In others their ships have gone down in the distant ocean, leaving them floating in their open boats like mere specks upon the sea; and sometimes, as in the instance we are about to consider, mutinous crews have put the comrades who would not join them into an open boat and cut them adrift.

It will be remembered that in our last chapter we related how the mutineers of the Bounty had put Lieutenant Bligh and some of the men into an open boat and cast them loose. We shall now relate a few of the details of Bligh's

EXTRAORDINARY BOAT VOYAGE.

When Fletcher Christian and his merciless companions set their commander adrift in the boat, they flung them a small quantity of provisions and a few stores which, together with the crew, sank the boat so deep in the water that one would have expected that the first breeze of wind would have filled and swamped it.

The boat in which these nineteen men found themselves floating in the midst of the Pacific Ocean, was the launch. Its length was 23 feet; its breadth 6 feet 9 inches. In this, without awning or covering of any kind and with a small allowance of food-scarce enough to sustain life, they encountered heavy storms and endured the severest privations and sufferings from cold and exposure during a voyage of several thousands of miles.

The names of the men thus cast away are as follows :Lieutenant Bligh; John Fryer, master; William Elphinstone, master's-mate; John Hallet, midshipman; Thomas Hayward, midshipman; William Peckover, gunner; William Cole, boatswain; William Purcell, carpenter; Thomas Ledward, surgeon's-mate; John Samuel, clerk and steward;

David Nelson, botanist; Lawrence Labogue, sailmaker; Peter Linkletter, quarter-master; John Norton, quartermaster; George Simpson, quarter-master's-mate; Thomas Hall, ship's cook; John Smith, commander's cook; Robert Lamb, butcher; and Robert Tinkler, a boy.

None but a man of decided firmness and energy of character could have carried himself and his companions through the dangers and trials of that voyage in safety. Bligh proved himself fully equal to the emergency.

Lieutenant

His first care after the Bounty left them was to examine the condition of his boat and the amount of his provisions. These last were very meagre. They consisted of one hundred and fifty pounds of biscuit, thirty pounds of pork, six quarts of rum, six bottles of wine, and twenty-eight gallons of water. Of stores they had a few pieces of canvas, some twine and cordage, four cutlasses, a quadrant, and a compass.

The condition of the launch and her crew is beautifully and forcibly expressed in the following lines :

"The boat is lowered with all the haste of hate,
With its slight plank between thee and thy fate;
Her only cargo such a scant supply

As promises the death their hands deny;

And just enough of water and of bread

To keep, some days, the dying ofrm the dead.

Some cordage, canvas, sails, and lines, and twine,
But treasures all to hermits of the brine,
Were added after, to the earnest prayer
Of those who saw no hope save sea and air;
And last, that trembling vassal of the Pole,
The feeling compass, navigators' soul.

The launch is crowded with the faithful few
That wait their chief-a melancholy crew,
But some remained reluctant on the deck
Of that proud vessel, now a moral wreck-
And viewed their captain's fate with piteous eyes;
While others scoffed his augured miseries,
Sneered at the prospect of his pigmy sail,
And the slight bark, so laden and so frail."

Being within about thirty miles of the island of Tofoa, Bligh resolved in the first instance to proceed thither in order to procure, if possible, bread fruit and water. But the natives who lined the beach turned out to be of exceedingly treacherous and fierce disposition. One of the chiefs earnestly entreated Bligh to spend the night there, and upon his refusing to do so, he exclaimed angrily, "Then we will kill you." Thereupon he gave a signal, and immediately about two hundred savages rushed upon the sailors and attacked them with stones, which flew about their heads like a shower of shot. Fortunately none were seriously hit, and they all succeeded in getting safely into the boat with the exception of John Norton, the quarter-master, who boldly ran up the beach to cast off the stern fast. Upon this brave but unfortunate man the natives rushed, and in a few minutes stoned him to death.

The crew of the launch pushed hastily off to sea, but were followed by several canoes, laden with stones, from which the attack was continued. Having no fire-arms, the only defence they could make was to throw back the stones which happened to lodge in the boat, but in this mode of warfare the savages were much more expert, and it is probable the Europeans would have been murdered had they not hit upon the ruse of throwing part of their clothing into the sea. As they expected, the natives stopped to pick up the garments, and the crew of the boat pulled lustily till beyond the reach of stones. Soon after, night coming on, the pursuit was abandoned.

Before this occurred, however, one or two bread-fruits and a few small cocoa-nuts had been gathered, and added to their slender stock of provisions.

The eyes of the wretched men in the launch were now

turned anxiously towards their commander, in whose energy and knowledge they felt their hope of deliverance depended. It is to be hoped that, among men in such desperate circumstances, there were some who earnestly looked to a higher Power for deliverance. The commander now informed his men that he meant to steer straight for a Dutch settlement on the island of Timor, distant above three thousand six hundred miles, and added that the only chance they had of accomplishing such a voyage successfully was to place themselves voluntarily on a fixed allowance of food, which, on careful calculation, he said, would afford each man one ounce of bread and quarter of a pint of water per day!

To this the men readily agreed, and that night, it may be said, the perilous voyage began. They gave up all idea of steering for any of the islands of the Pacific, knowing full well that the natives, seeing their helpless condition, would slay and devour them.

"We bore away," says Bligh, "across a sea where the navigation is but little known, in a small boat, twenty-three feet long from stem to stern, deeply laden with eighteen men. I was happy, however, to see that every one seemed better satisfied with our situation than myself. It was about eight o'clock at night on the 2d of May 1789, when we bore away under a reefed lug-foresail, and having divided the people into watches, and got the boat into a little order, we returned thanks to God for our miraculous preservation, and, in full confidence of his gracious support, I found my mind more at ease than it had been for some days past."

But this happy frame of mind was not to last long. At dawn of the following day the sun arose red and fiery—a sure indication of coming storms-and ere the day had far

advanced the gale burst upon them in all its fury; so fierce was it that, we are told, the sail of the boat was actually becalmed when between the heavy billows, while, when on the top of the seas, it proved almost more than they could carry, yet they did not dare to take it in. The sea curled constantly over the gunwale, and incessant baling was necessary to keep them afloat.

In order to lighten the boat, all their superfluous clothing, with some spare sails and cordage were thrown overboard, and the biscuit was stowed in the carpenter's chest to preserve it from the spray that lashed over them.

Bligh had apportioned the provisions so as to last eight weeks, that being the time that would be probably required under ordinary circumstances to complete the voyage; and being a man of firm character he resolved to enforce the rules as to food at the risk of his life if need be. As the men were exhausted with baling, and thoroughly wet, a teaspoonful of rum and quarter of a bread-fruit were served out to each, but, in spite of this, their limbs were so benumbed with cold when day-light came, that they could scarcely continue the work of baling, upon which, under God, the lives of all depended; another tea-spoonful of rum was therefore served out, by which they felt much revived.

That day the boat was kept running before the wind. Five small cocoa-nuts were served out for dinner, and in the evening a few pieces of bread-fruit were distributed for supper, after which they commended themselves to God in

prayer.

The gale continued till the morning of the 5th, when it began to abate, and now Bligh prepared a small log-line with which he afterwards marked more correctly than heretofore their progress over the unknown ocean.

The