u
the true cause of my remaining in the ship, and you will then
see how little I deserve censure, and how I have been injured
by so gross an aspersion. I shall then give you a short and
cursory account of what has happened to me since; but I am
afraid to say a hundredth part of what I have got in store,
for I am not allowed the use of writing materials, if known,
so that this is done by stealth; but if it should ever come to
your hands, it will, I hope, have the desired effect of
removing your uneasiness on my account, when I assure you,
before the face of God, of my innocence of what is laid to my
charge. How I came to remain on board was thus:--

'The morning the ship was taken, it being my watch below,
happening to awake just after daylight, and looking out of my
hammock, I saw a man sitting upon the arm-chest in the main
hatchway, with a drawn cutlass in his hand, the reason of
which I could not divine; so I got out of bed and inquired of
him what was the cause of it. He told me that Mr. Christian,
assisted by some of the ship's company had seized the captain
and put him in confinement; had taken the command of the ship
and meant to carry Bligh home a prisoner, in order to try him
by court-martial, for his long tyrannical and oppressive
conduct to his people. I was quite thunderstruck; and hurrying
into my berth again, told one of my messmates, whom I awakened
out of his sleep, what had happened. Then dressing myself, I
went up the fore-hatchway, and saw what he had told me was but
too true; and again, I asked some of the people, who were
under arms, what was going to be done with the captain, who
was then on the larboard side of the quarter-deck, with his
hands tied behind his back, and Mr. Christian alongside him
with a pistol and drawn bayonet. I now heard a very different
story, and that the captain was to be sent ashore to Tofoa in
the launch, and that those who would not join Mr. Christian
might either accompany the captain, or would be taken in irons
to Otaheite and left there. The relation of two stories so
different, left me unable to judge which could be the true
one; but seeing them hoisting the boats out, it seemed to
prove the latter.

'In this trying situation, young and inexperienced as I was,
and without