UCSB LIBRARY 
 
 THE STORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 GOOD SHIP BOUNTY 
 
 AND HER MUTINEERS 
 
 AND 
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS 
 
 EDINBURGH: 
 W. P. NIMMO, HAY, & MITCHELL.
 
 MORRISON JLHD OIBB, EDINBURGH, 
 PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 THE GOOD SHIP BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 CHAPTER I. PAGE 
 
 OFF TO OTAHEITE, ....... I 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE MUTINY OF THE BOUNTY, ..... 19 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 IN PURSUIT OF THE MUTINEERS, ..... 56 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE COURT-MARTIAL, ....... 69 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PITCAIRN ISLAND, ....... 73 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 NORFOLK ISLAND, ....... 85 
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 MUTINY IN THE 42D REGIMENT (THE ROYAL HIGHLAND REGIMENT, 
 
 OR BLACK WATCH), MAY 1743, . . . . 95 
 
 MUTINY IN THE 78TH REGIMENT, SEAFORTH's HIGHLANDERS (NOW 
 THE 72D REGIMENT, DUKE OF ALBANY'S OWN HIGHLANDERS), 
 SEPTEMBER 1778, . . . . . . .Ill 
 
 MUTINY IN THE OLD 76TH REGIMENT (MACDONALD'S HIGHLANDERS), 
 
 MARCH 1779, ....... 122 
 
 MUTINY OF DETACHMENTS OF THE 42D AND 7IST REGIMENTS 
 
 (ROYAL HIGHLAND AND FRASER'S HIGHLANDERS), APRIL 1779, 127 
 
 MUTINY OF THE 77TH REGIMENT (ATHOLE HIGHLANDERS), JANU- 
 ARY 1783, . .142 
 
 MUTINY OF BREADALBANE FENCIBLES, DECEMBER 1794, *49 
 
 MUTINY OF THE GRANT FENCIBLES, JUNE 1795, . . . 156
 
 THE GOOD SHIP BOUNTY AND HER 
 MUTINEERS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 OFF TO OTAHEITE. 
 
 THIS is one of the saddest and 
 most eventful stories of mercan- 
 tile enterprise. It resulted from 
 an attempt to find cheap food 
 for slaves in the days when good 
 King George III. was a leading 
 controller of the destinies of 
 Great Britain. How much it 
 will tell to the advantage of that 
 golden, olden time, is an infer- 
 ence which must be left to the 
 discernment of the readers of it. 
 We cannot now greatly admire 
 a good many of the doings of 
 those times. 
 
 In the year of grace 1787, 
 seventeen years after Captain 
 Cook returned from his first 
 voyage, the London merchants 
 and planters " interested in the 
 West Indian possessions," as Sir 
 John Barrow writes, or, as people 
 in our day would say, the slave- 
 holders in the capital of Eng- 
 land, represented to George III. 
 that the bread-fruit tree of Ota- 
 heite was an article which would 
 constitute cheap enough and 
 
 good enough food for their hu- 
 man property in the West Indies. 
 His Majesty, after hearing what 
 they had to say, thought so too, 
 and graciously ordered means 
 to be taken for the procuring of 
 this benefit, supposed to be es- 
 sential for the good of the in- 
 habitants of those islands. A 
 vessel was purchased and put 
 into ship-shape for this benevo- 
 lent object at Deptford, a royal 
 dockyard about a mile west of 
 Greenwich, which had been 
 established by Henry VIII. in 
 the fourth year of his reign. Sir 
 Joseph Banks, renowned for his 
 ignorance of Greek and his great 
 learning in botany " Here is 
 Banks," said some of his fellow- 
 students at Oxford, "but he 
 knows nothing of Greek " 
 made all the arrangements for 
 the procuring and transhipment 
 of the economical plants. Mr 
 Banks had been one of the 
 naturalists who sailed under 
 Captain Cook from Plymouth
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 Sound in August 1768. An ac- 
 count of his life, a most instruc- 
 tive one, must be looked for else- 
 where, but he may be mentioned 
 here as one of those students 
 who learn to look out of them- 
 selves, a most desirable accom- 
 plishment, not taught by Oxford 
 tutors in those days, nor by 
 very many tutors of any name 
 in these days of ours. But Mr 
 Banks had taught himself a sin- 
 gularly useful lesson, which one 
 of the wishes of the compiler of 
 this book is to teach his readers 
 many of them, he trusts, 
 youthful, beginning to learn the 
 lessons of life. Banks took to 
 a subject, and he worked it out. 
 This kind of undertaking keeps 
 men well and wisely employed. 
 In literary life, as in all other 
 kinds of life, a speciality is the 
 thing to be desired and attained. 
 A man who can do all things can, 
 as a rule, do little or nothing 
 worth being remembered. The 
 following quotation from the 
 "Penny Cyclopaedia," one of 
 the best books of the kind ever 
 published, but, like all books of 
 its sort, apt to get a good deal 
 out of date, is full of the in- 
 structions a great many people 
 of the thinking and talking order 
 need. The quotation is : " Sir 
 Everard Home, in theHunterian 
 Oration delivered in the theatre 
 of the College of Surgeons, Feb- 
 ruary 14, 1822, informs us that 
 the first part of young Banks's 
 education was under a private 
 tutor ; at nine years of age he 
 was sent to Harrow School, and 
 was removed when thirteen to 
 
 Eton. He is described, in a 
 letter from his tutor, as being 
 well-disposed and good-temper- 
 ed, but so immoderately fond of 
 play that his attention could not 
 be fixed to study. When four- 
 teen his tutor had, for the first 
 time, the satisfaction of finding 
 him reading during his hours of 
 leisure. This sudden turn he, 
 at a later time, explained to Sir 
 Everard Home. One fine sum- 
 mer evening he had bathed in 
 the river as usual, with other 
 boys, but having stayed a long 
 time in the water, he found 
 when he came to dress himself 
 that all his companions were 
 gone : he was walking leisurely 
 along a lane, the sides of which 
 were richly enamelled with flow;- 
 ers; he stopped, and looking 
 round, involuntarily exclaimed, 
 ' How beautiful ! ' After some 
 reflection, he said to himself, 
 ' It is surely more natural that I 
 should betaughttoknowall these 
 productions of Nature, in prefer- 
 ence to Greek and Latin; but 
 the latter is my father's com- 
 mand, and it is my duty to obey 
 him. I will, however, make 
 myself acquainted with all these 
 different plants for my own 
 pleasure and gratification.' He 
 began immediately to teach him- 
 self botany; and, for want of 
 more able tutors, submitted to 
 be instructed by the women 
 employed in culling simples, as 
 it is termed, to supply the drug- 
 gists' and apothecaries' shops, 
 paying sixpence for every mate- 
 rial piece of information. While 
 at home for the ensuing holidays,
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 he found in his mother's dress- 
 ing-room, to his inexpressible 
 delight, a book in which all the 
 plants he had met with were not 
 only described, but represented 
 by engravings. This, which 
 proved to be ' Gerard's Herbal,' 
 although one of the boards was 
 lost and several of the leaves 
 torn out, he carried with him 
 to school. He left Eton School 
 in his eighteenth year, and was 
 entered a gentleman-commoner 
 at Christ Church (Oxford) in 
 December 1760, just before he 
 was eighteen. His love of bot- 
 any,which commencedatschool, 
 increased at the University, and 
 then his mind warmly embraced 
 all the other branches of natural 
 hktory. His ardour for the 
 acquirement of botanical know- 
 ledge was so great that, finding 
 no lectures were given on that 
 subject, he applied to Dr Sib- 
 thorpe, the botanical professor, 
 for permission to procure a 
 proper person, whose renumera- 
 tion was to fall entirely upon 
 the students who formed his 
 class. This arrangement was 
 acceded to, and a sufficient 
 number of students having set 
 down their names, he went to 
 Cambridge and brought back 
 with him Mr Israel Lyons, a 
 botanist and astronomer. This 
 gentleman, many years after, 
 procured, through Mr Banks's 
 interest, the appointment of as- 
 tronomer to the voyage towards 
 the North Pole, under Captain 
 Phipps, afterwards Lord Mul- 
 grave. Mr Banks soon made 
 himself knov, n in the University, 
 
 by his superior knowledge in 
 natural history. ' He once told 
 me in conversation,' says Sir 
 Everard Home, ' that when he 
 first went to Oxford, if he hap- 
 pened to come into any party 
 of students in which they were 
 discussing questions respecting 
 Greek authors, some of them 
 would call out (a manifestation 
 of the wisdom of such students 
 already referred to), ' Here is 
 Banks, but he knows nothing of 
 Creek.' To this rebuke he 
 made no reply, but said to him- 
 self, ' I will very soon excel you 
 all in another kind of knowledge, 
 in my mind of infinitely greater 
 importance;' and not long after, 
 when any of them wanted to 
 clear up a point of natural his 
 tory, they said, ' We must go to 
 Banks.' " 
 
 Now this bit of Cyclopaedia 
 writing is a very good picture 
 in its way, and sets us on in 
 our story of the Mutiny of the 
 Bounty with a vivid enough 
 sense of the man who made the 
 arrangements necessary for sup- 
 plying the holders of slaves in 
 the West Indian islands with 
 cheap food for their slaves, above 
 a hundred years ago. The ship 
 was named 'The Bounty' by 
 him ; and he recommended to 
 the command of her Lieutenant 
 Bligh, a Cornishman, who had 
 sailed with Captain Cook. She 
 was of burden about 250 tons,and 
 the following was the establish- 
 ment of men she sailed with 
 under Lieutenant Bligh : James 
 Fryer, master ; Thomas Led- 
 ward, acting surgeon ; David
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 Nelson, botanist; William Peck- 
 over, gunner; William Cole, 
 boatswain ; William Purcell, car- 
 penter ; William Elphinstone, 
 master's mate ; Thomas Hay- 
 ward, John Hallet, midshipmen; 
 John Norton, Peter Lenkletter, 
 quarter-masters ; Lawrence Le- 
 bogue, sailmaker ; John Smith, 
 Thomas Hall, cooks ; George 
 Simpson, quarter-master's mate ; 
 Robert Tinkler, a boy ; Robert 
 Lamb, butcher; Mr Samuel, 
 clerk; Fletcher Christian, mas- 
 ter's mate ; Peter Heywood, 
 Edward Young, George Stewart, 
 midshipmen; Charles Churchill, 
 master-at-arms; John Mills, gun- 
 ner's mate ; James Morrison, 
 boatswain's mate ; Thomas Bur- 
 kitt, Matthew Quintal, John 
 Sumner, John Millward, Wil- 
 liam M'Koy, Henry Hillbrant, 
 Michael Byrne, William Mus- 
 prat, Alexander Smith, John 
 Williams, Thomas Ellison, Isaac 
 Martin, Richard Skinner, Mat- 
 thew Thompson, able seamen ; 
 William Brown, gardener; Jo- 
 seph Coleman, armourer; Char- 
 les Norman, carpenter's mate ; 
 Thomas M'Intosh, carpenter's 
 crew. David Nelson, who had 
 served as botanist in Captain 
 Cook's last expedition, and Wil- 
 liam Brown, his assistant, were 
 recommended by Sir Joseph 
 lianks as skilful and careful 
 men, who could be safely trusted 
 with the management of the 
 bread-fruit plants which were to 
 be carried to the West Indies, 
 and others which were to be 
 brought to England for his Ma- 
 jesty's garden at Kew. A de- 
 
 scription of the bread-fruit plant 
 given by that doughty old com- 
 mander, William Dampier, to- 
 wards the close of the seventeenth 
 century, may be repeated here. 
 He describes it thus : " The 
 bread-fruit, as we call it, grows 
 on a large tree, as big and high 
 as our largest apple-trees ; it 
 hath a spreading head, full of 
 branches and dark leaves. The 
 fruit grows on the boughs like 
 apples ; it is as big as a penny 
 loaf, ^ynen wheat is at five shil- 
 lings the bushel ; it is of a round 
 shape, and hath a thick, tough 
 rind. When the fruit is ripe, it 
 is yellow and soft, and the taste 
 is sweet and pleasant. The na- 
 tives of Guam use it for bread. 
 They gather it, when full grown, 
 while it is green and hard ; then 
 they bake it in an oven, which 
 scorchcth the rind and makes it 
 black ; but they scrape off the 
 outside black crust, and there 
 remains a tender, thin crust ; 
 and the inside is soft, tender, 
 and white, like the crumb of a 
 penny loaf. There is neither 
 seed nor stone in the inside, but 
 all is of a pure substance like 
 bread. It must be eaten new; 
 for if it is kept above twenty- 
 four hours, it grows harsh and 
 choaky, but is very pleasant be- 
 'ore it is too stale. This fruit 
 lasts in season eight months in 
 the year, during which the na- 
 tives eat no other sort of food 
 of bread kind. I did never see 
 of this fruit anywhere but here. 
 The natives told us that there 
 s plenty of this fruit growing on 
 :he rest of the Ladrone Islands ;
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 and I did never hear of it any- 
 where else." This tropical tree 
 can be kept alive by artificial 
 heat in England, but with diffi- 
 culty. The natives of the Mol- 
 ucca Islands use its leaves as 
 tablecloths. It is valuable for 
 many other purposes, good 
 cloths, for example, being manu- 
 factured from its inner bark.* 
 
 It was, then, to secure for 
 other climes, in which it could 
 not grow, such a plant of renown 
 that an event occurred which 
 interested the British public 
 deeply at the time it took place, 
 and which has human interest 
 abundantly sufficient to render 
 a narrative of it still attractive. 
 
 The Bounty cleared out from 
 Spithead in dull December. It 
 was on the 23d day of that 
 month, in the year 1787. Three 
 days after it sailed, a gale began 
 to blow from the east, which 
 continued three days, and which 
 greatly damaged the ship. The 
 square-yards, it was reported, and 
 spars out of the starboard main 
 chains, were broken by one sea. 
 Another stove all the boats. 
 Casks of beer which had been 
 lashed on the deck, were washed 
 overboard ; and great was the 
 toil to secure the boats from 
 being all of them swept into the 
 sea. A great deal of the bread 
 on board was so damaged as to 
 be rendered uneatable. The sea 
 
 * For a full scientific account of 
 the bread-fruit tree, see Botanical 
 Magazine^ vol. lv., pp. 2869-2871. 
 It is from the able pen of Sir W. 
 Hooker, and is illustrated with three 
 l-lates. 
 
 stove in the stern of the Bounty, 
 and filled her cabin with brine. 
 She had to touch at some avail- 
 able place, and Bligh put in at 
 Teneriffe on the 5th of January, 
 thirteen days after he had sailed. 
 It is a dreary kind of work this 
 weathering and finding one's 
 way out of a merciless storm at 
 sea, but it has to be done. The 
 cold, the care, and the doubt, 
 the firm sternly possessed look 
 of the captain and his subordi- 
 nates, as well as the willing, 
 weary labour of the hands under 
 them, are not easily forgotten by 
 any grateful human being who 
 has ever felt his life, fortune, and 
 the prospects of his family de- 
 pendent on their knowledge and 
 nerve. At Teneriffe, the Bounty 
 was put to rights, "refitted and 
 refreshed," as Sir John Barrow 
 says, and she sailed again, after 
 five days' detention. 
 
 " I now," says Captain Bligh, 
 in that interesting narrative of 
 his, which all who tell the won- 
 derful tale of the adventures of 
 him, and the mutineers he failed 
 to control, simply repeat, with 
 slight attempts at variation, 
 " I now divided the people into 
 three watches, and gave the 
 charge of the third watch to Mr 
 Fletcher Christian, one of the 
 mates. I have always consi- 
 dered this a desirable regulation 
 when circumstances will admit 
 of it, and I am persuaded thai 
 unbroken rest not only contru 
 butes much towards the health 
 of the ship's company, but en- 
 ables them more readily to exert 
 themselves in cases of sudden
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 emergency." It is not easy, by 
 sea or land, for people who have 
 to toil to get " unbroken rest ; " 
 and Captain Bligh was in very 
 needful self-defence telling his 
 own story, but we must proceed 
 along with him. He was eager 
 to sail away to Otaheite with as 
 little delay as wind and weather 
 v/ould allow ; but the late storm 
 had seriously diminished his 
 supply of provisions. So all 
 hands were put under a deduc- 
 tion of a third of the bread they 
 had bargained for. As a pre- 
 caution for their health in the 
 circumstances, Captain Bligh 
 resolved to purify the water they 
 drank, through filtering stones 
 he had procured at Teneriffe. 
 " I now," says he, " made the 
 ship's company acquainted with 
 the object of the voyage, and 
 gave assurances of the certainty 
 of promotion to every one whose 
 endeavours should merit it." 
 "Nothing indeed," Sir John Bar- 
 row remarks, " seemed to be ne- 
 glected on the part of the com- 
 mander to make his officers and 
 men comfortable and happy. 
 He was himself a thorough-bred 
 sailor, and availed himself of 
 every possible means of preserv- 
 ing the health of his crew. Con- 
 inued rain and a close atmo- 
 sphere had covered everything 
 in the ship with mildew. She 
 was therefore aired below with 
 fires, and frequently sprinkled 
 with vinegar, and every interval 
 of dry weather was taken ad- 
 vantage of to open all the hatch- 
 ways, and clean the ship, and 
 to have all the people's wet 
 
 things washed and dried. With 
 these precautions to secure 
 health, they passed the hazy and 
 sultry atmosphere of the low 
 latitudes without a single com- 
 plaint." 
 
 On Sunday, the zd of March, 
 Captain Bligh observes : "After 
 seeing that every person was 
 clean, divine service was per- 
 formed, according to my usual 
 custom. On this day I gave to 
 Mr Fletcher Christian, whom I 
 had before desired to take charge 
 of the third watch, a written 
 order to act as lieutenant." 
 
 Having reached as far as the 
 latitude of 36 south, on the pth 
 of March, " the change of tem- 
 perature," he reports, "began 
 now to be sensibly felt, there 
 being a variation in the ther- 
 mometer since yesterday of 
 eight degrees. That the people 
 might not suffer from their own 
 negligence, I gave orders for 
 their light tropical clothing to 
 be put by, and made them dress 
 in a manner more suited to a 
 cold climate. I had provided 
 for this before I left England, 
 by giving directions for such 
 clothes to be purchased as would 
 be found necessary. On this 
 day, on a complaint of the mas- 
 ter, I found it necessary to 
 punish Matthew Quintal, one of 
 the seamen, with two dozen 
 lashes, for insolence and mutin- 
 ous behaviour. Before this I 
 had not had occasion to punish 
 any person on board." Bligh 
 did not yield to the temptation 
 which New Year's Harbour, in 
 Staten Island, near Cape Horn,
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 offered a sea-worn captain to 
 seek temporary rest from his 
 tossings. His men were in good 
 health, and he determined to 
 defer delay until he reached 
 Otaheite, in a rough way about 
 a hundred degrees farther west, 
 and nearly forty degrees north 
 a considerable distance to 
 think of in laying aside all 
 thoughts of refreshment. But 
 the risk was safe under a com- 
 mander like Captain Bligh. In 
 defence of the memory of others, 
 there will be occasion to criti- 
 cise his conduct before the story 
 of this mutiny is all told ; but 
 thus far he had taken such care 
 of the health of his ship's com- 
 pany as to render any stay in a 
 cold, inhospitable region near 
 Tierra del Fuego undesirable. 
 They encountered terrible wea- 
 ther off Cape Horn. A constant 
 fire on board day and night was 
 found necessary tomollify the be- 
 numbing influence of the wind, 
 hail, and sleet ; and one of the 
 watch had constantly to keep dry- 
 ing the wet clothes of the men 
 who could get a chance of un- 
 dressing. This state of things in 
 the Southern Ocean lasted for 
 nine days. The ship began to 
 exhibit the natural results of such 
 bearing, wearing, stormy weather. 
 It required constant pumping. 
 The decks became leaky ; and 
 Captain Bligh allotted the great 
 cabin to those who had wet 
 berths. There they hung their 
 hammocks in circumstances very 
 discouraging for either keeping 
 awake or going to sleep. They 
 were being driven back by the 
 
 storm every day; and to persist 
 in attempting a passage by this 
 route, the route which had been 
 prescribed by government, be- 
 gan to seem hopeless. At that 
 season of the year, and in such 
 weather, the Society Islands were 
 difficult to reach with the means 
 of navigation Captain Bligh, or 
 any other captain, had at com- 
 mand in the last quarter of the 
 eighteenth century. After strug- 
 gling for thirty days in a tem- 
 pestuous ocean, the plucky, 
 proud, and, it is to be feared, 
 overbearing commander of the 
 Bounty, resolved to turn right 
 round about, and bear away 
 eastward towards the Cape of 
 Good Hope, daringlyand almost 
 despairingly, in a reverse direc- 
 tion, across the South Atlantic. 
 When the helm was put thus 
 a-weather, the captain tells us, 
 every person on board re- 
 joiced. 
 
 They arrived at the Cape on 
 the 23d of May, and, having 
 remained there thirty-eight days 
 to refit the ship, replenish pro- 
 visions, and refresh the crew, 
 they sailed again on the ist of 
 July, and anchored in Adven- 
 ture Bay, in Van Diemen's Land 
 (the island now called Tasma- 
 nia), on the 2oth August. Here, 
 we are told, they remained, 
 taking in wood and water, till 
 the 4th September, and on the 
 evening of the 25th October 
 they saw Otaheite, and the next 
 day came to anchor in Matavai 
 Bay, after a distance which the 
 ship had run over, by the log, 
 since leaving England, of 2 7,086
 
 8 
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 miles, being on an average 108 
 miles each twenty-four hours. 
 
 The people inquired after 
 Captain Cook, Sir Joseph Banks, 
 and others of their former 
 friends. "There appeared," says 
 Bligh, "among the natives in 
 general, great goodwill towards 
 us, and they seemed to be much 
 rejoiced at our arrival. The 
 whole day we experienced no 
 instance of dishonesty ; and we 
 were so much crowded that I 
 could not undertake to remove 
 to a more proper station, with- 
 out danger of disobliging our 
 visitors by desiring them to leave 
 the ship." 
 
 Otoo, the chief of the district, 
 on hearing of the arrival of the 
 Bounty, sent a small pig and a 
 young plantain tree as tokens 
 of friendship, worth noticing as 
 characteristic of the country and 
 the times. Provisions were now 
 plenteous not all made up of 
 the small pig and the young 
 plantain tree but, however 
 supplied, every man on board 
 had "as much as he could 
 consume" a great deal too 
 much, as would seem to less 
 accomplished writers. Captain 
 Bligh went on shore with the 
 chief, Poeeno, and passed 
 through a shady walk, the 
 shadows being thrown by bread- 
 fruit trees. Poeeno's wife and 
 sister were busy dyeing a bit of 
 cloth red. They requested, 
 with Otaheitan politeness, the 
 captain to sit down on a mat, 
 and offered him refreshments. 
 Some neighbours called to con- 
 gratulate him on the fact of his 
 
 arrival at their island, and, as is 
 duly reported, behaved with 
 great decorum and attention. 
 On taking leave, says Bligh, 
 "the l?dies (for they deserve 
 to be called such from their 
 natural and unaffected manners, 
 and elegance of deportment) 
 got up, and taking some of their 
 finest cloth and a mat, clothed 
 me in the Otaheitan fashion, 
 and then said, ' We will go with 
 you to your boat;' and, each 
 taking me by the hand, amidst 
 a great crowd, led me to the 
 water side, and then took their 
 leave." In this day's walk, he 
 had the satisfaction of seeing 
 that the island had been bene- 
 fited by the former visits of 
 Captain Cook. Two shaddocks 
 were brought to him, a fruit 
 which they had not till Cook 
 introduced it; and among the 
 articles which they brought off 
 to the ship and offered for sale, 
 were capsicums, pumpkins, and 
 two young goats. 
 
 David Nelson, the botanist, 
 and William Brown, his assist- 
 ant, were sent out to look for 
 young bread-fruit plants. They 
 found them in abundance, and 
 the natives made no objection 
 to their gathering as many as 
 they liked. Nelson found two 
 fine shaddock trees which he 
 had planted in 1777; they were 
 loaded with fruit, which was not 
 quite ripe. Presents were given 
 to Otoo, the chief of Matavai, 
 who had, since Cook's visit, 
 changed his name to Tinah. 
 He was complimented on his 
 former kindness to the great
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 voyager. King George III. had 
 sent out these valuable gifts to 
 him; and "Will you not, Tinah," 
 said King George's emissary, 
 "send something toKingGeorge 
 in return?" " Yes," said Tinah, 
 "I will send him anything I 
 have" a promise he would 
 have been sure to break, if it 
 had been exacted to the full. 
 He mentioned the bread-fruit 
 tree as one of the things he 
 possessed. This was just what 
 Bligh was trying to lead the 
 chief up to mention; and he 
 remarked that King George 
 would like the bread-fruit tree 
 very much. So it was promised 
 that a great many plants of it 
 should be put on board the 
 Bounty. 
 
 Hitherto the theftuous Ota- 
 heitans had behaved with rea- 
 sonable honesty during their 
 visits to the ship, which they 
 constantly came to in crowds. 
 But one day the gudgeon of the 
 rudder belonging to the large 
 cutter was drawn out and stolen, 
 an event which the man sta- 
 tioned to take care of her should 
 have been wide enough awake 
 to have prevented. This and 
 some other petty thefts, owing 
 mainly to the man's negligence, 
 tended rather to interrupt the 
 good terms on which Captain 
 Bligh stood with the chiefs. 
 "I thought," he says, "it would 
 have a good effect to punish 
 the boat-keeper in their pre- 
 sence; and accordingly I or- 
 dered him a dozen lashes. All 
 who attended the punishment 
 interceded very earnestly to get 
 
 it mitigated. The women showed 
 great sympathy, and that degree 
 of feeling/' writes the gallant 
 captain, "which characterises 
 the amiable part of their sex." 
 The longer they remained on the 
 islands, our bread-fruit seekers 
 liked the islanders and their con- 
 duct the better. 
 
 An OtaJuitan Dido. 
 
 A very interesting picture of 
 Otaheitan society as it was expe- 
 rienced by the first English voy- 
 agers to the island, is furnished 
 by the following narrative, by 
 Sir John Barrow, who, though 
 himself not a sailor, was yet one 
 of the best writers on seafaring 
 subjects. It is about one of 
 King George IIL's renowned 
 navigators, Samuel Wallis, a 
 painstaking, sensible, and vera- 
 cious seaman, who was the first 
 to bring down the fabulous sta- 
 ture of the Patagonians to its 
 veritable height; and was the first 
 English commander who visited 
 Otaheite. It was he who recom- 
 mended Otaheite as the station 
 forobserving the transit of Venus, 
 in 1769. The first communica- 
 tion (writes our authority), which 
 Wallis had with these people 
 was unfortunately of a hostile 
 nature. Having approached 
 with his ship close to the shore, 
 the usual symbol of peace and 
 friendship, a branch of the plan- 
 tain tree, was held up by a 
 native in one of the numerous 
 canoes that surrounded the 
 ship. Great numbers, on being 
 invited, crowded on board the 
 stranger ship ; but one of them
 
 10 
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 being butted on the haunches 
 by a goat, and turning hastily 
 round, perceiving it rearing on 
 its hind legs ready to repeat the 
 blow, was so terrified at the 
 appearance of this strange ani- 
 mal, so different from any he 
 had ever seen, that, in the mo- 
 ment of terror, he jumped over- 
 board, and all the rest followed 
 his example with the utmost 
 precipitation. 
 
 This little incident, however, 
 produced no mischief; but as 
 the boats were sounding in the 
 bay, and several canoes crowd- 
 inground them, Wallis suspected 
 the islanders had a design to 
 attack them ; and on this mere 
 suspicion, ordered the boats by 
 signal to come on board, "and 
 at the same time," he says, " to 
 intimidate the Indians, I fired 
 a nine-pounder over their heads." 
 This, as might have been ima- 
 gined, startled the islanders, 
 but did not prevent them from 
 attempting immediately to cut 
 off the cutter, as she was stand- 
 ing towards the ship. Several 
 stones were thrown into this 
 boat, on which the commanding 
 officer fired a musket loaded 
 with buck-shot, at the man who 
 threw the first stone, and wound- 
 ed him on the shoulder. 
 
 Finding no good anchorage 
 at this place, the ship proceeded 
 to another part of the island, 
 where, on one of the boats being 
 assailed by the Indians in two 
 or three canoes, with their clubs 
 and paddles in their hands, "Our 
 people," says the commander, 
 " being much pressed, were ob- 
 
 liged to fire, by which one of 
 the assailants was killed, and 
 another much wounded." This 
 unlucky rencontre did not, how- 
 ever, prevent, as soon as the 
 ship was moored, a great num- 
 ber of canoes from coming off 
 the next morning, with hogs, 
 fowls, and fruit. A brisk traffic 
 soon commenced, our people 
 exchanging knives, nails, and 
 trinkets, for more substantial 
 articles of food, of which they 
 were in want Among the 
 canoes that came out last were 
 some double ones of very large 
 size, with twelve or fifteen stout 
 men in each ; and it was ob- 
 served that they had little on 
 board, except a quantity of 
 round pebble stones. Other 
 canoes came off along with 
 them, having only women on 
 board ; and while these females 
 were assiduously practising their 
 allurements, by attitudes that 
 could not be misunderstood, 
 with the view, as it would seem, 
 to distract the attention of the 
 crew, the large double canoes 
 closed round the ship ; and as 
 these advanced, some of the 
 men began singing, some blow- 
 ing conches, and others playing 
 on flutes. One of them with a 
 person sitting under a canopy, 
 approached the ship so close, 
 as to allow this person to hand 
 up a bunch of red and yellow 
 feathers, making signs it was for 
 the captain. He then put off 
 to a little distance, and, on 
 holding up the branch of a 
 cocoa-nut tree, there was a uni- 
 versal shout from all the canoes.
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 11 
 
 which at the same moment 
 moved towards the ship, and a 
 shower of stones was poured 
 into her on every side. The 
 guard was now ordered to fire, 
 and two of the quarter-deck 
 guns, loaded with small shot, 
 were fired among them at the 
 same time, which created great 
 terror and confusion, and caused 
 them to retreat to a short dis- 
 tance. In a few minutes, how- 
 ever, they renewed the attack. 
 The great guns were now or- 
 dered to be discharged among 
 them, and also into a mass of 
 canoes that were putting off 
 from the shore. It is stated 
 that, at this time, there could 
 not be less than three hundred- 
 canoes about the ship, having 
 on board at least two thousand 
 men. Again they dispersed; 
 but, having soon collected into 
 something like order, they hoist- 
 ed white streamers, and pulled 
 towards the ship's stern, when 
 they again began to throw stones 
 with great force and dexterity, 
 by the help of slings, each of 
 the stones weighing about two 
 pounds ; and many of them 
 wounded the people on board. 
 At length a shot hit the canoe 
 that apparently had the chief 
 on board, and cut it asunder. 
 This was no sooner observed 
 by the r rest, than they all dis- 
 persed in such haste, that in 
 half-an-hour there was not a 
 single canoe to be seen ; and 
 all the people who had crowded 
 the shore fled over the hills 
 with the utmost precipitation. 
 What was to happen on the 
 
 following day was matter of con- 
 jecture ; but this point was soon 
 decided. 
 
 "The white man landed need the 
 
 rest be told ? 
 
 The new world stretch'd its dusk 
 hand to the old." 
 
 Lieutenant Furneaux, on the 
 next morning, landed, without 
 opposition, close to a fine river 
 that fell into the bay, stuck 
 up a staff on which was hoisted 
 a pendant, turned a turf, and 
 by this process took possession 
 of the island in the name of his 
 Majesty, and called it King 
 George the Third's Island. Just 
 as he was embarking, an old 
 man, to whom the lieutenant 
 had given a few trifles, brought 
 some green boughs, which he 
 threw down at the foot of the 
 staff, then, retiring, brought 
 about a dozen of his country- 
 men, who approached the staff 
 in a supplicating posture, then 
 retired and brought two live 
 hogs, which they laid down at 
 the foot of the staff, and then 
 began to dance. After this 
 ceremony, the hogs were put 
 into a canoe, and the old man 
 carried them on board, handing 
 up several green plantain leaves, 
 and uttering a sentence on the 
 delivery of each. Some pre- 
 sents were offered him in return ; 
 but he would accept of none. 
 
 Concluding that peace was 
 now established, and that no 
 further] attack would be made, 
 the boats were sent on shore 
 the following day to get water. 
 While th casks were filling, 
 several natives were perceived
 
 12 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 coming from behind the hills 
 and through the woods, and at 
 the same time a multitude of 
 canoes from behind a projecting 
 point of the bay. As these were 
 discovered to be laden with 
 stones, and were making towards 
 the ship, it was concluded their 
 intention was to try their fortune 
 in a second grand attack. " As 
 to shorten the contest would 
 certainly lessen the mischief, I 
 determined," says Captain Wal- 
 lis, " to make this action deci- 
 sive, and put an end to hostilities 
 at once." Accordingly a tre- 
 mendous fire was opened at 
 once on all the groups of canoes, 
 which had the effect of imme- 
 diately dispersing them. The 
 fire was then directed into the 
 \vood, to drive out the islanders 
 who had assembled in large 
 numbers, on which they all fled 
 to the hill, where the women 
 and children had seated them- 
 selves. Here they collected to 
 the amount of several thousands, 
 imagining themselves at that 
 distance to be perfectly safe. 
 The captain, however, ordered 
 four shot to be fired over them, 
 hut two of the balls having 
 fallen close to a tree where a 
 number of them were sitting, 
 they were so struck with terror 
 and consternation, that in less 
 than two minutes, not a creature 
 was to be seen. The coast 
 being cleared, the boats were 
 manned and armed, and all 
 the carpenters with their axes 
 were sent on shore, with direc- 
 tions to destroy every canoe 
 they could find ; and we are 
 
 told this service was effectually 
 performed, and that more than 
 fifty canoes, many of which \Vere 
 sixty feet long and three broad, 
 and lashed together, were cut 
 to pieces. 
 
 This act of severity must have 
 been cruelly felt by these poor 
 people, who without iron or any 
 kind of tools, but such as stones, 
 shells, teeth, and bones supplied 
 to them, musthavespent months, 
 and probably years, in the con- 
 struction of one of these extra- 
 ordinary double boats. 
 
 Such was the inauspicious 
 commencement of our acquaint- 
 ance with the natives of Ota- 
 heite. Their determined hos- 
 tility and perseverance in an 
 unequal combat could only have 
 arisen from one of two motives, 
 either from an opinion that a 
 ship of such magnitude as they 
 had never before beheld, could 
 only be come to their coast to 
 take their country from them ; 
 or an irresistible temptation to 
 endeavour, at all hazards, to 
 possess themselves of so valu- 
 able a prize. Be that as it may, 
 the dread inspired by the effects 
 of the cannon, and perhaps a 
 conviction of the truth of what 
 had been explained to them, 
 that the " strangers wanted only 
 provisions and water," had the 
 effect of allaying all jealousy; 
 for from the day of the last 
 action, the most friendly and 
 uninterrupted intercourse was 
 established, and continued to 
 the day of the Dolphin's de- 
 parture; and provisions of all 
 kinds hogs, dogs, fruit, and
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 13 
 
 vegetables were supplied in 
 the greatest abundance, in ex- 
 change for pieces of iron, nails, 
 and trinkets. 
 
 As a proof of the readiness of 
 these simple people to forgive 
 injuries, a poor woman, accom- 
 panied by a young man bearing 
 a branch of the plantain tree, 
 and another man with two hogs, 
 approached the gunner, whom 
 Captain Wallis had appointed 
 to regulate the market, and, 
 looking round on the strangers 
 with great attention, fixing her 
 eyes sometimes on one and 
 sometimes on another, at length 
 burst into tears. It appeared 
 that her husband and three of 
 her sons had been killed in the 
 attack on the ship. Whilst this 
 was under explanation, the poor 
 creature was so affected, as to 
 require the support of the two 
 young men, who, from their 
 weeping, were probably t\vo 
 more of her sons. When some- 
 what composed, she ordered the 
 two hogs to be delivered to the 
 gunner, and gave him her hand 
 in token of friendship, but would 
 accept nothing in return. 
 
 Captain Wallis was now so 
 well satisfied that there was 
 nothing further to apprehend 
 from the hostility of the natives, 
 that he sent a party up the 
 country to cut wood, who were 
 treated with great kindness and 
 hospitality by all they met ; and 
 the ship was visited by persons 
 of both sexes, who, by their 
 dress and behaviour, appeared 
 to be of a. superior rank. Among 
 others was a tall lady about five- 
 
 and-forty years of age, of a pleas- 
 ing countenance and majestic 
 deportment She was under no 
 restraint, either from diffidence 
 or fear, and conducted herself 
 with that easy freedom which 
 generally distinguishes conscious 
 superiority and habitual com- 
 mand. She accepted some 
 small present which the captain 
 gave her with a good grace and 
 much pleasure ; and having ob- 
 served that he was weak and 
 suffering from ill health, she 
 pointed to the shore, which he 
 understood to be an invitation, 
 and made signs that he would 
 go thither the next morning. 
 His visit to this lady displays 
 so much character and good 
 feeling, that it will best be 
 described in the captain's own 
 words : 
 
 "The next morning I went 
 on shore for the first time, and 
 my princess (or rather queen, 
 for such by her authority she 
 appeared to be) soon after came 
 to me, followed by many of her 
 attendants. As she perceived 
 that my disorder had left me 
 very weak, she ordered her 
 people to take me in their arms, 
 and carry me not only over the 
 river, but all the way to her 
 house; and observing that some 
 of the people who were with me, 
 particularly the first lieutenant 
 and purser, had also been sick, 
 she caused them also to be 
 carried in the same manner, and 
 a guard, which I had ordered 
 out upon the occasion, followed. 
 In our way, a vast multitude 
 crowded about us; but upon
 
 14 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 her waving her hand, without 
 speaking a word, they withdrew, 
 and left us a free passage. When 
 we approached near her house, 
 a great number of both sexes 
 came out to meet her. These 
 she presented to me, after hav- 
 ing intimated by signs that they 
 were her relations ; and, taking 
 hold of my hand, she made them 
 kiss it 
 
 " We then entered the house, 
 which covered a piece of ground 
 327 feet long, and 42 feet broad. 
 It consisted of a roof thatched 
 with palm leaves, and raised 
 upon thirty-nine pillars on each 
 side, and fourteen in the middle. 
 The ridge of the thatch, on the 
 inside, was thirty feet high, and 
 the sides of the house, to the 
 edge of the roof, were twelve 
 feet high; all below the roof 
 being open. As soon as we 
 entered the house, she made us 
 sit down, and then, calling four 
 young girls, she assisted them to 
 take off my shoes, draw down 
 my stockings, and pull off my 
 coat; and then directed them 
 to smooth down the skin, and 
 gently chafe it with their hands. 
 The same operation was also 
 performed on the first lieutenant 
 and the purser, but upon none 
 of those who appeared to be in 
 health. While this was doing, 
 our surgeon, who had walked 
 till he was very warm, took off 
 his wig to cool and refresh him- 
 self. A sudden exclamation of 
 one of the Indians who saw it, 
 drew the attention of the rest ; 
 and in a moment every eye was 
 fixed upon the prodigy, and 
 
 every operation was suspended. 
 The whole assembly stood some 
 time motionless in silent aston- 
 ishment, which could not have 
 been more strongly expressed 
 if they had discovered that our 
 friend's limbs had been screwed 
 on to the trunk. In a short 
 time, however, the young women 
 who were chafing us resumed 
 their employment; and having 
 continued about half-an-hour, 
 they dressed us again ; but in 
 this they were, as may easily 
 be imagined, very awkward. I 
 found great benefit, however, 
 from the chafing, and so did the 
 lieuvenant and the purser. 
 
 " After a little time our gener- 
 ous benefactress ordered some 
 bales - of Indian cloth to be 
 brought out, with which she 
 clothed me, and all that were 
 with me, according to the fashion 
 of the country. At first I de- 
 clined the acceptance of this 
 favour ; but being unwilling not 
 to seem pleased with what was 
 intended to please me, I acqui- 
 esced. When we went away, 
 she ordered a very large sow, 
 big with young, to be taken 
 down to the boat, and accom- 
 panied us thither herself. She 
 had given directions to her 
 people to carry me, as they had 
 done when I came ; but as I 
 chose rather to walk, she took 
 me by the arm, and whenever 
 we came to a plash of water or 
 dirt, she lifted me over with as 
 little trouble as it would have 
 cost me to have lifted over a 
 child, if I had been well." 
 The following morning Cap-
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 15 
 
 tain Wallis sent her a present 
 by the gunner, who found her 
 in the midst of an entertainment 
 given to at least a thousand 
 people. The messes were put 
 into shells of cocoa-nuts, and 
 the shells into wooden trays, 
 like those used by our butchers, 
 and she distributed them with 
 her own hands to the guests, 
 who were seated in rows in the 
 open air, round the great house. 
 When this was done, she sat 
 down herself upon a place some- 
 what elevated above the rest, 
 and two women, placing them- 
 selves one on each side of her, 
 fed her, she opening her mouth 
 as they brought their hands up 
 with the food. From this time 
 provisions were sent to market 
 in the greatest abundance. The 
 queen frequently visited the cap- 
 tain on board, and always with 
 a present; but she never con- 
 descended to barter, nor would 
 she accept of any return. 
 
 One day, after visiting her at 
 her house, the captain at parting 
 made her comprehend by signs 
 that he intended to quit the 
 island in seven days : she im- 
 mediately understood his mean- 
 ing, and by similar signs ex- 
 pressed her wish that he should 
 stay twenty days; that he should 
 go with her a couple of days' 
 journey into the country, stay 
 there a few days, return with 
 plenty of hogs and poultry, and 
 then go away ; but on persisting 
 in his first intention she burst 
 into tears, and it was not with- 
 out great difficulty that she 
 could be pacified. The next 
 
 time that she went on board, 
 Captain Wallis ordered a good 
 dinner for her entertainment, 
 and those chiefs who were of 
 her party ; but the queen would 
 neither eat nor drink. As she 
 was going over the ship's side, 
 she asked, by signs, whether he 
 still persisted in leaving the 
 island at the time he had fixed, 
 and on receiving an answer in 
 the affirmative, she expressed 
 her regret by a flood of tears ; 
 and as soon as her passion sub- 
 sided, she told the captain that 
 she would come on board again 
 the following day. 
 
 Accordingly, the next day she 
 again visited the ship twice, 
 bringing each time large pre- 
 sents of hogs, fowls, and fruits. 
 The captain, after expressing 
 his sense of her kindness and 
 bounty, announced his intention 
 of sailing the following morning. 
 This, as usual, threw her into 
 tears, and, after recovering her- 
 self, she made anxious inquiry 
 when he should return ; he said, 
 in fifty days, with which she 
 seemed to be satisfied. " She 
 stayed on board," says Captain 
 Wallis, " till night, and it was 
 then with the greatest difficulty 
 that she could be prevailed upon 
 to go on shore. When she was 
 told that the boat was ready, 
 she threw herself down upon the 
 arm-chest, and wept a long time, 
 with an excess of passion that 
 could not be pacified; at last, 
 however, with the greatest re- 
 luctance, she was prevailed upon 
 to go into the boat, and was 
 followed by her attendants."
 
 16 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 The next day, while the ship 
 was unmooring, the whole beach 
 was covered with the inhabi- 
 tants. The queen came down, 
 and, having ordered a double 
 canoe to be launched, was rowed 
 off by her own people, follow- 
 ed by fifteen or sixteen other 
 canoes. She soon made her 
 appearance on board ; but, not 
 being able to speak, she sat 
 down and gave vent to her pas- 
 sion by weeping. Shortly after, 
 a breeze springing up, the ship 
 made sail; and finding it now 
 necessary to return into her 
 canoe, " she embraced us all," 
 says Captain Wallis, "in the 
 most affectionate manner, and 
 with many tears ; all her attend- 
 ants also expressed great sorrow 
 at our departure. In a few 
 minutes she came into the bow 
 of her canoe, where she sat 
 weeping with inconsolable sor- 
 row. I gave her many things 
 which I thought would be of 
 great use to her, and some for 
 ornament : she silently accepted 
 of all, but took little notice of 
 anything. About ten o'clock 
 we had got without the reef, and 
 a fresh breeze springing up, our 
 Indian friends, and particularly 
 the queen, once more bade us 
 farewell, with such tenfterness 
 of affection and grief, .3 filled 
 both my heart and my eyes." 
 
 This Otaheitan lady did not 
 sink under her sorrows. Far 
 fewer ladies do than romancers 
 have made the wide world to 
 believe. Virgil's account of the 
 conduct of Miserrima Dido is, 
 like his hits at that wonderful 
 
 old infidel, Mezentius contemp- 
 tor deum a good way off from 
 the kind of male and female 
 human beings we have to meet 
 in these last days, a people 
 who are neither Otaheitans nor 
 Romans. Let the readers of 
 this story find out all about 
 our Miserrima Dido, and not 
 believe in her burning herself. 
 Let them rather believe that, as 
 Sir John Barrow tells us, while 
 " the tender passion had cer- 
 tainly caught hold of one or 
 both of these worthies, and if 
 her majesty's language had been 
 as well understood by Captain 
 Wallis, as that of Dido was by 
 ^Eneas, when pressing him to 
 stay with her, there is no doubt 
 it would have been found not 
 less pathetic : 
 
 "Nee te noster amor, nee te data 
 
 dextera quondam, 
 
 Nee moritura tenet crudeli funere 
 Dido?" 
 
 This lady did not sink, like the 
 "miserrima Dido," under her 
 griefs ; on the contrary, we find 
 her in full activity and anima- 
 tion, and equally generous to 
 Captain Cook and his party, 
 under the name of Oberea, who, 
 it now appeared, was no queen, 
 but whose husband they discov- 
 ered was uncle to the young 
 king, then a minor, but from 
 whom she was separated. She 
 soon evinced a partiality for 
 Mr Banks, though not quite so 
 strong as that for Wallis ; but it 
 appears to have been mutual, 
 until an unlucky discovery took 
 place, that she had, at her com- 
 mand, a sfuit, strong -boned
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 17 
 
 cavaliereservente; added to which, 
 a theft, rather of an amusing 
 nature, contributed for a time 
 to create a coolness, and some- 
 what to disturb the good under- 
 standing that had subsisted be- 
 tween them. It happened that 
 a party, consisting of Cook, 
 Banks, Solander, and three or 
 four others, were benighted at 
 a distance from the anchorage. 
 Mr Banks, says Captain Cook, 
 thought himself fortunate in be- 
 ing offered a place by Oberea, 
 in her own canoe, and wishing 
 his friends a good-night, took 
 his leave. He went to rest early, 
 according to the custom of the 
 country ; and taking off his 
 clothes, as was his constant prac- 
 tice, the nights being hot, Obe- 
 rea kindly insisted upon taking 
 them into her own custody, for 
 otherwise, she said, they would 
 certainly be stolen. Mr Banks 
 having, as he thought, so good 
 a safeguard, resigned himself to 
 sleep with all imaginable tran- 
 quillity; but awakening about 
 eleven o'clock, and wanting to 
 get up, he searched for his 
 clothes where he had seen them 
 carefully deposited by Oberea 
 when he lay down to sleep, and 
 perceived, to his sorrow and 
 surprise, that they were missing. 
 He immediately awakened Obe- 
 rea, who, starting up and hear- 
 ing his complaint, ordered lights, 
 and prepared in great haste to 
 recover what had been lost. 
 Tootahah (the regent) slept in 
 the next canoe, and, being soon 
 alarmed, he came to them, and 
 set out with Oberea in search 
 
 of the thief. Mr Banks was 
 not in a condition to go with 
 them, as of his apparel scarcely 
 anything was left him but his 
 breeches. In about half-an- 
 hour, his two noble friends re- 
 turned, but without having ob- 
 tained any intelligence of his 
 clothes, or of the thief. Where 
 Cook and Solander had disposed 
 of themselves, he did not know; 
 but hearing music, which was 
 sure to bring a crowd together, 
 in which there was a chance of 
 his associates being found, he 
 rose, and made the best of his 
 way towards it, and joined his 
 party, as Cook says, " more than 
 half naked, and toldus his melan- 
 choly story." 
 
 It was some consolation to 
 find that his friends were fellow- 
 sufferers, Cook having lost his 
 stockings, which had been stolen 
 from under his head, though he 
 had never been asleep, and his 
 associates their jackets. At 
 daybreak Oberea brought to 
 Mr Banks some of the native 
 clothes; " so that when he came 
 to us," says Cook, " he made a 
 most motley appearance, halt 
 Indian and half English." Such 
 an adventure must have been 
 highly amusing to him who was 
 the ol ; ect of it, when the incon- 
 venienve had been removed, as 
 every one will admit who knew 
 the late venerable President ol 
 the Royal Society. He never 
 doubted, however, that Oberea 
 was privy to the theft ; and there 
 was strong suspicion of her hav- 
 ing some of the articles in her 
 custody. Being aware that this
 
 18 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 feeling existed, she absented 
 herself for some time; and when 
 she again appeared, she said a 
 favourite of hers had taken them 
 away, whom she had beaten and 
 dismissed; "but she seemed 
 conscious," says Cook, "that she 
 had no right to be believed ; she 
 discovered the strongest signs of 
 fear, yet she surmounted it with 
 astonishing resolution, and was 
 very pressing to be allowed to 
 sleep with her attendants in Mr 
 Banks'stent: in this, however, she 
 was not gratified." Sir Joseph 
 might have thought that, if he 
 complied with her request, the 
 other articles of his dress might 
 be in danger of following what 
 was already stolen. 
 
 This may do for an account 
 of the upper society of the folk, 
 with whom those young men had 
 to do. Let us, however, get on 
 with our story. The natives 
 did not make themselves dis- 
 agreeable. Every house offered 
 a kind reception. The Ota- 
 heitans proved themselves free 
 equally from forwardness and 
 from formality, and there was 
 a candour and sincerity about 
 them, which was quite delight- 
 ful. When they offered refresh- 
 ments, if these were not accept- 
 ed, the simple natives did not 
 offer them a second time. They 
 had not the least idea of any 
 ceremonious refusal. Would 
 they not have suited J. J. Rous- 
 seau ! " Having one day," says 
 the self-defending Bligh, "ex- 
 posed myself too much in the 
 sun, I was taken ill, on which all 
 the powerful people, both men 
 
 and women, collected round me, 
 offering their assistance. For 
 this short illness I was made 
 ample amends by the pleasure 
 I received from the attention 
 and appearance of affection in 
 these kind people." 
 
 On the gth December, the 
 surgeon of the Bounty died from 
 the effects of intemperance and 
 indolence. This unfortunate 
 man is represented to have been 
 in a constant state of intoxica- 
 tion, and was so averse from 
 any kind of exercise, that he 
 never could be prevailed on to 
 take half-a-dozen turns upon the 
 deck at a time in the whole 
 course of the voyage. Cap- 
 tain Bligh had obtained per- 
 mission to bury him on shore ; 
 and on going with the chief 
 Tinah to the spot intended for 
 his burial-place, " I found," says 
 he, "the natives had already 
 begun to dig his grave." Tinah 
 asked if they were doing it right? 
 "There," says he, "the sun rises, 
 and there it sets." Whether the 
 idea of making the grave east 
 and west is their own, or whether 
 they learnt it from the Spaniards, 
 who buried the captain of their 
 ship on the island in 1774, there 
 was no means of ascertaining ; 
 but it was certain they had no 
 intimation of that kind from any- 
 body belonging to the Bounty. 
 When the funeral took place, 
 the chiefs and many of the na- 
 tives attended the ceremony, 
 and showed great attention dur- 
 ing the service. Many of the 
 principal natives attended divine 
 service on Sundays, and behaved
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 19 
 
 with great decency. Some of 
 the women at one time betrayed 
 an inclination to laugh at the 
 general responses ; but the cap- 
 tain says, on looking at them, 
 they appeared much ashamed. 
 
 The delightful border of low 
 land, of the breadth of about 
 three miles, between the sea- 
 coast and the foot of the hills, 
 which consisted of a country 
 well covered with bread-fruit 
 and cocoa trees, was strewed 
 with houses in which were 
 swarms of children playing 
 about. " It is delightful," Bligh 
 observes, " to see the swarms \ 
 of little children that are every- 
 where to be seen employed at 
 their several amusements; some 
 flying kites, some swinging in 
 ropes suspended from the 
 boughs of trees, others walking 
 on stilts, some wrestling, and 
 others playing all manner of 
 antic tricks, such as are com- 
 mon to boys in England. The 
 little girls have also their 
 amusements, consisting gene- 
 rally of heivahs or dances." On 
 an evening, just before sunset, 
 the whole beach abreast the 
 ship is described as being like 
 a parade, crowded with men, 
 women, and children, who go 
 
 on with their sports and amuse- 
 ments till nearly dark, when 
 every one peaceably returns to 
 his home. At such times, we 
 are told, from three to four 
 hundred people are assembled 
 together, and all happily di- 
 verted, good - humoured, and 
 affectionate to one another, 
 without a single quarrel having 
 ever happened to disturb the 
 harmony that existed among 
 these amiable people. Both 
 boys and girls are said to be 
 handsome and very sprightly. 
 
 It did not appear that much 
 pains were taken in their plan- 
 tations, except those of the ava 
 and the cloth-plant; many of 
 the latter are fenced with stone, 
 and surrounded with a ditch. 
 In fact, Nature had done so 
 much for them, that they have 
 no great occasion to use exer- 
 tion in obtaining a sufficient 
 supply of either food or rai- 
 ment Yet when Bligh com- 
 menced taking up the bread- 
 fruit plants, he derived much 
 assistance from the natives in 
 collecting and pruning them, 
 which they understood per- 
 fectly well. The behaviour of 
 these people on all occasions 
 was highly deserving of praise. 
 
 CHAPTER IT. 
 
 THE MUTINY OF THE BOUNTY. 
 
 ONE morning, at the relief of the 
 watch, the small cutter was miss- 
 ing. The ship's company were 
 
 immediately mustered, when it 
 appeared that three men were 
 absent Thev had taken with
 
 20 
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 them eight stand of arms and 
 ammunition ; but what their 
 plan was, or which way they 
 had gone, no one on board 
 seemed to have the least know- 
 ledge. Information being given 
 of the route they had taken, the 
 master was despatched to search 
 for the cutter, and one of the 
 chiefs went with him ; but before 
 they had got half-way, they met 
 the boat with five of the natives, 
 who were bringing her back to 
 the ship. For this service they 
 were handsomelyrewarded. The 
 chiefs promised to use every 
 possible means to detect and 
 bring back the deserters, which, 
 in a few days, some of the 
 islanders had so far accom- 
 plished as to seize and bind 
 them, but let them loose again 
 on a promise that they would 
 return to their ship, which they 
 did not exactly fulfil, but gave 
 themselves up soon after on a 
 search being made for them. 
 
 A few days after this, a much 
 more serious occurrence hap- 
 pened, that was calculated to 
 give to the commander great 
 concern. The wind had blown 
 fresh in the night, and at day- 
 light it was discovered that the 
 cable, by which the ship rode, 
 had been cut near the water's 
 edge, in such a manner that 
 only one strand remained whole. 
 While they were securing the 
 ship, Tinah came on board ; 
 and though there was no reason 
 whatever to suppose otherwise 
 than that he was perfectly inno- 
 cent of the transaction, never- 
 theless, says the commander, 
 
 " I spoke to him in a very 
 peremptory manner, and in- 
 sisted upon his discovering and 
 bringing to me the offender. 
 He promised to use his utmost 
 endeavours to discover the 
 guilty person. The next morn- 
 ing he and his wife came to me, 
 and assured me that they had 
 made the strictest inquiries 
 without success. This was not 
 at all satisfactory, and I be- 
 haved towards them with great 
 coolness, at which they were 
 very much distressed ; and the 
 lady at length gave vent to her 
 sorrow by tears. I could no 
 longer keep up the appearance 
 of mistrusting them ; but I ear- 
 nestly recommended to them, as 
 they valued the King of Eng- 
 land's friendship, that they would 
 exert their utmost endeavours 
 to find out the offenders, which 
 they faithfully promised to do." 
 
 Bligh seems from this time to 
 have begun to suspect the loyalty 
 of his men. He set up in his own 
 mind the theory that their pur- 
 pose was to remain in Otaheite, 
 among its pleasant society at 
 least, he wrote so in his defence. 
 He writes, however, that he did 
 not entertain any thought of the 
 kind, nor did the possibility of 
 it enter into his ideas. This, 
 in consideration of all that 
 happened afterwards, looks very 
 much like an after-thought. 
 
 The Bounty arrived October 
 26th, 1788, and remained till 
 the 4th of April 1789 a length 
 of time which would require to 
 be economically accounted for 
 in days like ours. Bligh says,
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 21 
 
 dating March 3ist, "To-day, 
 all the plants were on board, 
 being in seven hundred and 
 seventy -four pots, thirty- nine 
 tubs, and twenty-four boxes. 
 The number of bread-fruit 
 plants was one thousand and 
 fifteen, besides which we had 
 collected a number of other 
 plants : the Avee, which is one 
 of the finest flavoured fruits in 
 the world ; the Ayyah, which is 
 not so rich, but of a fine flavour 
 and very refreshing; the Rattah, 
 not much unlike a chestnut, 
 which grows on a large tree in 
 great quantities ; they are singly 
 in large pods, from one to two 
 inches broad, and may be eaten 
 raw or boiled in the same man- 
 ner as Windsor beans, and so 
 dressed are equally good ; the 
 Orai-ab, which is a very superior 
 kind of plantain. All these I 
 was particularly recommended 
 to collect by my worthy friend, 
 Sir Joseph Banks." 
 
 Sir John Barrow goes on to 
 relate another incident, to show 
 the grief these poor people ex- 
 hibited when losing a friend. 
 He says that while these active 
 preparations for departure were 
 going on, the good chief Tinah, 
 on bringing a present for King 
 George, could not refrain from 
 shedding tears. During the re- 
 mainder of their stay, there 
 appeared among the natives an 
 evident degree of sorrow that 
 they were soon to leave them, 
 which they showed by a more 
 than usual degree of kindness 
 and attention. The above- 
 mentioned excellent chief, with 
 
 his wife, brothers, and sister, 
 requested to remain on board 
 for the night previous to the 
 sailing of the Bounty. The ship 
 was crowded with the natives, 
 and she was loaded with pre- 
 sents of cocoa-nuts, plantains, 
 bread-fruits, hogs, and goats. 
 Contrary to what had been the 
 usual practice, there was this 
 evening no dancing or mirth on 
 the beach, such^as they had long 
 been accustomed to ; but all 
 was silent. 
 
 At sunset, the boat returned 
 from landing Tinah and his 
 wife, and the ship made sail, 
 bidding farewell to Otaheite, 
 where, Bligh observes, " for 
 twenty-three weeks we had 
 been treated with the utmost 
 affection and regard, which 
 seemed to increase in propor- 
 tion to our stay. That we were 
 not insensible to their kindness, 
 the events that followed more 
 than sufficiently prove ; for to 
 the friendly and endearing be- 
 haviour of these people may be 
 ascribed the motives for that 
 event which effected the ruin 
 of an expedition that there was 
 every reason to hope would 
 have been completed in the 
 most fortunate manner." 
 
 The morning after their de- 
 parture, they got sight of Hua- 
 heine, and a double canoe soon 
 coming alongside, containing 
 ten natives; among them was a 
 young man who recollected 
 Captain Bligh, and called him 
 by name, having known him 
 when there in the year 1780, 
 with Captain Cook in the Re-
 
 22 
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 solution. Several other canoes 
 arrived with hogs, yams, and 
 other provisions, which they 
 purchased. This person con- 
 firmed the account that had 
 already been received of Omai, 
 and said, that of all the animals 
 which had been left with Omai, 
 the mare only remained alive ; 
 that the seeds and plants had 
 been all destroyed, except one 
 tree, but of what kind that was 
 he could not satisfactorily ex- 
 plain. A few days after sailing 
 from this island, the weather 
 became squally, and a thick 
 body of black clouds collected 
 in the east. A water-spout was 
 in a short time seen at no great 
 distance from the ship, which 
 appeared to great advantage 
 from the darkness of the clouds 
 behind it. The upper part is 
 described as being about two 
 feet in diameter, and the lower 
 about eight inches. It advanced 
 rapidly towards the ship, when 
 it was deemed expedient to alter 
 the course, and to take in all 
 the sails, except the foresail ; 
 soon after which it passed within 
 ten yards of the stern, making 
 a rustling noise, but without 
 their feeling the least effect from 
 its being so near. The rate at 
 which it travelled was judged to 
 be about ten miles per hour, 
 going towards the west, in the 
 direction of the wind ; and in a 
 quarter of an hour after passing 
 the ship it dispersed. As they 
 passed several low islands, the 
 natives of one of them came out 
 in their canoes, and it was 
 observed that they all spoke the 
 
 language of Otaheite. Presents 
 of iron, beads, and a looking- 
 glass, were given to them ; but 
 it was observed that the chief, 
 on leaving the ship, took pos- 
 session of everything that had 
 been distributed. One of them 
 showed some signs of dissatis- 
 faction, but after a little alterca- 
 tion, they joined noses and were 
 reconciled. 
 
 The Bounty anchored at Ana- 
 mooka on the 23d April ; and 
 an old lame man, named Tepa, 
 whom Bligh had known here in 
 1777, and immediately recol- 
 lected, came on board along 
 with others from different islands 
 in the vicinity. This man hav- 
 ing formerly been accustomed 
 to the English manner of speak- 
 ing their language, the com- 
 mander found he could converse 
 with him tolerably well. He 
 told him that the cattle which 
 had been left at Tongataboo 
 had all bred, and that the old 
 ones were yet living. Being 
 desirous of seeing the ship, he 
 and his companions were taken 
 below, and the bread-fruit and 
 other plants were shown to 
 them, on seeing which they were 
 greatly surprised. 
 
 " I landed," says Bligh, " in 
 order to procure some bread-fruit 
 plants to supply the place of 
 one that was dead, and two or 
 three others that were a little 
 sickly. I walked to the west 
 part of the bay, where some 
 plants and seeds had been sown 
 by Captain Cook ; and had the 
 satisfaction to see, in a planta- 
 tion close by, about twenty fine
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 23 
 
 pine-apple plants, but no fruit, 
 this not being the proper season. 
 They told me that they had 
 eaten many of them, that they 
 were very fine and large, and 
 that at Tongataboo there were 
 great numbers." 
 
 Numerous were the marks of 
 mourning with which these 
 people disfigured themselves ; 
 such as bloody temples, their 
 heads deprived of most of their 
 hair; and, what was worse, 
 almost all of them with the loss 
 of some of their fingers. Several 
 fine boys, not above six years 
 of age, had lost both their little 
 lingers ; and some of the men 
 had parted with the middle fin- 
 ger of the right hand. 
 
 A brisk trade soon began to 
 be carried on for yams. Some 
 plantains and bread-fruit were 
 likewise brought on board, but 
 no hogs. Some of the sailing 
 canoes which arrived in the 
 course of the day, were large 
 enough to contain not less than 
 ninety passengers. From these 
 the officers and crew purchased 
 hogs, dogs, fowls, and shaddocks; 
 yams very fine and large one 
 of them actually weighed above 
 forty-five pounds. The crowd 
 of natives had become so great 
 the next day, Sunday 26th, 
 that it became impossible to do 
 anything. The watering party 
 were therefore ordered to go 
 on board, and it was determined 
 to sail. The ship was accord- 
 ingly unmoored and got under 
 way. A grapnel, however, 
 had been stolen ; and Bligh 
 informed the chiefs that were 
 
 still on board, that unless it was 
 returned, they must remain in 
 the ship; at which they were sur- 
 prised and not a little alarmed. 
 "I detained them," he says, 
 "till sunset, when their uneasi- 
 ness increased to such a degree 
 that they began to beat them- 
 selves about the face and eyes, 
 and some of them cried bitterly. 
 As this distress was more than 
 the grapnel was worth, I could 
 not think of detaining them 
 longer, and called their canoes 
 alongside. I told them that 
 they were at liberty to go, and 
 made each of them a present of 
 a hatchet, a saw, with some 
 knives, gimlets, and nails. This 
 unexpected present, and the 
 sudden change in their situation, 
 affected them not less with joy 
 than they had before been with 
 apprehension. They were un- 
 bounded in their acknowledg- 
 ments ; and I have little doubt 
 but that we parted better friends 
 than if the affair had never hap- 
 pened." 
 
 From this island the ship 
 stood to the northward all night, 
 with light winds; and on the 
 next day, the zyth, at noon, 
 they were between the islands 
 Tofoa and Kotoo. 
 
 " Thus far," says Bligh, " the 
 voyage had advanced in a course 
 of uninterrupted prosperity, and 
 had been attended with many 
 circumstances equally pleasing 
 and satisfactory. A very differ- 
 ent scene was now to be ex- 
 perienced. A conspiracy had 
 been formed, which was to ren- 
 der all our past labour produc-
 
 24 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 live only of extreme misery and 
 distress. The means had been 
 concerted and prepared with so 
 much secrecy and circumspec- 
 tion, that no one circumstance 
 appeared to occasion the small- 
 est suspicion of the impending 
 calamity, the result of an act of 
 piracy the most consummate 
 and atrocious that was probably 
 ever committed." 
 
 How far Bligh was justified 
 in ascribing the calamity to a 
 conspiracy, will be seen here- 
 after. We now proceed to give 
 in detail the facts of the muti- 
 nous proceedings, as stated by 
 Captain Bligh in his narrative. 
 
 " In the morning of the 28th 
 April," he reports, "the north- 
 westmost of the Friendly Islands, 
 called Tofoa, bearing north-east, 
 I was steering to the westward 
 with a ship in the most perfect 
 order, all my plants in the most 
 perfect condition, all my men and 
 officers in good health ; and, in 
 short, everything to flatter and 
 ensure my most sanguine expec- 
 tations. On leaving the deck, 
 I gave directions for the course 
 to be steered during the night. 
 The master had the first watch; 
 the gunner the middle watch ; 
 and Mr Christian the morning 
 watch. This was the turn of 
 duty for the night 
 
 "Just before sun-rising, on 
 Tuesday the 28th, while I was 
 yet asleep, Mr Christian, officer 
 of the watch, Charles Churchill, 
 ship's corporal, John Mills, 
 gunner's mate, and Thomas 
 Burkitt, seaman, came into my 
 cabin, and seizing me, tied my 
 
 hands with a cord behind my 
 back, threatening me with in- 
 stant death if I spoke or made 
 the least noise. I called, how- 
 ever, as loud as I could, in hopes, 
 of assistance; but they had 
 already secured the officers who 
 were not of their party, by 
 placing sentinels at their doors. 
 There were three men at my 
 cabin door besides the four 
 within. Christian had only a 
 cutlass in his hand, the others 
 had muskets and bayonets. I 
 was hauled out of bed, and 
 forced on deck in my shirt, 
 suffering great pain from the 
 tightness with which they had 
 tied my hands. I demanded 
 the reason of such violence, but 
 received no other answer than 
 abuse for not holding my tongue. 
 The master, the gunner, Mr 
 Elphinstone, the master's mate, 
 and Nelson, were kept confined 
 below ; and the fore-hatchway 
 was guarded by sentinels. The 
 boatswain and carpenter, and 
 also Mr Samuel, the clerk, were 
 allowed to come upon deck, 
 where they saw me standing abaft 
 the mizzen-mast, with my hands 
 tied behind my back, under a 
 guard with Christian at their 
 head. The boatswain was order- 
 ed to hoist the launch out, with 
 a threat, if he did not do it in- 
 stantly, to take care of himself. 
 When the boat was out, Mr 
 Hayward, and Mr Hallet, two of 
 the midshipmen, and Mr Samuel 
 were ordered into it. I de- 
 manded what their intention 
 was in giving this order, and 
 endeavoured to persuade the
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 25 
 
 people near me not to persist in 
 such acts of violence ; but it was 
 to no effect 'Hold your tongue, 
 sir, or you are dead this instant,' 
 was constantly repeated tome." 
 
 The master by this time had 
 sent to request that he might 
 come on deck, which was per- 
 mitted; but he was soon ordered 
 back again to his cabin. 
 
 " I continued my endeavours 
 to turn the tide of affairs, when 
 Christian changed the cutlass 
 which he had in his hand, for a 
 bayonet that was brought to him, 
 and, holding me with a strong 
 gripe by the cord that tied my 
 hands, he threatened, with many 
 oaths, to kill me immediately, if 
 I would not be quiet 
 
 " The boatswain and seamen 
 who were to go in the boat, 
 were allowed to collect twine, 
 canvas, lines, sails, cordage, an 
 eight-and-twenty gallon cask of 
 water ; and Mr Samuel got one 
 hundred and fifty pounds of 
 bread, with a small quantity of 
 rum and wine, also a quadrant 
 and compass ; but he was for- 
 bidden, on pain of death, to 
 touch either map, ephemeris, 
 book of astronomical observa- 
 tions, sextant, time-keeper, or 
 any of my surveys or drawings. 
 
 "The mutineers having forced 
 those of the seamen whom they 
 meant to get rid of into the 
 boat, Christian directed a dram 
 to be served to each of his own 
 crew. I then unhappily saw 
 that nothing could be done to 
 effect the recovery of the ship : 
 there was no one to assist me, 
 and every endeavour on my 
 
 part was answered with threats 
 of death. 
 
 "The officers were next called 
 upon deck, and forced over the 
 side into the boat, while I was 
 kept apart from every one, 
 abaftthemizzen-mast; Christian, 
 armed with a bayonet, holding 
 me by the bandage that secured 
 my hands. The guard round 
 me had their pieces cocked; 
 but on my daring the ungrate- 
 ful wretches to fire, they un- 
 cocked them. 
 
 "Isaac Martin, one of the 
 guard over me, I saw, had an 
 inclination to assist me, and, 
 as he fed me with shaddock, 
 my lips being quite parched, 
 we explained our wishes to each 
 other by our looks ; but this 
 being observed, Martin was re- 
 moved from me. He then at- 
 tempted to leave the ship, for 
 which purpose he got into the 
 boat; but with many threats 
 they obliged him to return. 
 
 "The armourer, Joseph Cole- 
 man, and two of the carpenters, 
 M'Intosh and Norman, were 
 also kept contrary to their in- 
 clination; and they begged of 
 me, after I was astern in the 
 boat, to remember that they de- 
 clared they had no hand in the 
 transaction. Michael Byrne, I 
 am told, likewise wanted to 
 leave the ship. 
 
 "To Mr Samuel, the clerk, lam 
 indebted for securing my jour- 
 nals and commission, with some 
 material ship papers. This he 
 did with great resolution, though 
 guarded and strictly watched. 
 He attempted to save the time-
 
 26 
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 keeper, and a box with my 
 surveys, drawings, and remarks 
 for fifteen years past, which 
 were numerous, when he was 
 hurried away. 
 
 "It appeared to me that 
 Christian was some time in 
 doubt whether he should keep 
 the carpenter or his mates. At 
 length he determined on the 
 latter, and the carpenter was 
 ordered into the boat. He was 
 permitted but not without some 
 opposition, to take his tool- 
 chest. 
 
 "Much altercation took place 
 among the mutinous crew during 
 the whole business : some swore, 
 others laughed at the helpless 
 condition of the boat, being 
 very deep, and so little room 
 for those that were in her. As 
 for Christian, he seemed as if 
 meditating destruction on him- 
 self and every one else. 
 
 " I asked for arms, but they 
 laughed at me; four cutlasses, 
 however, were thrown into the 
 boat after we were veered 
 astern. I was forced over the 
 side when they untied my hands. 
 A few pieces of junk were thrown 
 at us, and some clothes. We 
 were at length cast adrift in the 
 open ocean. 
 
 " Christian, the chief of the 
 mutineers, is," says Captain 
 Bligh, "of a respectable family in 
 the north of England. This was 
 the third voyage he had made 
 with me ; and as I found it 
 necessary to keep my ship's 
 company at three watches, I 
 had given him an order to take 
 charge of the third, his abilities 
 
 being thoroughly equal to the 
 task; and by this means the 
 master and gunner were not at 
 watch and watch. 
 
 " Heywood is also of a re- 
 spectable family in the north 
 of England,* and a young man 
 of abilities as well as Christian. 
 These two had been objects of 
 my particular regard and atten- 
 tion, and I had taken great 
 pains to instruct them, having 
 entertained hopes that, as pro- 
 fessional men, they would have 
 become a credit to their country. 
 
 "Young was well recom- 
 mended, and had the look of 
 an able, stout seaman ; he, how- 
 ever, fell short of what his ap- 
 pearance promised. 
 
 "Stewart was a young man 
 of creditable parents in the 
 Orkneys ; at which place, on 
 the return of the Resolution 
 from the South Seas, in 1780, 
 we received so many civilities, 
 that, on that account only, I 
 should gladly have taken him 
 with me : but, independent of 
 this recommendation, he was a 
 seaman, and had always borne 
 a good character. 
 
 " Notwithstanding the rough- 
 ness with which I was treated, 
 the remembrance of past kind- 
 nesses produced some signs of 
 remorse in Christian. When 
 they were forcing me out of the 
 ship, I asked him if this treat- 
 ment was a proper return for 
 the many instances he had re- 
 ceived of my friendship ? He 
 
 * He was born in the Isle of Man, 
 his father being Deemster of Man, arul 
 seneschal to the Duke of AthoL
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 27 
 
 appeared disturbed at my ques- 
 tion, and answered with much 
 emotion, 'That Captain Bligh 
 that is the thing; I am in 
 hell, I am in hell ! ' 
 
 "It will very naturally be 
 asked, what could be the reason 
 for such a revolt? In answer 
 to which I can only conjecture 
 that the mutineers had flattered 
 themselves with the hopes of a 
 more happy life among the Ota- 
 heitans than they could possibly 
 enjoy in England; and this, 
 joined to some female connec- 
 tions, most probably occasioned 
 the whole transaction. The 
 ship, indeed, while within our 
 sight, steered to the W.N.W., 
 but I considered this only as a 
 feint; for when we were sent 
 away, ' Huzza for Otaheite ! ' 
 was frequently heard among the 
 mutineers. 
 
 " The women of Otaheite are 
 handsome, mild and cheerful in 
 their manners and conversation, 
 possessed of great sensibility, 
 and have sufficient delicacy to 
 make them admired and be- 
 loved. The chiefs were so much 
 attached to our people, that 
 they rather encouraged their 
 stay among them than other- 
 wise, and even made them 
 promises of large possessions. 
 Under these and many other 
 attendant circumstances, equally 
 desirable, it is now perhaps not 
 so much to be wondered at, 
 though scarcely possible to have 
 been foreseen, that a set of 
 sailors, most of them void of 
 connections, should be led away ; 
 especially when, in addition to 
 
 such powerful inducements, they 
 imagined it in their power to 
 fix themselves in the midst of 
 plenty, on one of the finest 
 islands in the world, where they 
 need not labour, and where the 
 allurements of dissipation are 
 beyond anything that can be 
 conceived. 
 
 " Desertions have happened, 
 more or less, from most of the 
 ships that have been at the 
 Society Islands ; but it has 
 always been in the commander's 
 power to make their chiefs re- 
 turn their people : the know- 
 ledge, therefore, that it was 
 unsafe to desert, perhaps first 
 led mine to consider with what 
 ease so small a ship might be 
 surprised, and that so favour- 
 able an opportunity would never 
 offer to them again. 
 
 " The secrecy of this mutiny 
 is beyond all conception. Thir- 
 teen of the party, who were with 
 me, had always lived forward 
 among the seamen; yet neither 
 they, nor the messmates of Chris- 
 tian, Stewart, Heywood, and 
 Young, had ever observed any 
 circumstance that made them in 
 the least suspect what was going 
 on. To such a close-planned act 
 of villany, my mind being en- 
 tirely free from any suspicion, it 
 is not wonderful that I fell a sac- 
 rifice. Perhaps, if there had been 
 marines on board, a sentinel at 
 my cabin door might have pre- 
 vented it ; for I slept with the 
 door always open, that the offi- 
 cers of the watch might have ac- 
 cess to me on all occasions, the 
 possibility of such a conspiracy
 
 28 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 being ever the furthest from 
 my thoughts. Had the mutiny 
 been occasioned by any griev- 
 ances, either real or imaginary, 
 I must have discovered symp- 
 toms of their discontent, which 
 would have put me on my guard; 
 but the case was far otherwise. 
 Christian, in particular, I was on 
 the most friendly terms with : 
 that very day he was engaged to 
 have dined with me; and the 
 preceding night he excused 
 himself from supping with me, 
 on pretence of being unwell, 
 for which I felt concerned, 
 having no suspicions of his 
 integrity and honour." 
 
 This is the story Captain 
 Biigh told when he returned, 
 the observed of all observers, 
 from one of the most perilous 
 and distressing voyages over 
 nearly four thousand miles of 
 wide, wild ocean, in an open 
 boat. The London slaveholders 
 would have their eye on him ; 
 and this, at that time, was a 
 motive for another effort, bor- 
 dering, in point of deter- 
 mined energy, upon that one 
 by which he overtook the four 
 thousand miles. Whether he 
 himself wrote his narrative or 
 not, is one of those questions 
 which no man need ever attempt 
 to put, much less to answer ; but 
 certain it is that the story is 
 skilfully told as against the 
 miserable mutineers. In again 
 telling their story now, we have a 
 deep sympathy with them. More 
 sinned against than sinning, 
 young Christian seems to have 
 been ; and the results, as we 
 
 shall find, were not those which 
 could have issued from the 
 instincts of persons liberally 
 described by Captain Bligh as 
 wretches and scoundrels. 
 
 Captain Bligh's story, how- 
 ever, obtained implicit credit 
 in those wise old days in which 
 slaveholders in London and 
 elsewhere made large fortunes. 
 He never had been a man re- 
 nowned for suavity of manners 
 or mildness of temper, but was 
 always considered, and justly 
 too, an excellent seaman. " We 
 all know," it was said in the 
 United Service Journal for April 
 1831, "that mutiny can arise 
 but from one of these two 
 sources excessive folly or ex- 
 cessive tyranny ; therefore, as it 
 is admitted that Bligh was no 
 idiot, the inference is obvious." 
 
 " Not only," continues the 
 writer, "was the narrative which 
 he published proved to be false 
 in many material bearings, by 
 evidence before a court-martial, 
 \ ut every act of his public life 
 after this event from his 
 successive command of the 
 Director, true Glatton, and the 
 Warrior, to his disgraceful ex- 
 pulsion from New South Wales 
 was stamped with an in- 
 solence, an inhumanity, and 
 coarseness, which fully devel- 
 oped his character." 
 
 There is no intention, in 
 narrating this eventful history 
 (writes SirJohnBarrow), to accuse 
 or defend either the character or 
 the conduct of the late Admiral 
 Bligh ; it is well known his 
 temper was irritable in the ex-
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 29 
 
 treme ; but the circumstance of 
 his having been the friend of 
 Captain Cook, with wh^rn he 
 sailed as his master, of his 
 ever afterwards being patronised 
 by Sir Joseph Banks of the 
 Admiralty promoting him to the 
 rank of commander, appointing 
 him immediately to the Provi- 
 dence, to proceed on the same 
 expedition to Otaheite, and of 
 his returning in a very short 
 time to England with complete 
 success, and recommending all 
 his officers for promotion on 
 account of their exemplary con- 
 duct, of his holding several 
 subsequent employments in the 
 service, of his having com- 
 manded ships of the line in 
 the battles of Copenhagen and 
 Camperdown, and risen to the 
 rank of a flag-officer; these may 
 perhaps be considered to speak 
 something in his favour, and be 
 allowed to stand as some proof 
 that, with all his failings, he had 
 his merits. That he was a man 
 of coarse habits, and entertained 
 very mistaken notions with re- 
 gard to discipline, is quite true ; 
 yet he had many redeeming 
 qualities. 
 
 The same writer further says, 
 " We know that the officers 
 fared in every way worse than 
 the men, and that even young 
 Heywood was kept at the mast- 
 head no less than eight hours 
 at one spell, in the worst weather 
 which they encountered off 
 Cape Horn." 
 
 Young Heywood in his de- 
 fence, said, " Captain Bligh, in 
 his narrative, acknowledges that 
 
 he had left some friends on 
 board the Bounty, and no part 
 of my conduct could have in- 
 duced him to believe that I 
 ought not to be reckoned of the 
 number. Indeed, from his at- 
 tention to, and very kind treat- 
 ment of me, personally, I should 
 have been a monster of depra- 
 vity to have betrayed him. The 
 idea alone is sufficient to dis- 
 turb a mind where humanity and 
 gratitude have, I hope, ever been 
 noticed as. its characteristic fea- 
 tures." Bligh, too, declared in 
 a letter to Heywood's uncle, 
 after accusing him of ingratitude, 
 that " he never once had an 
 angry word from me during the 
 whole course of the voyage, as 
 his conduct always gave me 
 much pleasure and satisfaction." 
 
 A manuscript journal, kept 
 by Morrison, the boatswain's 
 mate, who was tried and con- 
 victed as one of the mutineers, 
 but received the king's pardon, 
 shows the conduct of Bligh in a 
 very unfavourable point of view. 
 This Morrison was a person 
 from talent and education far 
 above the situation he held in 
 the Bounty; he had previously 
 served in the navy as mid- 
 shipman, and after his pardon, 
 was appointed gunner of the 
 Blenheim, in which he perished 
 with Sir Thomas Trowbridge. 
 In comparing this journal with 
 other documents, the dates and 
 transactions appear to be cor- 
 rectly stated. 
 
 The seeds of discord in the 
 Bounty seem to have been 
 sown at a very early period of
 
 30 
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 the voyage. The duties of 
 commander and purser were 
 united in the person of Bligh ; 
 and it would seem that this 
 proved the cause of very serious 
 discontent among the officers 
 and crew ; of the mischief aris- 
 ing out of this union, the fol- 
 lowing statement of Morrison 
 may serve as a specimen. At 
 Teneriffe, Bligh ordered the 
 cheese to be hoisted up and 
 exposed to the air ; which was 
 no sooner done, than he pre- 
 tended to miss a certain quan- 
 tity, and declared that it had 
 been stolen. The cooper, Henry 
 Hillbrant, informed him that 
 the cask in question had been 
 opened by the orders of Mr 
 Samuel, who acted also as 
 steward, and the cheese sent on 
 shore to his own house, previous 
 to the Bounty leaving the river 
 on her way to Portsmouth. 
 Bligh, without making any fur- 
 ther inquiry, immediately order- 
 ed the allowance of that article 
 to be stopped, both from officers 
 and men, until the deficiency 
 should be made good, and told 
 the cooper, he would give him 
 a good flogging, if he said 
 another word on the subject. 
 Again, on approaching the equa- 
 tor, some decayed pumpkins, 
 purchased at Teneriffe, were 
 ordered to be issued to the 
 crew, at the rate of one pound 
 of pumpkin to two pounds of 
 biscuit. The reluctance of the 
 men to accept the proposed 
 substitute, on such terms, being 
 reported, Bligh flew upon deck 
 in a violent rage, turned the 
 
 hands up, and ordered the first 
 man on the list of each mess to 
 be called by name, at the same 
 time saying, " I'll see who will 
 dare to refuse the pumpkin, or 
 anything else I may order to be 
 served out ;" to which he added, 
 " I'll make you eat grass, or any- 
 thing you can catch, before I 
 have done with you." When 
 a representation was made to 
 him in a quiet and orderly 
 manner, he called the crew aft, 
 told them that everything rela- 
 tive to the provisions was trans- 
 acted by his orders ; that it was 
 therefore needless for them to 
 complain, as they would get no 
 redress, he being the fittest 
 judge of what was right or wrong, 
 and that he would flog the first 
 man who should dare attempt 
 to make any complaint in future. 
 To this imperious menace they 
 bowed in silence, and not an- 
 other murmur was heard from 
 them during the remainder of 
 the voyage to Otaheite, it being 
 their determination to seek legal 
 redress on the Bounty's return 
 to England. 
 
 On arriving at Matavai Bay, 
 in Otaheite, Bligh is accused of 
 taking the officers' hogs and 
 bread-fruit, and serving them to 
 the ship's company ; and when 
 the master remonstrated with 
 him on the subject, he replied 
 that he would convince him that 
 everything became his as soon 
 as it was brought on board ; 
 that " he would take nine-tenths 
 of every man's property, and 
 let him see who dared to say 
 anything to the contrary."
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 3i 
 
 Morrison then says, " The 
 object of our visit to the Society 
 Islands being at length accom- 
 plished, we weighed on the 4th 
 April 1789. Every one seemed 
 in high spirits, and began to 
 talk of home, as though they 
 had just left Jamaica instead of 
 Otaheite, so far onward did 
 their flattering fancies waft them. 
 On the 23d we anchored off 
 Annamooka, the inhabitants of 
 which island were very rude, 
 and attempted to take the casks 
 and axes from the parties sent 
 to fill water and cut wood. A 
 musket pointed at them pro- 
 duced no other effect than a 
 return of the compliment, by 
 poising their clubs or spears 
 with menacing looks ; and as it 
 was Bligh's orders that no per- 
 son should affront them on any 
 occasion, they were emboldened 
 by meeting with no check to 
 their insolence. They at length 
 became so troublesome, that 
 Mr Christian who commanded 
 the watering party, found it 
 difficult to carry on his duty ; 
 but on acquainting Lieutenant 
 Bligh with their behaviour, he re- 
 ceived a volley of abuse. To this 
 hereplied in a respectful manner, 
 * The arms are of no effect, sir, 
 while your orders prohibit their 
 use.' " This happened but three 
 days before the mutiny. 
 
 That sad catastrophe, if the 
 writer of the journal be correct, 
 was hastened, if not brought 
 about, by the following circum- 
 stances, of which Bligh takes no 
 notice. "In the afternoon of 
 the 2;th, Captain Bligh came 
 
 upon deck, and missing some 
 of the cocoa-nuts which had 
 been piled up between the guns, 
 said they had been stolen, and 
 could not have been taken away 
 without the knowledge of the 
 officers, all of whom were sent 
 for and questioned on the sub- 
 ject. On their declaring that 
 they had not seen any of the 
 people touch them, he ex- 
 claimed, ' Then you must have 
 taken them yourselves;' and 
 he proceeded to inquire of them 
 separately how many they had 
 purchased. On coming to Mr 
 Christian, that gentleman an- 
 swered, ' I do not know, sir; but 
 I hope you do not think me so 
 mean as to be guilty of stealing 
 yours.' Mr Bligh replied, 'I'll 
 sweat you for it ; I'll make you 
 jump overboard before you get 
 through Endeavour Straits.' " 
 
 It is difficult to believe, says 
 Sir John Barrow, that an officer 
 could condescend to make use 
 of such language ; it is to be 
 feared, however, that there is 
 sufficient ground for the truth 
 of these statements. Mr Fryer 
 being asked, "What do you 
 suppose to be Mr Christian's 
 meaning when he said he had 
 been in hell for a fortnight?" 
 answered, "From the frequent 
 quarrels they had had, and the 
 abuse he had received from 
 Mr Bligh." "Had there been 
 any very recent quarrel?" "The 
 day before, Mr Bligh challenged 
 all the young gentlemen and 
 people with stealing his cocoa- 
 nuts." It was on the evening 
 of this day that Captain Bligh,
 
 32 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 according to his printed narra- 
 tive, says, Christian was to have 
 supped with him, but excused 
 himself on account of being un- 
 well ; and that he was invited 
 to dine with him on the day of 
 the mutiny. 
 
 Every one of these circum- 
 stances, and many others which 
 might be stated from Mr Morri- 
 son's journal, are omitted in 
 Bligh's published narrative. 
 
 in so early a part of the 
 voyage as their arrival in Ad- 
 venture Bay, Bligh found fault 
 with his officers, and put the 
 carpenter into confinement 
 Again, at Matavai Bay, on the 
 5th December, he says, "I 
 ordered the carpenter to cut a 
 large stone that was brought off 
 by one of the natives, request- 
 ing me to get it made fit for 
 them to grind their hatchets on; 
 but to my astonishment he re- 
 fused, in direct terms, to com- 
 ply, saying, ' I will not cut the 
 stone, for it will spoil my chisel ; 
 and though there may be law 
 to take away my clothes, there 
 is none to take away my tools.' 
 This man having before shown 
 his mutinous and insolent be- 
 haviour, I was under the neces- 
 sity of confining him to his 
 cabin." 
 
 On the 5th January three 
 men deserted in the cutter, on 
 which occasion Bligh says, 
 "Had the mate of the watch 
 been awake, no trouble of this 
 kind would have happened. I 
 have therefore disrated and 
 turned him before the mast; 
 such neglectful and worthless 
 
 petty-officers, I believe, never 
 were in a ship as are in this. 
 No orders for a few hours to- 
 gether are obeyed by them, 
 and their conduct in general 
 is so bad, that no confidence 
 or trust can be reposed in them ; 
 in short, they have dciven me 
 to everything but corporal pun- 
 ishment, and that must follow 
 if they do not improve." 
 
 By Morrison's journal it 
 would appear that "corporal 
 punishment" was not long de- 
 layed ; for, on the very day, he 
 says, the midshipman was put 
 in irons, and confined from the 
 5th January to the 23d March 
 eleven weeks ! 
 
 On the 1 7th January, orders 
 being given to clear out the 
 sail-room and air the sails, many 
 of them were found much mil- 
 dewed and rotten in many 
 places; on which he observes, 
 " If I had any officers to super- 
 sede the master and boatswain, 
 or was capable of doing with- 
 out them, considering them as 
 common seamen, they should 
 no longer occupy their respec- 
 tive stations ; scarcely any ne- 
 glect of duty can equal the 
 criminality of this." 
 
 On the 24th January the 
 three deserters were brought 
 back and flogged, then put in 
 irons for further punishment. 
 "As this affair," he says, "was 
 solely caused by the neglect of 
 the officers who had the watch, 
 I was induced to give them all 
 a lecture on the occasion, and 
 endeavour to show them that, 
 however exempt they were at
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 33 
 
 present from the like punish- 
 ment, yet they were equally 
 subject, by the articles of war, 
 to a condign one." 
 
 On the yth March, a native 
 Otaheitan, whom Bligh had 
 confined in irons, contrived to 
 break the lock of the bilboa- 
 bolt and make his escape. " I 
 had given," says Bligh, "a 
 written order, that the mate of 
 the watch was to be answerable 
 for the prisoners, and to visit 
 and see that they were safe in 
 his watch; but I have such a 
 neglectful set about me, that I 
 believe nothing but condign 
 punishment can alter their con- 
 duct. Verbal orders, in the 
 course of a month, were so for- 
 gotten, that they would impu- 
 dently assert no such thing or 
 directions were given; and I 
 have been at last under the 
 necessity to trouble myself with 
 writing what, by decent young 
 officers, would be complied with 
 as the common rules of the 
 service. Mr Stewart was the 
 mate of the watch." 
 
 These extracts show the terms 
 on which Bligh was with his 
 officers. That Christian was 
 the sole author of the mutiny 
 appears still more strongly from 
 the following passage in Morri- 
 son's journal: "When Mr Bligh 
 found he must go into the boat, 
 he begged of Mr Christian to 
 desist, saying, Til pawn my 
 honour, I'll give my bond, Mr 
 Christian, never to think of 
 this, if you'll desist,' and urged 
 his wife and family ; to which 
 Mr Christian replied, ' No, Cap- 
 
 tain Bligh, if you had any hon- 
 our, things had not come to 
 this ; and if you had any regard 
 for your wife and family, you 
 should have thought on them 
 before, and not behaved so 
 much like a villain.' The boat- 
 swain also tried to pacify Mr 
 Christian, to whom he replied, 
 ' It is too late ; I have been in 
 hell for this fortnight past, and 
 am determined to bear it no 
 longer; and you know, Mr 
 Cole, that I have been used 
 like a dog all the voyage."' 
 
 It is pretty evident, therefore, 
 that the mutiny was not, as Bligh 
 in his narrative states it to have 
 been, the result of a conspiracy. 
 To those who care to read the 
 minutes of the court-martial, it 
 will be seen that the affair was 
 planned and executed between 
 four and eight o'clock, on the 
 morning of the 28th April, when 
 Christian had the watch upon 
 deck; that Christian, unable 
 longer to bear abusive and in- 
 sulting language, had meditated 
 his own escape from the ship 
 the day before, choosing to trust 
 himself to fate, rather than sub- 
 mit to the constant upbraiding 
 to which he had been subject. 
 
 Bligh invited Christian to sup 
 with him the same evening, evi- 
 dently wishing to renew their 
 friendly intercourse ; and happy 
 would it have been for all par- 
 ties had he accepted the invita- 
 tion. While on this lovely night 
 Bligh and his master were con- 
 gratulating themselves on the 
 pleasing prospect of fine weather 
 and a full moon, to light them
 
 34 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 through Endeavour's dangerous 
 Straits, Christian was, in all 
 probability, brooding over his 
 wrongs, and meditating on the 
 daring act he was to perpetrate 
 the following morning. 
 
 By the journal of Morrison, 
 the following is an account of 
 the transaction, as given by 
 Christian himself. 
 
 He said: "Finding himself 
 much hurt by the treatment he 
 had received from Lieutenant 
 Bligh, he had determined to 
 quit the ship the preceding 
 evening, and had informed the 
 boatswain, carpenter, and two 
 midshipmen (Stewart and Hay- 
 ward) of his intention to do so ; 
 that by them he was supplied 
 with part of a roasted pig, some 
 nails, beads, and other articles 
 of trade, which he put into a 
 bag that was given him by the 
 last-named gentleman ; that he 
 put this bag into the clue of Ro- 
 bert Tinkler's hammock, where 
 it was discovered by that young 
 gentleman when going to bed 
 at night ; but the business was 
 smothered, and passed off with- 
 out any further notice. He said 
 he had fastened some staves to 
 a stout plank, with which he in- 
 tended to make his escape; but 
 finding he could not effect it dur- 
 ing the first and middle watches, 
 as the ship had no way through 
 the water, and the people were all 
 moving about, he laid down to 
 rest about half-past three in the 
 morning ; that when Mr Stewart 
 called him to relieve the deck 
 at four o'clock, he had but just 
 fallen asleep, and was much out 
 
 of order; upon observing which, 
 Mr Stewart strenuously advisee! 
 him to abandon his intention ; 
 that as soon as he had taken 
 charge of the deck, he saw Mr 
 Hay ward, the mate of his watch, 
 lie down on the arm-chest to 
 take a nap; and finding that 
 Mr Hallet, the other midship- 
 man, did not make his appear- 
 ance, he suddenly formed the 
 resolution of seizing the ship. 
 Disclosing his intention to Mat- 
 thew Quintal and Isaac Martin, 
 both of whom had been flogged 
 by Lieutenant Bligh, they called 
 up Charles Churchill, who had 
 also tasted the cat, and Matthew 
 Thompson, both of whom readi- 
 ly joined in the plot. That 
 Alexander Smith (alias John 
 Adams), John Williams, and 
 William M'Koy, evinced equal 
 willingness, and went with 
 Churchill to the armourer, of 
 whom they obtained the keys of 
 the arm-chest, under pretence 
 of wanting a musket to fire at a 
 shark, then alongside; that find- 
 ing Mr Hallet asleep on an arm- 
 chest in the main-hatchway, they 
 roused and sent him on deck. 
 Charles Norman, unconscious 
 of their proceedings, had, in the 
 meantime, awaked Mr Hay- 
 ward, and directed his attention 
 to the shark, whose movements 
 he was watching at the moment 
 that Mr Christian and his con- 
 federates came up the fore- 
 hatchway, after having placed 
 arms in the hands of several 
 men who were not aware of their 
 design. One man, Matthew 
 Thompson, was left in charge
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 35 
 
 of the chest, and he served out 
 arms to Thomas Burkitt and 
 Robert Lamb. Mr Christian 
 said he then proceeded to secure 
 Lieutenant Bligh, the master, 
 gunner, and botanist." 
 
 "When Mr Christian," ob- 
 serves Morrison, in his journal, 
 " related the above circum- 
 stances, I recollected having 
 seen him fasten some staves to 
 a plank lying on the larboard 
 gangway, as also having heard 
 the boatswain say to the carpen- 
 ter, 'It will not do to-night.' 
 I likewise remember that Mr 
 Christian had visited the fore- 
 cockpit several times that even- 
 ing, although he had very sel- 
 dom, if ever, frequented the 
 warrant-officers' cabins before." 
 
 If this be a correct statement, 
 it removes every doubt of Chris- 
 tian being the sole instigator of 
 the mutiny, and establishes the 
 conclusion that it was suddenly 
 conceived byahot-headed young 
 man, in a state of great excite- 
 ment of mind, caused by the 
 frequent abusing and insulting 
 language of his commanding 
 officer. Waking out of a short 
 half-hour's disturbed sleep, find- 
 ing the two mates of the watch, 
 Hay ward and Hallet, asleep, the 
 opportunity tempting, and the 
 ship completely in his power, he 
 darted down the fore-hatchway, 
 got possession of the keys of the 
 arm-chest, and made the hazard- 
 ous exp yriment of arming such of 
 the men as he thought he could 
 trust, and effected his purpose. 
 
 There is a passage in Captain 
 Beechey's account of Pitcairn 
 
 Island, which, if correct, would 
 cast a stain on the memory of 
 the unfortunate Stewart he 
 who, if there was one innocent 
 man in the ship (says Sir John 
 Barrow), was that man. Captain 
 Beechey says (speaking of Chris- 
 tian), "His plan, strange as it 
 must appear for a young officer 
 to adopt who was fairly advanced 
 in an honourable profession, was 
 to set himself adrift upon a raft, 
 and make his way to the island 
 (Tofoa) then in sight. As quick 
 in the execution as in the design, 
 the raft was soon constructed, 
 various useful articles were got 
 together, and he was on the point 
 of launching it, when a young 
 officer, who afterwards perished 
 in the Pandora, to whom Chris- 
 tian communicated his intention, 
 recommended him, rather than 
 risk his life on so hazardous an 
 expedition, to endeavour to take 
 possession of the ship, which he 
 thought would not be very diffi- 
 cult, as many of the ship's com- 
 pany were not well-disposed 
 towards the commander, and 
 would all be very glad to return 
 to Otaheite, and reside among 
 their friends in that island. This 
 daring proposition is even more 
 extraordinary than the premedi- 
 tated scheme of his companion." 
 Captain Beechey, desirous of 
 being correct in his statement, 
 sent his chapter on Pitcairn 
 Island for any observations the 
 subsequent Captain Heywood 
 might have to make on what 
 was said therein regarding the 
 mutiny. Captain Heywood re- 
 turned the following reply :
 
 36 
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 "$th April 1830. 
 
 " Dear Sir, I have perused 
 the account you received from 
 Adams of the mutiny in the 
 Bounty, which does indeed differ 
 very materially from a foot-note 
 in Marshall's 'Naval Biography,' 
 by the editor, to whom I ver- 
 bally detailed the facts, which 
 are strictly true. 
 
 " That Christian informed the 
 boatswain and the carpenter, 
 Messrs Hayvvard and Stewart, 
 of his determination to leave the 
 ship upon a raft, on the night 
 preceding the mutiny, is cer- 
 tain ; but that any one of them 
 (Stewart in particular) should 
 have ' recommended, rather 
 than risk his life on so hazardous 
 an expedition, that he should 
 try the expedient of taking the 
 ship from the captain,' etc., is 
 entirely at variance with the 
 whole character and conduct of 
 the latter, both before and after 
 the mutiny ; as well as with the 
 assurance of Christian himself, 
 the very night he quitted Taheite, 
 that the idea of attempting to 
 take the ship had never entered 
 his distracted mind until the 
 moment he relieved the deck, 
 and found his mate and midship- 
 man asleep. 
 
 " At that last interview with 
 Christian, he also communicated 
 to me, for the satisfaction of his 
 relations, other circumstances 
 connected with that unfortunate 
 disaster, which, after their deaths, 
 may or may not be laid before 
 the public. And although they 
 can implicate none but himself, 
 either living or dead, they may 
 
 extenuate but will contain not 
 a word of his in defence of the 
 crime he committed against the 
 laws of his country. I am, etc. 
 " P. HEYWOOD." 
 
 Captain Beech ey stated only 
 what he had heard from old 
 Adams, who was not always 
 correct in the information he 
 gave to the visitors of his island; 
 but this part of his statement 
 gave great pain to Heywood, 
 who adverted to it on his death- 
 bed, wishing, out of regard for 
 Stewart's memory and his sur- 
 viving friends, that it should be 
 publicly contradicted. The 
 temptations, therefore, which it 
 was supposed Otaheite held out 
 to the deluded men of the 
 Bounty had no more share in 
 the transaction, than the sup- 
 posed conspiracy. Bligh is the 
 only person who has said it was 
 so. 
 
 If, however, the recollection 
 of the " sunny isle " and its 
 " smiling women " had really 
 tempted the men to mutiny, 
 Bligh would himself not have 
 been very free from blame, for 
 having allowed them to remain 
 for six whole months among this 
 voluptuous and fascinating peo- 
 ple. The service was carried on 
 in those days in a very different 
 spirit from that which regulates 
 its movements now, otherwise 
 the Bounty would never have 
 passed six whole months at one 
 island stowing away the fruit 
 As far as the mutiny of his 
 people was concerned, we must 
 wholly discard the idea thrown
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 37 
 
 out by Bligh that the seductions 
 of Otaheite had any share in 
 producing it. It could not have 
 escaped a person of Christian's 
 sagacity, that certain interro- 
 gatories would unquestionably 
 be put by the natives of Ota- 
 heite, on finding the ship return 
 so soon, without her commander, 
 without the bread-fruit plants, 
 and with only about half her 
 crew. At subsequent periods, 
 he twice visited that island. 
 His object was to find a place 
 of concealment, where he might 
 pass the remainder of his days, 
 unheard of and unknown one 
 of the many strange sort of 
 wishes which will happen to 
 men who mean what they are 
 doing. 
 
 Christian had intended to 
 send away Bligh and his asso- 
 ciates in the cutter, and ordered 
 that it should be hoisted out for 
 that purpose, which was done 
 a small boat, that could hold 
 but eight or ten men at the 
 most. But the remonstrances 
 of the master, boatswain, and 
 carpenter prevailed on him to 
 allow them the launch, into 
 which nineteen persons were 
 thrust, whose weight, together 
 with that of a few articles they 
 were permitted to take, brought 
 down the boat so near to the 
 water as to endanger her sink- 
 ing with but a moderate swell 
 of the sea. 
 
 The first consideration of 
 Bligh and his eighteen unfor- 
 tunate companions, on being 
 cast adrift in their open boat, 
 was their resources. The quan- 
 
 tity of provisions thrown at 
 them was one hundred and 
 fifty pounds of bread, sixteen 
 pieces of pork, each weighing 
 two pounds ; six quarts of rum, 
 six bottles of wine, with twenty- 
 eight gallons of water, and four 
 empty barricoes. Being so near 
 to the island of Tofoa, they 
 resolved to seek a supply of 
 bread-fruit and water there, so 
 as to preserve, if possible, that 
 poor stock entire; but after 
 rowing along the coast, they 
 discovered only some cocoa-nut 
 trees on the top of high preci- 
 pices, from which, with much 
 danger, they succeeded in ob- 
 taining about twenty nuts. The 
 second day they made excur- 
 sions into the island, but without 
 success. They met a few natives, 
 who came down with them to the 
 cove where the boat was lying. 
 They made inquiries after the 
 ship, and Bligh said the ship 
 had overset and sunk, and 
 that they only were saved. The 
 story was certainly indiscreet, 
 as putting the people in posses- 
 sion of their defenceless situa- 
 tion ; however, they brought in 
 small quantities of bread-fruit, 
 plantains, and cocoa-nuts, but 
 little or no water could be pro- 
 cured. These supplies, scanty 
 as they were, served to keep up 
 the spirits of the men, and they 
 all determined to do their best 
 The numbers of the natives 
 having so much increased as to 
 line the whole beach, they be- 
 gan knocking stones together, 
 which was known to be the 
 preparatory signal for an attack
 
 38 
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 With some difficulty, on account 
 of the surf, Bligh's men suc- 
 ceeded in getting the things 
 that were on shore into the 
 boat. John Norton, quarter- 
 master, was casting off the 
 stern-fast, and the natives im- 
 mediately rushed upon this poor 
 man, and actually stoned him 
 to death. A volley of stones 
 was also discharged at the boat, 
 and every one in it was more or 
 less hurt. This induced the 
 unfortunate fugitives to push 
 out to sea with all the speed 
 they were able to give to the 
 launch ; but several canoes, 
 filled with stones, followed close 
 after them and renewed the 
 attack ; against which the only 
 return the men in the boat 
 could make, was with the stones 
 of the assailants that lodged in 
 her. The only expedient left was 
 to tempt the enemy to desist 
 from the pursuit, by throwing 
 overboard some clothes, which 
 induced the canoes to stop and 
 pick them up ; and, night com- 
 ing on, the natives returned to 
 the shore. 
 
 The men now entreated Bligh 
 to take a homeward route ; and 
 on being told that no hope of 
 relief could be entertained till 
 they reached Timor, a distance 
 of full twelve hundred leagues, 
 they all readily agreed to be 
 content with an allowance, 
 which, on a calculation of their 
 resources, he informed them 
 would not exceed one ounce of 
 bread and a quarter of a pint of 
 water per day. It was about 
 eight o'clock at night on the 
 
 2d May, when they bore away 
 under a reefed lug-foresail ; and 
 having divided the people into 
 watches, " and got the boat into 
 a little order," says that brave 
 commander, " we returned 
 thanks to God for our miracu- 
 lous preservation ; and, in full 
 confidence of His gracious sup- 
 port, I found my mind more at 
 ease than it had been for some 
 time past." 
 
 At daybreak on the 3d, the 
 forlorn and almost hopeless 
 navigators saw with alarm the 
 sun to rise fiery and red a 
 sure indication of a severe gale 
 of wind; and, accordingly, at 
 eight o'clock it blew a violent 
 storm, and the sea ran so high 
 that the sail was becalmed when 
 between seas, and too much to 
 have set when on the top of 
 the sea; yet they could not 
 venture to take it in, as they 
 were in imminent danger, the 
 sea curling over the stern, and 
 obliging them to bale with all 
 their might. 
 
 The bread being in bags, was 
 in danger of being spoiled by 
 the wet It was determined, 
 therefore, that all superfluous 
 clothes, with some rope and 
 spare sails, should be thrown 
 overboard. The carpenter's tool- 
 chest was cleared, and the tools 
 stowed in the bottom of the 
 boat, and the bread was se- 
 cured in the chest. A tea- 
 spoonful of rum was served out 
 to each person, with a quarter 
 of a bread-fruit for dinner, Bligh 
 having determined to make their 
 small stock of provisions last
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 39 
 
 eight weeks, let the daily pro- 
 portion be ever so small. 
 
 The sea continuing to run 
 higher, the fatigue of baling 
 became very great. The men 
 were constantly wet, the night 
 very cold, and at daylight their 
 limbs were so benumbed, that 
 they could scarcely find the use 
 of them. At this time a tea- 
 spoonful of rum served out to 
 each person was found of great 
 benefit to all. Five small cocoa- 
 nuts were distributed for dinner, 
 and in the evening a few broken 
 pieces of bread-fruit were served 
 for supper, after which prayers 
 were performed. 
 
 On the night of the 4th and 
 morning of the 5th, the gale had 
 abated ; the first step to be 
 taken was to examine the state 
 of the bread, a great part of 
 which was found to be damaged 
 and rotten. The boat was now 
 running among islands, but, 
 after their reception at Tofoa, 
 they did not venture to land. 
 On the 6th, they still continued 
 to see islands at a distance; 
 and this day, for the first time, 
 they hooked a fish, to their 
 great joy; "but," says Bligh, 
 " we were miserably disappoint- 
 ed by its being lost in trying to 
 get it into the boat." In the 
 evening, each person had an 
 ounce of the damaged bread, 
 and a quarter of a pint of water 
 for supper. 
 
 Captain Bligh observes, "It 
 will readily be supposed our 
 lodgings were very miserable, 
 and confined for want of room;" 
 but he endeavoured to remedy 
 
 the latter defect by putting 
 themselves at watch and watch ; 
 so that one-half always sat up, 
 while the other lay down on 
 the boat's bottom, or upon a 
 chest, but with nothing to cover 
 them except the heavens. Their 
 limbs, he says, were dreadfully 
 cramped, for they could not 
 stretch them out; and the 
 nights were so cold, and they 
 were so constantly wet, that, 
 after a few hours' sleep, they 
 were scarcely able to move. At 
 dawn of day on the yth, being 
 very wet and cold, he says, " I 
 served a spoonful of rum and 
 a morsel of bread for breakfast." 
 On the 8th, the allowance 
 issued was an ounce and a half 
 of pork, a tea-spoonful of rum, 
 half a pint of cocoa-nut milk, 
 and an ounce of bread. The 
 rum was of the greatest service. 
 " Hitherto," the commander 
 says, " I had issued the allow- 
 ance by guess; but I now 
 made a pair of scales with two 
 cocoa-nut shells; and having 
 accidentally some pistol-balls in 
 the boat, twenty-five of which 
 weighed one pound or sixteen 
 ounces, I adopted one of these 
 balls as the proportion of weight 
 that each person should receive 
 of bread at the times I served 
 it. I also amused all hands 
 with describing the situations 
 of New Guinea and New Hol- 
 land, and gave them every in- 
 formation in my power, that in 
 case any accident should happen 
 to me, those who survived might 
 have some idea of what they 
 were about, and be able to find
 
 40 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 their way to Timor, which at 
 present they knew nothing of 
 more than the name, and some 
 not even that At night I 
 served a quarter of a pint of 
 water and half an ounce of 
 bread for supper." 
 
 On the morning of the gth, 
 a quarter of a pint of cocoa-nut 
 milk and some of the decayed 
 bread were served for break- 
 fast; and for dinner, the kernels 
 of four cocoa-nuts, with the re- 
 mainder of the rotten bread, 
 which, he says> was eatable only 
 by such distressed people as 
 themselves. A storm of thunder 
 and lightning gave them about 
 twenty gallons of water. "Being 
 miserably wet and cold, I served 
 to the people a tea-spoonful of 
 rum each, to enable them to 
 bear with their distressing situ- 
 ation." 
 
 The following day (the roth) 
 brought no relief, except that of 
 its light The allowance now 
 served regularly to each person 
 was one twenty-fifth part of a 
 pound of bread and a quarter 
 of a pint of water, at eight in 
 the morning, at noon, and at 
 sunset To-day was added about 
 half an ounce of pork for dinner, 
 which, though any moderate 
 person would have considered 
 only as a mouthful, was divided 
 into three or four. 
 
 The morning of the nth did 
 not improve. " At daybreak 1 
 served to every person a tea- 
 spoonful of rum, our limbs being 
 so much cramped that we could 
 scarcely move them." In the 
 evening of the izth, it still 
 
 rained hard, and we again ex 
 perienced a dreadful night. At 
 length the day came, and show- 
 ed a miserable set of beings, 
 full of wants, without anything 
 to relieve them. Some com- 
 plained of great pain in their 
 bowels, and every one of having 
 almost lost the use of his limbs. 
 The little sleep we got was in 
 no way refreshing, as we were 
 constantly covered with the sea 
 and rain. The shipping of seas 
 and constant baling continued ; 
 and the men were shivering with 
 wet and cold, yet the com- 
 mander says he was under the 
 necessity of informing them that 
 he could no longer afford them 
 the comfort they had derived 
 from the tea-spoonful of rum. 
 
 On the 1 3th and i4th the 
 stormy weather and heavy sea 
 continued unabated; and on 
 these days they saw distant 
 land, and passed several islands. 
 The sight of these islands served 
 only to increase the misery of 
 their situation. 
 
 The whole day and night of 
 the 1 5th were still rainy; the 
 latter was dark, not a star to be 
 seen by which the steerage 
 could be directed, and the sea 
 was continually breaking over 
 the boat. On the next day 
 there was issued for dinner an 
 ounce of salt pork, in addition 
 to their miserable allowance of 
 one twenty-fifth part of a pound 
 of bread. The night was again 
 truly horrible, with storms of 
 thunder, lightning, and rain; 
 not a star visible, so that the 
 steerage was quite uncertain.
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 41 
 
 On the morning of the 1 7th, 
 at dawn of day, " I found," says 
 the commander, " every person 
 complaining, and some of them 
 solicited extra allowance, which 
 I positively refused. Our situ- 
 ation was miserable ; always 
 wet, and suffering extreme cold 
 in the night, without the least 
 shelter from the weather. The 
 little rum we had was of the 
 greatest service : when our nights 
 were particularly distressing, I 
 generally served a tea-spoonful 
 or two to each person, and it 
 was always joyful tidings when 
 they heard of my intentions. 
 The night was again a dark and 
 dismal one, the sea constantly 
 breaking over us, and nothing 
 but the wind and waves to 
 direct our steerage. It was my 
 intention, if possible, to make 
 the coast of New Holland to 
 the southward of Endeavour 
 Straits, being sensible that it 
 was necessary to preserve such 
 a situation as would make a 
 southerly wind a fair one." 
 
 On the 1 8th the rain abated, 
 when the men all stripped, and 
 wrung their clothes through the 
 sea-water, from which, the com- 
 mander says, they derived much 
 warmth and refreshment; but 
 every one complained of violent 
 pains in their bones. At night 
 the heavy rain recommenced, 
 with severe lightning, which 
 obliged them to keep baling 
 without intermission. The same 
 weather continued through the 
 1 9th and 2oth. 
 
 " During the whole of the 
 afternoon of the 2 1 st we were," 
 
 he reported, "so covered with 
 rain and salt water, that we 
 could scarcely see. We suffered 
 extreme cold, and every one 
 dreaded the approach of night. 
 Sleep, though we longed for it, 
 afforded no comfort; for my 
 own part, I almost lived without 
 it. On the 22d, our situation 
 was extremely calamitous. We 
 were obliged to take the course 
 of the sea, running right before 
 it, and watching with the ut- 
 most care, as the least error in 
 the helm would in a moment 
 have been our destruction. 
 
 " On the evening of the 24th, 
 the wind moderated, and the 
 weather looked much better, 
 which rejoiced all hands, so 
 that they ate their scanty allow- 
 ance with satisfaction. The 
 night also was fair, but being al- 
 ways wet with the sea, we suffered 
 much from the cold. I had the 
 pleasure to see a fine morning 
 produce some cheerful coun- 
 tenances ; and for the first time 
 during the last fifteen days, we 
 experienced comfort from the 
 warmth of the sun. We stripped 
 and hung up our clothes to dry, 
 which were by this time become 
 so threadbare, that they could 
 not keep out either wet or cold. 
 In the afternoon we had many 
 birds about us which are never 
 seen far from land, such as 
 boobies and noddies." 
 
 On the 25th about noon, 
 some noddies came so near to 
 the boat, that one of them was 
 caught by the hand. This bird 
 was about the size of a small 
 pigeon. " I divided it," says
 
 42 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 Bligh, "with its entrails, into 
 eighteen portions, and by a well 
 known method at sea, of ' Who 
 shall have this? it was distri- 
 buted with the allowance of 
 bread and water for dinner, and 
 eaten up, bones and all, with 
 salt water for sauce. In the 
 evening, several boobies flying 
 very near to us, we had the 
 good fortune to catch one of 
 them. This bird is as large as 
 a duck. They are the most 
 presumptive proof of being near 
 land of any sea-fowl we are 
 acquainted with. I directed 
 the bird to be killed for supper, 
 and the blood to be given to 
 three of the people who were 
 the most distressed for want of 
 food 
 
 " On the next day," he says, 
 " the 26th, we caught another 
 booby. The people were over- 
 joyed at this addition to their 
 dinner, which was distributed 
 in the same manner as on the 
 preceding evening; giving the 
 blood to those who were the 
 most in want of food. To make 
 the bread a little savoury, most 
 of the men frequently dipped it 
 in salt water; but I generally 
 broke mine into small pieces, 
 and ate it in my allowance of 
 water, out of a cocoa-nut 
 shell." 
 
 The weather was now serene, 
 which, nevertheless, was not 
 without its inconveniences ; for, 
 it appears, they began to feel 
 distress of a different kind from 
 that which they had hitherto 
 been accustomed to suffer. The 
 heat of the sun was so power- 
 
 ful, that several of the people 
 were seized with languor and 
 faintness. But the little cir- 
 cumstance of catching two 
 boobies in the evening, trifling 
 as it may appear, had the effect 
 of raising their spirits. The 
 stomachs of these birds con- 
 tained several flying-fish and 
 small cuttle-fish, all of which 
 were carefully saved to be di- 
 vided for dinner the next day ; 
 which were accordingly divided, 
 with their entrails and the con- 
 tents of their maws, into eighteen 
 portions ; and, as the prize was 
 a very valuable one, it was dis- 
 tributed as before by calling out, 
 " Who shall have this ?" 
 
 At one in the morning of the 
 28th, the person at the helm 
 heard the sound of breakers. 
 It was the " barrier reef" which 
 runs along the eastern coast of 
 New Holland, through which it 
 now became the anxious object 
 to discover a passage : Bligh 
 says this was now become ab- 
 solutely necessary, without a 
 moment's loss of time. The 
 sea broke furiously over the 
 reef in every part; within, the 
 water was so smooth and calm, 
 that every man already antici- 
 pated the heartfelt satisfaction 
 he was about to receive, as soon 
 as he should have passed the 
 barrier. At length a break in 
 the reef was discovered, a 
 quarter of a mile in width ; and 
 through this the boat rapidly 
 passed with a strong stream 
 running to the westward, and 
 came immediately into smooth 
 water, and all the past hard-
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 43 
 
 ships seemed at once to be for- 
 gotten. 
 
 They now returned thanks to 
 God for His generous protection, 
 and took their miserable allow- 
 ance of the twenty-fifth part of 
 a pound of bread, and a quarter 
 of a pint of water, for dinner. 
 
 The coast now began to show 
 itself very distinctly, and in the 
 evening they landed on the 
 sandy point of an island, when 
 it was soon discovered there 
 were oysters on the rocks, it 
 being low water. The party 
 sent out to reconnoitre returned 
 highly rejoiced at having found 
 plenty of oysters and fresh 
 water. By help of a small 
 magnifying-glass, a fire was 
 made; and among the things 
 that had been thrown into the 
 boat was a tinder-box and 
 a piece of brimstone, so 
 that in future they had the 
 ready means of making a fire. 
 One of the men, too, had been 
 so provident as to bring away 
 with him from the ship a copper 
 pot; and thus, with a mixture 
 of oysters, bread, and pork, a 
 stew was made, of which each 
 person received a full pint. 
 
 " This day (29th May) being," 
 says Bligh, " the anniversary of 
 the restoration of King Charles 
 II., and the name not being 
 inapplicable to our present 
 situation (for we were restored 
 to fresh life and strength), I 
 named this 'Restoration Island,' 
 for 1 thought it probable that 
 Captain Cook might not have 
 taken notice of it" 
 
 With oysters and palm-tops 
 
 stewed together, the people now 
 made excellent meals, without 
 consuming any of their bread. 
 In the morning of the 3oth, he 
 says he saw a visible alteration 
 in the men for the better, and 
 sent them away to gather 
 oysters, in order to carry a 
 stock of them to sea ; for he 
 determined to put off again 
 that evening. They also pro- 
 cured fresh water, and filled all 
 their vessels, to the amount of 
 nearly sixty gallons. On ex- 
 amining the bread, it was found 
 there still remained about thirty- 
 eight days' allowance. They 
 now proceeded to the north- 
 ward, having the continent on 
 their left, and several islands 
 and reefs on their right. 
 
 On the 3ist they landed on 
 one of these islands, to which 
 was given the name of " Sun- 
 day." " I sent out two parties," 
 says Bligh, " one to the north- 
 ward and the other to the south- 
 ward, to seek for supplies, and 
 others I ordered to stay by the 
 boat On this occasion fatigue 
 and weakness so far got the 
 better of their sense of duty, 
 that some of the people ex- 
 pressed their discontent at hav- 
 ing worked harder than their 
 companions, and declared that 
 they would rather be without 
 their dinner than go in search 
 of it One person, in particular, 
 went so far as to tell me, with a 
 mutinous look, that he was as 
 good a man as myself. It was 
 not possible for one to judge 
 where this might have an end, 
 if not stopped in time ; to pre-
 
 44 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 vent, therefore, such disputes 
 in future, I determined either to 
 preserve my command or die in 
 the attempt ; and, seizing a cut- 
 lass, I ordered him to lay hold 
 of another and defend himself; 
 on which he called out that I 
 was going to kill him, and im- 
 mediately made concessions. I 
 did not allow this to interfere 
 further with the harmony of the 
 boat's crew, and everything soon 
 became quiet." 
 
 On this island they obtained 
 oysters, and clams, and dog- 
 fish; also a small bean, which 
 Nelson, the botanist, pronounced 
 to be a species of dolichos. On 
 the ist of June they stopped in 
 the midst of some sandy islands, 
 such as are known by the name 
 of keys, where they procured a 
 few clams and beans. Here 
 Nelson was taken very ill with 
 a violent heat in his bowels, a 
 loss of sight, great thirst, and 
 an inability to walk. A little 
 wine, which had carefully been 
 saved, with some pieces of bread 
 soaked in it, was given to him 
 in small quantities, and he soon 
 began to recover. The boat- 
 swain and carpenter were also 
 ill, and complained of headache 
 and sickness of the stomach. 
 In fact, there were few without 
 complaints. 
 
 A party was sent out by night 
 to catch birds ; they returned 
 with only twelve noddies, but it 
 is stated that had it not been 
 for the folly and obstinacy of 
 one of the party, who separated 
 from the others and disturbed 
 the birds, a great many more 
 
 might have been taken. The 
 offender was Robert Lamb, who 
 acknowledged, when he got to 
 Java, that he had that night 
 eaten nine raw birds after he 
 separated from his two com- 
 panions. 
 
 On the 3d of June, after pass- 
 ing several keys and islands, and 
 doubling Cape York, the north- 
 easternmost point of New Hol- 
 land, at eight in the evening, the 
 little boat and her brave crew 
 once more launched into the 
 open ocean. 
 
 On the 5th a booby was 
 caught by the hand, the blood 
 of which was divided between 
 three of the men who were 
 weakest, and the bird kept for 
 next day's dinner; and on the 
 evening of the 6th the allowance 
 for supper was recommenced, 
 according to a promise made 
 when it had been discontinued. 
 On the 7th, after a miserably 
 wet and cold night, nothing 
 more could be afforded than the 
 usual allowance for breakfast; 
 but at dinner each person had 
 the luxury of an ounce of dried 
 clams, which consumed all that 
 remained. Mr Ledward, the 
 surgeon, and Lawrence Lebogue, 
 an old hardy seaman, appeared 
 to be giving way very fast. No 
 other assistance could be given 
 to them than a tea-spoonful or 
 two of wine, and that had to be 
 carefully saved for such a melan- 
 choly occasion. 
 
 On the 8th the weather was 
 more moderate, and a small 
 dolphin was caught, which gave 
 about two ounces to each man.
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 45 
 
 The surgeon and Lebogue still 
 continued very ill, and the only 
 relief that could be afforded 
 them was a small quantity of 
 wine, and encouraging them with 
 the hope that a very few days 
 more, at the rate they were then 
 sailing, would bring them to 
 Timor. 
 
 " In the morning of the roth, 
 there was a visible alteration for 
 the worse/' says Bligh, "in many 
 of the people, which gave me 
 great apprehensions. An ex- 
 treme weakness, swelled legs, 
 hollo wand ghastly countenances, 
 a more than common inclination 
 to sleep, with an apparent de- 
 bility of understanding, seemed 
 to me the melancholy presages 
 of an approaching dissolution. 
 The surgeon and Lebogue, in 
 particular, were most miserable 
 objects : I occasionally gave 
 them a few tea-spoonfuls of wine 
 out of the little that remained, 
 which greatly assisted them." 
 
 On the nth Bligh announced 
 to his wretched companions that 
 he had no doubt they had now 
 passed the meridian of the eastern 
 part of Timor, a piece of intel- 
 ligence that diffused universal 
 joy and satisfaction. At three 
 in the morning of the following 
 day, Timor was discovered at 
 the distance only of two leagues 
 from the shore. 
 
 On Sunday the i4th they 
 came safely to anchor in Cou- 
 pang Bay, where they were re- 
 ceived with every mark of kind- 
 ness, hospitality, and humanity. 
 The houses of the principal 
 people were thrown open for 
 
 their reception. The poor suf- 
 ferers when landed were scarcely 
 able to walk : their condition 
 was deplorable. 
 
 Having recruited theirstrength 
 by a residence of two months 
 among the friendly inhabitants 
 of Coupang, they proceeded to 
 the westward on the 2oth August 
 in a small schooner, which was 
 purchased and armed for the 
 purpose, and arrived on the ist 
 October in Batavia Road, where 
 Captain Bligh embarked in a 
 Dutch packet, and was landed 
 on the Isle of Wight on the i4th 
 March 1790. The rest of the 
 people had passages provided 
 for them in ships of the Dutch 
 East India Company, then about 
 to sail for Europe. All of them, 
 however, did not survive to reach 
 England. Nelson, the botanist, 
 died at Coupang; Elphinstone, 
 master's mate, Peter Linkletter 
 and Thomas Hall, seamen, died 
 at Batavia; Robert Lamb, sea- 
 man, died on the passage ; and 
 Led ward, the surgeon, was left 
 behind, and not afterwards heard 
 of. These six, with John Norton, 
 who was stoned to death, left 
 twelve of the nineteen, forced 
 by the mutineers into the launch, 
 to survive the difficulties and 
 dangers of this unparalleled 
 voyage, and to revisit their 
 native country. 
 
 Bligh says, "Thus happily 
 ended, through the assistance of 
 Divine Providence, without ac- 
 cident, a voyage of the most 
 extraordinary nature that ever 
 happened in the world, let it be 
 taken either in its extent, dura-
 
 46 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 tion, or the want of any neces- 
 sary of life." 
 
 Sir John Barrow adds, " It is 
 impossible to read this extraor- 
 dinary and unparalleled voyage, 
 without bestowing the meed of 
 unqualified praise on the able 
 and judicious conduct of its 
 commander, who is in every re- 
 spect, as far as this extraordinary 
 enterprise is concerned, fully 
 entitled to rank with Parry, 
 Franklin, and Richardson. Few 
 men, indeed, were ever placed 
 for so long a period in a more 
 trying, distressing, and perilous 
 situation than he was, and it 
 may safely be pronounced that 
 through his discreet management 
 of the men and their scanty re- 
 sources, and his ability as a 
 thorough seaman, eighteen souls 
 were saved from imminent and 
 otherwise inevitable destruction, 
 It was not alone the dangers of 
 the sea, in an open boat crowded 
 with people, that he had to com- 
 bat, though they required the 
 most consummate nautical skill 
 to be enabled to contend suc- 
 cessfully against them; but the 
 unfortunate situation to which 
 the party were exposed, rendered 
 him subject to the almost daily 
 murmuring and caprice of people 
 less conscious than himself of 
 their real danger. From the ex- 
 perience they had acquired at 
 Tofoa of the savage disposition 
 of the people against the defence- 
 less boat's crew, a lesson was 
 learned how little was to be 
 trusted, even to the mildest of 
 uncivilised people, when a con- 
 p<dous superiority was in their 
 
 hands. A striking proof of this 
 was experienced in the unpro- 
 voked attack made by those 
 amiable people, the Otaheitans, 
 on Captain Wallis's ship, of 
 whose power they had formed 
 no just conception ; but having 
 once experienced the full force 
 of it, on no future occasion was 
 any attempt made to repeat 
 the attack. Captain Bligh, fully 
 aware of his own weakness, 
 deemed it expedient, therefore, 
 to resist all desires and tempta- 
 tions to land at any of those 
 islands among which they passed 
 in the course of the voyage, 
 well knowing how little could 
 be trusted to the forbearance of 
 savages, unarmed and wholly 
 defenceless as his party were. 
 
 But the circumstance of being 
 tantalised with the appearance 
 of land, clothed with perennial 
 verdure, whose approach was 
 forbidden to men chilled with 
 wet and cold, and nearly perish- 
 ing with hunger, was by no 
 means the most difficult against 
 which the commander had to 
 struggle. " It was not the least 
 of my distresses," he observes, 
 " to be constantly assailed with 
 the melancholy demands of my 
 people for an increase of allow- 
 ance, which it grieved me to 
 refuse." He well knew that to 
 reason with men reduced to the 
 last stage of famine, yet denied 
 the use of provisions within 
 their reach, and with the powei 
 to seize upon them in their own 
 hands, would be to no purpose. 
 Something more must be done 
 to ensure even the possibility of
 
 THE BOUNTi AND HER MUTINEERS. 47 
 
 saving them from the effect of 
 their own imprudence. The 
 first thing he set about, there- 
 fore, was to ascertain the exact 
 state of their provisions, which 
 were found to amount to the 
 ordinary consumption of five 
 days, but which were to be 
 spun out so as to last fifty days. 
 This was at once distinctly 
 stated to the men, and an 
 agreement entered into, and a 
 solemn promise made by all, 
 that the settled allowance should 
 never be deviated from, as they 
 were made clearly to understand 
 that on the strict observance of 
 this agreement rested the only 
 hope of their safety; and this 
 was explained and made so 
 evident to every man, at the 
 time it was concluded, that they 
 unanimously agreed to it ; and 
 by reminding them of this com- 
 pact, whenever they became 
 clamorous for more, and show- 
 ing a firm determination not to 
 swerve from it, Captain Bligh 
 succeeded in resisting all their 
 solicitations. 
 
 This rigid adherence to the 
 compact in doling out their 
 miserable pittance, the con- 
 stant exposure to wet, the im- 
 minent peril of being swallowed 
 up by the ocean, their cramped 
 and confined position, and the 
 unceasing reflection on their 
 miserable and melancholy situa- 
 tion all these difficulties and 
 sufferings make it not less than 
 miraculous that this voyage, it- 
 self a miracle, should have been 
 completed, not only without the 
 loss of a man from sickness, but 
 
 with so little loss of health. 
 " With respect to the preserva- 
 tion of our health," says the 
 commander, " during the course 
 of sixteen days of heavy and 
 almost continual rain, I would 
 recommend to every one in a 
 similar situation the method we 
 practised of dipping their clothes 
 in salt-water, and to wring them 
 out as often as they become 
 soaked with rain : it was the 
 only resource we had, and I 
 believe was of the greatest 
 service to us, for it felt more 
 like a change of dry clothes 
 than could well be imagined. 
 We had occasion to do this so 
 often, that at length all our 
 clothes were wrung to pieces." 
 
 But the great art of all was to 
 divert their attention from the 
 almost hopeless situation in 
 which they were placed, and to 
 prevent despondency from tak- 
 ing possession of their minds; 
 and in order to assist in effect- 
 ing this, some employment was 
 devised for them : among other 
 things, a log-line an object of 
 interest to all was measured 
 and marked ; and the men were 
 practised in counting seconds 
 correctly, that the distance run 
 on each day might be ascer- 
 tained with a nearer approach 
 to accuracy than by mere guess- 
 ing. These little operations 
 afforded them a temporary 
 amusement ; and the log being 
 daily and hourly hove, gave 
 them also some employment, 
 and diverted their thoughts for 
 the moment from their melan- 
 choly situation. Then, every
 
 48 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 noon, when the sun was out, or 
 at other times before or after 
 noon, and also at night when 
 the stars appeared, Captain 
 Bligh never neglected to take 
 observations for the latitude, 
 and to work the day's work for 
 ascertaining the boat's place. 
 The anxiety of the people to 
 hear how they had proceeded, 
 what progress had been made, 
 and whereabouts they were on 
 the wide ocean, also contributed 
 for the time to drive away 
 gloomy thoughts that but too 
 frequently would intrude them- 
 selves. These observations were 
 rigidly attended to, and some- 
 times made under the most 
 difficult circumstances the sea 
 breaking over the observer, and 
 the boat pitching and rolling so 
 much, that he was obliged to 
 be " propped up " while taking 
 them. In this way, with now 
 and then a little interrupted 
 sleep, about a thousand long 
 and anxious hours were con- 
 sumed in pain and peril, and a 
 space of sea passed over equal 
 to four thousand five hundred 
 miles, being at the rate of four 
 and one-fifth miles an hour, or 
 one hundred miles a day. 
 Bligh mentions, in his printed 
 narrative, the mutinous conduct 
 of a person to whom he gave a 
 cutlass to defend himself. This 
 affair, as stated in his original 
 manuscript journal, wears a far 
 more serious aspect. " The 
 carpenter (Purcell) began to 
 be insolent to a high degree, 
 and at last told me, with a 
 mutinous aspect, he was as 
 
 good a man as I was. I did 
 not just now see where this was 
 to end : I therefore determined 
 to strike a final blow at it, and 
 either to preserve my command 
 or die in the attempt ; and, tak- 
 ing hold of a cutlass, I ordered 
 the rascal to take hold of another 
 and defend himself, when he 
 called out that I was going to 
 kill him, and began to make 
 concessions. I was now only 
 assisted by Mr Nelson ; and 
 the master (Fryer) very deliber- 
 ately called out to the boat- 
 swain to put me under an 
 arrest, and was stirring up a 
 great disturbance, when I de- 
 clared, if he interfered when 1 
 was in the execution of my 
 duty to preserve order and 
 regularity, and that in conse- 
 quence any tumult arose, I 
 would certainly put him to 
 death the first man. This had 
 a proper effect on this man, and 
 he now assured me that, on the 
 contrary, I might rely on him to 
 support my orders and direc- 
 tions for the future. This is 
 the outline of a tumult that 
 lasted about a quarter of an 
 hour ;" and he adds, " I was 
 told that the master and car- 
 penter, at the last place, were 
 endeavouring to procure alter- 
 cations, and were the principal 
 cause of their murmuring there." 
 This carpenter he brought to a 
 court-martial on their arrival in 
 England, on various charges, of 
 which he was found guilty in 
 part, and reprimanded. Purcell 
 was said to be afterwards in a 
 mad-house.
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 49 
 
 On another occasion, when a 
 stew of oysters was distributed 
 among the people, Bligh ob- 
 serves (in the MS. journal), 
 "In the distribution of it, the 
 voraciousness of some and the 
 moderation of others were very 
 discernible. The master began 
 to be dissatisfied the first, be- 
 cause it was not made into a 
 larger quantity by the addition 
 of water, and showed a turbu- 
 lent disposition, until I laid my 
 commands on him to be silent." 
 Again, on his refusing bread to 
 the men, because they were col- 
 lecting oysters, he says, " This 
 occasioned some murmuring 
 with the master and carpenter, 
 the former of whom endeavoured 
 to prove the propriety of such 
 an expenditure, and was trouble- 
 somely ignorant, tending to 
 create disorder among those, 
 if any were weak enough to 
 listen to him." 
 
 This conduct of the master 
 and the carpenter, if we accept 
 the commander's account of it 
 as accurate, and not unduly 
 biassed, was enough to provoke 
 a less irritable person. He 
 mentions, both in the narrative 
 and the original journal, other 
 instances of like provocation. 
 But what makes one chary at 
 repeating the story with acces- 
 sories which aroused the British 
 Lion at the time of Bligh's re- 
 turn, and set it raging and roar- 
 ing after the mutineers, is that 
 gentleman's treatment of the 
 conduct, character, and good 
 name of Midshipman Heywood, 
 who lived through it all, and a 
 
 sentence of death besides, to be 
 subsequently honoured and re- 
 spected as Captain Peter Hey- 
 wood. " To the kindness of 
 Mrs Heywood," says Sir John 
 Barrow in his preface, "the 
 relict of the late Captain Peter 
 Heywood, the editor is indebted 
 for those beautiful and affec- 
 tionate letters, written by a be- 
 loved sister to an unfortunate 
 brother, while a prisoner under 
 sentence of death. . . . Those 
 letters also from the brother to 
 his deeply afflicted family, will 
 be read with peculiar interest." 
 We now, as a sort of crucial test 
 of Bligh's conduct towards his 
 officers, and of the accuracy of 
 his statements when he returned, 
 resume the story as it affects 
 him and Heywood, presenting 
 a variety of correspondence. 
 Bligh speaks in his narrative of 
 Heywood only as one of those 
 left in the ship; he does not 
 charge him with taking any 
 active part in the mutiny ; there 
 is every reason, indeed, to be- 
 lieve that Bligh did not, and 
 indeed could not, see him on 
 the deck on that occasion : in 
 point of fact, he never was with- 
 in thirty feet of Captain Bligh, 
 and the booms were between 
 them. About the end of March 
 1790, two months subsequent 
 to the death of a most beloved 
 and lamented husband, Mrs 
 Heywood received the afflict- 
 ing information, but by report 
 only, of a mutiny having taken 
 place on board the Bounty. In 
 that ship Mrs Heyvvood's son 
 had been serving as midship-
 
 50 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 man, who, when he left his 
 home, in August 1787, was 
 under fifteen years of age, a 
 boy deservedly admired and 
 beloved by all who knew him, 
 and to his own family almost 
 an object of adoration, for his 
 superior understanding and the 
 amiable qualities of his disposi- 
 tion. In a state of mind little 
 short of distraction, on hearing 
 this fatal intelligence, which was 
 at the same time aggravated by 
 every circumstance of guilt, his 
 mother addressed a letter to 
 Captain Bligh, strongly expres- 
 sive of the misery she must 
 necessarily feel on such an 
 occasion. The following is 
 Bligh's reply : 
 
 "London, April 2, 1790. 
 "MADAM, I received your 
 letter this day, and feel for you 
 very much, being perfectly sen- 
 sible of the extreme distress 
 you must suffer from the con- 
 duct of your son Peter. His 
 baseness is beyond all description; 
 but I hope you will endeavour 
 to prevent the loss of him, heavy 
 as the misfortune is, from afflict- 
 ing you too severely. I imagine 
 he is, with the rest of the muti- 
 neers, returned to Otaheite. 
 
 " I am, Madam, 
 " (Signed) WM. BLIGH." 
 
 Colonel Holwell, the uncle 
 of young Heywood, had pre- 
 viously addressed Bligh on the 
 same subject, to whom he re- 
 turned the following answer : 
 
 "26/7* March 1790. 
 "SiR, I have just this in- 
 
 stant received your letter. With 
 much concern I inform you that 
 your nephew, Peter Heywood, 
 is among the mutineers. His 
 ingratitude to me is of the blackest 
 dye, for I was a father to him in 
 every respect, and he never once 
 had an angry word from me 
 through the whole course of the 
 voyage, as his conduct always 
 gave me much pleasure and 
 satisfaction. I very much re- 
 gret that so much baseness formed 
 the character of a young man I 
 had a real regard for, and it 
 will give me much pleasure to 
 hear that his friends can bear the 
 loss of him without much concern. 
 
 " I am, Sir, etc., 
 " (Signed) WM. BLIGH." 
 
 The only way of accounting 
 for this ferocity of sentiment 
 (says Sir John Barrow) towards 
 a youth, who had in point of 
 fact no concern in the mutiny, 
 is by a reference to certain 
 points of evidence given by 
 Hayward, Hallet, and Purcell, 
 on the court-martial, each point 
 wholly unsupported. Those in 
 the boat would, no doubt, during 
 their long passage, often discuss 
 the conduct of their messmates 
 left in the Bounty, and the un- 
 supported evidence given by 
 these three was' well calculated 
 to create in Bligh's mind a pre- 
 judice against young Heywood; 
 yet, if so, it affords but a poor 
 excuse for harrowing up the 
 feelings of near and dear rela- 
 tives. 
 
 As a contrast to these un- 
 gracious letters, it is a great
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 51 
 
 relief to peruse the correspond- 
 ence that took place between 
 this unfortunate young officer 
 and his dreadfully afflicted 
 family. The letters of his sister, 
 Nessy Heywood, exhibit so 
 lively and ardent affection for 
 her beloved brother, and are so 
 nobly answered by the suffering 
 youth, that no apology seems to 
 be required for their introduc- 
 tion. After a state of long sus- 
 pense, this young lady thus ad- 
 dresses her brother : 
 
 "Isle of Man, id June 1792. 
 " In a situation of mind only 
 rendered supportable by the 
 long and painful state of misery 
 and suspense we have suffered 
 on his account, how shall I 
 address my dear, my fondly- 
 beloved brother? how describe 
 the anguish we have felt at the 
 idea of this long and painful 
 separation, rendered still more 
 distressing by the terrible cir- 
 cumstances attending it ? Oh ! 
 my ever dearest boy, when I 
 look back to that dreadful 
 moment which brought us the 
 fatal intelligence that you had 
 remained in the Bounty after 
 Mr Bligh had quitted her, and 
 were looked upon, by him as a 
 mutineer I when I contrast that 
 day of horror with my present 
 hopes of again beholding you, 
 such as my most sanguine 
 wishes could expect, I know 
 not which is the most predomi- 
 nant sensation pity, compas- 
 sion, and terror for your suffer- 
 ings, or joy and satisfaction at 
 the prospect of their being near 
 
 a termination, and of once more 
 embracing the dearest object of 
 our affections. 
 
 " I will not ask you, my be- 
 loved brother, whether you are 
 innocent of the dreadful crime 
 of mutiny, if the transactions of 
 that day were as Mr Bligh has 
 represented them; such is my 
 conviction of your worth and 
 honour, that I will, without 
 hesitation, stake my life on your 
 innocence. If, on the contrary, 
 you were concerned in such a 
 conspiracy against your com- 
 mander, I shall be as firmly 
 persuaded his conduct was the 
 occasion of it ; but, alas ! could 
 any occasion justify so atrocious 
 an attempt to destroy a number 
 of our fellow-creatures ? No, my 
 ever dearest brother, nothing 
 but conviction from your own 
 mouth can possibly persuade 
 me, that you would commit an 
 action in the smallest degree 
 inconsistent with honour and 
 duty; and the circumstance of 
 your having swam off to the 
 Pandora on her arrival at Ota- 
 heite (which filled us with joy 
 to which no words can do jus- 
 tice), is sufficient to convince 
 all who know you, that you cer- 
 tainly stayed behind either by 
 force or from views of preserva- 
 tion. 
 
 " How strange does it seem 
 to me that I am now engaged 
 in the delightful task of writing 
 to you ! Alas ! my beloved 
 brother, two years ago I never 
 expected again to enjoy such a 
 felicity, and even yet I am in 
 the most painful uncertainty
 
 52 
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 whether you are alive. Gracious 
 God, grant that we may be 
 at length blessed by your re- 
 turn ! but, alas ! the Pandora's 
 people have been long expected, 
 and are not even yet arrived. 
 Should any accident have hap- 
 pened, after all the miseries you 
 have already suffered, the poor 
 gleam of hope with which we 
 have been lately indulged, will 
 render our situation ten thou- 
 sand times more insupportable 
 than if time had inured us to 
 your loss. I send this to the 
 care of Mr Hayward of Hack- 
 ney, father to the young gentle- 
 man you so often mention in 
 your letters when you were on 
 board the Bounty, and who 
 went out as third lieutenant in 
 the Pandora a circumstance 
 which gave us infinite satisfac- 
 tion, as you would, on entering 
 the Pandora, meet your old 
 friend. On discovering old Mr 
 Hayward's residence, I wrote to 
 him, as I hoped he would give 
 me some information respecting 
 the time of your arrival, and in 
 return he sent me a most friendly 
 letter, and has promised this shall 
 be given you when you reach Eng- 
 land, as I well know how great 
 your anxiety must be to hear of 
 us, and how much satisfaction 
 it will give you to have a letter 
 immediately on your return. 
 Let me conjure you, my dearest 
 Peter, to write to us the very 
 first moment do not lose a 
 post 'tis of no consequence 
 how short your letter may be, 
 if it only informs us you are 
 well I need not tell you that 
 
 you are the first and dearest 
 object of our affections. Think, 
 then, my adored boy, of the 
 anxiety we must feel on your 
 account : for my own part, I 
 can know no real joy or happi- 
 ness independent of you ; and 
 if any misfortune should now 
 deprive us of you, my hopes of 
 felicity are fled for ever. 
 
 "We are at present making 
 all possible interest with every 
 friend and connection we have, 
 to ensure you a sufficient sup- 
 port and protection at your ap- 
 proaching trial ; for a trial you 
 must unavoidably undergo, in 
 order to convince the world of 
 that innocence, which those 
 who know you will not for a 
 moment doubt ; but, alas ! while 
 circumstances are against you, 
 the generality of mankind will 
 judge severely. Bligh's repre- 
 sentations to the Admiralty, are, 
 I am told, very unfavourable, 
 and hitherto the tide of public 
 opinion has been greatly in his 
 favour. My mamma is at pre- 
 sent well, considering the dis- 
 tress she has suffered since you 
 left us ; for, my dearest brother, 
 we have experienced a compli- 
 cated scene of misery from a 
 variety of causes, which, how- 
 ever, when compared with the 
 sorrow we felt on your account, 
 was trifling and insignificant ; 
 that misfortune made all others 
 light ; and to see you once more 
 returned, and safely restored to 
 us, will be the summit of all 
 earthly happiness. 
 
 " Farewell, my most beloved 
 brother ! God grant this may
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 53 
 
 soon be put into your hands ! 
 Perhaps at this moment you are 
 arrived in England, and I may 
 soon ha.ve the dear delight of 
 again beholding you. My mam- 
 ma, brothers, and sisters, join 
 with me in every sentiment of 
 love and tenderness. Write to 
 us immediately, my ever-loved 
 Peter, and may the Almighty 
 preserve you until you bless 
 with your presence your fondly 
 affectionate family, and parti- 
 cularly your unalterably faithful 
 friend and sister. 
 
 "NESSY HEYWOOD." 
 
 The gleam of joy which this 
 unhappy family derived from 
 the circumstance, which had 
 been related to them, of young 
 Heywood's swimming off to the 
 Pandora, was dissipated by a 
 letter from himself to his mother, 
 soon after his arrival in Eng- 
 land, in which he says : " The 
 question, my dear mother, in 
 one of your letters, concerning 
 my swimming off to the Pan- 
 dora, is one falsity among the 
 too many, in which I have often 
 thought of undeceiving you, 
 and as frequently forgot. The 
 story was this : On the morn- 
 ing she arrived, accompanied 
 by two of my friends (natives), 
 I was going up the mountains, 
 and having got about a hundred 
 yards from my own house, 
 another of my friends (for I was 
 auniversal favouriteamongthose 
 Indians, and perfectly conver- 
 sant in their language) came 
 running after me, and informed 
 me there was a ship coming. I 
 
 immediately ascended a rising 
 ground, and saw, with inde- 
 scribable joy, a ship lying-to off 
 Hapiano ; it was just after day- 
 light, and thinking Coleman 
 might not be awake, and there- 
 fore ignorant of this pleasing 
 news, I sent one of my servants 
 to inform him of it, upon which 
 he immediately went off in a 
 single canoe. There was a 
 fresh breeze, and the ship work- 
 ing into the bay ; he no sooner 
 got alongside than the rippling 
 capsized the canoe, and he be- 
 ing obliged to let go the tow- 
 rope to get her righted, went 
 astern, and was picked up the 
 next tack, and taken on board 
 the Pandora, he being the first 
 person. I, along with my mess- 
 mate Stewart, was then standing 
 upon the beach with a double 
 canoe, manned with twelve pad- 
 dles ready for launching; and 
 just as she made her last tack 
 into her berth (for we did not 
 think it requisite to go off 
 sooner), we put off and got 
 alongside just as they streamed 
 the buoy ; and being dressed 
 in the country manner, tanned 
 as brown as themselves, and I 
 tattooed like them in the most 
 curious manner, I do not in the 
 least wonder at their taking us 
 for natives. I was tattooed, 
 not to gratify my own desire, 
 but theirs ; for it was my con- 
 stant endeavour to acquiesce in 
 any little custom which I thought 
 would be agreeable to them, 
 though painful in the process, 
 provided I gained by it their 
 friendship and esteem, which
 
 54 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 you may suppose is no incon- 
 siderable object in an island 
 where the natives are so nume- 
 rous. The more a man or 
 woman there is tattooed, the 
 more they are respected ; and a 
 person having none of these 
 marks is looked upon as bear- 
 ing an unworthy badge of dis- 
 grace, and considered as a mere 
 outcast of society." 
 
 Among the many anxious 
 friends and family connections 
 of the Heywoods was Commo- 
 dore Pasley, to whom this affec- 
 tionate young lady addressed 
 herself on the melancholy occa- 
 sion ; and the following is the 
 reply she received from this 
 officer : 
 
 " Sheerness, June 8, 1792. 
 " Would to God, my dearest 
 Nessy, that I could rejoice with 
 you on the early prospect of 
 your brother's arrival in Eng- 
 land. One division of the Pan- 
 dora's people has arrived, and 
 now on board the Vengeance 
 (my ship). Captain Edwards, 
 with the remainder, and all the 
 prisoners late of the Bounty, in 
 number ten (four having been 
 drowned on the loss of that 
 ship), are daily expected. They 
 have been most rigorously and 
 closely confined since taken, 
 and will continue so, no doubt, 
 till Bligh's arrival. You have 
 no chance of seeing him, for no 
 bail can be offered. Your in- 
 telligence of his swimming off 
 on the Pandora's arrival is not 
 founded ; a man of the name of 
 Coleman swam off ere she an- 
 
 chored your brother and Mr 
 Stewart the next day. This last 
 youth, when the Pandora was 
 lost, refused to allow his irons 
 to be taken off to save his life. 
 " I cannot conceal it from 
 you, my dearest Nessy, neither 
 is it proper I should, your bro- 
 ther appears by all accounts to 
 be the greatest culprit of all, 
 Christian alone excepted. Every 
 exertion, you may rest assured, 
 I shall use to save his life ; but 
 on trial I have no hope of his 
 not being condemned. Three 
 of the ten who are expected are 
 mentioned in Bligh's narrative 
 as men detained against their 
 inclination. Would to God your 
 brother had been one of that 
 number ! I will not distress you 
 more by enlarging on this sub- 
 ject; as intelligence arises on 
 their arrival, you shall be made 
 acquainted. Adieu ! my dearest 
 Nessy. Present my affectionate 
 remembrances to your mother 
 and sisters, and believe me al- 
 ways, with the warmest affection, 
 your uncle, THOS. PASLEY." 
 
 How unlike is this from the 
 letter of Bligh ! While it frankly 
 apprises this amiable lady of 
 the real truth of the case, with- 
 out disguise, as it was then un- 
 derstood to be from Bligh's re- 
 presentations, it assures her of 
 his best exertions to save her 
 brother's life. Every reader of 
 sensibility will sympathise in the 
 feeling displayed in her reply : 
 
 " Isle of 'Man, 
 " 22d June 1792. 
 " Harassed by the most tor-
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 55 
 
 hiring suspense, and miserably 
 wretched as I have been, my 
 dearest uncle, since the receipt 
 of your last, conceive, if it is 
 possible, the heartfelt joy and 
 satisfaction we experienced yes-, 
 terday morning, when, on the 
 arrival of the packet, the de- 
 lightful letter from our beloved 
 Peter (a copy of which I send 
 you enclosed) was brought to 
 us. Surely, my excellent friend, 
 you will agree with me in think- 
 ing there could not be a stronger 
 proof of his innocence and worth, 
 and that it must prejudice every 
 person who reads it most power- 
 fully in his favour. Such a letter 
 in less distressful circumstances 
 than those in which he writes, 
 would, I am persuaded, reflect 
 honour on the pen of a person 
 much older than my poor bro- 
 ther. But when we consider 
 his extreme youth, (only sixteen 
 at the time of the mutiny, and 
 now but nineteen), his forti- 
 tude, patience, and manly re- 
 signation, under the pressure 
 of sufferings and misfortunes 
 almost unheard of and scarcely 
 to be supported at any age, 
 without the assistance of that 
 which seems to be my dear 
 brother's greatest comfort a 
 quiet conscience, and a thorough 
 conviction of his own inno- 
 cence; when I add, at the 
 same time, with real pleasure 
 and satisfaction, that his relation 
 corresponds in many particu- 
 lars with the accounts we have 
 hitherto heard of the fatal mu- 
 tiny; and when I also add, with 
 inconceivable pride and delight, 
 
 that my beloved Peter was never 
 known to breathe a syllable in- 
 consistent with truth and hon- 
 our; when these circumstances, 
 my dear uncle, are all united, 
 what man on earth can doubt 
 of the innocence which could 
 dictate such a letter ? In short, 
 let it speak for him : the perusal 
 of his artless and pathetic story 
 will, I am persuaded, be a 
 stronger recommendation in his 
 favour than anything I can 
 urge.* 
 
 "I need not tire your patience, 
 my ever-loved uncle, by dwell- 
 ing longer on this subject (the 
 dearest and most interesting on 
 earth to my heart) ; let me con- 
 jure you only, my kind friend, 
 to read it, and consider the 
 innocence and defenceless situa- 
 tion of its unfortunate author, 
 which calls for, and I am sure 
 deserves, all the pity and assist- 
 ance his friends can afford him, 
 and which, I am sure also, the 
 goodness and benevolence ot 
 your heart, will prompt you to 
 exert in his behalf. It is per- 
 fectly unnecessary for me to add, 
 after the anxiety I feel, and 
 cannot but express, that no 
 benefit conferred upon myself, 
 will be acknowledged with half 
 the gratitude I must ever feel, 
 for the smallest instance of 
 kindness shown to my beloved 
 Peter. Farewell, my dearest 
 uncle. With the firmest reliance 
 on your kind and generous 
 promises, I am, ever with the 
 
 * This interesting letter is given in 
 the following chapter, to which it 
 appropriately belongs.
 
 THE BQUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 truest gratitude and sincerity, 
 your most affectionate niece, 
 "NESSY HEYWOOD." 
 
 This correspondence is not 
 quoted with the view of making 
 a vain appeal to the proofs it 
 gives of kindly affections, as 
 evidence against such crimina- 
 lity as was shown by taking an 
 active part in the mutiny of the 
 Bounty. Kindly affections and 
 the greatest criminality of any 
 kind, are quite compatible in 
 the same person. The letters, 
 however, awaken our sympa- 
 thies towards the memory of 
 young Hey wood ; they show 
 
 clearly that he was not the un- 
 grateful wretch his captain re- 
 presented him as being; and 
 they argue that out of such 
 materials, Bligh might have 
 succeeded in producing some- 
 thing better than a mutiny 
 in a word, that a great propor- 
 tion of the blame of the whole 
 dark affair, must be laid to 
 his account, and to that of 
 the system of naval command, 
 from which captains took their 
 tone, and trained their tempers 
 in those days. The next chap- 
 ter introduces us to another 
 specimen of a naval captain of 
 the period. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 IN PURSUIT OF THE MUTINEERS. 
 
 BLIGH was the hero of the hour 
 in England, after his sufferings 
 and his bravery and daring in 
 the open boat became known. 
 There was a cry of indignation 
 against Fletcher Christian and 
 his associates. Bligh was pro- 
 moted by the Admiralty to the 
 rank of Commander, and sent 
 out a second time to secure the 
 bread-fruit tree as cheap food 
 for the slaves in the West Indies, 
 and he secured and transported 
 all the plants he was sent for. 
 
 Government resolved to bring 
 condign punishment down upon 
 every one of the mutineers. 
 Preparatory to this for it was 
 
 desirable to catch them first 
 the frigate Pandora, of twenty- 
 four guns, and one hundred 
 and sixty men, was despatched 
 under the command of Captain 
 Edward Edwards, with orders 
 to proceed direct to Otaheite, 
 and secure the mutineers, if 
 they were there ; if not, to visit 
 the different groups of the 
 Society and Friendly Islands, 
 and others in the neighbouring 
 regions of the Pacific, and use 
 his best endeavours to se'ze as 
 many of the delinquents as he 
 could discover, and bring them 
 home in chains. The captain 
 succeeded so far as to take
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 57 
 
 fourteen of the mutineers, ten 
 of whom he brought to England, 
 the other four being drowned 
 when the Pandora was wrecked. 
 
 Mr George Hamilton, the 
 surgeon, published an account 
 of this voyage, in a small rather 
 unreadable volume, and rather 
 void of information. Captain 
 Edwards' report to the Admir- 
 alty is a very unsatisfactory 
 production as vague as it is 
 unsatisfactory in all other re- 
 spects. A journal kept by 
 James Morrison, formerly boat- 
 swain's mate in the Bounty, and 
 a circumstantial letter written by 
 Peter Heywood to his mother, 
 are our most reliable sources of 
 information. 
 
 The Pandora anchored in 
 Matavai Bay on the 23d March 
 1791. Captain Edwards, in his 
 narrative, states that Joseph 
 Coleman, the armourer of the 
 Bounty, attempted to come on 
 board before the Pandora had 
 anchored ; that on reaching the 
 ship, he began to make inquiries 
 of him after the Bounty and her 
 people, and that he seemed to 
 be ready to give him any in- 
 formation that was required; 
 that the next who came on board, 
 just after the ship had anchored, 
 were Mr Peter Heywood and 
 Mr Stewart, before any boat had 
 been sent on shore ; that they 
 were brought down to his cabin, 
 when, after some conversation, 
 Heywood asked if Mr Hayward 
 (midshipman of the Bounty, but 
 now lieutenant of the Pandora) 
 was on board, as he had heard 
 that he was j that Lieutenant 
 
 Hayward, whom he sent for, 
 treated Heywood with a sort of 
 c< -ntemptuous look, and began 
 to enter into conversation with 
 him respecting the Bounty ; but 
 Edwards ordered him to desist, 
 and called in the sentinel to take 
 the prisoners into safe custody, 
 and to put them in irons ; that 
 other four mutineers soon made 
 their appearance ; and that from 
 them and some of the natives, 
 he learned that the rest of the 
 Bounty's people had built a 
 schooner, with which they had 
 sailed the day before from Mat- 
 avai Bay to the N. W. part of the 
 island. He despatched two lieu- 
 tenants with the pinnace and 
 launch to intercept her, but they 
 failed. The schooner subse- 
 quently returned to Paparr6, 
 where the same two lieutenants, 
 Corner and Hayward, found her, 
 but the mutineers had fled to the 
 mountains. In two days, how- 
 ever, they came down again, and 
 Captain Edwards drew up his 
 men to receive them, called on 
 them to lay down their arms and 
 to go on one side, with which 
 summons the mutineers com- 
 plying, they were seized and 
 brought prisoners to the ship. 
 
 The following are the names 
 of the prisoners on board the 
 Pandora: Peter Heywood and 
 George Stewart, midshipmen ; 
 James Morrison, boatswain's 
 mate; Charles Norman, carpen- 
 ter's mate; Thomas M'Intosh, of 
 the carpenter's crew; Joseph 
 Coleman, armourer ; Richard 
 Skinner, Thomas Ellison, Henry 
 Hillbrant, Thomas Burkitt, John
 
 68 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 Millward, John Sumner, William 
 Muspratt, Richard Bryan, sea- 
 men, in all, fourteen. Captain 
 Edwards had a round-house 
 built on the after-part of the 
 quarterdeck for the mutineers, 
 whom he calls pirates. While 
 the Pandora lay to, the prison- 
 ers' wives visited her daily, and 
 brought their children, who were 
 allowed to be carried to their 
 unhappy fathers. The wives 
 brought their husbands also 
 ample supplies of every delicacy 
 the country afforded. What a 
 parting! These poor women and 
 children, what became of them 
 afterwards? Of their fidelity and 
 attachment an instance is afford- 
 ed in the touching story which 
 is told in the first Missionary 
 Voyage of the Duff, of the poor 
 wife of George Stewart. It is this : 
 " The history of Peggy Stew- 
 art marks a tenderness of heart 
 that never will be heard without 
 emotion. She was daughter of 
 a chief, and taken for his wife 
 by Mr Stewart, one of the un- 
 happy mutineers. They had 
 lived with the old chief in the 
 most tender state of endearment ; 
 a beautiful little girl had been 
 the fruit of their union, and was 
 at the breast when the Pandora 
 arrived, seized the criminals, 
 and secured them in irons on 
 board the ship. Frantic with 
 grief, the unhappy Peggy (for 
 so he had named her) flew with 
 her infant in a canoe to the arms 
 of her husband. The interview 
 was so affecting and afflicting, 
 that the officers on board were 
 overwhelmed with anguish ; and 
 
 Stewart himself, unable to bear 
 the heart-rending scene, begged 
 she might not be admitted again 
 on board. She was separated 
 from him by violence, and con- 
 veyed on shore in a state of 
 despair and grief too big for 
 utterance. Withheld from him, 
 and forbidden to come any more 
 on board, she sunk into the 
 deepest dejection ; it preyed on 
 her vitals ; she lost all relish for 
 food and life, rejoiced no more, 
 pined under a rapid decay of 
 two months, and fell a victim to 
 her feelings, dying literally of a 
 broken heart. Her child is yet 
 alive, and the tender object of 
 our care, having been brought 
 up by a sister, who nursed it as 
 her own, and has discharged all 
 the duties of an affectionate 
 mother to the orphan infant." 
 
 It does not appear that Hey- 
 wood formed any matrimonial 
 engagement in Otaheite. 
 
 All the mutineers in the island 
 having been secured, the Pan- 
 dora proceeded to search for 
 those who had left in the Bounty. 
 It should be mentioned that 
 Churchill and Thompson, two of 
 the mutineers, had met violent 
 deaths before the arrival of Cap- 
 tain Edwards. Thompson shot 
 Churchill, for which the natives 
 stoned him to death. His skull 
 was brought on board the Pan- 
 dora. 
 
 Captain Edwards had no clue 
 to guide him as to the route 
 taken by the Bounty; but he 
 learned from different people and 
 from journals kept on board 
 that ship, which were found in
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 59 
 
 the chests of the mutineers at 
 Otaheite, the proceedings of 
 Christian and his associates, 
 after Bligh and his companions 
 had been turned adrift in the 
 launch. From these it appears 
 that the pirates proceeded in 
 the first instance to the island 
 of Toobouai, in lat 20 13' S., 
 long. 149 35' W., where they 
 anchored on the 251)1 May 1789. 
 At this island it seems they in- 
 tended to form a settlement; 
 but the opposition of the natives, 
 the want of many necessary 
 materials, and quarrels among 
 themselves, determined them 
 to go to Otaheite to procure 
 what might be required to effect 
 their purpose, provided they 
 should agree to prosecute their 
 original in tendon. They accord- 
 ingly sailed from Toobouai 
 about the latter end of the 
 month, and arrived at Otaheite 
 on the 6th June. The Otoo, 
 or reigning sovereign, and other 
 principal natives, were very in- 
 quisitive and anxious to know 
 what had become of Captain 
 Bligh and the rest of the crew, 
 and also what had been done 
 with the bread - fruit plants. 
 They were told they had most 
 unexpectedly fallen in with Cap- 
 tain Cook at an island he had 
 just discovered, called Why- 
 tootakee, where he intended to 
 form a settlement and where 
 the plants had been landed; 
 and that Captain Bligh and the 
 others were stopping there to 
 assist Captain Cook ; that he 
 had appointed Mr Christian 
 commander of the Bounty, and 
 
 that he had been sent for a sup- 
 ply of hogs, goats, fowls, bread- 
 fruit, and other articles. This 
 story imposed on the islanders. 
 The things wanted were speedily 
 supplied, as well as eight men, 
 nine women, and seven boys 
 besides whom they took with 
 them. They left Otaheite on 
 the i gth of June, and arrived a 
 second time at Toobouai on 
 the 26th. They could not agree 
 among themselves about settling 
 here, and they sailed from Too- 
 bouai on the 1 5th, and arrived 
 once more at Matavai Bay on 
 the 2oth September 1789. 
 Here the sixteen mutineers 
 already accounted for were put 
 on shore at their own request, 
 the remaining nine resolving to 
 abide by the Bounty, which 
 sailed finally from Otaheite on 
 the night of the 2ist September. 
 They took with them seven 
 Otaheite menandtwelvewomen. 
 On the 8th of May 1791, the 
 Pandora left Otaheite. She 
 called at numerous islands, but 
 met with none of the men she 
 was in search of. After a fruit- 
 less cruise of three months, the 
 Pandora arrived, on the 29th 
 August, at the coast of New 
 Holland, and came close to 
 that dangerous reef of coral 
 rocks, called the "Barrier Reef," 
 which runs along the greater 
 part of the eastern coast, at a 
 considerable distance from it 
 The boat had been sent out to 
 look for an opening which was 
 not difficult to find, but during 
 the night the Pandora drifted 
 past it. Next day she struck
 
 60 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 upon the reef. The leak increas- 
 ed so fast that all hands were 
 turned to the pumps, and to 
 bale at the hatchways. In little 
 more than an hour and a half 
 after she struck, there were 
 eight feet and a half of water in 
 the hold. During the night two 
 of the pumps were rendered 
 useless ; one of them, however, 
 was repaired, and kept wearily 
 baling and pumping in the vain 
 hope of keeping the ship afloat. 
 Seeing that their efforts were 
 hopeless, the captain and officers 
 resolved to take to the four boats, 
 which, with careful hands in 
 them, were kept astern of the 
 ship. 
 
 About half-past six in the 
 morning 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 ; 
 they began to leap overboard 
 and take to the boats, and, before 
 everybody could get out of her, 
 she actually sunk. 
 
 On subsequently mustering 
 the people that were saved, it 
 was found that eighty-nine of the 
 ship's company, and ten of the 
 mutineer prisoners answered 
 their names; but thirty-one of 
 the ship's company and four 
 mutineers were lost with the 
 ship. The mutineers had a 
 sorry time of it during the pre- 
 liminaries of this shipwreck. 
 Three of them, Coleman, Nor- 
 man, and M'Intosh, were let 
 out of irons, and sent to work 
 at the pumps. The others 
 
 begged to be allowed a chance 
 of helping to save their own 
 lives as well as the lives of their 
 fellow voyagers. The answer 
 to their prayer was two addi- 
 tional sentinels placed over 
 them, with orders to shoot any 
 who should attempt to get free 
 from their chains. " Seeing no 
 prospect of escape," Lieutenant 
 Corner tells us, "they betook 
 themselves to prayer, and pre- 
 pared to meet their fate, every- 
 one expecting that the ship 
 would soon go to pieces." 
 When the ship was actually 
 sinking, and every effort was 
 being made for the preservation 
 of the crew, no notice was taken 
 of the prisoners, although Cap- 
 tain 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 lar- 
 board bow completely under 
 water. Fortunately the master- 
 at-arms, either by accident or 
 design, when slipping from the 
 roof of the round-house in which 
 they were imprisoned 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 com- 
 mence their own liberation, in 
 which they were generously as- 
 sisted, at the imminent risk of 
 his own life, by William Moul- 
 ter, a boatswain's mate, who 
 clung to the coamings, and pull- 
 ed the long bars through the 
 shackles, saying he would set 
 them free, or go to the bottom
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 61 
 
 with them. Scarcely was this 
 effected, when the ship went 
 down, leaving nothing visible 
 but the top-mast cross-trees. 
 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 occa- 
 sion, Mr Heywood was the last 
 person but three who escaped 
 from the prison, into which the 
 water had already found its way 
 through the bulk-head scuttles. 
 Jumping overboard, he seized a 
 plank, and was swimming to- 
 wards a small sandy key, about 
 three miles distant, when a boat 
 picked him up, and conveyed 
 him thither in a state of nudity. 
 James Morrison followed his 
 young companion's example ; 
 and, although handcuffed, he 
 managed to keep afloat until a 
 boat came to his assistance. 
 
 The conduct of Captain Ed- 
 wards on this occasion does not 
 argue much for his humanity. 
 
 On the sandy key which for- 
 tunately presented itself, they 
 hauled up the boats, to repair 
 those that were damaged, and 
 to stretch canvas round the 
 gunwales, the better to prevent 
 the sea from breaking into them. 
 The heat of the sun and the 
 
 reflection from the sand tortur- 
 ed the wretches who had just 
 escaped from a grave in the 
 sea; and the salt water they 
 had taken in while swimming, 
 created an excruciating thirst. 
 One of the seamen, Connell, 
 went mad from the salt water 
 he drank. 
 
 The crew and the prisoners 
 were distributed among the four 
 boats, which sailed away among 
 the islands and near the shore, 
 where they now and then stop- 
 ped to pick up a few oysters, 
 and procure a little fresh water. 
 On the 2d September, they 
 passed the N.W. point of New 
 Holland, and launched into the 
 Indian Ocean, with a voyage of 
 about a thousand miles before 
 them. Captain Edwards had 
 four boats ; poor Bligh had only 
 one, when he sailed in circum- 
 stances somewhat similar, and 
 even a great deal worse. 
 
 On the 1 3th, 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 1 5th, 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 relief in 
 their distressed condition. Hav- 
 ing remained here three weeks, 
 they embarked, on the 6th Octo- 
 ber, on board the Rembang 
 Dutch Indiaman, and on the 
 30th anchored at Samarang, 
 where they were agreeably sur-
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 prised to find their little 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 cap- 
 tain 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 iQth June 1792. 
 Captain Edwards, in his nar- 
 rative, never mentions the pri- 
 soners from the day he leaves 
 them bound in chains in that 
 " Pandora's Box," which he 
 built for them. He does not 
 seem to have been a man of 
 much sympathetic feeling ; and 
 he was subsequently pronounced 
 by public opinion to have exer- 
 cised an undue degree of sev- 
 erity towards the prisoners, 
 most of whom, it is to be re- 
 membered, had surrendered 
 themselves, thus giving him the 
 least possible amount of trouble 
 to capture them. The follow- 
 ing letter from Peter Heywood 
 to his mother will be read with 
 very deep interest at this stage 
 of the story of "The Bounty 
 and Her Mutineers." 
 
 "Batavia, 
 
 " November 25, 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 Lieu- 
 tenant Bligh, who, by not know- 
 ing the real cause of my remain- 
 ing on board, naturally suspected 
 me, unhappily for me, to be a 
 coadjutor in the mutiny ; but I 
 never, to my knowledge, whilst 
 under his command, behaved 
 myself in a manner unbecoming 
 the station I occupied, nor so 
 much as even entertained a 
 thought derogatory to his hon- 
 our, 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 char- 
 acter of my conduct, whilst I 
 was under his tuition, that could 
 merit the slightest scrutiny. Oh ! 
 my dearest mother, 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 
 since ; but I am afraid to say a 
 hundredth part of what I 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 will, I
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 hope, have the desired effect of 
 removing your uneasiness on 
 my account, when I assure you, 
 before the face of God, of my 
 innocence of what is laid to my 
 charge. How I came to remain 
 on board was thus : 
 
 " The morning the ship was 
 taken, it being my watch below, 
 happening to awake just after 
 daylight, and looking out of my 
 hammock, I saw a man sitting 
 upon the arm-chest in the main 
 hatch-way, with 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 was the cause of it 
 He told me that Mr Christian, 
 assisted by some of the ship's 
 company, had seized the captain 
 and put him in confinement ; 
 had taken the command of the 
 ship, and meant to carry Bligh 
 home a prisoner, in order to 
 try him by court-martial, for his 
 long tyrannical and oppressive 
 conduct to his people. I was 
 quite thunderstruck ; and hurry- 
 ing into my berth again, told 
 one of my messmates, whom I 
 awakened out of his sleep, what 
 had happened. Then, dressing 
 myself, I went up the fore-hatch- 
 way, and saw what he had told 
 me was but too true ; and again 
 I asked some of the people who 
 were under arms, what was going 
 to be done with the captain, 
 who was then on the larboard 
 side of the quarter-deck, with 
 his hands tied behind his back, 
 and Mr Christian alongside of 
 him with a pistol and drawn 
 bayonet. I now heard a very 
 
 different story, and that the 
 captain was to be sent ashore 
 to Tofoa in the launch, and that 
 those who would not join Mr 
 Christian, might either accom- 
 pany the captain, or would be 
 taken in arms to Otaheite and 
 left there. The relation of two 
 stories so different, left me un- 
 able to judge which could be 
 the true one ; but seeing them 
 hoisting the boats out, it seemed 
 to prove the latter. 
 
 "In this trying situation, 
 young and inexperienced as I 
 was, and without an adviser 
 (every person being as it were 
 infatuated, and not knowing 
 what to do), I remained for a 
 while a silent spectator of what 
 was going on; and after revolv- 
 ing the matter in my mind, I 
 determined to choose what I 
 thought the lesser of two evils, 
 and stay by the ship ; for I had 
 no doubt that those who went 
 on shore in the launch would 
 be put to death by the savage 
 natives, whereas the Otaheitans 
 being a humane and generous 
 race, one might have a hope of 
 being kindly received, and re- 
 main there until the arrival of 
 some ship, which seemed, to 
 silly me, the most consistent 
 with reason and rectitude. 
 
 "While this resolution pos- 
 sessed my mind, at the same time 
 lending my assistance to hoist out 
 the boats, the hurry and con- 
 fusion affairs were in, and think- 
 ing my intentions just, I never 
 thought of going to Mr Bligh 
 for advice; besides, what con- 
 firmed me in it was my seeing
 
 64 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 two experienced officers, when 
 ordered into the boat by Mr 
 Christian, desire his permission 
 to remain in the ship, one of 
 whom (my own messmate, Mr 
 Hayward), and I being assisting 
 to clear the launch of yams, he 
 asked me what I intended to 
 do? I told him, to remain in 
 the ship. Now this answer, I 
 imagine, he has told Mr Bligh 
 I made to him ; from which, to- 
 gether with my not speaking to 
 him that morning, his suspicions 
 of me have arisen, construing 
 my conduct into what is foreign 
 to my nature. 
 
 "Thus, my dearest mother, 
 it was all owing to my youth 
 and unadvised inexperience, but 
 has been interpreted into villainy 
 and disregard of my country's 
 laws, the ill effects of which I 
 at present, and still am to, labour 
 under for some months longer. 
 And now, after what I have as- 
 serted, I may still once more 
 retrieve my injured reputation, 
 be again reinstated in the affec- 
 tion and favour of the most 
 tender of mothers, and be still 
 considered as her ever dutiful 
 son. 
 
 "I was not undeceived in 
 my erroneous decision until too 
 late, which was after the captain 
 was in the launch ; for, while I 
 was talking to the master-at- 
 arms, one of the ringleaders in 
 the affair, my other messmate 
 whom I had left in his hammock 
 in the berth, Mr Stewart, came 
 up to me, and asked me if I 
 was not going in the launch? 
 I replied, No upon which he 
 
 told me not to think of such a 
 thing as remaining behind, but 
 take his advice, and go down 
 below with him to get a few 
 necessary things, and make 
 haste to go with him into the 
 launch; adding that, by remain- 
 ing in the ship, I should incur 
 an equal share of guilt with the 
 mutineers themselves. I reluct- 
 antly followed his advice I sa) 
 reluctantly, because I knew no 
 better, and was foolish; and the 
 boat swimming very deep in the 
 water the land being very far 
 distant the thoughts of being 
 sacrificed by the natives and 
 the self-consciousness of my 
 first intention being just; all 
 these considerations almost 
 staggered my resolution. How- 
 ever, I preferred my compan- 
 ion's judgment to my own, and 
 we both jumped down the main- 
 hatchway to prepare ourselves 
 for the boat; but no sooner 
 were we in the berth, than 
 the master-at-arms ordered the 
 sentry to keep us both in the 
 berth till he should receive 
 orders to release us. We desir- 
 ed the master-at-arms to acquaint 
 Mr Bligh of our intention, which 
 we had reason to think he never 
 did, nor were we permitted to 
 come on deck until the launch 
 was a long way astern. I now, 
 when too late, saw my error. 
 
 " At the latter end of May, 
 we got to an island to the south- 
 ward of Taheite, called Tooboui, 
 where they intended to make a 
 settlement ; but, finding no 
 stock there of any kind, they 
 agreed to go to TaheitS, and,
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 65 
 
 after procuring hogs and fowls, 
 to return to Tooboui and re- 
 main. So, on the 6th June, we 
 arrived at Taheit6, where I was 
 in hopes I might find an oppor- 
 tunity of running away, and re- 
 maining on shore ; but I could 
 not effect it, as there was always 
 too good a look-out kept to pre- 
 vent any such steps being taken. 
 And, besides, they had all sworn 
 that, should any one make his 
 escape, they would force the 
 natives to restore him, and 
 would then shoot him as an ex- 
 ample to the rest ; well know- 
 ing, that any one, by remain- 
 ing there, might be the means 
 (should a ship arrive) of dis- 
 covering their intended place 
 of abode. Finding it therefore 
 impracticable, I saw no other 
 alternative but to rest as con- 
 tent as possible, and return to 
 Tooboui, and there wait till the 
 masts of the Bounty should be 
 taken out, and then take the 
 boat which might carry me to 
 Taheite, and disable those re- 
 maining from pursuit. But Pro- 
 vidence so ordered it, that we 
 had no occasion to try our 
 fortune at such a hazard ; for, 
 upon returning there and re- 
 maining till the latter end of 
 August, at which time a fort 
 was almost built, but nothing 
 could be effected; and as the 
 natives could not be brought to 
 friendly terms, and with whom 
 we had many skirmishes, and 
 narrow escapes from being cut 
 off by them, and, what was still 
 worse, internal broils and dis- 
 content these things determin- 
 
 ed part of the people to leave 
 the island, and go to Taheitd, 
 which was carried by a majority 
 of votes. 
 
 " This being carried into exe- 
 cution on the 22d September, 
 and having anchored in Matavai 
 Bay, the next morning my mess- 
 mate, Mr Stewart, and I went 
 on shore to the house of an old 
 landed proprietor, our former 
 friend ; and, being now set free 
 from a lawless crew, determined 
 to remain as much apart from 
 them as possible, and wait 
 patiently for the arrival of a 
 ship. Fourteen more of the 
 Bounty's people came likewise 
 on shore, and Mr Christian and 
 eight men went away with the 
 ship, but God knows whither. 
 Whilst we remained here, we 
 were treated by our kind and 
 friendly natives with a gener- 
 osity and humanity almost un- 
 paralleled, and such as we 
 could hardly have expected 
 from the most civilised people. 
 
 "To be brief having remain- 
 ed here till the latter end of 
 March 1791, on the 26th of 
 that month, His Majesty's ship 
 Pandora arrived, and had 
 scarcely anchored, when my 
 messmate and I went on board 
 and made ourselves known; 
 and having learned from one of 
 the natives who had been off in 
 a canoe, that our former mess- 
 mate, Mr Hayward, now pro- 
 moted to the rank of lieutenant, 
 was on board, we asked for him, 
 supposing he might prove the 
 assertion of our innocence. 
 But he (like all worldlings when
 
 66 
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 raised a little in life) received us 
 very coolly, and pretended ig- 
 norance of our affairs ; yet, for- 
 merly, he and I were bound in 
 brotherly love and friendship. 
 Appearances being so much 
 against us, we were ordered to 
 be put in irons, and looked 
 upon oh, infernal words ! as 
 piratical villains. A rebuff so 
 severe as this was to a person 
 unused to troubles, would per- 
 haps have been insupportable ; 
 but to me, who had now been 
 long inured to the frowns of 
 fortune, and feeling myself sup- 
 ported by an inward conscious- 
 ness of not deserving it, it was 
 received with the greatest com- 
 posure, and a full determination 
 to bear it with patience. 
 
 " My sufferings, however, I 
 have not power to describe ; 
 but though they are great, yet I 
 thank God for enabling mft to 
 bear them without repining. I 
 endeavour to qualify my afflic- 
 tion with these three considera- 
 tions : first, my innocence not 
 deserving them; secondly, that 
 they cannot last long; and, 
 thirdly, that the change may be 
 for the better. The first im- 
 proves my hopes ; the second, 
 my patience ; and the third, my 
 courage. I am young in years, 
 but old in what the world calls 
 adversity ; and it has had such 
 an effect, as to make me con- 
 sider it the most beneficial inci- 
 dent that could have occurred 
 at my age. It has made me 
 acquainted with three things 
 which are little known, and as 
 little believed, by any but those 
 
 who have felt their effects : first, 
 the villainy and censoriousness 
 of mankind ; secondly, the futil- 
 ity of all human hopes; and, 
 thirdly, the happiness of being 
 content in whatever station it 
 may please Providence to place 
 me. In short, it has made me 
 more of a philosopher than 
 many years of a life spent in 
 ease and pleasure would have 
 done. 
 
 " As they will no doubt pro- 
 ceed to the greatest lengths 
 against me, I being the only 
 surviving officer, and they most 
 inclined to believe a prior story, 
 all that can be said to confute 
 it will probably be looked upon 
 as mere falsity and invention. 
 Should that be my unhappy 
 case, and they resolved upon 
 my destruction as an example 
 to futurity, may God enable me 
 to bear my fate with the forti- 
 tude of a man, conscious that 
 misfortune, not any misconduct, 
 is the cause, and that the Al- 
 mighty can attest my innocence. 
 Yet why should I despond ? I 
 have, I hope, still a friend in 
 that Providence which hath pre- 
 served me amid many greater 
 dangers, and upon whom alone 
 I now depend for safety. God 
 will always protect those who 
 deserve it. These are the sole 
 considerations which have en- 
 abled me to make myself easy 
 and content under my past mis- 
 fortunes. 
 
 " Twelve more of the people 
 who were at Otaheite having 
 delivered themselves up, there 
 was a sort of a prison built OD
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 67 
 
 the after -part of the quarter- 
 deck, into which we were all 
 put in close confinement, with 
 both legs and both hands in 
 irons, and were treated with 
 great rigour, not being allowed 
 ever to get out of this den ; and, 
 being obliged to eat, drink, 
 sleep, and obey the calls of 
 nature here, you may form some 
 idea of the disagreeable situa- 
 tion I must have been in, unable 
 as I was to help myself (being 
 deprived of the use of both my 
 legs and hands), but by no means 
 adequate to the reality. 
 
 "On the gth May we left 
 Otaheitd, and proceeded to the 
 Friendly Islands, and, about 
 the beginning of August, got in 
 among the reefs of New Hol- 
 land, to endeavour to discover 
 a passage through them : but 
 it was not effected; for the 
 Pandora, ever unlucky, and as 
 if devoted by Heaven to de- 
 struction, was driven by a cur- 
 rent upon the patch of a reef, 
 and on which, there being a 
 heavy surf, she was soon almost 
 bulged to pieces ; but having 
 thrown all the guns on one side 
 overboard, and the tide flowing 
 at the same time, she beat over 
 the reef into a bason, and 
 brought up in fourteen or fif- 
 teen fathoms; but she was so 
 much damaged while on the 
 reef, that, imagining she would 
 go to pieces every moment, we 
 had contrived to wrench our- 
 selves out of our irons, and ap- 
 plied to the captain to have 
 mercy on us, and suffer us to 
 take our chance for the preserva- 
 
 tion of our lives ; but it was all 
 in vain he was even so inhu- 
 man as to order us all to be put 
 in irons again, though the ship 
 was expected to go down every 
 moment, being scarcely able to 
 keep her under with all the 
 pumps at work. 
 
 " In this miserable situation, 
 with an expected death before 
 our eyes, without the least hope 
 of relief, and in the most trying 
 state of suspense, we spent the 
 night, the ship being by the 
 hand of Providence kept up till 
 the morning. The boats by 
 this time had all been prepared ; 
 and as the captain and officers 
 were coming upon the poop or 
 roof of our prison, to abandon 
 the ship, the water being then 
 up to the combings of the 
 hatchways, we again implored 
 his mercy ; upon which he sent 
 the corporal and an armourei 
 down to let some of us out ot 
 irons; but three only were 
 suffered to go up, and the 
 scuttle being then clapped on, 
 and the master-at-arms upon it, 
 the armourer had only time to 
 let two persons out of irons, the 
 rest, except three, letting them- 
 selves out : two of these three 
 went down with them on their 
 hands, and the third was picked 
 up. She now began to heel 
 over to port so very much, that, 
 the master-at-arms sliding over- 
 board, and leaving the scuttle 
 vacant, we all tried to get up, 
 and I was the last out but three. 
 The water was then pouring in 
 at the bulk-head scuttles ; yet I 
 succeeded in getting out, and
 
 68 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 was scarcely in the sea when I 
 could see nothing above it but 
 the cross-trees, and nothing 
 around me but a scene of the 
 greatest distress. I took a 
 plank (being stark naked) and 
 swam towards an island about 
 three miles off, but was picked 
 up on my passage by one of the 
 boats. When we got ashore to 
 the small sandy key, we found 
 there were thirty -four men 
 drowned, four of whom were 
 prisoners, and among these was 
 my unfortunate messmate, Mr 
 Stewart : ten of us, and eighty- 
 nine of the Pandora's crew were 
 saved. 
 
 "When a survey was made 
 of what provisions had been 
 saved, they were found to con- 
 sist of two or three bags of 
 bread, two or three beakers of 
 water, and a little wine ; so we 
 subsisted three days upon two 
 wine-glasses of water and two 
 ounces of bread per day. On 
 the ist September we left the 
 island, and on the i6th arrived 
 at Coupang in the island of 
 Timor, having been on short 
 allowance eighteen days. We 
 were put in confinement in the 
 castle, where we remained till 
 October, and on the 5th of that 
 month were sent on board a 
 Dutch ship bound for Batavia. 
 
 " Though I have been eight 
 months in close confinement in 
 a hot climate, I have kept my 
 health in a most surprising man- 
 ner, without the least indisposi- 
 tion, and am still perfectly well 
 
 in every respect, in mind as 
 well as body; but without a 
 friend, and only a shirt and a 
 pair of trousers to put on, and 
 carry me home. Yet, with all 
 this, I have a contented mind, 
 entirely resigned to the will of 
 Providence, which conduct 
 alone enables me to soar above 
 the reach of unhappiness." 
 
 Even after they were taken 
 ashore at Batavia, the treatment 
 of these unfortunate prisoners 
 was almost as bad as it had 
 been on board the Pandora. 
 They were imprisoned in the 
 castle, closely confined in irons, 
 and miserably fed. The hard- 
 ships they endured in their 
 passage to England in a Dutch 
 ship were very severe, sleeping, 
 as they had to sleep, for seven- 
 teen months, on hard boards, 
 or wet canvas, always on short 
 allowance, and without any 
 clothes but what charity sup- 
 plied, and practical charity on 
 board ship has, at all times, 
 very limited scope; in those 
 days and circumstances, its 
 scope could not be but very 
 limited. Heywood had, how- 
 ever, during his imprisonment 
 in Batavia, learned to make 
 straw hats; and, having finished 
 some with both hands in fetters, 
 he sold them for half-a-crown 
 a-piece. With the money thus 
 acquired, he procured a suit of 
 coarse clothes, in which, appar- 
 ently with a light and cheer- 
 ful heart, he arrived at Ports- 
 mouth.
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 69 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE COURT-MARTIAL. 
 
 THE ten prisoners reached this 
 country in June, but the court- 
 martial did not meet to try them 
 till 1 2th September 1792. The 
 president was Vice-Admiral 
 Lord Hood. The members of 
 court were Captains Sir Andrew 
 Snape Hamond, Bart, John 
 Colpoys, Sir George Montagu, 
 Sir Roger Curtis, John Bakely, 
 Sir Andrew Snape Douglas, 
 John Thomas Duckworth, John 
 Nicholson Inglefield, John 
 Knight, Albemarle Bertie, Rich- 
 ard Goodwin Reats. The trial 
 took up six days. The witnesses 
 examined were Fryer, the master 
 of the Bounty; Peckover, the 
 gunner; Purcell, the carpenter; 
 Hayward and Hallet, now lieu- 
 tenants ; Captain Edwards, and 
 Lieutenant Corner. The wit- 
 nesses all except Hayward and 
 Hallet seemed to give straight- 
 forward evidence with a kindly 
 feeling towards the prisoners. 
 It came out during cross-ex- 
 amination, that in the hurry and 
 excitement of the moment when 
 Bligh and his companions were 
 being put in the open boat, an 
 expectation arose that Fryer 
 would make an attempt before 
 leaving to recover the Bounty 
 from Christian. He admitted 
 if he had ventured on this trial 
 of daring and pluck, Heywood 
 and Morrison would have been 
 the first he would have taken 
 into counsel, and that he would 
 
 have relied on them with con- 
 fidence. Hayward does not 
 come well out of the trial. It 
 is never to be forgotten that at 
 all trials criminal trials and 
 the trials of life the witnesses 
 are on their trial too. As they 
 act truthfully and sympathetic- 
 ally, or the reverse, so are they 
 judged of outside and afterwards 
 by a wider or more limited 
 public. Mr Hay ward's evidence 
 does not leave on the mind of 
 one who has the patience to 
 read it through, a desire to know 
 any more about him. He seem- 
 ed determined to do his best to 
 secure a conviction, especially 
 against his former bosom friend 
 Heywood. This was of a piece 
 with his conduct on board the 
 Pandora in Matavai Bay, when 
 Heywood gave himself up. 
 Hallet again was the only one 
 who saw Heywood laughing 
 when Captain Bligh, with his 
 hands tied behind him, made 
 an earnest appeal to the latter. 
 This was one of the points for 
 which Heywood was condemn- 
 ed to death. Subsequently 
 Hallet expressed deep regret 
 for almost putting the neck of 
 an old friend into the noose. 
 He became convinced either 
 that he did not see anybody 
 laughing, or that it must have 
 been somebody other than Hey- 
 wood. This young gentleman 
 read an eloquent defence, and
 
 70 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 cross-examined the witnesses 
 with skill and to the point. His 
 mother had retained Erskine, 
 then at the height of his fame, 
 as counsel for the defence, but 
 Heywood requested her to drop 
 this expensive engagement, as 
 it really would be of no avail 
 in a trial by court-martial. Mr 
 Aaron Graham, who had been 
 secretary to the different admir- 
 als on the Newfoundland sta- 
 tions for twelve years, and was 
 subsequently highly respected 
 as a public magistrate in Lon- 
 don, rendered Heywood valu- 
 able assistance in the get-up and 
 management of his case. Mor- 
 rison also, and the others who 
 could say anything for them- 
 selves, read defences and cross- 
 examined the witnesses. Elli- 
 son, Millward, and Burkitt, who 
 had been obtrusively active at 
 every stage of the mutiny, had 
 little to offer either in defence 
 or in exculpation of the charge 
 against them. On the sixth 
 day, that is the i8th of Sep- 
 tember, sentence was given : 
 "That the charges had been 
 proved against the said Peter 
 Heywood, James Morrison, 
 Thomas Ellison, Thomas Bur- 
 kitt, John Millward, and William 
 Muspratt; and did adjudge 
 them, and each of them, to 
 suffer death, by being hanged 
 by the neck, on board such of 
 His Majesty's ship or ships of 
 war, and at such time or times, 
 and at such place or places, as 
 the commissioners for executing 
 the office of Lord High Admiral 
 of Great Britain and Ireland, 
 
 etc., or any three of them, for 
 the time being, should, in writ- 
 ing, under their hands, direct ; 
 but the Court, in consideration 
 of various circumstances, did 
 humbly and most earnestly re- 
 commend the said Peter Hey- 
 wood and James Morrison to 
 His Majesty's mercy; and the 
 Court further agreed, that the 
 charges had not been proved 
 against the said Charles Nor- 
 man, Joseph Coleman, Thomas 
 M'Intosh, and Michael Byrne, 
 and did adjudge them, and each 
 of them, to be acquitted." 
 
 A very common feeling pre- 
 vailed that Heywood and Morri- 
 son had been hardly dealt with, 
 in having the sentence of death 
 passed upon them, tempered 
 though it was with a recom- 
 mendation to the king's mercy. 
 The court, however, had no dis- 
 cretionary power. They were 
 bound to record either a sen- 
 tence of death or a full acquittal. 
 The case was a mutiny aggra- 
 vated by the piratical seizure of 
 a king's ship. 
 
 The four points which told 
 against Heywood were (i.) 
 That he assisted in hoisting out 
 the launch; (2.) That he was 
 seen by the carpenter resting 
 his hand upon a cutlass; (j.) 
 That on being called to by Lieu- 
 tenant Bligh, he laughed; (4.) 
 That he remained in the Bounty, 
 instead of accompanying Bligh 
 in the launch. On these mater- 
 ial parts of the evidence against 
 him he drew up a very clear 
 and manly memorandum, and 
 got it transmitted to the Earl of
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 71 
 
 Chatham, then First Lord of the 
 Admiralty. Friends outside, 
 especially Heywood's uncle, 
 Commodore Pasley, and Mr 
 Graham, were indefatigable in 
 their exertions to procure a 
 pardon for the two men re- 
 commended to mercy especi- 
 ally for Heywood. The final 
 result was, that on the 24th 
 October, the king's warrant was 
 despatched from the Admiralty, 
 granting a full and free pardon 
 to Heywood and Morrison, a 
 respite for Muspratt, which was 
 followed by a pardon ; and for 
 carrying the sentence of Ellison, 
 Burkitt, and Mill ward into execu- 
 tion, which was done on the 
 29th, on board his Majesty's 
 ship Brunswick, in Portsmouth 
 harbour. On this melancholy 
 occasion, Captain Hamond re- 
 ports that "the criminals be- 
 haved with great penitence and 
 decorum, acknowledged the jus- 
 tice of their sentence for the 
 crime of which they had been 
 found guilty, and exhorted their 
 fellow-sailors to take warning 
 by their untimely fate, and what- 
 ever might be their hardships, 
 never to forget their obedience 
 to their officers, as a duty they 
 owed to their king and country." 
 The captain adds, "A party 
 from each ship in the harbour, 
 and at Spithead, attended the 
 execution, and, from the reports 
 I have received, the example 
 seems to have made a great 
 impression upon the minds of 
 all the ships' companies pre- 
 sent" 
 
 When the king's full and free 
 
 pardon had been read to Hey- 
 wood by Captain Montagu, with 
 a suitable admonition and con- 
 gratulation, he addressed that 
 officer in the following terms : 
 "Sir, when the sentence of 
 the law was passed upon me, I 
 received it, I trust, as became a 
 man ; and if it had been carried 
 into execution, I should have 
 met my fate, I hope, in a manner 
 becoming a Christian. Your 
 admonition cannot fail to make 
 a lasting impression on mymind. 
 I receive with gratitude my sove- 
 reign's mercy, for which my 
 future life shall be faithfully 
 devoted to his service." Hey- 
 wood's future career was in no 
 way prejudiced by the misfor- 
 tunes of his early life. Lord 
 Hood, who presided at the trial, 
 earnestly recommended him to 
 embark again as midshipman 
 without delay, offering to take 
 him into his own ship, the Vic- 
 tory. Commodore Pasley re- 
 spectfully declined this offer on 
 Heywood's behalf. He went 
 first on board his uncle's ship, 
 the Bellerophon. He was sub- 
 sequently appointed lieutenant 
 to La Nymph, and was actively 
 employed in Lord Bridport's 
 action off L'Orient, when three 
 French ships were taken. As 
 captain of the Leopard, Hey- 
 wood made extensive surveys of 
 the north-east and east coasts 
 of Ceylon, and also of the coasts 
 of India and the Eastern Islands. 
 He was subsequently employed 
 in important diplomatic services 
 in South America. On his re- 
 turn, he served first in the North
 
 72 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 Sea Fleet, and afterward in the 
 Channel Squadron. His last 
 appointment was to the Medi- 
 terranean Fleet under Viscount 
 Exmouth. At the conclusion 
 of the war, when the naval ar- 
 maments were reduced, Captain 
 Heywood retired into private 
 life. The remaining years of 
 his honourable life were spent 
 in endeavours to further the in- 
 terests of the navy, which kept 
 him in constant communication 
 with the hydrographical depart- 
 ment of the Admiralty. " Dur- 
 ing his latter years," writes Lady 
 Belcher, " Captain Heywood 
 laboured under a fatal heart 
 disease, which he bore with 
 Christian calmness and thank- 
 fulness for the many blessings 
 he had enjoyed, averring that, 
 notwithstanding the sufferings 
 and anxieties which had attend- 
 ed his early career, he would 
 willingly pass through his life 
 again, with all its trials and 
 vicissitudes." He died on the 
 loth of February i83r. 
 
 After his release, Morrison 
 served in several ships. When 
 Admiral Sir Thomas Trowbridge 
 was sent out in the Blenheim 
 as commander-in-chief on the 
 Indian station, he was appointed 
 gunner on board the flag-ship. 
 
 A last word about Captain 
 Bligh, in the language of Lady 
 Belcher : " He was aftenvards 
 employed in active service, and 
 on the occasion of the remark- 
 able mutiny at the Nore, was 
 ordered to negotiate among the 
 seamen, with the view of bring- 
 ing them to a sense of their 
 
 duty ; on which occasion he 
 acted with great intrepidity. In 
 the two famous actions of Cape 
 St Vincent and Camperdown, 
 Captain Bligh commanded the 
 Glatton, and also at the battle of 
 Copenhagen. On the latter oc- 
 casion, Lord Nelson sent for him, 
 and thanked him for his admir- 
 able support during the action. 
 " In 1805, he was appointed 
 governor of New South Wales, 
 and there his oppressive, arbi- 
 trary conduct raised against him 
 a host of enemies. He had 
 been instructed by the home 
 government to restrain within 
 certain limits the importation of 
 spirits into the colony; and 
 many men might have intro- 
 duced this unpalatable reform 
 without creating such hostile and 
 dangerous opposition. Bligh, 
 however, had no tact, no spirit 
 of conciliation, and, in conse- 
 quence, he was the cause of a 
 military mutiny. In January 
 1808, the New South Wales 
 corps, commanded by Lieuten- 
 ant-Colonel G. Johnstone, de- 
 posed Governor Bligh, and 
 placed him on board a ship 
 proceeding to England. On 
 his arrival, the public were not 
 surprised to hear he had been 
 sent away in so summary a 
 manner; but the Government 
 were, of course, compelled to 
 order a court-martial on Colonel 
 Johnstone, who came to Eng- 
 land with several officers for his 
 trial. It was held in Chelsea 
 Hospital, and lasted thirteen 
 days. Colonel Johnstone was 
 convicted of mutiny, and cash-
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 73 
 
 iered, but allowed to return to 
 the colony, and no executions 
 took place. 
 
 " Captain Bligh then retired 
 into private life, where he ap- 
 pears to have displayed more 
 amiability of character than in 
 any public capacity, as he was 
 beloved by his family and friends. 
 He attained the rank of vice- 
 admiral of the blue, and died in 
 London at the age of sixty-five." 
 
 There are mutineers and men 
 
 who have a faculty for provoking 
 mutinies. Captain Bligh seems 
 to have had the latter peculiarity 
 in a large state of development. 
 That such men do exist, and 
 that their specialty finds ready 
 scope when they are put in 
 offices of trust and authority, is 
 a fact which should never be 
 overlooked when the circum- 
 stances of any riot, tumult, re- 
 volt, rebellion, or mutiny are 
 being inquired into. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PITCAIRN ISLAND. 
 
 TWENTY years had gone by, 
 when a new interest was aroused 
 in the matter of the Bounty and 
 her mutineers, which has by 
 various circumstances been kept 
 fresh to the present day. Flet- 
 cher Christian and his fugitive 
 associates had for that period 
 ceased to occupy the general 
 public mind. The subject had 
 been dismissed on the assump- 
 tion that the Bounty and those 
 on board had gone to the bot- 
 tom of the sea, or that the 
 routineers had met the retribu- 
 tion supposed to be justly due 
 to their criminal conduct at the 
 hands of one or other of the 
 groups of savage islanders. An 
 American trading vessel, how- 
 ever, made an accidental dis- 
 covery, which was as interesting 
 as it was wholly unexpected. 
 
 The first intimation of this ex 
 traordinary discovery was trans- 
 mitted by Sir Sydney Smith 
 from Rio de Janeiro, and was 
 received at the Admiralty on 
 May 14, 1809. It was con- 
 veyed to Sir Sidney Smith from 
 Valparaiso by Lieutenant Fitz- 
 maurice, and ran thus : " Cap- 
 tain Folger, of the American 
 ship Topaz, of Boston, relates 
 that on landing on Pitcairn 
 Island, in lat 25 2' S., long. 
 130 W., he found there an 
 Englishman, of the name of 
 Alexander Smith, the only per- 
 son remaining of nine that es- 
 caped in his Majesty's late 
 ship Bounty, Captain W. Bligh. 
 Smith relates that, after putting 
 Captain Bligh in the boat, 
 Christian, the leader of the 
 mutiny, took command of the
 
 74 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 ship and went to Otaheite, 
 where great part of the crew 
 left her, except Christian, Smith, 
 and seven others, who each took 
 wives, and six Otaheitan men- 
 servants, and shortly after ar- 
 rived at said island (Pitcairn), 
 where they ran the ship on 
 shore, and broke her up. This 
 event took place in the year 
 1790. 
 
 " About four years after their 
 arrival (a great jealousy exist- 
 ing), the Otaheitans secretly re- 
 volted, and killed every English- 
 man except himself, whom they 
 severely wounded in the neck 
 with a pistol-ball. The same 
 night, the widows of the de- 
 ceased Englishmen arose and 
 put to death the whole of the 
 Otaheitans, leaving Smith the 
 only man alive upon the island, 
 with eight or nine women and 
 several small children. On his 
 recovery he applied himself to 
 tilling the ground, so that it 
 now produces plenty of yams, 
 cocoa-nuts, bananas, and plan- 
 tains ; hogs and poultry in 
 abundance. There are now 
 some grown-up men and women, 
 children of the mutineers, on 
 the island, the whole population 
 amounting to about thirty-five, 
 who acknowledge Smith as father 
 and commander of them all: 
 they all speak English, and have 
 been educated by him (as Cap- 
 tain Folger represents) in a re- 
 ligions and moral way. 
 
 "The second mate of the 
 Topaz asserts that Christian, 
 the ringleader, became insane 
 shortly after their arrival on the 
 
 island, and threw himself off the 
 rocks into the sea ; another died 
 of a fever before the massacre 
 of the remaining six took place. 
 The island is badly supplied 
 with water, sufficient only for 
 the present inhabitants, and no 
 anchorage. 
 
 " Smith gave to Captain Fol- 
 ger a chronometer made by 
 Kendall, which was taken from 
 him by the governor of Juan 
 Fernandez. 
 
 " Extracted from the log-book 
 of the Topaz, 2pth Sept. 1808. 
 " (Signed) WM. FITZMAURICE, 
 
 " Lieut. 
 "Valparaiso, Oct. 10, 1808." 
 
 This narrative stated two facts 
 that established its general 
 authenticity, the name of Alex- 
 ander Smith, who was one of 
 the mutineers, and the name of 
 the maker of the chronometer 
 with which the Bounty was actu- 
 ally supplied. The war which 
 was raging in Europe at that 
 time, was too engrossing to leave 
 the British government any time 
 to take the measures which this 
 well authenticated information 
 would seem to have demanded. 
 Nothing further was heard of 
 Smith and his family till the 
 latter part of 1814, when a letter 
 was transmitted by Rear-Admir- 
 al Hotham, then cruising off the 
 coast of America, from Mr Fol- 
 ger himself, to the same effect 
 as the preceding extract from 
 his log, but dated March 1813. 
 
 In 1814 the British govern- 
 ment had two frigates cruising 
 in the Pacific the Briton, com-
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 75 
 
 manded by Sir Thomas Staines, 
 and the Tagus, by Captain 
 Pipon. The following letter 
 from Sir Thomas Staines was 
 received at the Admiralty early 
 in the year 1815. 
 
 "Briton, Valparaiso, 
 " iWi October 1814. 
 "I have the honour to inform 
 you that on my passage from 
 the Marquesas Islands to this 
 port, on the morning of the iyth 
 of September, I fell in with an 
 island where none is laid down 
 in the Admiralty or other charts, 
 according to the several chrono- 
 meters of the Briton and the 
 Tagu s. I therefore hove to, until 
 daylight, and then closed to ascer- 
 tain whether it was inhabited, 
 which I soon discovered it to 
 be, and to my great astonish- 
 ment, found that every indi- 
 vidual on the island (forty in 
 number) spoke very good Eng- 
 lish. They proved to be the 
 descendants of the deluded crew 
 of the Bounty, who, from Ota- 
 heite, proceeded to the above- 
 mentioned island, where the 
 ship was burned. 
 
 " Christian appeared to have 
 been the leader and sole cause 
 of the mutiny in that ship. A 
 venerable old man, named John 
 Adams, is the only surviving 
 Englishman of those who last 
 quitted Otaheite in her, and 
 whose exemplary conduct, and 
 fatherly care of the whole of the 
 little colony, could not but com- 
 mand admiration. The pious 
 manner in which all those born 
 on the island have been reared, 
 
 the correct sense of religion 
 which has been instilled into 
 their young minds by this old 
 man, has given him the pre-em- 
 inence over the whole of them, 
 to whom they look up as the 
 father of one and the whole 
 family. 
 
 " A son of Christian was the 
 first born on the island, now 
 about twenty-five years of age, 
 named Thursday October Chris- 
 tian: the elder Christian fell a 
 sacrifice to the jealousy of an 
 Otaheitan man, within three or 
 four years after their arrival on 
 the island. The mutineers were 
 accompanied thither by six Ota- 
 heitan men and twelve women ; 
 the former were all swept away 
 by desperate contentions be- 
 tween them and the Englishmen, 
 and five of the latter died at 
 different periods, leaving at pre- 
 sent only one man (Adams) and 
 seven women of the original 
 settlers. 
 
 "The island must undoubt- 
 edly be that called Pitcairn, al- 
 though erroneously laid down 
 in the charts. We had the alti- 
 tude of the meridian sun close 
 to it, which gave us 25 4' S. 
 latitude, and 130 25' W. longi- 
 tude, by the chronometers of 
 the Briton and Tagus. 
 
 "It produces in abundance 
 yams, plantains, hogs, goats, 
 and fowls ; but the coast affords 
 no shelter for a ship or vessel 
 of any description; neither could 
 a ship water there without great 
 difficulty. 
 
 "I cannot, however, refrain 
 from offering my opinion, that
 
 76 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 it is well worthy the attention 
 of our laudable religious so- 
 cieties, particularly that for pro- 
 pagating the Christian religion, 
 the whole of the inhabitants 
 speaking the Otaheitan tongue 
 as well as English. 
 
 " During the whole time they 
 have been on the island, only 
 one ship has ever communicat- 
 ed with them, which took place 
 about six years since ; and this 
 was the American ship Topaz, 
 of Boston, Matthew Folger, 
 master. 
 
 "The island is completely 
 iron-bound with rocky shores, 
 and the landing in boats must 
 be at all times difficult, although 
 the island may be safely ap- 
 proached within a small distance 
 by a ship. 
 
 "(Signed) T. STAINES." 
 
 Such is the first account of 
 this peculiar little colony, which 
 may be regarded as official, 
 being direct from an English 
 officer who wrote from his own 
 observation. 
 
 Captain Pipon writes, if the 
 discovery of a new island, as 
 they at first thought the Pitcairn 
 was, awakened their curiosity, 
 it was still more excited when 
 they ran in for land the next 
 morning, on perceiving a few 
 huts, neatly built, amidst planta- 
 tions laid out apparently with 
 something like order and regu- 
 larity; and these appearances 
 confirmed them more than ever 
 that it could not be Pitcairn's 
 Island, because that was de- 
 scribed by navigators to be un- 
 
 inhabited. Presently they ob 
 served a few natives coming 
 down a steep descent with their 
 canoes on their shoulders ; and 
 in a few minutes perceived one 
 of those little vessels darting 
 through a heavy surf, and pad- 
 dling off towards the ships ; but 
 their astonishment was extreme 
 when, on coming alongside, they 
 were hailed in the English Ian 
 guage with, " Won't you heave 
 us a rope now ? " 
 
 The first young man that 
 sprung, with extraordinary alac- 
 rity, up the side, and stood be- 
 fore them on the deck, said, in 
 reply to the question, "Who 
 are you?" that his name was 
 Thursday October Christian, 
 son of the late Fletcher Chris- 
 tian by an Otaheitan mother; 
 that he was the first born on the 
 island, and that he was so called 
 because he was brought into the 
 world on a Thursday in Octo- 
 ber. Singularly strange as all 
 this was to Sir Thomas Staines 
 and Captain Pipon, this youth 
 soon satisfied them that he was 
 no other than the person he re- 
 presented himself to be, and 
 that he was fully acquainted 
 with the whole history of the 
 Bounty ; and, in short, that the 
 island before them was the re- 
 treat of the mutineers of that 
 ship. Young Christian was, at 
 this time, about twenty-four 
 years of age, a fine tall youth, 
 full six feet high, with dark, al- 
 most black, hair, and a counte- 
 nance open and extremely in- 
 teresting. As he wore no 
 clothes except a piece of cloCi
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 77 
 
 round his loins, and a straw 
 hat, ornamented with black 
 cock's feathers, his fine figure 
 and well-shaped muscular limbs 
 were displayed to great advan- 
 tage, and attracted general ad- 
 miration. His body was much 
 tanned by exposure to the 
 weather, and his countenance 
 had a brownish cast, unmixed, 
 however, with that tinge of red 
 so common among the natives 
 of the Pacific islands. 
 
 " Added to a great share of 
 good humour, we were glad to 
 trace," says Captain Pipon, "in 
 his benevolent countenance, all 
 the features of an honest English 
 face." His manner of speaking 
 English was exceedingly pleas- 
 ing, and correct both in grammar 
 and pronunciation. His com- 
 panion was a handsome youth, 
 seventeen or eighteen years of 
 age, named George Young, the 
 son of Young the midshipman. 
 When Sir Thomas Staines took 
 the youths below, and gave 
 them something to eat, his sur- 
 prise and interest were deeply 
 excited when they both rose up, 
 and one of them, placing his 
 hands together in a posture of 
 devotion, said grace in the words 
 well known to an Englishman, 
 " For what we are going to re- 
 ceive, the Lord make us truly 
 thankful." 
 
 So many things new to them, 
 the size of the ship and of the 
 guns, indeed everything around 
 them, seemed to astonish the 
 youths Observing a cow, they 
 were at first somewhat alarmed, 
 and exoressed a doubt whether 
 
 it was a huge goat or a horned 
 hog, these being the only two 
 species of quadrupeds they had 
 ever seen. A little dog amused 
 them much. "Oh! what a 
 pretty little thing it is !" exclaim- 
 ed Young. "I know it is a dog, 
 for I have heard of such an 
 animal." These young men re- 
 ferred the two captains to an 
 old man on shore, whose name, 
 they said, was John Adams, the 
 only surviving Englishman that 
 came away in the Bounty, at 
 which time he was called Alex- 
 ander Smith. This information 
 induced the two captains to go 
 on shore. Old Adams, having 
 ascertained that the two officers 
 alone had landed, and without 
 arms, concluded they had no 
 intention to take him prisoner, 
 and ventured to come down to 
 the beach, from whence he con- 
 ducted them to his house. He 
 was accompanied by his wife, a 
 very old woman, and nearly 
 blind. It seems they were both 
 at first considerably alarmed; the 
 sight of the king's uniform, after 
 so many years, having no doubt 
 brought fresh to the recollection 
 of Adams the conspicuous part 
 he had acted in the mutiny of 
 the Bounty. Sir Thomas Staines, 
 however, set his mind at ease on 
 this main score. Adams pre- 
 tended that he had no great 
 share in the mutiny, that he was 
 sick in bed when it broke out, 
 and that when he got on deck 
 he was compelled to take hold 
 of a musket. He expressed 
 himself ready and seemed de- 
 sirous to return to England in
 
 78 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 one of the ships ; but the tears 
 of the women, and apparent 
 deep grief of the young men, 
 put this altogether out of the 
 question. The two captains 
 learned from Adams, alias 
 Smith, that Fletcher Christian, 
 after landing on this island the 
 hogs, goats, and poultry, which 
 had been brought from Otaheite, 
 ordered the Bounty to be set on 
 fire, with a view, no doubt, of 
 preventing any escape from the 
 island; and also, of removing 
 an object which, if seen, might 
 be the means of betraying his 
 retreat. He seems to have lived 
 a most miserable life for the 
 short time he was spared in Pit- 
 cairn Island. Sullen and mor- 
 ose, he committed many acts of 
 wanton oppression; and this 
 led to his fate he was shot by 
 an Otaheitan while digging in 
 his field, about eleven months 
 after they had settled on the 
 island, and his death was only 
 the commencement of feuds and 
 assassinations, which ended in 
 the total destruction of the whole 
 party, except Adams and Young. 
 By the account of the former, 
 the settlers from this time be- 
 came divided into two parties, 
 and their grievances and quar- 
 rels proceeded to such a height, 
 that each took every opportunity 
 of putting the other to death. 
 Old John Adams was himself 
 shot through the neck ; but the 
 ball having entered the fleshy 
 part only, he was enabled to 
 make his escape, and avoid the 
 fury of his assailants. The im- 
 mediate cause of Christian's 
 
 murder was his having forcibly 
 seized on the wife of one of the 
 Otaheitan men, which so exas- 
 perated the rest, that they not 
 only sought the life of the 
 offender, but of others also, 
 who might, as they thought, be 
 disposed to pursue the same 
 course. 
 
 This interesting little colony 
 was now found to contain about 
 forty-six persons, mostly grown- 
 up young people, with a few 
 infants. The young men, all 
 born on the island, were finely 
 formed, athletic and handsome ; 
 their countenances open and 
 pleasing, indicating much bene- 
 volence and goodness of heart : 
 but the young women particu- 
 larly were objects of attraction, 
 being tall, robust, and beauti- 
 fully formed, their faces beaming 
 with smiles, and indicating un- 
 ruffled good humour: while 
 their manners and demeanour 
 exhibited a commendable degree 
 of modesty and bashfulness. 
 Their teeth were beautifully 
 white, and perfectly regular, 
 without a single exception ; and 
 all of them had the marked 
 expression of English features, 
 minus the clear red and white 
 skin, they being fine brunettes. 
 Adams assured Sir Thomas 
 Staines and Captain Pipon, that 
 not one instance of debauchery 
 or immoral conduct had occur- 
 red on the island. The prin- 
 ciples of morality and religion 
 he had taught them, had hitherto 
 controlled their conduct. The 
 young women, with great sim- 
 plicity, told Captain Pipon that
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 79 
 
 they were not married, and that 
 their father, as they called 
 Adams, had told them it was 
 right they should wait with 
 patience, till they had acquired 
 sufficient property to bring up 
 a young family, before they 
 thought of marrying ; and that 
 they always followed his advice, 
 because they knew it to be 
 good. 
 
 It appeared that, from the 
 time when Adams was left alone 
 on the island, the sole survivor 
 of all the males that had landed 
 from the Bounty, European and 
 Otaheitan, the greatest harmony 
 had prevailed in their little 
 society; they all declared that 
 no serious quarrels ever occurred 
 among them, though a few hasty 
 words might now and then be 
 uttered, but, to make use of 
 their own expression, they were 
 only quarrels of the mouth. 
 Adams assured his visitors that 
 they were all strictly honest in 
 all their dealings, lending or ex- 
 changing their various articles 
 of live stock or produce with 
 each other, in the most friendly 
 manner; and if any little dis- 
 pute occurred, he never found 
 any difficulty to rectify the mis- 
 take or misunderstanding that 
 might have caused it, to the 
 satisfaction of both parties. 
 
 The young girls, although 
 they had only the example of 
 their Otaheitan mothers to fol- 
 low in their dress, were modestly 
 clothed, having generally a piece 
 of cloth of their own manufac- 
 ture, reaching from the waist to 
 the knees, and a mantle, or 
 
 something of that nature, thrown 
 loosely over the shoulders, and 
 hanging sometimes as low as the 
 ankles : this mantle, however, 
 was frequently thrown aside, 
 being used rather as a shelter 
 for their bodies from the heat 
 of the sun, or the severity of the 
 weather, than for the sake of 
 attaching any idea of immodesty 
 to the upper part of the person 
 being uncovered ; and it is not 
 possible, says Captain Pipon, to 
 behold finer forms than are 
 exhibited by this partial expo- 
 sure. He observes, "It was 
 pleasing to see the good taste 
 and quickness with which they 
 form little shades or parasols of 
 green leaves, to place over the 
 head or bonnets, to keep the 
 sun from their eyes. A young 
 girl made one of these in my 
 presence, with such neatness 
 and alacrity, as to satisfy me 
 that a fashionable dressmaker of 
 London would be delighted with 
 the simplicity and elegant taste 
 of these untaught females." The 
 same young girl, he says, accom- 
 panied them to the boat, carry- 
 ing on her shoulders, as a pre- 
 sent, a large basket of yams, 
 " over such roads and down 
 such precipices, as were scarcely 
 passable by any creatures except 
 goats, and over which we could 
 scarcely scramble with the help 
 of our hands. Yet with this 
 load on her shoulders, she skip- 
 ped from rock to rock like a 
 young roe." 
 
 Having supplied Adams and 
 his family with some tools, 
 kettles, and other articles, the
 
 50 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 two officers took leave of them. 
 Their interesting report of the 
 infant colony, produced as little 
 effect on the government as 
 that of Folger; and nothing 
 more was heard of it, for twelve 
 years nearly, when in 1825, 
 Captain Beechey, in the Blos- 
 som, bound on a voyage of dis- 
 covery, paid a visit to Pitcairn 
 Island. Some whale - fishing 
 ship, however, had touched there 
 in the meantime, and left on 
 the island a person of the name 
 of John Buffet. In this man, 
 they very fortunately found an 
 able and willing schoolmaster: 
 he had belonged to a ship which 
 visited the island, and was so 
 attracted by the behaviour of the 
 people, being himself naturally 
 of a devout and serious turn of 
 mind, that he resolved to remain 
 among them ; and, in addition 
 to the instruction of the children, 
 took upon himself the duty of 
 clergyman, and became the 
 oracle of the community. 
 
 On the approach of the Blos- 
 som towards the island, a boat 
 was observed, under all sail, 
 hastening towards the ship, 
 which they considered to be the 
 boat of some whaler, but were 
 soon agreeably undeceived by 
 the singular appearance of her 
 crew, which consisted of old 
 Adams and many of the young 
 men belonging to the island. 
 They did not venture at once 
 to lay hold of the ship till they 
 had first inquired if they might 
 come on board ; and on permis- 
 sion being granted, they sprung 
 up the side, and shook every 
 
 officer by the hand with undis- 
 guised feelings of gratification. 
 The activity of the young men, 
 ten in number, outstripped that 
 of old Adams, who was in his 
 sixty-fifth year, and somewhat 
 corpulent. He was dressed in 
 a sailor's shirt and trousers, and 
 a low-crowned hat, which he 
 held in his hand until desired 
 to put it on. He still retained 
 his sailor's manners, doffing his 
 hat and smoothing down 'his 
 bald forehead whenever he was 
 addressed by the officers of the 
 Blossom. The young men 
 were tall, robust, and healthy, 
 with good-natured countenances 
 and a simplicity of manner, and 
 a fear of doing something that 
 might be wrong, which at once 
 prevented the possibility of 
 giving offence. Their dresses 
 were whimsical enough; some 
 had long coats without trousers, 
 and others trousers without coats, 
 and others again waistcoats with- 
 out either. None of them had 
 either shoes or stockings, and 
 there were only two hats among 
 them, " neither of which," Cap- 
 tain Beechey says, " seemed 
 likely to hang long together." 
 
 Captain Beechey procured 
 from Adams a great many de- 
 tails regarding the broils and 
 disputes which led to the de- 
 struction and death of all his 
 guilty companions of the Bounty ; 
 but space need not be taken up 
 here with many of them. One 
 of the mutineers, M'Koy, it 
 appears, had formerly been em- 
 ployed in a Scotch distillery, 
 and, being much addicted to
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 81 
 
 ardent spirits, set about making 
 experiments on the tee-root, 
 (Dracaena terminalis), and at 
 length unfortunately succeeded 
 in producing an intoxicating 
 liquor. This success induced 
 his companion Quintal to turn 
 his kettle into a still. The con- 
 sequence was, that these two 
 men were in a constant state 
 of drunkenness, particularly 
 M'Koy, on whom, it seems, it 
 had the effect of producing fits 
 of delirium ; and in one of these 
 he threw himself from a cliff, 
 and was killed on the spot. 
 Captain Beechey says, " The 
 melancholy fate of this man 
 created so forcible an impression 
 on the remaining few, that they 
 resolved never again to touch 
 spirits ; and Adams has, I be- 
 lieve, to this day kept his vow." 
 After many bloody scenes, 
 Adams and Young were left the 
 sole survivors out of the fifteen 
 males that had landed upon the 
 island. Young was a man of 
 some education, and of a ser- 
 ious turn of mind ; and it would 
 have been wonderful, after the 
 many dreadful scenes at which 
 they had assisted, if the solitude 
 and tranquillity that ensued had 
 not disposed them to repent- 
 ance. They had a Bible and a 
 Prayer-Book, which were found 
 in the Bounty, and they read 
 the Church Service regularly 
 every Sunday. They now re- 
 solved to have morning and 
 evening family prayers, and 
 to instruct the children, who 
 amounted to nineteen, many of 
 them between the ages of seven 
 
 and nine years. Young, how- 
 ever, was not long suffered to 
 survive his repentance. An 
 asthmatic complaint terminated 
 his existence. 
 
 Another peculiarity in Adams' 
 account of the ultimate fate of 
 the mutineers on this occasion, 
 is worthy of notice. Like his 
 account of where he was on the 
 morning of the mutiny, it does 
 not impress one with a convic- 
 tion of the infallible accuracy of 
 the statements of this patriarch. 
 His sincere repentance, and 
 subsequent excellent conduct, 
 however, renders one indispos- 
 ed to take further notice of his 
 inaccuracies, than is necessary 
 to give a fair sense of what he 
 said. He told two different 
 stories with regard to the con- 
 duct of Christian. To Sir 
 Thomas Staines and Captain 
 Pipon, he represented this ill- 
 fated young man as never happy, 
 after the rash and criminal step 
 he had taken, and that he was 
 always sullen and morose, and 
 committed so many acts of 
 cruelty, as to incur the hatred 
 and detestation of his associates 
 in crime. Whereas he told 
 Captain Beechey, that Christian 
 was always cheerful; that his 
 example was of the greatest ser- 
 vice in exciting his companions 
 to labour ; that he was naturally 
 of a happy, ingenuous disposi- 
 tion, and won the good opinion 
 and respect of all who served 
 under him' which cannot be 
 better exemplified, he says, than 
 by his, maintaining, under cir- 
 cumstances of great perplexity, 
 f
 
 82 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 the respect and regard of all 
 who were associated with him 
 up to the hour of his death. 
 The truth of the matter appears 
 to be that Christian, so far from 
 being cheerful, was, on the con- 
 trary, always uneasy in his mind 
 about his own safety, and this 
 is proved by his having selected 
 a cave at the extremity of the 
 high ridge of craggy hills that 
 runs across the island, as his in- 
 tended place of refuge, in the 
 event of any ship of war dis- 
 covering the retreat of the mu- 
 tineers, in which cave he resolv- 
 ed to sell his life as dearly as he 
 could. In this recess he always 
 kept a store of provisions, and 
 near it erected a small hut, well 
 concealed by trees, which served 
 the purpose of a watch-house. 
 "So difficult," says Captain 
 Beechey, " was the approach to 
 this cave, that even if a party 
 were successful in crossing the 
 Tidge, he might have bid de- 
 fiance, as long as his ammuni- 
 tion lasted, to any force." 
 
 The Blossom was the first 
 ship of war that Adams had 
 been on, since the mutiny. It 
 was several hours before the 
 ship approached the shore, and 
 the boats put off before she 
 came to an anchor. 
 
 On account of the rocks and 
 formidable breakers, the party 
 who went on shore were landed 
 by the young men, two at a 
 time, in their whale-boat. " The 
 difficulty of landing," says Cap- 
 tain Beechey, "was more than 
 repaid by the friendly reception 
 we met with on the beach from 
 
 Hannah Young, a very interest- 
 ing young woman, the daughter 
 of Adams. In her eagerness to 
 greet her father, she had outrun 
 her female companions, for 
 whose delay she thought it 
 necessary, in the first place, to 
 apologise, by saying they had 
 all been over the hill in com- 
 pany with John Buffet, to 
 look at the ship, and were not 
 yet returned. It appeared that 
 John Buffet, who had been a 
 seafaring man, had ascertained 
 that the ship was a man-of-war, 
 and, without knowing exactly 
 why, became so alarmed and 
 there was good reason for his 
 alarm, for any of these captains 
 might have made Adams a pri- 
 soner for the safety of the old 
 man, that he either could not or 
 would notansweranyof the inter- 
 rogatories which were put to him. 
 This mysterious silence set all 
 the party in tears, as they feared 
 he had discovered something 
 adverse to their patriarch. At 
 length his obduracy yielded to 
 their entreaties; but before he 
 explained the cause of his con- 
 duct, the boats were seen to put 
 off from the ship, and Hannah 
 immediately hurried to the 
 beach to kiss the old man's 
 cheek, which she did with a 
 fervency demonstrative of the 
 warmest affections. 
 
 Captain Beechey, after de- 
 scribing many of the manners 
 and customs of the island, goes 
 on to tell that during their stay, 
 they dined sometimes with one 
 person, sometimes with another 
 their meals being always thr,
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 83 
 
 same, and consisting of baked 
 pig, yams, and taro, and some- 
 times sweet potatoes. Goats 
 were numerous on the island; 
 but neither their flesh nor their 
 milk was relished by the natives. 
 Yams constituted their principal 
 food, either boiled, baked, or 
 mixed with cocoa-nut, made 
 into cakes, and eaten with mo- 
 lasses extracted from the tee- 
 root Taro-root is no bad sub- 
 stitute for bread ; and bananas, 
 plaintains, and appot, are whole- 
 some and nutritive fruits. The 
 common beverage was water; 
 but they made tea from the tee- 
 plant, flavoured with ginger, and 
 sweetened with the juice of the 
 sugar-cane. They but seldom 
 killed a pig, living mostly on 
 fruit and vegetables. With this 
 simple diet, early rising, and 
 taking a great deal of exercise, 
 they were subject to few diseases. 
 The young children were 
 punctual in their attendance at 
 school, and were instructed by 
 John Buffet in reading, writing, 
 and arithmetic; to which were 
 added precepts of religion and 
 morality, drawn chiefly from the 
 Bible and Prayer-Book. They 
 seldom indulged in jokes or 
 other kinds of levity ; and 
 Beechey says, they were so ac- 
 customed to take what was said 
 in its literal meaning, that irony 
 was always considered a false- 
 hood in spite of explanation; 
 and that they could not see the 
 propriety of uttering what was 
 not strictly true, for any purpose 
 whatever. The Sabbath was 
 wholly devoted to the church 
 
 service, to prayer, reading, and 
 serious meditation ; no work of 
 any kind was done on that day, 
 not even cooking, which was pre- 
 pared on the preceding evening. 
 " I attended," says Beechey, 
 " their church on this day, and 
 found the service well conduct- 
 ed; the prayers were read by 
 Adams, and the lessons by 
 Buffet, the service being pre- 
 ceded by hymns. The greatest 
 devotion was apparent in every 
 individual ; and in the children 
 there was a seriousness unknown 
 in the younger part of our com- 
 munities at home. In the 
 course of the Litany, they pray- 
 ed for their sovereign and all 
 the royal family with much ap- 
 parent loyalty and sincerity. 
 Some family prayers, which 
 were thought appropriate to 
 their own particular case, were 
 added to the usual service ; and 
 Adams, fearful of leaving out 
 any essential part, read in addi- 
 tion all those prayers which are 
 intended only as substitutes for 
 others. A sermon followed, 
 which was very well delivered 
 by Buffet; and lest any part 
 of it should be forgotten or 
 escape attention, it was read 
 three times. The whole con- 
 cluded with hymns, which were 
 first sung by the grown people, 
 and afterwards by the children. 
 The service thus performed was 
 very long; but the neat and 
 cleanly appearance of the con- 
 gregation, the devotion that 
 animated every countenance, 
 and the innocence and simplic- 
 ity of the little children, pre-
 
 84 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 vented the attendance from 
 becoming wearisome. In about 
 half an hour afterwards we again 
 assembled to prayers, and at 
 sunset service was repeated ; so 
 that, with their morning and 
 evening prayers, they may be 
 said to have church five times 
 on a Sunday." 
 
 Dancing was not encouraged 
 among them. With consider- 
 able difficulty, after much en- 
 treaty, Captain Beechey and 
 his friends prevailed on three 
 grown-up ladies to perform the 
 Otaheitan dance, which consist- 
 ed of little more than shuffling 
 their feet, sliding past each 
 other, and snapping their 
 thumbs. They appeared to 
 have little taste for music, 
 either vocal or instrumental. 
 Adams told Captain Beechey 
 one day, that it would add 
 much to his happiness, if the 
 captain would read the marriage 
 ceremony over him and his wife. 
 He had always had an idea of 
 having this done when a proper 
 opportunity should offer. It 
 was done accordingly the follow- 
 ing day, and the event was duly 
 noted in a register by John 
 Buffet. The marriages of the 
 young people had all been offi- 
 ciated at by Adams himself, who 
 made use of a ring on such 
 occasions, which had united 
 every couple on the island since 
 its first settlement 
 
 In consequence of a repre- 
 sentation, made by Captain 
 Beechey when there, of the 
 distressed state of this little 
 society, with regard to the want 
 
 of certain necessary articles, 
 His Majesty's Government sent 
 out to Valparaiso, to be con- 
 veyed from thence for their use, 
 a proportion for sixty persons of 
 the following articles : sailors' 
 blue jackets and trousers, flan- 
 nel waistcoats, pairs of stock- 
 ings and shoes, women's dresses, 
 spades, mattocks, shovels, pick- 
 axes, trowels, rakes; all of which 
 were taken in His Majesty's 
 ship Seringapatam, commanded 
 by Captain the Hon. William 
 Waldegrave, who arrived there 
 in March 1830. 
 
 The ship had scarcely an- 
 chored when George Young was 
 alongside in his canoe, which he 
 guided by a paddle ; and soon 
 after Thursday October Chris- 
 tian, in a jolly-boat, with several 
 others, who, having come on 
 board, were invited to breakfast, 
 and one of them said grace as 
 usual both before and after it. 
 The captain, the chaplain, and 
 some other officers accompanied 
 these natives on shore, and hav- 
 ing reached the summit of the 
 first level or plain, which is 
 surrounded by a grove or screen 
 of cocoa-nut trees, they found 
 the wives and mothers as- 
 sembled to receive them. " I 
 have brought you a clergyman," 
 says the captain. " God bless 
 you," issued from every mouth ; 
 " but is he come to stay with 
 us?" "No." "You bad man, 
 why not ? " "I cannot spare 
 him, he is the chaplain of my 
 ship; but I have brought you 
 clothes and other articles, which 
 King George has sent you."
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 85 
 
 " But," says Kitty Quintal, " we 
 want food for our souls." 
 
 " Our reception," says Cap- 
 tain Waldegrave, "was most 
 cordial, particularly that of Mr 
 Watson, the chaplain ; and the 
 meeting of the wives and hus- 
 bands most affecting, exchang- 
 ing expressions of joy that could 
 not have been exceeded had 
 they just returned from a long 
 absence. The men sprang up 
 to the trees, throwing down 
 cocoa-nuts, the husks of which 
 were torn off by others with 
 their teeth, and offering us the 
 milk. As soon as we had rested 
 ourselves, they took us to their 
 
 cottages, where we dined and 
 slept." 
 
 Captain Waldegrave, like all 
 former visitors, bore ample testi- 
 mony to the kind dispositions 
 and active benevolence of these 
 simple islanders. A remarkable 
 proof of these amiable feelings he 
 noted in the care that was taken 
 of the surviving widows of the 
 Otaheitan men who had been 
 slain on the island, who were 
 helpless and would have been 
 destitute but for the humane 
 consideration of the young 
 people who supported them, 
 and treated them with every 
 attention. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 NORFOLK ISLAND. 
 
 A FEW years after John Buffet 
 settled on Pitcairn Island, an- 
 other English sailor took up his 
 abode in the colony. His name 
 was John Evans, and he was 
 the son of a coachmaker in 
 Long Acre, London. He was 
 a worthy and well educated 
 man. Both he and Buffet mar- 
 ried, and thus two names were 
 added to the roll of surnames. 
 
 In the year 1828 a third sea- 
 faring man chose Pitcairn Island 
 as his home. His arrival was 
 an event destined to affect the 
 annals of the island. He was 
 no passing sailor who took a 
 fancy to the place and asked 
 
 leave to stop there on his voj 
 age. For years he had enter- 
 tained a desire to settle among 
 the primitive inhabitants, who 
 had been much talked and writ- 
 ten about ever since Captain 
 Folger's discovery had been 
 made public. Having arrived 
 at the island after many diffi- 
 culties, he was heartily wel- 
 comed, and married Sarah, 
 the granddaughter of Fletcher 
 Christian. The name of this 
 man, destined to be the suc- 
 cessor of John Adams in the 
 patriarchate, was George Hunn 
 Nobbs. 
 John Adams died on the
 
 86 
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 29th of March 1829, aged sixty- 
 five. He had lived on Pitcairn 
 Island since he was twenty-four, 
 the only protector of a number 
 of helpless human beings. The 
 perfect harmony and content- 
 ment in which they lived to- 
 gether, the innocency and 
 simplicity of their manners, 
 their conjugal and parental 
 affections, their religious and 
 virtuous conduct, are all to be 
 ascribed to the instructions and 
 exemplary life of this remarkable 
 man. He passed away in the 
 presence of his family and 
 affectionate flock. Adams no- 
 minated Mr Nobbs as his 
 successor in the pastorate. This 
 gentleman possessing some 
 knowledge of medicine and 
 surgery besides a competent 
 knowledge of the truths of 
 religion, entered with zeal upon 
 the many duties for the discharge 
 of which his acquirements gave 
 him a vocation. 
 
 In 1790 the island was first 
 settled by fifteen men and 
 twelve women, making a total 
 of twenty-seven. Of these were 
 remaining in 1800, one man 
 and five women, with nineteen 
 children, the eldest nine years 
 of age, making in the whole 
 twenty-five. In 1808, Mr Fol- 
 ger makes the population 
 amount to thirty-five, being an 
 increase of ten in eight years. 
 In 1814, six years afterwards, 
 Sir Thomas Staines states the 
 adult population at forty, which 
 must be a mistake, as fourteen 
 years before, nineteen of the 
 twenty-five then existing were 
 
 children. In 1825, Captain 
 Beechey states the whole popu- 
 lation at sixty-six, of whom 
 thirty-six were males, and thirty 
 females. In 1830, the colony 
 consisted of eighty-seven per- 
 sons. A long drought that 
 year, and a bad season for their 
 plantations, gave rise to fears of 
 famine overtaking them. A 
 possible failure of water supply 
 had long been a subject of grave 
 consideration ; and the drought 
 of this year led to the taking of 
 a very serious step. The Brit- 
 ish government proposed to the 
 islanders that they should emi- 
 grate to Otaheite. The queen 
 of that island, PomarS, seconded 
 this suggestion with great zeal. 
 The Pitcairners were divided in 
 opinion. A party headed by 
 Mr Nobbs were much opposed 
 to the movement. Notwith- 
 standing they all sailed for Ota- 
 heite in March. A rich tract 
 of land was assigned them by 
 Queen Pomard, and the Ota- 
 heitans assisted them in collect- 
 ing wood and constructing 
 houses. The climate, however, 
 did not suit them, an epidemic 
 seized them, and Thursday 
 October Christian, the firstborn 
 of Pitcairn Island, fell a victim 
 to it. Besides, the morals of 
 their new neighbours did not 
 suit their simple, austere mode 
 of life. So they resolved to 
 return to their own old island 
 home. Indeed, the Buffet family 
 and some others did not re- 
 main in Otaheite till the gene- 
 ral re-emigration. They had 
 come there in a government
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 87 
 
 vessel. In September 1831, 
 an American brig brought away 
 all the families and landed them 
 again at Pitcairn. This was 
 done at their own expense, and 
 greatly to Queen Pomar6's regret 
 They restored their plantations, 
 repaired their houses, and Pit- 
 cairn village soon resumed its 
 former aspect of cleanliness and 
 comfort. 
 
 In 1832 a man named Joshua 
 Hill came to the island, pretend- 
 ing to be a commissioner sent by 
 Government to look after the 
 inhabitants for their good. He 
 talked of great powers entrusted 
 to him, and was received into 
 the house of John Buffet with 
 delight. He wrought a deal of 
 mischief among the families. 
 He assumed the functions of 
 judge, sentenced to the lash and 
 to banishment, kept Mr Nobbs 
 in continual fear of his life, till at 
 last, after anxious correspond- 
 ence with the home government, 
 this impostor was in 1838 re- 
 moved by orders of Government, 
 and left at Valparaiso. 
 
 Many ships of war touched at 
 the island in the course of suc- 
 ceeding years; but as yet no 
 British Admiral had paid a visit 
 to it. But Rear-Admiral Fair- 
 fax Moresby was on the Pacific 
 station in 1851, and he being 
 known to have taken a special 
 interest in the Pitcairn people, 
 was invited to visit the island by 
 a pleasant little note signed by 
 fourteen of the female inhabi- 
 tants. The frank invitation was 
 cordially accepted; and this 
 visit was an era to the people. 
 
 Admiral Moresby arrived in his 
 ship, the Portland, in August 
 1852; and like every other 
 visitor, he was quite fascinated 
 with the persons and manners 
 of the inhabitants. He took a 
 special interest in Mr Nobbs 
 and his family. He got that 
 gentleman to confess himself the 
 unacknowledged son of a mar- 
 quis by an unfortunate daughter 
 of an Irish baronet. Admiral 
 Moresby procured a passage for 
 him to London, where he was 
 ordained a deacon, in August 
 1852, by the late Bishop Blom- 
 field, and a priest in November. 
 The Society for the Propagation 
 of the Gospel put him on its 
 list, at a salary of ^50 a year; 
 and he was introduced to a 
 great many distinguished people. 
 Mr Nobbs was presented to 
 Queen Victoria, who received 
 him most graciously, and gave 
 him portraits of herself and the 
 Royal family. He returned to 
 Pitcairn in May 1853. 
 
 The colony had now increas- 
 ed to such an extent, that their 
 beloved little island began to 
 feel too small, or rather not fer- 
 tile enough for them. Admiral 
 Moresby wrote, the year Mr 
 Nobbs returned, to the Admir- 
 alty, saying, that the time had 
 arrived when measures should 
 be taken for their future wel- 
 fare. Government at that time 
 abandoned Norfolk Island as a 
 convict station ; and it seemed 
 a very available home for the 
 straitened inhabitants of the 
 " small Rock in the West." Re- 
 ports regarding Norfolk Island
 
 88 
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 with a view to their removal 
 to it, were duly presented to 
 Government. They were, of 
 course, all in the highest degree 
 favourable to the project. No 
 place could suit the Pitcairners 
 so admirably as that abandon- 
 ed convict station. Admiral 
 Moresby was requested by what 
 was termed the Pitcairn Fund 
 Committee to sound them on 
 the subject This committee 
 consisted of some influential 
 patrons of the islanders, who 
 collected funds for their benefit, 
 and looked after their interests 
 generally. Admiral Moresby 
 found the Pitcairners favourable 
 to the removal. In reply to a 
 communication by him, the 
 chief magistrate and councillors 
 resolved: "It is very evident 
 that the time is not far distant, 
 when Pitcairn Island will be 
 altogether inadequate to the 
 rapidly increasing population, 
 and the inhabitants do unani- 
 mously agree in soliciting the 
 aid of the British Government 
 in transferring them to Norfolk 
 Island, or some other appro- 
 priate place." They expressed 
 a desire and hope that wherever 
 they were taken to, they might 
 be allowed to live in a seclusion 
 similar to that they had enjoyed 
 on Pitcairn Island. Govern- 
 ment entrusted the removal of 
 them to Sir William Denison, 
 K.C.B., Governor-General of 
 New South Wales, and he sent 
 Captain Freemantle, R.N., com- 
 manding the Juno, to see the 
 thing done. Norfolk Island 
 was their destination of course. 
 
 Captain Freemantle reached 
 the little island in 1855 ; and 
 was rather surprised to find the 
 people anything but desirous 
 for the change of residence. 
 Many of them had painful mem- 
 ories of their Otaheite escapade 
 twenty-five years ago. Captain 
 Freemantle was in earnest in 
 his mission. He believed it was 
 for the good of the people ; and 
 he overcame all scruples and 
 objections. As a man-of-war 
 could not be spared from the 
 station, an emigrant ship, the 
 Morayshire, was commissioned 
 to transfer the islanders to their 
 new home, an undertaking 
 which Lieutenant Gregorie of 
 the Juno was appointed to 
 superintend. When he arrived 
 at Pitcairn, he found that he 
 had the work of persuading to 
 do over again. And no won- 
 der ! It was a depressing change 
 for them, poor things. Kind, 
 tender hearts like theirs required 
 much persuasion before they 
 could consent to leave their 
 happy homes, and the graves of 
 those they loved so well their 
 father, John Adams, and the 
 parents, brothers, sisters, and 
 children, who bound them to 
 Pitcairn, as well as quickened 
 their sense of relationship to that 
 other home beyond their graves. 
 A few enterprising spirits 
 seconded Lieutenant Gregorie's 
 eloquence, and he eventually 
 succeeded in bringing every 
 soul away. After a passage of 
 five weeks, the Pitcairners ar- 
 rived at Norfolk Island, on 
 Sunday, 8th June 1856.
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 89 
 
 Mr Nobbs enters in his diary 
 under this date : " Cloudy wea- 
 ther, close in with Norfolk 
 Island; very much disappoint- 
 ed with its appearance from the 
 present point of view, which is 
 directly off the settlement, and 
 presents a succession of hillocks 
 and shallow ravines covered 
 with short brown grass, but 
 scarcely a tree to be seen. 
 Every face wore an expression 
 of disappointment, having been 
 accustomed to hear the island 
 so highly extolled. No doubt 
 other parts have a better appear- 
 ance, but this side certainly 
 bears no comparison with our 
 Rock in the West. 
 
 "At ten A.M., left with my 
 family, and some others, in the 
 ship's lifeboat. It blew fresh, 
 and we were nearly two hours 
 rowing to shore. The wind 
 being off the land during our 
 passage, several squalls of rain 
 occurred, and the boat leaking 
 badly, we were thoroughly 
 drenched, the women and 
 children presenting a most 
 forlorn appearance. Being con- 
 ducted by Mr Stewart to his 
 residence, I deposited my wife 
 there, and then returned to the 
 pier. On my way thither, I 
 went into the large building 
 where our people were congre- 
 gating, and seeing they were 
 beginning to feel comfortable, 
 I returned to the landing- 
 place. One of the Government 
 prisoners doing duty as a 
 constable to prevent any one 
 intruding into the precincts of 
 the large building (formerly the 
 
 soldiers' barracks), where oui 
 people were assembling seeing 
 how thoroughly drenched I was, 
 gave me so pressing an invita- 
 tion to go to his dwelling, which 
 was adjacent, and change my 
 clothes, that I did not refuse 
 his offer. He supplied me with 
 a decent suit, and, moreover, 
 brought me a mug of hot tea, 
 and some excellent bread and 
 butter. All this was done so 
 respectfully, and with such good 
 grace, that I forgot that this 
 man was a twice convicted 
 prisoner." 
 
 Mrs Nobbs, writing three 
 months after their arrival at 
 Norfolk Island, expresses pretty 
 fairly the impressions which 
 generally prevailed. "We ar- 
 rived," she says, "amid squalls 
 of rain, which thoroughly drench- 
 ed us ; but Captain Denham, who 
 was here, had fires prepared and 
 tea ready for us, so that we soon 
 got as comfortable as we could 
 possibly be in, to us, such a 
 bewildering place. Everything 
 was so strange; the immense 
 houses, the herd^ of cattle graz- 
 ing, and in the distance the 
 gigantic Norfolk pines, filled us 
 for a moment with amazement 
 I was conducted by Mr Stewart 
 to the Government House, and 
 seated by a good fire in the 
 drawing-room (I have learned 
 that name since), which was the 
 first fire I had ever seen in a 
 dwelling-house, and an excellent 
 addition to my previous ideas of 
 domestic comfort 
 
 "The island is not to be 
 compared for fertility to the one
 
 90 
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 we left ; but being much larger, 
 there is more room for our 
 children to branch out upon ; 
 but I think there are few would 
 not return (and I one of the 
 number), if an opportunity offer- 
 ed. My husband is much 
 annoyed at these expressions of 
 our feelings, and declares that 
 he will never leave Norfolk 
 Island. He is positive that the 
 land is a good land, and that 
 before twelve months we shall 
 be of his opinion. Well, I hope 
 this may be the case ; but bad 
 or good, so long as he makes it 
 his home, of course it will be 
 mine; and seeing him so con- 
 tented and confident, has for 
 certain a good effect upon us 
 all. . . . 
 
 " The place is not nearly so 
 well wooded and watered as 
 we thought to have found it, 
 and to a community like this, 
 who, although at Pitcairn they 
 were sometimes straitened in 
 the staple articles of food, had 
 generally something of an in- 
 ferior kind to fall back upon, 
 the prospect that in two months 
 from this they will be without 
 bread, flour, or any one thing 
 that will answer for a substitute, 
 is not very encouraging. The 
 island, for spontaneous fertility, 
 is not to be compared with 
 the spot we have left, but I 
 am sure the land is a good 
 land, and will provide all we 
 need, when we get the means of 
 planting. " 
 
 The Bishop of New Zealand, 
 Dr Selwyn, accompanied by 
 Mrs Selwyn, and the Rev. Mr 
 
 Patteson, paid a visit to the 
 new inhabitants of Norfolk Is- 
 land in less than a month after 
 they arrived. Mrs Selwyn re- 
 mained with them, while the 
 Bishop and Mr Patteson pur- 
 sued their missionary voyage 
 among the islands of Melanesia. 
 He returned in September, and 
 held a confirmation, which Mrs 
 Selwyn had assisted actively in 
 preparing for during his three 
 months' absence. On this occa- 
 sion, Mr Nobbs relates, " Aftei 
 the departure of the congrega- 
 tion, the Bishop, Mr Patteson, 
 and myself, with old Arthur 
 Quintal, were for some time 
 employed in placing stools in 
 front of the chancel, for the 
 accommodation of those about 
 to be confirmed. At half-past 
 three, the afternoon service was 
 commenced. The candidates 
 were first called by name, and 
 arranged on the before-men- 
 tioned stools, the women on the 
 right-hand range or tier, the 
 men on the left. . . . The 
 men were arrayed in good 
 black or blue coats, with white 
 pantaloons, and shoes and 
 stockings. The women wore 
 loose white frocks or tunics, 
 and instead of bonnets, which 
 many do wear on Sunday, was 
 substituted a snowy white hand- 
 kerchief doubled triangularly, 
 without any attempt at adorn- 
 ment, simply placed on the 
 head, and tied with a half-knot 
 under the chin. . . . The 
 confirmation began by ten per- 
 sons standing up in parallel 
 rows of five each, without step-
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 91 
 
 ping from the place where they 
 had been seated, when, having 
 listened attentively to the pre- 
 face and questions put by the 
 Bishop, they, with becoming 
 earnestness, severally answered, 
 'I do.' By a motion of the 
 Bishop's hand they resumed 
 their seats, and ten others rose, 
 and so on in like order until all 
 had been questioned and re- 
 sponded. They then in similar 
 order came up to the front of 
 the altar, and kneeling, received 
 the imposition of hands. I am 
 sure it would have gratified our 
 many friends could they have 
 been present, and seen parents 
 kneeling by the side of their 
 children. Many of these were 
 also parents, and in one instance, 
 a great-grandmother was ac- 
 companied by grand-daughters, 
 three of whom had families of 
 their own. . . . Before the 
 conclusion, it became nearly 
 dark in the church, and the 
 Bishop was obliged to repair to 
 the outer door to distinguish 
 the names of the persons on 
 the certificates of confirmation. 
 The Bishop himself delivered 
 them, first taking such person 
 by the hand, and using the 
 Christian name of each, asked 
 God's blessing on them. And 
 then the members of the various 
 families returned to their re- 
 spective homes well pleased and 
 edified." 
 
 It will be remembered that 
 the Rev. Mr Patteson referred 
 to here, was subsequently or- 
 dained Bishop of Melanesia, 
 which was erected into a see 
 
 separate from New Zealand \ 
 and that he was murdered by 
 savages, while faithfully and 
 lovingly discharging the onerous 
 duties of his sacred office. 
 
 In the month of November 
 1858, that is after living about 
 two years and a half on Norfolk 
 Island, two families of the name 
 of Young returned to Pitcairn 
 Island. The following extract 
 is from a letter written by Sir 
 W. Denison to Admiral Mores- 
 by, in which he refers to this 
 event as well as other interest- 
 ing topics. He says "I had 
 a rough passage of eight days 
 to the island. ... I found 
 that the great proportion of the 
 people were well satisfied with 
 their position and prospects. 
 Thirty-three of the men had as- 
 sociated themselves, and by 
 clubbing their means, had pur- 
 chased two boats and whaling 
 gear from an American whaler. 
 They had then gone energetic- 
 ally into the business of bay 
 whaling, and had killed whales 
 enough to supply fourteen tons 
 of oil, which at present prices 
 may be worth nearly ^500. 
 Some have already 
 commenced to manufacture 
 dripstones, which sell well in 
 the adjacent colonies ; some 
 have commenced the manu- 
 facture of soap; others are 
 looking forward to a profitable 
 trade in oranges and lemons ; 
 in fact, as regards the men, I 
 am satisfied with their progress. 
 I wish I could say the same 
 with regard to the women; they, 
 with one or two exceptions, do
 
 92 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 not appear to me nearly so 
 civilised as the men. They 
 approach nearer the Tahitian 
 type ; and, as we must look to 
 the women to give the first tone 
 to the children, I should wish 
 to see a great improvement in 
 manner, appearance, and infor- 
 mation. I trust, however, that 
 Mr Rossiter's presence will do 
 a great deal for them. Hither- 
 to, the school has been but 
 a trifling advantage, but now 
 that Mr Rossiter has taken 
 it in hand, I have a right to 
 expect a great change for the 
 better. . . . 
 
 " I found that two families 
 had gone back to Pitcairn Island, 
 and I heard that three more were 
 contemplating a similar move. 
 At a general meeting of the 
 people, I spoke strongly to 
 them, pointing out to them the 
 folly, nay, the sin, which they 
 were committing, in throwing 
 aside for themselves as well as 
 for their children the means of 
 living which had been provided 
 for them, and I warned them 
 that I should not in any way 
 countenance or assist them in 
 removing ; that I should put a 
 condition of residence in the 
 grant of land which I was pre- 
 pared to make to them, and 
 should prohibit any alienation 
 of this land to any but inhabi- 
 tants of the island. I felt the 
 more bound to do this, as I 
 found that the magistrates and 
 Mr Nobbs had, in the case of 
 the people who had left, been 
 weak enough to agree to pay to 
 the captain of a schooner a sum 
 
 of 600 as the passage money of 
 sixty adults to Pitcairn, and had 
 given him bills for 300 on 
 their agent at Sydney, which he 
 claimed when only sixteen went 
 down, instead of sixty. This 
 money, I may observe, was the 
 value of the wool and hides 
 sold, and was the property of 
 the Government. I have now 
 taken the management of the 
 public funds out of the hands 
 of the magistrates, and given it 
 to the storekeeper, who is only 
 to act as far as regards drawing 
 bills upon the wool, etc., by my 
 directions. 
 
 " The island is now marked 
 off in fifty-acre allotments, and 
 I propose to send down the 
 deeds of grant when I have 
 settled the form and conditions, 
 and arranged a simple system 
 of registration, and forms of 
 sale, mortgage, etc. . . . 
 
 " I look forward to the time 
 when Norfolk Island will be- 
 come the St Michael's of New 
 Zealand, Tasmania, and Mel- 
 bourne. Lemons are indigen- 
 ous, and form the best stock on 
 which the orange can be grafted. 
 I have sent down several of the 
 best descriptions of orange, 
 and shall supply them wkh 
 shaddock and other fruits of 
 the same kind. Mr Rossiter 
 is, I am glad to find, a good 
 gardener." 
 
 Sir W. Denison adds, "I 
 have given Mr Nobbs ^50 per 
 annum out of the revenue of the 
 island, in addition to the ^50 
 which he receives from the 
 Society for the Propagation of
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 93 
 
 the Gospel He is fairly entitled 
 to this." 
 
 These extracts give a suffi- 
 cient glimpse of the affairs of 
 the descendants of the mu- 
 tineers of the Bounty, in the 
 new home which Government 
 chose for them and took them 
 to. They have now, some- 
 how or other, ceased to impress 
 the reader of the continuation 
 of their story as the very simple, 
 primitive, pure, and incompar- 
 able family they were pictured 
 as being by all who visited them 
 at Pitcairn. They are out a 
 little wider in the world now; 
 Buffet, Evans, Nobbs, and Ros- 
 siter are imported influences, 
 and their notions, aims, and 
 means of carrying them out, are 
 both more ample and very 
 different from those of old John 
 Adams. Mr Rossiter received 
 a good income as schoolmaster 
 and storekeeper, and proved 
 himself very useful. He was a 
 conscientious, industrious man, 
 and a rather stern disciplin- 
 arian. 
 
 The establishing of a Mission 
 College on Norfolk Island, was 
 an occasion of trouble and 
 anxiety to its imported inhabi- 
 tants. They were afraid that a 
 body of semi-converted natives 
 of the Melanesian islands settled 
 among them, would damage 
 morality and hinder social pro- 
 gress. But their principal ob- 
 jection to the project was based 
 on a belief that there had been 
 conferred on them by the Brit- 
 ish Government an indefeasible 
 right and title to the whole of 
 
 Norfolk Island. They consid- 
 ered that it was theirs and 
 everything it contained. They 
 were unwilling to admit a pre- 
 cedent for alienation, fearing 
 that it might deprive their 
 posterity of a guaranteed inher- 
 itance. It was, they maintained, 
 uponthecondition of unqualified 
 cession that they consented to 
 leave Pitcairn Island. This 
 was, however, discovered to be 
 a false impression, and after con- 
 siderable delay and a good deal 
 of plucky correspondence with 
 Government, the Melanesian 
 Mission College was sanctioned 
 in 1866. Bishop Patteson paid 
 ;3 an acre for a thousand acres 
 of land ; this .^3000 was care- 
 fully invested, and the accruing 
 interest is applied annually to 
 paying the pastor and chief 
 magistrate of the descendants of 
 the mutineers of the Bounty, 
 and also to the cost of medicines, 
 flags, and other necessary and 
 showy matters. In no way can 
 the founding of this college be 
 regarded as other than beneficial 
 to the Norfolk Islanders. Their 
 home acquires reputation by it, 
 and if there is an importation of 
 semi-civilised natives, there is 
 also the introduction of highly 
 educated gentlemen to look 
 after them. This is the won- 
 derful ultimate result of a rash 
 and foolish mutiny. The home 
 of their descendants, formerly 
 the compulsory abode of out- 
 casts, is now the " Holy Isle " 
 of the Pacific Ocean, the seat 
 of the Melanesian Mission 
 College.
 
 94 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 LAST OF THE BOUNTY. 
 
 The following paragraph cut 
 from a newspaper in 1874 pre- 
 sents a vivid idea of the hardi- 
 hood and intelligence of the excel- 
 lent people to whom it is a regret 
 to say good-bye here at the close 
 of our repetition of their story. 
 
 " On the voyage from Sydney 
 the Pearl stayed a day at Nor- 
 folk Island, which is a territory 
 within the jurisdiction of Sir 
 Hercules Robinson, as Gover- 
 nor of New South Wales. A 
 very good story is told of the 
 simple-minded, hardy descend- 
 ants of the mutineers of the 
 Bounty. The landing-place is 
 an open roadstead. When 
 Commodore Stirling visited the 
 island in the Clio last year, a 
 gale of wind was blowing, and 
 the sea was running so high 
 that it was impossible to land. 
 After standing off and on for 
 some time, the Clio was about 
 to make sail for Sydney, the 
 weather showing no signs of 
 
 moderating, when a boat was 
 observed to put off from the 
 shore. Something serious is 
 the matter, thought all on board, 
 or the islanders would not ven- 
 ture out in such a sea. The ship 
 lay to, but the boat's crew had 
 to toil all through the night 
 before reaching her. When they 
 gained the deck, Commodore Stir- 
 ling said, with some solicitude in 
 his manner, ' I am glad to see 
 you. I hope nothing has gone 
 wrong ; but anything in the way 
 of medicines or supplies I have is 
 at your service.' 'We are all 
 well, thank you,' answered the 
 courageous boatmen, ' but there 
 is one thing we would like have 
 you a copy of " Lot hair" ?' 
 Two French gentlemen fought 
 with swords in a Parisian book- 
 shop for the right to purchase 
 the last copy of the first edition 
 of ' Le Diable Boiteux,' but it 
 does not often fall to the lot of 
 a modern author to produce a 
 book for the possession of which 
 people will risk their lives." 
 
 END OF THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 MUTINY IN THE 420 REGIMENT 
 
 (THE ROYAL HIGHLAND REGIMENT, OR BLACK WATCH) 
 
 May 1743. 
 
 THE Forty-Second, or Royal 
 Highland, Regiment was the 
 first, as it has continued to be 
 the foremost, of the regiments 
 which in their heroic services to 
 the House of Hanover on the 
 British throne, have reflected 
 unfading glory on their race, 
 and on the highlands and islands 
 of Scotland. The roll on which 
 its martial deeds of undying re- 
 nown are emblazoned is one of 
 the most dazzling among the 
 honoured records of modern 
 warfare. The origin of the first 
 of the Highland regiments is in- 
 teresting. 
 
 The leading circumstances 
 which led to its formation are 
 easily recounted. The majority 
 of the Highland clans continued 
 faithful to the direct line of the 
 Stuart dynasty, after the Revolu- 
 tion of 1688 had led the royal 
 train off at a siding. It took 
 them three years to intimate 
 their submission to the govern- 
 ment of William III.; and that 
 submission was only a hollow 
 affair after all the time it took 
 
 in shaping. In 1715 they took 
 arms against the House of 
 Hanover, under the enthusiastic 
 Earl of Mar, with results disas- 
 trous to the Highlanders. After 
 an attempt made by the Spanish 
 in 1719, to embroil Scotland 
 again in a civil war proved itself 
 fruitless, the country enjoyed 
 comparative quiet for twenty- 
 five years, during which period 
 roads were made in the High- 
 lands, and various measures 
 were adopted to improve the 
 condition of the clans. 
 
 Some Highlanders were taken 
 into the service of the Crown 
 and armed as early as 1725, 
 when Marshall Wade was ap- 
 pointed Commander-in-Chief 
 in Scotland; and in 1729 
 the Government took mea- 
 sures for the embodying of a 
 number of loyal Highlanders, 
 who should be constituted a 
 regular domestic military force, 
 employed to keep order in the 
 mountain districts, for which 
 they were in every respect better 
 qualified than soldiers from the
 
 96 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 
 
 Lowlands. Six companies were 
 accordingly formed, and were 
 employed, in 1730, enforcing 
 the Disarming Act, overawing 
 the disaffected, preventing re- 
 prisals and plunders between 
 the rival clans, and putting a 
 check upon the depredations 
 made by the mountaineers on 
 their peaceable neighbours of 
 the plains. The officers were 
 generally selected from among 
 the Campbells, Grants, Mun- 
 roes, and other chief families 
 which had embraced the princi- 
 ples of the Revolution; but 
 many of the men were from 
 clan- Athole, Perthshire, and 
 other districts where loyalty to 
 the dethroned dynasty was still 
 ? controlling sentiment. 
 
 Many of the men in the ranks 
 were cadets of gentlemen's 
 families, sons of gentlemen 
 farmers, and tacksmen, immedi- 
 ately or more remotely con- 
 nected with the leading families. 
 They were generally of a higher 
 grade in society than that from 
 which the British soldier was 
 raised in those days, or at any 
 time since ; they were, in a word, 
 men who felt themselves respon- 
 sible for their conduct to high- 
 minded and honourable rela- 
 tions, as well as to a country 
 for which they cherished a fondly 
 devoted affection. 
 
 These six companies were 
 called the Freicudan Dhu, or 
 Black Watch, from the colour of 
 their dress, which consisted so 
 much of the black, green, and 
 blue tartan, that it gave them a 
 dark and sombre appearance in 
 
 comparison with the bright uni- 
 form of the regular Seidaran 
 Dearag, or Red Soldiers. 
 
 The companies continued 
 to discharge with faithfulness 
 and efficiency their duties as a 
 domestic watch till 1739. In 
 that year, on the breaking out 
 of war with Spain, King George 
 II. resolved to incorporate the 
 six companies of the Black 
 Watch into a regiment of the 
 line, to be augmented to ten 
 companies, that he might pos- 
 sess the advantage of a Highland 
 corps in the coming struggle. 
 Accordingly a warrant to this 
 effect was issued to Colonel 
 John, Earl of Crawford and 
 Lindsay, under date October 25, 
 
 1739. After some progress had 
 been made in recruiting, the 
 men were assembled in May 
 
 1 740, and embodied into a regi- 
 ment in a field between Tay- 
 bridge and Aberfeldy, in the 
 county of Perth, under the title 
 of the "Highland Regiment," 
 but the corps still retained the 
 country name of the Black 
 Watch. They remained for 
 about fifteen months on the 
 banks of the Tay and of the 
 Lyon. 
 
 Colonel the Earl of Craw- 
 ford was removed in December 
 of the same year, from the Black 
 Watch to the Second, or Scots, 
 troop of Grenadier Life Guards; 
 an d Brigadier-General Lord Sem- 
 pill was appointed colonel of the 
 Highlanders. 
 
 In the winter of 1741 the 
 regiment resumed the duties 
 formerly performed by the six
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 97 
 
 companies in the Highlands; 
 these it continued to discharge 
 during 1742, the year in which 
 King George II. sent an army 
 to Flanders to support the 
 House of Austria against the 
 Elector of Bavaria and the King 
 of France. 
 
 The Highland Regiment hav- 
 ing been selected to reinforce 
 the army in Flanders, was 
 assembled at Perth in March 
 1743, preparatory for a march 
 to London. 
 
 Such an order took the men 
 by surprise, and awakened suspi- 
 cion as well as astonishment. 
 They had not expected it ; and 
 were not slow to express their 
 feelings and opinions, nor were 
 they low in their tones. Not 
 the men only. The regimenting 
 of this body of Highlanders had 
 been looked upon by many 
 gentlemen of public spirit as a 
 very significant experiment. It 
 was a question of national im- 
 portance. A firm and right 
 step had been taken towards 
 the final inclusion of the clans 
 into the nation. A nation is an 
 organised unity. Solongasthese 
 Highland families remained 
 irresponsive to its throbs and 
 pulses, they were only instru- 
 ments of trouble and danger. 
 They were like a foreign body 
 jammed too closely against the 
 sensitive organisation of the 
 country ; and the engrafting of 
 them on to its stem was to be 
 greatly facilitated by enlisting 
 their best and bravest in the 
 ranks of the nation's defenders. 
 
 The proposal to send the | 
 
 Highland Regiment out of Scot- 
 land, or, indeed, away from the 
 Highlands, therefore, aroused 
 the indignation of many of those 
 who understood best the ele- 
 ments of which it was com- 
 posed. Lord President Forbes, 
 in a special manner, disapprov- 
 ed of and opposed the measure ; 
 and no one knew the character 
 of the corps better than he, or 
 was more fully alive to the 
 necessity of the duty they were 
 performing its nature, and their 
 capability of discharging it 
 faithfully. This was 1743. 
 How ominously soon did 1745 
 follow upon the march of the 
 Black Watch to the south of 
 England ! 
 
 Lord President Forbes wrote 
 a letter to General Clayton, who 
 had succeeded Marshal Wade 
 in the commandership-in-chief 
 of Scotland, of which the follow- 
 ing is an extract, and explains 
 sufficiently the unmistakable 
 sentiments of his lordship on 
 the subject. He writes: "When 
 I first heard of the orders given 
 to the Highland Regiment to 
 march southwards, it gave me 
 no sort of concern. I sup- 
 posed the intention was only to 
 see them ; but, as I have been 
 lately assured that they are 
 destined for foreign service, I 
 cannot dissemble my uneasi- 
 ness at a resolution that may, 
 in my apprehension, be attended 
 with very bad consequences ; 
 nor can I prevail with myself 
 not to communicate to you my 
 thoughts on this subject, how- 
 ever late they may come." His 
 G
 
 98 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 lordship goes on to state what 
 he fears will be the conse- 
 quences to be expected from 
 the removal of this regiment. 
 " I must," he continues, " put 
 you in mind that the present 
 system for securing the peace 
 of the Highlands, which is the 
 best I ever heard of, is by 
 regular troops stationed from 
 Inverness to Fort William, along 
 the chain of lakes which, in a 
 manner, divides the Highlands, 
 to command the obedience of 
 the inhabitants of both sides, 
 and, by a body of disciplined 
 Highlanders, wearing the dress, 
 and speaking the language of 
 the country, to execute such 
 orders as require expedition, 
 and for which neither the dress 
 nor the manners of other troops 
 are proper. These Highlanders 
 now regimented were at first 
 independent companies ; and 
 though their dress, language, 
 and manners, qualified them 
 for securing the lower country 
 from depredations, yet that was 
 not the sole use of them. The 
 same qualities fitted them for 
 every expedition that required 
 secrecy and despatch. They 
 served for all purposes of hussars 
 or light horse, in a country 
 whose mountains and bogs 
 render cavalry useless ; and, if 
 properly disposed over the 
 Highlands, nothing that was 
 commonly reported and believed 
 by the Highlanders could be 
 a secret to their commanders, 
 because of their intimacy with 
 the people, and the sameness 
 of language." 
 
 There are other considera- 
 tions besides those presented 
 thus by the great patriot of his 
 time. He views the Govern- 
 ment measure for sending this 
 regiment abroad mainly from 
 the point of view of the suit- 
 ableness of the men to a very 
 necessary service. But how 
 did the proposal affect the 
 men's estimate of that Govern- 
 ment, whose orders they had 
 come under an oath to obey? 
 Obedience has its limits, and 
 the sense of duty is only a re- 
 sponse to certain acknowledged 
 claims. The men disputed the 
 right of the Government to lay 
 on them the command conveyed 
 by this marching order. There 
 are grounds for believing that, 
 when they were regimented, 
 the measure was represented to 
 them as nothing more than a 
 change of name and of officers, 
 which implied the very sub- 
 stantial advantage of more 
 regular pay, if the duties were 
 to be more definitely regulated. 
 Under this arrangement they 
 distinctly understood that they 
 were to continue to be em- 
 ployed, as formerly, in watching 
 the country a sort of armed 
 police, obeying officers who 
 received orders from the central 
 Government, instead of from any 
 local power. When they showed 
 astonishment and expressed sur- 
 prise at orders to march to 
 England, they were falsely told, 
 that it was only that they might 
 have an opportunity of showing 
 themselves to the king, who had 
 never seen a Highland regi-
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 99 
 
 ment. This explanation satis- 
 fied the soldiers so far. It was 
 a sop to their vanity ; but no 
 motive more dangerous and 
 more self-defeating exists in the 
 heart of man than his vanity, 
 and the passionate impulses to 
 which it often leads. In the 
 case in point, the very vanity 
 which lightened the steps of the 
 Highlanders during their march 
 to London, laid a dead weight 
 on their hearts when the speci- 
 ous lie which deceived, and, as 
 they thought, befooled them, 
 was detected. 
 
 It is true enough that the 
 king had never seen a Highland 
 regiment. His Majesty had 
 never seen a Highland soldier ; 
 and he expressed a desire to 
 see one. Three privates, re- 
 markable for their athletic figure 
 and good looks, were fixed upon 
 and sent to London for his 
 Majesty's gratification and in- 
 spection a short time before the 
 regiment marched. These were 
 Gregor M'Gregor, commonly 
 called Gregor the Beautiful ; 
 John Campbell, son of Duncan 
 Campbell, of the family of Dun- 
 caves, Perthshire; and John 
 Grant, of Strathspey, of the 
 fafhily of Ballindalloch. Poor 
 Mr Grant fell sick, and died at 
 Aberfeldy. The others, it was 
 reported at the time, were pre- 
 sented by their Lieutenant- 
 Colonel, Sir Robert Munro, to 
 the king, and performed the 
 broadsword exercise and that 
 of the Lochaber axe, before his 
 Majesty, the Duke of Cumber- 
 land, Marshal Wade, and a 
 
 number of general officers 
 assembled for the purpose, in 
 the Great Gallery at St James's. 
 The exhibition was gratify- 
 ing to all concerned. It was 
 said that these two individual 
 show-specimens of a High- 
 land regiment displayed so 
 much dexterity and skill in the 
 management of their weapons, 
 that the king expressed himself 
 perfectly satisfied with it and 
 them. Humiliating stage-play ! 
 Had those two Highlanders sus- 
 pected the treachery in train 
 for themselves and their free- 
 born comrades, for the giving 
 effect to which this exhibition 
 was but the opening prelude to 
 " play in " their brethren, it is 
 to be hoped they would have 
 preferred taking the place of 
 the brothers M'Pherson, who 
 were subsequently murdered as 
 mutineers on Tower Hill. The 
 humiliation had a lower deep. 
 Each of the two got a gratuity 
 of a guinea, for showing him- 
 self off to be so clever ; and 
 they each gave his guinea 
 to the porter at the palace 
 gate as they passed out. They 
 were not to be paid for being 
 accomplished Highlandmen. 
 They forgave the king for 
 mistaking their character, and 
 the consideration due to 
 them in their own beloved 
 country. 
 
 The departure of the Black 
 Watch from the country, which 
 was doomed to miss it sorely 
 very soon, was thus formally 
 announced by the Caledonian 
 Mercury : " On Wednesday last,
 
 100 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS, 
 
 Lord Sempill's regiment of 
 Highlanders began their march 
 for England in order to be re- 
 viewed by his Majesty. They 
 are certainly the finest regiment 
 in the service, being tall, well- 
 made men, and very stout." 
 The word " stout " here has its 
 older meaning, still common in 
 Scotland, of healthy, strong, 
 vigorous. 
 
 Their march through the 
 English counties supplied a 
 feast of wonderment to the eyes 
 of all who looked at them. A 
 Highlander in full garb was a 
 strange object to an English- 
 man. A gentlemanly, tastefully- 
 dressed, and gracefully - man- 
 nered gorilla would not be more 
 vacantly stared at in the crush 
 of a crammed drawing-room, 
 where all the expensive trains 
 of fine society get crumpled 
 into wisps, while so many ani- 
 mated clothes -pegs are bust- 
 ling to get as near him as is 
 consistent or inconsistent with 
 sangfroid, in the circumstances. 
 The stories current in England 
 at the time of the ferocious 
 savagery of the Highlanders, 
 and the frightful conflicts of 
 their clans, were wild enough to 
 have awakened expectations of 
 a few full-dressed rehearsals, as 
 these specimens of unabolished 
 barbarism made their way 
 through the counties. In Mar- 
 chant's " History of the Rebel- 
 lion " (Lond. 1746), we read of a 
 gentleman in Derby expressing 
 his astonishment " to see these 
 savages, from the officer to the 
 commonest man, at their several 
 
 meals, first stand up and pull 
 off their bonnets, and then lift 
 up their eyes in a most solemn 
 and devout manner, and mutter 
 something in theirown gibberish, 
 by way, I suppose, of saying 
 grace, as if they had been so 
 many Christians ! " When Gor- 
 don of Glenbucket, whom Lord 
 President Forbes, who knew 
 him intimately, described as " a 
 good-natured, humane man," 
 marched up his followers to 
 join the rebel army in England, 
 it was gravely questioned, 
 whether they killed their pris- 
 oners and sucked their blood, 
 to whet their appetite for war, 
 after the manner of other 
 savages ? " 
 
 It is never easy to imagine 
 one's self living in the atmosphere 
 of the absurd notions of an 
 earlier age. In that day the 
 monstrous tales which the good 
 people of England believed 
 regarding their neighbours on 
 the Scottish mountains would 
 have created many a hearty 
 laugh, and a good deal of pity 
 in the Highland clachans, if they 
 could have been translated into 
 Gaelic. 
 
 Nobody was eaten during the 
 march, and great was the 
 astonishment of the beholders 
 of the orderly conduct and fine 
 martial appearance of this regi- 
 ment of Highland gentlemen. 
 During the journey great good 
 humour prevailed in the ranks, 
 heightened as it doubtless was 
 by the unbounded hospitality 
 and friendly feeling which they 
 experienced in the country and
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 101 
 
 the towns through which their 
 route lay. 
 
 The regiment reached the 
 neighbourhood of London in 
 two divisions. The former 
 arrived on the 29th, and the 
 latter on the 3oth of April. In 
 a fortnight, that is, on the i4th 
 of May, the whole body was 
 reviewed on Finchley Common 
 by Marshal Wade, who, from 
 his influential residence in Scot- 
 land for a time as commander- 
 in- chief, was intimately ac- 
 quainted with many of the 
 officers and soldiers, and knew 
 well the nature of the corps. 
 This was the first mistake of the 
 government, and it caused grave 
 misgivings in the minds of many 
 of these honest, hearty, straight- 
 forward sons of the mountains, 
 who expected to be reviewed in 
 the presence of his Majesty, who 
 seems never to have been made 
 aware of, or did not think it 
 worth his royal while to remem- 
 ber, the fact that the bait with 
 which his instruments had wiled 
 away the Black Watch from the 
 Highlands to London, was the 
 assurance that the king, who 
 had never seen one, was anxious 
 to look at a Highland regiment 
 The two show specimens seem 
 to have been quite enough for 
 royal inspection, and in this 
 King George II. was less wise 
 in his generation than was the 
 man in Greek fable, who, having 
 a house to sell, and wishing 
 bidders to form some adequate 
 idea of its commodious apart- 
 ments and all the conveniences 
 it offered, took a stone or 
 
 two of it to the market for in- 
 spection. In fact, the king and 
 the Duke of Cumberland had 
 set sail from Greenwich for the 
 Continent on the 3oth of April, 
 the day on which the second 
 detachment of the regiment 
 reached the neighbourhood of 
 London ; and being driven back 
 to Sheerness the same night, he 
 remained there wind - bound 
 until the ist of May, when he 
 again set sail, arriving next 
 evening at Helvoetsluys, whence 
 his Majesty proceeded on the 
 following morning to Hanover. 
 The Highlanders were not in any 
 of his thoughts, unless it might 
 happen to occur to him to 
 wonder at what rate they would 
 sell their lives when they arrived 
 in Flanders, as had been 
 planned before the regiment 
 was formed. 
 
 In the interval between their 
 arrival and the review, the men 
 had time to reflect on the king's 
 conduct. So had others, when 
 they learned the disappointment 
 of the corps, which, notwith- 
 standing Highland reserve, 
 would be freely spoken of; for 
 an indignant Highlandman is no 
 inscrutable Sphinx. His Eng- 
 lish may be bad, but be makes 
 his meaning good. 
 
 Besides, immense crowds of 
 people from London and all the 
 country round, flocked to see 
 the strangers, whose dress and 
 language were two new things, 
 each of them an object of 
 wonder. The favourable reports 
 which had flown on before them 
 of their appearance and be-
 
 102 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 haviour on the march, excited, 
 however, a great deal more 
 interest than either their dress 
 or their language, or both. 
 These were innocent reasons 
 for obtrusive curiosity. 
 
 But the state of the country, 
 two years before the Rebellion 
 of 1745, is not to be forgotten. 
 King George's throne was not 
 as stable as the Grampians at 
 the time ; and there were thou- 
 sands of men belonging to all 
 grades of society in London and 
 the region round about, as well 
 as over all England and Scot- 
 land, who grudged this accession 
 of strength to the hated House 
 of Hanover. Many, therefore, 
 who resorted to the quarters of 
 the Highlanders, had objects in 
 view other than the gratification 
 of a fussy curiosity. Insidious 
 and effectual whispers were 
 made into ears which had been 
 quickened considerably by the 
 king's departure. Malicious 
 falsehoods were not withheld 
 they never are in times of politi- 
 cal fever. The Highlanders 
 were told that it was an ill-con- 
 cealed fact that the Government 
 intended to transport them to 
 the American plantations. They 
 were to be kept for life in those 
 realms of the most degrading 
 banishment to penal servitude, 
 which has blotted by its re- 
 cords the bloody story of Eng- 
 lish criminal law. The pretext 
 for bringing them to London 
 was really too flimsy, as they 
 might easily perceive. To be 
 reviewed by the king and the 
 Prince of Wales, and his Ma- 
 
 jesty had embarked for Hanover 
 before they arrived ! He sailed 
 on the day of their arrival. In 
 fact, the real object and undis- 
 guisable intention of the order 
 for them to leave the Highlands 
 was to get so many faithful 
 Jacobites, who were known to 
 be disaffected to the House of 
 Hanover, and of a rebellious 
 spirit towards it, out of Great 
 Britain altogether. 
 
 The Highlanders began to 
 think they had been entrapped 
 into the snare so feasibly de- 
 scribed. The mere surmise of 
 their being the victims of such 
 a crafty and cowardly device, 
 caused the indignation which 
 is never slow to kindle in 
 a Highlandman's breast to 
 burn dangerously. They were 
 strangers in a foreign land, at 
 home they were gentlemen; 
 and the feeling that the sacred 
 laws of hospitality had been 
 deliberately violated added to 
 their rage at treatment which, 
 real a. 1 - it was, they had difficulty 
 in believing that the representa- 
 tions of it made to them were 
 true. And when their confid- 
 ence is shaken, there is no race 
 so unreasoningly suspicious as 
 the Highlanders. This is only 
 the counterpart in their spirit to 
 the fact, that in those whom 
 they know they repose perfect 
 confidence; if they are their 
 superiors, it takes the form of 
 implicit, respectful obedience. 
 A stranger may obtain their 
 trust, but it is after he proves 
 that he merits it ; and if once it 
 is given, it is unreserved and
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 103 
 
 constant Every officer had 
 occasion to observe, in such 
 transactions as the settlement 
 of accounts with his men, how 
 minute and strict, even punc- 
 tilious, they were in every little 
 matter; but after the matter 
 was arranged, there was no more 
 thought of scrutiny, his word or 
 nod was as good as his written 
 bond. 
 
 Notwithstanding all that the 
 men felt on this ill-omened 
 occasion, they behaved with 
 moderation and firmness, a fact 
 to be frequently observed when 
 men of an impulsive fiery dis- 
 position are placed in a pre- 
 dicament similar to that of the 
 Black Watch in this emergency. 
 They believed themselves to be 
 deceived and meanly betrayed, 
 but they proceeded to no im- 
 mediate measures of violence. 
 Their anxious thought was how 
 they could best get back to 
 their own mountains of freedom 
 and straightforward dealing. 
 They believed their officers to 
 have become like themselves 
 the dupes of a cruel deception ; 
 and to them they imputed none 
 of the blame. The incendiaries 
 who had aroused them to a 
 sense of their actual situation 
 favoured this view of the ques- 
 tion. They were hostile, not 
 to the gentlemen in command 
 of the regiment, but to the 
 government; and the spirit of 
 discontent and disaffection they 
 sought to stir up, was eroked 
 by accusing the Government of 
 a breach of faith. The means 
 they employed aiming at this 
 
 end were successful to an extent, 
 which the subsequent story of 
 the mutiny will tell. 
 
 It was not in the interest of 
 the enemies of the Government 
 to keep the affair a secret. It 
 was freely talked about. The 
 publications of the day, both 
 those which were opposed to 
 the House of Hanover and 
 those which advocated its cause, 
 discussed it without reserve. 
 Numerous pamphlets appeared, 
 in which the conduct of the 
 Government and of the High- 
 landers were canvassed as 
 candidly as restrictions on the 
 press at the time would permit. 
 One in particular is selected by 
 Colonel David Stewart in the 
 account of the affair which he 
 gives in his "Sketches of the 
 Highlanders of Scotland, with 
 Details of the Military Service 
 of the Highland Regiments," a 
 standard work on the subject, 
 as showing considerable know- 
 ledge of the affair, and con- 
 taining a fair statement of the 
 facts of the case. It appeared 
 immediately after the mutiny. 
 The author having alluded to 
 the purpose for which these 
 independent companies had 
 been at first embodied, and 
 having described their figure 
 and dress, and the effect pro- 
 duced in England by the novelty 
 of both, proceeds thus to state 
 the cause and circumstances of 
 the mutiny : 
 
 " From their first formation 
 they had always considered them- 
 selves as destined to serve ex- 
 clusively in Scotland, or rather
 
 104 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 in the Highlands ;* and a special 
 compact was made, allowing the 
 men to retain their ancient 
 national garb. From their ori- 
 gin and local attachments they 
 seemed destined for this special 
 service. Besides, in the disci- 
 pline to which they were at first 
 subjected under their natural 
 chiefs and superiors, there was 
 much affinity with their ancient 
 usages. So that their service 
 
 . * A remark made by Major Grose 
 iV*is "Military Antiquities," maybe 
 quoted here as confirming this state- 
 ment of the anonymous pamphleteer. 
 Treating of the formation of the High- 
 land Regiment, and subsequent en- 
 listment and desertion, while detailing 
 the previous circumstances which led 
 to it, he observes : ' ' Among other 
 inducements to enlist, thus improperly 
 held forth, it is said the men were 
 assured they should not go out of their 
 own country. Under the faith of this 
 promise, many respectable farmers' 
 and tacksmen's sons entered them- 
 selves as privates in the corps who 
 would not otherwise have thought of 
 enlisting." After narrating various 
 circumstances of the mutiny, the Major 
 concludes : ' ' This transaction shows 
 the danger and even cruelty of making 
 promises to recruits, under anything 
 less than the greatest certainty that 
 they will be faithfully observed ; the 
 contrary has more than once produced 
 the most dangerous mutinies, and that 
 even among the Highland regiments, 
 whose education tends to make them 
 more regular and subordinate than 
 either the English or Irish ; and if 
 the causes of almost every mutiny that 
 has happened were diligently and dis- 
 passionately inquired into and weighed, 
 it will be found that nine-tenths out of 
 ten of the soldiers, however wrong and 
 unjustifiable in that mode of seeking 
 redress, have had great reason of com- 
 plaint, generally of some breach of 
 positive promise made them at enlist- 
 ing." 
 
 seemed merely that of a clan 
 sanctioned by legal authority. 
 These and other considerations 
 sanctioned them in the belief 
 that their duty was of a denned 
 and specific nature, and that 
 they were never to be amalga- 
 mated with the regular dispos- 
 able force of the country. As 
 they were deeply impressed with 
 this belief, it was quite natural 
 that they should regard with 
 great jealousy and distrust any 
 indication of a wish to change 
 the system. Accordingly, when 
 the design of marching them in- 
 to England was first intimated 
 to their officers, the men were 
 not shy in protesting against 
 this unexpected measure. By 
 conciliating language, however, 
 they were prevailed upon to 
 commence and continue their 
 march without reluctance. It 
 was even rumoured in some 
 foreign gazettes, that they had 
 mutinied on the borders, killed 
 many of their officers, carried 
 off their colours, and returned 
 to their native mountains. This 
 account, though glaringly false, 
 was repeated from time to time 
 in those journals,andwas neither 
 noticed nor contradicted in those 
 of England, though such an 
 occasion ought not to have 
 been neglected for giving a can- 
 did and full explanation to the 
 Highlanders, which might have 
 prevented much subsequent dis- 
 quietude. 
 
 "On their march through 
 the northern counties of Eng- 
 land, they were everywhere re- 
 ceived with hospitality. They
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 105 
 
 appeared in the highest spirits, 
 and it was imagined that their 
 attachment to home was so 
 much abated that they would 
 feel no reluctance to the change. 
 As they approached the metro- 
 polis, however, and were ex- 
 posed to the taunts of the true- 
 bred English clowns, they be- 
 came more gloomy and sullen. 
 Animated even to the lowest 
 private with the feelings of 
 gentlemen, they could ill brook 
 the rudeness of boors, nor could 
 they patiently submit to affronts 
 in a country to which they had 
 been called by invitation of then- 
 sovereign. 
 
 " A still deeper cause of dis- 
 content preyed upon their minds. 
 A rumour had reached them on 
 their march, that they were to 
 be embarked for the plantations. 
 The fate of the marines, the 
 invalids, and other regiments 
 which had been sent to these 
 colonies, seemed to mark out 
 this service as at once the most 
 perilous and the most degrading 
 to which British soldiers could 
 be exposed, with no enemy to 
 encounter worthy of their cour- 
 age. There was another con- 
 sideration which made it peculi- 
 arly^odious to the Highlanders. 
 By the Act of Parliament of the 
 eleventh of George I., transporta- 
 tion to the colonies was de- 
 nounced against the Highland 
 rebels, etc., as the greatest 
 punishment that could be in- 
 flicted upon them except death ; 
 and when they heard that they 
 were to be sent there, the galling 
 suspicion naturally arose in their 
 
 minds, that 'after being used 
 as rods to scourge their own 
 countrymen, they were to be 
 thrown into the fire.' These 
 apprehensions they kept secret 
 even from their own officers ; 
 and the care with which they 
 dissembled them is the best 
 evidence of the deep impres- 
 sion which they had made. 
 Amidst all their jealousies and 
 fears, however, they looked for- 
 ward with considerable expecta- 
 tion to the review, when they 
 were to come under the im- 
 mediate observation of his 
 Majesty, or some of the royal 
 family. On the i4th of May 
 they were reviewed by Marshal 
 Wade, and many persons of 
 distinction, who were highly 
 delighted with the promptitude 
 and alacrity with which they 
 went through their military ex- 
 ercises, and gave a very favour- 
 able report of them, where it 
 was likely to operate most to 
 then: advantage. 
 
 "From that moment, how- 
 ever, all their thoughts were 
 bent on the means of returning 
 to their own country, and on 
 this wild and romantic march 
 they accordingly set out a few 
 days after. Under pretence of 
 preparing for the review, they 
 had been enabled to provide 
 themselves unsuspectedly with 
 some necessary articles, and, 
 confiding in their capabilities of 
 enduring privations and fatigue, 
 they imagined that they should 
 have great advantages ever any 
 troops that might be sent in 
 pursuit of them. It was on the
 
 106 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 night between Tuesday and 
 Wednesday after the review, 
 that they assembled on a com- 
 mon near Highgate, and com- 
 menced their march to the 
 north. They kept as nearly as 
 possible between the two great 
 roads, passing from wood to 
 wood in such a manner that it 
 was not well known which way 
 they moved. Orders were issued 
 by the Lords-Justices to the 
 commanding officers of the 
 forces stationed in the counties 
 between them and Scotland, 
 and an advertisement was pub- 
 lished by the Secretary at War, 
 exhorting the civil officers to 
 be vigilant in their endeavours 
 to discover their route. It was 
 not, however, till about eight 
 o'clock in the evening of Thurs- 
 day i Qth May, that any certain 
 intelligence of them was obtain- 
 ed, and they had then proceeded 
 as far as Northampton, and were 
 supposed to be shaping their 
 course towards Nottinghamshire. 
 General Blakeney, who com- 
 manded at Northampton, im- 
 mediately despatched Captain 
 Ball of General Wade's regi- 
 ment of horse, an officer well 
 acquainted with that part of the 
 country, to search after them. 
 They had now entered Lady 
 Wood, between Brig Stock and 
 Dean Thorpe, about four miles 
 from Oundle, when they were 
 discovered. Captain Ball was 
 joined in the evening by the 
 general himself, and about nine 
 all the troops were drawn up in 
 order near the wood where the 
 Highlanders lay. Seeing them- 
 
 selves in this situation, and un- 
 willing to aggravate their offence 
 by the crime of shedding the 
 blood of his Majesty's troops, 
 they sent one of their guides to 
 inform the general that he might, 
 without fear, send an officer to 
 treat of the terms on which they 
 should be expected to surrender. 
 Captain Ball was accordingly 
 delegated, and, on coming to a 
 conference, the captain demand- 
 ed that they should instantly 
 lay down their arms, and sur- 
 render as prisoners at discretion. 
 This they positively refused, de- 
 claring that they would rather 
 be cut to pieces than submit, 
 unless the general would send 
 them a written promise signed 
 by his own hand, that their arms 
 should not be taken from them, 
 and that they should have a free 
 pardon. Upon this the captain 
 delivered the conditions pro- 
 posed by General Blakeney, 
 viz., that if they would peace- 
 ably lay down their arms and 
 surrender themselves prisoners, 
 the most favourable report 
 should be made of them to the 
 Lords- Justices. When they 
 again protested that they would 
 be cut in pieces rather than sur- 
 render, except on the condition 
 of retaining their arms, and re- 
 ceiving a free pardon, 'Hither- 
 to,' exclaimed the captain, 'I 
 have been your friend, and am 
 still anxious to do all I can to 
 save you ; but, if you continue 
 obstinate an hour longer, sur- 
 rounded as you are by the 
 king's forces, not a man of you 
 shall be left alive; and, for my
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 107 
 
 own part, I assure you that I 
 shall give quarter to none.' 
 
 " The captain then demanded 
 that two of their number should 
 be ordered to conduct him out 
 of the wood. Two brothers 
 were accordingly ordered to 
 accompany him. Finding that 
 they were inclined to submit, 
 he promised them both a free 
 pardon, and taking one of them 
 along with him, he sent back 
 the other to endeavour by 
 every means to overcome the 
 obstinacy of the rest. He soon 
 returned with thirteen more. 
 Having marched these to a 
 short distance from the wood, 
 the captain again sent one of 
 them back to his comrades to 
 inform them how many had 
 submitted, and in a short time 
 seventeen more followed the 
 example. These were all march- 
 ed away with their arms (the 
 powder being blown out of their 
 pans), and when they came 
 before the general they laid 
 down their arms. On returning 
 to the wood they found the 
 whole body disposed to submit 
 to the general's troops. 
 
 " While this was doing in the 
 country," says the intelligent 
 writer to whom we are indebted 
 for the foregoing facts, "there 
 was nothing but the flight of 
 the Highlanders talked of in 
 town. The wiser sort blamed 
 it, but some of their hot-headed 
 countrymen were for comparing 
 it to the retreat of the 10,000 
 Greeks through Persia; by 
 which, for the honour of the 
 ancient kingdom of Scotland, 
 
 Corporal M'Pherson was erect- 
 ed into a Xenophon. But, 
 amongst these idle dreams, the 
 most injurious were those that 
 reflected on their officers ; and, 
 by a strange kind of innuendo, 
 would have fixed the crime of 
 these people's desertion upon 
 those who did their duty and 
 stayed here. 
 
 "As to the rest of the regi- 
 ment, they were ordered im- 
 mediately to Kent, whither they 
 marched very cheerfully, and 
 were from thence transported 
 to Flanders, and are by this time 
 with the army, where, I dare- 
 say, it will quickly appear they 
 were not afraid of fighting the 
 French. In King William's 
 war, there was a Highland regi- 
 ment that, to avoid going to 
 Flanders, had formed a design 
 of flying [into the mountains. 
 This was discovered before they 
 could put it into execution ; 
 and General M'Kay, who then 
 commanded in Scotland, caused 
 them to be immediately sur- 
 rounded and disarmed, and 
 afterwards shipped them for 
 Holland. 
 
 " When they came to the 
 confederate army, they behaved 
 very briskly upon all occasions; 
 but, as pickthanks are never 
 wanting in courts, some wise 
 people were pleased to tell 
 King William that the High- 
 landers drank King James's 
 health, a report which was 
 probably very true. The king, 
 whose good sense taught him to 
 despise such dirty informations, 
 asked General Talmash, who
 
 108 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 was near him, how they behaved 
 in the field ? ' As well as any 
 troops in the army,' answered 
 the general like a soldier and a 
 man of honour. ' Why, then,' 
 replied the king, ' if they fight 
 for me, let them drink my 
 father's health as often as they 
 please.' On the road, and even 
 after they entered London, they 
 kept up their spirits, and march- 
 ed very cheerfully; nor did they 
 show any marks of terror when 
 they were brought into the 
 Tower." 
 
 Another pamphlet of the day, 
 while detailing a short examina- 
 tion of two of the deserters, 
 shows the feelings by which 
 they were influenced, their 
 suspicions of some attempt to 
 entrap them, and the horror they 
 felt of the country to which 
 they believed they were to be 
 sent, and to avoid which they 
 had set out on their daring 
 return towards the mountains of 
 their Highland home. 
 
 Private George Grant being 
 asked several questions, answer- 
 ed to them in order through 
 an interpreter. The answers 
 were these : 
 
 " I am neither Whig* nor 
 Papist, but I will serve the king 
 
 * The term "Whig" was not 
 applied by the Highlanders in a 
 political sense. It extended generally 
 to the neighbours on the plains ; and 
 especially to the Covenanters. Ac- 
 cording to Mrs Grant, in her ' ' Supersti- 
 tions of the Highlanders," this term 
 "was by no means appropriated to 
 political differences. It might perhaps 
 mean, in a confined sense, the adher- 
 ents of King William, by far the 
 
 for all that. I am not afraid; 
 I never saw the man I was 
 afraid of. 
 
 ' I will not be cheated, nor 
 do anything by trick. 
 
 " I will not be transported to 
 the plantations, like a thief and 
 a rogue. 
 
 " They told me I was to be 
 sent out to work with black 
 slaves : that was not my bar- 
 gain, and I won't be cheated." 
 
 Could answers be more 
 manly? And what language 
 could more scathingly expose 
 the villainy of a Government 
 which would lay snares to entrap 
 brave men like this with what 
 they had not bargained for. The 
 more any one reads of mutinies 
 in the army and the navy in 
 these days of some degree of 
 respect for the rights of in- 
 dividual men, the more he is 
 amazed that there have been so 
 few such risings among the 
 heroes of the army and navy. 
 
 John Stewart, of Captain 
 Campbell's company, being inter- 
 rogated, answered thus : 
 
 " I did not desert ; I only 
 wanted to go back to my own 
 country, because they abused 
 
 greatest caitiff in Highland delin- 
 quency. But it meant more ; it was 
 used to designate a character made 
 up of negatives, who had neither ear 
 for music nor taste for poetry, no 
 pride of ancestry, no heart for attach- 
 ment, no soul for honour ; one who 
 merely studied comfort and conveni- 
 ency, and was more anxious for the 
 absence of positive evil, than the pre- 
 sence of relative good. A Whig, in 
 short, was all that Highlanders 
 cordially hated a cold, selfish, for- 
 mal character."
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 109 
 
 me, and said I was to be trans- 
 ported. 
 
 " I had no leader or com- 
 mander; we had not one man 
 over the rest. 
 
 " We were all determined 
 not to be tricked. We will all 
 fight the French and Spaniards, 
 but will not go like rogues to 
 the plantations. 
 
 " I am not a Presbyterian. 
 
 " No ! nor a Catholic." 
 
 The Highlanders, who in 
 their miniature imitation of the 
 1 0,000 Greeks, were all animated 
 by the same spirit as George 
 Grant and John Stewart, were 
 marched back to London as 
 deserters, and treated and tried 
 accordingly. They were all 
 arraigned before a court-martial 
 on the 8th of June. After such 
 justice as courts of the iniquit- 
 ous nature which characterised 
 these refuges of military and 
 naval oppression and cruelty in 
 those days, they were all found 
 guilty, and sentenced to be 
 shot. Only three of them, how- 
 ever, were honoured with this 
 favourite death of a soldier. 
 The others were consigned to a 
 doom more degrading in the 
 eyes of their brave countrymen, 
 both then and now. Two 
 brothers, Corporals Malcolm 
 and Samuel M'Pherson, and 
 Farquhar Shaw, a private, were 
 ordered for execution, and shot 
 on Tower Hill. 
 
 The following account of this 
 untoward event appeared in St 
 Jamesfs Chronicle of June 20, 
 
 " On Monday the 1 2th, at six 
 
 o'clock in the morning, Samuel 
 and Malcolm M'Pherson, cor- 
 porals, and Farquhar Shaw, a 
 private man, three of the High- 
 land deserters, were shot upon 
 the parade within the Tower, 
 pursuant to the sentence of the 
 court-martial. The rest of the 
 Highland prisoners were drawn 
 out to see the execution, and 
 joined in their prayers with 
 great earnestness. They be- 
 haved with perfect resolution 
 and propriety. Their bodies 
 were put into three coffins by 
 three of the prisoners, their 
 clansmen and namesakes, and 
 buried in one grave, near the 
 place of execution." 
 
 Xear the place of execution ! 
 Far, far from those native glens 
 where they had loved and were 
 beloved, and farther from re- 
 sponsive sympathy ; surrounded 
 by strangers who did not under- 
 stand their speech, could not 
 read their looks, and had not 
 means of access to their thrilling 
 sense of the wrongs inflicted on 
 them. These brave men were 
 shot down like cowardly de- 
 serters, while their silent hearts 
 throbbed with such pulsations 
 of sorrow as only heroic souls 
 conceal. The rest would indeed 
 join with great earnestness in 
 their prayers, but dark must 
 have been the scared forbidden 
 scowl, deep the flood of grief, 
 and desperate the undertone ot 
 muttered vengeance which ruffl ed 
 the wings of those earnest pray- 
 ers. The Highlanders had been 
 entrapped by foxy betrayers, 
 and now three of their best
 
 110 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 were sacrificed to satisfy a 
 wolfish martial law. They were 
 slaughtered, as regal stags from 
 their distant, lonely mountains 
 have often been since, in a cruel 
 enclosure set up to suit the lazy 
 convenience of high-born sports- 
 men who feared the excitement 
 and danger of the hunt. In- 
 dignation at their fate is felt to 
 this day among their country- 
 men ; and official army books 
 put into regimental libraries 
 pass it glibly over. 
 
 As to the three victims, 
 martyrs, or murdered men 
 any of the three terms will 
 suit they had their memorial 
 in many hearts. They must 
 have been such as even men 
 can love. In the language of 
 Colonel Stewart : " There must 
 have been something more than 
 common in the case or character 
 of these unfortunate men, as 
 Lord John Murray, who was 
 afterwards colonel of the regi- 
 ment, had portraits of them 
 hung up in his dining-room." 
 But, semi-official writer as the 
 ardent colonel was, he adds : 
 "I have not at present the 
 means of ascertaining whether 
 this proceeded from an impres- 
 sion on his lordship's mind that 
 they had been victims to the 
 designs of others, and ignorantly 
 misled, rather than wilfully 
 culpable, or merely from a 
 desire of preserving the resem- 
 blances of men who were re- 
 markable for their size and 
 handsome figure." 
 
 Three paragraphs from the 
 Scots Magazine, in the volume 
 of 1743, tells what became of 
 the regiment, and of the rest of 
 the so-called deserters. The 
 first, dated May, is : " More 
 British troops gone to Flanders, 
 among them Lord Sempill's 
 Highland regiment." The se- 
 cond, dated September, is : "The 
 Highlanders in the Tower were 
 drawn out in parade on August 
 1 2th ; and were drafted off 
 to the Leeward Islands, Ja- 
 maica, New England, Georgia, 
 Gibraltar, and Port Mahon, 
 in order to be sent off by the 
 first ships that sailed for these 
 places." The third, also dated 
 September, is : " The High- 
 landers who were confined 
 in the Tower, were carried to 
 Gravesend, in order to be 
 shipped thirty for Gibraltar; 
 twenty for Minorca; twenty for 
 the Leeward Islands ; twenty- 
 eight for Jamaica; and thirty- 
 eight for Georgia." Adding 
 the three who were shot, the 
 victims of Government treach- 
 ery, whose fate has been re- 
 corded, were in all ONE HUN- 
 DRED AND THIRTY-SIX. The 
 sufferings of the country in 1745 
 were in a large measure due to 
 this betrayal; the glory which 
 the 42d has achieved has 
 been due to the boldness and 
 bravery of men of like spirit 
 with the two brothers, Malcolm 
 and Samuel M'Pherson, and 
 their brother in death, Farquhar 
 Shaw.
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. Ill 
 
 MUTINY IN THE 720 REGIMENT, 
 SEAFORTH'S HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 (NOW THE 720 REGIMENT, DUKE OF ALBANY'S OWN HIGHLANDERS.) 
 
 September 1787. 
 
 THIS memorable, but too com- 
 mon occurrence in Highland 
 corps is still referred to through- 
 out Scotland as " The Affair of 
 the Macraes." It is, as every 
 mutiny in these regiments was, 
 an instance of bad faith with 
 the men on the part of the 
 Government of the time and its 
 agents. Fidelity cannot be 
 looked for from those who 
 believe that they have been 
 deceived, especially if Celtic 
 blood fires their veins. Dis- 
 honour attaches to every breach 
 of promise ; but no transaction 
 of the sort is so despicable 
 as that which plots a mean 
 treachery against loyal-hearted, 
 straightforward men, who devote 
 themselves to privations, suffer- 
 ings, and probable death in 
 circumstances of the direst 
 misery, which is only mocked 
 at by inglorious gaudiness, when 
 they sell their personal liberty 
 to become poor but honest 
 soldiers. 
 
 The raising of the regiment 
 in which this mutiny occurred 
 is interesting. The Earl of 
 Seaforth forfeited his estate and 
 title by engaging in the rebellion 
 of 1715. His grandson, Ken- 
 neth Mackenzie, repurchased 
 the estate from the Crown, and 
 was created an Irish peer under 
 the title, Viscount Fortrose; and 
 
 was, in the year 1771, restored 
 to the ancient title of the family. 
 In 1778 he made an offer to 
 George III. to organise a corps 
 on his estate, which had in 
 former times been able to raise 
 a thousand men under the ban- 
 ner of their chief. The offer 
 was accepted, and, in the month 
 of May, eleven hundred and 
 thirty clansmen assembled at 
 Elgin in obedience to the Earl 
 of Seaforth's proclamation. This 
 is a wonderful instance of the 
 undying loyalty of the High- 
 landers to the head of their 
 family. In poverty and exile 
 he was as much respected as he 
 was when in possession of rank 
 and fortune. In 1732 four 
 hundred of the attainted Lord 
 Seaforth's sept had marched to 
 Edinburgh to lodge a large sum 
 of money, a portion of their 
 rents, to be remitted to him in 
 France. 
 
 The men who assembled at 
 Elgin were principally raised 
 from among the Mackenzies. 
 Five hundred of them were 
 from the Earl's own estates; 
 about four hundred from among 
 the Mackenzies of Redcastle, 
 Applecross, Kilcoy, and Scot- 
 well; while upwards of two 
 hundred were from the Low- 
 lands. The clan Macrae had 
 long been devoted adherents to
 
 112 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 the interests of the Seaforth 
 family, and their name occurred 
 so frequently in the corps, that 
 it was known as the Macrae 
 regiment. 
 
 After being reviewed at Elgin 
 in May, they marched to the 
 south, some direct to Edin- 
 burgh, and others temporarily 
 sent to Glasgow and other 
 towns in the west of Scotland, 
 before proceeding to the metro- 
 polis. 
 
 In the month of June the 
 regiment was inspected by 
 General Skene, and was em- 
 bodied as Seaforth's High- 
 landers, or the ;8th of the line. 
 They were all found to be so 
 effective, that not a man of 
 them was rejected. After being 
 for some time quartered in 
 Edinburgh Castle, and in the 
 suburbs, orders came that they 
 were to hold themselves in 
 readiness to march at an hour's 
 notice, similar orders having 
 been sent to all the troops in 
 England and Scotland, the 
 reason being that the ministry 
 had been advised that the 
 French intended to invade 
 Britain at some place or other 
 not specified. 
 
 A few days later the regiment 
 was ordered to proceed to 
 Guernsey, with a view to relieve 
 the M'Leod Highlanders, who 
 had been told off for India, 
 should their services there be 
 required. At Guernsey the 78th 
 would be at hand for the fray 
 with the expected invaders. 
 For this they were quite pre- 
 pared. They would have met 
 
 such a foe with alacrity. It 
 was not fear of the French, 
 cowardliness, nor any want of 
 loyalty which bred the disturb- 
 ance which preceded their em- 
 barkation. Their subsequent 
 conduct, and even the courage 
 they displayed in protecting 
 their own interests on the occa- 
 sion of their plucky mutiny, are 
 quite sufficient to dispel any 
 such surmises as these. 
 
 They were to have embarked 
 on board transport ships, sent 
 for the purpose to Leith Roads, 
 on Tuesday, September 22. 
 Several companies which had 
 been in the Castle since the end 
 of May, or the beginning of 
 June, prepared for embarkation 
 with the utmost cheerfulness. 
 But the soldiers who had been 
 quartered on the inhabitants of 
 Canongate and the Abbey had 
 been exposed to counsels and 
 other influences which had not 
 found free access to the strong- 
 hold at the top of Castle Hill. 
 It was by no means a time of 
 universal content with the 
 Government and its policy, 
 especially its warlike measures. 
 It was indeed an era of political 
 clubs, dangerous to the powers 
 that were. Richard Parker, it 
 will be remembered, had been 
 trained in coteries like these, in 
 that very city, for the prominent 
 part he was to play as a mutineer 
 in the navy ten years later ; and 
 men of like spirit with him 
 might he not have been one of 
 them ? went vigorously to the 
 work of spreading discontent 
 and sedition among the access-
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 113 
 
 ible Highlanders whom they 
 met on the streets, in their 
 lodgings, or over the tables of 
 the plentiful public-houses down- 
 stairs, or up the Closes. The 
 men were very accessible for 
 reasons other than these in- 
 cendiaries had to assign. A 
 difference had for some time 
 subsisted between their officers 
 and them. They alleged that 
 they had not been paid their 
 bounty-money, nor the arrears 
 of their pay, and that they had 
 been ill-used by the officers in 
 many ways. And it will seem 
 to most readers not improbable 
 that they had some good grounds 
 for these allegations, after they 
 read a haughty and impertinent 
 letter written by these officers 
 two or three days after, when a 
 compromise had been effected 
 by gentlemen, who seem, at 
 this distance of time, to have 
 been wiser than they. As it 
 was, however, the outside ad- 
 visers of the billeted soldiers 
 assured them that Lord Seaforth 
 had sold them to the East India 
 Company, and that they were 
 to be sent to the distant un- 
 healthy country, under that Com- 
 pany's control. They would 
 thus have to spend an inglorious 
 life, till an obscure death, in- 
 flicted by a deleterious climate, 
 or a despicable enemy, re- 
 lieved them, and would have 
 no chance of reaping the shin- 
 ing honours to be won in a 
 conflict with the French, almost 
 in sight, and certainly within 
 the hearing, of those they loved 
 and had left behind them in 
 
 their native Highland glens and 
 homes. 
 
 The mutinous spirit of the 
 malcontents first manifested 
 itself not far from the Castle. 
 The departure of the companies 
 quartered in barracks there had 
 been so timed that they were to 
 meet their comrades who had 
 been revelling in the rough and 
 disloyal hospitality of the Can- 
 ongate, at the North, or, as it 
 was termed at the time, New 
 Bridge. When they did meet, 
 a scene of confusion bewildered 
 the inhabitants and soldiers who 
 were not in the secret, and gave 
 scope to the mischievous pro- 
 pensities of those who were. 
 The populace, however, soon 
 took the popular view of such a 
 question, and cheered the parti- 
 sans of disobedience. Their 
 advisers hounded them on ; and 
 they refused to march unless all 
 their demands were complied 
 with there and then. They re- 
 pelled by force all the attempts 
 of their officers to restore order. 
 Obedience and discipline were 
 at a discount. The men were 
 encouraged in their mutinous 
 conduct by the inhabitants, who 
 insulted the officers, pelted them 
 with stones, and struck them 
 with their fists, or whatever they 
 had, or could lay hold of. 
 
 A portion of the men were, 
 however, got out of the disorder 
 after a time, and started for 
 Leith Links, where they met 
 the two companies from the 
 Abbey, who had marched thither 
 by the Easter Road ; and Lord 
 Seaforth and the officers did
 
 114 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 their best to allay the mutinous 
 spirit by assuring the men that 
 their demands would be com- 
 plied with as soon as possible. 
 
 They were reduced to some- 
 thing like order on Leith Links ; 
 but when they were commanded 
 to march to the Shore, another 
 scene of disobedience occurred 
 which created a most alarming 
 confusion. Distrust of the 
 nobleman at whose instance 
 they had enlisted was general 
 among the men, who felt also 
 they had little occasion to put 
 confidence in the other officers ; 
 and this time the greater portion 
 of the corps broke out into open 
 mutiny. Repeated entreaties, 
 and promises that every just de- 
 mand would be attended to and 
 satisfied, failed to exercise any 
 soothing influence. About five 
 hundred were prevailed upon to 
 go on board the transports, but 
 an equal number were deaf to 
 all assurances; and, being re- 
 solute, as well as in possession 
 of powder and shot, they had 
 no fear of the results of any 
 attempt at compulsion. That 
 would have been foolish and 
 ineffectual, not to say neces- 
 sarily fraught with fatal conse- 
 quences. 
 
 The mutineers shouldered 
 their arms, and set off at a 
 quick march, with pipes playing, 
 and two plaids fixed on poles 
 for, not inappropriate, colours. 
 They retired to Arthur's Seat, a 
 selection of a place so well fitted 
 for self-defence, that it looks like 
 a preconcerted move. There 
 they took up a position which 
 
 enabled them to bid defiance 
 to all attempts at coercion ; and 
 were plentifully supplied with 
 provisions by the people of 
 Edinburgh and Leith, a great 
 many of whom were forward to 
 show sympathy with the muti- 
 neers. Ammunition also in 
 abundance was brought to them 
 by their sympathising friends; 
 so that they felt themselves 
 pretty secure, and well able to 
 hold out till the authorities saw 
 fit to come to terms with them. 
 " The hill chosen for the 
 rebel camp," remarks a writer in 
 Chambers's Journal for Janu- 
 ary 1866, "was very different 
 from the Arthur's Seat as it is 
 now seen. Until within a very 
 recent period, the level grounds 
 surrounding it were divided into 
 fields, many of the hollows were 
 marshy and impassable, and the 
 only roads were mere sheep- 
 tracks. On this height, a well 
 armed and provisioned force 
 might have held its own for 
 many months, in the then state 
 of the military art It is not a 
 little curious that the last time 
 Colonel M'Murdo reviewed the 
 Edinburgh Volunteers, he led 
 them through various move- 
 ments directed against the very 
 spot where the rebel Seaforths 
 had taken up their encamp- 
 ment. Had it been necessary 
 to reduce the mutineers by 
 force, the attacking body would 
 have had no splendid military 
 road such as the Queen's Drive 
 by which to approach the posi- 
 tion, and would have found that 
 in the marshy bog of Dunsappie,
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 115 
 
 and the rugged heights sur- 
 rounding it, the rebels had 
 powerful auxiliaries, absent in 
 Colonel M'Murdo's mimic war." 
 
 Officers were appointed by 
 the men ; sentries were placed 
 round their camp in regular 
 form ; and thus they felt them- 
 selves secure. The hillside en- 
 campment looked as much like 
 the Highlands as was possible 
 in the circumstances ; and there 
 were men on it who knew the 
 tactics of Highland warfare. 
 With such reflections these 
 Highlanders were, for the short 
 period the mutiny lasted, cheer- 
 ful through the day, and slept 
 soundly at night. They were 
 visited in camp by persons of 
 all ranks and classes. 
 
 The authorities were not idle. 
 They seem to have taken in- 
 stant action when they saw the 
 meaning of the disorder which 
 took place at the North Bridge 
 on Tuesday. Troops were 
 ordered to the city. On Wed- 
 nesday a large body of the 
 Eleventh Regiment of Dragoons 
 arrived, two hundred of the 
 Buccleuch Fencibles, and four 
 hundred of the Glasgow Volun- 
 teers. On Thursday, Friday, 
 and Saturday, bodies of regular 
 troops from various corps came 
 marching into Edinburgh. 
 
 During this hill-encampment 
 one of the mutineers fell over 
 the rocks and was killed; an- 
 other was accidentally shot 
 through the thigh by one of his 
 comrades, and was carried to 
 the Royal Infirmary, which 
 building was then in the sub- 
 
 urbs ; but now, near the end of 
 its hospital days, it stands in a 
 busy part of the city which has 
 crept round it. 
 
 The authorities, both civil 
 and military, seem to have taken 
 a very lenient view of the con- 
 duct of these Macraes. This 
 is the most remarkable part of 
 the story, and it tends forcibly 
 to confirm the impression that 
 they knew the men had griev- 
 ances about their pay, at all 
 events, which it was right should 
 be adjusted. General Skene, 
 second in command in Scotland 
 at the time, visited the camp 
 the morning after the outbreak, 
 and behaved like a gentleman, 
 fully aware that the men were 
 not the only people who were 
 to blame. Earl Seaforth had 
 not completed his arrangements 
 with Government for the raising 
 of this regiment, it is well enough 
 known, without a good deal of 
 heart-burning on his part, and 
 penurious jealousy on the part 
 of the War Office authorities in 
 London. If the men had not 
 got their money, we may be 
 sure it had not reached their 
 officers. The pay-master would 
 have been only too proud to 
 have disbursed it. The authori- 
 ties in Edinburgh, both civil 
 and military, would know more 
 of the real state of matters than 
 they cared to put into words, 
 spoken or written ; their good 
 sense and feeling of justice 
 expressed themselves in lenient 
 conduct towards men who were 
 doing a venial wrong to rectify 
 a flagrant breach of faith.
 
 116 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 General Skene offered the 
 men that an inquiry should be 
 made into their alleged griev- 
 ances, and that oblivion of all 
 that had passed would be 
 secured, if only they would 
 consent to embark. The men 
 saw that this was giving up all 
 the advantage of their strong 
 position. They insisted on 
 having their money paid to 
 them at once; and they required 
 also that several officers named 
 by them should be dismissed. 
 A further demand they made 
 was, that security should be 
 given them that they would 
 not be sent to the East Indies. 
 On the same day, and on the 
 day following, that is, on Wed- 
 nesday and Thursday, the Duke 
 of Buccleuch, the Earl of Dun- 
 more, and Lord Macdonald, 
 and many of the nobility be- 
 sides, also of the gentry and 
 clergy, visited the camp of the 
 mutineers, and endeavoured to 
 recall them to a sense of military 
 duty; or, if their sense of the 
 duty of securing their own rights 
 by holding Government to its 
 bargain with them was too 
 strong, to bring about some 
 solution of the difficulty. 
 
 On Thursday a report was 
 spread that the Highlanders 
 were threatening to march 
 through the city, and that the 
 troops would oppose them. 
 Here was to be bloodshed on 
 the High Street of Edinburgh, 
 as there had been in the olden 
 time. A proclamation was made 
 by tuck of drum by order of the 
 magistrates; and at noon *he 
 
 following printed paper was 
 posted in all the public places : 
 " Thursday, September 24th, 
 1778, all the inhabitants are to 
 retire to their own houses on 
 the first toll of the fire-bell." 
 Nothing, however, happened. 
 All remained perfectly quiet, 
 and the inhabitants had little 
 to fear. The Highlanders were 
 not the men to do hurt to friends, 
 and the people of Edinburgh 
 had befriended them by their 
 encouragement substantially ex- 
 pressed in supplies of provisions 
 and ammunition. 
 
 A compromise was, however, 
 happily effected on Friday 
 morning, the fourth day of the 
 mutiny, when the following 
 terms were accepted by the 
 men : 
 
 rs^ a general pardon fo? 
 all past offences. 
 
 Second^ that all arrears and 
 levy-money should be paid be- 
 fore embarkation. 
 
 Third t that they should not 
 be sent to the East Indies. 
 
 For supplementing the terms 
 agreed on, a bond was granted, 
 signed by the Duke of Buc- 
 cleuch, the Earl of Dunmore, 
 Sir Adolphus Oughton, K.B., 
 commander-in-chief, and Gene- 
 ral Skene. 
 
 About eleven o'clock in the 
 forenoon the men marched 
 down the hill, headed by the 
 Earl of Dunmore, to St Ann's 
 Yards, where they were met 
 by General Skene, whom they 
 saluted with three cheers. They 
 then formed into a hollow 
 square, and had the articles
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 117 
 
 read to them by the general. 
 He made a short speech, in 
 which he exhorted the men to 
 be in good behaviour, and in- 
 formed them that a court of 
 inquiry would be held upon 
 their officers next morning, 
 composed of officers belonging 
 to other regiments, which every 
 man who thought himself 
 aggrieved might attend ; and 
 he might be sure justice would 
 be done to him, as well as to all 
 concerned. The men were then 
 billeted in the suburbs till the 
 embarkation should take place. 
 This amicable settlement 
 did not give satisfaction to 
 some of the officers of the 
 corps, probably those who were 
 named by the men for dismissal. 
 In the evening of the day on 
 which the compromise took 
 place, a letter appeared in the 
 Edinburgh Advertiser, dated 
 " Lawson's Coffee-house, Leith, 
 Sept. 25," and signed, "The 
 officers of the 7 8th Regiment." 
 It read thus : " As we con- 
 ceive the terms granted this 
 day to the mutineers of the 78th 
 Regiment to be totally incon- 
 sistent with the discipline of the 
 regiment, and highly injurious 
 to our characters as officers, we 
 think ourselves bound to take 
 this first opportunity of publicly 
 declaring, that it was transacted 
 without our advice, and against 
 our opinion. We understand 
 Lord Dunmore was the principal 
 agent on this occasion; we 
 therefore think it necessary also 
 to declare, that he was never 
 desired to interfere by any 
 
 officer in the regiment, and, we 
 believe, acted without any 
 authority whatever." This is 
 the haughty and impertinent 
 letter already referred to. The 
 articles were signed by the 
 Duke of Buccleuch, Sir Adol- 
 phus Oughton, and General 
 Skene, as well as by the Earl of 
 Dunmore. General Skene read 
 the articles, and gave a pacific 
 address afterwards to the mutin- 
 eers who had been subdued 
 by reason. These " officers of 
 the 78th Regiment" would have 
 used stronger measures, pour 
 encourager les autres, as has 
 been remarked about the utility 
 of measures of the last dire 
 degree of extremity. Let us 
 hope all the "officers of the 
 78th Regiment" did not sign 
 this instructive document. It 
 reveals where a good many 
 faults lay, even if they were not 
 guilty of keeping back the 
 soldiers' money which it is not 
 easy to see how they could. It 
 was as well for them as well as 
 for the proud victims of their 
 many petty tyrannies that mat- 
 ters were managed without their 
 advice and against their opinion, 
 and that there was such a 
 gentleman at hand as the Earl 
 of Dunmore, "without being 
 desired to interfere by any 
 officer of the regiment," and who 
 could accomplish such happy 
 results, acting " without any 
 authority whatever." Readers 
 in our days who wish to see a 
 little behind the curtain dropped 
 over the earlier treatment which 
 led the half of a regiment to
 
 118 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS, 
 
 rebel, have reason to be grateful 
 to these disciplinarian officers 
 for the letter they wrote from 
 " Lawson's Coffee-house." A 
 " Friend to the Public " writing 
 from Leith, criticises this letter 
 with taunting sharpness. Writ- 
 ing to the Edinburgh Evening 
 Courant he says, he feels him- 
 self called upon to applaud the 
 wisdom and prudence of the 
 reconciliation. The case was 
 desperate, and few cases could 
 be mentioned where so wide a 
 breach was cemented in so easy 
 a manner. He does not see 
 how reconciliation can hurt the 
 future discipline of the regiment, 
 " when sure it is there could be 
 no discipline had there been no 
 men, as would visibly have 
 been the case here, had 
 not a reconciliation taken 
 place." He asserts that the 
 men would have submitted to 
 the general in the first day of 
 the mutiny, but for evil reports 
 that one of Colonel Gordon's 
 officers had come up as a spy 
 to soothe them until they were 
 surrounded by dragoons. 
 
 When Lord Dunmore came 
 on Friday morning bearing the 
 articles of capitulation, it is said, 
 the men were engaged preparing 
 a petition to General Skene, 
 which forty of them were to 
 have presented to him. And 
 that, when the general addressed 
 them at St Ann's Yards, behind 
 Holyrood House, they with one 
 v oice said they would die for 
 him, and serve the king in any 
 quarter of the globe, except the 
 East Indies. 
 
 In the Edinburgh papers of 
 Monday, Spetember 28th, ap- 
 peared an " Authentic Copy of 
 the Report made to Sir James 
 Adolphus Oughton, command- 
 ing His Majesty's Forces in 
 North Britain, by the Court of 
 Enquiry held at the Canongate 
 Council-House 26th September 
 1778. The Court consisted of. 
 Colonel Scott, President; Lieut- 
 Colonel Dundas, Majors Lyon, 
 Stewart, and Whyte, members. 
 The Court having heard a num- 
 ber of witnesses, and also the evi- 
 dence of several others, which 
 being of similar nature, they were 
 not sworn, as they had no parti- 
 cular cause of complaint against 
 their respective officers. The 
 Court are unanimously of opin- 
 ion, that there is not the smallest 
 degree of foundation for com- 
 plaints against any officer in 
 the regiment in regard to their 
 pay and arrears. And it further 
 appears, that the cause of the 
 retiring to Arthur's Hill, was 
 from an idle and ill-founded 
 report, that the regiment was 
 sold to the East India Company, 
 and that the officers were to 
 leave them upon their being 
 embarked on board the trans- 
 ports. 
 
 " (Signed) GEO. SCOTT, 
 
 Col. 83^ Regt. 
 "(Appvd.) JA. ADOL. OUGHTON." 
 
 This mild report was dictated 
 by the spirit which influenced 
 the leading men to leniency, 
 and the mutineers to compro- 
 mise. The officers are freed of 
 blame in regard to pay and 
 arrears only. The men origin-
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 119 
 
 ally complained of their having 
 been otherwise ill-used. The 
 letter of the officers proves 
 that they were quite capable 
 of ill-usage. But the affair was 
 pleasantly settled without their 
 advice, and against their opin- 
 ion, and for this they are the 
 only unthankful persons on 
 record; and this fact would 
 not be thus repeated, were it 
 not for a conviction in the 
 writer's mind, that those who 
 generally bear the punishments 
 from which the leaders of this 
 mutiny were mercifully saved, 
 were " more sinned against than 
 sinning a mild and trite way 
 of expressing a very significant 
 truth. 
 
 In Ruddiman's Weekly Mer- 
 cury appeared an effusion worthy 
 of a Highland chief, dated Leith, 
 October 4th, 1778, and signed 
 "Seaforth." The earl writes : "A 
 paragraph having appeared in 
 an Edinburgh newspaper, and 
 which has since been copied in 
 the London papers, informing 
 the public, that on the day of 
 the tumult at Leith, previous to 
 the first embarkation of the 
 corps under my command, I 
 had, upon my knees, begged my 
 life from the enraged soldiers, 
 I beg you will publish this to 
 let the world know that it is an 
 infamous falsehood ; nor would 
 the certainty of immediate death 
 have procured from me so 
 humiliating a concession. At 
 the same time I must add, that 
 I never had any apprehension 
 for my personal safetyduring the 
 whole time the mutiny lasted." 
 
 The wind-up of the affair is 
 thus given in the Appendix to 
 the volume of the Scots Magazine 
 for 1778, p. 726 : " On Tuesday 
 morning, September 29, the 
 remainder of the corps, with 
 the Earl of Seaforth and General 
 Skene at their head, marched 
 from the Abbey Close to Leith, 
 and went on board the trans- 
 ports with the greatest cordiality 
 and cheerfulness. General 
 Skene's prudence and good 
 conduct in this troublesome 
 business has, it is said, been 
 highly approved of at head- 
 quarters. No bloodshed, not- 
 withstanding a very threatening 
 appearance." 
 
 Thus ended happily a very 
 unhappy mutiny. The world is 
 ruled by very little wisdom, a 
 maxim which is well and forcibly 
 illustrated by the doings of the 
 rulers of Great Britain during 
 what may be called the era of 
 mutinies in the navy and army. 
 Of this era the general features 
 shall be summed up after the 
 stories have been told in detail \ 
 but meantime all will remark 
 how disastrous might have been 
 the results of this "Affair of 
 the Macraes." It was a time 
 at which special efforts were 
 imperatively required to recruit 
 the army. Britain was in the 
 midst of a struggle for existence. 
 Europe was on the eve of 
 mighty revolutions. It was the 
 era of the French Revolution. 
 Recruits for the army must be 
 raised. The Highlands were a 
 new mine, of a very broad and 
 deep seam, to work for this
 
 120 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 wealth of the nation. But the 
 rulers in London were bunglers 
 at that kind of mining. They 
 did not know how to go the 
 right way about it. They 
 thought a plan, owned to be 
 wrong everywhere else, would 
 be right enough here. With 
 characteristic ignorance and its 
 concomitant conceit, they took 
 the Highlanders for gullible 
 savages. Never was a more 
 fatal mistake made, and the 
 British Government found that 
 out, both as they were resisted 
 and worsted in each of the 
 mutinous proceedings of the 
 Highland regiments, and as 
 they were served and saved by 
 the gallantry, endurance, and 
 high moral character of these 
 truth-loving sons of the moun- 
 tains. Had this threatening 
 mutiny put as strong a check 
 on recruiting as it might have 
 done, the story of the glory of 
 the British regiments might 
 have been duller, and more de- 
 pressing reading to the relatives 
 and descendants of those who 
 acted as if they wished the 
 settlement had been otherwise 
 the rule-bound "officers of the 
 78th Regiment" included. 
 
 To draw this short narrative 
 to a close, the intention which 
 the Government really enter- 
 tained, notwithstanding all at- 
 tempts to conceal it of send- 
 ing the Seaforth Highlanders to 
 India, having been postponed, 
 they landed at Guernsey and 
 Jersey in equal divisions, whence, 
 at the end of March, they were 
 removed to Portsmouth. On 
 
 May i, 1781, they embarked 
 for India. Lord Seaforth died 
 before they reached St Helena, 
 to the great grief and dismay of 
 his followers for they still felt 
 that they were of the clan, and 
 he was their chief the poor 
 Highlanders who looked upon 
 him as their only protector. 
 On their account alone he had 
 determined to abandon the 
 comforts of a splendid fortune 
 and high social consideration, 
 to encounter the privations and 
 inconveniences of a long voyage, 
 and the dangers and fatigues of 
 military service in a tropical 
 climate. The inspiring spirit of 
 the coronach would lay its hand 
 heavily upon the soul of every 
 Highlandman on that wide 
 waste of waters, where their 
 chief lay dead. The loss of 
 him would associate with re- 
 collections of home, melancholy 
 thoughts of their absent kindred, 
 and gloomy forebodings of the 
 future. 
 
 And their immediate future 
 was gloomy enough. Before 
 they reached Madras on April 
 2, 1782, two hundred and thirty 
 of them had died of scurvy, and 
 of the eleven hundred who had 
 sailed from Portsmouth, only 
 three hundred and ninety men 
 were fit to carry arms when 
 they landed. Still the pressure 
 of the service did not admit of 
 delay, and those who could at 
 all be moved were marched up 
 country. Such was the kind 
 of service to begin with, for tne 
 privilege of entering which men 
 had to risk their lives in mutiny
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 121 
 
 before they received that bounty- 
 money and those arrears of pay, 
 which they fondly wished to 
 leave with their longing families, 
 bereaved by their enlistment of 
 means of support and the bright- 
 est cheer of the fireside. 
 
 This regiment became, in a 
 sense, the progenitor of the 72d. 
 In 1784, in consequence of the 
 peace, Seaforth's regiment hav- 
 ing been raised on the condition 
 of serving for three years, or 
 during the war, such of the men 
 as stood to this agreement were 
 allowed to return to England, 
 while those who preferred stay- 
 ing in the country received the 
 same bounty as the other volun- 
 teers. The number of men who 
 claimed their discharge reduced 
 the regiment to three hundred ; 
 but so many Highlanders from 
 other regiments, ordered home 
 on account of the peace, volun- 
 teered, that the strength of the 
 corps was immediately aug- 
 mented to eight hundred. In 
 1785 a detachment of recruits 
 from the north of Scotland 
 joined the regiment; and the 
 following year, its number was 
 changed to the 72d, in conse- 
 quence of the reduction of 
 senior regiments. In 1809 this 
 regiment lost the kilt. In 1823 
 it began to be called the " Duke 
 of Albany's Highlanders," after 
 the second title of the Duke of 
 York. But it is, as has just been 
 shown, the descendant by direct 
 succession of the 1 130 men who 
 assembled at Elgin in May 1778, 
 principally of the clan of " Caber 
 Fae," as the Mackenzies are 
 
 called, from the stag's horns 
 on the armorial bearings of 
 Seaforth, 
 
 In a mutinous incident which 
 occurred soon after this " Affair 
 of the wild Macraes," Edinburgh 
 was disturbed by another out- 
 break which took place among 
 the West Fencible Highlanders, 
 who had recently come from 
 Glasgow with sixty-five French 
 prisoners. It arose from some 
 innovations or alterations which 
 were proposed to be made in 
 their ancient Highland garb 
 particularly the cartouch-box, 
 which they alleged, " no High- 
 land regiment ever wore before." 
 By preconcerted arrangement, 
 the whole of the men, when 
 paraded on the Castle Hill, simul- 
 taneously tore them from their 
 shoulders, cast them on the 
 ground, and asserted loudly 
 that they would not wear them. 
 A few days after, the general 
 marched four companies to 
 Leith, where they were surround- 
 ed by the loth Light Dragoons, 
 and compelled, at the point of 
 the sword, to accept the 
 pouches, which were piled up 
 before them. By a court-mar- 
 tial held on Leith Links, several 
 of the leaders were tried and 
 scourged, after which the re- 
 mainder marched to Berwick. 
 
 Meanwhile the company on 
 guard in the Castle, hearing of 
 these proceedings, broke into 
 open revolt, lowered the port- 
 cullis, drew up the bridge, and
 
 122 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 loaded several pieces of cannon. 
 The city, Mr James Grant says, 
 in his Castle of Edinburgh, from 
 which this short account is 
 taken, was filled with consterna- 
 tion, and a strong cavalry 
 force took possession of the 
 Castle Hill. 
 
 The crisis was indeed danger- 
 ous, for the vaults of the castle 
 were full of French and Spanish 
 prisoners. A French squadron 
 was cruising off the coast, and 
 had captured two vessels at the 
 mouth of the Forth. Next day 
 the company capitulated, and 
 
 all laid down their arms save 
 one, who with his claymore, 
 madly assailed an officer of the 
 loth, who struck him down and 
 had him secured. The cavalry 
 occupied the castle until the 
 arrival of Lord Lennox's regi- 
 ment, when a court-martial was 
 held, which sentenced one High- 
 lander to be shot, and another 
 to receive a thousand lashes. 
 But both were forgiven on 
 condition of serving beyond the 
 seas in a corps of the line a 
 strange sort of conclusion in the 
 circumstances. 
 
 MUTINY IN THE OLD 76 REGIMENT 
 
 (MACDONALD'S HIGHLANDERS). 
 March 1779. 
 
 THIS mutiny was so quietly 
 conducted and so honourably 
 concluded that it made little stir 
 in the newspapers of the time. 
 The Scots Magazine and the 
 Edinburgh Advertiser take no 
 notice of it. The Edinburgh 
 Evening Courant of Saturday 
 March 20, 1779, says : "A 
 report having spread that Gene- 
 ral Macdonnell's Highlanders, 
 who were embarked at Burnt- 
 island on Wednesday last, were 
 to go to the East Indies, with 
 Lord M'Leod's second battalion, 
 this circumstance gave a few of 
 them uneasiness, but on their 
 being assured that they were to 
 go to North America, the whole 
 
 embarked with great cheerful- 
 ness and loud huzzas. It is no 
 less true than remarkable, that 
 not a man has deserted from 
 this regiment since they received 
 orders at Aberdeen and Banff 
 to embark for America. Lord 
 Macdonald marched with them 
 from Perth, and assisted at the 
 embarkation; and it is but jus- 
 tice to say, that the behaviour, 
 sobriety, and good conduct of 
 the regiment since they were 
 raised, reflects the highest hon- 
 our upon the officers and men." 
 This meagre reference to an 
 affair as honourable to the 
 Highlanders as it was a disgrace 
 to the Government of the time,
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 123 
 
 or its officials, is a misstatement 
 of the facts, as they are recorded 
 by Major-Gen eral David Stewart 
 in his "Sketches," a book on 
 which all subsequent writers 
 have relied as the standard 
 authority on the subject of 
 these " Historical Mutinies." 
 The reason for the mutiny, as 
 we learn from that writer, whose 
 statements, as he says in the 
 preface to his work, "are ground- 
 ed on authentic documents ; on 
 communications from people in 
 whose intelligence and correct- 
 ness he places implicit confid- 
 ence; on his own personal 
 observation; and on the mass 
 of general information, of great 
 credibility and consistency, pre- 
 servedamong the Highlanders of 
 last century," the reason for 
 this mutiny was the not unusual, 
 mean, huckstering about money, 
 in trying to cheat the Highland- 
 ers out of their pay. 
 
 As to the regiment, letters 
 of service were issued to Lord 
 Macdonald, in December 1779, 
 to raise a regiment in the High- 
 lands and Isles of Scotland, 
 allowing that nobleman the 
 same military rank as had been 
 conferred on the Earl of Sea- 
 forth, by whose influence, as 
 the readers of the mutiny just 
 recorded in this volume, so 
 many brave men had been 
 added to the military efficiency 
 of Great Britain. When such 
 influence could be swayed, it 
 was found convenient to pro- 
 mote the Highland gentleman 
 who possessed it to high rank 
 in the army, without demanding 
 
 that he should go through the 
 various gradations up to it. 
 Lord Macdonald, however, de- 
 clined this privilege of his rank, 
 and recommended Major John 
 Macdonnell of Lochgarry for 
 the colonelcy of the regiment, 
 who was, accordingly, appointed 
 lieutenant - colonel command- 
 ant. Lord Macdonald did not 
 relax his endeavours to give the 
 letters of service addressed to 
 him practical significancy. Al- 
 though he held no military rank, 
 he still exerted himself to com- 
 plete the regiment. His influ- 
 ence was as successful as it 
 was extensive. He made a 
 wise selection of officers from 
 among the Macdonalds of 
 Glencoe, Morar, Boisdale, and 
 others of his own clan, and also 
 from the families of Mackinnon, 
 Fraser of Culduthel, and Cam- 
 eron of Cullart, not to mention 
 others. Thus 750 Highlanders 
 were raised. A company was 
 raised, principally in Ireland, 
 by Captain Bruce. Other two, 
 amounting to nearly 200 men, 
 were gathered from the lowlands 
 of Scotland by Captains Cun- 
 ningham of Craigends, and Mont- 
 gomery Cunningham, aided by 
 Lieutenant Samuel Graham. 
 In this manner 1086 men were 
 raised, including non-commis- 
 sioned officers and drummers; 
 and each race was kept dis- 
 tinct. 
 
 General Skene reviewed the 
 regiment at Inverness in March 
 1778, and immediately after- 
 wards, it was marched to Fort 
 George, under the command of
 
 124 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 Major Donaldson, where it 
 remained for twelve months. 
 
 The corps was removed to 
 Perth in March 1779, and re- 
 viewed there again by General 
 Skene on the loth of that month. 
 Being complete in number, and 
 in an excellent state of discip- 
 line, they were marched to 
 Burntisland for embarkation, 
 and were quartered in that port 
 and the neighbouring town of 
 Kinghorn. There were unmis- 
 takable signs of uneasiness 
 among he men. The report of 
 the time was to the effect, as 
 the Edinburgh Evening Courant 
 has it, that they were destined 
 for the East Indies instead of 
 for North America. The East 
 Indies and the plantations of 
 America were two of the horrors 
 of a Highland regiment in those 
 old days, and for good reasons, 
 as the Seaforth men learnt to 
 their bitter cost in the former 
 country, and all men who were 
 sent were made to feel it in the 
 latter. But this was not the 
 cause of the ominous discontent 
 
 Soon after their arrival at 
 Burntisland, great numbers of 
 the Highlanders were observed 
 to group themselves in parties, 
 and engage in earnest conversa- 
 tion. Highlanders usually con- 
 verse earnestly, especially when 
 they feel they have a griev- 
 ance ; and the groups at Burnt- 
 island had a grievance, in rela- 
 tion to a subject for which the 
 Government they had sworn to 
 serve faithfully had worked out 
 for itself a bad reputation. The 
 men conversed to some wise 
 
 purpose. They conducted the 
 most peaceable mutiny ever 
 a wrong-headed Government 
 forced upon its valiant defiers. 
 And they did it thus. In the 
 evening of the third day after 
 their arrival at Burntisland, each 
 company gave in a written state- 
 ment, complaining of the non- 
 performance of promises, of 
 bounty-money not paid, and 
 other neglects of duty on the 
 part of the party in power, 
 which were only too common in 
 those days, as they would be at 
 all times, if their intended vic- 
 tims had not the pluck and the 
 power to frighten them. The 
 statement was accompanied 
 with a declaration, that till these 
 complaints were properly looked 
 into and settled, the men would 
 not embark. They requested, 
 also, that Lord Macdonald, 
 their trusted chief, as well as 
 the patron of the regiment into 
 which they had been formed, 
 should be sent to see justice 
 done to his clansmen. 
 
 Answer was as usual delayed. 
 It neither returned soon enough, 
 nor in the manner they expected 
 it would be sent; and the High- 
 landers took action in their own 
 stubborn and effective way. 
 
 They got themselves arrayed 
 in order, and marching in a 
 body, took possession of a hill 
 behind Burntisland, and there 
 they took up a position from 
 which it would have consider- 
 ably troubled any available force 
 to dislodge them. While con- 
 tinuing firm in their purpose, 
 the mutineers abstained from
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 125 
 
 all violence. They, in their 
 law-defying position, abstained 
 also from all lawlessness. As, 
 for example, when several other 
 young soldiers wished to join 
 them in their rebellious camp, 
 possibly more for the fun of the 
 thing than any grievance they 
 could assign, the Highlanders 
 ordered them back to their 
 quarters, telling them they had 
 no cause of complaint, and 
 no claims to be adjusted ; that 
 they ought to do their duty, 
 obey their officers, and leave 
 Highlanders to answer for their 
 own conduct. 
 
 They continued for some 
 days in their camp on the hill, 
 which gives its name to the 
 town .Z?r<w/y-land the land 
 with the brent or high brow, as 
 John Anderson's " bonny brow 
 was brent" thus Bruntiland, spelt 
 Burntisland, a word compounded 
 of two well-known words, whose 
 combined meaning gets no ex- 
 planation from the neighbour- 
 hood. They sent parties regu- 
 larly down to the town for 
 provisions, and paid punctually 
 for what they received. It 
 happened fortunately that the 
 regiment was at the time com- 
 manded by Major Donaldson, 
 an officer of great experience, 
 and quite as firm in his manner 
 as he was conciliating. He was 
 himself a Highlander Donald- 
 son, a lowlandised form of Mac- 
 donald and had served nine- 
 teen years as adjutant and 
 captain of the Black Watch. 
 He had, therefore, a competent 
 knowledge of the habits and 
 
 peculiar character of his fellow- 
 countrymen. He ordered an 
 investigation of the complaints 
 of his men, and the grounds for 
 them. Aided by Lieutenant 
 David Barclay, the pay-master, 
 this inquiry was carefully con- 
 ducted, and every man's claim 
 was clearly made out It seems 
 to have been a mismanaged 
 business, when the men knew 
 this before their superiors, and 
 these only found it out after they 
 had been defied in a most daring 
 manner to look into the facts of 
 the case. 
 
 Lord Macdonald had been 
 sent for as requested; and when 
 he arrived the statement of 
 claims was laid before him. 
 His lordship and Major Don- 
 aldson advanced the money, 
 and took on themselves the risk 
 of recovering it from those who 
 were responsible both for the 
 money, the neglect to pay if 
 not the intention not to pay it 
 and for the risk of ruin to 
 which they had heartlessly ex- 
 posed a body of brave and 
 honourable soldiers. 
 
 Colonel Stewart remarks with 
 pride : " It is a fact that ought 
 not to be overlooked, and which 
 I have from the best authority 
 (as, indeed, I have for all I 
 state), that when the individual 
 claims were sent to the Isle 
 of Skye, all, without exception, 
 were found to be just ; a circum- 
 stance which, no doubt, was 
 taken into consideration by those 
 who had to form a judgment of 
 this act of insubordination." 
 This was as formidable a
 
 126 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 mutiny as any on record, but 
 the issue of it was most gratify- 
 ing. Not a man was brought 
 to trial or even put in con- 
 finement. This detracts from 
 its melodramatic interest, and 
 renders its story less exciting 
 than it would have been had 
 innocent blood been freely shed, 
 and merciless executions after- 
 wards been falsely deemed to 
 atone for it. But its human 
 interest is of the deepest. How 
 many of the disgraces and dire 
 catastrophes for which the 
 governments of the world 
 should stand pilloried to all the 
 ages, but which are blotted 
 over by the blood of the bravest, 
 would have been averted, had 
 truth met with mercy as in this 
 case it did ? 
 
 The regiment embarked at 
 Burntisland on the i7th of 
 March; and "before they sailed, 
 all the men of Skye and Uist 
 sent their money home to their 
 families and friends." 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Macdon- 
 nell having been taken prisoner 
 on his passage home from 
 America, and Major Donald- 
 son's health not allowing him 
 to embark, the command de- 
 
 volved on Major Lord Berri- 
 dale, who accompanied the 
 regiment to New York, where 
 it landed in August. In the 
 American war, they, when chance 
 came in their way, confirmed the 
 impression of pluck and bravery, 
 which their conduct as muti- 
 neers was fitted to make. It is 
 difficult to end this account of 
 their peculiarly auspicious mu- 
 tiny, without repeating th e follow- 
 ing anecdote, which illustrates 
 the fibre of men who had in 
 their own country to strike for 
 their pay at the risk of being 
 shot. On the occasion of the 
 first order they received to 
 go under fire, at the moment 
 Lord Cornwallis was giving the 
 word to charge, a Highland 
 soldier rushed forward and 
 placed himself in front of his 
 officer, Lieutenant Simon Mac- 
 donald of Morar. Lieutenant 
 Macdonald having asked him 
 what brought him there, the 
 soldier answered, "You know, 
 that when I engaged to be a 
 soldier, I promised to be faith- 
 ful to the king and to you; and 
 while I stand here, neither 
 bullet nor bayonet shall touch 
 you, except through my body "
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 12," 
 
 MUTINY OF DETACHMENTS OF THE 420 
 AND 7 IST REGIMENTS 
 
 (ROYAL HIGHLAND AND ERASER'S HIGHLANDERS), 
 April 
 
 SOME account of the raising of 
 the Royal Highland Regiment, 
 the Black Watch, has been given 
 in relating the story of that 
 mutiny, in which they imitated 
 in miniature, according to some 
 of the fertile imaginations of the 
 time, the conduct of Xenophon's 
 10,000 Greeks, and showed a 
 spirit as worthy of immortal re- 
 nown as thairs. 
 
 Eraser's Highlanders were 
 named after the Honourable 
 Simon Fraser, son of that fine 
 old Lord Lovat, who was be- 
 headed on Tower Hill for the 
 part he took in the Rebellion of 
 1745. The Honourable Simon 
 Fraser had himself been engaged 
 in the insurrection. But ten 
 years worked a wonderfully wise 
 revolution in the opinions and 
 sentiments of the most sagacious 
 advisers of the reigning House 
 of Hanover. Mr Pitt, after- 
 wards Lord Chatham, in the 
 exercise of a policy as patriotic 
 as it was prudent, applied a 
 remedy for the disease of disaf- 
 fection which raged among the 
 Highlanders in their mountain 
 homes. His sagacity had en- 
 abled him to diagnose skilfully 
 and successfully this great social 
 and political evil. He observed 
 that the secret of the attachment 
 
 of the Highlanders to the 
 descendants of their ancient 
 kings, lurked in the romantic 
 and chivalrous disposition of 
 those clans ; and that this kept 
 inspiring them with a sentiment 
 of mistaken loyalty, by constant 
 references to the sufferings and 
 misfortunes of the fallen line of 
 the Stuarts. 
 
 Mr Pitt, therefore, abandon- 
 ed the self-defeating illiberality 
 which alienated from the throne 
 he served so loyally, the affec- 
 tions of a valuable portion of 
 his fellow-subjects, and won over 
 to the persons of George II. and 
 his successors, the gratitude, and 
 as has been amply proved, the 
 incorruptible fidelity, of the 
 Highlanders. 
 
 With this in view, the great 
 minister, in the year 1757, re- 
 commended to his Majesty the 
 employment of them, as freely 
 as could be accomplished, in 
 the military service of Great 
 Britain. And a bold bid was 
 made in appointing the quon- 
 dam rebel, Simon Fraser, lieu- 
 tenant-colonel commandant of 
 a battalion, to be raised on the 
 forfeited estate of his family 
 which was at that time vested 
 in the Crown and on the other 
 estates- of his kinsmen and clan.
 
 128 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 The result proved the wisdom 
 of Mr Pitt's suggestion, and 
 brought out into striking relief 
 the disinterested fidelity of his 
 people to the disinherited young 
 Lovat. He had neither estate 
 nor money. The only influence 
 he possessed was the faithful 
 attachment of his Highlandmen 
 to a family he had not disgraced 
 in their eyes. His person and 
 the name he bore were talismans 
 sufficient to gather in a few 
 weeks, around the standard he 
 raised, 800 men, all recruited 
 by himself. The gentlemen of 
 the country and the officers 
 appointed to the regiment added 
 700 more ; and a battalion of 
 1460 men was thus added to 
 the British army. 
 
 All accounts agree as to the 
 superior military character of 
 this body of men. The regi- 
 ment was quickly marched to 
 GVeenock, where it embarked 
 to cross the Atlantic, and landed 
 at Halifax in 1757. It was 
 quartered alternately in Canada 
 and Nova Scotia till the conclu- 
 sion of the war, when, a number 
 of the officers and men express- 
 ing a desire to settle in North 
 America, all who made this 
 choice were discharged and re- 
 ceived a grant of land. The 
 rest were sent home and dis- 
 banded in Scotland. 
 
 The success which attended 
 the crucial experiment suggested 
 by Mr Pitt, was acknowledged 
 by all by none more than the 
 king in whose reign the regi- 
 ment was embodied. 
 
 Colonel Fraser was, in the 
 
 year 1774, restored to his family 
 estate by a free grant of George 
 III. In 1775 he again received 
 letters of service for raising in 
 the Highlands a regiment of two 
 battalions. He was now in 
 possession of wealth and terri- 
 torial influence ; but he relied, 
 for the effecting of his purpose, 
 as much on the respect and 
 attachment felt by his country- 
 men towards the family he 
 belonged to, and to his person, 
 as he had done eighteen years 
 before. He expected no diffi- 
 culty, and experienced none. 
 At his call, two battalions, 
 numbering 2340 Highlanders, 
 were marched to Stirling, and 
 thence to Glasgow, in 1776. 
 This formed the 7ist regiment; 
 and it shortly after sailed for 
 America from Greenock in a 
 large fleet, which took out also 
 the 42d and other troops. They 
 disembarked in America in July 
 of the same year, and in the 
 battles and skirmishes in which 
 they were constantly employed, 
 they bore a cheerful part, theii 
 spirit and intrepidity were uni- 
 versally acknowledged. 
 
 Recruiting for the 7ist and 
 the 42d was vigorously carried 
 on at home. In the Highlands, 
 Frasers and others were eager 
 to join their kinsmen in the 
 exploits of a troublous time in 
 the Far West. Many of their 
 relations had settled in North 
 America at the conclusion of 
 that war after which the earlier 
 Fraser's Highlanders had been 
 disbanded. The military spirit 
 was inspired by the hardy sons
 
 AfUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 129 
 
 of .mountains as they breathed 
 their native breezes, emblems of 
 freedom. They longed to leave 
 their poor, though much loved, 
 hills and dales, and to go abroad, 
 where military glory or material 
 prosperity seemed so certainly 
 attainable. They arranged easily 
 with the recruiting agents, and 
 enlisted with gladness of heart. 
 
 It is proverbially a thorny, 
 crooked by-way, which leads 
 out of narrow beginnings into 
 the broad fields of boundless 
 enterprise. Ardent imaginations 
 get impatient, and impatience 
 procures experience of many 
 annoyances. There are also to 
 be encountered in these crooked 
 ways men who have no ardent 
 imaginations, and possess great 
 patience to take advantage of 
 the victims of eager hearts who 
 are hurrying to labour fonvard. 
 Incalculable mischief often en- 
 sues from the enforced contact 
 of these two different classes, 
 who are always to be found in 
 every walk of life, as the follow- 
 ing story of a mutiny will illus- 
 trate. 
 
 On the 2oth of April 1779, 
 just about the time when their 
 regiments were doing wonders 
 at Brien Creek in America, a 
 party of about fifty Highlanders, 
 recruited for the 7ist and 420! 
 regiments, were marched to 
 Leith from Stirling Castle, for 
 the purpose of embarking to 
 join their then famous corps. 
 This was what the men under- 
 stood, and they looked forward 
 eagerly and joyfully to it But a 
 report reached their ears which 
 
 appalled them, and drove them 
 into a mad and fatal mutiny. 
 It was rumoured that they 
 were to be drafted into the 
 Edinburgh, Hamilton, the Glas- 
 gow respectively the Both, the 
 8zd, and the 83d regiments 
 or some other corps wearing the 
 lowland garb, and speaking the 
 English tongue. The men re- 
 monstrated, when they heard 
 this rumour so frightful to them, 
 and openly declared their firm 
 determination to serve in no 
 regiment but that in which they 
 had enlisted. They refused to 
 go on board the transports. 
 The following despatch, sent to 
 Edinburgh Castle, was delivered 
 on the same evening by a 
 dragoon : 
 
 " To Governor Wemyss of Edin- 
 burgh Castle, or the com- 
 manding officer of the South 
 Fencible Regiment. 
 " Headquarters, April 1779. 
 "Sir, The drafts of the 
 7ist regiment having refused to 
 embark, you will order 200 
 men of the South Fencibles to 
 march immediately to Leith, 
 seize those mutineers, and march 
 them prisoners to the Castle of 
 Edinburgh, to be detained there 
 until further orders. I am, etc., 
 "JA. ADOLPHUS OUGHTON." 
 
 A party of about 200 
 South Fencibles, under the 
 command of Major Sir James 
 Johnstone, three captains one 
 of them the unfortunate Captain 
 James Mansfield and six sub- 
 alterns, were sent to Leith. 
 The fencibles. on their arrival 
 I
 
 130 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 at Leith, found the Highlanders 
 drawn up, with bayonets 
 screwed, their backs to the 
 walls facing the quay. Sir James 
 Johnstone drew up his men 
 so as to prevent any of the 
 mutineers escaping; and, at- 
 tended by a sergeant who spoke 
 Gaelic, went up to them, stated 
 clearly the positive orders he 
 had received, and expostulated 
 with them on the folly of resis- 
 tance. The sergeant reasoned 
 with them too, and in their 
 own language. But he soon 
 turned to the major, and en- 
 treated him to retire, as he was 
 convinced the Highlanders 
 would fire. 
 
 Sir James Johnstone, upon 
 this, ordered the division on 
 the right to present, and after- 
 wards to recover arms. They 
 did so ; but meanwhile, a ser- 
 geant observed one of the High- 
 landers attempting to escape, 
 and seized him by the collar. 
 This sergeant immediately re- 
 ceived two wounds by a sword 
 or bayonet, another sergeant of 
 the fencibles was wounded by 
 a musket shot; then several 
 shots were fired on both sides. 
 Captain James Mansfield, a 
 highly esteemed and very worthy 
 officer of the Fencibles, was 
 killed by one of the first shots. 
 It seems that Captain Mansfield 
 was in front, and after some 
 words, one of the Highlanders 
 pushed at him with his bayonet, 
 but missing his push, fired his 
 piece, and killed the ill-fated gen- 
 tleman on the spot. A corporal 
 who stood near shot the High- 
 
 landman ; and instantly a good 
 many shots were fired. About 
 fifteen Highlanders were killed, 
 and above twenty wounded; 
 and of the fencibles two privates 
 were killed, and one wounded. 
 The fencibles returned to the 
 castle with 25 prisoners, several 
 of whom were wounded. Nearly 
 thirty wounded were taken to 
 the Royal Infirmary. This 
 addition to the wards of that 
 institution rendered necessary 
 an urgent appeal to the public 
 for a large supply of old linen. 
 The response to this request 
 was so liberal on the part of the 
 inhabitants, that the managers 
 of the Infirmary acknowledged 
 it with gratitude in the news- 
 papers. 
 
 The question, where had the 
 Highlanders got the ammunition 
 they used on this occasion, was 
 considered very important, but 
 it was never satisfactorily an- 
 swered. It was said to be quite 
 well known, that they had re- 
 ceived no regular supply. At 
 all events, a Leith porter, known 
 as " Tinkler Tom," and " a stout 
 man with one leg" a sorry 
 couple were taken up, and 
 accused of inciting the mutiny, 
 and of procuring ammunition 
 for the mutineers, while the 
 following proclamation was 
 issued : " From the investigation 
 before the sheriff, respecting the 
 unlucky affair that happened on 
 Tuesday afternoon at Leith, 
 there is great reason for think- 
 ing that the Highlanders were 
 not provided with ammunition 
 of any kind until they arrived
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 131 
 
 at Leith; and, as there is just 
 cause for suspecting that they 
 have been supplied with am- 
 munition, either by the person 
 presently in custody, or some 
 others in Leith who have not 
 yet been discovered, a reward 
 of ^50 sterling is hereby 
 offered to any one, the person 
 guilty excepted, who will dis- 
 close by whom any of the High- 
 landers were furnished, im- 
 properly, with ammunition on 
 Tuesday last The reward to 
 be paid by me, William Scot, 
 procurator-fiscal, upon convic- 
 tion of the offenders. 
 
 "WILLIAM SCOT." 
 
 On Thursday, May 6th, a 
 court-martial sat in Edinburgh 
 Castle, to try Charles William- 
 son, Archibald Maciver, and 
 Robert Budge, three of the 
 soldiers who had been made 
 prisoners at Leith on the 2oth 
 of April. The court was com- 
 posed of the following officers : 
 Lieutenant - C olonel D un das, 
 President; Major John Camp- 
 bell, Captain James Campbell, 
 Captain Angus M'Alister, Lieu- 
 tenant William Morison, and 
 Lieutenant James Ferguson, 
 West Fencibles; Major James 
 Mercer and Captain Lord 
 Haddo, North Fencibles; Cap- 
 tain John William Romer and 
 Lieutenant Lord Napier, 3ist 
 Foot ; Captain John Popple 
 and Lieutenant Peter Boisier, 
 nth Dragoons; Lieutenant 
 Alexander Trotter, 66th Foot 
 
 The following is the charge 
 
 as it was read to the three muti- 
 neers : 
 
 " Charles Williamson and 
 Archibald Maciver, soldiers of 
 the 42d Regiment of Foot, and 
 Robert Budge, soldier in the 
 7ist Regiment of Foot, you, 
 and each of you, are charged 
 with having been guilty of 
 mutiny at Leith, upon Tuesday, 
 the zoth of April last past, and 
 of having instigated and incited 
 others to be guilty of the same, 
 in which mutiny several of his 
 Majesty's subjects were killed 
 and others wounded. 
 
 "You are to stand trial on 
 the above charge, on Thursday, 
 6th May 1779. 
 
 "JAMES DUNDAS, J.A." 
 
 In behalf of the accused, the 
 following defences were lodged : 
 
 "The charge against the pri- 
 soners is, that they were guilty 
 of mutiny at Leith on Tuesday 
 the 2oth of April, and of insti- 
 gating and inciting others to be 
 guilty of that mutiny, in which 
 several of his Majesty's subjects 
 were killed and others wounded, 
 and they have pleaded Not 
 Guilty to the charge. The 
 prisoners, Archibald Maciver 
 and Charles Williamson en- 
 listed as soldiers in the 42d 
 Regiment, being an old High- 
 land regiment, wearing the 
 Highland dress. Their native 
 language was Erse (Gaelic}, 
 the one being a native of the 
 northern part of Argyleshire, 
 and the other of the western 
 part of Inverness-shire, where
 
 132 MUTINIES AV HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 the language of the country is 
 Erse only. They have used 
 no other language, and are so 
 ignorant of the English tongue, 
 that they could not avail them- 
 selves of it for any purpose in 
 life. They have always been 
 accustomed to the Highland 
 habit, so far as never to have 
 worn breeches ; a thing so in- 
 convenient, and even so impos- 
 sible for a native Highlander to 
 do,thatwhen the Highland dress 
 was prohibited by Act of Parlia- 
 ment, though the philibeg was 
 one of the forbidden parts of 
 the dress; yet it was found 
 necessary to connive at its use, 
 provided only it was made of a 
 stuff of one colour, and not of 
 tartan ; as is well known to all 
 acquainted with the Highlands, 
 particularly the more mountain- 
 ous parts of the country. These 
 circumstances made it necessary 
 for them to enlist and serve in 
 a Highland regiment only, as 
 they neither could have under- 
 stood the language, nor have 
 used their arms, or marched in 
 the dress of any other regiment. 
 " The prisoner Robert Budge 
 is a native of Caithness, where 
 his mother tongue likewise was 
 Erse, and that language was 
 commonly used by him; for 
 though he had acquired so much 
 of the English tongue as to en- 
 able him to buy from or to sell 
 to one who spoke English, in 
 the common articles of com- 
 merce in the country; yet he 
 could not have made use of it 
 in the ordinary run of the occur- 
 rences of life. He, too, had 
 
 been accustomed to the phili- 
 beg; and found, that in any 
 other dress than the Highland 
 one, he could not have per- 
 formed the duties of a soldier ; 
 he therefore, likewise enlisted 
 in the yist Regiment, which is 
 a Highland corps. 
 
 " The prisoners, along with a 
 detachment, to the number of 
 between sixty and seventy, were 
 marched from Stirling on the 
 1 9th April last. They arrived 
 in the town of Leith, all the 
 three being on carts, so that 
 none of them were on the Links 
 on the 2oth of that month. 
 During March, they behaved 
 with that obedience which be- 
 longs to soldiers, nor have they 
 been accused of any riotous or 
 mutinous behaviour on the road. 
 When the rest of the detach- 
 ment arrived on Leith Links, 
 the prisoners understand, they 
 were informed, by their officer 
 Captain Innes, who had con- 
 ducted them, that they were 
 now to consider the officers of 
 the 83d or Glasgow Regiment 
 a regiment wearing the low- 
 land dress, and speaking the 
 English tongue as their offi- 
 cers ; but how this happened 
 they were not informed. No 
 order from the commander-in- 
 chief, to their being drafted was 
 read or explained to them ; but 
 they were told, they must im- 
 mediately march to the shore 
 and embark. 
 
 "A great number of the de- 
 tachment represented without 
 any disorder or mutinous be- 
 haviour, that they were alto-
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 133 
 
 gether unfit for service in any 
 other corps than a Highland 
 one ; particularly, that they were 
 incapable of wearing breeches 
 as part of their dress. At the 
 same time, they declared their 
 willingness to be regularly trans- 
 ferred or drafted into any 
 other Highland regiment, or to 
 continue to serve in those regi- 
 ments into which they had been 
 originally enlisted. But no re- 
 gard was paid to these remon- 
 strances, which, if they had had 
 an opportunity, they would have 
 laid before the commander-in- 
 chief; but an order for immedi- 
 ate embarkation must prevent 
 this. The articles of war, which 
 are appointed to be read and 
 published once in every two 
 months, at the head of every 
 regiment, troop, or company 
 mustered, and to be daily ob- 
 served, and exactly obeyed by 
 all officers and soldiers in his 
 Majesty's service, cannot be 
 unknown to any soldier, and 
 must be attended to by them. 
 By the sixth section of these 
 articles, and article 3, it is de- 
 clared : ' That no non-commis- 
 sioned officer or soldier shall 
 enlist himself in any other regi- 
 ment, troop, or company, with- 
 out a regular discharge from 
 the regiment, troop, or company 
 in which he last served, on the 
 penalty of being reputed a de- 
 serter, and suffering accordingly; 
 and in case any officer shall 
 knowingly receive and entertain 
 such non-commissioned officer 
 or soldier, or shall not, after his 
 being deserter, immediately con- 
 
 fine him, and give notice there- 
 of to the corps in which he last 
 served, he, the said officer, so 
 offending, shall, by a court- 
 martial, be cashiered.' 
 
 " The detachment found them- 
 selves in a disagreeable situa- 
 tion. None of them were pos- 
 sessed of discharges, in terms of 
 this article of war, to enable 
 them voluntarily to enter into 
 another corps, other than the 
 one they had enlisted in. No 
 order from the commander-in- 
 chief had been read or explain- 
 ed to them, which could eithei 
 supersede the necessity or en- 
 title them to the benefit of such 
 discharge. Captain Innes was 
 no field-officer, and could not 
 grant them one ; and the officers 
 of theGlasgow Regiment seemed, 
 in such circumstances, disabled 
 from assuming a military com 
 mand over them. The natural 
 idea that suggested itself to them 
 was, that they should insist on 
 serving still in the same regi- 
 ment in which they were en- 
 listed, and not go abroad as 
 part of the 83d Regiment, till 
 such time as these difficulties 
 were removed. They accord- 
 ingly drew up, under arms, on 
 the shore of Leith, each respec- 
 tive corps by itself; and the 
 prisoners, seeing them drawn 
 up, joined them, and were in- 
 formed of what had happened. 
 
 " The prisoners are informed 
 that the orders that were issued 
 to the detachment of the South- 
 ern Fencibles that came down 
 to Leith, were : To make them 
 prisoners, and conduct them all
 
 134 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 to the castle. Had these orders 
 been explained to them, they 
 would have submitted, and, with 
 proper humility, have laid their 
 case before those that could 
 give them redress. But, unfor- 
 tunately, the sergeant who ex- 
 plained the orders to them in 
 Erse, represented to them as 
 if they were immediately to go 
 abroad as a part of the Glasgow 
 Regiment ; but which they do, 
 with great deference, say, they 
 did not, at the time, conceive 
 they could lawfully have done. 
 
 " None of the prisoners were 
 guilty of any actual violence. 
 No man received any hurt from 
 them. The prisoner Maciver 
 declared 'that he would not fire/ 
 when some among the mob 
 called out to them to do it. 
 The prisoner Williamson had 
 got drunk at Linlithgow, and 
 continued very much intoxicated 
 to the very end ; so that he was 
 not perfectly conscious of what 
 he was doing. And the prisoner 
 Budge behaved in a very in- 
 offensive manner, and surren- 
 dered himself quietly as a pri- 
 soner. None of all the three 
 had any ammunition, nor could 
 they have any previous inten- 
 tion to mutiny; the fact of their 
 being to be transferred to an- 
 other regiment having been in- 
 timated to them of a sudden, 
 so as to leave no room for 
 deliberation." 
 
 The evidence was taken on 
 Thursday and Friday. 
 
 The Scots Magazine says : 
 "Though in military events, 
 prisoners are not usually allowed 
 
 counsel; yet in this case, by the 
 candour of the commander-in- 
 chief, a very eminent lawyer, 
 Mr Andrew Crosbie, was per- 
 mitted to appear on behalf of 
 these prisoners." This is no 
 other than the talented, eloquent, 
 and jovial gentleman, alleged 
 to have been the original in Sir 
 Walter Scott's mind of the inimi- 
 table " Pleydell " in " Guy Man- 
 nering." A portrait of him is to 
 be seen in the Parliament House 
 of Edinburgh, with the inscrip- 
 tion beneath : " Vice - Dean 
 Crosby, 1784-85. Bequeathed 
 by his widow." 
 
 Lieutenant Stillfax, of the 
 55th, deponed : That thirteen 
 men of the 42d, and fifty-one of 
 the 7ist, in all sixty-four men, set 
 off from Stirling to Leith, where 
 they arrived on the 2oth of 
 April 1779, at eleven o'clock 
 before noon : That he got a 
 letter on the ipth of April from 
 Captain Imrie, aid-de-camp to 
 General Skene, to march the 
 men to Leith ; and that this in 
 consequence of an order from 
 General Oughton ; but the place 
 of destination was not then 
 mentioned to the men : That 
 Captain Innes, of the 7ist, 
 received the orders for incor- 
 porating them with the 83d 
 Regiment The deponent, in 
 consequence of an order from 
 Captain Innes, marched the 
 men to the Links of Leith, in 
 order to embark : That they 
 learned when they came to the 
 Links of Leith, that they were to 
 be embarked and incorporated 
 with the 83d. This they learned
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 135 
 
 from Major Ramsay, one of the 
 officers of the Glasgow Regiment : 
 That he marched the men to 
 the town of Leith, in order to 
 embark them : That the men 
 seemed much concerned at 
 understanding that they were to 
 be turned over to the Glasgow 
 Regiment, as they were enlisted 
 for a Highland corps : That 
 they made no resistance till 
 they came to the shore, to 
 which they marched quietly, 
 being at first in order, but after- 
 wards became mutinous : That 
 five of the 42d, and two of the 
 7ist Regiment, went on board ; 
 but the remainder fixed their 
 bayonets, and said, they neither 
 would embark nor be drafted: 
 That the townspeople afterwards 
 got amongst them, and gave 
 them liquor, and they turned 
 more mutinous than ever : That 
 he knows the prisoners were of 
 the mutineers; and that Mac- 
 iver, pretending to be sick, was 
 carried in a baggage-cart from 
 Stirling to Leith : That about 
 a quarter or half an hour before 
 the fencibles came down to 
 Leith, he saw Maciver upon the 
 right of the mutineers, with 
 his bayonet fixed ; and when 
 they came down, he went from 
 man to man along the ranks; 
 witness did not hear what he 
 said; but, from his gesture, 
 supposed he was persuading the 
 men to refuse to embark ; and 
 seemed to be quite sober, and 
 very determined : That he also 
 observed Williamson, one of 
 the prisoners, who seemed to 
 be drunk and was very noisy : 
 
 That he cannot say any of the 
 prisoners fired : That William- 
 son and the whole of the men 
 had fixed their bayonets; but 
 he did not know who fired first : 
 When they fixed their bayonets, 
 they refused to go on board, 
 and refused all obedience to 
 orders. Being interrogated for 
 the prisoners, this witness de- 
 clared, he saw Budge have his 
 bayonet fixed ; but observed 
 nothing else particular in his 
 conduct more than the rest: 
 That the greatest objection the 
 mutineers had to the 83d Regi- 
 ment, was the wearing of long 
 cloth and breeches ; and heard 
 some of them declare, they were 
 willing to go into any Highland 
 regiment, and all of them willing 
 to join their own respective 
 corps. 
 
 Captain Innes, of the jist, 
 deponed : That he marched the 
 men mentioned in the preceding 
 deposition from Stirling : That 
 they set off on the igth, lay at 
 Linlithgow that night, and set 
 off next morning for Leith: 
 That the men's arms were exam- 
 ined before leaving Linlithgow, 
 and no powder or shot was 
 found upon them; and to the 
 best of his knowledge and belief, 
 at that time they had no ammu- 
 nition about them : That he 
 received a letter (now produced) 
 from General Oughton while at 
 Linlithgow, advising that the 
 men under his command were 
 to be incorporated into the 83d 
 Regiment; but did not then 
 communicate the same to the 
 men : That on the morning of
 
 136 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 April 2oth he went from Linlith- 
 gow to General Oughton for 
 orders, and the men were 
 marched to Leith Links where 
 the witness joined them : That 
 from people on the Links they 
 learned that they were to be 
 incorporated with the 83d Regi- 
 ment, at which they expressed 
 their displeasure; and Maciver 
 and Williamson swore, that they 
 would rather die on the spot 
 than be drafted into the 83d 
 Regiment; at the same time 
 they declared their willingness 
 to go into their own corps, or 
 to any other Highland regiment : 
 That when he marched the 
 Highlanders to Leith shore, 
 Maciver and Williamson insti- 
 gated the mutiny, by doing all 
 they could to prevail on the 
 7ist to join them in it, who to 
 appearance had no such inten- 
 tion ; and the witness believes, 
 hadthemenofthe yistRegiment 
 come by themselves, they would 
 have been prevailed upon to em- 
 bark : That two of the 7 ist and 
 five of the 42d Regiment did go 
 on board ; and the rest refused, 
 and fixed their bayonets ; on 
 which the witness went to Gene- 
 ral Oughton, and acquainted 
 him with whathad happened. He 
 was absent about an hour : That 
 General Oughton despatched 
 Captain Imrie to the Castle of 
 Edinburgh for a detachment of 
 200 of the South Fencibles : 
 That, upon his return to Leith, 
 he found the men in a single 
 rank, with their backs to the 
 wall : That the witness exhort- 
 ed and admonished them to go 
 
 on board; told them that the 
 fencibles were coming down ; 
 and if they persisted in their 
 disobedience, the consequence 
 was they would be shot : That 
 at this time he found many of 
 the men in liquor, and they 
 declared they were under no 
 apprehension from the fencibles, 
 and that they would stand upon 
 their defence : That in about 
 an hour after the witness return- 
 ed from General Oughton, the 
 fencibles arrived at Leith : 
 That Captain Innes employed 
 that interval in endeavouring 
 all he could to bring the men 
 to a sense of their duty ; but to 
 no purpose, they being extreme- 
 ly insolent to him ; and one 
 Muir made a push at the witness 
 with his bayonet : That upon 
 the appearance of the fencibles, 
 he again spoke to them, and 
 told them that, if they con- 
 tinued refractory, they would be 
 shot, to which they answered, 
 they would rather be shot than 
 be drafted into the Glasgow 
 Regiment. The witness did not 
 know from whom the first fire 
 came : That, upon his retiring, 
 he heard a shot from the right 
 of the line, and he thought it 
 came from the wall : That the 
 fencibles arrived about an hour 
 before the witness left the muti- 
 neers : That, during the period, 
 the witness, and the other 
 officers of the mutineers, with 
 some of the officers of the 
 fencibles, were employed to 
 pacify the mutineers, and in- 
 duce them to comply with the 
 order for embarkation; but to
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 137 
 
 no purpose : That Maciver 
 and Williamson appeared to be 
 the most active of those of the 
 42d Regiment, and extremely 
 enraged. 
 
 James Dempster, jeweller in 
 Edinburgh, deponed : That, 
 looking out at a window, on 
 Leith shore, immediately above 
 the third man on the left of the 
 Highlanders, he heard a shot 
 from the north ; but whether 
 from the fencibles or the High- 
 landers he did not know : That 
 this was followed in about a 
 minute by another shot from a 
 Highlander on the left, by which 
 Captain Mansfield fell, upon 
 which a corporal, who was along 
 with Captain Mansfield, fired, 
 and killed that Highlander. 
 
 James Dun, stabler in Edin- 
 burgh, deponed : That, looking 
 out at a window opposite to 
 the river, he saw a shot coming 
 from the right of the High- 
 landers : That, a little after, he 
 saw Captain Mansfield step up 
 to one of the Highlanders, and 
 lay his hand on his shoulder, 
 as if to expostulate with him ; 
 and that he and another High- 
 lander on his right stepped 
 back, and made a push at 
 Captain Mansfield with bay- 
 onets ; upon which Captain 
 Mansfield retreated; and im- 
 mediately either the third or 
 fourth man from the left of the 
 Highlanders fired a shot ; upon 
 which Captain Mansfield fell. 
 He observed no fire from the 
 fencibles before Captain Mans- 
 field fell. 
 
 Sergeant W. Ralston, of the 
 
 yist, deponed: That when the 
 Highlanders were told they 
 were to embark, and to be 
 drafted into the 83d, they 
 declared their reluctance, by 
 saying they would not be put 
 into breeches. On being asked 
 from whence, and when, he 
 heard the first shot, he replied, 
 that it appeared to him to have 
 been from the left of the High- 
 landers, or the right of the 
 fencibles, which of them he 
 did not know, that it was not 
 a single shot, but a running 
 fire. 
 
 Sergeant Ross, of the South 
 Fencibles, deponed : That he 
 was at Leith upon the 2oth of 
 April last, during the mutiny; 
 where he saw two of the pris- 
 oners, Williamson and Maciver, 
 Williamson very actively prompt- 
 ing the mutiny : That William- 
 son was much in liquor : That 
 the deponent, by the order of 
 Sir James Johnston, went up to 
 expostulate with the mutineers 
 in the Erse language ; and that 
 when he was going on that 
 errand, Williamson desired him 
 not to come forward, and pushed 
 his bayonet again and again at 
 the deponent. Some time after 
 that, the deponent heard a shot 
 from the right of the High- 
 landers : That two of the ser- 
 geants of the South Fencibles 
 came up, and laid hold of 
 Maciver, who struggled with 
 them in order to get rid of 
 them, when a shot came from 
 some of Maciver's party upon 
 his left, which wounded the 
 deponent: That, before this
 
 138 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 happened, the deponent was 
 telling the mutineers, so far as 
 they could hear, that, by orders 
 of Sir James Johnston, the fenc- 
 ibles were provided in ammuni- 
 tion, and their guns all loaded : 
 That they had better desist, be- 
 cause they would be forced to 
 embark. They answered, that 
 they would die before they 
 would wear breeches ; and told 
 the deponent, that they were 
 provided with ammunition. 
 Being interrogated for the pris- 
 oners, at what distance from 
 the two prisoners the firing 
 began, he thought about twenty 
 yards from their left : That 
 about two or three minutes 
 before the firing began, a High- 
 lander from amongst the mob 
 called to the Highlanders, 
 "Why don't you fire?" to 
 which Maciver answered, he 
 would not be the first that 
 would fire. 
 
 James Home, soldier in the 
 South Fencibles, deponed : 
 That he was along with Cap- 
 tain Mansfield when the High- 
 landers began to fire from their 
 right. This witness heard them 
 say before that they could prime, 
 load, and fire as fast as the 
 fencibles could do. He said 
 that Captain Mansfield was 
 speaking with the Highlanders, 
 endeavouring to pacify them, 
 and quell the mutiny, when the 
 Highlanders charged their bay- 
 onets, and pushed at him. 
 When he was retreating to the 
 division which he commanded, 
 a Highlander fired upon him, 
 and shot him. 
 
 Corporal G. Little, of the 
 South Fencibles, deponed : 
 That he examined several of the 
 Highlanders' muskets, which 
 he found loaded, and likewise 
 a cartridge-box with shot, but 
 could not ascertain whether it 
 belonged to the Highlanders or 
 to the fencibles. 
 
 Robert Mudie, ship-master in 
 Leith, deponed : That he was 
 on the top of the pier, on the 
 left of the fencibles, opposite 
 the right of the Highlanders, 
 whom he saw standing with 
 their bayonets charged, from 
 which he retired farther to the 
 right of the fencibles, fearing 
 danger of a shot from the High- 
 landers : That he saw a shot 
 from the right of the High- 
 landers, which was the first shot 
 that was fired, and afterwards 
 another from the left of their 
 centre. Before the second shot 
 was fired from the left of the 
 Highlanders' centre, he ob- 
 served Captain Mansfield, who 
 was upon the right of the 
 fencibles, protecting with his 
 sword one of his soldiers, who 
 was attacked by the High- 
 landers; and, upon a shot 
 being fired, the mob called 
 out that Captain Mansfield was 
 killed; and the witness re- 
 treated. 
 
 Captain Rutherford, of the 
 South Fencibles, deponed : 
 That he heard a shot corne 
 from the Highlanders, and 
 jumping into his place, ob- 
 served a corporal on the 
 right of the division mortally 
 wounded.
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 139 
 
 The question, whether he 
 heard an order or paper read 
 or explained to the Highlanders 
 on the Links of Leith, relative 
 to their being embarked, or 
 drafted into the 83d Regi- 
 ment, was put to Sergeant Ral- 
 ston and Corporal Buchanan, 
 both of the 7ist; and they both 
 answered in the negative. Cap- 
 tain Innes, also of the 7151, 
 being interrogated, if, on the 
 links of Leith, he read or ex- 
 plained to them such a paper or 
 order, declared he did not, as 
 he thought it would have been 
 improper. 
 
 Sergeant Ralston, being inter- 
 rogated whether the Highlanders 
 complain of the usage, answered, 
 that after they came to the pier 
 of Leith, Hugh Muir, of the 
 7ist, amongst others, said, that 
 if an offer had been made to 
 them of a voluntary draft 
 into the 83d in the manner that 
 the 3ist Regiment's men were 
 drafted, he would have been 
 among the first that would have 
 offered himself; but that they 
 were going to boat them like 
 a parcel of sheep ; and, since 
 that was the case, he would 
 stand out to the last. 
 
 Sergeant A. Ross, of the 
 South Fencibles, being inter- 
 rogated what message he deliv- 
 ered to the Highlanders from 
 Sir James Johnston in the Erse 
 language, declared, that Sir 
 James ordered him to go to 
 the Highlanders, and use every 
 gentle method of persuasion to 
 pacify them, and get them to 
 comply with the order of em- 
 
 barkation. Being asked if he 
 told the Highlanders, from Sir 
 James, what they were to expect 
 from their refusal to embark, he 
 declared, that Sir James told 
 him that his orders were, either 
 to force them to embark, or 
 bring them prisoners to the 
 castle : That the witness com- 
 municated these orders to the 
 Highlanders. 
 
 Sir James Johnston, Major 
 of the South Fencibles, declared 
 that the order did command a 
 detachment of the above regi- 
 ment to seize the Highlanders : 
 That he now produces the said 
 order, which is of the following 
 tenor : 
 
 " Headquarters, April 20, 1779. 
 
 "Sir, The drafts of the 
 7 ist Regiment having refused to 
 embark, you will order 200 men 
 of the South Fencibles, under 
 command of a field-officer, to 
 march immediately to Leith, 
 seize the mutineers, and march 
 them prisoners to the Castle oi 
 Edinburgh, to be detained there 
 till further orders. I am, etc., 
 
 "JA. ADOLPHUS OUGHTON." 
 
 This order, which has already 
 been quoted, was, as will be 
 remembered, addressed to Gov- 
 ernor Wernyss, of Edinburgh 
 Castle, or the commanding- 
 officer of the South Fencible 
 Regiment 
 
 The witness further declared, 
 that when he gave orders to 
 Sergeant Ross to go and speak 
 to the mutineers, in order to 
 pacify them, that Williamson,
 
 HO MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 one of the prisoners, more than 
 once presented his piece, and 
 the declarant thought once that 
 he was actually going to fire 
 upon him ; but that he was 
 prevented by Maciver, another 
 of the prisoners, saying some- 
 thing to Williamson, which the 
 deponent did not understand, 
 upon which Williamson took 
 down his piece ; and the declar- 
 ant thought he owed his life to 
 Maciver for so doing. 
 
 Captain Innes showed to the 
 Court an attestation, which he 
 said was in the uniform style of 
 the attestations for that regi- 
 ment ; and it bore expressly, 
 that the person thereby attested 
 was to serve in the 7ist Regi- 
 ment, commanded by Major- 
 General Simon Fraser; and 
 that they were to serve for 
 three years only, or during the 
 continuance of the war. The 
 court-martial pronounced judg- 
 ment on the 8th of May, but it 
 was not made public till the 28th 
 of that month. 
 
 In the forenoon of that day, 
 the regiment of the West Fen- 
 cibles, then quartered in the 
 suburbs of Edinburgh, having 
 been marched up to the Castle 
 Hill, were formed in three sides 
 of a hollow square facing in- 
 wards. The three prisoners 
 were brought down from the 
 castle. With drums muffled 
 and rolling, while the band 
 played a dead march, they, each 
 stepping slowly behind a coffin 
 he thought was meant for him, 
 were brought by an armed 
 escort down the winding path- 
 
 way from the castle, and placed 
 in the vacant space of the square, 
 opposite a numerous firing party, 
 under the orders of a provost- 
 martial. 
 
 On that bright and beautiful 
 summer morning there was a 
 dark cloud on every face in the 
 solemn group. No ceremony 
 is more impressive than a mili- 
 tary execution and on that 
 morning three soldiers were to 
 suffer death. 
 
 The condemned men were 
 ordered to kneel beside their 
 open coffins. The fencibles 
 formed round them, and then 
 the major read the following 
 paper : 
 
 "Headquarters, 26th May 1779. 
 "At a general court-martial 
 held in Edinburgh Castle on 
 Thursday, the 6th of May, and 
 the two following days, whereof 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Dundas of 
 the nth Dragoons, was presi- 
 dent, for the trial of Charles 
 Williamson and Archibald Mac- 
 iver, soldiers of the 426 Regi- 
 ment, and Robert Budge, soldier 
 of the 7ist Regiment, accused 
 of being guilty of a mutiny at 
 Leith, upon Tuesday, the 2oth 
 day of May 1779, and of insti- 
 gating others to do the same ; 
 the Court unanimously found 
 the prisoners guilty of mutiny, 
 being a breach of the ist, 2d, 
 3d, 4th, and 5th articles of the 
 second section of the Articles 
 of War; and having duly con- 
 sidered the evil tendency of 
 mutiny and sedition, especially 
 when carried on to such enor-
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 141 
 
 mous lengths as in the present 
 case, did adjudge the aforesaid 
 Charles Williamson, Archibald 
 Maciver, and Robert Budge, to 
 be shot to death. 
 
 " Which sentence, having been 
 transferred to the king, his 
 Majesty having been pleased 
 to signify his royal pleasure, 
 that his Majesty, having regard 
 to the former commendable and 
 distinguished behaviour of the 
 42d Regiment, to which the two 
 first-mentioned prisoners belong; 
 and remarking that the third 
 prisoner, Robert Budge, who is 
 represented to be now only 
 recovering from the wounds 
 received in the affray, does not 
 appear to have taken any for- 
 ward part in the mutiny; is most 
 graciously pleased to grant to 
 the said Charles Williamson, 
 Archibald Maciver, and Robert 
 Budge, a free pardon, in full 
 confidence that they will en- 
 deavour, upon every future 
 occasion, by a prompt obedi- 
 ence and orderly demeanour, 
 to atone for the unpremeditated 
 but atrocious offence. 
 
 "The prisoners were there- 
 fore to be released, and join 
 their respective companies. 
 
 " (Signed) ROBERT SKEXE, 
 "Major-General^ 
 
 The condemned men remain- 
 ed on their knees while a High- 
 land officer translated the fore- 
 going into Gaelic. It was a 
 scene got up for effect. As 
 James Grant describes it, with a 
 pardonable appeal to his im- 
 agiration: They were all pale 
 
 and composed, but the last, 
 who was suffering from severe 
 wounds received at Leith ; his 
 countenance was emaciated and 
 ghastly, and he was sinking 
 from excessive debility. Their 
 eyes were bound up; the officer 
 retired ; the provost-martial ap- 
 proached, and ordered his party 
 to load. They were in the act 
 of taking aim at the prisoners, 
 who were praying intently in 
 Gaelic, when Sir Adolphus 
 Oughton stepped forward, and, 
 displaying three pardons, com- 
 manded them to recover arms. 
 
 " Soldiers," said he, " in con- 
 sequence of the distinguished 
 valour of the Royal High- 
 landers, to which two of these 
 unfortunate men belong, his 
 Majesty has been graciously 
 pleased to forgive them all. 
 Prisoners, rise, resume your 
 arms, and rejoin your com- 
 panies." 
 
 An officer repeated these 
 words in Gaelic. 
 
 The scene and the whole 
 proceedings were so solemn and 
 affecting, that the released pri- 
 soners were incapable of speech. 
 Raising their bonnets, they 
 endeavoured to express their 
 gratitude by a faint cheer, but 
 their voices utterly failed them ; 
 and overcome by weakness and 
 a revulsion of feeling, the sol- 
 dier of the 7ist sank prostrate 
 on the ground, between the 
 coffins. 
 
 More than forty of their com- 
 rades, who were shot or had 
 died of mortal wounds, were 
 buried in the old churchyard
 
 142 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 of South Leith, and a grassy 
 mound long marked the place 
 where they lay. 
 
 There is one other incident 
 of gloom, which is reported in 
 the Edinburgh Evening Courant 
 of April 24, 1797, thus: 
 
 "Yesterday, at twelve o'clock, 
 the corpse of the unfortunate 
 and much lamented Captain 
 James Mansfield was brought 
 up on a hearse from Leith, and 
 delivered over at the north end 
 of the Bridge to the regiment, 
 who attended under arms: they 
 proceeded in solemn procession 
 to Greyfriar's Churchyard, the 
 duke's company, being the one 
 Captain Mansfield, as captain- 
 lieutenant, commanded, having 
 
 a knot of crape upon their fire- 
 locks, and the sergeants' halberts 
 in scarfs, the music playing the 
 dead march, and the drums 
 muffled. The pall-bearers were 
 the Duke of Buccleuch, as chief 
 mourner ; Colonel Pringle ; 
 Majors Sir James Johnston and 
 Hay ; Captains Scott of Gala, 
 Rutherford of Edgerston, Scott of 
 Mulleny, Lord Binning, and Sir 
 Alexander Don. The grena- 
 diers followed the pall, the rela- 
 tions and friends of the deceased 
 next, and a train of gentlemen's 
 carriages closed the procession. 
 The duke's company only fired 
 over the grave." 
 
 Captain Mansfield left a 
 widow and six children. 
 
 MUTINY OF THE 77x11 REGIMENT 
 
 (ATHOLE HIGHLANDERS). 
 
 January 1783. 
 
 ATHOLE is a district in the north 
 of Perthshire. The word in 
 Gaelic means, The Pleasant 
 Land ; and, as far as the military 
 influence of the Duke of Athole 
 used to be concerned, it was 
 pleasant enough for him at one 
 time to be able to command the 
 personal services of 3000 hardy 
 Highland men at arms. On 
 important occasions, indeed, he 
 could double the number, the 
 whole 6000 well-armed, and 
 eager to enhance the glory of 
 
 their chief and clan in the eyes 
 of his king and country. 
 
 The power of this Highland 
 potentate became so great as to 
 engender fear in the minds of 
 those he served. It might be- 
 come as dangerous as it had 
 proved itself, on more than one 
 occasion, advantageous. Ac- 
 cordingly, it was thought neces- 
 sary to cripple it by legal en- 
 actment. But although by such 
 means the chiefs of Athole were 
 deprived of their power, they
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 143 
 
 continued for many years to 
 enjoy that great influence which 
 sprang from the voluntary at- 
 tachment and fidelity of their 
 people. 
 
 A time came when the young 
 Duke of Athole felt that he was, 
 like so many northern patriots, 
 called upon to step forward and 
 offer his services to Great Britain. 
 The Government acceded to his 
 loyal request to be allowed to 
 raise a regiment of his High- 
 landers for general service. He 
 was empowered to appoint 
 officers; and a corps of 1000 
 men was soon recruited. 
 
 They were embodied at Perth, 
 and James Murray, son of Lord 
 George Murray, and uncle to 
 the duke, became their colonel. 
 Both officers and men were such 
 as the country needed. The 
 former were young, and were 
 inspired with the spirit of brave 
 soldiers; the latter possessed 
 every advantage of personal 
 appearance and bodily strength, 
 which are requisite for a high 
 degree of the best military 
 morals. 
 
 They marched to Port-Patrick 
 in 1778, whence they were ship- 
 ped to Ireland in a time of 
 expected trouble in that island. 
 They remained there during 
 the American war, and had 
 little opportunity of distinguish- 
 ing themselves in active service. 
 It was not their fortune to be 
 allowed to prove in any well- 
 fought field, to what extent 
 they were possessors of those 
 qualities which ensure military 
 success. But they were exem- 
 
 plary in quarters, attached and 
 obedient to their officers, and 
 had every advantage of disci- 
 pline. 
 
 In 1783 the regiment was 
 ordered to England, and march- 
 ed to Portsmouth for the purpose 
 of being embarked for India. 
 Although the terms on which 
 they had enlisted were, that they 
 should serve for three years, or 
 during the war, the men showed 
 at first no reluctance to embark, 
 nor did any of them claim the 
 discharge to which their letters 
 of service entitled them. On 
 the contrary, Colonel Stewart 
 records, when they came in 
 sight of the fleet at Spithead, as 
 they marched across Portsdown 
 Hill, they pulled off their bon- 
 nets, and gave three cheers for 
 a brush with Hyder AIL But 
 no sooner were they quartered 
 in Portsmouth, to wait till the 
 transports should be ready, than 
 distrust and discord appeared. 
 
 There is the usual account 
 given in the papers of the time, 
 of emissaries from London hav- 
 ing expatiated with the High- 
 landers on the faithlessness of 
 the war authorities in sending 
 them to the far East, when their 
 term of service had expired. It 
 seems they were told that they 
 had been sold to the East India 
 Company at a certain sum a 
 head. Their officers were not 
 guiltless in this transaction, it 
 was added. These gentlemen 
 were to get a proportion of the 
 price of sale, and divide it 
 among themselves. This was 
 an incitement to the warmest
 
 U4 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 feelings of resentment in the 
 breast of the Athole Highland- 
 ers. Confidence in their officers 
 was undermined; and they 
 must have been easily stirred 
 up to disobedience. They were 
 led to disregard the authority 
 of gentlemen to whom they 
 had hitherto shown the most 
 devoted attachment. They 
 would not believe their explana- 
 tions. 
 
 There is something even in 
 this headstrong mutiny to say 
 for the men. It was but only 
 too true that the arrangements 
 for sending them to India had 
 been made without any regard 
 to the engagement by which 
 they felt themselves bound. 
 They knew on what terms they 
 had enlisted ; and no wonder 
 that the insinuations, admitting 
 them to be false, of the busy 
 emissaries who were operating 
 upon them for political and 
 other ends of their own, had a 
 tendency to destroy their faith 
 in officers who also knew the 
 terms on which the men had 
 been enrolled. Authority being 
 weakened, restraint was thus 
 removed from natural indigna- 
 tion. 
 
 The consequence was a de- 
 termination on the part of the 
 men not to embark for India. 
 They would adhere to their 
 terms of service. 
 
 The following account of the 
 immediate issue of this resolu- 
 tion, is taken from the Scots 
 Magazine, dated January 1783 : 
 "The 77th Regiment, Athole 
 Highlanders, lying at Ports- 
 
 mouth, which had been for 
 some time under orders to em- 
 bark for the East Indies, on 
 Sunday the 2 6th, received final 
 orders to embark next morning. 
 In obedience to the order they 
 assembled on parade, but with 
 a determined resolution not to 
 embark, alleging as a reason, 
 that their arrears were not paid, 
 and that they were enlisted on 
 the express condition to serve 
 only three years, or during the 
 American war; and as they con- 
 ceived those conditions were 
 fulfilled, and that they were now 
 intended for the East India 
 Company's service, where none 
 of their officers were going, they 
 declared they would stand by 
 each other to the last, and 
 would not be compelled to em- 
 bark for the East Indies, as they 
 believed that their officers had 
 bartered them away to that 
 Company. 
 
 "The colonel was not pre- 
 sent, but the lieutenant-colonel 
 and other officers insisted that 
 they should embark ; in conse- 
 quence of which, the soldiers 
 surrounded them, violently 
 beating the lieutenant-colonel 
 and several others, who nar- 
 rowly escaped with wounds and 
 bruises; after which they re- 
 paired to the magazine, or store- 
 house for the regiment, which 
 they broke open, and furnished 
 themselves with several rounds 
 of powder and ball. 
 
 "A party of the invalids were 
 ordered out to prevent the 
 Highlanders possessing them- 
 selves of the parade guard-house,
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 145 
 
 but being discovered before they 
 gained that place, the High- 
 landers fired on them, killed 
 one, and wounded one or two 
 others, which compelled the 
 invalids to retreat. In short, the 
 whole was a scene of the utmost 
 drunkenness, riot, and confu- 
 sion. Sir J. Pye, and Sir J. 
 Carter, the mayor, took every 
 step in their power to appease 
 them, and on their promising 
 they should not be embarked 
 until further orders were re- 
 ceived, they separated, and 
 returned to their quarters in the 
 evening, tolerably well satisfied ; 
 and next morning they were in- 
 formed that their embarkation 
 should not be insisted on. 
 
 "Immediately upon the ac- 
 counts of this disturbance reach- 
 ing London, Major -General 
 Murray, colonel of the 77th 
 Regiment, accompanied by the 
 Duke of Athole, his nephew, 
 went down to Portsmouth, and 
 by their judicious and spirited 
 conduct, assisted by Lord 
 George Lennox, commanding 
 then at Portsmouth, the men 
 were prevailed upon, after hav- 
 ing paraded the streets several 
 days, first to assemble on the 
 paradewith their arms unloaded, 
 and the day following without 
 their arms." 
 
 Several letters from Ports- 
 mouth relative to this mutiny 
 appeared in the public prints of 
 the time, and of which the 
 following are a few extracts : 
 
 " Portsmouth, February zd. 
 "The Duke of Athole, Major- 
 
 General Murray, and Lord 
 George Lennox, have been 
 down here; but the Athole 
 Highlanders are still determined 
 not to go to the East Indies. 
 They have put up their arms 
 and ammunition into one of the 
 magazines, and p'aced a very 
 strong guard over them, whilst 
 the rest of the regiment sleep 
 and refresh themselves. They 
 come regularly and quietly to 
 the grand parade, very cleanly 
 dressed, twice a day. Their 
 adj u tan tandother officers parade 
 with them. One day it was pro- 
 posed to turn the great guns on 
 the ramparts against the High- 
 landers, but that scheme was 
 soon over-ruled. Another time 
 it was suggested to send for 
 some marching regiments quar- 
 tered near this place; upon 
 which the Highlanders drew up 
 the draw-bridges, and placed 
 sentinels at them. 
 
 "The 8ist, another Highland 
 regiment,* aboard the India- 
 
 * This was the Aberdeenshire High- 
 land Regiment. They were embarked 
 at Portsmouth for India immediately 
 after the preliminaries of peace had 
 been signed, although the terms on 
 which they had enlisted were, that 
 they should be discharged in three 
 years, or at the end of the war. The 
 men at first made no objections, and 
 remained quietly on board, awaiting 
 the orders for sailing, but when it be- 
 came known that their Athole brethren 
 were insisting on the performance of 
 the terms of their agreement, a very 
 different feeling evinced itself. They, 
 following the infectious example, called 
 for the fulfilment of their contract, and 
 requested that they should be marched 
 back to their own country, and dis- 
 charged there. This request was
 
 H6 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 man, have insisted on being 
 disembarked. 
 
 "The 68th Regiment, like- 
 wise, which embarked a few 
 days since on board transports 
 for the West Indies, learning 
 that the Highlanders are not to 
 be sent the East Indies, deter- 
 mined to disembark; and, in 
 consequence, very early yester- 
 day morning, they were discover- 
 ed getting the transports under 
 way, with an intention to run 
 into the harbour ; but were all 
 prevented by a man-of-war firing 
 on them, except one transport, 
 the master of which was com- 
 pelled by the soldiers, amount- 
 ing to about 300, to bring his 
 vessel to, near the southern 
 beach. The men all got on 
 shore, marched towards the 
 town with an intention to de- 
 mand quarters of Lord George 
 Lennox, who met them, and 
 ordered them to return, but 
 they refused. His lordship 
 would not permit them to have 
 quarters, but sent them to Hil- 
 sea barracks." 
 
 Another correspondent writes : 
 
 " Portsmouth February tfh. 
 
 " You may be assured I have 
 had my perplexities since the 
 mutiny commenced in the 77th 
 Regiment; but I must do the 
 men the justice to confess, that, 
 excepting three or four drunken 
 fellows, whose impudence to 
 their officers could only be 
 equalled by their brutality, the 
 
 granted, the regiment was marched to 
 Scotland, and was disbanded at Edin- 
 burgh. 
 
 whole regiment have conducted 
 themselves with a regularity 
 that is surprising. For what 
 might not have been expected 
 from upwards of 1000 men 
 let loose from all restraint? 
 Matters would never have been 
 carried to the pitch they have, 
 but for the interference of some 
 busy people, who love to be 
 fishing in troubled water. 
 
 " The men have opened a 
 subscription for the relief of the 
 widow of the poor invalid, for 
 whose death they express the 
 greatest regret On their being 
 informed that a regiment in 
 garrison was coming to force 
 them to embark, they flew to 
 their arms, and followed their 
 comrade leaders through the 
 town, with a fixed determination 
 to give battle; but, in finding 
 the report to be false, they 
 returned in the same order to 
 their own quarters. We have 
 been informed that the regiment 
 is not to go to the East Indies 
 contrary to the men's inclination. 
 This has satisfied them, but will 
 be attended with disagreeable 
 consequences to the service. 
 ,For the 68th Regiment, that 
 were on board transports, refus- 
 ed also to go, and would have 
 come on shore, but for a man- 
 of-war firing at them, which has 
 done some mischief; but could 
 not prevent 300 of them from 
 landing. . . . Since the 
 debates in the House of Com- 
 mons on this subject, I should 
 not wonder if every man intend- 
 ed for foreign service refused 
 going, for the reasons there
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 147 
 
 given, which, you may depend 
 on it, they are now well ac- 
 quainted with." 
 
 The Highlanders applied to 
 the notorious Lord George Gor- 
 don, of Gordon Riots renown, for 
 assistance; and the result will 
 be read in the following letters : 
 
 " Lord G. Gordon to the Earl 
 
 of Shelburne. 
 
 " My Lord Shelburne, I 
 have just received two letters 
 from Portsmouth, from his 
 Majesty's 77th Regiment of 
 Foot, the Athole Highlanders, 
 and think it my duty to lay the 
 following extracts from one of 
 them before your lordship, as 
 Prime Minister, without any loss 
 of time : 
 
 "'To the Right Honourable 
 Lord George Gordon, Wei- 
 beck Street, London. 
 
 " ' Portsmouth. 
 
 "'My Lord, Impressed with 
 a deep sense of your exertions 
 in support of the religion and 
 liberty of the inhabitants of 
 Great Britain, particularly in 
 Scotland; a great number of 
 his Majesty's 77th or Athole 
 Highland Regiment of Foot, 
 take this method of making ap- 
 plication to your lordship, for 
 your support at this critical 
 time. (Here they mention that 
 the regiment was raised to serve 
 only three years, or during the 
 \var ; and that, though they 
 have not been employed in 
 active service, yet they were 
 always ready and willing to 
 exert themselves, if occasion re- 
 
 quired ; and that they think it 
 a violation of justice to order 
 them abroad, now that the 
 American war is over, peace 
 signed with France and Spain, 
 and a cessation of arms agreed 
 on with Holland. They there- 
 fore entreat Lord George Gor- 
 don to apply to some member 
 of Government on their behalf, 
 and proceed) : 
 
 " ' We are to embark to-mor- 
 row; but there is every appear- 
 ance at present of a desperate 
 resistance being made by the 
 men. How it will end time 
 alone must determine. 
 
 " ' We assure your lordship, 
 that we never were so much as 
 informed of any such intention 
 till last Wednesday, that we got 
 the route from Andover to this 
 place ; and notwithstanding 
 peace being signed, we have 
 received fresh orders for em- 
 barkation to-morrow morning at 
 ten o'clock. 
 
 " ' We beg leave to assure 
 your lordship, that we entirely 
 depend upon your interposition 
 and support at this time. 
 
 "' And we remain, etc.' 
 
 " Now, my Lord Shelburne, I 
 have nothing to add upon this 
 subject at present, except that, 
 if your lordship, or the King's 
 Cabinet, think, from the good 
 opinion the Athole Highlanders 
 are pleased to express of me, 
 that I can be of any service in 
 the affair, I will either go down 
 myself directly this night to 
 Portsmouth, or write them a 
 letter, or send my man express
 
 148 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 with a verbal message, or do 
 anything that is just, and fair, 
 and honourable. I am, etc. 
 " G. GORDON. 
 
 " Eleven o'clock, Tuesday Night. 
 " Welbeck Street, January a&tA." 
 
 Lord Shelburne's answer was 
 short and curt. He wrote : 
 
 " Shelburne House, 
 
 January 2gth. 
 
 " Lord Shelburne presents his 
 compliments to Lord George 
 Gordon, and thanks his lord- 
 ship for his letter and offers of 
 service, which he did not re- 
 ceive till this morning. Every 
 necessary measure was taken by 
 his Majesty's servants yesterday 
 upon the subject of it, imme- 
 diately after the account was 
 received." 
 
 The mutiny of the Athole 
 Highlanders is to be added as 
 one more to the list of success- 
 ful risings against an overreach- 
 ing Government. Notice was 
 taken of it in Parliament, as 
 was referred to in one of the 
 Tetters quoted. In the course 
 of the Parliamentary debates on 
 the subject, Mr Eden, afterwards 
 Lord Auckland, who was then 
 Secretary of State for Ireland, 
 said : " He had happened to 
 have the yyth Regiment imme- 
 diately under his observation 
 during sixteen months of their 
 garrison duty in Dublin, and 
 though it was not the most 
 agreeable duty in the service, 
 he must say that their conduct 
 was most exemplary. Their 
 
 officers were not only men of 
 gentlemanly character, but pecu- 
 liarly attentive to regimental 
 discipline. He, having once, 
 upon the sudden alarm of in- 
 vasion, sent an order for the 
 immediate march of this regi- 
 ment to Cork, they showed 
 their alacrity by marching at an 
 hour's notice, and completed 
 their march with a despatch 
 beyond any instance in modern 
 times; and this, too, without 
 leaving a single soldier behind." 
 A result of the discussion of 
 the question, during which these 
 complimentary remarks were 
 made, was the following declara- 
 tion which appeared in the 
 London Gazette: 
 
 " War Office, February tfh. 
 " Whereas doubts have arisen 
 with respect to the extent and 
 meaning of his Majesty's orders, 
 dated, War Office, December 
 1 6, 1775, relative to the terms 
 of enlistment of soldiers since 
 that time in the marching regi- 
 ments of infantry; his Majesty 
 doth hereby declare, that all 
 men now serving in any march- 
 ing regiment, or corps of in- 
 fantry, who have been enlisted 
 since the date of the said order, 
 shall, on the ratification of the 
 definitive treaty of peace, be 
 discharged, provided they shall 
 have served three years from 
 the dates of their attestations. 
 And all men enlisted and 
 serving as above, who have not 
 so completed their full time of 
 service, shall be discharged at 
 the expiration of three years
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. UO 
 
 from the dates of their re- 
 spective attestations; and that, 
 in the meantime, no person 
 enlisted under the conditions 
 above mentioned, shall be sent 
 on any foreign service, unless 
 he shall have been ro-enlisted 
 into his Majesty's service. 
 "(By his Majesty's command.) 
 
 "GEO. YONGE." 
 
 The result of this mutiny was 
 that the regiment was marched 
 to Berwick, and disbanded 
 there, according to the original 
 agreement. No man was tried 
 or punished a very safe infer- 
 ence from which fact being, 
 that however much to be re- 
 gretted was the conduct of a 
 few individuals, the Athole 
 Highlanders had just cause of 
 complaint. 
 
 Colonel Stewart's concluding 
 remarks on this mutiny are 
 interesting. He says : " It is 
 
 difficult for those who are not 
 in the habit of mixing with the 
 Highlanders, to believe the 
 extent of mischief which this 
 unhappy misunderstanding oc- 
 casioned, and the deep and 
 lasting impression it left behind 
 it. In the course of my re- 
 cruiting, many years afterwards, 
 I was often reminded of this 
 attempt on the Athole High- 
 landers, which was always 
 alleged as a confirmation of 
 what had happened at an earlier 
 period, to the Black Watch. 
 This transaction, and others of 
 a similar description, created 
 distrust in Government, and in 
 the integrity of its agents. If 
 Government had offered a small 
 bounty, when the Athole High- 
 landers required to embark, 
 there can be little doubt they 
 would have obeyed their orders, 
 and embarked as cheerfully as 
 they marched into Portsmouth." 
 
 MUTINY OF BREADALBANE FENCIBLES. 
 
 ' 
 
 December 1794. 
 
 THE system of Fencible Regi- 
 ments was had recourse to in 
 Scotland as a mode of embody- 
 ing troops somewhat different 
 from the county militia of Eng- 
 land. When the militia regi- 
 ments were first established in 
 England, the measure was not 
 extended to Scotland, on ac- 
 count of that national jealousy 
 
 which had to await the advent 
 of railways for its mollification. 
 The people of Scotland were 
 thought at the time not fit to 
 be entrusted with arms, just as 
 the people of Ireland are looked 
 upon at present. Let us hope 
 that in another hundred years 
 the Irish will be thought as 
 trustworthy in this matter as the
 
 150 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 Scotch are now. Perhaps an- 
 other question will be settled 
 then too Who was to blame ? 
 It is to be feared that when 
 this and many kindred ques- 
 tions of international import- 
 ance within the three kingdoms 
 are fairly settled, England will 
 feel she has little occasion to 
 bear herself so proudly against 
 ner two sisters as has for cen- 
 turies been her wont. This by 
 the way. 
 
 The peculiarity of the fencible 
 system, at the time it was started, 
 was that while the officers were 
 appointed and their commissions 
 signed by the king, the men 
 were to be raised by recruiting 
 in the common manner, and 
 not by ballot in the particular 
 counties, as was the case in the 
 militia. The social state of 
 Scotland offered peculiar facili- 
 ties for this system. There the 
 influence of individuals could 
 outbid social compulsion. Pro- 
 perty, rank, and character, re- 
 commended leaders to willing 
 and obedient followers, as by a 
 sort of pre-established harmony. 
 
 In such a relation to the 
 people stood several Highland 
 noblemen and gentlemen whose 
 moderate revenues were derived 
 from wide acres of barren land ; 
 but whose personal and family 
 influence was of such a kind, 
 that they could, at will, when 
 the occasion required it, step for- 
 ward at the head of a body of 
 brave and hardy men to defend 
 their country, or defy its enemies. 
 
 Among these Highland pro- 
 prietors the Earl of Breadalbane 
 
 held a pre-eminent rank at the 
 time referred to in the story of 
 this mutiny. He made an offer 
 to raise two fencible regiments ; 
 the offer was accepted, and the 
 corps were rapidly embodied in 
 the summer of 1793. A third 
 battalion was embodied in 
 1794 the whole force amount- 
 ing to 2300 men, of whom 
 1600, or about two-thirds, were 
 raised on the Breadalbane 
 estate, which at the time sup- 
 ported a population of not quite 
 14,000. It is said that in a few 
 days, indeed as quickly as the 
 oaths could be administered by 
 several neighbouring gentlemen 
 who attended as justices of the 
 peace, 500 men were attested 
 at Taymouth Castle, the seat of 
 Lord Breadalbane. The rest 
 followed quickly. They were 
 then removed to Perth, where 
 they were joined by those raised 
 in other parts of the country; 
 and the whole were embodied, 
 and formed into two battalions, 
 named the ist and 2d Breadal- 
 bane Fencible Highlanders. 
 
 The mutiny of Breadalbane 
 Fencibles, a rather serious dis- 
 turbance, broke out in Glasgow 
 in December 1794. The best 
 thing to be done, if these re- 
 hearsals of the instructive past 
 are to be taken at their worth, 
 is simply to record the accounts 
 given at the time. The following 
 is from the Scots Magazine, a 
 journal which has already been 
 frequently quoted in the furbish- 
 ing up again of the story of Mu- 
 tinies in Highland Regiments : 
 
 " For some time past, a con-
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 151 
 
 siderable alarm has been excited, 
 by the improper conduct of some 
 privates belonging to the Bread- 
 albane Fencibles, lying at Glas- 
 gow. 
 
 " On Monday the ist Decem- 
 ber, a soldier of the ist battalion 
 of the Breadalbane Fencible 
 Regiment, now quartered in 
 Glasgow, having been confined 
 in the guard-house upon an 
 accusation of having been guilty 
 of a military offence, a party of 
 the regiment assembled round 
 the guard-house, and obliged 
 their olncers to set him at 
 liberty. After committing this 
 outrage, they behaved quietly 
 and peaceably, and did regi- 
 mental duty in the usual man- 
 ner, though the spirit of mu- 
 tiny still subsisted to such a 
 degree, that the private soldiers 
 of the regiment would neither 
 agree to give up the soldier who 
 had been released, nor the ring- 
 leaders of the mutiny, to be 
 tried for their crimes. Lord 
 Adam Gordon, Commander-in- 
 Chief for Scotland, immediately 
 adopted the most vigorous 
 measures for apprehending the 
 mutineers, by collecting round 
 Glasgow all the troops which 
 could be spared for that service ; 
 and General Leslie, Sir James 
 Stewart, and Colonel Mont- 
 gomery, went thither to take the 
 command of them, with a deter- 
 mined resolution forcibly to lay 
 hold of the aggressors, in case 
 they were not delivered up by 
 the regiment. But before pro- 
 ceeding to coercion, it was 
 thought proper by Lord Adam 
 
 Gordon, and the officers of his 
 staff, with whom he consulted, 
 to give the regiment a short 
 time to reflect on their conduct, 
 and the danger in which they 
 stood, if they did not, of their 
 own accord, do what was deter- 
 mined should otherwise be done 
 by force of arms ; a voluntary 
 surrender of the offenders being 
 deemed a better example of 
 military discipline, than forcibly 
 seizing them by other troops. 
 This prudent experiment hap- 
 pily succeeded : four of the 
 ringleaders having surrendered 
 themselves voluntarily and un- 
 conditionally to Lord Breadal- 
 bane, on Tuesday morning the 
 1 6th instant, who were imme- 
 diately marched prisoners to 
 Edinburgh, under a strong guard 
 of their own regiment, com- 
 manded by Captain Campbell 
 of the grenadier company. 
 The Hon. Major Leslie, and 
 Mr Maclean, adjutant of the 
 regiment, having accompanied 
 the party a short way on their 
 march, were, upon their return 
 to town, grossly insulted by a 
 number of riotous and disorderly 
 inhabitants of the town, who, 
 after having upbraided them for 
 being active in sending off 
 the mutineers to be punished, 
 assaulted them with stones and 
 other missile weapons, by one 
 of which Major Leslie was 
 knocked down ; and he and Mr 
 Maclean were forced to take 
 shelter in a house, where they 
 secured themselves from the 
 mob (who attempted to break 
 open the doors and windows to
 
 152 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 get at them), till the Lord 
 Provost, magistrates, and peace- 
 officers, and the company of 
 Breadalbane Regiment who 
 were on duty at the guard- 
 house, arrived and relieved them 
 from their disagreeable and 
 dangerous situation." 
 
 In addition to the above, the 
 following account (which had 
 been shown to, and approved by 
 the Lord Provost of Glasgow) 
 was published by the desire of 
 the Right Hon. the Earl of 
 Breadalbane, and the officers of 
 the corps : 
 
 " A great variety of ground- 
 less rumours and exaggerated 
 reports having gone abroad re- 
 garding the conduct of the first 
 battalion of the Breadalbane 
 Fencible Regiment at Glasgow, 
 on Monday the ist of Decem- 
 ber, and since, by which the 
 public mind has been consider- 
 ably agitated, and greatly pre- 
 judiced, it appears that, in 
 justice to all concerned, a 
 correct state of facts should be 
 laid before the public. 
 
 " During the affair of Monday, 
 when a private of the light 
 company, who had been con- 
 fined for a military offence, was 
 released by that company, and 
 some individuals from other 
 companies, who had assembled 
 in a tumultuous manner before 
 the guard -house, no person 
 whatever was hurt, nor any 
 violence offered; and, however 
 unjustifiable the proceeding, it 
 originated, not from any dis- 
 respect or ill-will to the officers, 
 but from a mistaken point of 
 
 honour in a particular set of 
 men in the battalion, who 
 thought themselves disgraced 
 by the impending punishment 
 of one of their number. 
 
 "The men of the battalion 
 have, in every respect, since 
 that period, conducted them- 
 selves with the greatest regular- 
 ity, and strictest subordination ; 
 and on Tuesday and Wednesday 
 they voluntarily delivered up to 
 their colonel, the Earl of Bread- 
 albane, such men as were de- 
 manded on account of having 
 been most forward in the affair 
 of Monday. Of these one only 
 made the least hesitation ; but 
 he also, after some consideration, 
 voluntarily surrendered himself, 
 and the whole were sent off to 
 Edinburgh, under the escort of 
 a detachment of the regiment. 
 The whole battalion seemed 
 extremely sensible of the im- 
 proper conduct of such as were 
 concerned, whatever regret they 
 might feel for the fate of the 
 few individuals who had so 
 readily given themselves up as 
 prisoners to be tried for their 
 own and others' misconduct 
 
 "An account of this matter 
 having appeared in the Glasgow 
 Courier of Thursday, it is proper 
 to observe, that a mistake has, 
 through inadvertency or mis- 
 information, got into that ac- 
 count ; for there is no reason 
 to believe that the mutineers 
 were possessed of any ammuni- 
 tion, though they did say it 
 was offered to be procured for 
 them by some of the inhabitants 
 in their rear.
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 153 
 
 "It is also to be remarked, 
 that all of them offered to 
 deliver themselves up on Mon- 
 day the 8th, previous to any 
 general officer, or troops, com- 
 ing to Glasgow. 
 
 "It may be observed further, 
 that in the account published 
 in the Edinburgh papers, it is 
 said, that the volunteers quelled 
 the riot raised by the towns- 
 people, on the return of Major 
 Leslie, and Mr M'Lean ; where- 
 as it was a detachment of the 
 Breadalbane Fencible Regiment 
 who marched up to the relief of 
 those gentlemen, with the great- 
 est alacrity and expedition ; for 
 which they received the thanks 
 of the Lord Provost and general 
 officers, besides a handsome 
 acknowledgment from Major 
 Corbet and the Glasgow Volun- 
 teers. 
 
 " Notwithstanding this unfor- 
 tunate affair, it is but justice to 
 observe, that in every other 
 view, the soldiers of this regi- 
 ment have, upon all occasions, 
 behaved themselves with the 
 greatest sobriety, and that they 
 have been, and still are, upon 
 the best of terms with their 
 officers." 
 
 Our authority further says : 
 
 " Letters received from Glas- 
 gow mention, that the utmost 
 tranquillity prevails there. The 
 magistrates have offered a re- 
 ward of 50 for discovering 
 any of the persons who in- 
 sulted the officers on Tuesday, 
 but no discovery has yet been 
 made. Several have been taken 
 up, but dismissed for want of 
 
 sufficient evidence. The three 
 troops of the Queen's Own 
 Regiment of Dragoons, which 
 arrived in Glasgow from Paisley 
 on Tuesday night, returned. 
 The dragoons from Kilmarnock 
 still remain at Glasgow. The 
 Argyleshire Regiment of Fenci- 
 bles arrived at Rutherglen, on 
 Thursday, from Edinburgh ; 
 and on Friday marched for 
 Paisley. On Thursday night 
 three more prisoners were 
 brought to town from Glasgow, 
 by a party of the 3d Regiment 
 of Dragoons, and lodged in the 
 castle." 
 
 The Magazine for January 
 1795, says : "The court-martial 
 which has sat in the castle upon 
 the mutineers of the Breadalbane 
 Fencibles is now over. There 
 have been eight prisoners tried 
 upon three separate charges; 
 but the sentences are not known 
 till reported either to his Ma- 
 jesty, or the commander-in-chief, 
 who in this country is invested 
 with the same powers as his 
 Majesty, with regard to the 
 sentences of courts - martial. 
 The event has shown that four 
 were found guilty. On the 27 th 
 at ten o'clock, the four prisoners 
 who had been adjudged to 
 suffer death for the crimes of 
 mutiny and disobedience, were 
 taken from the castle in two 
 mourning coaches, attended by 
 the Rev. Mr Robertson M'Gre- 
 gor, and under an escort of the 
 3d Regiment of Dragoons, and 
 a detachment of the 3d battalion 
 of the Scotch Brigade. They 
 marched to the sands near
 
 154 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 Musselburgh, where the escort 
 was joined by several corps, 
 and detachments of cavalry and 
 infantry, all under the command 
 of Major-General Sir James 
 Stewart. The sentence of the 
 court-martial was then read to 
 the prisoners, with the general 
 orders given out by Lord Adam 
 Gordon, approving of the pro- 
 ceedings of the said court-martial, 
 and directing the sentence to 
 be carried into execution against 
 Alexander Sutherland or Sandi- 
 son, the most guilty of the 
 offenders, but suspending the 
 sentence of the other prisoners 
 until his Majesty's pleasure 
 should be known. The prison- 
 er Sutherland was then shot to 
 death by a party of the regiment 
 to which he belonged, and the 
 other prisoners were remanded 
 to Edinburgh Castle, escorted 
 as in the morning. It is but 
 doing justice to the corps and 
 detachment, assembled on this 
 solemn occasion, to say that 
 they behaved with the greatest 
 propriety. Sutherland was a 
 native of Caithness. He met 
 his fate with becoming penitence 
 and fortitude." 
 
 Such is the account given of 
 this sad affair at the time, in a 
 journal which had to keep a 
 look out against the penal con- 
 sequence of writing or speaking 
 at the end of the enlightened 
 eighteenth century. 
 
 Another account, much truer 
 to Highland feelings, unstrained 
 by the necessities under which 
 a man labours who is writing a 
 semi-official record, is given by 
 
 Colonel Stewart, one of the 
 most honest of Highland his- 
 torians. He says : " Several 
 men having been confined and 
 threatened with corporal punish- 
 ment, considerable discontent 
 and irritation were excited 
 among their comrades, which 
 increased to such violence, that, 
 when some men were confined 
 in the guard-house, a great pro- 
 portion of the regiment rushed 
 out and forcibly relieved the 
 prisoners. This violation of 
 military discipline was not to 
 be passed over, and accordingly 
 measures were immediately 
 taken to secure the ringleaders. 
 But so many were equally con- 
 cerned, that it was difficult, if 
 not impossible, to fix the crime 
 on any, as being more promin- 
 ently guilty. And here was 
 shown a trait of character 
 worthy of a better cause, and 
 which originated from a feeling 
 alive to the disgrace of a de- 
 grading punishment. The 
 soldiers being made sensible of 
 the nature of their misconduct, 
 and the consequent necessity of 
 public example, several men 
 voluntarily offered themselves to 
 stand trial, and suffer the sen- 
 tence of the law, as an atone- 
 ment for the whole. These 
 men were accordingly marched 
 to Edinburgh Castle, tried, and 
 four condemned to be shot. 
 Three of them were afterwards 
 reprieved, and the fourth, Alex- 
 ander Sutherland, was shot on 
 Musselburgh Sands. 
 
 " On the march to Edinburgh, 
 a circumstance occurred, the
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 155 
 
 more worthy of notice, as it 
 shows a strong principle of 
 honour and fidelity to his word 
 and to his officer, in a common 
 Highland soldier. One of the 
 men stated to the officer com- 
 manding the party, that he knew 
 what his fate would be, but that 
 he had left business of the 
 utmost importance to a friend 
 in Glasgow, which he wished to 
 transact before his death ; that, 
 as to himself, he was fully pre- 
 pared to meet his fate ; but with 
 regard to his friend, he could 
 not die in peace unless the 
 business was settled, and that, 
 if the officer would suffer him 
 to return to Glasgow, a few 
 hours there would be sufficient, 
 and he would join him before 
 he reached Edinburgh, and 
 march as a prisoner with the 
 party. The soldier added, 
 'You have known me since I 
 was a child; you know my 
 country and kindred, and you 
 may believe I shall never bring 
 you to any blame by a breach 
 of the promise I now make, to 
 be with you in full time to be 
 delivered up in the Castle.' 
 This was a startling proposal to 
 the officer, who was a judicious 
 humane man, and knew per- 
 fectly his risk and responsibility 
 in yielding to such an extra- 
 ordinary application. However, 
 his confidence was such, that he 
 complied with the request of 
 the prisoner, who returned to 
 Glasgow at night, settled his 
 business, and left the town 
 before daylight to redeem his 
 pledge. He took a long circuit 
 
 to avoid being seen, appre- 
 hended as a deserter, and sent 
 back to Glasgow, as probably 
 his account of his officer's in- 
 dulgence would not have been 
 credited. In consequence of 
 this caution, and the lengthened 
 march through woods and over 
 hills by an unfrequented route, 
 there was no appearance of him 
 at the hour appointed. The 
 perplexity of the officer when 
 he reached the neighbourhood 
 of Edinburgh may be easily 
 imagined. He moved forward 
 slowly indeed, but no one ap- 
 peared; and unable to delay 
 any longer, he marched up to 
 the castle, and as he was deliv- 
 ering over the prisoners, but 
 before any report was given in, 
 Macmartin, the absent soldier, 
 rushed in among his fellow- 
 prisoners, all pale with anxiety 
 and fatigue, and breathless with 
 apprehension of the conse- 
 quences in which his delay 
 might have involved his bene- 
 factor. 
 
 " In whatever light the conduct 
 of the officer may be considered, 
 either by military men or others, in 
 this memorable exemplification < 
 of the characteristic principle of 
 his countrymen fidelity to their 
 word it cannot but be wished 
 that the soldier's magnanimous 
 self-devotion had been taken as 
 an atonement for his own mis- 
 conduct and that of the whole, 
 who also had made a high sacri- 
 fice, in the voluntary offer of 
 their lives for the conduct of 
 their brother soldiers. Are 
 these a people to be treated as
 
 156 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 malefactors, without regard to 
 their feelings and principles; 
 and might not a discipline, 
 
 somewhat different from the 
 usual mode, be, with advantage, 
 applied to them ? " 
 
 MUTINY OF THE GRANT FENCIBLES. 
 Tune 1795. 
 
 THIS mutiny, which broke out 
 in June 1795, exhibits another 
 instance of insubordination, 
 originating in horror of the dis- 
 grace, which, according to the 
 views of the Highlanders, could 
 not fail to attach to themselves 
 and their country for a punish- 
 ment which they regarded as 
 infamous, while the so-called 
 crime for which the punishment 
 was inflicted, did not seem to 
 them at all infamous in any 
 moral sense. But a word or 
 two about the embodiment of 
 the Grant Fencibles. 
 
 Sir James Grant, of Castle 
 Grant, was a good man, and a 
 beloved patriarchal chief. He 
 offered to raise a regiment of 
 loyal men at the outbreak of the 
 war. The offer was gladly ac- 
 cepted, and two months after 
 the declaration of war, the regi- 
 ment assembled at Forres. 
 This was at the close of April 
 1793. Too many loyal men 
 came forward ; and in May, 
 seventy of them were discharged 
 as supernumeraries. It was on 
 the 5th of June that the corps 
 was finally inspected and em- 
 
 bodied by Lieutenant -General 
 Leslie. In August the regiment 
 was marched to Aberdeen ; and 
 after being stationed at that city 
 for a time, was sent to Linlith- 
 gow, Glasgow, Dumfries, Mussel- 
 burgh, and many other towns 
 south of the Forth. 
 
 When stationed at Linlithgow 
 in 1794, they were unfortunately 
 selected for being sounded on a 
 question, great in the apprehen- 
 sion of a Highlander of the 
 time. The service of Scotch 
 Fencible Regiments was under- 
 stood to be confined to Scotland, 
 and at that time a desire was 
 felt to extend their service. 
 Measures were accordingly taken 
 to sound the Grant men on this 
 subject, but it would seem the 
 process was not very prudently 
 conducted. It was a case in 
 which their feelings and preju- 
 dices should have been carefully 
 taken into account, especially 
 when an agreement already 
 come to was to be altered. 
 Some of the officers, however, 
 did not seem to think any ex- 
 planation necessary ; others of 
 them, it seems, entirely mistook
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 157 
 
 the meaning and import of the 
 commanding officer's orders. 
 Be it as it may, jealousy and 
 distrust were engendered, the 
 soldiers took alarm some were 
 for agreeing with the proposals, 
 others opposed them to the last 
 degree and the result was, that 
 no volunteering took place. 
 
 This misunderstanding was 
 not easily cleared away ; but it 
 seemed to become allayed, after 
 Sir James Grant, hearing of it, 
 hurried to join his men. 
 
 But when they were quartered 
 in Dumfries in 1795, it unfor- 
 tunately came to the surface 
 again, as the story of this mutiny 
 will illustrate. 
 
 The following account of it 
 appeared in the Scots Magazine 
 of June in that year : " A dis- 
 agreeable circumstance hap- 
 pened in the ist Regiment of 
 Fencibles, quartered at Dum- 
 fries. One of the men being 
 confined for impropriety in the 
 field when under arms, several 
 of his comrades resolved to 
 release him ; but they were 
 repelled by the adjutant and 
 officer on guard, who made the 
 ringleader a prisoner. The 
 commanding-officer of the regi- 
 ment immediately ordered a 
 garrison court-martial, consisting 
 of his own corps and the Ulster 
 Light Dragoons. When the 
 prisoners were remanded back 
 from the court to the guard- 
 room, their escort was attacked 
 by fifty or sixty of the soldiers 
 with fixed bayonets, part of 
 whom ran away with the pri- 
 soners. By the intrepidity and 
 
 good conduct of the lieutenant- 
 colonel and officers, they were 
 secured. They afterwards ex- 
 pressed a proper sense of their 
 irregular conduct, and have 
 peaceably submitted themselves 
 to their fate." 
 
 The July number of the same 
 magazine a storehouse of his- 
 torical information of incom- 
 parable interest carries on the 
 story thus : 
 
 " On the 1 7th inst., the five 
 prisoners belonging to the ist 
 Fencible Regiment, who were 
 tried for the crime of mutiny by 
 the late general court-martial, 
 held at Musselburgh four of 
 whom had been adjudged to 
 suffer death, and the fifth to 
 receive corporal punishment 
 were carried from Musselburgh 
 to the links of Gullen, escorted 
 by the ist, 2d, first battalion of 
 the 4th, and a detachment of 
 the 7th Fencible Regiments, 
 three troops of the 4th Regiment 
 of Dragoons, with two field- 
 pieces, and a detachment of the 
 Royal Artillery. They were 
 there joined by the two bat- 
 talions of the 6th Brigade, troops 
 of the 4th Dragoons, and several 
 troops of Fencible Cavalry, the 
 whole under the command of 
 Major-General James Hamilton. 
 The troops were drawn up in 
 the following order, composing 
 three faces of a square : The 
 centre consisting of the first 
 battalion of the 4th, and a de- 
 tachment of the 7th Fencible 
 Regiments; the right face ot 
 the Scotch Brigade, and the left 
 of the 2d Fencible Regiment
 
 158 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 The second line was composed 
 of cavalry, twenty paces in the 
 rear of the infantry. The divi- 
 sion of the 4th Regiment of 
 Dragoons, from Dunbar camp, 
 formed in the rear of the centre 
 face ; the Fencible Cavalry, 
 from Haddington and Dunbar, 
 in the rear of the right face ; and 
 the division of the 4th Regi- 
 ment of Dragoons, from Mus- 
 selburgh camp, in the rear of 
 the left face of the square 
 A space was left in the line of 
 the cavalry of the centre face, 
 where the artillery were posted 
 with two light six-pounders. 
 
 " The sentence of the court- 
 martial was then read to the 
 prisoners, with the general 
 orders given out by Lord Adam 
 Gordon, approving of the pro- 
 ceedings of the said court-mar- 
 tial, and directing the sentence 
 to be carried into execution 
 against Alexander Eraser; and 
 that the other three prisoners 
 adjudged to suffer death should 
 draw lots, and the person on 
 whom the lot to suffer should 
 fall, to be shot to death at the 
 same time with the said Alex- 
 ander Fraser; suspending the 
 sentence of the three remaining 
 prisoners until His Majesty's 
 pleasure concerning them should 
 be known. 
 
 " The prisoner, Alexander 
 Fraser, and also the prisoner 
 Charles M'Intosh, upon whom 
 the lot to suffer had fallen, were 
 then shot to death by a party of 
 the regiment to which they be- 
 longed; and the other three 
 prisoners were remanded to 
 
 Musselburgh jail. After the 
 execution, the whole marched 
 round the dead bodies in slow 
 time, and afterwards filed off to 
 their respective quarters and 
 cantonments. All the different 
 corps and detachments as- 
 sembled on this occasion be- 
 haved with the greatest propriety 
 during the whole of the very 
 awful and affecting scene." 
 
 The scene was truly " awful 
 and affecting." The very ful- 
 ness of detail with which it is 
 described shows the importance 
 attached to it at the time as a 
 piece of show punishment. 
 These mutinies were becoming, 
 indeed, a question of very seri- 
 ous national importance. This 
 one originated primarily in the 
 proposal to send the Scotch 
 Fencibles out of Scotland. Such 
 a measure would not have re- 
 ceived much attention at the 
 headquarters in previous years. 
 But since the time of the Black 
 Watch's forlorn march half a cen- 
 tury ago, the ruling powers had 
 been rendered cautious by suc- 
 cessful mutineers, who made it 
 both known and felt that they 
 understood the terms on which 
 they had engaged to serve their 
 country. Although the same 
 question lay at the bottom of 
 this manifestation of insubor- 
 dination as of similar earlier 
 outbreaks in Highland regi- 
 ments, yet the immediate occa- 
 sion of the rising is not to be 
 apologised for. 
 
 The names of the three pri- 
 soners who were not shot were 
 Corporal M'Donald, Alex-
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 159 
 
 ander M'Intosh, and Duncan 
 M'Dougall. 
 
 It is touching to reflect on 
 Sir James Grant, the colonel 
 and patron of his beloved regi- 
 ment, hurrying again to Dum- 
 fries as he had formerly done to 
 Linlithgow to try and save the 
 erring men; but this time he 
 was too late. 
 
 Another mutinous incident in 
 a regiment of Highlanders may 
 be mentioned before a close is 
 put to this painful series of nar- 
 rations. It occurred at Glasgow 
 in 1804. In that year orders 
 were issued by the war authori- 
 ties to raise in the Highlands 
 a regiment to be called the 
 Canadian Fencibles, because, 
 as was averred, they were to 
 serve in Canada only. There 
 were circumstances in the High- 
 lands at the time which induced 
 the sorrowing people of that 
 country to regard this as a very 
 fortunate event. Men were 
 being removed from the hills 
 and dales they loved, to make 
 room for sheep and cattle. One 
 extensive glen in Inverness- 
 shire was, for this end, merci- 
 lessly depopulated; and that 
 was only one instance of the 
 method of improving the coun- 
 try, which was regarded as 
 so certain to secure for it ma- 
 terial wealth. 
 
 Accordingly, the Canadian 
 corps was speedily filled up. 
 Young active men who had lost 
 their homes, and been turned 
 
 away from their usual mode of 
 providing for subsistence, eagerly 
 entered it. They saw thus pre- 
 sented to them a means of reach- 
 ing that country in which many 
 of their friends and neighbours 
 had found comfort and security, 
 and lived free from the fear of 
 summary ejectment, and the 
 mode in which it was effected, 
 namely, burning their houses 
 about their ears. 
 
 The men who enlisted for this 
 regiment were ordered to as- 
 semble in Glasgow. When they 
 met there, they found a griev- 
 ance of which loyal Highlanders 
 had on former occasions cause to 
 complain, and the consequences 
 of rising in wrath to rectify what 
 they had reason to lament The 
 most scandalous deceptions 
 had been practised on them. 
 Terms had "been offered by 
 recruiting agents, which Go- 
 vernment could not, and would 
 not, sanction. Besides, these 
 agents had made money by 
 their heartless lies. A great 
 number of the poor Highlanders, 
 in consequence of the favourable 
 terms held out to them in pros- 
 pect, had enlisted without any, 
 or for, at least, a very small 
 bounty. 
 
 When in Glasgow the real 
 situation of affairs was discovered 
 by the innocent and true- 
 hearted dupes, they were loud 
 in their remonstrances; they 
 became disobedient and disor- 
 derly, and a dangerous*outburst 
 of mutiny was apprehended. 
 
 General Wemyss, of Wemyss, 
 who commanded in Glasgow at
 
 160 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 the time, ordered an immediate 
 inquiry to be made into the 
 causes of this formidable dis- 
 content. Just as of old, the 
 foundation of the complaints 
 was found to be of such a 
 nature, that it was necessary to 
 justify the men and satisfy them. 
 
 In themeantime, theregiment, 
 which numbered 800 soldiers, 
 was marched to Ayr. This did 
 not look well in the eyes of 
 Highlanders who were suffering 
 from severe irritation. Why 
 send them so far south from 
 Greenock, the port of embarka- 
 tion for Canada? The report 
 had got into circulation, that 
 they were to be sent to the Isle 
 of Wight, and thence shipped 
 off to the East or West Indies. 
 The present move seemed to 
 confirm this rumour, and the 
 mutiny was once more on the 
 point of flaring out, and flaming 
 up. 
 
 It was again cooled down in 
 time. Full inquiry into all the 
 circumstances was made. It 
 was found that the men had 
 been deceived. Their conduct 
 was not to be blamed. None 
 
 of them were tried, no one 
 lashed or shot. They were 
 only all discharged; thrown out 
 and back upon a heartless 
 world, all their ardent hopes 
 extinguished, and most of their 
 little money spent. They were 
 far from home all the farther 
 by the ill-judged march to Ayr. 
 No doubt that was a ruse by 
 the authorities to try and gain 
 over the obstinate Highlanders. 
 Some of them intended still to 
 go to Canada, but it was a 
 serious thing in those days for a 
 poor mac to journey as far as 
 from Ayr to Greenock. 
 
 What were they to do? It 
 was not easy to see. But as 
 the second battalions of the 
 7 8th and 7pth Regiments were, 
 at the time, recruiting, numbers 
 of the men enlisted in them. 
 Others who had money to pay 
 for the passage, went to Amer- 
 ica ; and a great many were left 
 poor labouring men in various 
 parts of the lowlands, where, to 
 their latest hour, they believed 
 in, and spoke of, the perfidy of 
 the British Government, and its 
 enlisting agents.
 
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 5. Voyages Bound the World by Captain James Cook. Edited, 
 
 with Notes, etc., by D. LAING PURVKS. 
 
 6. The Story of the Good Ship ' Bounty ' and her Mutineers. 
 
 Mutinies in Highland Regiments. 
 
 7. The Story of the Indian Mutiny (1857-58). 
 
 8. Feats on the Fiord. A Tale of Norway. By Harriet 
 
 MARTIN ICAU. 
 
 NIMMO'S LIBRARY OF BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Uniform in size and price with above. Each Volume having a suitable 
 Portrait as Frontispiece. 
 
 1. Risen by Perseverance : Lives of Self- Made Men. 
 
 2. Heroes of Invention and Discovery. 
 
 3. Lives and Discoveries of Famous Travellers. 
 
 4. Great Achievements of Military Men, Statesmen, and others. 
 
 5. Eminent Philanthropists, Patriots, and Reformers. 
 
 6. Gallery of Notable Men and Women. 
 
 7. Earnest Lives : Biographies of Remarkable Men and Women. 
 
 8. Teachers and Preachers of Becent Times. 
 
 9. Great Orators, Statesmen, and Divines. 
 
 10. Kings without Crowns; or, Lives of American Presidents. 
 
 With a Sketch of the American Constitution. By CHARLES H. 
 EVANS. 
 
 11. Lessons from Women's Lives. By SARAH J. HALE. 
 
 The above Series of Books have been specially prepared in order to 
 meet the rapidly increasing demand for instructive and wholesome 
 literature of permanent value. They are admirably adapted for 
 School Prizes, Gift Books, etc. etc.
 
 Selections from 
 
 NIMMO'S 
 
 'BLADE AND THE EAR' SERIES. 
 
 ENLARGED. 
 
 Crown 8vo, Illustrated, elegantly bound in cloth extra, bevelled boards, 
 price 2*. each. 
 
 1. The Blade and the Ear. A Book for Young- Men. 
 
 2. The Young Men of the Bible. A Series of Papers, 
 
 Biographical and Suggestive. By Eev. JOSEPH A. COLLIER. 
 
 3. The King's Highway; or, Illustrations of the 
 
 Commandments. By the Eev. EICHABD NEWTON, D.D., Author 
 of ' The Best Things,' etc. 
 
 4. Nature's Wonders. By the Rev. Richard Newton, 
 
 D.D., Author of ' The King's Highway, etc. 
 
 5. Guiding Lights : Lives of the Great and Good. 
 
 By F. E. Cooke, Author of ' Footprints.' 
 
 6. Heroes of Charity: Records from the Lives of 
 
 Merciful Men whose Righteousness has not been Forgotten. By 
 JAMES F. COBB, F.E.G.S., Author of 'Stories of Success,' etc. 
 
 7. Mountain Patriots. A Tale of the Reformation 
 
 in Savoy. By Mrs. A. S. ORR. 
 
 8. Village Tales and Sketches. By Mary Russell 
 
 MITFORD, Author of ' Our Village,' etc. etc. 
 
 9. The Standard-Bearer. A Tale of the Times of 
 
 Constantino the Great. By ELLEN PALMER. 
 
 10. Stories told in a Fisherman's Cottage. By Ellen 
 
 PALMER, Author of ' The Standard-Bearer,' etc. etc. 
 
 11. Diversions of Hollycot; or, The Mother's Art of 
 
 Thinking. By Mrs. JOHNSTONE, Author of 'Nights of the 
 Bound Table,' ' Clan Albin,' etc. 
 
 12. Philip Walton ; or, Light at Last. By the 
 
 Author of ' Meta Franz,' etc. 
 
 13. Picture Lessons by the Divine Teacher; or, Illus- 
 
 trations of the Parables of our Lord. By PETER GRANT, D.D. 
 
 14. Taken Up. A Tale for Boys and Girls. By Alfred 
 
 WHYMPER. 
 
 15. Champions of the Reformation. Stories of their 
 
 Lives. By JANET GORDON.
 
 W, P, Nimmo, Hay, & Mitchell's Catalogue, 7 
 
 NIMMO'S BOYS' OWN LIBRARY. 
 
 ENLARGED SERIES. 
 
 Crown 8vo, Illustrated, elegantly bound in cloth extra, gold and colours, 
 bevelled boards, price 2i. each. 
 
 1. The Hermit's Apprentice. By Ascott R. Hope. 
 
 2. The Far North : Explorations in the Arctic 
 
 Regions. By ELISHA KENT KANE, M.D. 
 
 3. Monarchs of Ocean : Columbus and Cook. 
 
 4. Noble Mottoes of Great Families. By Charles 
 
 BRUCE, Author of 'Lame Felix,' etc. 
 
 5. The Castaway's Home ; or, The Story of the Sail- 
 
 ing and Sinking of the Good Ship ' Rose.' By Mrs. HARDY. 
 
 6. Great Men of European History, from the Chris- 
 
 tian Era till the Present Time. By DAVID PRYDE, LL.D. 
 
 7. Afloat and Ashore with Sir Walter Raleigh. By 
 
 Mrs. HARDY, Author of ' Champions of the Reformation,' etc. 
 
 8. Lame Felix. A Book for Boys. By Charles Bruce. 
 
 9. Life at Hartwell ; or, Frank and his Friends. By 
 
 KATHARINE E. MAY, Author of ' Alfred and his Mother,' etc. etc. 
 
 10. Max Wild, the Merchant's Son ; and other Stories 
 
 for the Young. 
 
 11. Up North ; or, Lost and Found in Russia and the 
 
 Arctic Wastes. By Mrs. HARDY. 
 
 12. Angelo and Stella. A Story of Italian Fisher 
 
 Life. By the Rev. GERALD S. DAVIES. 
 
 13. Seeing the World. A Young Sailor's own Story. 
 
 By CHARLES NORDHOFF. 
 
 14. The Miner's Son and Margaret Vernon. By M. 
 
 M. POLLARD, Author of 'The Minister's Daughter.' 
 
 15. How Frank began to Climb the Ladder. By 
 
 CHARLES BRUCK, Author of 'Lame Felix,' etc. 
 
 16. The History of Two Wanderers ; or, Cast Adrift. 
 
 17. Memorable Wars of Scotland. By Patrick Fraser 
 
 TYTLER, F.R.S.E.
 
 Selections from 
 
 N I M M O' S 
 
 Two Shilling Library for Girls. 
 
 Small croton 8vo, Illustrated, elegantly bound in new style, 
 cloth extra, price 2s. each. 
 
 1. Life's Crosses, and How to Meet Them. Tales for Girls. By T. 
 
 S. ARTHUR. 
 
 2. A Father's Legacy to his Daughters, etc. A Book for Young 
 
 Women. By Dr. GREGORY. 
 
 3. Labours of Love : A Tale for the Young. By Winifred Taylor. 
 
 4. Mossdale : A Tale for the Young. By Anna M. De longh. 
 
 5. Jacqueline. A Story of the Reformation in Holland. By Mrs. 
 
 HARDY (JANET GORDON). 
 
 6. The Minister's Daughter, and Old Anthony's Will Tales for 
 
 the Young. By M. M. POLLARD. 
 
 7. The Two Sisters. By M. M. Pollard. 
 
 8. A Needle and Thread : A Tale for Girls. By Emma J. Barnes, 
 
 Author of ' Faithful and True ; or, The Mother's Legacy.' 
 
 9. Nonna : A Story of the Days of Julian the Apostate. By Ellen 
 
 PALMER. 
 
 10. An Earl's Daughter. A Story for the Young. By M. M. Pollard, 
 
 Author of ' The Two Sisters,' etc. etc. 
 
 11. Doing and Dreaming. A Tale for the Young. By Edward 
 
 GAHRETT. 
 
 12. Vain Ambition ; or, Only a Girl. By Emma Davenport, Author 
 
 of ' Our Birthdays,' etc. 
 
 13. The Cottagers of Glenburnie. A Scottish Tale. By Elizabeth 
 
 Hamilton. 
 
 14. My New Home: A Woman's Diary. 
 
 15. Home Heroines. Tales for Girls. By T. S. Arthur. 
 
 16. The Roseville Family. By Mrs. A. S. Orr. 
 
 17. Leah. A Tale of Ancient Palestine. By Mrs. A. S. Orr.
 
 W, P, Nimmo, Hay, & Mitchell's Catalogue, 9 
 N 1 M M O' S 
 
 Sunday -School Reward Books. 
 
 Small crown 8vo, cloth extra, in an entirely new and elegant binding, 
 price Is. &d. each volume, Illustrated. 
 
 1. One Hour a Week: Fifty-two 
 
 Bible Lessons for the 
 Young. 
 
 2. The Story of John Hey wood : 
 
 An Historical Tale of the 
 Time of Harry vin. By 
 CHARLES BRUCE, Author 
 of 'How Frank began to 
 Climb,' etc. 
 
 3. Lessons from Rose Hill ; and 
 
 LITTLE N ANNETTE. 
 
 4. Great and Good Women : 
 
 Biographies for Girls. By 
 LTDIA H. SIOOUKXKY. 
 6. At Home and Abroad; or, 
 Uncle William's Adven- 
 tures. 
 
 6. Alfred and his Mother; or, 
 
 Seeking the Kingdom. By 
 KATHARINE E. MAY. 
 
 7. Asriel; or, The Crystal Cup. 
 
 A Tale for the Young. By 
 Mrs. HENDERSON. 
 
 8. The Kind Governess ; or, 
 
 How to make Home Happy. 
 
 9. Percy and Ida. By KATHA- 
 HIXK !:. MAY. 
 
 10. Three Wet Sundays with the 
 
 BOOK OF JOSHUA. By 
 ELLKX PALMER, Author of 
 ' Christmas at the Beacon,' 
 etc. etc. 
 
 11. The Fishermen of Galilee ; 
 
 or, Sunday Talks with 
 Papa. By ELLKN PALMER. 
 
 12. From Cottage to Castle; 
 
 or, Faithful in Little. A 
 Tale founded on Fact By 
 M. H., Author of ' The Red 
 Velvet Bible,' etc. 
 
 13. The Story of a Moss Rose ; 
 
 or, Ituth and the Orphan 
 Family. By CHAS. BRUCE. 
 
 14. The Children's Hour : Talks 
 
 to Young People. By 
 CHARLES BRUCE, Author 
 of 'Noble Mottoes,' 'The 
 Book of Noble English- 
 women,' etc. With a Pre- 
 face by Rev. E. PAXTOH 
 HOOD. 
 
 WORKS OF THE 
 
 REV. RICHARD NEWTON, D.D. 
 
 In small crown Svo, cloth extra, in an entirely new and elegant 
 binding, price Is. 6d. each volume, Illustrated. 
 
 6. Leaves from the Tree of Life. 
 
 7. Pebbles from the Brook. 
 
 8. The Giants, and How to Fight 
 
 Them; and Wonderful Things. 
 
 9. The Safe Compass, and How 
 it Points. 
 
 1. Bible Blessings. 
 
 2. The Best Things. 
 
 3. Bible Wonders. 
 
 4. Bible Jewels. 
 
 6. Rills from the Fountain of 
 Life. 
 
 By the same Author. Price 2s. each. 
 
 The King's Highway ; or, Illustrations of the Commandments. 
 Nature's Wonders.
 
 10 
 
 Selections from 
 
 N I M MO'S 
 
 SUNDAY AND WEEK-DAY REWARD BOOKS, 
 
 Small crovm 800, cloth extra, new bindings, Illustrated, price Is. 6d. each. 
 
 1. The Sculptor of Bruges. By 
 
 Mrs. W. G. HALL. 
 
 2. Christmas at the Beacon : A 
 
 Tale for the Young. By 
 ELLEN PALMER. 
 
 3. The Sea and the Savages : 
 
 A Story of Adventure. 
 By HAROLD LINCOLN. 
 
 4. The Swedish Singer; or, 
 
 The Story of Vanda Rosen- 
 dahl. By Mrs. W. Q. 
 HALL. 
 
 5. My Beautiful Home ; or, 
 
 Lily's Search. By CHAS. 
 BRUCE. 
 
 6. Summer Holidays at Silver- 
 
 sea. By E. ROSALIE 
 SALMON. 
 
 7. Fred Graham's Resolve. By 
 
 the Author of 'Mat and 
 Sofie,' etc. etc. 
 
 8. Wilton School ; or, Harry 
 
 Campbell's Revenge. A 
 Tale. ByF.E.WEATHERLY. 
 
 9. Grace Harvey and her 
 
 Cousins. 
 
 10. Blind Mercy; and other 
 
 Tales for the Young. By 
 GERTRUDE CROCKFORD. 
 
 11. Evan Lindsay. By Margaret 
 
 FRASER TYTLER, Author 
 of 'Tales of Good and Great 
 Kings,' etc. 
 
 12. Harvey Sinclair; or, ALesson 
 
 for Life. By the Author of 
 'Fred Graham's Resolve,' 
 etc. 
 
 13. The Boys of Willoughby 
 
 School: A Tale. By 
 ROBERT RICHARDSON, B. A. 
 
 14. Ruth Seyton ; or, The Cross 
 
 and the Crown. By EDITH 
 AWSBY. 
 
 15. The Choristers of Ravens- 
 
 wood. By ALICE JACKSON, 
 Author of ' Mattie's Mis- 
 take.' 
 
 16. A Goat-boy Baronet; or, 
 
 Cyril the Landless Laird. 
 By JENNIE CHAPPELL, 
 Author of ' Crossed with 
 Silver,' etc. 
 
 NIMMO'S EIGHTEENPEMY BOYS' FAVOURITES. 
 
 New Editions, in small crown 8vo, cloth extra, elegant and 
 characteristic binding. 
 
 1. THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. 
 
 2. THE HISTORY OF SANDFORD AND MERTON. 
 
 3. THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD. Poems and Essays. By Oliver 
 
 GOLDSMITH. 
 
 4. THE FABLES OF .ESOP AND OTHERS. Translated into English; 
 
 with Instructive Applications, by SAMUEL CROXALL, D.D.
 
 W, P, Nimmo, Hay, & Mitchell's Catalogue, n 
 
 N I M M O'S 
 ONE SHILLING ILLUSTRATED JUVENILE BOOKS. 
 
 Small crown 8vo, Coloured Frontispieces, handsomely bound In cloth. 
 Illuminated, price Is. each. 
 
 1. Four Little People and their Friends 
 
 2. Elizabeth; or, The Exiles of Siberia. A Tale from the French of 
 
 Madame COTTIK. 
 
 3. Paul and Virginia. From the French of Bernardln Saint-Pierre 
 
 4. Little Threads : Tangle Thread, Golden Thread, and Silver Thread. 
 o. Benjamin Franklin, the Printer Boy. 
 
 6. Barton Todd, and the Young Lawyer. 
 
 7. The Perils of Greatness : The Story of Alexander Menzikoff. 
 
 8. Little Crowns, and How to Win Them. By Rev. Joseph A Collier 
 
 9. Great Riches : Nelly Rivers' Story. By Aunt Fanny. 
 
 10. The Right Way, and the Contrast. 
 
 11. The Daisy's First Winter. And other Stories. By H. Beecher Stowe. 
 
 12. The Old Farmhouse; or, Alice Morton's Home. And other Stories 
 
 By M. M. POLLARD. 
 
 13. Twyford Hall ; or, Rosa's Christmas Dinner, and what she did with It. 
 
 By CHARLES BKUCK. 
 
 14. The Discontented Weathercock. And other Stories for Children. By 
 
 M. JONES. 
 
 15. Out at Sea. And other Stories. By Two Authors. 
 
 16. The Story of Waterloo ; or, The Fall of Napoleon. 
 
 17. Sister Jane's Little Stories. Edited by Louisa Loughborough. 
 
 18. Uncle John's First Shipwreck ; or, The Loss of the Brig ' Nellie.' By 
 
 CHARLES BRCCE, Author of 'Noble Mottoes, ' etc. 
 
 19. The History of a Lifeboat. By Richard Rowe, Author of ' The Tower 
 
 on the Tor,' etc. 
 
 NEW SHILLING BOOKS BY POPULAR AUTHORS. 
 
 In attractive Bindings, each with Frontispiece, 
 
 1. The Vulture's Nest. And other Stories. By Ascott R. Hope, Author of 
 
 Stories of ' Whitminster,' ' Stories out of School-Time,' etc. 
 
 2. 'Dumps.' And other Stories. By the same Author. 
 
 3. A Night in a Snowstorm. And other Stories. By Charles Bruce. 
 
 4. Dick's Dog. And other Stories of Country Boys. By Ascott R. Hope. 
 
 5. Crossed with Silver. By Jannie Chappell, Author of 'Wait till It 
 
 Bloom- 
 
 6. Three School Friends. A Tale for Girls. By Edith Awsby, Author of 
 
 'Ruth Sf.vton.' 
 
 7. The Maltese Cross. And other Tales for Girls. By Jennie Chappell, 
 
 Author of 'Crossed with Silver. 
 
 8. Fred Leicester; or, The Southern Cross, and Charles's Wain. And 
 
 other Stories. By RICHARD ROWE, Author of 'Jack Afloat and Ashore,' 
 etc. 
 
 9. Our Sailmaker's Yarn. By Mrs. George Cupples. And other Stories 
 
 of the Sea, by Popular Authors.
 
 12 Selections from 
 
 NIMMO'S 
 
 NINEPENNY SERIES FOR BOYS AND GIRLS. 
 
 Square foolscap 8vo, with Illustrations, elegantly bound in cloth, 
 price 9d. each. 
 
 THIS Series of Books will be found unequalled for genuine interest and 
 value, and it is believed they will be eagerly welcomed by thoughtful 
 children of both sexes. Parents may rest assured that each Volume 
 teaches some noble lesson, or enforces some valuable truth. 
 
 1. In the Brave Days of Old; or, The Story of the Spanish 
 
 Armada. F^r Boys and Girls. 
 
 2. The Lost Ruby. By the Author of ' The Basket of Flowers,' 
 
 etc. 
 
 3. Leslie Boss ; or, Fond of a Lark. By Charles Bruce. 
 
 4. My First and Last Voyage. By Benjamin Clarke. 
 
 5. Little Katie : A Fairy Story. By Charles Bruce. 
 
 6. Being Afraid. And other Stories for the Young. By Charles 
 
 STUART. 
 
 7. The Toll-Keepers. And other Stories for the Young. By 
 
 BENJAMIN CLARKE. 
 
 8. Dick Barford : A Boy who would go down Hill. By Charles 
 
 BRUCE. 
 
 9. Joan of Arc ; or, The Story of a Noble Life. Written for 
 
 Girls. 
 
 10. Helen Siddal : A Story for Children. By Ellen Palmer. 
 
 11. Mat and Sofie : A Story for Boys and Girls. 
 
 12. Peace and War. By the Author of ' The Basket of Flowers,' 
 
 etc. 
 
 13. Perilous Adventures of a French Soldier in Algeria. 
 
 14. The Magic Glass ; or, The Secret of Happiness. 
 
 15. Hawk's Dene : A Tale for Children. By Katharine E. May. 
 
 16. Little Maggie. And other Stories. By the Author of ' The 
 
 Joy of Well-Doing,' etc. etc. 
 
 17. The Brother's Legacy ; or, Better than Gold. By M. M. 
 
 POLLARD. 
 
 18. The Little Sisters ; or, Jealousy. And other Stories for the 
 
 Young. By the Author of ' Little Tales for Tiny Tots,' etc. 
 
 19. Kate's New Home. By Cecil Scott, Author of 'Chryssie 
 
 Lyle,' etc.
 
 W, P, Nimmo, Hay, & Mitchell's Catalogue, 13 
 
 Uimmr/s Si*p*nntr Jufamle g0ohs. 
 
 Small foolscap %vo, Illustrated, handsomely bound in cloth, 
 
 price 6d. each. 
 
 1. Pearls for Little People. 
 2. Great Lessons for Little 
 
 23. Little Henry and his Bearer. 
 By Mrs. SHERWOOD. 
 
 People. 
 3. Reason in Rhyme: A Poetry 
 Book for the Yonng. 
 
 24. The Holidays at Wilton, and 
 other Stories. By ADELAIDE 
 
 4. jEsop's Little Fable Book. 
 5. Grapes from the Great Vine. 
 6. The Pot of Gold. 
 7. Story Pictures from the Bible. 
 8. The Tables of Stone: Illustra- 
 tions of the Commandments. 
 9. Ways of Doing Good. 
 10. Stories about our Dogs. By 
 HARRIET BEECHKR STOWE. 
 
 25. Chryssie Lyle: A Tale for the 
 Yonng. By CECIL SCOTT. 
 26. Little Elsie among the Quarry- 
 men. By ELLEN PALMER. 
 27. The Lesson of Obedience. By 
 the Rev. RICHARD NEWTON, D.D. 
 28. The Lesson of Diligence. By 
 the Rev.RicHARD NEWTOS, D.D. 
 
 11. The Red-Winged Goose. 
 
 29. Fergus: A Tale. By Jacob 
 
 12. The Hermit of the Hi! Is. 
 
 ABBOTT. 
 
 13. Effie's Christmas, and other 
 
 30. Gilbert and his Mother. By 
 
 Stories. By ADELAIDE AUSTEN. 
 
 JACOB ABBOTT. 
 
 14. A Visit to Grandmother, and 
 other Stories for the Yonng. 
 15. Bible Stories for Young 
 People. By ADELAIDE AUSTEN. 
 16. The Little Woodman and his 
 
 31. The Shepherd of Salisbury 
 Plain. By HANNAH MORB. 
 32. Emily Barton, and other 
 Stories. By CHARLES and MART 
 LAMB. 
 
 Dog Caesar. By Mrs. SHERWOOD. 
 17. Among the Mountains : Tales 
 for the Young. By ADELAIDE 
 AUSTEN. 
 
 33. Elizabeth Villiers, and other 
 Stories. By CHARLES and MART 
 LAMB. 
 
 18. Little Gems for Little Readers. 
 
 34. The Grateful Negro. By 
 
 19. Do your Duty, come what will, 
 
 MARIA EDGKWORTH. 
 
 and other Stories for the Young. 
 
 35. Forgive and Forget. By 
 
 20. Noble Joe: A Tale for Chil- 
 
 MARIA KDGEWORTH. 
 
 dren. By ADELAIDE AUSTEN. 
 
 36. Waste not, Want not. By 
 
 21. Lucy Vernon, and other Stories 
 
 MARIA EDGKWORTH. 
 
 for the Young. 
 
 37. The False Key. By Maria 
 
 22. Anecdotes of Favourite Ani- 
 
 EDGBWORTH. 
 
 mals told for Children. By 
 
 38. The Bracelets. By Maria 
 
 ADELAIDE ACSTEN. 
 
 EDGRWORTH. 
 
 Ilimmo's Jfcurpenim Jfubcml* goohs. 
 
 The above Series of Books is also kept in embossed and illuminated 
 
 paper cover, beautifully printed in gold from entirely new designs, 
 
 price ql. each.
 
 14 Selections from 
 
 NIMMO'S FOURPENNY JUVENILE BOOKS. 
 
 SHORT STORIES FOR CHILDREN, by Mrs. SHERWOOD, 
 JANE TAYLOR, RICHARD ROWE, etc. 
 
 Demy 18mo, cloth, Illustrated. 
 
 1. George and his Penny, by Mrs. SHERWOOD; and other Tales. 
 
 2. Lucy and Her Mother, by JANE TAYLOR ; and other Tales. 
 
 3. Getting on in Life, and other Tales. 
 
 4. Bessie Blake the Farmer's Daughter, by RICHARD EOWE ; and 
 
 other Tales. 
 
 5. The Busy Bee, by Mrs. SHERWOOD; and other Tales. 
 
 6. Try to be Happy, and other Tales. 
 
 7. The Story of the Rose, by Mrs. SHERWOOD ; and other Tales. 
 
 8. Brave and True, and other Tales. 
 
 9. The Young Apprentice, by JANK TAYLOR ; and other Tales. 
 
 10. Regie's Pony, and other Tales. 
 
 11. Emily's Temptation, by Mrs. SHERWOOD ; and other Tales. 
 
 12. Philip's Day Dream, and other Tales. 
 
 13. The Orphan Boy, by Mrs. SHERWOOD ; and other Tales. 
 
 14. The One Thing Needful, and other Tales. 
 
 15. Little Sins, by Mrs. SHERWOOD ; and other Tales. 
 
 16. The Indian Chief, and other Tales. 
 
 17. The Little Dog Trusty, and other Tales. 
 
 18. The Kind Bear, and other Tales. 
 
 NEW SERIES^FJPEmjMARD BOOKS, 
 
 In beautiful Coloured Covers, done in Chromo-Lithography. Six 
 different Designs, very pretty and attractive. Demy 18mo, 
 16 pp. Each with a Frontispiece. 
 
 1. Try to be Happy. 
 
 2. Eyes and Ears. 
 
 3. My Little Teachers. 
 
 4. The Fourth Commandment. 
 
 5. A Talk about Fighting. 
 
 6. Moffat's Lion Adventures. 
 
 7. The Little Factory Girl. 
 
 8. George and His Penny. 
 
 9. The Little Dog Trusty. 
 
 10. Faithful unto Death. 
 
 11. Abraham's Sacrifice. 
 
 12. Getting on in Life. 
 
 13. I can do without it. 
 
 14. The Little Busy Bee. 
 
 15. TheStoryofaDay'sPleasure. 
 
 16. The Lonely Lighthouse. 
 
 17. Little Sins. 
 
 18. It doesn't Matter. 
 
 These may be had either separately, or in three Packets at Gd. each.
 
 W, P, Nimmo, Hay, & Mitchell's Catalogue, * 5 
 NIMMO'S BIRTH-DAY BOOKS. 
 
 In Foolscap 16mo. 
 
 Cloth extra, red edges, Is.; gilt edges, Is. 6d.; padded cloth, iu boxes, 
 Is. 6d. ; paste grain, round corners, 2s. ; paste grain, padded, 
 2s. 6d. ; German calf, padded, 4s.; and in armadillo grain, 3s. 
 
 1. Bible Words for Birth-Days ; Consisting of a Text of Scripture 
 
 and Verse of Hymn for Every Day in the Tear. 
 
 2. Birth-Day Greetings; Consisting of Poetical Extracts and 
 
 Mottoes for Every Day in the Year. 
 
 3. The Birth-Day Book of Wit and Humour ; Consisting of Witty 
 
 and Humorous Extracts for Every Day in the Year. 
 
 4. The Birth-Day Oracle; or, Whom shall I Marry? Guesses at 
 
 the Character and Appearance of your future Husband or Wife. 
 
 5. The Little Folk's Birth-Day Book ; or, Something Good about 
 
 Children, Child-life, Flowers, etc., for Every Day in the Year. 
 Selected and Arranged by C. B., Compiler of the ' Birth-day 
 Book of Proverbs. 1 
 
 6. A Cup of Blessing for Every Day in the Year. Being a Birth- 
 
 Day Book of Cheering and Consolatory Texts selected from 
 Scripture and other Sources. By C. B. 
 
 7. The Lyric Birth-Day Book. Snatches of Song gathered from the 
 
 Lyric Poets, and arranged for Every Day in the Year. By D. H. 
 
 8. Mrs. Hemans' Birth-Day Book. A Selection of Beautiful 
 
 Passages from the Poems of Felicia Hemans, arranged as a 
 Daily Text Book. By R. G. B. 
 
 9. Birth-Day Chimes from Longfellow. Six Hundred Quotations 
 
 from his Poems, arranged as a Daily Text Book. By S. P. L. 
 
 10. Birth-day Chimes from Shakespeare. A Text Book of Choice 
 
 Extracts from his Works. 
 
 11. Birth-day Chimes from Burns. Selections from the Poems, 
 
 Songs, and Ballads of Robert Burns. 
 
 12. What Saith the Master ? A Daily Text Book in the very Words 
 
 of our Lord. Selected by MAY COCHKAXK. 
 
 In Crown 16 mo. 
 
 Limp cloth, 2s. ; cloth, gilt edges, 2s. 6d. ; paste grain, round corners, 
 3s. ; paste grain, padded, 3s. 6d. ; German calf, padded, 6s. ; 
 and imitation ivory, 3s. 6d. 
 
 1. The Birth-Day Book of Proverbs; Consisting of a Serious, 
 
 Satirical, or Humorous Sentence, Proverb, and Verse of Poetry 
 for Every Day in the Year. By C. B. 
 
 2. Auld Acquaintance : A Birth- Day Book of the Wise and Tender 
 
 Words of Robert Burns. Compiled by JAMES B. BEGG, a Grand- 
 nephew of the Poet 
 
 3. The Household Birth-Day Book and Marriage and Obituary 
 
 Register. With the Dates of Births, Marriages, and Deaths of 
 over One Thousand Eminent Men and Women.
 
 16 W, P, Nimmo, Hay, & Mitchell's Catalogue, 
 NIMMO'S SIXPENNY BIRTH-DAY BOOKS. 
 
 In crown 16mo, cloth extra, red edges, price 6d.; and in Persian 
 calf, gilt edges, Is. 
 
 1. HEAVENLY LIGHT. Cheering Texts from Scripture. A Birth- 
 
 day Book for Every Day in the Year. 
 
 2. BIRTH-DAY ECHOES FROM THE POETS. A Selection of Choice 
 
 Quotations, arranged for Every Day in the Tear. 
 
 3. DAILY MAXIMS. A Birth-day Text Book of Proverbs and Wise 
 
 Sayings. Selected from Various Sources. 
 
 4. THORN BLOSSOM. Quotations Grave and Gay, arranged as a 
 
 Birth-day Text Book. 
 
 New Coloured Text Book for Young People, beautifully Illustrated. 
 In oblong 16mo, gilt edges, with chromo cover, and silk cord tie, 
 price &d., 
 
 CROWNING MERCIES. A Text Book for Every Day in the Month. 
 Arranged and Illustrated by J. STANLEY, M.A. Containing 
 Scripture Texts in Pictorial Setting, and appropriate Hymns 
 printed in Chromo- Lithography. 
 
 ** The Full-page Illustrations (in eight printings) together with the Sepia 
 Designs and Coloured Borders combine to form an Exquisite Little Book. 
 
 NIMMO'S MINIATURE LIBRARY. 
 
 In crown 32mo, with carmine lines round each page, and neatly bound 
 in cloth and gold, price 6d. each. 
 
 RELIGIOUS. 
 
 1. SAINTLY WORDS. Being Devout Thoughts gathered from the 
 
 Writings of A'KEMPIS, AUGUSTINE, and JEREMY TAYLOR. 
 
 2. LIGHT FROM THE SACRED PAGE. Being a Religious Text 
 
 Book in the very Words of Scripture. 
 
 3. POETRY OF CHRISTIAN LIFE AND EXPERIENCE 
 
 4. WATCHWORDS FOR CHRISTIAN LIVING. Being Good Thoughts 
 
 selected from the Best Religious Writers. 
 B. ACROSS THE RIVER. Scriptural Views of the Heavenly Home. 
 
 By Dr. NORMAN MACLEOD, Dr. CANDLISH, etc. Miniature 
 
 Edition Abridged. 
 6. COUNSEL AND COMFORT FOR DAILY LIFE. Selected from 
 
 the Works of the Best Religious Writers. 
 
 GENERAL. 
 
 1. THOUGHTS FROM EMERSON. Selected by the Editor of 
 
 ' Winnowings from Wordsworth.' 
 
 2. FAVOURITE ESSAYS OF ELIA (CHARLES LAMB) 
 
 3. WINNOWINGS FROM WORDSWORTH. Edited by John 
 
 ROBERTSON. 
 
 4. PEEPS INTO PEPY'S DIARY. Edited by J. R. 
 6. GOLDSMITH'S 'SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER.' 
 
 6. CHILD LORE. A Selection of Folk Legends and Rhymes.