The Eventful History of the Mutiny and Piratical Seizure of H.M.S. Bounty: Its Cause And Consequences Part 17

7. WILLIAM M'KOY, seaman, became insane, and killed by throwing himself from a rock.

8. Mr. EDWAKD YOUNG, mids.h.i.+pman, died of asthma.

9. ALEX. SMITH, _alias_ John Adams, seaman, died in 1829.

Young officers of the navy, as well as the common seamen, may also derive some useful lessons from the events of this history. They will see the melancholy results of affording the least encouragement for seamen to depart from their strict line of duty, and to relax in that obedience to the orders of superiors, by which alone the discipline of the service can be preserved; they will learn how dangerous it is to show themselves careless and indifferent in executing those orders, by thus setting a bad example to the men. It ought also to enforce on their minds, how necessary it is to avoid even the appearance of acting in any way that can be considered as repugnant to, or subversive of, the rules and regulations of the service; and most particularly to guard against any conduct that may have the appearance of lowering the authority of their superiors, either by their words or actions.

No doubt can remain on the minds of unprejudiced persons, or such as are capable of weighing evidence, that the two young mids.h.i.+pmen, Stewart and Hey wood, were perfectly innocent of any share in the transaction in question; and yet, because they happened to be left in the s.h.i.+p, not only contrary to their wish and intention, but kept down below by force, the one lost his life, by being drowned in chains, and the other was condemned to die, and only escaped from suffering the last penalty of the law by a recommendation to the royal mercy. The only point in which these two officers failed, was, that they did not at once demand permission to accompany their commander, while they were allowed to remain on deck and had the opportunity of doing so. The manly conduct of young Heywood, throughout his long and unmerited sufferings, affords an example of firmness, fort.i.tude, and resignation to the Divine will, that is above all praise; in fact, nothing short of conscious innocence could have supported him in the severe trials he had to undergo.

The melancholy effects which tyrannical conduct, harsh and opprobrious language, ungovernable pa.s.sion, and a worrying and hara.s.sing temper, on the part of naval commanders, seldom fail to produce on the minds of those who are subject to their capricious and arbitrary command, are strongly exemplified in the cause and consequences of the mutiny in the _Bounty_, as described in the course of this history. Conduct of this kind, by making the inferior officers of a s.h.i.+p discontented and unhappy, has the dangerous tendency, as in the case of Christian, to incite the crew to partake in their discontent, and be ready to a.s.sist in any plan to get rid of the tyrant. We may see in it, also, how very little credit a commander is likely to gain, either with the service or the public at large, when the duties of a s.h.i.+p are carried on, as they would appear to have been in the _Pandora_, in a cold, phlegmatic, and unfeeling manner, and with an indifference to the comfort of all around him,--subjecting offenders of whatever description to unnecessary restraint, and a severity of punishment, which, though strictly within the letter of the law, contributes in no way to the ends of discipline or of justice.

The conduct of Bligh, however mistaken he may have been in his mode of carrying on the duties of the s.h.i.+p, was most exemplary throughout the long and perilous voyage he performed in an open boat, on the wide ocean, with the most scanty supply of provisions and water, and in the worst weather. The result of such meritorious conduct holds out every encouragement to both officers and men, by showing them that, by firmness and perseverance, and the adoption of well-digested measures, steadily ursued in spite of opposition, the most hopeless undertaking, to all appearance, may be successfully accomplished.

And lastly--The fate that has attended almost every one of those concerned in the mutiny and piracy of his Majesty's s.h.i.+p _Bounty_ ought to operate as a warning to, and make a deep impression on the minds of, our brave seamen, not to suffer themselves to be led astray from the straightforward line of their duty, either by order or persuasion of some hot-brained, thoughtless, or designing person, whether their superior or equal, but to remain faithful, under all circ.u.mstances, to their commanding officer, as any mutinous proceedings or disobedience of his orders are sure to be visited upon them in the long run, either by loss of life, or by a forfeiture of that liberal provision which the British government has bestowed on its seamen for long and faithful services.

P.S.--Just as this last sheet came from the press, the editor has noticed, with a feeling of deep and sincere regret, a paragraph in the newspapers, said to be extracted from an American paper, stating that a vessel sent to Pitcairn's Island by the missionaries of Otaheite has carried off the whole of the settlers to the latter island. If this be true--and the mention of the name of Nott gives a colour to the transaction--the 'cherubim' must have slept, the 'flaming sword' have been sheathed, and another Eden has been lost: and, what is worse than all, that native simplicity of manners, that purity of morals, and that singleness of heart, which so peculiarly distinguished this little interesting society, are all lost. They will now be dispersed among the missionary stations as humble dependents, where Kitty Quintal and the rest of them may get 'food for their souls,' such as it is, in exchange for the substantial blessings they enjoyed on Pitcairn's Island.

ADDITIONAL NOTE

In reference to the subject of extraordinary pa.s.sages made in open boats on the wide ocean, and the note thereon at page 127, the following may be added as another instance, the most painfully interesting, and the most calamitous, perhaps, ever recorded. It was related to Mr. Bennet, a gentleman deputed by the Missionary Society of London, together with the Rev. Daniel Tyerman, to visit their several stations in the South Sea Islands, by Captain George Pollard, the unfortunate sufferer, whom these gentlemen met with at Raiatea, then a pa.s.senger in an American vessel, having a second time lost his s.h.i.+p near the Sandwich Islands. The narrative is extracted from _The Journal of Voyages and Travels_, just published, of the two gentlemen above-mentioned, and is as follows:--

'My first s.h.i.+pwreck was in open sea, on the 20th of November, 1820, near the equator, about 118 degrees W. long. The vessel, a South Sea whaler, was called the _Ess.e.x_. On that day, as we were on the look-out for sperm whales, and had actually struck two, which the boats' crews were following to secure, I perceived a very large one--it might be eighty or ninety feet long--rus.h.i.+ng with great swiftness through the water, right towards the s.h.i.+p. We hoped that she would turn aside, and dive under, when she perceived such a baulk in her way. But no! the animal came full force against our stern-post: had any quarter less firm been struck, the vessel must have been burst; as it was, every plank and timber trembled, throughout her whole bulk.

'The whale, as though hurt by a severe and unexpected concussion, shook its enormous head, and sheered off to so considerable a distance that for some time we had lost sight of her from the starboard quarter; of which we were very glad, hoping that the worst was over. Nearly an hour afterwards, we saw the same fish--we had no doubt of this, from her size, and the direction in which she came--making again towards us. We were at once aware of our danger, but escape was impossible. She dashed her head this time against the s.h.i.+p's side, and so broke it in that the vessel filled rapidly, and soon became water-logged. At the second shock, expecting her to go down, we lowered our three boats with the utmost expedition, and all hands, twenty in the whole, got into them--seven, and seven, and six. In a little while, as she did not sink, we ventured on board again, and, by scuttling the deck, were enabled to get out some biscuit, beef, water, rum, two s.e.xtants, a quadrant, and three compa.s.ses. These, together with some rigging, a few muskets, powder, etc., we brought away; and, dividing the stores among our three small crews, rigged the boats as well as we could; there being a compa.s.s for each, and a s.e.xtant for two, and a quadrant for one, but neither s.e.xtant nor quadrant for the third.[42] Then, instead of pus.h.i.+ng away for some port, so amazed and bewildered were we that we continued sitting in our places gazing upon the s.h.i.+p, as though she had been an object of the tenderest affection. Our eyes could not leave her, till, at the end of many hours, she gave a slight reel, then down she sank. No words can tell our feelings. We looked at each other--we looked at the place where she had so lately been afloat--and we did not cease to look, till the terrible conviction of our abandoned and perilous situation roused us to exertion, if deliverance were yet possible.

'We now consulted about the course which it might be best to take--westward to India, eastward to South America, or south-westward to the Society Isles. We knew that we were at no great distance from Tahiti, but were so ignorant of the state and temper of the inhabitants, that we feared we should be devoured by cannibals, if we cast ourselves on their mercy. It was determined, therefore, to make for South America, which we computed to be more than two thousand miles distant.

Accordingly we steered eastward, and though for several days hara.s.sed with squalls, we contrived to keep together. It was not long before we found that one of the boats had started a plank, which was no wonder, for whale-boats are all clinker-built, and very slight, being made of half-inch plank only, before planing. To remedy this alarming defect we all turned to, and having emptied the damaged boat into the two others, we raised her side as well as we could, and succeeded in restoring the plank at the bottom. Through this accident, some of our biscuit had become injured by the salt-water. This was equally divided among the several boats' crews. Food and water, meanwhile, with our utmost economy, rapidly failed. Our strength was exhausted, not by abstinence only, but by the labours which we were obliged to employ to keep our little vessels afloat amidst the storms which repeatedly a.s.sailed us.

One night we were parted in rough weather; but though the next day we fell in with one of our companion-boats, we never saw or heard any more of the other, which probably perished at sea, being without either s.e.xtant or quadrant.[43]

'When we were reduced to the last pinch, and out of everything, having been more than three weeks abroad, we were cheered with the sight of a low, uninhabited island, which we reached in hope, but were bitterly disappointed. There were some barren bushes and many rocks on this forlorn spot. The only provision that we could procure were a few birds and their eggs: this supply was soon reduced; the sea-fowls appeared to have been frightened away, and their nests were left empty after we had once or twice plundered them. What distressed us most was the utter want of fresh water; we could not find a drop anywhere, till, at the extreme verge of ebb tide, a small spring was discovered in the sand; but even that was too scanty to afford us sufficient to quench our thirst before it was covered by the waves at their turn.

'There being no prospect but that of starvation here, we determined to put to sea again. Three of our comrades, however, chose to remain, and we pledged ourselves to send a vessel to bring them off, if we ourselves should ever escape to a Christian port. With a very small morsel of biscuit for each, and a little water, we again ventured out on the wide ocean. In the course of a few days our provisions were consumed. Two men died; we had no other alternative than to live upon their remains. These we roasted to dryness by means of fires kindled on the ballast-sand at the bottom of the boats.[44] When this supply was spent, what could we do? We looked at each other with horrid thoughts in our minds, but we held our tongues. I am sure that we loved one another as brothers all the time; and yet our looks told plainly what must be done. We cast lots, and the fatal one fell on my poor cabin-boy. I started forward instantly, and cried out, "My lad, my lad, _if you don't like your lot_, I'll shoot the first man that touches you." The poor emaciated boy hesitated a moment or two; then, quietly laying his head down upon the gunnel of the boat, he said, "_I like it as well as any other."_ He was soon despatched, and nothing of him left. I think, then, another man died of himself, and him, too, we ate. But I can tell you no more--my head is on fire at the recollection; I hardly know what I say. I forgot to say that we had parted company with the second boat before now. After some more days of horror and despair, when some were lying down at the bottom of the boat not able to rise, and scarcely one of us could move a limb, a vessel hove in sight. We were taken on board, and treated with extreme kindness. The second last boat was also picked up at sea, and the survivors saved. A s.h.i.+p afterwards sailed in search of our companions on the desolate island, and brought them away.'

Captain Pollard closed his dreary narrative with saying, in a tone of despondency never to be forgotten by him who heard it, 'After a time I found my way to the United States, to which I belonged, and got another s.h.i.+p. That, too, I have lost by a second wreck off the Sandwich Islands, and now I am utterly ruined. No owner will ever trust me with a whaler again, for all will say I am an _unlucky_ man.'

The following account respecting the three men that were left on the uninhabited island, is given in a note of the same work, and said to be extracted from a religious tract, No. 579, issued by the Society in Paternoster Row.

'On the 26th of December the boats left the island: this was, indeed, a trying moment to all: they separated with mutual prayers and good wishes, seventeen[45] venturing to sea with almost certain death before them, while three remained on a rocky isle, dest.i.tute of water, and affording hardly anything to support life. The prospects of these three poor men were gloomy: they again tried to dig a well, but without success, and all hope seemed at an end, when providentially they were relieved by a shower of rain. They were thus delivered from the immediate apprehension of peris.h.i.+ng by thirst. Their next care was to procure food, and their difficulties herein were also very great; their princ.i.p.al resource was small birds, about the size of a blackbird, which they caught while at roost. Every night they climbed the trees in search of them, and obtained, by severe exertions, a scanty supply, hardly enough to support life. Some of the trees bore a small berry which gave them a little relief, but these they found only in small quant.i.ties.

Sh.e.l.l-fish they searched for in vain; and although from the rocks they saw at times a number of sharks, and also other sorts of fish, they were unable to catch any, as they had no fis.h.i.+ng tackle. Once they saw several turtles, and succeeded in taking five, but they were then without water: at those times they had little inclination to eat, and before one of them was quite finished the others were become unfit for food.

'Their sufferings from want of water were the most severe, their only supply being from what remained in holes among the rocks after the showers which fell at intervals; and sometimes they were five or six days without any; on these occasions they were compelled to suck the blood of the birds they caught, which allayed their thirst in some degree; but they did so very unwillingly, as they found themselves much disordered thereby.

'Among the rocks were several caves formed by nature, which afforded shelter from the wind and rain. In one of these caves they found eight human skeletons, in all probability the remains of some poor mariners who had been s.h.i.+pwrecked on the isle, and perished for want of food and water. They were side by side, as if they had laid down and died together! This sight deeply affected the mate and his companions; their case was similar, and they had every reason to expect ere long the same end: for many times they lay down at night, with their tongues swollen and their lips parched with thirst, scarcely hoping to see the morning sun; and it is impossible to form an idea of their feelings when the morning dawned, and they found their prayers had been heard and answered by a providential supply of rain.

'In this state they continued till the 5th of April following. On the morning of that day they were in the woods as usual, searching for food and water, as well as their weakness permitted, when their attention was aroused by a sound which they thought was distant thunder; but looking towards the sea, they saw a s.h.i.+p in the offing, which had just fired a gun. Their joy at this sight may be more easily imagined than described; they immediately fell on their knees, and thanked G.o.d for His goodness, in thus sending deliverance when least expected; then, hastening to the sh.o.r.e, they saw a boat coming towards them. As the boat could not approach the sh.o.r.e without great danger, the mate, being a good swimmer, and stronger than his companions, plunged into the sea, and providentially escaped a watery grave at the moment when deliverance was at hand. His companions crawled out further on the rocks, and, by the great exertions of the crew, were taken into the boat, and soon found themselves on board the _Surrey_, commanded by Captain Raine, by whom they were treated in the kindest manner, and their health and strength were speedily restored.'

Mr. Montgomery, the editor, observes, 'there is some incongruity in these two narratives, which more minute particulars might reconcile.' We have noticed them. Mr. Bennet received the account verbally, and may be mistaken in some points, but there is little doubt of its being substantially correct.

This melancholy history supplies an additional and complete answer to Bligh's doubts of men feeding on each other to preserve existence.

ENDNOTES:

[1] The discovery of this island is owing to Fernandez de Quiros in 1606, which he named _La Sagittaria_, Some doubts were at first entertained of its ident.i.ty with Otaheite, but the small difference of a few miles in lat.i.tude, and about two degrees of longitude, the description as to size, the low isthmus, the distance from it of any other island at all similar, and above all, the geographical position--all prove its ident.i.ty--although Quiros calls it, what it certainly is not, a low island.

[2] _A Missionary Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean_, Appendix, pp.

336, 342.

[3] Cook appears not to have exercised his usual judgement in estimating the population of this island. After stating the number of war-canoes at seventeen hundred and twenty, and able men to man them, at sixty-eight thousand eight hundred, he comes to the conclusion that the population must consist of two hundred and four thousand souls; and reflecting on the vast swarms which everywhere appeared, 'I was convinced,' he says, 'that this estimate was not much, if at all, too great.'

[4] The words within brackets are in the original despatch.

[5] He was born in the Isle of Man, his father being Deemster of Man, and Seneschal to the Duke of Athol.

[6] _United Service Journal_, April, 1831.

[7] Hayward and Hallet, who may thus be considered as the _pa.s.sive_ cause of the mutiny.

[8] _Quarterly Review_, No. 89.

[9] One person turns his back on the object that is to be divided; another then points separately to the portions, at each of them asking aloud, 'Who shall have this?' to which the first answers by naming somebody. This impartial method of distribution gives every man an equal chance of the best share. Bligh used to speak of the great amus.e.m.e.nt the poor people had at the beak and claws falling to his share.

[10] If Bligh here meant to deny the fact of men, in extreme cases, destroying each other for the sake of appeasing hunger, he is greatly mistaken. The fact was but too well established, and to a great extent, on the raft of the French frigate _Meduse_, when wrecked on the coast of Africa, and also on the rock in the Mediterranean, when the _Nautilus_ frigate was lost. There may be a difference between men, in danger of peris.h.i.+ng by famine, when in robust health, and men like those of the _Bounty_, worn by degrees to skeletons, by protracted famine, who may thus have become equally indifferent to life or death.

[11] The escape of the _Centaur's_ boat, perhaps, comes nearest to it.

When the _Centaur_ was sinking, Captain Inglefield and eleven others, in a small leaky boat, five feet broad, with one of the gunwales stove, nearly in the middle of the Western Ocean, without compa.s.s, without quadrant, without sail, without great-coat or cloak, all very thinly clothed, in a gale of wind, with a great sea running, and the winter fast approaching,--the sun and stars, by which alone they could shape their course, sometimes hidden for twenty-four hours;--these unhappy men, in this dest.i.tute and hopeless condition, had to brave the billows of the stormy Atlantic, for nearly a thousand miles. A blanket, which was by accident in the boat, served as a sail, and with this they scudded before the wind, in expectation of being swallowed up by every wave; with great difficulty the boat was cleared of water before the return of the next great sea; all of the people were half drowned, and sitting, except the balers, at the bottom of the boat. On quitting the s.h.i.+p the distance of Fayal was two hundred and sixty leagues, or about nine hundred English miles.

Their provisions were a bag of bread, a small ham, a single piece of pork, two quart bottles of water, and a few of French cordials. One biscuit, divided into twelve morsels, was served for breakfast, and the same for dinner; the neck of a bottle broken off, with the cork in, supplied the place of a gla.s.s; and this filled with water was the allowance for twenty-four hours for each man.

On the fifteenth day, they had only one day's bread, and one bottle of water remaining of a second supply of rain; on this day Matthews, a quarter-master, the stoutest man in the boat, perished of hunger and cold. This poor man, on the day before, had complained of want of strength in his throat, as he expressed it, to swallow his morsel; and, in the night, drank salt-water, grew delirious, and died without a groan. Hitherto despair and gloom had been successfully prevented, the men, when the evenings closed in, having been encouraged by turns to sing a song, or relate a story, instead of a supper: 'but,' says the Captain, 'this evening I found it impossible to raise either.' The Captain had directed the clothes to be taken from the corpse of Matthews and given to some of the men, who were peris.h.i.+ng with, cold; but the shocking skeleton-like appearance of his remains made such an impression on the people, that all efforts to raise their spirits were ineffectual.

On the following day, the sixteenth, their last breakfast was served with the bread and water remaining, when John Gregory, the quarter-master, declared with much confidence that he saw land in the south-east, which turned out to be Fayal.

But the most extraordinary _feat of navigation_ is that which is related (on good authority) in a note of the _Quarterly Review_, vol. xviii. pp.

337-339:--

Of all the feats of navigation on record, however, that of Diogo Botelho Perreira, in the early period of 1536-37, stands pre-eminent; it is extracted from the voluminous Decades of Diogo de Couto, whose work, though abounding with much curious matter, like those of most of the old Portuguese writers, has not been fortunate enough to obtain an English translation. We are indebted to a friend for pointing it out to us, and we conceive it will be read with interest.

'In the time of the vice-royalty of Don Francisco de Almeyda there was a young gentleman in India of the name of Diogo Botelho Perreira, son of the commander of Cochin, who educated him with great care, so that he soon became skilled in the art of navigation, and an adept in the construction of marine charts. As he grew up, he felt anxious to visit Portugal, where, on his arrival, he was well received at court, and the king took pleasure in conversing with him on those subjects which had been the particular objects of his studies. Confident of his own talents, and presuming on the favour with which the king always treated him, he ventured one day to request his Majesty to appoint him commander of the fortress of Chaul. The king smiled at his request, and replied, that "_the command of the fortress was not for pilots_." Botelho was piqued at this answer, and, on returning into the ante-chamber, was met by Don Antonio Noronha, second son of the Marquis of Villa Real, who asked him if his suit had been granted: he answered, "Sir, I will apply where my suit will not be neglected." When this answer came to the ears of the king, he immediately ordered Botelho to be confined in the castle of Lisbon, lest he should follow the example of Megalhaens, and go over to Spain. There he remained a prisoner until the admiral viceroy Don Vasco da Gama, solicited his release, and was permitted to take him to India; but on the express condition that he should not return to Portugal, except by special permission. Under these unpleasant circ.u.mstances this gentleman proceeded to India, anxious for an opportunity of distinguis.h.i.+ng himself, that he might be permitted again to visit Portugal.

'It happened about this time that the Sultan Badur, sovereign of Cambaya, gave the governor, Nuno da Cunha, permission to erect a fortress on the island of Diu, an object long and anxiously wished for, as being of the greatest importance to the security of the Portuguese possessions in India. Botelho was aware how acceptable this information would be to the king, and therefore deemed this a favourable opportunity of regaining his favour, by conveying such important intelligence; and he resolved to perform the voyage in a vessel so small, and so unlike what had ever appeared in Portugal, that it should not fail to excite astonishment, how any man could undertake so long and perilous a navigation, in such a frail and diminutive bottom.

'Without communicating his scheme to any person, he procured a _fusta_, put a deck on it from head to stern, furnished it with spare sails and spars, and every other necessary, and constructed two small tanks for water.

'As soon as the monsoon served, he embarked with some men in his service, giving out that he was going to Melinde; and, to give colour to this story, he proceeded to Baticala, where he purchased some cloths and beads for that market, and laid in provisions; some native merchants also embarked with a few articles on board for the Melinde market, to which he did not choose to object, lest it should alarm his sailors.