Mutiny on the Bounty

by Nordhoff

  "It is not at all likely," he said, "that he will know of Bligh's depositions at the Admiralty. And it will no more have occurred to him than it did to you that your conversation with Christian could be construed as evidence against you. The chances are that Tinkler will have forgotten that Bligh overheard it. No; take my word for it, he will have no fears on your account. Not a moment must be lost in finding him."

  "How soon will the court-martial take place, sir?" I asked.

  "That rests with the Admiralty, of course. But this matter has been hanging fire for so long that they will wish to dispose of it as soon as possible. It will be necessary to wait until the rest of the Pandora's company arrive, but they should be nearing England by this time."

  Sir Joseph now left me. He was to return to London by that night's coach.

  "You shall hear from me shortly," he said. "Meanwhile, rest assured that I shall find your friend Tinkler if he is to be found in England." Our conversation had taken place in Captain Montague's cabin. The other prisoners were anxiously awaiting my return to the gun room. Sir Joseph was the first visitor we had had; in fact, we were not permitted to see anyone except persons officially connected with the forthcoming court-martial. Sir Joseph was not, perhaps, so connected, but his interest in the Bounty and his influence at the Admiralty gave him access to us.

  I gave the others an account of my conversation with him, omitting only his opinion of the fate in store for Millward, Burkitt, Ellison, and Muspratt. These men were, he thought, doomed past hope, with the possible exception of Muspratt. Byrne was entirely innocent of any part in the mutiny, but the poor fellow had been treated as a condemned man for so long that he had more than half come to believe himself guilty. As for Coleman, Norman, and McIntosh, it was inconceivable to any of us that they would be convicted. Morrison was in a situation only less dangerous than my own, and it grieved me to think that I was responsible for it. Our delay below decks on the morning of the mutiny, in the hope of getting possession of the arms chest, was known only to ourselves, and the chances were that the story would be regarded as a fiction invented afterward to explain our absence at the time the launch put off.

  We had talked of the forthcoming court-martial so often during the long passage to England that we had little more to say to each other now that the event loomed so ominously near. At times, as a relief from anxiety, we spoke of our happy life at Tahiti, but for the most part we spent our days silently, each man engaged in his own reflections; or we stood at the gun-room ports looking out at the busy life of the harbour. There were times when I was seized with a sense of the unreality of this experience, like that one feels upon waking from some dream in which the events have been more than usually disconnected and fantastic. Hardest of all to realize was the fact that we were indeed at home again, lying at anchor only a few miles from Spithead, whence the Bounty had sailed so long ago.

  Meanwhile, owing to the kindness of Sir Joseph, we were provided with decent clothing in which to appear before the court-martial. This small diversion was a most welcome one, and to be properly clothed again had an excellent effect upon our spirits.

  Ten days passed before I had further word from Sir Joseph. The letter I then received I still have in my possession, although it is now faded and worn with age. To reread it is to recall vividly the emotion I felt on the morning when it was handed to me by the corporal of the guard at the gun-room door.

  MY DEAR BYAM:

  I can imagine with what anxiety you are awaiting word from me. I regret that I cannot go to Portsmouth at this time, for I should much prefer to give you my news by word of mouth. This being impossible, a letter must serve.

  Upon returning to London I went directly to the Admiralty office, where I learned that Fryer is now at his home in London, awaiting summons to testify at the court-martial. I sent for him at once and learned that Tinkler, shortly after his return to England, was offered a berth as master's mate on the Carib Maid , a West India merchantman. The captain of the vessel was a friend of Fryer's, and as it was a good berth for the lad, offering opportunity for advancement, he accepted it.

  Tinkler returned from his first voyage a year ago, and shortly afterward set out on a second one. Fryer received word, not three months since, that the Carib Maid was lost with all hands in a hurricane near the island of Cuba.

  It would be useless to deny the fact that this is a great misfortune for you. Even so, your situation, I believe, is not hopeless. I have had a long conversation with Fryer, who speaks of you in the most friendly terms. He is convinced that you had no hand in the mutiny, and his testimony will be valuable.

  Cole, Purcell, and Peckover I have also seen. They are now stationed at Deptford, awaiting summons to the court-martial. They all speak highly of you, and Purcell tells me that you yourself told him of your intention to leave in the launch with Bligh. They all know of Bligh's conviction that you were an accomplice of Christian, and it speaks well for your character among them that they all believe you innocent.

  My good friend, Mr. Graham, who has been Secretary to different admirals on the Newfoundland Station these past twelve years, and who has, consequently, acted as Judge Advocate at courts-martial all of that time, has offered me to attend you. He has a thorough knowledge of the service, uncommon abilities, and is a good lawyer. He already has most of the evidences with him.

  Farewell, my dear Byam. Keep up your spirits, and rest assured that I shall be watchful for your good. I shall certainly attend the court-martial, and now that my friend, Graham, has consented to go down, I shall be more at ease than if you were attended by the first counsel in England.

  My feeling upon reading this letter may be imagined. Sir Joseph had done what he could to soften the blow to me, but I was under no doubt as to the seriousness of my position. I knew that, without Tinkler's evidence, my case was all but desperate, no matter how ably it might be presented. Nevertheless, I clung to hope as a man will. I resolved to fight for my life with all the energy I possessed. In one sense, the stimulus of danger was a blessing in disguise, for it kept me from brooding over my mother's death. I put out of mind every thought not connected with the approaching trial.

  Sea officers, as I had been informed by Sir Joseph, have a great aversion to lawyers. I was well content, therefore, to have Mr. Graham, a Navy man himself, as my representative. Morrison resolved to conduct his own case. Coleman, Norman, McIntosh, and Byrne, who had every reason to hope that they would be cleared of the charges against them, secured the services of a retired sea officer, Captain Manly, to represent and advise all four of them; and an officer from the Admiralty, Captain Bentham, was appointed by the Crown to care for the interests of the other men.

  We were visited by these gentlemen during the following week, but the first to come was Mr. Graham. He was a tall spare man in his late fifties, of distinguished bearing, and with a quiet voice and manner that inspired confidence. From the moment of seeing him I was sure that my fortunes could not be in better hands. None of us had any knowledge of court-martial proceedings, and at my request Mr. Graham permitted us to question him with respect to these matters.

  "I have the morning at your disposal, Mr. Byam," he said, "and I shall be glad to be of what assistance I can to any of you."

  "I mean to conduct my own case, sir," Morrison said. "I should like particularly to know the exact wording of the Article under which we are to be tried."

  "I can give you that precisely, from memory," Mr. Graham replied. "It is Article Nineteen, of the Naval Articles of War, which reads as follows: 'If any person, in or belonging to the Fleet, shall make, or endeavour to make, any mutinous assembly, upon any pretense whatsoever, every person offending herein, being convicted thereof by the sentence of the Court-Martial, shall suffer death.'"

  "Has the Court no alternative course?" I asked.

  "None. It must acquit, or convict and condemn to death."

  "But supposing, sir, that there are extenuating circumstances," Morrison added. "Supposi
ng that a mutiny arises in a ship, as it did in ours, where a part of the company have no knowledge of any intention to seize the vessel, and who take no part in the seizure?"

  "If they remain in the vessel with the mutinous party, the law considers them equally guilty with the others. Our martial law is very severe in this matter. The man who stands neuter is considered an offender with him who lifts his hand against his captain."

  "But there were some of us, sir," Coleman added, earnestly, "who would gladly have gone with Captain Bligh when his party was driven from the ship into the launch. We were retained against our will by the mutineers, who had need o our services."

  "Such a situation calls for special consideration by the Court and will doubtless receive it," Mr. Graham replied. "If the men so retained can prove their innocence of any complicity, they stand in no danger."

  "Sir, may I speak?" asked Ellison.

  "Certainly, my lad."

  "I was one of the mutineers, sir. I'd no hand in starting the trouble, but like all the rest of us I had no love for Captain Bligh, and I joined in when I was asked to. Is there any hope for me?"

  Mr. Graham regarded him gravely for a moment.

  "I prefer not to give an opinion on that," he said. "Suppose we let the question be decided by the court-martial itself."

  "I'm not afraid of the truth, sir. If you think there's no chance, I'd be obliged if you'd tell me so."

  But Mr. Graham would not commit himself. "Let me advise all of you not to prejudge your cases," he said. "I have sat through many a court-martial, and, as in any civil court of law, one is not justified in forming an opinion as to a possible verdict until all the evidence is in. And so you see, young man," he added, turning to Ellison, "how mistaken I should be in attempting to tell you what I think."

  The days dragged by with painful slowness. Before this time most of the men had received letters from their families. Some of them were many months old, but they were read none the less eagerly for that. With the exception of the letter received from my mother, at Tahiti, no news from families or friends had reached any of us during the more than four years we had been absent from home. Poor Coleman's family lived in Portsmouth, but he was not permitted to see them. Of all the married members of the Bounty's company, he was, I suspect, the only man who had remained faithful to his wife during our sojourn at Tahiti. To be prevented from seeing her and his children after all these years was a cruel blow.

  July passed, and August, and still we waited.

  CHAPTER XXI.—H.M.S. DUKE

  On the morning of September 12, the ten prisoners on board the Hector were ordered to hold themselves in readiness to proceed to H.M.S. Duke . It was a grey, chilly, windless day, so still that we could hear ships' bells from far and near it riking the half-hours and the hours. The Duke was anchored abreast of the Hector and about a quarter of a mile distant. Shortly before eight o'clock we saw a longboat, with a guard of marines in dress uniform, put off from the great ship's side and approach the Hector , and on the stroke of the hour a solitary gun was fired from the Duke . It was the signal for the court-martial. Our time had come.

  I cannot speak of the emotions of my fellow prisoners at that solemn moment, but I know that my own feeling was one of profound relief. We had waited too long and endured too much to be capable of intense emotion—at least, that was the case with me. I felt unutterably weary, in body and mind, and if I desired anything it was peace—the peace of certainty as to my fate, whatever it might be. I remember how impatient I was to arrive on board the Duke . One's sense of time is largely a matter of mood, and the voyage from the Hector to the gangway of the larger ship, brief as it was, seemed all but interminable.

  The court-martial was held in the great cabin of the Duke , which extended the width of the vessel, from the forward limit of the poop to the stern gallery. The quarter-deck was thronged with people, chiefly officers in full-dress uniform who had assembled from the many ships of war in the harbour to attend the proceedings. There were also a number of civilians, Sir Joseph Banks among them. Dr. Hamilton, whom I had last seen at the Cape of Good Hope, was standing with the other officers of the Pandora by the bulwarks on the larboard side of the deck. Edwards was there, of course, with his satellite, Parkin, beside him. He glanced us over with his habitual air of cold hostility, and he appeared to be thinking: "These scoundrels freed from their irons? What gross neglect of duty!"

  On the other side of the deck were gathered the officers of the Bounty , looking self-conscious and ill at ease in that company of ships' captains and admirals and rear admirals. It was a strange meeting for old shipmates, and many were the silent messages that passed back and forth as we looked eagerly at each other. Mr. Fryer, the master, was there, and Cole, the boatswain, and Purcell, the carpenter, and Peckover, the gunner. A clear picture flashed into mind of the last view we had had of them as they looked up at us from the launch across the widening space of blue water. Little any of us thought then that we should ever meet again.

  The hum of conversation died away to silence as the door of the great cabin opened. Audience was admitted. The spectators filed into the room; then we were marched in with a guard, a lieutenant of marines with a drawn sword in his hand preceding us. We were ranged in a line by the bulkhead on the right-hand side of the door. During the first day's proceedings we were compelled to stand, but owing to the length of the trial, a bench was later provided for us.

  A long table stood fore and aft in the middle of the cabin, with a chair at the head for the President of the Court; the other members sat along the sides at his right and left. A little to the right and to the rear of the President's seat was a small table for the Judge Advocate, and another, on the opposite side, for the writers who were to transcribe the proceedings. At still another table sat the advisors to the prisoners. On either side of the door leading to the stern gallery, and along the walls, were settees occupied by the sea officers and civilians who attended as spectators.

  At nine o'clock precisely, the door opened again and the members of the Court filed in to their places. At the order of the master-at-arms the audience rose, and when the members of the Court were in their places, all were seated again. The names of the twelve men who held over us the power of life and death were as follows:—

  The Right Honourable Lord Hood, Vice Admiral of the Blue, and

  Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's ships and vessels at Portsmouth

  Harbour, President

  Captain Sir Andrew Snape Hammond, Bart.

  Captain John Colpoys

  Captain Sir George Montague

  Captain Sir Roger Curtis

  Captain John Bazeley

  Captain Sir Andrew Snape Douglas

  Captain John Thomas Duckworth

  Captain John Nicholson Inglefield

  Captain John Knight

  Captain Albemarle Bertie

  Captain Richard Goodwin Keats

  My lethargy of the earlier part of the morning left me as I gazed at the impressive scene before me. At first my attention was fully engaged with our judges, whose faces I examined one by one as the opportunity presented itself. They were, for the most part, men in middle life, and one would have known them anywhere, in any dress, for officers in His Majesty's Navy. As I looked at their stern, wind-roughened, impassive faces, my heart sank. I recalled Dr. Hamilton's words: "But these men will know nothing of Christian's character, and their sympathies will all be with Captain Bligh. You will have to prove your story of that conversation with Christian beyond the shadow of a doubt." The only one of the twelve men who might, I thought, be willing to give a prisoner the benefit of a doubt was Sir George Montague, captain of the Hector .

  Our names were called, and we stood before the Court while the charges against us were read. This document was of considerable length, and recapitulated the history of the Bounty from the time of her departure from England until she was seized by the mutineers. Then followed Bligh's sworn statement, his own account of the
mutiny, a document of great interest to all of us, and to me in particular. The statement, which follows, was read by the Judge Advocate:—

  I respectfully beg to submit to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty the information that His Majesty's armed vessel, Bounty , under my command, was taken from me by some of the inferior officers and men on the 28th of April, 1789, in the following manner.

  A little before sunrise, Fletcher Christian, who was mate of the ship and officer of the watch, Charles Churchill, master-at-arms, Thomas Burkitt, seaman, and John Mills, gunner's mate, came into my cabin, and, while I was asleep, seized me in my bed and tied my hands behind my back with a strong cord; and, with cutlasses and bayonets fixed at my breast, threatened me with instant death if I spoke or made the least noise. I nevertheless called out so loud for help that everyone heard me and were flying to my assistance; but all of my officers except those who were concerned in the mutiny found themselves secured by armed sentinels.

  I was now hauled upon deck in my shirt and without a rag else, and secured by a guard abaft the mizzenmast, during which the mutineers expressed much joy at my position.

  I demanded of Christian the cause of such a violent act, but no answer was given but, "Hold your tongue, sir, or you are dead this instant!" He held me by the cord which tied my hands, and threatened to stab me with the bayonet he held in his right hand. I, however, did my utmost to rally the disaffected villains to a sense of their duty, but to no effect.

  The boatswain was ordered to hoist the launch out, and while I was kept under a guard with Christian at their head, the officers and men not concerned in the mutiny were ordered into the boat. This being done, I was told by Christian: "Sir, your officers and men are now in the boat and you must go with them," and the guard carried me across the deck with their bayonets presented on every side. Upon attempting to make some resistance, one of the villains said to another: "Damn his eyes, the dog! Blow his brains out!" I was at last forced into the boat and we were then veered astern, in all, nineteen souls.