people, Bligh himself says, were loyal. One man only, Hallett, had
anything to say in confirmation of Bligh's allegations regarding Heywood,
and Hallett afterwards recanted and expressed his sorrow at what he had
alleged against Heywood--his statements, he admitted, were made when he
was not fully responsible for what he said.

Labillardiere, in his _Voyage in Search of La Pérouse_, says that one of
the officers of the _Pandora_ assured some of the people of the La Pérouse
expedition, whom they had met at the Cape, that Bligh's ill-treatment of
the _Bounty's_ people was the cause of the mutiny. Fryer, the master of
the _Bounty_, who, it was shown during the court-martial, had more than
anyone else supported Bligh, confirmed the statement that what Christian
did say when the boat was cut adrift was, in answer to the boatswain, "No.
It is too late, Mr. Cole; I have been in hell this fortnight, and will
bear it no longer. You know that during the whole voyage I have been
treated like a dog." Further than this, the evidence given by the
mutineers, and supported in all essentials by the people cut adrift in the
boat, was to the effect that there had been repeated floggings; that Bligh
had continually used violent and abusive language to officers and men;
that he was a petty tyrant and was guilty of all sorts of mean forms of
aggravation. Here is one instance: he accused officers and men, from the
senior officer under him downwards, of being thieves, alleging publicly on
the quarter-deck that they stole his coconuts.

Against these allegations we have nothing but Bligh's narrative and the
assertions, perfectly true, that he was a brave officer, who afterwards
conducted a remarkable boat voyage and served with distinction under
Nelson,[G] and that such a man could not be guilty of [Sidenote: 1830]
tyranny. We are here discussing the mutiny of the _Bounty_, and not the
revolt in New South Wales, else against this we might remark that he was