The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty (4 page)
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Authors: Caroline Alexander
Tags: #History, #Europe, #Great Britain, #Military, #Naval
BOOK: The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty
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As the “pirates” were led into Pandora’s Box, ship activities bustled around them. Carpenters and sailmakers were busy making repairs for the next stage of their long voyage and routine disciplinary activities continued. On Sunday, the ship’s company was assembled for the weekly reading of the Articles of War: “Article XIX: If any Person in or belonging to the Fleet shall make or endeavour to make any mutinous Assembly upon any Pretence whatsoever, every Person offending herein, and being convicted thereof by the Sentence of the Court-martial, shall suffer Death.” After the reading, three seamen were punished with a dozen lashes each “for theft and drunkenness.” It was a cloudy evening and had rained the day before. This was the last the
Bounty
men would see of Pacific skies for several months.
Bounty
men would see of Pacific skies for several months.
Fourteen men were now crowded into the eleven-by-eighteen-foot space that was their prison. Onshore, they had kept themselves in different factions and were by no means all on good terms with one another. Strikingly, both Thomas McIntosh and Charles Norman, who had been among those who fled from the
Pandora
’s men, had been exonerated by Bligh. Perhaps family attachments on the island had made them think twice about leaving; or it may be, less trusting than Coleman who had so quickly surrendered, they did not believe that innocence would count for much in the Admiralty’s eyes.
Pandora
’s men, had been exonerated by Bligh. Perhaps family attachments on the island had made them think twice about leaving; or it may be, less trusting than Coleman who had so quickly surrendered, they did not believe that innocence would count for much in the Admiralty’s eyes.
Within the box, the prisoners wallowed in their own sweat and vermin.
“What I have suffer’d I have not power to describe,” wrote Heywood to his mother; he had characterized himself to her as one “long inured to the Frowns of Fortune” and now waxed philosophical about his situation.
“I am young in years, but old in what the World calls Adversity,” he wrote; Peter Heywood was not quite nineteen. “It has made me acquainted with three Things, which are little known,” he continued, doggedly. “[F]irst, the Villainy & Censoriousness of Mankind—second, the Futility of all human Hopes,—& third, the Enjoyment of being content in whatever station it pleases Providence to place me in.”
Among the possessions confiscated from the mutineers were journals kept by Stewart and Heywood in their sea chests, and from these Edwards was able to piece together the history of the
Bounty
following the mutiny, up to her final return to Tahiti. Two days after Bligh and his loyalists had been left in the Pacific, Fletcher Christian and his men had cut up the ship’s topsails to make jackets for the entire company—they were well aware of the impression made by a uniformed crew.
Bounty
following the mutiny, up to her final return to Tahiti. Two days after Bligh and his loyalists had been left in the Pacific, Fletcher Christian and his men had cut up the ship’s topsails to make jackets for the entire company—they were well aware of the impression made by a uniformed crew.
Soon all the breadfruit—1,015 little pots and tubs of carefully nurtured seedlings, all, as Bligh had wistfully reported, “in the most flourishing state”—were thrown overboard. More sails were cut up for uniform jackets, and the possessions of those who had been forced into the boat with Bligh were divided by lot among the ship company. But in a telling report made by James Morrison, the
Bounty
boatswain’s mate and the mastermind behind the ambitious
Resolution,
“it always happend that Mr. Christians party were always better served than these who were thought to be disaffected.”
Bounty
boatswain’s mate and the mastermind behind the ambitious
Resolution,
“it always happend that Mr. Christians party were always better served than these who were thought to be disaffected.”
Tensions among the men already threatened to undermine Christian’s tenuous control. In this state of affairs, the
Bounty
made for Tubuai, an island lying some 350 miles south of Tahiti, and anchored there on May 24, nearly a month after the mutiny.
Bounty
made for Tubuai, an island lying some 350 miles south of Tahiti, and anchored there on May 24, nearly a month after the mutiny.
“Notwithstanding they met with some opposition from the Natives they intended to settle on this Island,” Edwards wrote in his official report, gleaning the diaries of Heywood and Stewart. “[B]ut after some time they perceived they were in want of several things Necessary for a settlement & which was the cause of disagreements & quarrels amongst themselves.” One of the things they most quarreled about was women.
Consequently, only a week after landing at Tubuai, the
Bounty
sailed back to Tahiti, where they had lived and loved for five memorable months while gathering Bligh’s breadfruit. Here, as the men knew, their loyal friends would give them all they required. The story they prepared was that they had fallen in with the great Captain Cook (in reality long dead), who was planning to make settlement on the island of Whytootackee (Aitutaki), and that Bligh had remained with his old commander and delegated Christian to sail with the
Bounty
for supplies. The Tahitians, ever generous and overjoyed at the news that Cook, whom they regarded with worshipful esteem, would be so close to them, gave freely of hogs, goats, chickens, a variety of plants, cats and dogs. More important, nine women, eight men, seven boys and one young girl left with the
Bounty
when she returned to Tubuai.
Bounty
sailed back to Tahiti, where they had lived and loved for five memorable months while gathering Bligh’s breadfruit. Here, as the men knew, their loyal friends would give them all they required. The story they prepared was that they had fallen in with the great Captain Cook (in reality long dead), who was planning to make settlement on the island of Whytootackee (Aitutaki), and that Bligh had remained with his old commander and delegated Christian to sail with the
Bounty
for supplies. The Tahitians, ever generous and overjoyed at the news that Cook, whom they regarded with worshipful esteem, would be so close to them, gave freely of hogs, goats, chickens, a variety of plants, cats and dogs. More important, nine women, eight men, seven boys and one young girl left with the
Bounty
when she returned to Tubuai.
For three months the mutineers struggled to make a settlement on the tiny island. Construction was begun on a defensive fort that measured some fifty yards square, surrounded by a kind of dry moat or ditch. A drawbridge was planned for the entrance facing the beach, while the walls were surmounted by the
Bounty
’s four-pounder cannons and swivel guns. Patriotically, the mutineers had christened their fortress Fort George, after their king.
Bounty
’s four-pounder cannons and swivel guns. Patriotically, the mutineers had christened their fortress Fort George, after their king.
Again, there were early signs that this would not be a successful experiment.
“On 5th July Some of the people began to be mutinous,” according to an extract made by Edwards from Peter Heywood’s journal. “& on 6th 2 of the Men were put in Irons by a Majority of Votes—& drunkenness, fighting & threatening each other’s life was so common that those abaft were obliged to arm themselves with Pistols.” The following day, an attempt was made to heal the growing breach and “Articles were drawn up by Christian and Churchill specifying a mutual forgiveness of all past grievances which every Man was obliged to swear to & sign,” according to an extract from Stewart’s journal. “Mathew Thompson excepted who refused to comply.” Despite this gesture, an inner circle evolved around Christian. When John Sumner and Matthew Quintal spent the night onshore without leave, declaring that they were now their own masters and would do as they pleased, Christian clapped the pistol he now always carried to the head of one, and had both placed in leg irons.
Violence also escalated without as well as within this fractious company, erupting as the
Bounty
men fought with the Tubuaians over property and women. In one particularly bloody encounter, Thomas Burkett was stabbed in the side by a spear and Christian wounded himself on his own bayonet. When the dust settled, sixty-six Tubuaians were dead, including six women, and the
Bounty
men were masters of the field. One of the gentle Tahitian youths who had journeyed to Tubuai with his English friends, according to James Morrison, “desired leave to cut out the jaw bones of the kill’d to hang round the quarters of the Ship as Trophies,” and was much displeased when this request was denied.
Bounty
men fought with the Tubuaians over property and women. In one particularly bloody encounter, Thomas Burkett was stabbed in the side by a spear and Christian wounded himself on his own bayonet. When the dust settled, sixty-six Tubuaians were dead, including six women, and the
Bounty
men were masters of the field. One of the gentle Tahitian youths who had journeyed to Tubuai with his English friends, according to James Morrison, “desired leave to cut out the jaw bones of the kill’d to hang round the quarters of the Ship as Trophies,” and was much displeased when this request was denied.
In September, in recognition that the different factions could not coexist, a collective decision was made to return once more to Tahiti. Here, the ship’s company would divide. Those who chose to remain on the island could do so; the rest would depart with Christian, taking to sea once again in the
Bounty.
Each man remaining onshore was given a musket, a pistol, a cutlass, a bayonet, a box of cartridges and seventeen pounds of powder from the ship’s arms and lead for ball—everyone save Michael Byrn, that is, who, as Morrison stated, “being blind and of a very troublesome disposition it was thought that arms put into his hands would be only helping him to do some mischief.”
Bounty.
Each man remaining onshore was given a musket, a pistol, a cutlass, a bayonet, a box of cartridges and seventeen pounds of powder from the ship’s arms and lead for ball—everyone save Michael Byrn, that is, who, as Morrison stated, “being blind and of a very troublesome disposition it was thought that arms put into his hands would be only helping him to do some mischief.”
On anchoring for the third and final time in Matavai Bay, Christian and many of the eight men who had cast their lots with him did not even bother to go ashore. Arriving on September 21, 1789, they departed secretly the same night, quietly cutting the
Bounty
’s anchor cable. Joseph Coleman, the most relentless loyalist, had been once again held against his will for his skills as an armorer; but as the ship slipped away, he dived overboard and swam to land. At dawn, the sixteen men deposited onshore saw their ship hovering off Point Venus; by midmorning she was gone.
Bounty
’s anchor cable. Joseph Coleman, the most relentless loyalist, had been once again held against his will for his skills as an armorer; but as the ship slipped away, he dived overboard and swam to land. At dawn, the sixteen men deposited onshore saw their ship hovering off Point Venus; by midmorning she was gone.
When here with Bligh, each man had acquired a
taio,
or special protector and friend, and to these each now turned. Soon, the fugitives had settled down, either with their
taios’
families or, like Heywood and Stewart, in cottages of their own. They took wives and some had children, and so a year and a half had passed, until the day the
Pandora
loomed out of the early morning to drag them back to England.
taio,
or special protector and friend, and to these each now turned. Soon, the fugitives had settled down, either with their
taios’
families or, like Heywood and Stewart, in cottages of their own. They took wives and some had children, and so a year and a half had passed, until the day the
Pandora
loomed out of the early morning to drag them back to England.
Now captured and pinned inside Pandora’s Box, the
Bounty
prisoners listened in anguish as their wives and friends wailed and grieved under the
Pandora
’s stern. Standing in canoes around the ship, the women enacted their terrible rites of mourning, hammering at their heads with sharp shells until the blood ran. As the day of departure approached, more canoes came from across the island, filling the harbor around the ship. Men and women stripped their clothes and cut their heads in grief, and as the blood fell, cut again and cried aloud. Tynah came on board and, with tears streaming down his cheeks, begged to be remembered to his friend, the King of England.
Bounty
prisoners listened in anguish as their wives and friends wailed and grieved under the
Pandora
’s stern. Standing in canoes around the ship, the women enacted their terrible rites of mourning, hammering at their heads with sharp shells until the blood ran. As the day of departure approached, more canoes came from across the island, filling the harbor around the ship. Men and women stripped their clothes and cut their heads in grief, and as the blood fell, cut again and cried aloud. Tynah came on board and, with tears streaming down his cheeks, begged to be remembered to his friend, the King of England.
“This I believe was the first time that an Englishman got up his anchor, at the remotest part of the globe, with a heavy heart, to go home to his own country,” wrote Dr. Hamilton—an astonishing admission from a naval official who had come in search of deserting mutineers.
On May 8, 1791, under pleasant breezes, the
Pandora,
recaulked and overhauled, left Tahiti with the mutineers’ schooner,
Resolution,
in tow. Edwards’s commission was far from fulfilled. Still missing was His Majesty’s stolen ship as well as the ringleader of the mutiny and his most hard-core followers.
Pandora,
recaulked and overhauled, left Tahiti with the mutineers’ schooner,
Resolution,
in tow. Edwards’s commission was far from fulfilled. Still missing was His Majesty’s stolen ship as well as the ringleader of the mutiny and his most hard-core followers.
“Christian had been frequently heard to declare that he would search for an unknown or an uninhabited Island in which there was no harbour for Shipping, would run the Ship ashore, and get from her such things as would be useful to him and settle there,” Edwards recorded in his official report to the Admiralty, continuing with admirable understatement, “but this information was too vague to be follow’d in an immense Ocean strew’d with an almost innumerable number of known and unknown Islands.” Specifically, the Pacific contains more than twenty thousand islands scattered over some 64 million square miles. Christian and the
Bounty
had departed Tahiti in September 1789—a twenty-month head start, long enough to have taken the
Bounty
not only as far as North or South America, but, in theory, around the globe.
Bounty
had departed Tahiti in September 1789—a twenty-month head start, long enough to have taken the
Bounty
not only as far as North or South America, but, in theory, around the globe.
Edwards’s instructions from the Admiralty offered some guidance: If no knowledge of the mutineers had been gained at Tahiti, he was to venture west to Whytootackee (Aitutaki), “calling, in your way, at Huaheine and Uliatea.” If nothing was found here, he was to make a circuit of the neighboring islands. If nothing here, he was to continue west to the Friendly Islands (Tonga), “and, having succeeded, or failed,” to return to England, through the Endeavour Strait (Torres Strait) separating New Guinea from New Holland (Australia). Be mindful of prevailing winds, the Admiralty admonished, “there being no dependence (of which we have any certain knowledge) of passing the Strait after the month of September. . . .”
For roughly the next three months Edwards doggedly followed the Admiralty’s prescribed itinerary in a desultory chase from island to island. At each landfall, a uniformed officer was disembarked and in the cloying heat tramped along the beach, offering presents and seeking information. Anchored offshore, the
Pandora
received the now customary canoe loads of eager visitors. Spears, clubs and other curios were collected, differences among the islanders, who appeared “ruder” and less civilized as the
Pandora
progressed, were duly noted, but no hint of the
Bounty
’s whereabouts emerged.
Pandora
received the now customary canoe loads of eager visitors. Spears, clubs and other curios were collected, differences among the islanders, who appeared “ruder” and less civilized as the
Pandora
progressed, were duly noted, but no hint of the
Bounty
’s whereabouts emerged.
A week out from Tahiti, Hilbrant, one of the mutineers, volunteered that Christian had spoken to him on the day before his departure of his intention to make for an uninhabited island that he knew from earlier accounts to be “situated to the Westward of the Islands of Danger.” This description seemed to refer to Duke of York Island (Atafu) but was to prove to be another dead end. En route, however, Edwards stopped off at Palmerston Island (Avarau) and sent his boats ashore to search that isle’s bays and inlets. Two of these returned in the late afternoon full of coconuts, and nothing more. But that night the tender arrived with hopeful news: it had discovered some spars and a yard marked “Bounty’s Driver Yard” embossed with the Admiralty’s broad arrow mark.
Over the next two days, the ship’s craft—a cutter, two yawls and the mutineers’ schooner—were dispatched to examine the island as well as islets and even reefs in the vicinity. The belief that the mutineers might be at large nearby caused everyone to move with great circumspection. One party camping overnight on the island were woken abruptly when a coconut they had placed on their campfire exploded. “[E]xpecting muskets to be fired at them from every bush,” Dr. Hamilton explained, “they all jumped up, seized their arms, and were some time before they could undeceive themselves, that they were really not attacked.”
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