30 BLIGH AND HIS CREW. 
Bligh's instance, to make for a Dutch settle- 
ment on the island of Timor, a distance of 
no less than 3,618 miles. 
The sufferings undergone by these eighteen 
men, in a boat only twenty-three feet in 
length, and six feet nine inches in breadth, 
heavily laden, and without any awning, were 
very severe. They had to encounter heavy 
storms, and the pains of cold and hunger. 
Aware of the vast tract of voyage before them, 
they promised to be content with one ounce 
of bread, and a quarter of a pint of water a 
day for each person. 
The courageous and skilful manner in 
which Bligh pursued his course to the end, 
forms a striking fact in the annals of naval 
adventure. Having intreated the men, in the 
most solemn manner, not to depart from the 
promise which they had made, he, on the 2d of 
May, bore away, and shaped his course for 
New Holland, across a sea little explored. 
The boat was of such limited dimensions, 
that her gunwales are stated to have been not 
more than six inches above the water. In a 
violent tempest, which soon broke over them, 
the boat shipped such a quantity of water, 
