80 



" Bounty," Peter Heywood, also belonged to Cumberland, being a native 

 of Whitehaven, and his name will often recur in my narrative. The boat- 

 swain's mate, was a man called James Morrison, who not only possessed 

 uncommon powers of observation, but also considerable literary skill. 

 Fortunately he turned his talents to account by keeping a diary, which 

 survived all his vicissitudes, and a copy of which made by himself and 

 extending to 382 pages of foolscap, has been kindly placed in my hands 

 by Lady Belcher, the accompHshed authoress of "The Mutineers of the 

 Bounty," and a stepdaughter of Peter Heywood. It is to this diary that 

 I shall be mainly indebted for my account of the mutiny, and of the fate 

 of a portion of the mutineers. 



Lieutenant Bligh had been for four years sailing master of Captain 

 Cook's ship, the "Resolution," under the command of that distinguished 

 navigator; and there is no doubt that he stood well both in Captain 

 Cook's opinion and in that of his illustrious friend and comrade. Sir 

 Joseph Banks. But there can also be no doubt that Bligh was a man of 

 an irritable and overbearing temper, and that he maintained the discipHne 

 of his ship in the tyrannical and abusive fashion which was then too 

 common in the British navy, and which, ten years later, led to the great 

 mutiny of the fleet at the Nore. As Bligh acted as purser as well as 

 commander of the " Bounty," and in that capacity had charge of the 

 provisions, his opportunities for indulging the worse side of his nature 

 towards the officers and crew were thereby greatly increased, and 

 Morrison's diary shows that even before the ship set sail the foundation 

 for future heart-burnings had been laid by Bligh's conduct as purser. 

 The "Bounty" sailed from Spithead for Otaheite on the 27th of 

 December, 1787. There is not time for me to follow the ship through all 

 her adventures, and I will therefore only pick out such incidents from 

 Morrison's graphic story of the voyage as particularly relate to Christian 

 or bear upon the causes which led to the mutiny. He writes : " January 

 II, 1788. The ship's company were now put on three watches, and Mr 

 Christian appointed to act as lieutenant by order of Lieutenant Bligh, 

 which order was .read to the ship's company by Mr. Bligh. The weather 

 continuing fine, a few days later the cheese was got up to air, when on 



