Chapter 13
CHAPTER XIII. A MUTINY IN THE SHIP. 1789. APRIL. MONDAY 27. We kept near the island Koto'o all the afternoon in hopes that some canoes would come off to the ship, but in this I was disappointed. The wind being northerly in the evening, we steered to the westward to pass to the south at Tofoya. I gave directions for this course to be continued during the night. The master had the first watch, the
gunner the middle watch, and Mr. Christian the morning watch. This was the turn of duty for the night. TUESDAY 28. Just before sun-rising, while I was yet asleep, Mr. Christian, with the at arms, gunner's mate and Thomas Burkett, seaman, came into my cabin, and seizing me, tied my hands with a cord behind my back, threatening me with instant death if I spoke
or made the least noise. I, however, called as loud as I could in hopes of assistance, but they had already secured the officers, who were not of their party, by placing sentinels at their doors. There were three men at my cabin door besides the four within. Christian had only a cutlass in his hand, and the others had muskets and bayonets. I was hauled out of bed and forced
on deck in my shirt, suffering great pain from the tightness with which they had tied my hands. I demanded the reason of such violence, but received no other answer than abuse for not holding my tongue. The master, the gunner, the surgeon, Mr. Elphinstone, master's mate, and Nelson, were kept confined below, and the four hatchway was guarded by sentinels. The boatswain and carpenter, and also the clerk, Mr. Samuel, were allowed to come upon
deck, where they saw me standing abaff the mizzenmast with my hands tied behind my back under a guard with Christian at their head. The boatswain was ordered to hoist the launch out with a threat if he did not do it instantly to take care of himself. When the boat was out, Mr. Hayward and Mr. Hallett, two of the midshipmen, and Mr. Samuel, were ordered into it. I demanded what their intention was in giving this order, and endeavoured
to persuade the people near me not to persist in such acts of violence, but it was to no effect. ìHold your tongue, sir, or you are dead this instant,î was constantly repeated to me. The master by this time had sent a request that he might come on deck, which was permitted, but he was soon ordered back again to his cabin.
I continued my endeavours to turn the tide of affairs when Christian changed the cutlass which he had in his hand for a bayonet that was brought to him, and, holding me with a strong grip by the cord that tied my hands, he with many oaths threatened to kill me immediately if I would not be quiet. The villains round me had their pieces cocked and bayonets fixed. Several people were called on to go into the boat, and were hurried over the side,
once I concluded that with these people I was to be set adrift. I therefore made another effort to bring about a change, but with no other effect than to be threatened with having my brains blown out. The boatsmen and seamen who were to go in the boat were allowed to collect wine, canvas, sails, cordage, and eight and twenty gallon cask of water, and Mr. Samuel got one hundred
fifty pounds of bread, with a small quantity of rum and wine, also a quadrant and compass, but he was forbidden on pain of death to touch either map, ephemeris, book of astronomical observations, sextant, timekeeper, or any of my surveys or drawings. The mutineers, having forced those of the seamen who they meant to get rid of into the boat, Christian directed a dram to be served to each of his own crew. I then unhappily
saw that nothing could be done to affect the recovery of the ship, there was no one to assist me, and every endeavor on my part was answered with threats of death. The officers were next called upon, Dick, and forced over the side into the boat, while I was kept apart from everyone, abaffed the mizzenmast. Christian, armed with a bayonet, holding me by the bandage that secured my hands.
The guard round me had their pieces cocked, but on my daring the ungrateful wretches to fire they uncocked them. Isaac Martin, one of the guards over me, I saw had an inclination to assist me, and as he fed me with shoddick, my lips being quite parched, we explained our wishes to each other by our looks, but this being observed, Martin was removed from me.
He then attempted to leave the ship, for which purpose he got into the boat, but with many threats they obliged him to return. The armorer, Joseph Coleman, and two of the carpenters, MacIntyre and Norman, were also kept contrary to their inclination. They begged of me, after I was astern in the boat, to declared they had no hand in the transaction.
Michael Byrne, I am told, likewise wanted to leave the ship. It is of no moment for me to recount my endeavors to bring back the offenders to a sense of their duty. All I could do was by speaking to them in general, but it was to no purpose, for I was kept securely bound and no one except the guard suffered to come near me. To Mr. Samuel, I am indebted for securing my journals and commission with some material
ship papers. Without these I had nothing to certify of what I had done, and my honor and character might have been suspected without my possessing a proper document to have defended them. All this he did with great resolution, though guarded and strictly watched. He attempted to save the timekeeper, and a box with my surveys, drawings, and remarks for fifteen years past, which were numerous, when he was hurried away with, damn your eyes, you are
well off to get what you have. It appeared to me that Christian was for some time in doubt whether he should keep the carpenter or his mates at length he determined on the latter, and the carpenter was ordered into He was permitted, but not without some opposition, to take his tool chest. 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 waited for me, of which the master at arms informed Christian, who then said, Come, Captain Bly, 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. It was then that the armorer and carpenter called out to me to remember that they had no hand in the transaction.
After having undergone a great deal of ridicule, and being 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 Friar, Master. Thomas Ledward, Acting Surgeon. David Nelson, Botanist. William Peckover, Gunner. William Cole, Boson. William Purcell, Carpenter. William Elphinston, Master's Mate. Thomas Hayward, John Howlett, Midshipman.
John Norton, Peter Linkletter, Quartermasters. Lawrence Glebojow, Sailmaker. John Smith, Thomas Hall, Cooks. George Simpson, Quartermasters Mate. Robert Tinkler, Avoy. Robert Lambert, Mr. Samuel Clark. The remainder on board the bounty, Fletcher Christian, Master's Mate. Peter Hayward, Edward Young, George Stewart, Midshipman. Charles Churchill, Master at Arms. John Mills, Gunner's Mate. James Morrison, Boson's Mate. Thomas Burkett, Matthew Quintal,
John Sumner, John Millward, William McCoy, Henry Hilbrand, Michael Brin, William Muspratt, Alexander Smith, John Williams, Thomas Ellison, Isaac Martin, Richard Skinner, Matthew Thompson, Abel Seaman. William Brown, Gardner. Joseph Coleman, Armorer. Charles Norman, Master's Mate. Thomas McIntosh, Carpenter's Crew. In all, 25 hands in the most able men of the ship's company.
Having little or no wind, we rode pretty fast towards Tofoya, which bore northeast about ten leagues from us. While the ship was in sight, she steered to the west-northwest, but I considered this only as a feint, for when we were sent away, Hazza for Otehede was frequently heard among the mutineers. Christian, the chief of the mutineers, is of a respectable family in the north of England.
This was the third voyage he had made with me, and as I found it necessary to keep my ship's company at three watches, I had given him an order to take charge of the third, his abilities being thoroughly equal to the task, and by this means the master and gunner were not at watch and watch. Haywood is also of a respectable family in the north of England, and a young man of abilities
as well as Christian. These two had been objects of my particular regard and attention, and I had taken great pains to instruct them, having entertained hopes that as professional men they would have become a credit to their country. Young was well recommended, and had the look of an able, stout seaman. He, however, fell short of what his appearance promised. Stuart was a young man of credible parents in the Orkneys, at which place on the return
of the resolution from the South Seas in 1780, we received so many civilities that on that account only I should gladly have taken him with me, but independent of this recommendation he was a seaman and had always borne a good character. Notwithstanding the roughness with which I was treated, the remembrance of past kindnesses produced some signs of remorse in Christian. When they were forcing me out of the ship, I asked him if this treatment
was a proper return for the many instances he had received of my friendship. He appeared disturbed at my question and answered with much emotion, That, Captain Bly, is the thing. I am in hell. I am in hell. As soon as I had time to reflect, I felt an inward satisfaction which prevented any depression of my spirits. Conscious of my integrity and anxious solicitude for the good
of the service in which I had been engaged, I found my mind wonderfully supported, and I began to conceive hopes, notwithstanding so heavy a calamity, that I should one day be able to account to my king and country for the misfortune. A few hours before my situation had been particularly flattering. I had a ship in the most perfect order and well stored, with every necessary both for service and health. By early attention to
those particulars I had as much as lay in my power, provided against any accident, in case I could not get through Endeavour Straits, as well as against what might befall me in them. Add to this the plants had been successfully preserved in the most flourishing state, so that upon the whole the voyage was two-thirds completed, and the remaining part to all appearances in a very promising way, every person on board being in perfect health, to
establish which was ever amongst the principal objects of my intention. It will very naturally be asked, what could be the reason for such a revolt? An answer to which I can only conjecture that the mutineers had flattered themselves with the hopes of a more happy life among the Oteheseans than they could possibly enjoy in England, and this joined to some female connections, most probably occasioned the whole transaction. The women at Otehede are
handsome, mild and cheerful in their manners and conversation, possessed of great sensibility and have sufficient delicacy to make them admired and beloved. The chiefs were so much attached to our people that they rather encouraged their stay among them than otherwise, and even made them promises of large possessions. Under these and many other attendant circumstances equally desirable, it is now perhaps not so much to be wondered at, though scarcely possible
to have been foreseen, that a set of sailors, most of them void of connections, should be led away, especially when, in addition to such powerful inducements, they imagined it themselves in the midst of plenty, on one of the finest islands in the world, where they need not labor, and where the allurements of dissipation are beyond anything that can be conceived. The utmost, however, that any commander could have supposed to have happened
is that some of the people would have been tempted to desert. But if it should be asserted that a commander is to guard against an act of mutiny and piracy in his own ship more than by the common rules of service, it is as much to say that he must sleep locked up and when awake be girded with pistols. Desertions have happened more or less from most of the ships that have been at the Society
Islands, but it has always been in the commander's power to make the chiefs return their people. The knowledge, therefore, that it was unsafe to desert perhaps first led mine to consider with what ease so small a ship might be surprised, and that so favorable an opportunity would never offer to them again. The secrecy of this mutiny is beyond all conception. Thirteen of the party who were with me had
always lived forward among the seamen, yet neither they nor the mess-mates of Christian, Stuart, Hayward, and Young had ever observed any circumstances that made them in the least suspect what was going on. To such a close planned act of villainy, my mind being entirely free from any suspicion, it is not wonderful that I fell a sacrifice. Perhaps if there had been marines on board, a sentinel at my cabin door might have prevented it, for I
slept with the door always open that the officer of the watch might have access to me on all occasions, the possibility of such a conspiracy being ever the farthest from my thoughts. Had there mutiny been occasioned by any grievances, either real or imaginary, I must have discovered symptoms of their discontent, which would have put me on my guard, but the case was far otherwise. Christian in particular I was on the most friendly terms with. That very
day he was engaged to have dined with me, and the preceding night he excused himself from supping with me on the pretense of being unwell, for which I felt concerned, having no suspicions of his integrity or honor.
