BLIGH CAST ADRIFT. 241 



for arms/' says Biigh, "but they laughed at me, and said I was well acquainted with 

 the people among whom I was going, and therefore did not want them; four cutlasses, 

 however, were thrown into the boat after we were veered astern. 



"The officers and men being in the boat, they only waited for me, of which the 

 master-at-arms informed Christian, who then said, '-Come, Captain Bligh, your officers 

 and men are now in the boat, and you must go with them ; if you attempt to make the 

 least resistance, you will instantly be put to death ; ' and without further ceremony, with 

 a tribe of armed ruffians about me, I was forced over the side, when they untied my 

 hands/' A few pieces of pork were thrown to them, and after undergoing a great deal 

 of ridicule, and having been kept for some time to make sport for these unfeeling wretches, 

 they were at length cast adrift in the open sea. Bligh heard shouts of " Huzza for 

 Otaheite ! " among the mutineers for some considerable time after they had parted from 

 the vessel. 



In the boat, well weighted down to the water's edge, were nineteen persons, including 

 the commander, master, acting-surgeon, botanist, gunner, boatswain, carpenter, and two 

 midshipmen. On the ship were twenty-five persons, mostly able seamen, but three 

 midshipmen were among the number, two of whom had no choice in the matter, being 

 detained against their will. 



Lieutenant Bligh, although a good seaman, was a tyrannical man, and had made 

 himself especially odious on board by reason of his severity, and especially in regard to 

 the issuing of provisions. He had had many disputes with Christian in particular, when 

 his language was of the coarsest order. Still, the desire to remain among the Otaheitans, 

 or, at all events, among these enticing islands, seems to have been the main cause of 

 the mutiny. 



It was shown afterwards that Christian had only the night before determined to make 

 his escape on a kind of small raft; that he had informed four of his companions, and that 

 they had supplied him with part of a roast pig, some nails, beads, and other trading 

 articles, and that he abandoned the idea because, when he came on deck to his watch 

 at four a.m., he found an opportunity which he had not expected. He saw Mr. Hayward, 

 the mate of his watch, fall asleep, and the other midshipmen did not put in an appearance 

 at all. He suddenly conceived the idea of the plot, which he disclosed to seven of the 

 men, three of whom had "tasted the cat/' and were unfavourable to Bligh. They went 

 to the armourer, and secured the keys of his chest, under the pretence of wanting a 

 musket to fire at a shark, then alongside. Christian then proceeded to secure Lieutenant 

 Bligh, the master, gunner, and botanist. He stated that he had been much annoyed at 

 the frequent abusive and insulting language of his commanding officer. Waking out of 

 a short half-hour's disturbed sleep, to take the command of the deck finding the 

 mates of the watch asleep the opportunity tempting, and the ship completely in his 

 power, with a momentary impulse he darted down the fore-hatchway, got possession of 

 the arm-chest, and made the hazardous experiment of arming such of the men as he 

 deemed he could trust. It is said that he intended to send away his captain in a small, 

 wretched boat, worm-eaten and decayed, but the remonstrances of a few of the better- 

 hearted induced him to substitute the cutter. 

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