Edwards, against whom it is levelled.

After a fruitless search of three months, the Pan-
dora arrived on the 29th August on the coast of
New-Holland, and close to that extraordmary reef.
(>f coral rocks called the " Barrier Reef," which

* United Service Journal.



THE PANDORA. 147

runs along the greater part of the eastern coast, but
at a considerable distance from it. The boat had
been sent out to look for an opening, which was soon
discovered, but in the course of the night the ship
had drifted past it. " On getting soundings," says
Captain Edwards, in his narrative laid before the
court-martial, " the topsails were filled; but before
the tacks were hauled on board and other sail made
and trimmed, the ship struck upon a reef; we had a
quarter less two fathoms on the larboard side, and
three fathoms on the starboard side ; the sails were
braced about ditferent w^ays to endeavour to get her
off, but to no purpose ; they were then clewed up
and afterward furled, the top-gallant yards got
down and the top-gallant masts struck. Boats
were hoisted out with a view to carry out an
anchor, but before that could be effected the ship
struck so violently on the reef, that the carpenter
reported she made eighteen inches of water in five
minutes; and in five minutes after this, that there
were four feet of water in the hold. Finding the
leak increasing so fast, it was thought necessary to
turn the hands to the pumps, and to bail at the dif-
ferent hatchways; but she still continued to gain
upon us so fast, that in little more than an hour and
a half after she struck, there were eight feet and a
half of water in the hold. About ten we perceived
that the ship had beaten over the reef, and was in
ten fathoms water; we therefore let go the small
bower anchor, cleared away a Cable, and let go the
best bovver anchor in fifteen and a half fathoms
water under foot, to steady the ship. Some of her
guns were thrown overboard, and the water gained
upon us only in a small degree, and we flattered
ourselves that by the assistance of a thrummed
topsail, which we were preparing to haul under the
ship's bottom, we might be able to lessen the leak,
and to free her of water : but these flattering hopes
did not continue long; for, as she settled in the



148 THE PANDOkA.

water the leak increased again, and in so great a
degree that there was reason to apprehend she
would sink before daylight. During the night two
of the pumps were unfortunately for some time ren-
dered useless ; one of them, however, was repaired,
and we continLed bailing and pumping the remaindei
of the night; and every effort that was thought of
was made to keep afloat and preserve the ship.
Daylight fortunately appeared, and gave us the op-
portunity of seeing our situation and the surround-
ing danger, and it was evident the ship had been
carried to the northward by a tide or current.

" The officers, whom I had consulted on the sub-
ject of our situation, gave it as their opinion that
nothing more could be done for the preservation of
the ship; it then became necessary to endeavour to
provide and to find means for the preservation of
the people. Our four boats, which consisted of one
launch, one eight-oared pinnace, and two six-oared
yawls, with careful hands in them, were kept astern
of the ship; a small quantity of bread, water, and
other necessary articles were put into them ; two
canoes which we had on board were lashed to-
gether and put into the water ; rafts were made, and
ill floating things upon deck were unlashed.

*' About half-past six in the morning of the 29th
the hold was full, and the water was between decks,
and it also washed in at the upper deck ports, and
there were strong indications that the ship was on
the very point of sinking, and we began to leap
overboard and take to the boats, and before every-
body could get out of her she actually sunk. The
boats continued astern of the ship in the direction
of the drift of the tide from her, and took up the
people that had hold of rafts and other floating
things that had been cast loose, for the purpose of
supporting them on the water. The double canot,
thac was able to support a considerable number of
men, broke adrift with only one man, and was



THK PANDORA. 149

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 fiist two boats to the
key ; and having landed the men and cleared the
boats, they were immediately dt>spatched again to
look about the wreck and the adjoining reef for any
tliat might be missing, but they returned without
having found a single i)erson. 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 tlie ship's company and
four mutineers were lost with the ship."

It is remarkable enough that so little notice is
taken of the nuitineers 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 feel-
ings of humanity.

'•Three of the Bounty's people, Coleman, Nor-
nan, and M'Intosh, were now let out of irons, and
ient 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 addi-
tional 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 awav."



150 THE PANDORA.

When the ship v/as 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. Heyvv'ood 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 lar-
board bow completely under water. Fortunately,
the master-at-arm«, 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, saying 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 cross-
trees. The master-at-arms and all the sentinels
sunk to rise no more. Tlie 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. He5^wood 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 over-
board, he seized a plank, and was swimming towards
a small sandy quay (key) about three miles distant,
when a boat picked him up, and conveyed him thith.er
in a state of nudity. It is worthy of remark, that
James Morrison endeavoured to follow his young



THE PANDORA. 15 I

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 ac-
tuated by some motive or extraordinary excitement,
here, however, there was neither; but, on the con-
trary, the condition of the poor prisoners appealed
most forcibly to the n»ercy and humanity of theiy
jailer. The surgeon of the ship states, in his ac-
count 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 tliese 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 dread-
ful yell. The cries of the men drowning in the
water were at first awful in the extreme ; but as they
sunk and became faint, thej^died away by degrees."
How accurately has Byron described t'he whole pro-
gress 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,

And, going down head foremost— sunk



Then rose from sea to sky the wild farewell !
Tlien shhek'd the timid and stood still the brave '



152 THK PANDORA.

Then some leap'd overboard with dreadfnl ye'I,

As eager to anticipate their grave ;
And the sea yawii'd around her like a hell,

And down she suck'd wiiti her the whirling wave,
Like one who grapples with his enemy,
And strives to strangle him before he die.

And first one universal shriek there rush'd

Louder than the loud ocean, like a crash
Of echoing thunder; and then all was hush'd,

Save the wild wind and the remorseless dash
Of billows ; but at intervals the:re gush'd,

Accompanied with a convulsive splai^h,
A solitary shriek — the bubbling ci-y
Of some strong swimmer in his agony.

On the sandy key which fortunately presentee
itself the shipwrecked seamen hauled np the boats,
to repair those that were damaged and to stretch
canvass round the g^^inwales, 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 salt-
water 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 be-
haviour of one of the seamen, named Conneli, 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 in-
duced 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 six-
teen days, on an allowance of two wineglasses of
water per day to each man, and a very small quan-
tity of bread, the weight of which was accurately
ascertained % 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



THE PANDORA. 153

came down and ma<3e signs for tlieir 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 hap-
pened 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-wesi
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 be-
comes intolerable in the mouth." Their mouths,
indeed, he says, became so parched, that few at-
tempted 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 muti-
neers took to praying; but that "the captain, sus-
pecting the purity of his doctrines, and unwilling tliat
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. No-
thing could exceed the kindness and hospitality of
the governor and other Dutch officers of this settle-
ment, in affording every possible assistance and



154 THE PANDORA

relief in their distressed condition. Having- remained
here three weeks, they embarked on the 6th of Oc-
tober on board the Rembang Dutch Indiaman, and
on the 30th anchored at Samaran^, where they were
agreeably surprised to find their httle tender, which
they had so long given up for lost. On the 7th
November they arrived at Batavia, where Captain
Edwards agreed with the Dutch East India Company,
to divide the whole of the ship's company and
prisoners among four of their ships proceeding to
Europe. -The latter the captain took with him in
the Vreedenburgh ; but finding his majesty's ship
Gorgon at the Cape, he transhipped himself and
prisoners, and proceeded in her to Spithead, where
he arrived on the 19th June, 1792.

Captain Edwards in his meager narrative takes
no more notice of his prisoners with regard to the
mode in which they were disposed of at Coupang
and Batai'ia, than he does when the Pandora went
down. In fact, he suppresses all information re-
specting them from the day in which they were
consigned to " Pandora's Box." From this total in-
difference towards these unfortunate men and their
almost unparalleled sufferings. Captain Edwards
must be set down as a man whose only feeling was
to stick to the letter of his instructions, and rigidly
to adhere to what he considered the strict line of his
duty ; that, he was a man of a cold phlegmatic dis-
position, whom no distress could move, and whose
feelings were not easily disturbed by the sufferings
of his fellow-creatures. He appears to have been
one of those mortals who might say with Manfred —

My spirit walk'd not with the souls of men ;

* * * * * * *

My joys, my griefs, my passions, and my powers
Made me a stranger ; though 1 wore the form,
I had no sympathy with breathing flesh I

There seems to have been a general feeling at ano
before the court-martial, that Captain Edwards had



THE PANDORA. 155

exeicised a harsh, unnecessary, and undue degree
of severity on his prisoners. It is the custom,
sanctioned no doubt by long usage, to place in irons
all such as may have been guilty of mutiny in a ship
of war, and the necessity of so doing is obvious
enough — to prevent in the most eifectual manner
communication with the rest of the ship's company,
who might be contaminated by their intercourse with
such mischievous and designing men ; men whose
crime is of that die that, if found guilty, they have
little hope to escape the punishment of death, to
which a mutineer must by the naval articles of war
be sentenced; no alternative being left to a court-
martial in such a case but to pronounce a sentence
of acquittal or of death.

In the present case, however, most of the prisoners
had surrendered themselves; many of them had
taken no active part in the mutiny ; and others had
been forcibly compelled to remain in the ship. It
was not likely, therefore, that any danger could
arise from ^ndulging them occasionally and in turns
with a few hours of fresh air on deck. As little
danger was there of their escaping; where indeed
could they escape to, especially when the ship was
going down, at a great distance from any shore, and
the nearest one known to be inhabited by savages]
All or most of them were desirous of getting home,
and throwing tliemselves on God and their country.
The captain, however, had no " compunctious visit-
ings of nature" to shake his purpose, which seems
to have been to keep them strictly in irons during
the whole passage, and to deliver them over in that
state on his arrival in England.

Perhaps the circumstance of the crime of piracy
being superadded to that of mutiny, may have ope'-
rated on his stern nature, and induced him to inflict
a greater severity of punishment than he might
otherwise have done, and which he certainly did far
beyond the letter and spirit of his instructions. He



156 THE PANDORA.

mighl have considered, that in all ag:es arid among
all nations, with the exception of some of the Greek
states,* piracy has been held in the utmost abhor-
rence, and those guilty of it treated with singiTlar
and barbarous severity; and that the most sangui-
nary laws were established for the protection of per-
son and property in maritime adventure. The laws
of Oleron, which were composed under the imme-
diate direction of our Richard I., and became the
common usage among maritime states whose ves-
sels passed through British seas, are conceived in a
spirit of the most barbarous cruelty. f Thus, if a
poor pilot through ignorance lost the vessel, he was
3ither required to make full satisfaction to the mer-
chant for damages sustained, or to lose his head.
In the case of wrecks, where the lord of the coast
(something like our present vice-admiral) should be
found to be in league with the pilots, and run the
ships on rocks in order to get salvage, the said
lord, the salvers, and all concerned are declared to
be accursed and excommunicated, and muiished as
thieves and robbers ; and the pilot condehined to be
hanged upon a high gibbet, which is to abide and
remain to succeeding ages on the place where
erected, as a visible caution to other ships sailing
thereby. Nor was the fate of the lord of the coast
less severe, — his property was to be confiscated, and
himself fastened to a post in the midst of his own
mansion, which, being fired at the four corners, were

* The Phoceans, on account of the sterility of their country, were in
the habit of practising piracy, which, according to Justin, was held to be
an honourable profession.

t These laws are contained in an ancient authentic book, called " The
Black Book of the Admiralty," in which a'l things therein comprehended
are engrossed on vellum, in an ancient character ; which has been from
time to time kept in the registry of the High Court of Admiralty for the
use of the judges. When Mr. Luders made inquiry at the office in
Doctors' Commons, in 1808, he was informed by the proper officers there
that they had never seen such book, and knew nothing of it, nor where
to find it. The fact is, the book in question was put into Lord Tliurlow's
han'J^ when attorney-general, and never returned. There is a copy of it
in the Admiralty



THE PANDORA. 157

all to be burned together ; the wails thereof demol-
ished, and the spot on which it stood be converted
into a market-place for the sale only of hogs and
swine, to all posterity.

These and many other barbarous usages were
transferred into the institutions of Wisbu}'", which
formed the jus mercatorum for a long period, and in
which great care was taken for the security of ships
against their crews. Among other articles are the
following: — Whoeverdraws a sword upon the master
of a vessel, or wilfully falsifies the compass, shall
have his right hand nailed to the mast. Whoever
behaves riotously shall be punished by being keel-
hauled. Whoever is guilty of rebelUon (or mutiny)
shall be thrown overboard.

For the suppression of piracy, the Portuguese, in
their early intercourse with India, had a summary
punishment, and accompanied it with a terrible
example, to deter others from the commission of
the crime. Whenever they took a pirate ship, they
instantly hanged every man, carried away the sails,
rudder, and every thing that was valuable in the
ship, and left her to be buffeted about by the winds
and the waves, with the carcasses of the criminals
dangling from the yards, a horrid object of terror to
aU who might chance to fall in with her. Even to
this day a spice of the laws of Oleron still remains
in the maritime code of European nations, as far
as regards mutiny and pirac)''; and a feeling of this
kind may have operated on the mind of Captain
Edwards, especially as a tendency even to mutiny,
or mutinous expressions, are considered, by the usage
of the service, as justifying the commander of a
ship of war to put the offenders in irons. Besides,
tho treatment of Bligh, whose admirable conduct
under the unparalleled sufferings of himself and all
who accompanied him in the open boat, had roused
the people of England to the highest pitch of indig-



158 THE PANDORA.

nation against Christian and his associates, in which
Edwards no doubt participated.

The following letter of Mr. Peter Heywood to
his mother removes all doubt as to the character
and conduct of this officer. It is an artless and
pathetic tale, and, as his amiable sister says,
" breathes not a syllable inconsistent with truth and
honour."

" Batavia, November 20th, 1791.
" My ever-honoured and dearest Mother,
" At length the time has arrived when you are
once more to hear from your ill-fated son, whose
conduct at the capture of that ship in which it was
my fortune to embark has, I fear, from what has
since happened to me, been grossly misrepresented
to you by Lieutenant Bligh, who, by not knowing
the real cause of my remaining on board, naturally
suspected me, unhappily for me, to be a coadjutor in
the mutiny ; but I never, to my knowledge, while
under his command, behaved myself in a manner
unbecoming the station I occupied, nor so much as
even entertained a thought derogatory to his honour,
so as to give him the least grounds for entertaining
an opinion of me so ungenerous and undeserved ;
for I flatter myself he cannot give a character of
my conduct, while I was under his tuition, that could
merit the slightest scrutiny. Oh ! my dearest mo-
ther, I hope you have not so easily credited such an
account of me ; do but let me vindicate my conduct,
and declare to you the true cause of my remaining
in the ship, and you will then see how little I deserve
censure, and how I have been injured by so gross
an aspersion. I shall then give you a short and
cursory account of what has happened to me smce ;
but I am afraid to say a hundredth part of what 1
have got in store, for I am not allowed the use of
writing materials, if known, so that this is done by
stealth ; but if it should ever come to your hands, it



THE PANDORA. 159

will, I hope, have the desired effect of removing
your uneasiness on my account, when 1 assure you,
before the face of God, of my innocence of what is
laid to my charge. How I came to remain onboard
was thus :

"The morning the ship w^as taken, it being my
watch below, happening to awake just after day-
light, and looking out of my hammock, I saw a man
sitting upon the arm-chest in the main hatchway,
witli a drawn cutlass in his hand, the reason of
which I could not divine ; so I got out of bed and
inquired of him what w-as the cause of it. He told
me that Mr. Christian, assisted by some of the ship's