PACIFIC AND BE ERING’S STRAIT.
of the fate of the mutineers who had settled upon the island, which CHAP.
had been variously related by occasional visiters ; and we were more
especially desirous of obtaining Adams’ own narrative ; for it was pe. Dm.
culiarly interesting to learn from one who had been implicated in the
mutiny, the facts of that transaction, now that he considered himself
exempt from the penalties of his crime.
I trust that, in renewing the discussion of this affair, I shall not be
considered as unnecessarily wounding the feelings of the friends of any
of the parties concerned ; but it is satisfactory to show, that those who
suffered by the sentence of the court-martial were convicted upon evidence
which is now corroborated by the statement of an accomplice
who has no motive for concealing the truth. The following account is
compiled almost entirely from Adams’ narrative, signed with his owm
hand, of which the following is a fac-simile.
But to render the narrative more complete, 1 have added such additional
facts as were derived from the inhabitants, who are perfectly
acquainted with every incident connected with the transaction, they
having derived their information from their parents.
His majesty’s ship Bounty was purchased into the service, and
placed under the command of Lieutenant Bligh iu 1787. She left
England in December of that year, with orders to proceed to Otaheite *,
and transport the bread fruit of that country to the British settlements
in the YY'est Indies, and to bring also some specimens of it to England.
Her crew consisted of forty-four persons, and a gardener. She was
ordered to make the passage round Cape Horn, but after contending
a long time with adverse gales, in extremely cold weather, she was
obhged to bear away for the Cape of Good Hope, where she underwent
* This word has since been spelled Tahiti, but as I have a veneration for the name as it
is written in the celebrated ‘S’oj-ages of Captain Cook—a feeling in which I am sure I am
not singular—I shall adhere to his orthography.
II 2
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