econd
lieutenant of the _Pandora_, it is entitled to be considered as
authentic, and if so, Captain Edwards must have deserved the character,
ascribed to him, of being altogether destitute of the common feelings of
humanity.

'Three of the _Bounty's_ people, Coleman, Norman, and M'Intosh, were now
let out of irons, and sent to work at the pumps. The others offered
their assistance, and begged to be allowed a chance of saving their
lives; instead of which, two additional sentinels were placed over them,
with orders to shoot any who should attempt to get rid of their fetters.
Seeing no prospect of escape, they betook themselves to prayer, and
prepared to meet their fate, every one expecting that the ship would
soon go to pieces, her rudder and part of the stern-post being already
beat away.'

When the ship was actually sinking, and every effort making for the
preservation of the crew, it is asserted that 'no notice was taken of
the prisoners, as is falsely stated by the author of the _Pandora's
Voyage_, although Captain 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 larboard bow
completely under water. Fortunately the master-at-arms, either by
accident or design, when slipping from the roof of "_Pandora's_ Box"
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
commence their own liberation, in which they were generously assisted,
at the imminent risk of his own life, by William Moulter, a boatswain's
mate, who clung to the coamings, and pulled the long bars through the
shackles, saying he would set them free, or go to the bottom 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 occasion 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 sei