bulged upon a reef, and afforded us no assistance when she was so much wanted on this trying and melancholy occasion. Two of the boats were laden with men, and sent to a small sandy island (or key) about four miles from the wreck; and I remained near the ship for some time with the other two boats, and picked up all the people that could be seen, and then followed the first two boats to the key; and having landed the men and cleared the boats, they were immediately despatched again to look about the wreck and the adjoining reef for any that might be missing, but they returned without having found a single person. On mustering the people that were saved, it appeared that eighty-nine of the ship's company, and ten of the mutineers that had been prisoners on board, answered to their names; but thirty-one of the ship's company and four mutineers were lost with the ship." It is remarkable enough that so little notice is taken of the mutineers in this narrative of the captain; and as the following statement is supposed to come from the late Lieutenant Corner, who was second lieutenant of the Pandora, it is entitled to be considered as authentic, and if so, Captain Edwards must have deserved the character ascribed to him of being altogether destitute of the common feelings of humanity. "Three of the Bounty's people, Coleman, Norman, and M'Intosh, were now let out of irons, and sent to work at the pumps. The others offered their assistance, and begged to be allowed a chance of saving their lives; instead of which, two additional sentinels were placed over them, with orders to shoot any who should attempt to get rid of their tters. Seeing no prospect of escape, they betook themselves to prayer, and prepared to meet their fate, every one expecting that the ship would soon go to pieces, her rudder and part of the stern-post being already beat away." When the ship was actually sinking, and every effort making for the preservation of the crew, it is asserted that " no notice was taken of the prisoners, as is falsely stated by the author of the Pandora's Voyage,' although Captain Edwards was entreated by Mr. Heywood to have mercy upon them, when he passed over their prison, to make his own escape, the ship then lying on her broadside with the larboard bow completely under water. Fortunately, the master-at-arms, either by accident or design, when slipping from the roof of 'Pandora's Box' into the sea, let the keys of the irons fall through the scuttle or entrance, which he had just before opened, and thus enabled them to commence their own liberation, in which they were generously assisted, at the imminent risk of his own life, by William Moulter, a boatswain's mate, who clung to the coamings, and pulled the long bars through the shackles, saving he would set them free, or go to the bottom with them. "Scarcely was this effected when the ship went down, leaving nothing visible but the topmast crosstrees. The master-at-arms and all the sentinels sunk to rise no more. The cries of them and the other drowning men were awful in the extreme; and more than half an hour had elapsed before the survivors could be taken up by the boats. Among the former were Mr. Stewart, John Sumner, Richard Skinner, and Henry Hillbrant, the whole of whom perished with their hands still in manacles. "On this melancholy occasion Mr. Heywood was the last person but three who escaped from the prison, into which the water had already found its way through the bulkhead scuttles. Jumping overboard, he seized a plank, and was swimming towards a small sar sandy quay (key) about three miles distant, when a boat picked him up, and conveyed him thither in a state of nudity. It is worthy of remark, that James Morrison endeavoured to follow his young companion's example, and, although handcuffed, managed to keep afloat until a boat came to his assistance." This account would appear almost incredible. It is true men are sometimes found to act the part of inhuman monsters, but then they are generally actuated by some motive or extraordinary excitement : here, however, there was neither; but, on the contrary, the condition of the poor prisoners appealed most forcibly to the mercy and humanity of their jailer. The surgeon of the ship states in his account of her loss, that as soon as the spars, booms, hencoops, and other buoyant articles were cut loose, "the prisoners were ordered to be let out of irons." One would imagine, indeed, that the officers on this dreadful emergency would not be witness to such inhumanity without remonstrating effectually against keeping these unfortunate men confined a moment beyond the period when it became evident that the ship must sink. It will be seen, however, presently, from Mr. Heywood's own statement, that they were so kept, and that the brutal and unfeeling conduct which has been imputed to Captain Edwards is but too true. It is an awful moment when a ship takes her last heel, just before going down. When the Pandora sunk, the surgeons say, "the crew had just time to leap overboard, accompanying it with a most dreadful yell. The cries of the men drowning in the water were at first awful in the extreme; but as they sunk and became faint, they died away by degrees." How accurately has Byron described the whole progress of a shipwreck to the final catastrophe! He might have been a spectator of the Pandora at the moment of her foundering, when She gave a heel, and then a lurch to port, Then shriek'd the timid and stood still the brave; Then some leap'd overboard with dreadful yell, And down she suck'd with her the whirling wave, And first one universal shriek there rush'd Louder than the loud ocean, like a crash Of billows; but at intervals there gush'd, On the sandy key which fortunately presented itself the shipwrecked seamen hauled up the boats, to repair those that were damaged and to stretch canvass round the gunwales, the better to keep out the sea from breaking into them. The heat of the sun and the reflection from the sand are described as excruciating, and the thirst of the men was rendered intolerable, from their stomachs being filled with saltwater in the length of time they had to swim before being picked up. Mr. Hamilton says, they were greatly disturbed in the night by the irregular behaviour of one of the seamen, named Connell, which made them suspect he had got drunk with some wine that had been saved; but it turned out that the excruciating torture he suffered from thirst had induced him to drink salt-water; "by which means he went mad, and died in the sequel of the voyage." It seems, a small keg of water and some biscuits had been thrown into one of the boats, which they found by calculation would be sufficient to last sixteen days, on an allowance of two wineglasses of water per day to each man, and a very small quantity of bread, the weight of which was accurately ascertained by a musket-ball and a pair of wooden scales made for each boat. The crew and the prisoners were now distributed among the four boats. At Bligh's "Mountainous Island" they entered a bay where swarms of natives came down and made signs for their landing; but this they declined to do; on which an arrow was discharged and struck one of the boats; and as the savages were seen to be collecting their bows and arrows, a volley of muskets, a few of which happened to be in the boats, was discharged, which put them to flight. While sailing among the islands and near the shore, they now and then stopped to pick up a few oysters and procure a little fresh water. On the 2d September they passed the north-west point of New-Holland, and launched into the great Indian Ocean, having a voyage of about a thousand miles still to perform. It will be recollected that Captain Bligh's people received warmth and comfort by wringing out their clothes in salt water. The same practice was adopted by the crews of the Pandora's boats; but the doctor observes, that "this wetting their bodies with salt water is not advisable, if protracted beyond three or four days, as after that time the great absorption from the skin that takes place taints the fluids with the bitter part of salt water, so that the saliva becomes intolerable in the mouth." Their mouths, indeed, he says, became so parched, that few attempted to eat the slender allowance of bread. He also remarks, that as the sufferings of the people continued, their temper became cross and savage. In the captain's boat, it is stated, one of the mutineers took to praying; but that "the captain, suspecting the purity of his doctrines, and unwilling that he should have a monopoly of the business, gave prayers himself." On the 13th they saw the island of Timor, and the next morning landed and got some water and a few small fish from the natives; and on the night of the 15th anchored opposite the fort of Coupang. Nothing could exceed the kindness and hospitality of the governor and other Dutch officers of this settlement, in affording every possible assistance and |