purchased at
Teneriffe, were ordered to be issued to the crew, at the rate of _one_
pound of pumpkin for _two_ pounds of biscuit. The reluctance of the men
to accept this proposed substitute, _on such terms_, being reported to
Lieutenant Bligh, he 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 any thing else I may order to be served out;' to which he
added, 'You d--d infernal scoundrels, I'll make you eat grass, or any
thing you can catch, before I have done with you.' This speech had the
desired effect, every one receiving the pumpkins, even the _officers_.
Next comes a complaint respecting the mode of issuing beef and pork: but
when a representation was made to Lieutenant Bligh in the quiet and
orderly manner prescribed by the twenty-first article of war, he called
the crew aft, told them that every thing relative to the provisions was
transacted 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 another 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. Happy would it
have been had they kept their resolution. By so doing, if the story be
true, they would amply have been avenged, a vast number of human lives
spared, and a world of misery avoided.
According to this Journalist, 'the seeds of eternal discord were sown
between Lieutenant Bligh and some of his officers,' while in Adventure
Bay, Van Diemen's Land; and on arriving at Matavai Bay, in Otaheite, he
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 every thing
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 sailors' pigs were seized without
ceremony, and it became a favour for a man to obtain an extra pound of
his own meat.
The writer then says, 'the object of our visit to the Socie
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