5^d'- Monlhttj Revietv of Literature. [Novii 



The Eventful History of the Mutiny of H. M. S. Bounty — fokmin©'! 

 THE 25th Volume of Murray's Family Library, 



The story of Bligh and the Bounty is of the last age ; but its interest has been 

 revived of late years by the discovery of the last of the mutineers, in Pitcairn's 

 Island. The whole series of causes and consequences, from the discovery of Ota- 

 heite, and Bligh's expedition to the island, dovyrn to the latest intelligence relative 

 to the Colony of Pitcairn's Island, is here collected, by Barrow, in a very nice 

 little volume, which will interest young and old. 



The bread-fruit tree, found in the South Seas, was thought likely to be useful 

 in the West Indies, and a vessel, the Bounty, was, in 1787, fitted out by the 

 government, for the purpose of conveying plants to the slave islands, and the 

 command given to Bligh, who had been one of Cook's lieutenants. To BHgh's 

 tyranny, which Mr. Barrow does not deny, though he will let nobody find fault 

 with him but himself, is fairly assignable, though it does not justify, the resolve 

 of Christian, an acting lieutenant, to seize the ship, and send Bligh adrift. The 

 execution was effected with little difficulty, and less combination, from the gene- 

 ral unpopularity of Bligh on board. With eighteen of the crew he was forced 

 into a boat, with a very scanty supply of provision. They were near Tofoa, 

 and landed ; but on discovering their forlorn condition, they were attacked by 

 the " amiable" natives, and with difficulty escaped to their boat — one was killed. 

 The resolution was then taken to make for Timor, a distance of 1,200 leagues ; 

 and the men consented to be put on short — the shortest possible allowance, to 

 eke out the miserable stock of food. The details of this fearful voyage — the 

 firmness of Bligh — the suffering, and the general submission of the crew, are 

 told by Bligh. Contrary to all probability, they reached Timor, though in the 

 most exhausted state, and Bligh at length got home. 



Such was the general feeling in favour of Bligh, from sympathy with his suf- 

 ferings, and his intrepidity, that he was forthwith promoted ; and a vessel, the 

 Pandora, despatched in search of the mutineers, wherever they could be found. 

 Christian and his party had at first sailed to Taboai, and within a few months 

 had landed sixteen of the crew at Otaheite — from which place he had gone with 

 the ship, and the remainder of the crew, nobody knew whither. The sixteen 

 who had been thus put ashore at Otaheite, with the exception of two, who had 

 perished in some way, the Pandora took on board, and put them in irons. Most 

 of them had come on board voluntarily. The Captain, one Edwards, a brutal 

 fellow, treated them all, without discrimination, as criminals of the deepest dye. 

 During the voyage the Pandora took fire ; and in this perilous condition, and 

 the ship sinking, the Captain refused to unfetter the prisoners. It was only 

 desperation that enabled them to escape destruction. Among them was a mid- 

 shipman of the name of Heywood — a mere boy at the time of the mutiny, but 

 a clever and intelligent one, who may be truly said rather to have been left on 

 board with Christian, than to have joined him. He was the only officer ; with 

 the rest, on their arrival in England, he was brought to trial, and with five 

 others was sentenced to be shot — the rest were acquitted. Heywood, however, 

 found friends — was pardoned — again entered the service, and died, full of 

 honour, one of the oldest c iptains in the navy, only last year. The details of 

 his trial, and the efforts of his friends to save him, are given at great and merci- 

 less length ; but Mr. Barrow had been furnished with letters and papers by the 

 family, and they were found, or supposed to be, useful in giving effect to the 

 tale. 



These men could of course give no account of Christian and the remaining 

 eight of the crew; but in 1814, Captain Staines, of the Briton, fell in with Pit- 

 cairn's Island, and from the shore, to his surprise, was hailed in very good 

 English. Here was found the last of the mutineers, Adams, whose story is too 

 familiar to the public, through the Quarterly Review, to render repetition neces- 

 sary. Since Captain Staines thus lighted on the colony, they have been visited 

 by Captain Beechey, and, still more recently, by Captain Waldegrave. Adams 

 himself died two years ago. The happy Eden — the Arcadian state of the colony- 

 — consisting of the children of the mutineers by Otaheitan women — had been 



