In looking over a manuscript journal, kept by Morrison, the boatswain’s mate, who was tried and convicted as one of the mutineers, but received the king’s pardon, the conduct of Bligh appears 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 midshipman, and, after his pardon, was appointed gunner of the Blenheim, in which he perished with Sir Thomas Troubridge.  In comparing this journal with other documents, the dates and transactions appear to be correctly stated, though the latter may occasionally be somewhat too highly coloured.  How he contrived to preserve this journal, in the wreck of the Pandora, does not appear; but there can be no doubt of its authenticity, having been kept among the late Captain Heywood’s papers; various passages in it have been corrected either by this officer or some other person, but without altering their sense.

It would appear from this important document that the seeds of discord, in the unfortunate ship Bounty, were sown at a very early period of the voyage.  It happened, as was the case in all small vessels, that the duties of commander and purser were united in the person of Lieutenant Bligh; and it would seem that this proved the cause of very serious discontent among the officers and crew; of the mischief arising out of this union, the following statement of Mr. Morrison may serve as a specimen.  At Teneriffe, Lieutenant Bligh ordered the cheese to be hoisted up and exposed to the air; which was no sooner done, than he pretended to miss a certain quantity, 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, his clerk, 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.  Lieutenant Bligh, without making any further inquiry, immediately ordered 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 d—­d good flogging if he said another word on the subject.  It can hardly be supposed that a man of Bligh’s shrewdness, if disposed to play the rogue, would have placed himself so completely in the hands of the cooper, in a transaction which, if revealed, must have cost him his commission.

Again, on approaching the equator, some decayed pumpkins, 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.