their unhappy
fathers. To see the poor captives in irons,” says the only narrative
published of the _Pandora’s_ visit, “weeping over their tender offspring,
was too moving a scene for any feeling heart. Their wives brought them
ample supplies of every delicacy that the country afforded while we lay
there, and behaved with the greatest fidelity and affection to them.”(125)
Stewart, the midshipman, had espoused the daughter of an old chief, and
they had lived together in the greatest harmony; a beautiful little girl
had been the fruit of the union. When Stewart was confined in irons,
Peggy, for so her husband had named her, flew with her infant in a canoe
to the arms of her husband. The interview was so painful that Stewart
begged she might not be admitted on board again. Forbidden to see him, she
sank into the greatest dejection, and seemed to have lost all relish for
food and existence; she pined away and died two months afterwards.(126)
[Illustration: MAP OF THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account