PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 69 



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-mar- 

 tial were convicted upon evidence which is now cor- 

 roborated by the statement of an accomplice who 

 has no motive for concealing the truth. The fol- 

 lowing account is compiled almost entirely from 

 Adams' narrative, signed with his own hand, of 

 which the following is a fac-simile. 



But to render thejnarrative more complete, I have 

 added such additional facts as were derived from the 

 inhabitants, who are perfectly acquainted with every 

 incident connected with the transaction. In pre- 

 senting it to the public, I vouch, only, for its being 

 a correct statement of the abovementioned autho- 

 rities. 



His Majesty's ship Bounty was purchased into 

 the service, and placed under the command of Lieu- 

 tenant Bligh in 1787. She left England in Decem- 

 ber of that year, with orders to proceed to Otaheite,* 



* This word has since been spelled Tahiti, but as I have a vene- 

 ration for the jname as it is written in the celebrated Voyages of 

 Captain Cook — a feeling in which I am sure I am not singular — I 

 shall adhere to his orthography. 



