Meanwhile the captain of a vessel in which he had once sailed had
expatiated so frequently on the happiness of the people at
Pitcairn, where he had been, that Mr. Nobbs resolved to go thither
if his life should be spared; and, with this object in view, he
set out on the 12th of November, 1825, in the _Circassian_, bound
for Calcutta, but he was detained there until August, 1827; then,
after a narrow escape from shipwreck in the Strait of Sunda, he
crossed the Pacific in a New York ship called the _Oceani_, went
to Valparaiso, and thence to Callao, where he met a Mr. Bunker,
expended £150 in refitting a launch, and made the voyage to
Pitcairn."

Bligh, in his version of the _Bounty_ mutiny, says that there was
absolutely no cause of discontent on board the ship until the mutineers
became demoralized by their long stay at Tahiti, and that he was on the
best of terms with everyone on board. In proof of this, says Bligh,
Christian, when the boat was drifting astern, was asked by Bligh if this
treatment was a proper return for his commander's kindness, to which the
mutineer answered, "That, Captain Bligh, that is the thing. I am in hell;
I am in hell." Bligh on being asked by the friends of young Heywood if he
thought it possible that this boy of fifteen, who had been detained
against his will, could have a guilty knowledge of the mutiny, replied in
writing that the lad's "baseness was beyond all description. It would give
me great pleasure to hear that his friends can bear the loss of him
without much concern."

Bligh's story is contradicted by all of the mutineers--that, of course,
goes without saying--but here is the point: the evidence of the mutineers
is practically confirmed in every particular, and Bligh's version is
contradicted by the people who were with him in the boat, and these