CHAPTER VI.

Consequences of the Mutiny.-Correspondence previous to the Court

martial.

THE Consequences of the mutiny were as unhappy as its design was criminal. The sufferings of Lieutenant Bligh and his companions on the boat-voyage have been already narrated. The accomplishment of such an unprecedented passage of three thousand miles across an open sea must have been both severe and perilous.

Then followed the search for the officers and crew of the Bounty who had remained in her, the miseries of those incarcerated on board the Pandora, and finally the total wreck of that ship, in which thirty of her crew and four of the prisoners perished. Sad as were these events in themselves, they appear more so when we reflect on the amount of affliction which they must have caused in the homes of bereaved relatives and friends. How many a wife and mother was destined to regard the Bounty as a source of sorrow too deep for utterance! But still the Nemesis of this daring crime was not yet appeased, and perhaps one of the saddest results was that it confounded the innocent with the guilty, and caused those who were powerless to resist to be viewed as sympathizing with its perpetrators.

Peter Heywood was among those who suffered from this false suspicion, and we shall commence this painful subject with a letter from Mr. Hallett (who had been midshipman on board the Bounty), in reply to one from Miss Nessy Heywood,* sister of Peter.

*See chap. i., p. 21.

"Savage, Lochryan, 29th of March, 1792. "MADAM,—Your affecting letter, dated February 12th, did not come to hand till the 15th of this month, which I take the earliest opportunity of answering, and assure you that I sympathize strongly in your grief, and will, as far as in me lies, answer your different interrogations. I shall begin with saying that before the unfortunate period at which the mutiny in the Bounty took place, the conduct of your brother was such as to have procured him an universal esteem; but what were the unpropitious motives by which he was actuated to side with the criminal party I am totally ignorant of, nor can I (as you may readily conceive it was a time of great confusion among us) declare positively the part he acted in it. Should I ever be called upon to give my evidence—which you must be sensible will be a distressing thing for a person of any feeling to give, against those with whom he has formerly lived in habits of intimacy-notwithstanding the friendship I had for your brother, I shall be strictly bound by oath to adhere to truth, though I hope, if ever a trial should take place, that the consideration of his youth at the time he committed the rash act will plead with the jury in his favor. I am, madam, your most obedient humble servant, JOHN HALLETT.”

Captain Pasley* to his niece, Miss N. Heywood (who

* Captain Pasley had been lieutenant on board one of the English frigates under the command of Admiral Elliott, when an engagement took place in Ramsay Bay, Isle of Man, in which the French, under Admiral Thurot, were defeated. A mound on a promontory which stretches into the bay covers the remains of the French sailors who were interred there, and is a trophy of English valor and prowess. It may be imagined how much the officers and crews of the victorious ships were fêted throughout the island. On one of these occasions, Lieutenant Pasley met Mr. Heywood of the Nunnery, with one of his beautiful sisters, a lady whom he greatly admired, and soon afterwards married. This excellent officer, being in constant employment, speedily attained the rank of post-captain, and commanded the Bellerophon in the action of June 1st under Earl Howe. She suffered in the engagement, lost many men, and her gallant command

had written to him in great anxiety as to her brother's position).

66 'Sheerness, June 8th, 1792. "Would to God, my dearest Nessy, that I could rejoice with you on the early prospect of your brother's arrival in England! One division of the Pandora's people is arrived, and are 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, I have no doubt, till Bligh's arrival. You have no chance of seeing him, for no bail can be offered. Your intelligence of his swimming off, on the Pandora's arrival, is unfounded—a man of the name of Coleman came off as she anchored; your brother and Mr. Stewart next day. This last youth, when the Pandora was lost, refused to allow his irons to be taken off to save his life. I can not conceal it from you, my dearest Nessy, neither is it proper I should, that your brother 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 of that number!

"I will not distress you more by enlarging on this subject; as intelligence arises on their arrival you shall be

er had his leg shot off. On the return of the victorious fleet to Spithead, the king and royal family went down to Portsmouth to inspect the victorious ships. Honors on this occasion were conferred on the most distinguished officers, and among them Captain Pasley was created a baronet. He had only two daughters, and on account of his services, as well as the importance of the event, the king was pleased to grant his request that the title should descend in the female line. He was grandfather of Admiral Sir Thomas Sabine Pasley, Bart., late commander-in-chief at Portsmouth.

made acquainted. Adieu! my dearest Nessy; present my affectionate remembrance to your mother and sisters, and believe me always, with the warmest affection,

"Your uncle,

THOS. PASLEY."

Immediately on his arrival Peter Heywood wrote to his mother and sisters; and in a letter to Richard Betham, Esq.* (a friend of the family) he expresses himself as follows:

"Gorgon, Spithead, June 20th, 1792. "HONORED SIR,-Impressed with a high sense of gratitude for your former kindness to me, I think it is a duty incumbent on me to make you acquainted with my arrival here on the 19th instant, a prisoner on board H.M.S. Gorgon from the Cape of Good Hope. Alas! dear sir, how unfortunate hath that voyage been to me, the prospects of which appeared so promising when your goodness was the means of placing me under the care and protection of Mr. Bligh. I fear he, upon his arrival in England, put a misconstruction on my conduct when that unhappy mutiny happened; to which misrepresentation I must attribute my severe and undeserved confinement. I have already, in a letter to my widowed mother from Batavia, fully explained my conduct on that day, and my reasons for it, which I hope she has communicated to you; but lest she may have omitted that point, or that the letter may by any means have miscarried, I shall again, sir, give you a short sketch of it, and sincerely hope it may be the means of eradicating from the minds of all my friends any undeserved ill-opinion they may have conceived of me, and of reinstating me in their wonted favor and esteem, the loss of which would equal death. (He then proceeds with an account similar to that already given in his letter from Batavia, down to the time of Bligh's leaving the ship.) conduct must

66

Thus, my dear sir, you may suppose my

* A relative of Mrs. Bligh's.

have appeared unaccountable to Mr. Bligh, who naturally imagined me to be a coadjutor in the mutiny; but alas! God, who knows the integrity of my heart, can judge how little I have deserved that aspersion, and how undeservedly I am now suffering this close confinement.

"I have only to add that I got ashore at Tahiti as soon as it was in my power, and when I had permission; and after being about nineteen months there, on the 26th of March, 1791, on the arrival of H.M.S. Pandora, I immediately went on board, and made my case known to Captain Edwards, who made me a prisoner, and such I have continued to the present hour.

"On the loss of the Pandora, on the 29th of August, I narrowly escaped shipwreck; and again in a Dutch Indiaman. My sufferings have been great; but that Providence which hath ever protected me, and on whom alone I rely for succor, will to the innocent still continue his protection.

"Believe me, sir, this is the true cause of my remaining on board the Bounty, and my thoughts that Captain Bligh hath misrepresented me, arise only from my being kept so close a prisoner, and not from any consciousness that I ever deserved even to be suspected of so heinous a crime; but I still flatter myself that he can have said none other of me than that I was always dutiful to him and all my superior officers, and ever delighted and obedient in executing any duty imposed on me. Therefore, may I hope, dear sir, that this may serve to turn your censure of me (if any has yet taken place) into pity for my youth, inexperience, and misfortunes; and once more be assured I have done my duty, both to my Maker and mankind.

"With the most profound respect, believe me, my dear and honored sir, your ever dutiful and most obliged, but unhappy servant, PETER HEYWOOD. "P.S.-May I beg of you, sir, to favor my dear unhappy mother with a sight of this letter? and if you will honor me with a line of comfort, let it be conveyed to me through