. 



SECOND VOYAGE THROUGH TORRES STRAIT 117 



in his tantrums wrote that he would not brook contradiction or protest ; * his features 

 became distorted, he foamed at the mouth, stamped on the ground, and shook his 

 fist at the person so presuming.' He was a law unto himself, and he said so. It can 

 hardly be contended that Bligh's acts were more arbitrary than those of his predecessors, 

 and he had the same refractory material to deal with ; but his manner soon made him 

 hated by those who came into personal contact with him, and at length brought 

 about the mutiny by which he was deposed from office." 



He was deposed and put under arrest on 26th January, 1808, by 

 the New South Wales Corps, whose officers administered the colony 

 until the arrival of Governor Macquarie in December, 1809. After 

 his return to England, Bligh was promoted to the rank of Rear- 

 Admiral in 1811, and to that of Vice- Admiral in 1814, but he was 

 never again entrusted with official responsibility. He died on 

 Jth December, 1817. 



A foreign, and therefore presumably unbiassed, estimate of 

 Bligh's character, that of the Surgeon-Major of the French warship 

 " La Zeelee " x may be given here. 



" He was a sea- wolf, a rude, brutal, intrepid, indefatigable man. He never slept, 

 and could not bear that any of his crew should sleep. He was a poor eater, and he 

 desired that his crew should diet themselves on his scale. All his words were words 

 of wrath. All his orders were threats. All his threats were of the lash. The day 

 comes when his crew revolt and Jay hold of the shark that has no pity. ' Cease your 

 cries ! ' say the mutinous sailors. ' We don't want to kill you, but we will not obey 

 you. We will put the launch in the water, and you in it, with four sailors, all good 

 swimmers. Then you can beat the waves with those hands that are always so ready 

 to strike. Farewell, Bligh, and a good voyage. Here is the compass. Search for and 

 find . . ." 



Such was the imaginary scene conjured up by the dramatic 

 imagination of the Surgeon while his ship lay fast on a sandbank in 

 the " Canal Mauvais," near Warrior Island and within a few miles 

 of Bligh's track, and when it seemed more than likely that the crews 

 of the " Astrolabe " and " Zeelee " might have to make for Timor in 

 open boats, as Bligh had done forty-eight years before. 



1 Voyage autourdu Monde de I' "Astrolabe " et de la " ZeeUe," sous les ordres du Contre- 

 Amiral Dumont D'Urville, 1837-40, par Elie Le Guillou. Paris, 1843. 



