526 



HISTORY OF THE SEA. 



with oaths, "Pshaw! he'll find his way home if you give him 

 pencil and paper!" "Blast him! he'll have a vessel built in 

 a month !" 



Bligh was convinced that, defenceless and unarmed as they 

 were, they had nothing to hope from the inhabited islands of 

 the surrounding waters. He told the crew that no chance of 

 relief remained except at Timor, where there was a Dutch 

 colony, at a distance of three thousand five hundred miles. 

 They all agreed, and bound themselves by a solemn promise, to 

 live upon one ounce of bread and a gill of water a day. They 

 then bore away across this unknown and barbarous sea, in a 

 boat twenty-three feet long from stem to stern, deep-laden with 

 nineteen men, and barely supplied with food for two. There is 

 nothing in maritime annals more worthy of a place in a work 

 treating of "Man upon the Sea" than is this marvellous voyage 

 from Tahiti to Timor. 



The first thing done was to return thanks to God for their 

 preservation and to invoke His protection during the perils they 

 were to encounter. The sun now rose fiery and red, foreboding 

 a severe gale, which, before long, blew with extreme severity. 

 The sea curled over the stern, obliging them to bale without 

 cessation. The bread was in bags, and in danger of being 

 soaked and spoiled. Unless this could be prevented, starvation 

 was inevitable. Every thing was thrown overboard that could 

 be spared, — even to suits of clothes : the bread was then secured 

 in the carpenter's chest. A teaspoonful of rum and a fragment 

 of bread-fruit — collected from the floor of the boat, where it had 

 been crushed in the confusion of departure — was now served to 

 each man. 



They constantly passed in sight of islands, upon which they 

 did not dare to land. They kept on, alternately performing 

 prayers, dining on damaged bread, and sipping infinitesimal 

 quantities of rum or other cordial. On grand occasions, Bligh 

 served out as the day's allowance a quarter of a pint of cocoa- 



