Voyage of H.M.S. 'Pandora' : $b despatched to arrest the mutineers of the 'Bounty' in the South Seas, 1790-91Edwards, Edward
History
Voyage of H.M.S. 'Pandora' : $b despatched to arrest the mutineers of the 'Bounty' in the South Seas, 1790-91
Edwards, Edward
Bounty (Ship); Pandora (Frigate); Voyages around the world -- Early works to 1800
One of the officers now told the Captain, who was standing aft, that the
anchor on our bow was under water; that she was then going; and, bidding
him farewell, jumped over the quarter into the water. The Captain then
followed his example, and jumped after him. At that instant she took her
last heel; and, while every one were scrambling to windward, she sunk in
an instant. The crew had just time to leap over board, accompanying it
with a most dreadful yell. The cries of the men drowning in the water was
at first awful in the extreme; but as they sunk, and became faint, it
died away by degrees. The boats, who were at some considerable distance
in the drift of the tide, in about half an hour, or little better, picked
up the remainder of our wretched crew.
Morning now dawned, and the sun shone out. A sandy key, four miles off,
and about thirty paces long, afforded us a resting place; and when all
the boats arrived, we mustered our remains, and found that thirty-five
men and four prisoners were drowned.
After we had a little recovered our strength, the first care was to haul
up the boats. A guard was placed over the prisoners. Providentially a
small barrel of water, a cag of wine, some biscuit, and a few muskets and
cartouch boxes, had been thrown into the boat. The heat of the sun, and
the reflection from the sand, was now excruciating; and our stomachs
being filled with salt water, from the great length of time we were
swimming before we were picked up, rendered our thirst most intolerable;
and no water was allowed to be served out the first day. By a calculation
which we made, by filling the compass boxes, and every utensil we had, we
could admit an allowance of two small wine glasses of water a-day to each
man for sixteen days.
A saw and hammer had fortunately been in one of the boats, which enabled
us, with the greater expedition, to make preparations for our voyage, by
repairing one of the boats, which was in a very bad state, and cutting up
the floor-boards of all the boats into uprights, round which we stretched
canvas, to keep the water from breaking into the boats at sea. We made
tents of the boats' sails; and when it was dark, we set the watch, and
went to sleep. In the night we were disturbed by the irregular behaviour
of one Connell, which led us to suspect he had stole our wine, and got
drunk; but, on further inquiry, we found that the excruciating torture he
suffered from thirst led him to drink salt water; by which means he went
mad, and died in the sequel of the voyage.
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