446 



BREAD FRUIT. 



Bread structions from the admiralty were full and eatisfac- 

 Fruit. tory, and detailed with care, all the objects to which 

 the voyagers were especially to -direct their atten- 

 tion. 



By these instructions, Mr Bligh was particularly 

 enjoined to proceed to the Society Islands, " where, 

 according to the accounts given by the late Captain 

 Cook, and persons who accompanied him during his 

 voyages, the bread fruit tree is to be found in its 

 most luxuriant state." 



Lieutenant Bligh directed his course to the island 

 of Teneriffe, whence he sailed for Cape Horn ; off 

 this he encountered such boisterous weather, that he 

 bore away for the Cape of Good Hope. From the 

 Cape he proceeded to Van Diemen's Land, and last 

 of all to the island of Otaheite, where he arrived on 

 the 25th of October, 1788. 



The Bounty remained at Otaheite until the 3d of 

 April 1789, at which place the number of bread fruit 

 plants was completed. The number amounted to 

 1015, and they were contained in 774 pots, 39 tubs, 

 and 2<i boxes. Lieut. Bligh sailed from Otaheke on 

 the 4th of April, and having passed through the Soci- 

 ety Islands, and visited some of the Friendly Islands, 

 the voyage promised every success, until the 28th of 

 March 1789, when a conspiracy, which had been 

 planned with infinite caution, was carried into effect, 

 and the whole of Lieut. Bligh's exertions were blast- 

 ed for a season. 



" Until the day of the mutiny," says that gentle- 

 man in his narrative, " the voyage had advanced in 

 a course of uninterrupted prosperity, and had been 

 attended with many circumstances equally pleasing 

 and satisfactory. A very different scene was now to 

 be experienced. A conspiracy had been formed, 

 which was to render all our past labour productive 

 only of extreme misery and distress. The means 

 had been concerted, and prepared with so much se- 

 crecy and circumspection, that no one circumstance 

 appeared to occasion the smallest suspicion of the im- 

 pending calamity." 



Early on the morning of the 28th of April 1789, 

 Lieutenant Bligh was seized, when asleep in his 

 cabin, by a party of armed mutineers, and forced 

 on deck in his shirt, with his hands tied with a 

 cord behind his back. On arriving upon deck, he 

 found, that such of the officers (the master, the 

 gunner, the surgeon, one of the master's mates, and 

 Nelson the botanist) as had maintained their alle- 

 giance, were confined in the fore hatchway, and were 

 guarded by centinels. The launch was hoisted, 

 and the designs of the mutineers were then evi- 

 dent. Particular individuals were ordered into the 

 boat ; and those that hesitated were forced to com- 

 ply. Their .commander was compelled to accompa- 

 ny them. Eighteen of Lieutenant Bligh's crew re- 

 mained faithful to their duty. Among these, parti- 

 cular praise is due to Mr Samuel, (the clerk of the 

 commander,) for his very meritorious exertions in 

 securing Mr Bligh's journals, commission, and some 

 valuable ship-papers. His attempts to carry off the 

 time-keeper, with a box containing the lieutenant's 

 surveys, drawings, and remarks, for fifteen years, 

 were frustrated. Four of the crew were detain- 



ed by the mutineers, in opposition to their own 

 wishes. 



Mr Bligh and his unfortunate party, with 150lbs. 

 of bread, a small quantity of wine and rum, a few 

 pieces of pork, a quadrant and compass, with a few 

 other materials necessary for navigation, were cast 

 adrift on the open ocean, by the unreeling mutineers. 

 The ringleader of this mutiny appears to have been 

 a Mr Christian, the master's mate ; and his associates 

 were two midshipmen, some petty officers, and about 

 fourteen seamen, making altogether twenty five men. 

 It may be difficult to develope the motives of their 

 extraordinary conduct $ and as the transaction has 

 for a long time been nearly forgotten, it is not ne- 

 cessary to wound the feelings or those who may have 

 the misfortune to be connected with men capable of 

 forgetting their duty to their king and country so 

 completely as Mr Christian and his associates ap- 

 pear to have done. 



After having encountered no less danger from the 

 elements than from the treachery of the savage inha- 

 bitants of the island of Tofoa, one of the Friendly 

 Islands, this band of determined heroes reached New 

 Holland, where they refreshed themselves by rest, 

 and obtained some supplies of food. From New 

 Holland they proceeded across the ocean, and on the 

 14th of June 1789, after having encountered fa- 

 mine, and exposure to the inclemency of the elements, 

 they arrived at the Dutch settlement of Coupang, in 

 the island of Timor, after having traversed the open 

 ocean for more than 1 200 leagues, in an open boat, 

 without the loss cf a single individual by disease. 

 The reception which those unfortunate people met 

 with from the Dutch government, was gratify- 

 ing in the last degree; and the benevolent atten- 

 tion shewn them, enabled twelve to return to their 

 native land. Lieutenant Bligh arrived in England oa 

 the 14th of March 1790. During this most peril- 

 ous voyage many valuable observations were made, 

 and have been recorded by Admiral Bligh in his nar- 

 rative. They are worthy of attention ; but, as they 

 are not connected with the subject of this article, we 

 must refer to the original work itself. 



Thus, for a time, the benevolent wishes of 

 the king were disappointed, -by those, whose 

 most anxious desire should have been to promote 

 such praise-worthy efforts by every means in their 

 power. 



But although the infamous mutiny of Mr Bligh's 

 crew had entirely frustrated the designs of his ma- 

 jesty, in sending out the Bounty, yet it did not lessen 

 the zeal for benefiting his people, which had first 

 suggested the plan ; and, accordingly we find, that, 

 as soon as circumstances permitted, a new expedition 

 was set on foot under the auspices of the same com- 

 mander, whose own account, furnished with the ut- 

 most liberality from his MS. journal, we beg leave to 

 lay before our readers : it will convey clearer ideas 

 of the voyage than can be afforded by any other 

 means. 



" Captain Bligh sailed from England in command 

 of his majesty's ship Providence, with a small vessel 

 to attend him, called the Assistant, on the 3d of 

 August 1791, to proceed to Otaheite iu the South 



