Mutiny on the Bounty by Peter FitzSimons

Author:Peter FitzSimons [FitzSimons, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780733634123
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Published: 2018-10-30T04:00:00+00:00

26 June 1789, Tubuai, back in Bloody Bay

Land ahoy!

On the morning of 26 June 1789, Christian and the Mutineers sail back into Tubuai’s Bloody Bay. They stand on deck, wary, looking all around for signs of a revenge attack from the Natives.

And here they come now!

Hands go to muskets and cutlasses. Christian gives a sharp order to man the cannon and train them on the approaching Natives.

But no.

These particular Natives are not remotely hostile. They have no weapons with them, no conch shells, and are all smiles. They even come on board in a peaceable manner.

Over the next few days, by endlessly shuttling the smaller boats back and forth, most of the supplies from the Bounty are unloaded on the shore and a start is made on establishing their new settlement. Fortunately, the Tahitian Natives on the Bounty waste no time in mastering the local Tubuaian dialect, which helps them make friends, and get information. One of the first things they learn is that Bloody Bay is in the territory of a Chief Tinnarow, who still feels very grim indeed about their last visit, the killing of his people, and he has not forgiven them …

Ah, so it is Tinnarow they must be wary of, and all the more so when, via an emissary, the Chief makes it clear he refuses to meet with Christian or any of his murderous Mutineers.

Very well then. Best to prepare for some kind of an attack.

In the meantime, it can be no bad thing to impress upon the Natives around them right now just how powerful the European magical weapons are, and with that in mind, Christian authorises the firing of some of the muskets at designated targets, shattering coconuts at a distance of 50 yards. The Natives are impressed, some even proudly showing the Englishmen the musket balls that now hang from strings around their necks; they collected the balls from the foot of trees after the battle at Bloody Bay.

Despite the fact that Chief Tinnarow is a declared enemy, Christian is welcomed as a friend by another Chief, Tummotoa. They are off to a better start than they might have hoped for.

Of course, two men with a talent for finishing off bright starts are Charley Churchill and Matthew Thompson. Christian is not sure precisely what happened, neither is Heywood, who notes in his journal: ‘on 5 July [on Tubuai] some of the people began to be mutinous – on the 6th, two of the men were put in irons by a majority of votes – drunken fighting and threatening each other’s life was so common that those abaft were obliged to arm themselves with pistols’.93

Churchill at least accepts the majority verdict, as the liquor wears off and the irons begin to wear on his skin. Matthew Thompson, typically, does not. But, no matter. He can stay in irons a little longer, to think about it.

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