PACIFIC AND BEERING’S STRAIT. 
51 
of the fate of the mutineers who had settled upon the island, which CHAP, 
had been variously related by occasional visiters ; and we were more 
especially desirous of obtaining Adams’ own narrative ; for it was pe- Dec. 
culiarly interesting to learn from one who had been implicated in the 
mutiny, the facts of that transaction, now that he considered himself 
exempt from the penalties of his crime. 
I trust that, in renewing the discussion of this affair, I shall not be 
considered as unnecessarily wounding the feelings of the friends of any 
of the parties concerned ; but it is satisfactory to show, that those who 
suffered by the sentence of the court-martial were convicted upon evi- 
dence which is now corroborated by the statement of an accomplice 
who has no motive for concealing the truth. The following account is 
compiled almost entirely from Adams’ narrative, signed with his own 
hand, of which the following is a fac-simile. 
But to render the narrative more complete, I have added such addi- 
tional facts as were derived from the inhabitants, who are perfectly 
acquainted with every incident connected with the transaction, they 
having derived their information from their parents. 
His majesty s ship Bounty was purchased into the service, and 
placed under the command of Lieutenant Bligh in 1787. She left 
En^^land in December of that year, with orders to proceed to Otaheite*, 
and transport the bread fruit of that country to the British settlements 
in the West Indies, and to bring also some specimens of it to England. 
Her crew consisted of forty-four persons, and a gardener. She was 
ordered to make the passage round Cape Horn, but after contending 
a long time with adverse gales, in extremely cold weather, she was 
obliged to bear away for the Cape of Good Hope, where she underwent 
* This word has since been spelled Tahiti, but as I have a veneration for the name as it 
written m the celebrated Voyages of Captain Cook— -a feeling in whirl, T r 
not sintrnlc... T 1 11 1, . 1 • .1 . iceung in which 1 am sure I am 
singular — 1 shall adhere to his orthography. 
